Creak—
The bedroom door slowly opened.
A pair of gentle eyes came into Kurapika's view.
What kind of eyes were they?
Even though it was their first meeting, Kurapika's whole body tensed. He felt as if he'd been seen through completely, inside and out. His head went a little blank as Kuraging quietly pressed him down into a bow toward Roy.
"Young Master, this is Kurapika, my little brother…"
Tss—
His arm hurt a little, like he'd been pecked by a goose. Kurapika stood there in a daze until Kuraging discreetly twisted his arm behind the scenes. He twitched at the corner of his mouth, came back to himself, and muttered in a dull voice, "Hello."
In that instant, the gaze that had seemed to see straight through him faded as the boy seated at the desk smiled warmly.
When Kurapika straightened up again and carefully looked over, he finally got a clear look at Roy's face.
It was hard to describe what kind of presence he had.
It was like spotting someone at a glance in the middle of a crowd—someone who simply stood above everyone else.
The first thing that caught Kurapika's attention was that striking silver hair, with its ends glowing in glazed gold.
"Sit."
At that, two chairs floated over from the dining table as if they'd grown legs of their own, and came to rest in front of Kuraging and Kurapika.
The girl pulled her brother down into a seat and shot him a reproachful look.
"Well? Aren't you going to thank the Young Master?"
Kurapika lowered his eyes. Standing there stiffly in front of Roy, he hesitated for a long moment, then suddenly bent at the waist and apologized through gritted teeth.
"I'm sorry. I made a mistake. Please forgive me."
Kuraging froze.
She'd barely had two seconds to be happy after bringing her brother back, and now the color visibly drained from her face. Panic instantly climbed into her cheeks.
What happened?
"Pika, what did you do?!"
Kuraging shot to her feet. Just like when they were little, she reached out, ready to grab Kurapika by the ear.
After all, he was her little brother.
If this had been someone else—or if Gotoh had already awakened and been standing here instead—offending or provoking the Young Master might well have meant being dragged away and… disappearing from the world.
Kuraging panicked at once.
Roy, meanwhile, looked a little surprised too. He hooked a strand of Nen with his finger and silently summoned a [Heartbug]. Following the line of causality established from his first meeting with Kurapika, it slipped straight into the boy's heart.
After only a quick look,
he noticed Netero and Beans,
and at once understood the whole situation.
He gestured for Kuraging not to panic and said gently with a smile,
"There's nothing wrong with being cautious of strangers when you're out on your own. Little Ging, don't blame him."
Roy lifted a hand slightly, and a breeze drifted out, straightening Kurapika's bent back and helping him gently to his feet.
Kurapika's ear was still caught in Kuraging's grip. His face had gone a little pale, and he kept dodging Roy's eyes, when Roy continued,
"Pretending to be my younger brother was just a way to protect yourself. That doesn't really count as lying. It's more like… quick thinking."
The boy lowered his head in embarrassment. His chest rose and fell as he quietly let out a breath of relief.
He knows everything…
How does he know?
Is he some kind of worm living in my stomach?
At least… he doesn't seem angry…
As thoughts flashed through his mind, Kurapika suddenly felt a sharp smack on the back of his head from Kuraging.
"Why aren't you thanking the Young Master yet?"
The blow nearly made him stumble. He hurriedly bowed again.
"Thank you."
Then he looked carefully at Roy again.
He really did look like a startled rabbit, nerves pulled tight to the limit. Even with his sister beside him, it felt like one wrong sound or movement might make him turn and bolt.
That honestly made Roy want to laugh a little.
The future chain user, the future underworld boss with top-tier intelligence and political instincts, the last surviving Kurta after Pairo other than himself on the Black Whale—
even now, the signs were already there.
"Sit down."
Roy gave a slight nod. Calmly, he used [Wood Release] to make a few teacups, then pointed a finger. [Water Release] activated, and Nen turned into water, forming a gentle stream that flowed into the cups one by one.
He gestured for them to help themselves.
Kurapika sat on the edge of the chair with only half his backside on it, eyes wide as he stared blankly at what looked like magic happening right in front of him.
It took him quite a while to recover.
"Young Master, Pika has never left the village before. Please forgive him."
A country bumpkin arriving in the city, seeing the big world for the first time—
Hadn't she been like that too once?
Kuraging didn't scold Kurapika again. She accepted the cup of tea that floated over to her, took a sip, and sincerely apologized to Roy.
