The first island was already trying to kill people.
Not in any dramatic, obvious way. It wasn't raining fire from the sky or collapsing beneath their feet every other second. No, the danger here was quieter. More annoying. Slippery moss over sharp rocks. Sudden sinkholes hidden beneath soft dirt. Vines that looked sturdy until you put weight on them. Paths that invited you in only to lead you straight into thorn fields, cliffs, or dead ends.
Yuzuki liked it.
Not because it was fun.
But because it made sense.
A Hunter Exam shouldn't be fair. It should be the kind of place where the careless get punished and the observant move forward.
He moved through the ruined section of the first island with quick, measured steps, sunglasses catching the dim light filtering through the clouds above. The ancient stone structures around him were cracked and broken, some swallowed by roots, others split apart by years of volcanic tremors. Moss clung to the walls. Strange birds called out from somewhere deeper in the ruins.
Yuzuki slowed at an intersection of fallen columns and crouched near the ground.
There.
A faint drag mark.
Not made by a natural creature. It was to straight.
He touched the dirt with his fingers, then looked ahead toward a narrow gap between collapsed walls.
'Someone passed through here recently.'
He stood and walked toward it, only to stop two steps short.
A pressure plate.
Half-buried, nearly invisible beneath dust and old leaves.
Yuzuki stared at it.
Then he looked ahead at the path beyond.
'That's nasty.'
He picked up a broken chunk of stone and tossed it lightly onto the plate.
The ruins answered immediately.
A storm of sharpened stakes shot out from the walls ahead, shredding the air where a candidate's body would have been. A second later, the ground past the pressure plate collapsed inward, revealing a pit lined with rusted spikes.
Yuzuki whistled softly.
'Yeah… definitely nasty.'
He calmly stepped around it and continued on.
A scream echoed somewhere to his left.
Then another.
He didn't go check.
That was one of the first things he had learned after arriving in this world: not every scream was your business.
Still, the island kept trying.
When the ruins gave way to jungle, the terrain only got worse. Thick roots bulged beneath the earth like sleeping serpents, forcing him to adjust his footing every few seconds. Humid air clung to his skin. Insects buzzed around his head. Leaves as wide as shields blocked the sky in places, and somewhere far off, water crashed against stone.
Yuzuki paused near the base of an enormous tree and closed his eyes for a second to think.
'Satotz said hidden cave tunnels, rope bridges, and underwater passages.'
So far, he had found no rope bridges and no cave openings in the ruins. That meant the ruins were probably just a test of patience and observation, not the actual route forward.
The jungle, however…
It had height.
Cliffs nearby.
And probably rivers.
Which meant bridges or caves were more likely.
He opened his eyes and changed direction slightly, angling toward higher ground.
A few minutes later, he heard voices.
Aggressive ones.
Yuzuki sighed through his nose.
'Of course.'
He stepped into a clearing and found three examinees blocking the path ahead. All three were older than him. Bigger too. One had a scar running down his cheek. Another carried a staff. The third just looked like the kind of idiot who copied stronger idiots.
The one with the scar squinted at him.
"Well, well. A kid."
Yuzuki said nothing.
The staff-user smiled. "You're moving pretty confidently for a rookie."
The third one cracked his knuckles. "Maybe he knows something."
Yuzuki adjusted his sunglasses slightly. "Move."
They laughed.
The scarred one stepped forward. "How about you tell us where you're headed first?"
"I'm headed past you."
"That so?"
"Yes."
The staff-user spun his weapon once. "That doesn't sound very cooperative."
Yuzuki's face stayed calm.
'I'm really not in the mood for this.'
The third man lunged first.
Big mistake.
Yuzuki sidestepped cleanly and drove an elbow into the man's ribs. The air blasted out of him in one pathetic grunt. Before he could drop, Yuzuki hooked his ankle and sent him face-first into the dirt.
The other two barely had time to react.
The staff-user swung low. Yuzuki hopped over it, planted one foot on the shaft itself, and used the momentum to kick the wielder square in the face. Teeth flew. The staff spun loose. The man collapsed backward with a strangled yelp.
The scarred one was smarter.
