Chapter 49
Kuroro made no comment.
It's not that there was none at all, but at least, that wasn't the reply I was hoping for.
“You’ve got me a little confused,” he said, “Ray.”
Instead of giving a direct answer, he changed the subject, adopting the demeanor of an older brother, and said, "I don't like surprises, and you're always so willful... I just hope you can cooperate with us for a while."
“This should have been a simple matter to resolve,” he said, deftly deflecting the burden I had thrown at him. Then, turning to Kurt, he spoke with his usual persuasive, flowing, and incredibly coherent style, “Are you trying to complicate things?”
Kurt shook his head.
The alliance I had built up crumbled just like that, while the instigator calmly pulled out the book he had just put away and opened it, seemingly completely unconcerned about the victory.
He always won effortlessly, as if everything was under his control.
Even if his plans are occasionally disrupted by changes, he can still carve out a satisfactory path through the chaos.
It's no wonder that I was dumped by a man like that. He has too many things on his mind, so naturally he can't care about someone as insignificant as me.
In other words, with his methods, maintaining our relationship would be a piece of cake; he just doesn't want to.
The regret I caused him, and the occasional pang of pain that pierced his heart, was probably equivalent to the feeling of going out for a while and then coming home to find a bracelet left outside that he hadn't picked up.
In the past, our infatuation with each other was entirely built on the lies we told each other.
He pretended to be perfect and tolerant, while I pretended to be dependent and addicted.
After the illusion was shattered, he became clear-headed and cold, and the love I placed in him was actually just base self-gratification.
I should have seen it clearly, but I only see it clearly now.
I drift along, searching for a place that can accommodate me, but this is not the place where I can settle down.
"I'm sorry," I said listlessly after thinking it through. "I didn't mean to sabotage anything, nor did I intend to refuse to cooperate... Maybe it's because I haven't seen you in so long, and seeing you again suddenly makes me a little nervous."
My apology seemed to surprise him.
He looked up from his book and glanced at me.
I lowered my eyes, absentmindedly wondering if my expression would reveal my true disgust.
Probably not, they probably just look a bit indifferent.
I do have some experience in disguise.
“…Never mind, it’s not important,” I said softly. “Anyway, I’ll cooperate if you want.”
Yeah, right.
I'm not that kind of person.
To be honest, if it weren't just about physical strength, I wouldn't stand a chance against the group of guys I've known since childhood—
Leaving aside the Zoldycks, Kuroro is no pushover either, and his mother and her pack of hounds are even more troublesome... If I could, I'd really like to pin all of them to the ground and beat them up; each one is more of an eyesore than the last.
But I can't do this on my own.
But it's okay.
Isn't the so-called enemy they're waiting for just the right person to help me fulfill this wish?
Without a shred of guilt, the very next second after bowing down to the Phantom Troupe leader, I was about to help their enemies.
...
The day finally arrived when he was supposed to meet Killua and the others, as mentioned in the phone call. Kuroro, dressed in a black coat with his hands in his pockets, stood at the front of the group.
Standing behind him, I thought to myself, "His outfit is exactly the same as the one favored by a certain lady of the family..." Suddenly, Kuroro spoke up and asked me a question.
Before I could hear the question clearly, I was startled, thinking that my secret thoughts had been discovered.
However, Kuroro only asked:
Why didn't you get on that cruise ship...? Were you stopped?
I almost didn't realize what he was asking.
What cruise ship?
After a while, I realized that he seemed to be asking about the boat ticket that I had forgotten in my pocket.
...How could I possibly find the ticket if it was hidden in a place like that?
He should have foreseen the outcome when he handed over the ticket; didn't he know what was going on?
"I don't remember," I replied perfunctorily, not wanting to dwell on the past any longer. "I think so."
“You are very clever,” he said, “at least more clever than Mrs. Adrian thinks… She can’t really stop you if you want to.”
"Is that so?" I said. "Then I'll take it as my refusal."
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned his head and glanced at me.
Those deep, calm, and always dark, unfathomable black eyes suddenly surged with a torrent of emotion.
He just stared straight at me.
I thought he would say something—that's what his eyes said.
But in the end, he said nothing.
He turned around, blinked slowly, and the [Kuroro] I knew, the one who would occasionally joke and whose eyes would sometimes sparkle, disappeared. He had returned to being that distant being whom I could neither understand nor touch.
The lingering pain was completely swallowed up by the merciless darkness.
"Get ready," he said, his words completely unrelated to the previous topic, indicating that he had now fully detached himself from it.
...
The Phantom Troupe would make preparations in advance, and Killua was well aware of this. In fact, it would be strange if they didn't make any preparations.
"We finally managed to find some leverage over Kurapika, so of course we have to make full use of it," he said to Gon in a relaxed tone.
“Killua’s really strange,” Gon asked, “Even so, isn’t he worried about Rey at all?”
Nen users have all sorts of abilities—not to mention their opponent is Chrollo, who seems to be able to use many different abilities. Although they agreed not to harm Rai's body, there's no guarantee that he won't try to harm her from other angles and leave behind some terrible aftereffects.
“There’s no use thinking about this now,” Killua said, still trying to sound relaxed, but his brows were furrowed and his voice lowered involuntarily. “If that guy were smart, he should have revealed Illumi, and Kalluto is there too… Sigh, I heard Illumi joined the Phantom Troupe.”
