unwanted attention ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

page four

“no one passed. is that even allowed?” almost all the examinees were left in shock and frustration after menchi failed everyone remaining. buhara, on the other hand, approved everyone—except you. 

while trying your best to come up with a roasted pig that was at least edible—you no longer cared about the taste as long as it was edible—you failed miserably. your cooking station exploded when you tried to zap it with electro. you were just trying to strengthen the fire because it seemed too weak, in your opinion. 

you weren’t surprised, honestly. you’d already expected to get eliminated—except for the part where your entire cooking station exploded, almost taking leorio’s station down with it since he was right beside you. 

just when you thought your dream of continuing the hunter exam with gon and killua was already impossible, menchi failed everyone for two reasons. one, none of them served her a good presentation of food, except for kurapika, and two, even without tasting it, she could tell it would taste bad. 

now all of you had failed. this caused a commotion among the examinees, who were complaining about the unfair exam and how unreasonable menchi was. 

“there’s always another year, i guess,” leorio mumbled into the air, though all of you heard him. you hummed in response, not thinking much about it since you didn’t really need that hunter license. or did you? 

of course, you were an outlander—you’d never dreamed of being a hunter. at first, you just wanted to try and see what this hunter exam was all about, since almost everyone was talking about it. then you met gon and killua, and now you just wanted to continue with them and get that license together. 

“my goal is to be a bounty hunter. a mere gourmet hunter can't judge me,” examinee number 255 complained, with others backing him up in agreement. menchi didn’t even flinch, lounging nonchalantly on her couch. 

“too bad it’s us mere gourmet hunters who are the examiners this year. i hope you do your best next year.” 

number 255 turned red with anger, and things escalated quickly. he charged forward, attempting to punch menchi, but before he could even get close, buhara slapped him away with such force that he went flying, hit the roof, and landed hard on the ground. 

“buhara, you should have stayed put,” menchi told her giant partner, her tone calm but sharp. 

“but if i hadn’t done anything, you’d have put him in his grave,” buhara replied. menchi shrugged in agreement as she stood up, holding four large knives, likely tools for hunting. she began to spin them effortlessly in her hands while explaining just how dangerous a 'mere' gourmet hunter’s job truly is. 

“their expertise requires discipline, resilience, and an unwavering pursuit of excellence. belittling such dedication reveals more about your own ignorance than about the worth of their profession.” you couldn’t help but voice that out, intending it mainly for gon and killua, but your words carried farther than you realized. many others heard you—and you were completely unaware of it. 

“interesting.” a certain magician whispered into the air, golden irises fixed on you, his lips curling into an excited grin. but it wasn’t just him—gittarackur also had his eyes on you, though no emotion was displayed on his face. 

“even so, not passing a candidate is a bit strict.” everyone looked up in unison after hearing that voice. it came from an airship with the hunter association’s logo, hovering above. the sudden appearance left everyone surprised. 

“what’s that thing?” you asked, resting your hand on your chin. gon, killua, kurapika, and leorio stared at you in bewilderment. 

“you haven’t seen an airship before?” kurapika asked. you shook your head—there was no point in lying. though you wondered what you would tell them if they started asking about your origins. 

“that’s an airship, mom. and that logo belongs to the hunter association,” gon explained. suddenly, someone leapt from the airship and landed in the center of the group. their landing caused the ground to crack slightly, sending a cloud of dust into the air and covering everyone in it. 

the dust settled, revealing an old man with white hair tied in a ponytail. he had a mustache, beard, and long white eyebrows. 

"he's the head of the selection committee, the person in charge of the hunter exam. chairman netero," menchi explained, because apparently, not everyone knew him. 

you observed the old man—chairman netero, rather. he was calm and collected, but you could tell he was strong. the people in this world fascinated you. 

you wondered about the difference between them and the people in teyvat. speaking of which, you wouldn't say you were homesick. after all, you locked yourself in the plane of euthymia for years without any contact from the outside world. so, yeah, homesickness wasn’t a problem for you. 

there was also no need to worry about inazuma or your people. miko was there, and you trusted her with your life. she might be playful, but you knew her capabilities and what she was willing to do for inazuma. in addition, you trusted your people and their ambitions. 

not to mention, the shogun puppet was still there—though you had reprogrammed her. for some unknown reason, while investigating the anomaly you sensed through the leylines, you had been transported here, manifesting a physical body—a real one, not a puppet. so, in conclusion, the shogun puppet remained in inazuma. 

if there was an easy way to return to inazuma, it would be for the shogun puppet to unleash musou no hitotachi, the sword that had access to your consciousness inside the plane of euthymia. that was your conclusion, but it was impossible since you had reprogrammed the shogun puppet not to use that attack.

