Kurapika approached them at a brisk pace, only to slow when his eyes landed on Tonpa.
His gaze shifted between him and Gon as though he were trying to understand why the Rookie Crusher was standing beside the boy—and why Gon seemed perfectly comfortable with his presence.
It was the perfect moment for another performance.
Tonpa lowered his head, then slowly clenched his fist.
“I’m sorry.”
Kurapika’s expression stalled somewhere between surprise and confusion.
Tonpa raised his eyes to Gon, making certain that the regret in them was impossible to miss.
“If I’d arrived even a little earlier, maybe I could have helped.
I heard the sounds of fighting and ran as fast as I could, but it was already over by the time I got there.
I found Gon alone, and Hisoka was nowhere in sight.”
It was a good story because it mixed the lie with a little truth.
Tonpa really had heard the fighting, and he had eventually found Gon.
He simply left out the time he had spent hiding behind a tree, waiting for Hisoka to leave.
Gon spoke immediately.
“Don’t blame yourself.
There was nothing you could’ve done.
Hisoka is incredibly strong.”
“But I left you alone against him.”
“You saved Killua and me from that frog.
You can’t save everyone every time.”
Tonpa’s mouth trembled slightly, as though the words had moved him.
Inside, he was struggling to keep himself from smiling.
‘Keep going, Gon.
If you continue defending me like this, I might soon be able to save money on acting lessons.’
A soft chime sounded inside his head.
[Gon Freecss: Believes your regret is sincere.]
[Kurapika: Stunned by your behavior.]
Tonpa glanced at Kurapika from the corner of his eye.
The blond youth was staring at him in silence.
Judging by his expression, the possibility that Tonpa had suffered a blow to the head seemed far more reasonable than the idea that he had suddenly developed a conscience.
Another message appeared.
[Kurapika: Is not convinced you have changed.]
‘Well, you can’t please everyone.’
Tonpa sighed, then forced a trace of resolve back onto his face.
“We need to hurry.
Hisoka took Leorio to the location of the Second Phase, but…” He looked between the trees, feigning uncertainty.
“Do either of you know the way?
I lost my sense of direction in the fog.”
“I don’t know the way,” Gon said simply, “but I can follow Leorio’s scent.”
Kurapika turned toward him.
“His scent?”
Gon nodded as though he had just offered the most natural solution in the world.
“I memorized it while we were together.
I can still smell him.”
Tonpa widened his eyes and played his part.
“You can track him by scent across the entire swamp?”
“Yeah.”
Tonpa stared at him for two seconds before muttering, “That is an extremely… useful talent.”
‘And an extremely terrifying one.’
Kurapika appeared unable to decide which was stranger: Gon’s ability to track people with his nose, or Tonpa behaving like a human being who cared about other people’s safety.
Gon inhaled several times, then pointed in one direction.
“This way.”
He set off between the trees, and Kurapika and Tonpa followed.
The fog had begun to thin, but the ground remained damp and tangled with roots.
Gon moved confidently ahead of them, adjusting his direction whenever he caught a stronger trace of Leorio’s scent, while Tonpa maintained a steady pace beside the others.
After a while, Tonpa moved a few steps ahead, leaving Gon and Kurapika behind him.
Kurapika lowered his voice, though not enough to escape the System’s notice.
“Gon, don’t you think Tonpa is acting strangely?”
Gon looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“I heard about him before the exam started.
He has participated many times, and he’s infamous for deceiving newcomers and ruining their chances.
Someone like that doesn’t change this easily or this suddenly.”
Gon glanced at Tonpa’s back.
“But he helped Killua and me.
He let the frog swallow him instead of us.
He could have died.”
“I’m not denying that, but he may want something from you.”
Gon thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“I think he really regrets what he did.
He said he wanted to make up for all the bad things he’s done.”
Tonpa continued walking without turning around.
He couldn’t hear every word clearly, but the windows appearing before his eyes filled in everything he missed.
[Kurapika: Is warning Gon Freecss about you.]
[Kurapika: Still doubts your motives.]
[Kurapika’s Trust Level: 0%]
Tonpa felt a small sting to his pride.
‘There was no need to show me the zero again.’
Even so, things were going better than he had expected.
Kurapika’s suspicion was natural.
It would have been stranger if he had believed Tonpa so easily.
What mattered was that Gon had begun defending him without being prompted.
Tonpa was no longer the only person selling the lie.
He now had his first victim helping him market it.
After some time, light began filtering through the trees.
The fog receded, and the ground gradually became drier until the three of them finally emerged from Swindlers’ Swamp.
A large building with a high roof stood before them, with dozens of applicants gathered outside.
Some sat on the ground recovering their breath, while others stood in silence and watched the latest arrivals.
Kurapika looked up at the building.
“We made it in time.”
Tonpa swept his gaze across the crowd.
He spotted Hanzo, the needle-covered man, and several other familiar faces that had survived the swamp.
Then he saw Killua.
The white-haired boy was standing beside Leorio, a dark bruise clearly visible on the older man’s face.
The moment Gon saw his friend, his expression brightened.
“Killua!”
Killua turned toward them.
His gaze moved from Gon to Kurapika before lingering briefly on Tonpa.
“So you found him.”
Gon nodded.
“Kurapika came back to us.
What about you?
Did you find Leorio?”
Killua shook his head and gestured toward the man beside him.
“Not inside the swamp.
I searched the direction I took and couldn’t find anyone, so I decided to keep going toward the Second Phase.
Leorio was already here when I arrived.”
Gon looked at the bruise on Leorio’s face.
“Hisoka brought him?”
“Yeah.” Killua cast a sideways glance toward the edge of the crowd.
“Looks like he decided to start a delivery service for injured applicants.”
‘Excellent service, assuming one ignored the fact that the courier caused the injury himself.’
