**Previously**

My foot got caught on something, and I looked down just in time to see I tripped over my own feet.

"WAGA!" I said rather ungracefully as I fell flat on my face.

xXx

Wonderful. Just great. Now I was stuck on the ground, face red in embarrassment.

I lay there for a moment, waiting for Aito to offer me his hand to help me up. He didn't.

Slowly, I got on my hands and knees, and then stood up. There weren't as many people as I had initially thought. There were probably around fifty.

I scanned the room, looking for Aito, as he was no longer in front of me. No one was really looking at me anymore; most people were just standing around nonchalantly doing nothing. A pair of eyes caught mine, and I looked into them for a split second.

They were yellow.

The jester looking man smiled at me creepily, again. I looked away, breaking eye contact immediately. What a creep. My eyes flicked to his tag. Number 44, I mentally noted.

I remembered my own tag and reached into my pocket, touching the cold smoothness of it. I pulled it out and looked at it. Number 31.

I craned my neck to see what Aito's tag number was, before I realized he was probably number 30, since he went in right before me.

I spotted Aito near the side of the large room, with already a few people talking to him, that Tonpa man being one of them. I decided to let him be, I didn't want to be in the presence of strangers anyway. I just wanted to be alone and absorb everything.

I slowly shifted to other the side of the room, trying to stay away from everyone. I clutched my bag tightly in my hand, knuckles white. I really had no idea why I was so nervous. It was probably just my mind reacting to all the change I had been exposed to so suddenly.

I sat down and took out my sketchbook once again, flipping through the pages. I came to a blank one and drew most of what I had seen so far. The buildings, the streets and markets, Tonpa, and even the jester man.

Eventually, I started getting tired, and I looked up. My eyes widened as I realized how many people had slowly trickled in the room without me noticing. There were now probably like five hundred people in the room!

Still, most of them seemed to be middle-aged men. A few people stood out a bit more than others. Like-

"Hey, you must be thirsty," I looked up to see Tonpa smiling down at me. Tag number 16. "Michi, wasn't it?" I suddenly didn't recall telling him my name before. Aito probably told him.

"Here," he said, grinning and handing me a can. I took it and looked down at it. It seemed to be some kind of juice. They didn't really ship this stuff into our town, and we never had enough money to afford extra things like this anyway.

I took the can gratefully. "Thanks, Tonpa-san," I said, giving him my best smile. I thought I saw a flash of something that looked like regret in his eyes, but it was gone as fast as it had come.

He gave me a wide grin before walking away to another group of people. It took me a few moments to figure out how to maneuver the can to open it, but eventually it popped open. I raised it to my lips.

Again, I glanced around for Aito.

Someone was staring at me.

It was a young boy, probably around my age, with white hair and pretty blue eyes. Actually, now that I thought about it, his hair was more silver, and there was something thing unnerving about his eyes. It wasn't exactly a bad feeling, just… strange. Did he dye his hair to get that colour? I couldn't pry my eyes away from his.

He finally furrowed his eyebrows a bit. I quickly looked away. Great, now he probably thought I was challenging him or something. Should I go and talk to him?

I brought the can to my lips once again, suddenly needing to take my mind off the boy.

"MICHI!" a voice startled me coming from my left side. I dropped the drink. All over myself. Aito jogged over to me.

"What are you doing?" I looked at him, utterly confused. He sighed, "I can't ever take my eyes off you, can I?" At this point, a few people near us looked over to see what the commotion was.

"Aito, what-" I interrupted him, feeling a bit angry. The drink had spilt all over me, and now I felt all gross and sticky.

"Don't drink stuff strangers give you!" he chastised me. "Besides, didn't you notice something off about Tonpa? There's obviously something wrong with that drink," he frowned.

"Tonpa-san seemed nice to me," I shrugged, standing up.

"You're too naïve," Aito said, crushing the can underneath his foot.

"Oh?" I said, smirking, "And since when have you become so wise? I'm pretty sure-"

Aito looked at something behind me and smiled. I turned around to see what it was. Or rather, who it was.