"Yeah"
"I'd heard about it before, but I didn't care at the time. I wanted to kill him anyway, so this delicate antagonistic relationship was just adding fuel to the fire of our already strained brotherhood. But I was worried about whether Kurapika would stand a chance against him..." Killua muttered to himself, "Seriously, why did you and Rai have to run into that most difficult guy?!"
Xiao Jie was stunned.
He suddenly realized a problem he hadn't noticed before.
“Ray seems to know him,” he said.
"What?" Killua asked.
“Kuroro.” Gon pronounced the name accurately. Although they hadn’t met for long, they both knew a little about each other. “The leader of the Phantom Troupe… He chatted with Rey for a while. The sailors on that island also said he had come to see Rey’s father.”
He kept to himself the fact that Kuroro had claimed to be Rae's boyfriend during his visit. It wasn't that he meant it; he just felt for some reason that it wasn't valuable information and didn't need to be shared.
If Ray were here, he would probably once again be utterly impressed by his beast-like intuition to distinguish truth from falsehood.
In any case, the above information is enough for the quick-witted Killua to analyze.
"That guy... why does he even know the Phantom Troupe?!" Killua hissed through gritted teeth. "This is absurd! This world is too small! Although I knew all along that as long as Kurapika and you were around, we'd most likely have to meet those people again, why is Rai here too?!"
“…Maybe it’s because everyone knows each other,” Xiao Jie said.
“Ah,” this sentence seemed to be a key that awakened Killua, “Now I remember… the Lei family’s intelligence business is very big. Weren’t we making money for GI back in Yorknew City? In order to save up enough money quickly, I borrowed some money from their family. In exchange, I shared some information about the Phantom Troupe with them.”
Gon blinked innocently—he didn't understand Killua's meaning: "Um... I see. So what?"
"Anyway, although I don't have a good relationship with my family, it's not as bad as the Rai family," Killua scratched his head. "I basically share whatever I can by extorting money from others... Her mother heard rumors about Kurapika from somewhere and asked me about the Kurta clan's orphans and stuff. I asked if she could help keep this a secret because the person she was investigating was my friend... and she agreed."
Xiao Jie still didn't understand the connection: "...Ah..."
“I’m not even sure if she’s really keeping her promise,” Killua said, his own thoughts becoming increasingly conflicted. “The only reason the Phantom Troupe and Rey could be connected is through her mother’s intelligence business, right? They must have gone to Rey’s house to ask for information! Ah… so, in that case, Madame Adrian should have been the first to know about their kidnapping of Rey, since she’s the expert in intelligence… Why didn’t the Phantom Troupe go to Adrian’s house?”
His eyes lit up, and he suddenly understood, as if a new world had opened up for him.
"They're deliberately keeping Lady Adrian's information from Kurapika! They want to take care of Kurapika directly through us! ... Lady Adrian must have kept her promise and refused to give them any information, and she must have had something on them, which is why they don't dare to harass her anymore and can only come to us."
Xiao Jie: "..."
I couldn't understand a word of it, but Killua seemed really amazing.
“In that case,” he scratched his head, trying to understand his friend’s line of thinking, “we could ask Ray’s mother for help in rescuing them.”
Killua revealed a smug smile.
Although Kurapika has still not been contacted, and the problem with his older brother remains unresolved, Kalluto, while willing to help, is unpredictable... To be honest, he was worried the entire way to his meeting with Gon. He pretended to be relaxed, saying "No problem," "I'll save them," but in his heart, he was already planning how to use Illumi to salvage the situation if the rescue operation failed...
But all of that is in the past.
He now has a brand new, shining plan that is 80% guaranteed to win.
“We can’t go directly to her,” he wagged his finger, grinning like a kitten that had just stolen some fish. “Lady Adrian is in cahoots with my brother. If she finds Lay, she will rescue her, but she will definitely bring Lay back to my brother’s place by force. That way, our hopes for her freedom will be dashed.”
"So……"
“Listen to me, Gon,” Killua cleared his throat, “Here’s what I’m thinking. Including Mrs. Adrian, we now have four plans we can execute. The first one is the one we just discussed, concerning Kurt…”
"This plan is already very good," Gon praised. "As expected of Killua."
“That’s good,” Killua said, “but it’s based on the premise that Kurt is telling the truth.”
“Everyone in my family is a liar, including Ray,” he added. “So you’ll have to be careful that Ray doesn’t cheat and suddenly make things difficult for you. It’s pointless and doesn’t benefit anyone, but she likes to pull that trick.”
"……Yeah"
"Hmm." Killua didn't say anything more.
He didn't know how to describe to Xiao Jie the past between him and his long-time acquaintance. Lei was glamorous yet despicable and evil, fragile yet willful and reckless. She felt resentment and guilt towards him, while he, while being hurt and in pain, indulged and encouraged her willfulness.
Unlike her and Illumi's relationship of domination and subjugation, Killua and Rai are simply constantly hurting each other.
The love he received burned her nerves. He was intelligent, powerful, and loved by everyone, but she could also see that he hated the "love" she craved.
She was both jealous of him and longed for him. They sat side by side, and Killua listened to her softly telling stories about "the outside world." A free breeze blew in their faces, fresh and cool.
Because of this gust of wind, he made up his mind to forever tolerate her, accept her jealousy, and let her crush his true feelings so that they could coexist.
People should stay away from things that can hurt them.
But in that overwhelmingly dark world, they only had each other.
—I've moved on now.
Killua thought.
But when he looked back, he saw that Ray was still trapped in that dark underground castle in Kukuroo Mountain many years ago.
—I have to take her with me.
He thought again.
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