Chapter 10
Kiyomi and Nicholas slowly walks down the street. Nicholas huffs and pants behind Kiyomi.
"How are you... not... tired-" He struggles to say. Kiyomi slowly turns her head to look at him.
"We haven't been walking that long..." Kiyomi softly says turning her body towards Nicholas.
"HUH! WE HAVE BEEN WALKING FOR-" He looks at his computer and then back at Kiyomi. "FOR... SEVENTEEN HOURS... TWENTY FOUR MINUTES... AND FIFTEEN SECONDS!"
"Seventeen hours, twenty four minutes and sixteen seconds now!" Kiyomi bubbles.
"NO! THAT'S NOT HOW- AUGGGH! Lets... just stop for a... bit." Nicholas huffs as he sits down on a rock on the side of the road. Kiyomi slowly walks up towards him and crosses her arms.
"You know... if we don't continue we might miss the exam..."
"Well- If you hadn't fought the hobo on the bus we would have been there by now!" He seethes.
"Mmm... So, it's my fault now?" Kiyomi places her fists on her waist and tilts her head to the side, staring at Nicholas with wide eyes. Nicholas scrunches his face and looks away.
"Where are you even from? You're dressed like a homeless person..." He huffs. Kiyomi furrows her eyebrows and stands up straight.
"Huh? That was random... What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" She asks, looking down at her clothes. She's wearing loose shorts and a big tee. She has a long sleeve shirt underneath it. Her hair is long and tied into a bun in the back of her head.
"You don't think you look homeless? The only expensive looking thing on you is the earring on your left ear... Now that I look at it- It didn't have that hand charm on it..." He says pointing at her earring. She slowly touches the earring and then smiles.
"Right. This earring is- mmm... how do I explain it-" Kiyomi softly bubbles.
"You're saying that as if I can't understand what your small brain can comprehend." He sighs.
"What's with you constantly saying that? I am not as stupid as you make me seem!" She huffs.
"Pft... yeah okay-" Nicholas scoffs. She relaxes her eyes and places her fists on her waist again.
"How did you look up that guy earlier? Did you know who he was already?"
"What guy? You mean the hobo on the bus?"
"Yeah him..." She says nodding and smiling.
"It wasn't hard... I can find anything and anyone on my baby." He says rubbing the back of his computer. Kiyomi stares at him with a blank expression on her face.
"You calling it your baby is such a creepy thing to say..." She blankly says. He furrows his eyebrows and looks away from her. "So can you look me up on that baby of yours!" She bubbles, leaning towards him a bit. He looks her in the eyes and blushes looking away again.
"Yea- of course..."
"OOO! Really! Lemme see! Lemme see!"
He sighs and nods, quickly typing in his computer. Kiyomi stands up straight and waits for him to finish. She relaxes her face, hiding the fear of him finding something about her.
"Huh..." He huffs with a shocked look on his face.
"What?"
"I can't find anything... Your name is Kiyomi right?" He asks looking back at her.
"Mhm..." She hums, a blank expression still on her face.
"How old are you?"
"Eleven... and a half..." She slowly responds.
"Weird... I can't find you in here... and I can't find your family either..." He sighs.
"Weird..." She listlessly says. Nicholas narrows his eyes at her causing her to look back at him.
"What are you..." He says in a worried tone. She stares him in the eyes and smiles. Her eyes turn purple and he shivers. He stands up and backs away from her.
"What am I?" She chuckles.
"Y-yeah... You aren't- a demon... are you?" He quavers. Her eyes turn back to normal and she laughs. "Huh... WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!"
"For someone who's so smart you sound pretty dumb!" She laughs.
"WHAT! YOU'RE THE ONE WITH THE COLOR CHANGING EYES!" He cries.
"Oh yeah- my eyes do that don't they..." She calmly says placing her hand over her right eye.
"Why do you say that as if you didn't know!" Nicholas huffs.