I found myself staring at a blonde boy probably around Aito's age (tag number 403), a middle-aged man with dark hair and glasses (tag number 404), and a young boy that looked around my age with black hair (tag number 405). He was smiled at me brightly.

"Guys, this is by little brother, Michi," he said. I gave the three my best people-smile.

"I'm Gon!" the younger boy introduced himself, "This is Leorio and Kurapika."

"Nice to meet you," I said, looking at the blonde boy.

"The pleasure is mine," he said, smiling politely.

Aito went off to talk to him and Leorio, but Gon stayed behind and grinned at me. I was shocked at his sudden enthusiasm. I hadn't even done anything…

"How old are you, Michi-san? I'm twelve!"

"Just Michi is fine. And I'm twelve too." I replied.

I suddenly noticed he was holding something… A fishing pole? Why? Those were only for catching fish….

"Why do you need that?" I asked him curiously.

"I'm really good at using one, and I can do a lot of cool tricks, too. I figured it would help me," he said. I watched as he swung the pole up, and the string swirled around to his will, making designs and patterns.

"Wow! I only know how to fish with one," I laughed.

"I could teach you, if you want."

"Okay, that would be great," I replied, fond of his generosity.

"I hope we can become good friends! Have you met anyone else here?" he asked, staring at me curiously.

The way he looked at me was strange. It didn't matter if I was a boy, a girl, his age, or any of that. He just looked at me like I was his equal. It felt… nice. Definitely different, but nice. I was probably overthinking. He seemed so simple minded… Was he just trying to trick me?

I pushed away my troubled thoughts and answered him, "No, not really. I'm pretty shy, so…"

The more I talked to him, the more I felt at ease. It felt strange before, but I now felt compelled to talk to him, and it was entertaining. It hadn't really been like this before, and it made me want to talk to him more and more.

"Gon!" I looked over to see Leorio calling Gon over. He smiled at me once more and headed over to him.

I was disappointed that I no longer had anyone to talk to, but regardless, I sat down. I had been awake for hours now probably, and I was starting to feel a bit tired. I rested my head against the wall and dozed off.

xXx

"-the time. It's no surprise, he's always slacking off."

I jolted awake, the memory of the dream I was having fading away. I tried to grab back onto it, it seemed so important. Only wisps of it stuck in my memory. Something about a toad… turtle?

"He's drooling, too," Aito said wearily, looking down at me.

I quickly wiped my mouth, (I was actually drooling), and rubbed at my eyes, still feeling tired.

"What'd you wake me up for," I grumbled. I was a sound sleeper; I have no idea how someone talking managed to wake me up.

"We're starting, hurry up," Aito said, holding out his hand. I took it and got up, stumbling a bit. I noticed Kurapika, Leorio, and Gon were also there.

The four of them started running, and I jogged after them, still dazed. To my surprise, Gon slowed down to match my slow speed and jogged next to me. He smiled at me warmly, and I couldn't help but smile back.

"All we have to do is follow that man!" Gon exclaimed enthusiastically.

I nodded.

"Come on, I'll race you!" he said, running through people towards the man leading us.

"Hey, no fair!" I laughed and joined him, swiftly dodging people and eventually catching up to him.

"You're pretty good at this," I said, increasing my speed.

He laughed, "You too!"

I was really good at avoiding people and moving through them as if I wasn't there. That had been my job back in town. I was a busboy and all I did was run back and forth through town, also doing random errands for people to make some quick cash. Unlike Aito, I didn't have a steady job or anything; I just got paid for what I did and how well I did it.

Finally, when Gon and I were near the front of the cluster of people, we regrouped.

"Hey Michi," he grinned, "Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

"You were watching me sleep?" I looked at him incredulously.

"Yeah," he said, continuing, "You just kept saying random stuff about swimming in the ocean, and mermaids, and you kept going on and on about turtles."

"I love turtles," I smiled, remembering. "When I was little, the turtles would lay their eggs on the beach, and the whole town would come and watch the baby turtles when they hatched."

"Wow! That must have been cool. I'm from an island, too!"

