"-nd of the round time!" Being woken up to an overhead announcement, my senses quickly sharpen as I pay attention to what was currently happening.
'Man I need to be more careful. I fell into too deep of a sleep… and I am still tired' deciding to get up and move towards the center of the room where the rest of the remaining contestants congregated. I kept my ears open for any subsequent announcements.
*bzzt* "The third round has officially ended. The number of remaining participants who reached the end goal is twenty-five. The number of alive contestants is… 24. After the second announcement a large door opened inside the chamber we were inside. Subsequently, everyone began to filter out of the tower and outside onto the shore of a beach, if you looked out to the horizon you could see a small island in the distance.
'That should be our next destination, I wonder who I will be hunting?' pulled out from my thoughts by the sound of footsteps coming towards our group.
"Congratulations to all of you for making it out of the tower. Having finished the third exam means you have only two more parts of the exam before you, the fourth exam and the final. The fourth round of the exam shall be taking place on Zevil Island… Well, let's get started soon, no?" *snap* Having finished talking for the moment the examiner snapped his fingers, following his actions extra staff from the hunters association wheeled out a small stand with a box on top of it.
"What's that for?" looking at the new addition some contestants began to wonder out loud the possible purpose of the box
"A lottery..?" proposed a remaining contestant as he looked at the box with curiosity
"This is a Box" Lippo, the examiner of the fourth phase of the hunter exam announced with excitement as he grinned looking at the current examinees
"Dear god…" came the voice of another mob contestant
"There is more to this box" Lippo further explained in a slow pace taking in the reactions of everyone
"No…" shortly replied the mob examinee
*ahem* " The purpose of this box is for each of you to draw one lot to determine the hunters and the prey. You see, inside this box are twenty-four numbered cards corresponding to the numbers on each of your contestant badges. Each of you will pick a card… how about in order you arrived at the bottom of the tower?" looking on as contestants began to take their lots one by one Lippo and the exam staff quietly waited until the crowd settled down once again
"Now that you all have your lots you can break the seal on them to see what number you received. Again, the number corresponds to another examinee's badge but also who you will be hunting. For the fourth exam if you bring in the badge of the person you are hunting you will get three points, finishing the exam while still holding on to your badge will also be worth three points. You may also bring in other badges not belonging to yourself or your target but they will only be worth one point. These points will determine if you pass or fail the third exam, to pass you will need six points at the end of the testing period. And while there are more rules, those will be further explained on your transport to the island."
{short timeskip}
"You guys just voted on what you wanted to do, felt up traps, and broke a wall? That's… Bullshit!" I exclaimed in outrage, that gauntlet of puzzles was harmful to mind, body, and soul!
"Don't you mean deal with traps? If we 'felt them up' we would be dead, there were all sorts of dangers in our exam." replied Kurapika who was confused by my summary of their experience during the third exam
"...Please don't remind me of that Magenta… I AM straight, ok?! I didn't know she was a he!"
"Don't worry Leorio, there is nothing wrong with having such preferences… though I am surprised this entire conversation went over Kurapika's head," I replied with a smug smile, seeing him like this definitely made me feel better about my experience during the exam.
"YOU BASTAR-" Leorio shouted as he stared at me only to be interrupted by Kurapika
"What do you mean by that? I am fluent in the common language alongside a few others… is something perhaps lost in translation? " He asked in confusion as he pulled out a notebook alongside a pen looking to write down the new information
'I forgot but the Kurta clan was pretty isolationist, maybe they spoke their own language? Anyways he is way too sheltered… meh not my problem!'
"Hmm… use a computer and search it up but make sure the volume is up and you are searching on the videos tab. " I suggested with a serious look on my face as Kurapika began scribbling into his notebook. While he was doing so I met eye contact with Leorio and we both nodded our heads
'I guess he is just using this as a way to get back at Kurapika…" I thought as the conversation began to move onwards
" Who did you two get for your targets?" Leorio asked in modest curiosity looking at the both of us from the corner of his eyes.
"Well I didn't get either of you I suppose, but to entertain your curiosity I was assigned number 89," I said in a small voice to ensure others on the boat did not overhear me.
'And if I remember correctly while observing the badges in the tower, 89 is the… guy with long hair and cleft chin. I don't really know his name, must be a mob who doesn't pass this phase.' I thought while turning my head to look out to sea while waiting for the responses of Kurapika and Leorio
"I got 246 whoever that is…" said Leorio dejectedly
"I'd rather not say, it seems to be counterproductive to tell you guys" Kurapika said with a serious face as he put his notebook back inside his messenger bag
"Hey! We told you ours so why are you refusing to tell us?" Leorio exclaimed in shock, seemingly offended his friend decided not to alert him of his target
"Well I don't care either way if you tell us or not…" *yawn* I replied slowly out as I looked out to sea
'Man the waves of the ocean rocking the boat just make me really tired don't they…'
"Hold up! You're not helping here! And don't fall asleep either!" Leorio said as he grabbed me by my shoulders and began to shake my body as the boat further closed in towards its destination
AN: sorry I didn't upload anything on Thursday or Friday, after finals all motivation to do anything that required thought was simply gone. Instead, I watched all SIX Starwars movies with friends in a marathon. Makes me start to consider what I might do after this fic is done and Starwars has been a part of my childhood since growing up so I might want to write something about that world. IDK, my main idea of writing was to explore something I enjoyed for a long time while introducing elements from something I started getting into recently, hence HXH (one of my first anime) with JoJo's which I started reading like ~5 years ago? So I might do something similar with my next fic once I see this one to its completion.