"I forget they do that sometimes." She chuckles.
"..." Nicholas stares at Kiyomi with an irritated look on his face.
GRUMBLE
"Was that your stomach or your ass?" Kiyomi asks pointing at Nicholas's stomach.
"Obviously my stomach..." He rasps.
"Mmm... I couldn't tell." She chuckles.
"Tch-"
"Welp... Where's the nearest restaurant... I also am hungry."
"You're also hungry?"
"Yep."
"It's I. am. also. hungry..." He corrects.
"I said that..." Kiyomi huffs.
"No you- whatever... I will look up the nearest rest stop..." He sighs as he types in his computer. Kiyomi stares at him as he types. "The next rest stop is... ten miles away..."
"Oh- that's not far!" Kiyomi bubbles.
"NOT FAR!!! WE ALREADY WALKED FIFTY MILES! THAT TOOK US SEVENTEEN HOURS!" He shouts.
"Yeah... well if you weren't so slow it wouldn't have taken that long." She blankly responds.
"HUH! THATS HOW LONG IT NORMALLY TAKES TO WALK FIFTY MILES!"
"Well... it takes me ten hours to travel one hundred miles... so if it was fifty miles it will take me half the time."
"WHAT! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!" He cries out.
"I don't know... S- Sir... had me walk one hundred miles from the dessert back to the city without food or water... it took me ten hours. Any longer I would have probably died from exhaustion and dehydration..."
"What? Who the hell is this sir person... That's torturous!" He huffs.
"It is?" Kiyomi says tilting her head to the side a bit and looking at Nicholas confused.
"What do you mean it is? OBVIOUSLY!"
"... weird- I didn't even think of it that way... He's done worse to me..." Kiyomi calmly says, smiling at Nicholas. He furrows his eyebrows and frowns a bit.
"You're weird as hell." He huffs and stands up, walking on the side of the road.
"Heheh... Thank you." She bubbles.
"AGAIN! NOT A COMPLIMENT!"
Kiyomi walks beside Nicholas. It's been an hour and fifty minutes and they aren't close to where they have to go due to Nicholas walking extremely slow and stopping for breaks. He's completely drenched in sweat and sluggishly walking. Kiyomi is playing with an exotic looking rock she found amongst the gravel.
"You sure this isn't valuable?" Kiyomi asks showing the boy the rock.
"No... It's just a stupid thunder egg..."
"A thunder egg? But it's a rock..." She says turning the rock around in her hand.
"YESSSSS... But it's called a THUNDER EGG!" Nicholas loudly sighs.
"Mmm. Imma name it!" She bubbles.
"Eh? You're going to name it?" He sighs.
"Mhm mhm!" She hums.
"Thats stupid... It's just a rock..."
"Okay? It's my rock! So I can name it!"
"Tch... whatever-" he sighs.
"Mmm- what should I name you." Kiyomi says holding the rock close to her face. Staring deeply at it. "I will name yooooooouuuuuuu... NIAOMI!" She shouts and smiles, rubbing the rock up and down her cheek, cupping it in her hand. Nicholas furrows his eyebrows and side eyes Kiyomi.
"Really? You're going to name it Niaomi..." He huffs.
"Yeah? Got a problem with it?" Kiyomi asks, looking back at Nicholas.
"No... I- Whatever... I'm not surprised... the more I'm around you the more my brain deteriorates."
Kiyomi stares at him and back at the rock. She smiles at the rock and examines it more, admiring its beauty.
"AHHHH! I CAN'T WALK ANYMORE! MY LEGS HURT!" He groans and falls to the ground. Kiyomi stops walking and stares at him.
"Come on... You can't give up already..." She sighs.
"I can't..." He pants and lays down on his back, gasping for air.
"You won't be able to survive the hunter exam if you are too physically weak to walk this far..."
"I CAN! JUST BECAUSE I'M NOT PHYSICALLY AS STRONG DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T DO IT!"