Roy just smiled and didn't mind. Instead, he watched Kurapika with amused interest as the boy stared at the teacup in front of him, dazed.
For a moment, Roy almost saw his old self—
the version of himself who had worked desperately hard, only to be judged "mediocre" in a single sentence by his father and grandfather.
That version of him had been filled with boundless longing and yearning for Nen and for the world of Nen.
The only difference was that Roy had known about Nen.
At this moment, Kurapika didn't.
Whoosh—
A breeze carrying summer heat drifted in through the window, stirring the gauze curtains with a rustling sound.
Roy said nothing. Kuraging said nothing either.
They simply waited quietly for Kurapika to come back to himself.
No one knew how long passed before the clock in the corner struck with a dong, like a drumbeat landing squarely on Kurapika's head and waking him back up.
When he looked at Roy again, his gaze was full of awe.
"May I ask you something?"
His voice was a little hoarse.
His throat was dry, and he was clearly thirsty, but he couldn't bring himself to touch the tea.
It was as if he was afraid that if he took one sip, everything in front of him would vanish.
"One question, or two, or three?" Roy sat with his hands folded beneath his chin, smiling at Kurapika. "Your heart tells me you have more than just one."
Kurapika's pupils shrank.
He really can hear what I'm thinking! Is he actually a parasite living in my stomach?!
"Parasite, huh? That's not exactly a flattering comparison, young man~"
The words suddenly rang directly inside Kurapika's mind!
The boy jolted again in fright.
"Who?!"
Restless and uneasy, he looked all around him—left, right, above, below—until his eyes landed on Roy, who was still sitting there with that smiling expression, quietly studying him.
Kurapika's little face went through several visible changes in an instant.
He immediately didn't dare let his thoughts wander anymore.
Steam curled up from the teacups.
The summer heat caught it and scattered it into the air.
Roy reached out and recalled the Heartbug, then said slowly,
"If you don't want others to know, then the only real way is not to do it in the first place. Otherwise, even if you say nothing, your heart will still betray you in the end."
Then he looked at Kuraging.
"Little Ging, you have a week off. Take your brother around properly."
Kuraging glanced at Kurapika, then at Roy. She finished her tea, pushed back her chair, and stood up.
"Yes, Young Master."
Then she reached out and tugged Kurapika along.
"Pika, let's go."
The chair scraped lightly against the floor.
Kurapika stood up in silence and stiffly followed behind her toward the bedroom door.
It had only been a short while, but it felt both as brief as a dream and as long as an entire year.
When they reached the door, he suddenly tugged on Kuraging's sleeve and stopped.
Summoning his courage, he turned around for the first time and looked Roy in the eye.
"Young Master… can my sister stay here forever?"
The moment those words came out, Kuraging spun around.
Roy lifted a brow in surprise.
He'd assumed that, out of caution, the boy wouldn't ask anything more.
But not only had he asked—
he'd asked a question that Roy hadn't seen anywhere in his heart.
"Pika!"
Kuraging immediately reached out to cover his mouth, afraid he might say something wrong and offend Roy.
But the boy looked at Roy seriously now, his eyes clear and no longer afraid.
Roy's expression shifted slightly.
He raised a hand, stopping Kuraging.
"Give me a reason."
Roy put away the playful expression in his eyes and looked at him gently.
"What? You don't want her to go home?"
Kurapika fell silent.
Then he took a deep breath and answered honestly,
"There's nothing worth going back to in a rotten, closed-off home."
Like a little adult, he continued,
"I know you're someone remarkable. And this is a remarkable place too. If my sister can live well here, then that's enough."
Roy nodded, fully agreeing.
"That's true enough. There will always be people who covet Scarlet Eyes, and they'll find ways to track your people down no matter how hard you try to hide yourselves. Unless…"
He paused.
"…you disappear from this world completely."
Kurapika and Kuraging both jolted and looked up at him.
Kuraging pushed up the glasses on her nose and gave a bitter smile.
"You already knew, Young Master."
Since when?
Kurapika looked at his sister, then back at Roy.
Roy's brilliant silver hair, its ends glowing in glazed gold, moved softly as he said warmly,
"There's no need to be so shocked. The world is full of rare and precious things. Yours isn't the only clan with eyes that turn red."
A ripple passed through his gaze.
