Kurapika barely opened his mouth. Ronin already knew what he wanted.
The earlier insult could wait until they were alone. The words had been pushed by suggestion, but both of them understood the rest. If none of that doubt had lived in Kurapika to begin with, the ability would have had nothing to amplify. Leave it unspoken and it would sit between them like a stone.
Ronin already had the answer prepared. Everything he had done tracked back to revenge for the Kurta. He had not once treated it as optional. The only thing that looked suspicious was how much he knew—too much for the role he was supposed to occupy. The Scarlet Eyes were the cleanest cover. Fused eyes could explain any piece of intelligence. Kurapika could doubt it. He would never be able to prove it.
If he refused to believe it, that was his problem. A trip to the Dark Continent did not actually require him. Planning mattered. In the field, survival skill, experience, and raw strength mattered more. Ronin had all three. Unkind as it was, Kurapika's Hatsu helped him less than Shizuku's. Blinky plus Owl meant he would not have to think about supplies for the entire crossing.
He took Pairo's head from Kurapika's hands, opened the case, and reached inside.
Then he stopped in front of Pakunoda.
He knew exactly what Kurapika was asking for. Impure World Reincarnation was not true resurrection. Kurapika still wanted to talk to Pairo. That want sat higher than seeing his parents.
Pakunoda felt the danger.
"Chrollo," she said. First words since arriving. "Is he dead?"
It was a feeling, not knowledge. She had been afraid to ask. A yes would be the real end. She could feel Ronin preparing to do something to her. If she did not ask now, she would not get another chance.
She did not know what she wanted the answer to be. She wanted Chrollo alive. She also wanted to find him on the other side. The contradiction felt like going insane.
If he was alive, she would wish him well and tell him to stay far away from this man. If he was dead, she wanted the next world to let her stand close to him again—the way it had been when they were children, not the distance she had been given since.
"Dead," Ronin said.
The look that crossed her face was too twisted to name. He could have lied. There was no point.
He tore a scrap of flesh from the raw edge of Pairo's neck. That was enough material.
Pakunoda's eyes went dull. When she lifted her head again, the request in them was simple.
Kill me.
Ronin did not make her wait. A kunai marked with the seal took her through the skull.
Impure World Reincarnation caught. Sand and earth wrapped her body. Height dropped. Shape changed.
Kortopi watched it happen with the grim sympathy of a man who knew the next name on the list was his.
Who was even left? Before he blacked out, the field had held two people: Hisoka, and Machi sealed in the earth. Whether those two were still breathing was another question.
His focus started to slip.
Ronin looked at him and almost smiled. He had no intention of killing Kortopi. Left hand touches, right hand copies. The ability was as useful as Owl's. Kortopi did not even need to use it himself. Threads could run the body. Keep him the same way he kept Owl—inside the cloth.
The large cloth snapped shut before Kortopi could react. Ronin folded it and put it in his pocket.
Pakunoda's corpse finished changing.
A black-haired boy stood in the cave. Cracks ran across his skin. Both eyes were scarlet. Even with those eyes he looked simple, almost harmless.
He woke, saw Kurapika a few steps away, already crying, and the surprise hit him first.
"Kurapika!"
Then he saw the head Ronin had just set back into Kurapika's arms.
His own head.
The smile that followed was small and bitter.
"So I already died."
He said it quietly. Then he noticed Ronin.
"Big Brother Ronin."
"Yeah."
Ronin did not cry. He and this Pairo did not share those memories.
Kurapika finally stepped forward.
Ronin let out a breath, gestured to the girls who were already crying with him, and led them out of the cave.
The giant snake watched from the trees and understood none of it. When the others left, it slid back into the roots and hid.
For a while the cave held only Kurapika and Pairo.