"Yeah? What makes you say that?" She blankly asks as her eyes bores into his. He flinches and sits up sighing a bit.
"I have it all planned out. I did my research and I already know-"
"I don't care... You aren't going to be able to make it..." Kiyomi huffs walking closer to Nicholas.
"AND YOU THINK YOU WILL? Just cause you know how to swing a blade doesn't mean you're good enough to pass..." He fumes, standing up on both feet and glaring at Kiyomi.
"You make it seem like I'm dumb... but I'm not. It's getting annoying-" She seethes.
"That's... because... you... are" He huffs into Kiyomi's face. Kiyomi leans closer to him and tilts her head, sadistically smiling at him.
"Wanna say that again... tubby." She gibes.
VRROOOOOM
The sound of a truck coming closer to them from behind them makes them both turn towards the noise.
"A TRUCK!" Nicholas shouts grabbing his computer and running into the street. He waves his arms and jumps up and down. "HEEEYYYY!" The truck stops in front of him, and a man leans his head out the truck, staring at Kiyomi.
"Need a ride little lady?" He sooths. She narrows his eyes at the man and makes a semi disgusted face.
"YES! I NEED A RIDE!" Nicholas says rushing towards the window the man was leaning out of. The man looks at the boy weirdly and back at Kiyomi smiling.
"Yeah... Me and my friend needs a ride." Kiyomi softly replies. He smiles and nods.
"Where you need a ride to... pretty little lady..."
"Ew- you know she's like five-" Nicholas rasps in disgusts.
"I am not five!" Kiyomi says stomping on Nicholas's foot. He screeches in pain, grabbing his foot and jumping up and down. He drops his computer doing so and quickly rushes to grab it. "Wait... where does the exam take place?" She asks Nicholas who's dusting off his laptop. He glares at Kiyomi then sighs.
The two of them sit in the front seat beside the man driving the truck. Nicholas is leaning against the car door a bit, holding the computer in his hand.
"So, you two have been walking for hours alone? Isn't that dangerous?" The man chuckles.
"I guess..." Kiyomi listlessly says not paying attention much to what the man is saying. The man smiles at Kiyomi and then slowly looks at Nicholas.
"Are you both dating?" The man asks looking out the window.
"No- Don't insult me..." Nicholas huffs.
"I will never date a cocky lowlife like him." Kiyomi sighs.
"Exactly!" Nicholas agrees nodding his head constantly. "WAIT WHAT!"
The man belly laughs and shakes his head. "You're cute... you know that." He says looking at Kiyomi.
Both Kiyomi and Nicholas stare at the man in a weird way.
"What are your intentions cause you're weirding me out." Kiyomi asks gripping her rock.
"What intentions? I just think you're cute. I don't have intentions." He chuckles.
TING
Kiyomi furrows her eyebrows and narrows her eyes, glaring at the man.
"Yeah- I find that hard to believe..." Nicholas comments. The man relaxes his eyes and moves his hand to the pocket on the door. The car starts to slow down causing Kiyomi's eyes to relax.
"Chain of Restraint" Kiyomi whispers under her breath. A chain comes out her wrist, similar to spider webs and a charm that looks like a lock drops down beside the hand charm on her drop chain earring.
"Oh? Is that what you-" The man starts. He gasps when a chain wraps around his body, tightening around him. The car stops moving and he slowly looks at Kiyomi with shock in his eyes. Her eyes glow purple and beams into his eyes. He shivers in fear.
Chains of Restraint... it appears when she says the words "Chains of Restraint. A lock appears at the bottom of her drop chain earring. A chain appears in her hand and moves however she chooses it to move. It's laced in her own aura and when wrapped around another it sucks the aura out of them causing them to become weak. Doing this makes it easy to manipulate someone. When caught in the chain a person can't move unless Kiyomi tells them too.
"Drive us to our destination." She demands. His eyes relax and he smiles, looking forward and placing both hands on the wheel.
