In the dim, endless tunnel of the first phase of the Hunter Exam, a young boy with unnervingly quiet eyes joins the crowd. His name is Kuro, age fourteen. He possesses a natural talent for observation and a hidden Nen ability he keeps locked away in his heart.
When he teams up with Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio, his deadpan humor clashes with Leorio while his precise advice impresses Kurapika. On Zevil Island, a split-second metallic gleam on his hands catches Killua's eye—a secret the youn
Hunter x Hunter: Liquid Steel - The Hollow and the Sun
The airship's engine hum was nothing like the silence of the underground tunnel. Low, heavy, a vibration that seemed to resonate deep in the body's core. Outside the window, an endless sea of white clouds stretched on forever.
Kuro sat in a window seat, leaning against the wall. His back was straight, but his gaze wasn't really directed at the scenery outside. He simply wasn't looking at anything. His black eyes were deeply sunken, reflecting no trace of emotion. His profile was completely cut off from the surrounding murmur.
The examinees who had passed the First Phase filled the cabin with a slight sense of relief. Some slept from exhaustion, others chatted as their tension eased. But around Kuro alone, there was an invisible, thin wall. No one tried to approach him.
—As if completely oblivious to that atmosphere, a single boy came closer.
"Kuro!"
A bouncing voice. His spiky, deep-green hair swayed in the cabin's light. Gon plopped down without hesitation into the seat next to Kuro. His fishing rod case clanked against the seat.
Kuro shifted his gaze just a fraction. That was all.
"Airships are amazing, huh! Flying above the clouds! It's totally different from the underground tunnel!"
No answer.
Gon didn't mind. His large brown eyes were fixed intently on Kuro's profile.
"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you more about what happened during the exam. You're really fast, Kuro. You didn't seem tired at all on that long road."
"...It was nothing."
Kuro said it curtly. His gaze remained directed out the window.
But Gon was happy just to have gotten that one-word response. His face lit up with a bright smile.
"And back then, when that guy in the suit almost dropped his bag, you picked it up for him right away. I thought that was really kind of you. I still don't remember his name, but he was super grateful."
(*He was just in the way.*)
Kuro muttered that in his heart, but didn't voice it. Yet Gon's words continued.
"Also, you asked the examiner that question. 'Will the next phase be more interesting?' When I heard that, I thought you were a weird person, Kuro."
Kuro's eyebrow moved, just barely.
"What's your point?"
"So, why are you taking the exam?"
A direct pitch. Gon tilted his head, his large eyes filled to the brim with pure curiosity, staring at Kuro.
Kuro didn't answer.
Silence.
A normal person would feel awkward here. They'd withdraw the question, or change the subject. But Gon was different. As if he lacked the circuitry to feel awkwardness, he launched the next question.
"Kuro, what do you want to do when you become a Hunter?"
Kuro's black eyes caught Gon head-on for the first time. Eyes like a deep darkness, unreadable. Gon met that gaze, and still didn't lose his smile.
"...You're noisy."
It was a small voice, as if squeezed out.
It wasn't a complete rejection. Rather, a bewilderment at not knowing how to deal with this seeped into the edges of his words.
Listening to that voice was Killua, sitting a few seats away, legs crossed and looking bored. The boy with spiky silver hair narrowed his cat-like blue eyes and lifted the corner of his mouth.
(*Heh. That Kuro guy, getting grilled by someone that persistent, and all he says is 'You're noisy'? Normally, if you're stuck dealing with someone like that, you'd either drive them off with force or just ignore them completely.*)
Killua stood up without a sound. His stride was as quiet as a cat approaching its prey, and in an instant, he was sitting in the seat directly facing Kuro.
"Yo."
Kuro's gaze shifted from Gon to Killua.
"Why don't you just completely ignore him? That barrage of questions is just stupid. Normally you'd shut that down hard, or just totally blank him."
This was provocation. But it wasn't just teasing. As someone who inhabited the same dark world, it was also a dangerous probing, trying to discern what lay at Kuro's core.
Kuro quietly looked back at Killua.
"For the same reason you're doing what you're doing now."
His voice was flat, devoid of temperature. Killua's blue eyes narrowed like a beast's for just an instant. Their gazes intertwined, and a wordless tension ran between them—a precarious equilibrium, each measuring the other's true nature. A quiet mutual probing between those who implicitly understood that they were not "normal children."
"Huh?"
And then, a voice that once again failed to read the atmosphere cut in. Gon, with a blank expression, looked back and forth between Kuro and Killua.
"What are you two talking about? Does that mean you want to be friends?"
Kuro and Killua fell silent simultaneously.
Gon's face showed he genuinely didn't understand. It was as if a pure question mark was visibly floating above his head.
(*...This guy, seriously?*)
Killua went limp, involuntarily covering his mouth. Surpassing anger, laughter welled up.
"...Pfft, ahaha! You're incredible, you know that! Ah, no, sorry, sorry, I'm not making fun of you."
Killua clutched his stomach and burst out laughing. Gon looked more and more confused. That composition was funny in itself.
Kuro returned his gaze to the wall. But the corners of his mouth relaxed, just barely. A momentary reaction he didn't even notice himself. Seeing that, Killua stifled his laughter and snorted.
(*Ah, this guy's just a kid after all, huh.*)
That was when it happened.
"Ho, young people are as energetic as ever, I see."
A hoarse, yet strangely dignified voice echoed through the cabin.
Turning around, an old man was standing there, as if he had appeared out of nowhere. He wore a white martial arts gi, had a long white beard, and clasped his hands behind his back. His stance was astonishingly natural, as if he had been there all along. And above all, the aura emanating from the old man was abnormal.