He didn't charge wildly.
He reached for a knife.
Yuzuki saw it, clicked his tongue, and stepped in fast before the man could draw it properly. One hand caught the wrist. The other slammed into the guy's throat, not hard enough to crush, just enough to make him fold. Then Yuzuki twisted, yanked the arm down, and drove a knee into the man's stomach.
The scarred candidate dropped to all fours, coughing and gagging.
Yuzuki looked down at him.
"I said move."
The three of them, now much wiser and considerably less proud, crawled and stumbled out of the way without another word.
Yuzuki stepped over the fallen staff and continued through the clearing.
'This exam really attracts a lot of idiots.'
He kept moving for what felt like another hour, though the shifting landscape made time feel unreliable.
The jungle gave way to cliffs at the edge of the island. Far below, black seawater crashed violently against stone. He climbed to a higher ledge and finally saw something useful.
In the distance, hidden by hanging vines and rock formations, a narrow rope bridge stretched from his island to a smaller one beyond.
Yuzuki smiled.
'Found one.'
Of course, getting there wouldn't be as simple as walking in a straight line.
By the time he reached the cliffside path leading to the bridge, he had already run into two more examinees trying to ambush others at a choke point. They were less talkative than the first group and much more desperate. One tried to push him off the ledge. The other threw rocks to break his footing.
Yuzuki responded by slamming the first one into the cliff wall and sweeping the second one's legs out from under him hard enough that the man rolled ten feet before stopping.
He kept walking.
The bridge itself creaked under his weight, swaying over the sea below. Several ropes had already been cut, probably by earlier candidates trying to sabotage those behind them. Yuzuki moved lightly, spreading his weight, eyes scanning every knot and plank.
Halfway across, he stopped.
There was a faint vibration.
Then another.
He looked up.
A candidate from the opposite side was sawing through the remaining side rope with manic speed, trying to send everyone behind him into the ocean.
Yuzuki stared.
The man looked up and grinned wildly. "Sorry, kid! Survival of the fittest!"
Yuzuki took one step forward.
Then another.
The man blinked. "What are you doing!?"
Yuzuki broke into a run.
The bridge swung violently, planks snapping underfoot, but he kept his balance and closed the distance absurdly fast. The man panicked and dropped the saw, swinging wildly with a hook knife.
Yuzuki ducked, drove his shoulder into the man's chest, and both of them hit the planks hard.
The bridge groaned.
The candidate gasped. "Wait, wait, I'll stop!"
Yuzuki snatched the hook knife out of his hand and tossed it into the sea.
"Good."
Then he punched him once.
The man went limp.
Yuzuki dragged him to the far side of the bridge, dumped him near a tree, and continued on without looking back.
The second island was smaller, steeper, and lined with dark stone ridges. A cave mouth yawned open near the center like the throat of some buried beast.
Yuzuki crouched near the entrance.
Cold air.
Moisture.
And footprints.
Several sets.
'Good.'
He entered.
The cave system inside was cramped in some places and cathedral-wide in others. Water dripped from the ceiling. Strange glowing moss lit parts of the walls in dim blue-green. The deeper he went, the more often he found signs of other candidates. Boot marks, broken torches, snapped rope, once even a dropped canteen.
Which meant he was on the right route.
He smiled a little.
'Nice.'
And then—
A familiar voice drifted through the tunnels from an opening ahead.
"Ah, Ponzu! You look tired. You should drink this. It'll help with stamina."
Yuzuki froze.
That voice.
He walked more quietly now, stepping toward the cave mouth until he could see the other side.
A small rocky opening led out to a narrow path overlooking another stretch of jungle below. Standing there, holding out a bottle with that same rotten smile on his face, was Tonpa.
And in front of him—
Ponzu.
She looked uncertain, tired, and just polite enough to be vulnerable to exactly this kind of trick.
Yuzuki's eyes narrowed.
He wasn't truly angry.
Not in the way that made his vision go cold.
But he was definitely pissed.
Because Ponzu was his roommate.
They had survived that awkward room together.
And he was not about to let Tonpa do his usual rookie-crushing nonsense to her.
---
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