Gon approached Killua.
“I managed to follow Leorio’s scent all the way here.”
Killua blinked, then looked at Gon’s nose.
“Of course you did.”
He didn’t look nearly as surprised as Kurapika had.
Apparently, Gon possessing the nose of a hunting dog had already become just another fact for him to accept.
“Sorry we were separated for so long,” Gon said.
Killua turned his face slightly away.
“It’s fine.
I didn’t find anything anyway.”
Kurapika joined them, and Killua quickly looked him over before speaking again.
“At least our search wasn’t completely useless.”
Tonpa concealed his relief.
Killua had returned from a separate route, Leorio had reached the Second Phase, and Kurapika had arrived with Gon.
Every piece had returned to its proper place without Tonpa needing to invent another explanation.
Then he saw Hisoka.
The magician stood calmly at the edge of the crowd as though he hadn’t killed several applicants only a short while ago.
When his eyes passed over Tonpa, the latter immediately looked away.
‘I don’t know you, you don’t know me, and let’s keep our beautiful relationship that way.’
Tonpa turned his attention back to Leorio.
His expression transformed at once.
“Leorio!”
He rushed toward him.
Leorio turned at the sound of his voice, then took half a step back when he saw Tonpa approaching.
“You?”
Tonpa reached him and gripped him by the upper arms, examining the bruise on his face with obvious concern.
“Are you all right?
Did Hisoka hit you anywhere else?”
Leorio stared at him as though the man who had tried to slip him laxatives a few hours earlier had suddenly decided to become his personal physician.
“What happened to you?”
“I was worried about you.”
“You were what?”
Gon, Kurapika, and Killua reached them.
Gon smiled when he saw Leorio standing.
“Tonpa helped Killua and me inside the swamp.
Then he came looking for us when he heard the fighting.”
Then back to Tonpa.
Then to Gon again.
“He helped you?
Tonpa?”
Gon nodded eagerly.
Killua folded his arms and added, “If letting a giant frog swallow him instead of us counts as helping, then he really did help.”
Leorio whipped his head toward Tonpa so sharply that his bruise probably protested.
“A frog swallowed you?”
Tonpa released his arms and sighed.
“I had a plan.”
“You poured juice into its stomach until it vomited you back out,” Killua said.
“I said I had a plan.
I never said it was elegant.”
Leorio stared at him for several seconds, his confusion only deepening instead of producing a useful answer.
Tonpa released a convincingly relieved sigh.
“The important thing is that you’re all right.
I thought I’d lost my chance to apologize to you.”
The suspicion on Leorio’s face was even more prominent than his bruise.
[Leorio: Confused.]
[Leorio: Suspects a trick.]
[Leorio’s Trust Level: 0%]
‘Yes, I understand.
Everyone has a beautiful zero except Gon.’
Before Tonpa could continue his attempt, Satotz approached the applicants.
He stopped in front of the building and waited until the voices died down before announcing the conclusion of the First Phase of the Hunter Exam.
He informed the successful applicants that his role had ended and wished them luck in the Second Phase.
Then he bowed his head and left with his usual calm stride.
As soon as Satotz moved away, Leorio grabbed Gon by the arm.
“Come with me for a moment.”
He dragged him several steps away, apparently convinced that such a short distance would prevent Tonpa from hearing him.
Unfortunately, Leorio possessed no genuine talent for whispering.
“Listen carefully,” he said, lowering his voice.
“That man is a con artist.
I don’t know why he did what he did in the swamp, but he definitely wants something from you.”
Gon glanced at Tonpa and found him standing beside Kurapika and Killua with a perfectly innocent expression.
“Don’t worry.
He really did save us.”
“That’s exactly what worries me!
That Tonpa guy doesn’t look like the type who’d risk his lunch to save someone, let alone his life!”
“Maybe he changed.”
Leorio stared at Gon as though the boy had just claimed that Hisoka had abandoned the Hunter Exam to open an orphanage.
“People don’t change that quickly.”
Gon smiled.
“I’ll be careful, but I don’t think he wants to hurt us.”
A soft chime sounded inside Tonpa’s head.
[Leorio: Is warning Gon Freecss about you.]
[Gon Freecss: Partially rejected the warning.]
[Gon Freecss’s Trust Level remains at 5%.]
The number hadn’t increased, but Tonpa wasn’t disappointed.
Gon was now defending him to someone else.
That development was worth far more than two temporary percentage points.
‘Five percent has already started working on my behalf.’
Before the two of them returned, a deep sound came from inside the building.
Its enormous doors slowly began to open, silencing every conversation as all eyes turned toward them.
Killua returned to Gon’s side while Leorio and Kurapika moved closer.
Tonpa joined them, carefully choosing a position that didn’t place him too close to Hisoka.
When the doors opened, they revealed a vast hall.
At the far end, a young woman sat on a sofa with one leg crossed over the other.
Her hair had been tied into several stiff, jutting tufts, and a confident smile rested on her face.
Behind the sofa sat an enormous man whose body resembled a wall of flesh.
The moment the applicants entered, a long growl rumbled from his stomach and echoed through the hall.
The young woman raised a hand beside her face.
“Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving,” the enormous man answered without hesitation.
The applicants waited for an explanation, but what followed left several of them staring at the examiners in disbelief.
The pair announced that they were Gourmet Hunters—and that the theme of the Second Phase was cooking.
The applicants would be required to prepare dishes chosen by the examiners, and no one would pass until they were satisfied with the taste.
Voices of protest immediately rose throughout the hall.
Tonpa, meanwhile, stared at the young woman sitting on the sofa as his happiness gradually disappeared.
He remembered this phase.
More importantly, he remembered Menchi’s temper.
‘Wonderful… I survived Hisoka, only to have my future decided by a plate of food.’