Ging is your teacher?
Liam did the math in his head. It was January 1995. Four years before Gon would take the Hunter Exam at age twelve. Which meant Ging was, what, late twenties? Early thirties at most?
And the man standing in front of him?
Alain looked like he was pushing forty. Maybe older.
"What, is there a problem?" Alain asked, noticing Liam's stare.
"No problem," Liam said. "Just surprised. You seem older than Ging Freecss."
Alain looked genuinely taken aback. "Do you know Ging?"
"I know of him," Liam said. "He doesn't know me."
Alain nodded slowly, accepting this.
Menchi frowned. She felt like she'd heard Liam say something similar before. It was familiar. Unsettling.
"Let's talk while we walk," Alain said, turning. "And since we're all Association members, just call me Alain."
Shizuku reached for the exit Nen script, ready to leave.
Alain walked in the opposite direction.
The white fox doll hopped after him, trotting across the chamber toward a side tomb. It stood upright in front of a blank stone wall, raised one paw, and patted the surface.
The wall rumbled. A section two meters high and wide enough to walk through slowly opened, revealing a dark tunnel beyond.
"Only Haku can open this passage," Alain said.
"Where does it lead?" Shizuku asked, curious.
"Where else?" Liam said. "The amusement park. Probably straight to his office."
Menchi looked skeptical. "Your company staff swore they didn't know about the tomb."
"They don't," Alain said simply.
Liam nodded. "The people managing the reserve, the people running the park, and the people handling this secret tomb are all the same company. But not the same department. Right?"
Alain smiled. "Let's go."
Liam, Menchi, and Shizuku followed him into the tunnel. The stone door rumbled shut behind them. Liam glanced back. A white shadow trailed them, the pale ghost overlapping the fox doll's form. Haku. The lingering grudge of Nasubi Hui Guo Rou.
The fox's tail swayed. Its legs moved like a living animal. It padded along beside Liam, keeping pace.
Shizuku watched it, fascinated.
Nasubi Hui Guo Rou. The name structure was similar to the current Kakin king, Nasubi Hui Guo Rou. Probably a relative. An ancestor. Maybe even the same name, recycled through generations.
Liam was a little over a meter tall now. The white fox walked at his side, just the right height. He reached down absently, scratching behind its ears, thinking.
If his guess was right, this Nasubi was an unlucky prince who'd lost the Succession War thirty-plus years ago. His grudge had fused with the Nen beast implanted by the war's ritual, mutating into something powerful enough to haunt an entire landmass. The island had been part of Kakin territory originally, but it was transferred here, either by the grudge itself or by the royal family forcibly relocating it to get rid of the threat.
Spatial Nen abilities were rare, but not impossible. Knov's Fourth-Dimensional Mansion or Hide and Seek was one example, a pocket dimension that existed outside normal space. For Emission-type users, swapping places with emitted constructs was common. Teleportation punches. Instant repositioning. It wasn't unusual.
But teleporting an entire island? That was insane.
Then again, considering it was the Hui Guo Rou royal family, maybe it wasn't that surprising. Those people were deeply, fundamentally messed up.
What Liam cared about wasn't the island, though. It was himself.
He'd always suspected his dead "godmother" had been someone important. Someone who'd provoked the First Prince Benjamin's wrath. Maybe even a prince herself. And if she was, that meant the body he'd inherited might carry Hui Guo Rou royal blood.
But Haku hadn't shown any hostility toward him. So maybe he was overthinking it.
The white fox doll's pale ghostly aura flickered around its head. It turned, staring at Liam with empty eyes.
"What are you looking at?" Liam asked, smiling.
There was another possibility. His godmother had been royalty, but the body he inherited didn't carry Hui Guo Rou blood. The two weren't mutually exclusive.
If that's the case, Liam thought, then my godmother had a fun love life. That'd explain why she was being chased by half the royal family.
Either way, it didn't matter. He was a transmigrator. This body's bloodline had nothing to do with who he was. He didn't need to worry about it.
This island was almost wrapped up. Liam was planning to visit the three continents on the left side of the world map, where most of the manga's plot would eventually happen. Kakin was on the right side. At worst, he'd just never return to the Azian Continent. Problem solved.
"Actually, strictly speaking, I should've been Ging's teacher."
Alain's words, delivered casually, almost made Menchi trip. Liam's attention snapped back to the present.
Even Shizuku frowned.
Alain smiled. "Menchi, Liam. When you got your Hunter License, the Association sent a senior Professional Hunter to guide you in learning Nen, right?"
They reached the end of the corridor. An elevator. Alain pressed the button, and the doors slid open.
"Yeah," Menchi said. "I got my license last year. A senior Hunter contacted me a few weeks later. What about you, Liam?"
Liam grinned. "I'm self-taught. Genius doesn't need a teacher."
Menchi bared her teeth at him. Liam ignored her.
The elevator doors closed. The cabin rose smoothly, fast.
Alain's tone remained calm. "Sixteen years ago. The 267th Hunter Exam. Ging Freecss was twelve years old. He was the only candidate to pass that year and earn a Hunter License. And I was the teacher the Association assigned to guide him in learning Nen."
Menchi blinked. "Twelve years old?"
Liam was thinking about Tonpa, the guy who loved giving laxatives to rookies during the exam. Tonpa had been active in the late '70s and early '80s. He'd probably tried to sabotage twelve-year-old Ging. That must've gone well.
"Because he learned too fast, you ended up learning from him instead?" Shizuku asked.
"No student learns so quickly that the teacher asks to become the student," Alain said.
"Then the only option," Liam said, "is that when you met Ging, he was already a Nen user. And he was stronger than you."
Alain sighed. "Yes."
The elevator reached the top. The doors opened.
"Much stronger," Alain said quietly. He stepped out, one hand in his suit pocket.
The space beyond was massive. Half office, half living quarters. A desk dominated one side. The other had a sofa, bookshelves, a kitchenette.
Liam and Shizuku looked around. Three walls were floor-to-ceiling glass. They were at the top of the tower, the spire-like building in the center of the amusement park.
It was early morning now. The park below was nearly empty. A few cleaning staff moved between rides. Security guards patrolled in pairs.
The white fox doll hopped off the elevator and made a beeline for the sofa. Toys were scattered across the carpet. It plopped down among them, clearly at home.
"Wait," Menchi said suddenly, turning. "If Ging was already a Nen user when he took the Hunter Exam, why did the Association send you to teach him?"
"He must not have used Nen during the exam," Shizuku said.
Liam groaned. "Damn... He tricked them."
Shizuku looked at him, confused.
Alain's expression softened, nostalgic. "Even Chairman Netero said Ging was difficult to read. It's not easy to make someone like Netero miscalculate."
Liam smiled. "It's definitely not easy to convince a professional Hunter to become your student at age twelve."
Alain shook his head modestly. "I wasn't a professional Hunter at the time. I was still learning myself."
Menchi scratched her head. "Wait. What about the people who left through the exit script? Where did they go?"
"Almost forgot," Alain said.
He walked behind the desk and pressed something beneath the surface. The wall lit up. Multiple screens flickered to life, displaying surveillance feeds.
They showed the interior of Ferris wheel cabins. Babimyna sat in one, arms crossed, expression grim. Dago and his crew occupied another, looking confused and vaguely nauseated.
Liam and Shizuku exchanged a glance. They both turned toward the window, scanning the park below.
There. The Ferris wheel with the glowing Nen script cabin.
"You sent them to the Ferris wheel," Liam said, half-laughing. "They left the tomb and ended up in an amusement park ride."
Alain smiled. "It seemed appropriate."