Roy's thoughts moved, and a streak of blood-red slowly climbed into his eyes…
Buzz—
The moment they saw it,
Kurapika and Kuraging's amber irises trembled with violent emotion, and then shifted toward scarlet as well.
In this blazing summer heat, a strange chill filled the room, and three pairs of red eyes appeared together in the same space.
"Heh… one of the Seven Great Beauties of the World?"
"The Zoldyck family doesn't have Kurta blood in it, brat…"
A sleepy mutter drifted out from the dim little room on the first floor of the Zoldyck mansion.
Maha had withdrawn his mind after comforting Brooke Seil, Severus, and the others. He was back in his rocking chair, listening to cartoons absentmindedly and muttering to himself.
At that moment, the panel flashed.
[Detected: [Yin Release] has reached Lv. 5. Evolution beginning immediately…]
After the blood-red had fully spread into Roy's eyes, the three pitch-black tomoe slowly rotated, stretched thin, and sharpened, becoming three black blade-like marks interwoven into a starry nebula pattern.
At the center was a sun.
Around it, stars.
The whole pattern rotated slowly as it reflected in Kurapika and Kuraging's eyes.
Brother and sister stood there staring blankly at it, their amber irises gone, their scarlet eyes returning like flames.
Neither of them said a word.
Was this Scarlet Eyes?
No.
The Young Master's eyes aren't the same as ours… but they really did turn red!
Kurapika and Kuraging could both confirm that Roy was not a member of the Kurta clan.
As one of the world's so-called rare species, every Kurta had been accounted for within the clan.
They had never heard of anyone like him.
Besides… Roy's brilliant silver hair was almost exactly the same as Silva's—and the old master they had glimpsed once at the mountain gate, Zeno Zoldyck.
His appearance also combined the best features of both Kikyo and Silva, with at least three parts resemblance.
Kuraging and Kurapika exchanged a look.
For a moment, neither had anything to say.
Buzz—
An invisible wave of eye power spread out, and the room instantly turned into an ice cellar.
The Mangekyō Sharingan revealed its true form.
At such close range, Kuraging and Kurapika both shivered.
In alarm, they looked toward the window.
Outside in the garden, the sun was blazing and summer heat was at its peak. It was a perfect midsummer day.
And yet inside the room, it was as cold as deep winter.
They could feel the numbness creeping into their hands and feet, as if they were slowly freezing stiff.
"Young Master…"
Kuraging pulled Kurapika into her arms, huddling close to him.
Brother and sister clung to each other, their lips trembling as they called out to Roy.
A flood of negative emotion rushed into their eyes like water bursting through a dam.
Roy quietly observed the changes.
Then his ear twitched. With a wave of his hand, [Breath of Wind] activated, creating a breeze that carried the siblings straight out of the castle.
Tap… tap…
A string of footsteps followed.
Outside the window, a tall man in black clothes and cloth shoes, with beautiful silver hair drifting behind him, leaned against the doorway and appeared.
Silva stood there with both hands in his pockets, calmly watching Roy.
"So. Is it time?"
Crack, crack, crack…
A rapid chain of cracking sounds followed—like a clock winding itself, or like ribs growing violently.
A blue giant phantom slowly took shape around Roy, revealing itself in a fierce outline.
The boy snorted out two streams of air through his nose, then suddenly lifted his eyes toward Silva.
In those red pupils, the nebulae turned slowly like two dark black holes, pulling in all light—and Silva along with it.
Then—
Roy forcibly suppressed it, and it faded away.
Crack, crack, crack…
The blue phantom giant let out an unwilling roar. Its skeletal form stretched wide, then began to contract. It stood with heaven above its head and earth beneath its feet. In its empty eye sockets burned the divine flames of the sun.
It glared furiously at Silva—
then collapsed inward and vanished back into Roy.
A moment later, only a trace of cold remained in the room, along with Roy's quiet voice drifting over to Silva.
"Father didn't go to keep Netero company?"
"Your grandfather is with him."
"I see… then tomorrow."
Roy smiled broadly, showing two rows of white teeth.
"Let me get one good night's sleep first."
Silva looked at Roy for a long moment.
Then he turned and left.
It was as if something had been said, and as if nothing had.
As he walked away, he only left behind one quiet line.
"Go hold Killua today."
"Don't wait until tomorrow and find you've lost the chance."
~~~
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