“as for the new task, it will be a hard-boiled egg!” you snapped out of your thoughts at that. you lost track of the conversation between menchi and the chairman, but by the looks of it, menchi gave another chance to the candidates.

“chairman, can you take us to split-in-half mountain in the airship?” and with that, all of you boarded the airship, as per menchi's request, it took everyone to split-in-half mountain.

“everyone, take a good look over the cliff,” menchi instructed, looking down herself at the cliff between the split mountain. you crossed your arms over your chest and looked down; there was a web-like structure.

“that is the lair of the spider eagles. it actually builds its lair in such a place,” gon explained for everyone. you smiled, proud of him.

“take a good look beneath the lair, those are the spider eagle's eggs. to protect the eggs from aerial enemies, they build their lairs in deep cliffs and lay their eggs there. as such, the eggs are one of the most difficult ingredients to collect.” to demonstrate how to collect eggs, menchi dived right through the cliff without any worry.

everyone watched in awe and surprise, wondering how she'd get the egg and climb back. menchi clung to a web, as if waiting for something.

“even if she manages to retrieve an egg, how will she get back up here?” leorio asked. as if on cue, menchi let go of the web and went for an egg. some of the candidates covered their eyes, not wanting to see how menchi would fall to her death.

“she's basically committing suicide!” leorio said, the bruise on his face still not healed.

“no, that's not true,” kurapika told him after an observation. and, truth to be told, with the help of a strong wind, menchi floated back up. gon and killua smiled in amazement.

“but before everyone does this test, where’s candidate number 406?” everyone’s eyes turned to you when menchi said that. you raised your hand, a bit confused and wondering why she was suddenly looking for you. gon and killua ran toward you, as if showing their support.

“as the first one to get eliminated earlier and not being able to present her dish, i want you to do this first before anyone else,” menchi declared. gon and killua looked at you worriedly, although killua was trying to hide it. kurapika and leorio were also worried, and the other candidates began to murmur among themselves.

“is that so? i see no problem at all,” you told her calmly. looking down at gon and killua, you nodded at your children before going to the cliff, and everyone made way for you. some of them murmured about how you weren't going to make it—just because you were the first one to get eliminated earlier.

“alright, you just wait for the right timing to jump--” menchi was cut off when you dived to the lair. everyone ran to the cliff to watch what you were going to do.

this should be a child’s game for a god. you hung on a web first, looking for an egg. when you saw one, you didn’t hesitate to jump.

“no! the wind is not yet to come!” menchi announced, causing panic among the candidates, mostly gon and killua. the two almost jumped, but leorio and kurapika stopped them in time.

just as everyone expected you to fall to your death, their eyes widened in surprise and awe when you floated back up without any strong wind current.

“here, did i pass?” you asked after landing on your feet. menchi rushed toward you, and you showed her the egg.

“h-how... never mind. yes, you passed,” menchi declared, though she was still wondering how you managed to float like that. unknowingly, you also caught the chairman's attention—whether for good or bad, who could say?

“amazing, mom! how did you float like that? does that mean you can fly?!” gon bombarded you with questions. soon, killua and leorio joined in asking. kurapika just congratulated you while trying to stop the three.

on the other side of the mountain, hisoka eyed you with curiosity and amusement. he found himself intrigued by that unexpected feat you showed. he smiled wickedly, thinking of ways he’d approach you later.

on the other hand, gittarackur was calculating and analytical. he’d been observing you since your encounter with him in the preserve. he needed to know your abilities and your weaknesses.

    ┌ ╌ ╌ ╌ ╌  ㅤ °ㅤㅤ 𝒪𝒪.   .ㅤ     ╭◜
      *       ㅤ            ㅤ                              ╎

notes : hello, everyone! please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, but from what i understand, ei no longer has a physical body and relies on the shogun puppet, right? and her realm of consciousness is inside the sword (musou no hitotachi), at least that's how i interpreted it from inazuma's archon quest and her story quest. but even if my understanding is off, i think i’ll stick with it for the plot, tee-hee.

by the way, do you guys know about the raiden shogun boss ability, a.k.a. magatsu mitake narukami no mikoto, where she summons a structural arm and slashes the air? i’m thinking of incorporating that as your ability here in the story.