Chapter 59: Humans Are So Interesting
The Indoor Fish.
The sight hit Kai like a punch to the gut. He recognized the technique instantly from the Yorknew City arc. It was the Conjured Nen beast Chrollo Lucilfer had used to calmly devour a hired assassin while waiting for the Zoldycks. It was one of the many stolen abilities stored within his book, Skill Hunter.
The Indoor Fish: a carnivorous Nen beast that can only exist in a sealed room.
It feeds on human flesh. But here's the kicker: the victim feels no pain. They don't bleed. And as long as the fish are feeding, they cannot die. Even if half their body is gone, they remain conscious, watching themselves be eaten.
But the moment the room is unsealed... the moment the "indoor" condition is broken... the accumulated damage hits all at once. Instant death.
"Is this... your Hatsu?" Kai asked, staring at the spectral white fish gliding through the air. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the ceiling corner of the hallway. "There are cameras everywhere out here. You didn't even try to hide?"
Pariston smiled, his expression serene. "Why hide? I never went inside. And besides... he's not hurt, is he?"
Inside the room, on the plush sofa, Ojiesky—the wife-killer—sat with his back to the window. The white fish drifted around him, taking leisurely bites. A chunk of his arm. A piece of his side. In just a few minutes, Ojiesky's body was riddled with holes. He was missing half a leg and a good portion of his torso.
Yet not a single drop of blood stained the expensive upholstery.
Ojiesky was trembling violently. He tried to push himself up, to run, but his mutilated body wouldn't obey. He collapsed back onto the sofa, paralyzed with terror.
"Guess what..." Pariston's voice was light and breezy, but his aura felt thick, oily, and wrong. He turned to Kai, his eyes twinkling with a dark amusement. "Do you think he can hear us?"
Inside the room, Ojiesky flinched.
"He can hear us," Kai said, his voice flat. "But he's not screaming. Not begging for help. Did the fish eat his tongue? Or his vocal cords?"
"Who knows?" Pariston smiled. "Life is full of mysteries."
"Ojiesky. The defendant in that long, drawn-out murder trial. The winner."
A calm voice spoke from behind them.
Kai turned, his face falling into a deadpan expression.
Chrollo Lucilfer was standing there, holding a book in one hand. He had appeared out of nowhere.
What is happening right now? Kai thought, his brain struggling to process the crossover. Wait. Does this mean... The Indoor Fish was originally Pariston's ability? And Chrollo stole it from him?
This raised a fascinating question about Chrollo's Skill Hunter. When he steals an ability, does he steal the Hatsu—the specific technique—or the person's ability to use that category of Nen?
Pariston would go on to become the Vice-Chairman of the Hunter Association. He was definitely a powerful Nen user. So, Chrollo must only steal the specific "Skill," leaving the victim's Aura and basic Nen intact, but unable to use that one specific move.
While Kai was lost in theory-crafting, Chrollo had moved to stand on Pariston's other side, gazing into the room at the macabre feast.
"It's a truly artistic ability," Chrollo mused, his voice soft and appreciative. "To consume the victim without bloodshed. The damage is done, but the consequence is delayed. There must be a trigger mechanism. Once activated... death is instantaneous. Is the condition a sealed room?"
Pariston glanced at the young man with the bandaged forehead. His smile didn't falter. "You know... whenever I see something truly beautiful... I just have this uncontrollable urge to destroy it."
"Mr. Ojiesky did kill his wife," Pariston continued, his tone conversational. "It was a brutal, messy affair. But thanks to my brilliant defense, he walked free. He escaped justice." Pariston's smile widened, becoming blindingly bright, like a sun composed entirely of malice. "He must have been so happy. So relieved. When I heard he was on this ship... just thinking about his joy, his hope for a new life... I couldn't help myself. I just had to ruin it."
What kind of 'Sunshine Boy' is this? Kai thought, disgusted. "You know he can still hear you, right?"
"That's the best part..." Pariston loosened his tie slightly, his eyes gleaming. He didn't say anything else.
Chrollo fell silent. 'That's the best part...' Does this man find joy in being hated?
Kai rolled his eyes. He remembered Pariston's confession to Ging in the manga. Pariston believed that most people felt happiness when they were loved. But he... he only felt happiness when people hated him.
If Hisoka was a "gardener" who nurtured strong fighters to kill them later, Pariston was a "troll." A man who lived to provoke, torment, and be despised.
I hope you meet Ging soon, Kai thought sourly. You deserve each other.
"Humans really are interesting..." Chrollo murmured to himself, a small, genuine smile touching his lips as he pondered Pariston's twisted psychology.
He turned to the blond man, acting surprised. "Wait, are you Pariston Hill? The lawyer? I'm a huge fan..."
...
Kai walked away, leaving the two psychopaths to bond. He headed back toward the observation deck, his brow furrowed.
He hadn't left his room to watch Pariston's magic show. He'd left because he felt... uneasy. Restless.
And that feeling hadn't gone away. It wasn't the murder. It was something else. Something in the air.
The observation deck was quiet, populated only by a few insomniacs and couples seeking privacy. Kai scanned the room. People were whispering, playing on their phones, staring out at the clouds. Everything seemed normal.
And yet... it felt wrong.
Just then, unseen by anyone, a fist-sized ball of Aura—a glowing, translucent sphere—floated silently through the air, drifting past Kai's shoulder.
Forget it. I'm going to sleep.
Kai rubbed his face tiredly. The ship would land in the morning.
As for Pariston's victim... the moment someone opens that door, the Indoor Fish will vanish, and that half-eaten guy will die instantly. I just hope it happens after we land. I don't need any more random Death Aura hitting me while I'm trying to sleep...
He walked back toward the cabins. The strange sphere of Aura drifted past him, unnoticed.
...
At the door to his room, Kai paused, his hand on the handle.
"Wait a minute."
A thought struck him.
"If Chrollo steals Pariston's ability tonight... wouldn't the Indoor Fish vanish immediately? And wouldn't the fat guy die right then and there?"
He looked back down the hallway. Is Chrollo really going to steal an ability from a freak like Pariston?
He shook his head. Not my problem.
He opened the door and slipped inside.
"Fish?"
The lights flicked on. Shizuku was sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes. without her glasses, her large, violet eyes looked soft and... strangely alluring.
...
Outside the room, in the dim corridors of the airship, something was happening.
In the dorms, the lounge, the observation deck... strange, glowing spheres of Aura were appearing. Some were the size of a fist, others as big as a head, some as small as a marble.
They floated silently through the air, drifting through walls, passing through floors, like a swarm of ghostly fireflies.
Hundreds of them. Filling the ship.
In the economy restroom, one of the spheres floated through the stall door.
Ruiwan, the gaunt man with the sunken eyes, sat on the toilet lid. His skin was gray, his face gaunt and hollow, as if all the life had been sucked out of him. His eyes were unfocused, staring at nothing.
His lips moved, forming soundless words, over and over again.
...Phantom Troupe... Phantom Troupe... Phantom Troupe...
(End of Chapter)