Hunter x hunter: I’m interested in Nen abilities

Chapter 50: Shizuku Takes Initiative

"Shizuku… are you there?"

"Mm, I'm here."

"How long was I out…"

"Five hours."

"Five hours this time? Damn it… Shizuku, you're still here, right…"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Good…"

"If you're awake, why don't you open your eyes?"

"You wouldn't understand…"

"Oh, alright."

"Shizuku…"

"Mm?"

"Right now…" Haru cracked open one eye and saw Shizuku sitting at the table, looking at him curiously. "How old do I look?"

This time, Shizuku didn't answer directly. Instead, she got up and left the room.

A moment later, she returned with a mirror and held it up to Haru's face.

The reflection didn't show much of a change—at least not enough to alarm him. Haru exhaled in relief, grateful he hadn't woken up as a middle-aged man.

He took the mirror and examined himself carefully.

Shizuku returned to her seat at the table, continuing to observe him with curiosity.

After a while of lying in bed and inspecting himself, Haru got up and jumped to the floor barefoot. The most noticeable change was—everything seemed shorter.

No, it wasn't that the world had shrunk; he had grown taller.

Haru turned to look at Shizuku, still seated at the table. She looked up at him with the same curious expression.

"That book," Haru pointed to the open book on the table. "You've been reading it for a while, haven't you?"

"Mm." Shizuku nodded.

"It's taking you this long to finish? Don't tell me you forget it every time you read it?" Haru teased.

Shizuku glanced at the book, as if having an epiphany, and muttered to herself, "That might actually be the case… If I forget, even books I've read many times can still be interesting."

With that thought, Shizuku slowly closed the old book—one she no longer remembered how many times she had read. When she looked back, she saw Haru staring at her. Confused, she asked, "What's wrong?"

Haru held her gaze for a moment before saying, "Stand up."

Shizuku obediently got up and stood in front of him.

Haru laughed. "Look, we're about the same height now."

He measured his height against hers, drawing a line from his head to her lips.

Shizuku didn't move, only asking curiously, "Is this one of your abilities?"

Haru looked more intrigued. "Can't you act shocked? A kid suddenly growing up like this should be a big deal!"

"You already seemed more like an adult before," Shizuku replied matter-of-factly, her glasses sliding slightly down her nose. "So it just feels like your appearance changed."

"Fair enough." Haru pushed her glasses back up and noticed she still had some injuries.

Shizuku explained, "Because I couldn't use Zetsu, my recovery is slower…"

Haru understood. Shizuku, though a nen user with faster healing than ordinary people, wasn't an Enhancement type. Protecting him while he was unconscious had left her unable to enter the defenseless Zetsu state to speed up her recovery, leaving her injuries unresolved.

Sensing something, Haru glanced at the partially open window. Outside, the three birds with their star markers were stationed like a triangular surveillance system.

"What happened while I was unconscious?" Haru asked, sitting at the table. Now that he was taller, he no longer needed to jump to sit down. "Give me a quick rundown."

"Alright." Shizuku nodded. "After I carried you away, I noticed your body was changing. I had no choice but to find a nearby mall and hide in an empty stairwell in the underground parking lot. Over the course of an hour, your body rapidly grew, and it seemed to emit some kind of aura. The minor internal injuries I had were quickly healed, and even my hair grew a little longer."

She touched the tips of her hair and continued, "Your height went from 1.1 meters to over 1.5 meters before it stabilized. Once you settled down, I carried you on my back—pretending you were my sleeping little brother—and brought you to this hotel. You didn't wake up, so I stayed here reading while setting your birds to guard outside. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You remember all of that so clearly?" Haru teased. "You didn't make it up, did you?"

"I didn't," Shizuku replied calmly. "I just remember things."

Haru reached out and ruffled her hair. "I've wanted to do this for ages, but I was too short before. Ha!"

Shizuku tried to smooth her hair back into place.

"Anyway, thanks." Haru said, smiling. "If it weren't for you, I'd probably have been exposed."

"Exposed?" Shizuku tilted her head.

"A power this unique—imagine what people would do if they found out," Haru explained. "Whenever something nearby dies, a kind of energy flows into me. Once it accumulates to a certain point, what happened earlier happens."

"Oh…" Shizuku nodded. It wasn't clear what she was imagining, but then she asked, "Don't you need to see a doctor?"

Haru hesitated.

"You can't even control how old your body will be when you wake up. That proves you can't control this transformation. If this continues, won't you have a short life?" Shizuku said, her tone as flat as always.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're brutally honest?" Haru asked, exasperated.

"No," Shizuku replied, then added curiously, "Or maybe, when your body reaches its limits, it'll revert to being a child?"

"Stop making up backstories for me!" Haru slumped onto the bed, staring out the window. In the distance, faint police sirens could still be heard. After a moment, he asked, "Shizuku, do you know about the international server?"

"Mm." Shizuku nodded.

Haru patted the space beside him, and she sat down. "The people from Meteor City know about it. The international server holds the world's identity records—except for yours."

"Except for us," Shizuku agreed.

"That's the problem," Haru said slowly. "I don't know if my identity exists in the server. If it does, going to a hospital could expose me. And I can't be exposed—not until I have the ability to protect myself or leave this continent."

Shizuku thought for a moment, then looked at him. "So you really might have a short life."

Haru tugged at her cheek, sighed, and flopped onto his back.

After a while, Shizuku heard him murmur, "I won't have a short life. Let's make a deal. If I can't figure this out by the time I'm 28, I'll do whatever it takes to solve it."

"Dog Girl from the Twelve Zodiac is a specialist in rare diseases… By 28, I should at least have some connections, right?" Haru muttered to himself. "Unless the next time this happens, I skip straight to 28…"

"Why 28?" Shizuku asked.

"Because after 28, every day feels like a loss," Haru said with a laugh.

Shizuku didn't quite understand what he meant.

Haru chuckled, then looked at his palm. "If a target carrying a star marker doesn't have the marker destroyed, they won't completely die—even if their head is severed. While recovery from that level of injury would be slow, it wouldn't be immediate death."

"That's amazing…" Shizuku said before realization dawned on her. "Do you want to put a star marker on me to speed up my recovery?"

"Do you mind?" Haru asked.

Shizuku shook her head, looked down at herself, then lifted the hem of her black sweater, revealing her smooth, toned stomach. She pointed to her clearly defined abs. "Draw it here."

(Chapter End)