As Ronin read the prophecy poem, he already understood why there was only one stanza on the page.
Because according to the poem, he would die next week.
So there was no need for the remaining stanzas for the rest of the month.
"The loss of an important crimson hue" likely meant his Sharingan would be lost.
The second line—"a toyed-with fate begins with a meeting of eyes"—probably pointed to how the Sharingan would be taken.
Ronin tapped a finger on the table and thought of someone.
Someone in the Phantom Troupe who took pleasure in making dolls—Troupe member No. 4.
A character who only appeared in a Hunter x Hunter movie: Omokage.
That movie was honestly so bad it was hard to sit through—it felt like it existed purely to drag popular characters onto the stage.
Even Omokage's ability setting had plenty of issues people criticized.
In the movie, Omokage was a Specialist.
First: Soul Dolls—he could control dolls he created. The dolls had no eyes, yet possessed other people's memories and could use a limited portion of that person's Nen ability.
Second: Soul Call—when a doll made eye contact with someone, it would steal the target's eyes. Only when the doll was defeated would the eyes return to the victim.
Finally: Doll Catcher—he could fuse three dolls into himself, allowing him to use part of the Nen abilities those three dolls possessed.
That "part" was extremely vague.
Ronin had seen Omokage in the previous owner's memories—after all, the setting even gave him the title of "eye collector."
If the Kurta clan was exterminated, how could Omokage not be involved? The movie even opened with a doll made from Pairo—Kurapika's friend—stealing Kurapika's eyes.
The character was basically designed as Kurapika's personal nemesis.
Yet Omokage's stated goal was to create dolls of every Troupe member.
That was why a Meteor City native like him joined the Troupe: it seemed he could only make dolls with someone's memories—and a portion of their Nen—after contacting the target.
And by giving a doll the target's actual eyes, the doll could become stronger—maybe even capable of replacing the original.
In the movie, Omokage ended up being hunted by the Troupe because he dug up Uvogin's grave and gouged out Uvogin's eyes to implant them into a doll.
But could that really raise the doll's strength? Ronin was skeptical.
Ronin suspected the "real" Omokage—if he existed here—might differ from the movie version in some ways. He just didn't know how yet.
But either way, Omokage was a huge threat to both him and Kurapika.
If he didn't know Omokage was coming, Ronin could absolutely be set up.
After all, an ability that steals your eyes the moment you make eye contact was blatantly tailored to counter him.
As for the last two lines, they were simple as well.
"Fiery red" likely referred to Kurapika—meaning that after Ronin lost his eyes, Kurapika would follow his trail and clash with Omokage.
A Ronin without eyes, and a Kurapika who hadn't learned Nen yet—against Omokage, they'd only be slaughtered.
Neon really had been a massive help.
"So? Did you figure anything out?" Neon asked expectantly.
Ronin, however, folded the prophecy away, his tone turning more scrutinizing. "Your prophecy is excellent—but I have to doubt your intentions."
Neon's expression stiffened for a split second.
"You said you think your ability might not be fortune-telling, but a curse. Now I'm telling you—your guess is right," Ronin lied smoothly. "The reason there's no second stanza is because I'm going to die next week. There's no need for you to predict what happens after I'm dead."
"Th-that…" Neon didn't know what to say.
"Since everything is caused by your curse, you should take responsibility," Ronin said coolly, as if discussing something trivial. "For the next week—no, until the beginning of next month—you'll stay with me. If I die, you can be buried with me."
"I don't want to!" Neon protested.
But her refusal didn't matter.
In front of a horrified café worker, Ronin knocked Neon unconscious—then walked out openly, as if nothing was wrong.
Police arrived quickly. Besides the kidnapped Neon, they also found a corpse in a nearby alley—its heart removed.
It was the janitor, killed casually by Ronin's shadow clone.
Not long after, Light Nostrade arrived, irritation written all over his face.
After confirming his daughter had been knocked out and taken, Light left only one sentence:
"If the kidnappers call, I'll handle it. If they don't, treat her as dead."
His tone was cold to the extreme, as if Neon's death meant nothing to him.
And in truth… it did.
Always fighting him, liking weird things, growing up into a face too much like her mother—this useless daughter who did nothing but cause trouble wasn't worth his concern.
Light Nostrade was a pure pragmatist. Only what was useful to him was good. Only what was useful deserved attention.
And Neon clearly wasn't in that category.
Ronin handed the prophecy poem to Kurapika—along with his own annotated interpretation.
He also wrote down what he knew about Omokage—framed mostly as conjecture, from the perspective of someone making educated guesses.
After Neon woke up, Ronin also had her do a reading for Kurapika.
That made Neon's gaze toward Ronin change completely—because she could tell Kurapika was clearly Ronin's companion.
And Kurapika's eyes held unmistakable admiration when he looked at Ronin.
If Ronin could hit that kind of person without hesitation… Neon was truly terrified.
This man was not nice.
He was a demon.
Kurapika's prophecy was similar to Ronin's: it also pointed to Kurapika dying alongside Ronin at Omokage's hands.
"Can fate be avoided?" Kurapika felt a headache coming on.
"Yes," Ronin said firmly.
In Neon's prophecy about the Troupe, it was said that the Troupe would lose half its members that month—but it didn't happen.
Clearly, after learning the outcome, Chrollo adjusted their actions, changing the death count.
Now Ronin and Kurapika also knew in advance that Omokage would be their biggest upcoming threat—meaning they had a chance to alter fate too.
Neon's prophecies only applied within the month they were made.
Once the month passed, the content was meaningless.
So Ronin and Kurapika now had two options:
1. Seek Omokage proactively and eliminate him.
2. Avoid Omokage, wait until next month, have Neon do another prophecy to confirm there's no death scenario, then go hunt Omokage.
The first option was extremely risky.
The second raised a question: how exactly do you avoid him?
But either way, Omokage was a massive threat—and he had to be removed as soon as possible.
~~~
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