In the days that followed, Kisho happily began his vacation life at Gon's home.
He would wake up early and play a round of hide-and-seek with Gon in the forest. After noon, he would help out at the family's small tavern—it counted as working in exchange for food and lodging.
Although Mito wasn't very willing to let him help, repeatedly pushing him out of the back kitchen, in the end she still couldn't out-argue him.
Besides carrying plates, scrubbing pots, and washing dishes, Kisho also found a run-down, nearly deserted internet café on Whale Island. Through online shopping with "same-day delivery," he bought a guitar, and in the evenings he would occasionally fill in as a resident singer at the tavern.
At first, when Mito heard Kisho say he wanted to try being a musician at the tavern, she treated it indulgently, thinking it was just a child's playful whim, and generously let him do as he pleased. She never expected that after hearing his performance on the very first night, she would be utterly astonished—and that only made her even more curious about Kisho's background.
There weren't many residents on Whale Island, but as a transit island, there was no shortage of sailors and fishermen coming and going.
The sea and fine wine are a sailor's romance. Precisely because of that, every night Mito's small tavern was packed with noise and people.
Gradually, the sailors discovered that this tavern, which had originally focused on food and drinks, now had an additional feature: a highly skilled guitarist.
Though the guitarist was still a child, with just a simple guitar he could play songs in many different styles. Every single piece was irresistibly catchy, invigorating the spirit and drawing listeners into intoxicated immersion.
As this news spread by word of mouth among island residents and sailors alike, Kisho's name completely spread across Whale Island. Every time he went out, residents who recognized him would greet him—and then stuff him full of all kinds of food.
The weather grew colder, and time flew by.
Early morning.
Kisho quietly got up from his bed, walked to another table in the room, and on the desk calendar circled the number "thirty."
A few days earlier, after enjoying four months of comfortable, normal life, Kisho received a text message from Shalnark—one he had almost completely forgotten about:
"I've already helped you sign up online. The boss also personally signed the registration form for you. Once you contact me, I'll send it to you by fax."
"By the way, the boss said the signing fee is one million Jenny."
Kisho only saw the first sentence, then selectively ignored the second.
Damn it—Chrollo, that annoying guy who clearly isn't short on money yet still insists on charging for everything!
While cursing someone under his breath, Kisho carefully pulled open the drawer and looked at the registration form inside, worth one million and ten Jenny.
In the guardian column were a few flamboyant characters, written in exactly the same handwriting as the sample letters someone had shown him when teaching him how to write a year ago, right after he first came to this world.
Thinking of that, Kisho froze for a moment.
He had already been in this world for over a year now—within this not-so-long span of time, the things he'd experienced were things his previous self could never have imagined even in dreams.
Kisho looked once more at that name. The first initial of the given name was "K," and the first initial of the surname was "L."
Kisho was speechless.
A trashy boss who even uses the real initials of his true name for an alias—was he really not afraid of leaving traces and getting caught?
He gently pushed the drawer back in and glanced at Gon, who was still sleeping soundly beside him.
Over these three months, Gon hadn't managed to catch him even once in their games of hide-and-seek. Yet he'd never shown the slightest discouragement, nor had he ever said he didn't want to keep playing. On the contrary, his fighting spirit grew stronger with each passing day.
"Last day, Gon. If you still don't catch me today, you won't get another chance."
Looking at Gon, Kisho smiled.
"Well, even if this really is your last chance, I'm not going easy on you."
With that thought, Kisho used aura to erase the sound of opening the window, then leapt down through it.
But what he didn't expect was that not long after he left, Gon quietly opened his eyes, revealing a triumphant smile that had successfully fooled someone.
...
Kisho stepped across the supple grass beneath his feet, moving through the forest while continuously adjusting the frequency of the aura and nen within his body, until he could completely blend into his surroundings.
However, this method required constant perception of the environment and continuous self-adjustment, consuming a great amount of nen. With his current reserves, he could barely maintain it for an hour.
Kisho had experimented on Gon before. In that game, he hadn't hidden at all, yet when Gon ran right past him—less than two meters away—he still failed to notice him.
At that point, Kisho could be considered to have mastered a level of concealment even deeper than "Zetsu," usable within forests. Outside of forest environments, though, he would likely still need some time to reacquaint himself with the surroundings.
Beyond that, an even greater gain was that by adjusting his aura, Kisho could disguise himself in the eyes of other nen users as an ordinary person who didn't use nen at all.
Ordinary people wouldn't attract the vigilance of nen users. More importantly, no one would think that an "ordinary person" could be a wanted "Spider" with a bounty on his back. To put it bluntly, Kisho was being cautious—afraid of being discovered during the Hunter Exam and then immediately hauled off to prison for the reward.
Kisho released the concealment. Gon was still asleep, and judging by his long-standing habit of never getting up before eight, he should still be sleeping at this hour.
Since the game hadn't started yet, there was no need to be so tense. Kisho relaxed and sat down on the ground.
He raised both hands.
Previously, when he used Noah Barton's nen ability, he could only convert one elemental ability at a time. But now—
Kisho slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a thin whirlwind gradually took shape in his left hand and continued to expand, while his right hand supported a flickering flame.
Under his control, the flame and the whirlwind—though extremely reluctant—slowly fused together, becoming a fiercely burning tornado.
Kisho named this technique "Fire Whirl."
This was the third way to play with "frequency"—forcing two nen elements that were originally impossible to merge to combine by adjusting their frequencies.
The instability within forcibly fused elements skyrockets due to compression. At the instant control is released, it can cause an explosion far more violent than that of a single element alone.
Besides Fire Whirl, he was still researching other fusion methods.
Because the Hunter Exam was about to begin, he had prioritized developing the skill with the highest damage output.
To avoid triggering a forest fire, Kisho dispersed the Fire Whirl in his hand.
Although it was only a tiny thing while in his grasp, Kisho could feel its destructive power more clearly than anyone else—roughly equivalent to a full-force punch using the "Hard" technique while wearing his badge, yet it consumed only one-tenth the nen.
With this newly developed long-range attack, he felt even more confident about the upcoming Hunter Exam.
Kisho smiled faintly.
"As expected—no matter where you are, a mage's sustained destructive power still surpasses that of a berserker."
Just as he was feeling smug and carried away—
A small hand silently reached out from behind him.
By the time Kisho sensed something was wrong, it was already too late.
History was astonishingly similar to what had happened when he first arrived on Whale Island and got tangled up with Gon.
Sneaking up like a little cat, Gon grabbed his collar from behind. Facing Kisho's darkened expression, he showed a bright, sunny smile.
"Kisho, I caught you!"