"Hey Gon," I said, suddenly curious, "Why do you want to become a Hunter?"

"Well," he replied, "My dad left me when I was little to go become a Hunter, so I want to know what's so great about it! I'm going to find my dad!"

He had this look of pure determination on his face that I admired greatly. He wasn't afraid to show his true motives. I found myself smiling at him, without even noticing.

I heard a rolling sound and saw the silver-haired boy pass us riding a skateboard. In our town only the "cool kids" with wealthy families had those.

I was about to tell Gon that it wasn't fair that that boy was allowed to ride on one and not run like the rest of us, but Leorio took the words right out of my mouth.

"HEY, WAIT UP KID!" he yelled from behind me. He was sweating and breathing heavily, clearly tired.

The kid turned around to look at him nonchalantly, "Hmm?"

"YOU SHOULD SHOW THE HUNTER EXAM SOME RESPECT!" Leorio went on, clearly angry at the boy's carelessness.

"What you mean?" he asked, not bothered at all.

"WHY ARE YOU USING THAT SKATEBOARD? THAT'S CHEATING!"

"Why?"

"THIS IN AN ENDURANCE TEST!" Leorio growled, really angry at this point.

"No it's not," Gon piped up from beside me. Everyone turned to look at him.

"HUH?" Leorio scoffed, "What are you saying, Gon?!"

"The examiner only told us to follow him," he pointed out.

"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON, EH?" Leorio frowned.

The silver-haired boy rode up to Gon and me.

"Hey. How old are you?" he asked.

"I'm twelve," Gon replied.

"Hmm," he said, considering Gon's answer.

He suddenly jumped off his skateboard expertly and caught it in his arms.

Heh, what a show-off, I frowned.

"Wow!" Gon exclaimed, impressed, "That was cool!"

"I'm Killua," he said. I was starting to feel a bit left out at this point. I looked around for Aito and Kurapika.

"I'm Gon, and this is Michi!" said Gon, finally including me.

"Oh, it's you," Killua said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The kid who was about to drink the soda. Idiot."

"Hey!"

"And then you started giving me weird looks…"

"Well," I started, fully prepared to defend myself. "I was only-"

I jumped and turned around when I heard a loud scream. A short chubby man sat on his knees, clutching his head. Three men and Tonpa were leaving him behind, smirking. I saw Tonpa hand one of them some money.

I sighed, "Wow, there is something up with Tonpa."

Aito was right, I guess. I was really bad at judging people for who they really were, it seemed.

I noticed Leorio falling behind and stopped, looking behind myself uncertainly. Should I go help him?

He dropped his briefcase and stood with his hands on his knees, panting. I started to walk towards him, worried.

"Hey, forget him," Killua said, looking at me, then Gon, "Let's get going."

I looked between the Leorio, Killua, and Gon. Leorio was in really bad shape…

"Screw that," he muttered. I stopped in my tracks.

"I'M GONNA BECOME A HUNTER!" he yelled, sprinting ahead at full speed, "DAMN IT ALL!"

He sped past me, and then Killua and Gon, a literal cloud of dust trailing behind me. I didn't think that was possible…

I laughed at his determination and caught up to the two boys.

Gon swung his pole back and grabbed Leorio's forgotten briefcase.

"Cool!" Killua exclaimed, "Lemme try that later!"

"I have to teach Michi first," he grinned, "But if you let me use your skateboard, you can try after!"

My heart fluttered in happiness for no particular reason. This is what friends were like… I had made my first real friends! The Hunter Exam was turning out to be way more fun than I had expected.

xXx

A/N

Oooookay! I haven't updated in like a month! Hello, hello, everyone, I hope you liked this chapter. I promise more action and in the next chapter!

Was there too much dialogue in this chapter? REVIEWS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a review; they give me motivation to continue the story. Whether it's a flaw, a compliment, or a suggestion you would like to report, all are welcome and will be considered! Even just saying what you think will happen next would be amazing!

Sorry for this boring note, have a great day! XOXOXOX

-Olives