There were a lot of people around—so many that even in a sea of flowers covering thirteen hectares, people could be seen everywhere.
Strolling here was truly something that could lift one's mood.
But Kisho had no mind to appreciate the scenery. Instead, he was thinking about whether he could escape right now—if there were this many people, then even if he ran away, those people probably wouldn't be able to notice him.
Only…
What Chrollo had said to him that day still felt like an absolute order that could not be defied. The moment such a thought arose, he would hallucinate that terrifyingly calm voice in his ears:
"Try to escape and I'll take away your ability, break your arms and legs, and lock you in a box."
Kisho lightly pressed his lips together and pulled his thoughts back.
As he walked on, he reached the boundary between a red and an orange sea of flowers. A lot of people had gathered here, as if some kind of event were being held.
Kisho walked over and squeezed through the crowd. He discovered many stalls and shops in the area, even arcade games for children and large inflatable castles.
However, Kisho's gaze was drawn to a young pianist sitting by a piano and playing.
There weren't many people willing to stop and listen to the music, so Kisho easily passed through the crowd and stood beside the pianist.
The music flowed like a babbling stream around Kisho's ears. Suddenly, he felt as if something brushed past his heart. That extremely mysterious sensation made him raise his hand, and without thinking, he summoned "The Fantasizing Musician" and opened it.
To his surprise, on the blank page that had originally followed "Song of the Four Seasons", a new movement had appeared.
The movement had no name, and many measures within it were missing.
After reading the sheet music, Kisho looked up at the pianist again.
There weren't many listeners, and none of those who stopped to listen could hum along with it—not that it was impossible everyone here simply didn't like humming, but it was far more likely that the piece he was playing was something no one had ever heard before.
"If that's the case…"
Then relying solely on listening, it would be very difficult for a layperson to notice that this was an incomplete movement, because not only was the melody unfamiliar, but the pianist also lightly glossed over the missing parts. But if one looked directly at the score, it would be easy to tell—this could be considered cheating through Nen ability.
If what Shalnark meant by "the secret to entering the interior of the manor" referred to this, then he needed to find those passages that were perhaps deliberately removed.
Kisho listened to the young man's performance once more, then closed "The Fantasizing Musician".
Suddenly, he seemed to hear someone talking about him—it was a couple standing about three meters behind him.
"That kid… where did he suddenly take out a book from?!"
"And the book d-disappeared again…!"
"Is he a magician? Doesn't look like it. In broad daylight—did we see a ghost?!"
Kisho: "…"
He suddenly thought of something, and his expression changed slightly.
These people could see his book, but they didn't know how it appeared and disappeared—could it be because they were actually just ordinary people?!
Could it be that not everyone in this world was a Nen user?!
Kisho's expression suddenly sank.
He had taken it for granted. Since everyone he had met after waking up could use Nen, he had naturally assumed that everyone in this world could use Nen.
To verify this, Kisho used "Gyo" to look at the crowd.
Sure enough, there was a very small amount of uncontrolled aura around each person, constantly leaking outward. But when he had used "Gyo" to look at Chrollo and the others, their "Ten" was tightly wrapped around their bodies, with not the slightest bit leaking out.
Kisho slowly turned around, frowned, and slipped his hand into his pocket. The book appeared in his hand, and he extended it outward—making it look like he was taking the book out of his pocket.
He rolled the book up in his hand and put it back into his pocket—like he had taken it out again because it was poking someone, and then put it away properly.
"That scared me to death. I thought I really saw a ghost!"
"Look at you, so timid, always jumping at nothing!"
"You're no different yourself!"
Kisho: "…"
He ignored the bickering couple behind him and slowly retreated back into the crowd.
He had been far too careless. If not everyone had Nen, then to the small number of people who knew about it, Nen was equivalent to a "secret weapon". If he casually exposed the fact that he had Nen, he would draw far more surveillance and wariness.
Just like among Chrollo and the others, he only knew the Nen of Chrollo and Machi. Chrollo's was a book, while Machi's Nen was the "Nen threads" she could freely manipulate.
Chrollo had shown it to him when taking his ability, and that was also a necessary condition for taking abilities.
Machi's Nen had helped stitch up his arms and legs many times, so he knew about it.
But as for the others, none of them seemed to have never shown their Nen in front of him.
—No, that's not right!
Kisho suddenly remembered when he had first arrived here. Chrollo had questioned him, and after discovering the language barrier, called Pakunoda over. After that, no matter how he responded, Chrollo would always look to Pakunoda first.
At that time, what she said… meant "He's not lying".
Under what circumstances could one determine whether a person was lying?
First, by knowing the correct answer; second, by monitoring changes in the heart or emotions.
Kisho furrowed his brows and carefully recalled those details he hadn't thought much of at the time.
Pakunoda hadn't only said "not lying"—she had also smiled after he said certain things. And aside from Chrollo, who was using an ability, she shouldn't have been able to understand what he was saying at all.
No, to be precise, after he said things "about ability transfer", he then imagined the scene of "tearing books and fighting"—from this, Pakunoda's ability was already quite clear.
As Kisho tried hard to recall the details, this new discovery made his entire body go cold—Pakunoda could read "memories", or see the "images that appear in a person's mind".
Kisho rubbed his brow, his mood heavier than ever before.
He knew nothing about the others, yet they understood his Nen even better than he himself did.
Kisho could only be glad that he hadn't rashly planned and carried out an escape—making a very pessimistic guess, perhaps those people had a way to monitor his condition, to see everything he saw through his eyes; or even further, to remotely control his body or extract the information they wanted from his mind.
After all, they had never said how they would transmit the information they obtained.
Kisho gently closed his eyes. The sudden influx of information hit him like a blow to the head, making him feel dizzy and disoriented.
Acting rashly would be equivalent to seeking death—he understood all too well that what Chrollo had said that day was absolutely not a joke.
For now, he could only take things one step at a time. And if he failed to complete this task, it would mean he wasn't qualified to join them—on the surface, he already knew the abilities of two of them, and there was absolutely no chance he would be allowed to leave alive, or at least with his limbs intact.
Still, it wasn't without gains. In the midst of misfortune, he had learned that Nen wasn't something everyone possessed. That meant the fastest way to filter out special visitors from ordinary tourists would likely be through Nen.
The missing parts of the "score" were probably hidden somewhere in a form that only those who possessed Nen could see.