"Yes ma'am" He softly says as the car starts moving again.
After driving a few hours, they finally make it to the city. Kiyomi slowly walks beside Nicholas who seems a lot better.
"Do you think we should change before we get to the place?" Kiyomi asks Nicholas.
"Usually, I would call you an Idiot... but I agree with you this time." He sighs. "Like- look at my nicely sewn shirt." He pouts lifting his arm up. Kiyomi looks at the sweat stain under his armpit in disgust.
"Please put your arm down... I don't want to see that." She says looking away and motioning him to lower his arm.
They walk into a nice-looking store that has a bunch of nice outfits. Kiyomi stands in a dressing room. She stares at herself in the mirror. She's wearing a long sleeve turtleneck. On the ends of the sleeves its wide. The shirt is peach at the top and then fades into a light yellow at the bottom of the sleeves. There's a dress over her top that covers her chest and goes down to her mid thighs. It's a very dark red. The dress is a lighter red on the inside. She lifts up her legs a bit to examine the loose peach socks that goes up below her knees. And on her feet are a pair of very dark red sneakers.
She slowly lifts up her dress to see ruffly white shorts. She sighs letting the dress drop down.
"I feel overdressed..." Kiyomi pouts walking out the dressing room.
"No noooo- you look so pretty~" The woman bubbles. "Now let's fix your hair~" She says pulling Kiyomi to sit on a chair. The woman combs Kiyomi's hair out and braids it into four braids. Two in the back and two to the side. "You have long hair!" the woman bubbles. Kiyomi jumps off the chair and stares at herself in the mirror. She lifts her hair to examine the rope like rubber bands tied at the ends of her braids. The rubber bands are peach.
"I should cut my hair... it's getting too long..." Kiyomi sighs. The woman places a very dark red pillbox hat on her head.
"So cute!" The woman bubbles loudly.
"YES SO CUTE!" All the other woman shout. Kiyomi furrows her eyebrows and frowns a bit. She looks around the room, waiting for Nicholas to hurry up. She stops walking when she sees a light red overland cloak.
"Can I get this too?" Kiyomi asks pointing at the cloak. The woman nods, helping it on her.
Kiyomi looks at herself in the mirror and sighs.
"I look insanely overdressed." She sighs.
"Puny brain... is that you?" Nicholas rasps as he approaches Kiyomi. Kiyomi turns to look at him. He stops walking and stares at her with wide eyes. "Wow... you look..."
"Stupid.... yeah I know..."
"No- uh... What do you think about my outfit?" He hesitantly says in a shaky voice. Kiyomi stares at him for a bit and tilts her head to the side. His face starts to turn red from staring her in the eyes.
"You look like a nerd." She blankly says.
"WHAAAA!"
Both Kiyomi and Nicholas stand in the elevator, heading down to the exam area. The doors open and a short green gum drop looking guy gives them a badge. Nicholas is given number one hundred and eighty seven and Kiyomi is given one hundred and eighty eight. Kiyomi walks forward, looking around at everyone.
"So... I fulfilled our agreement... can you get this off me..." Nicholas asks Kiyomi, grabbing her shoulder. She slowly looks at him and smiles.
"Right. Let me see your hand." She replies. He hands her his hand and her eyes turn purple.
"Nicholas has fulfilled my needs... reward him greatly." She says, the mark on his hand disappears. His eyes widen and he slowly looks at Kiyomi. She smiles back at him. "I don't know what you have been rewarded with, but I hope it's something knowledgeable." She bubbles. "Bye bye tubby." She says waving at him with her back turned as she walks away.
He stands still staring at her with wide eyes.
"What... did I-" He quickly opens and types up the phantom trope into his computer, reading many things about them and quickly looks at Kiyomi feeling fear. She looks back and him and smiles at him with purple eyes. Her eyes go back to normal as she turns her head away again, disappearing in the crowd.