Chapter Text
It was in October. The weather was getting colder which announced winter has come.
It was already mid-night. But people wouldn’t spare a glance to the moon hanging above or the stars shining above. There were much more eye-catching sights on the ground. Colorful neon advertising lamps were flashing on the shopping plazas, dizzying light tubes was shining on the pubs, sparkling laser beams were striking through the sky from the casinos, and numerous light bulks were twinkling on the walls of the hotels. There were noisy pop music from the pubs, clamors from the crowds, uproars from the drunks, and noise from the vehicles.
This city was well-known for its “never sleeping” phenomenon, the Yorknew City.
There were several residential estates in this large city. This story started with one ordinary house, which seemed no different from other houses in the estates, still with lamps on in the mid-night.
THERE WERE FOUR YOUNGSTERS LIVED IN THE HOUSE.
Their names were Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio.
The four youngsters were gathering around a large wooden table in the living room. They were playing board games and having their delivery supper. Leorio was tugging a piece of pizza into his mouth. Killua was swallowing a Napoli meatball. Gon was chewing a seafood fettuccine. Kurapika was sipping a chicken mushroom soup.
“What the heck! How come I lose every time?” Leorio yelled.
“Let start a new round.” Gon tried to soothe Leorio.
“No matter how many times we play you’ll be the loser, old man” Killua said casually.
“Because you never thought carefully of next steps and never guess what your opponents have on hand.” Kurapika explained.
“Kaurapika won six rounds. Killua won three rounds and Gon won one! I have not even won a single round in the whole night!” Leorio snapped.
“Let play another board game, Leorio. Maybe you can win this time.” Gon suggested.
“Gon, the result will be the same. It is obvious that the Lady of Luck doesn’t like him.” Killua said indifferently.
“Shut up, Brat! I will beat you on the ground and you’ll see whose Lady of Luck likes!” Leorio roared at Killua.
“Leorio, stop yelling! You are hurting my hearing.” Kurapkca frowned. He felt that his left ear was stinging. As he was sitting between Leorio and Killua, left to Leorio, all Leorio’s bellow would strike into Kurapika’s left ear before reaching Killua.
“Let’s start a new round…It’s impossible for eleven successive lose…” Leorio murmured.
“You will break your record, old man.” Killua sneered. Leorio shot him a glare.
“Excuse me, you three go for a new round. It is already midnight and I am a bit sleepy.” Kurapika yawned. When Kurapika was standing up to leave the room, Leorio grasped Kurapika’s left sleeve.
“Just one last round please, Kurapika.” Leorio pleaded, but his facial expression didn’t look like pleading. Kurapika gazed at he, a smirk was plastered on Leorio’s face. Kurapika was pondering Leorio’s true motivation, but couldn’t help yawning again, he was near the edge of falling asleep and the gear of his brain stopped function.
“Okay, just one…” Kurapika said with a yawn and sat down again. Leorio knew, he always knew, when Kurapika was sleepy, his brain would slow down dramatically, just liked a dizzy man who couldn’t think straight. On the other words, Leorio has eliminated one of his main opponents before starting a new round of game.
“What a cunning old man.” Killua sneered.
“It’s called strategy.” Leorio retorted.
“Let’s start. Let’s start.” Gon interjected to stop the argument. Then Leorio shuffled the cards and rearranged the chess pieces of the board game for a new round.
“I will win and Lady of Luck will be mine!” Leorio yelled.
“…don’t yell…” Kurapika muttered. His left ear had been suffered from Leorio’s yell in the whole night. He just wanted to finish this last round and go to his quiet bedroom to rest.
“I won’t fall into the old man’s trick.” Killua said to himself. He was quite sure Leorio would do whatever trick or cheat to win the last round.
Their last round started.
“First, I will take this…and then this…” Leorio murmured, eyes concentrated on the board game.
“Hey~ I will move to this…”Leorio murmured.
“Um…I use the special card…”Leorio murmured.
“Yeah! I get this magic tool…”Leorio murmured.
“This area is under my control now…”Leorio murmured.
Then, Leorio noticed something strange. His three friends had been quiet for a moment. He looked up from the board game to his friend who sat opposite to him, Killua. Killua was gazing outside absent-mindedly. Leorio shifted his head to right to look at Kurapika. Kurapipka head bowed, seemed nearly fall asleep. Leorio shifted his head to left to face Gon. Gon tilted his head a little, concentrated on something else. Leorio felt confused.
Killua was puzzled. Just a while after the start of the new round of game, he took a glance outside. Killua sat opposite to Leorio, since he didn’t want to look at the old man, he glanced outside through the only window of the living room which behind Leorio. He noticed something unusual. He noticed that outside was dark, he could only see the moon and a few stars at the sky. The brilliant light from neon lamps, laser beams, numerous light bulks were gone. A chilling shiver crawled down his spin.
Gon was puzzled. He turned his ear toward the window. It was peculiar that apart from Leorio’s murmuring, he couldn’t hear any noise from outside. No matter how good hearing he had, he could hardly hear any pop music from pubs or noise from vehicle’s engine. The world seemed still, Gon could feel the goose bumps were spread all over his skin.
Tak…Tak…Tak…Clicking sound from the door. Someone or something was knoking the door.
Tak..TakTak…Tak…Kurapika awaked by the odd sound.
TakTak…Tak…TakTak…Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio stared at the door.
Tak…Tak…Tak…Leorio rose up and walked to the door cautiously.