Gon Freecss's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Gon Freecss sat on the steps of the exam quarters and watched the man who had been watching him. The lodge behind him smelled of pine and oiled leather, packed with candidates waiting for the first phase to begin. Gon was twelve, the youngest here by a decade, and he had come a long way from Whale Island to sit on these steps. His Aunt Mito had not wanted him to leave. She had not forgiven his father, Ging, for going first. Gon meant to become a Hunter good enough to find a man who did not want to be found, and that meant surviving whatever started when the doors opened. The man on the second-floor balcony across the yard had been there for an hour. He leaned on the rail like he was bored, but his eyes moved the way a hawk's eyes moved over a field. Gon had spent two years tracking one boar through the forest at home. He knew the difference between a creature resting and a creature choosing. The man's gaze passed over the bigger candidates without stopping. It stopped on Gon. It stopped on a thin boy near the well. It stopped on an old woman counting her pack. Easy ones. Gon felt the shape of the plan before he had words for it: the man wanted fewer people in the exam, and he meant to fix that himself before the first whistle. Gon stood and walked across the yard, straight at the balcony, looking up the whole way. The man's face did not change, but his hand moved to his belt and pulled out a worn green card with a portrait window and printed rank. A Hunter License. He held it out over the rail so Gon could see it clearly. He had passed the exam before. He had failed somewhere after, and come back, and he was telling Gon he knew the rules of this place better than Gon ever would. Gon stopped at the foot of the steps below the balcony. He smiled up at the man, the easy smile he used on dogs that had not decided yet whether to bite. "You were going to come find me tonight," Gon said. "I wanted to save you the walk." The man laughed once, short, and put the license away. Around them, candidates turned to look. A few drifted closer. The thin boy by the well lifted his head. The old woman set down her pack. Gon had pulled the ambush into daylight, in front of witnesses, and the man could not jump a child he had publicly noticed. The man's bored mask came back on. He went inside through the balcony door without a word. Gon stayed in the yard until his hands stopped shaking. He had bought himself the first phase. He had also told a returning Hunter exactly who to remember.