A tingling tension ran through Kuro's entire body.
(*This aura—he's a monster.*)
The old man, from behind his narrowed eyes, looked over Gon, Killua, and Kuro as if appraising them carefully, then took a ball from his pocket. An ordinary rubber ball, about the size of a tennis ball.
"I am Netero. The one overseeing this exam. You lot, won't you play with me for a bit?"
The old man—Hunter Association Chairman Netero—said it as casually as if inviting them to a neighborhood park. A chill ran down Kuro's spine. The quality of this old man's aura was on a completely different dimension from any opponent he had fought before. An unfathomable depth, like a bottomless darkness.
"It's a simple game. If you can take this ball from me for even one second, I'll give you a Hunter license."
"Really!?"
Gon's eyes lit up. Killua's expression also changed. It was the eyes of a beast that had found a game.
"Let's do it! I'll definitely take it!"
Gon pounced instantly. Like a fishing rod, he tried to slip into Netero's guard with a supple movement. But Netero just lightly took half a step sideways. Gon's hand sliced through empty air.
"Good, good, the young ones."
"I'm going now, Gon!"
Killua's switch was flipped too. Protean steps honed by assassination arts. The two called out to each other, trying to coordinate and corner Netero. But the old man, as if he could see the future, anticipated their every move.
"So close! Just one more step!"
It was less toying with them, and more the composure of a grandparent playing with grandchildren. Yet, there was an absolute gap in skill that wouldn't even allow them to touch the ball.
Kuro remained leaning against the wall, unmoving. But his black eyes alone tracked the old man's movements without missing a single instant.
(*That transition between start and end points—that's not normal speed. It's not just body enhancement; he's optimizing the movements themselves. There's no wasted motion, so it looks like he's the only one gliding through time.*)
Several minutes passed. Gon's movements suddenly began to slow. It wasn't fatigue. His brain was overheating, trying to force his senses to match the old man's speed.
"Haaah... haaah...!"
Gon's legs tangled, and he collapsed forward. His consciousness had simply snapped off.
"Gon!"
In that instant, the ball Gon had failed to grab fell toward the floor. It bounced with a light *pon* sound.
A single hand picked that ball up.
Without anyone detecting any preparatory motion, without a sound. As if the hand had been at the ball's landing point from the very beginning. A single motion, too natural, like liquid settling into a vessel according to gravity.
It was Kuro.
"Ho."
Netero's eyes narrowed for the first time. The old man was smiling, but his eyes were not. From deep within his wrinkles, a sharp light was emitted, as if scanning Kuro's entire body.
"You could have done it from the start. You knew that, and moved only at the crucial moment. You're an interesting one."
Wordlessly, Kuro gently placed the ball on the floor. That action carried no sentiment whatsoever regarding the success of having snatched the ball.
"Yes."
Kuro stood up and looked straight into Netero's eyes. In those black eyes, still, no emotion surfaced.
"In that case, may I receive a Hunter license?"
It was a demand. No flattery, no hesitation, no respect. Businesslike, just a final confirmation.
Netero, his wrinkled face still bearing a smile, gave no answer. He simply turned slowly on his heel, showing his back. Then, bouncing the ball in one hand with a *pon*, *pon*, he disappeared deeper into the airship. Without saying whether he would grant the license or not.
Kuro watched his retreating back and let out a small breath. His expression was void. As if he had no interest whatsoever in whether his demand had been accepted.
He had moved only to end the noise of this situation.
"Hey, you..."
Killua called out to Kuro's back. His voice carried none of the flippant tone from before. It wasn't respect, nor familiarity. It was an astonishment akin to the aversion one feels for their own kind, upon finding another inhabitant of the same world.
(*This guy, he seriously took the ball just now. He had that Netero's movements completely figured out from the start. For someone like this to be the same age as us...*)
Something black and hot swirled in Killua's chest. It was an emotion he was feeling for the first time.
At that moment, "Ugh, mmm..."
Gon opened his eyes.
"Huh!? Where's the ball!?"
He jumped up and looked around frantically. Then, seeing Kuro standing there, he understood everything.
"Amazing!! You took it, Kuro!? How did you do it!?"
As if forgetting he had been unconscious just moments ago, Gon's eyes sparkled as he pressed closer to Kuro. That defenseless joy was too pure, too dazzling.
For an instant, Kuro opened his mouth slightly, as if searching for words to respond to that brightness.
And closed it.
Instead, the corners of his mouth relaxed slightly. It was an involuntary reaction, one he couldn't fully control himself.
"...It was nothing."
Kuro immediately averted his gaze out the window.
"Show me again sometime! I want to watch properly next time!"
Gon smiled with satisfaction. Killua, watching the two of them from behind, silently etched Kuro's momentary reaction into his memory.
(*This guy isn't just cold-blooded. He's a much, much more troublesome one.*)
"I have something to do."
Saying just that, Kuro turned on his heel and walked away toward the end of a deserted corridor. His back seemed terribly distant, as if carrying a loneliness that allowed no one to step inside.
The remaining Gon and Killua exchanged silent glances.
"...What is that guy carrying, I wonder. It was like he was looking at something really far away, all alone."
Gon murmured, staring at the darkness of the corridor where Kuro had disappeared. His voice held not just curiosity, but a concern from the bottom of his heart.
"Who knows."
Killua answered deliberately coldly, shoving his hands in his pockets.
(*Just how much is he hiding how serious he is? That unfathomable depth isn't
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