The room felt smaller under Bisky's appraising gaze. Kevin stood at its center, a specimen beneath a microscope, as the blonde girl with twin pigtails circled him slowly. Her scrutiny was a tangible pressure, a veteran's assessment masquerading behind a youthful facade.
"My name is Bisky. Bisky Krueger," she announced, coming to a stop before him. "A professional Hunter, and an adorable eighteen-year-old girl!" To punctuate the claim, she gave a playful twirl, the hem of her skirt flaring briefly. Then, raising a single finger, she tilted her head with theatrical pride. "With *forty years* of Nen Ability training experience, I am a martial artist."
Forty years? At eighteen? The contradiction screamed in Kevin's mind. His earlier estimate—that she might be a contemporary of Jin in her thirties—shattered instantly. The truth was clearly more complex. Was she lying? Unlikely; someone who went to such lengths to maintain a girlish appearance wouldn't arbitrarily inflate her age. A startling possibility dawned on him: Could Nen truly extend lifespan, or warp one's appearance so completely?
His thoughts were interrupted by a firm pat on his abdomen. "Relax," Bisky commanded, her gem-like eyes locking onto his. "You want to learn Nen, but the problem is… you should already know it." She crossed her arms, her playful demeanor giving way to professional directness. "Since I accepted the commission to teach you, I need to understand your situation."
*You could have just asked,* Kevin inwardly sighed, *I would have told you.* Especially if it would have spared him this peculiar and vaguely uncomfortable inspection. He was dealing with an eccentric, no doubt. Perhaps this was all some sort of trial.
He was partially correct. It was a trial, but one of character, not skill. Bisky had no intention of mentoring someone with a rotten core, and while she'd reviewed his file, she trusted her own judgment above all. This little test had been her final check. The results, it seemed, were satisfactory.
More than satisfactory—intriguing. For Bisky sensed that Kevin's Nen was not dormant, but present. It wasn't a beginner's flicker, but a developed, if currently clumsy, energy. Treating him as a blank slate would be a mistake.
"From last night, I noticed you seemed unable to control your body? But it's not injury or illness," she mused aloud, pinching his arm again with clinical curiosity. "Your physique is healthy. So, is it a head injury? Nerves?" It was a logical, if simplistic, deduction. One's foundational Nen control, once ingrained, was as instinctual as breathing; the errors he displayed were not those of a novice, but of someone whose instincts were misfiring.
A wave of relief washed over Kevin. Jin hadn't told her everything. "That's right," he admitted with a nod, seizing the opening. "Due to… a special reason, I lost my memory. It's a kind of amnesia where I need specific triggers to regain things. The more profound the stimulus, the better." He offered a truncated version of his circumstances, careful to veil the utter strangeness of his truth.
Bisky listened, nodding slowly. The explanation, even incomplete, gave her a framework to work with. She didn't press for the full story—not yet. If it was a puzzle worth solving, she'd uncover the pieces herself in time. Her eyes sparkled with a new, covetous light, like a gem hunter spotting a rare vein in rough stone.
Hehe. In the short span since last night, this "Kevin" had already presented a delightful bouquet of secrets and oddities. The teaching commission had just become infinitely more interesting.
Since Jin had dared to entrust her, he must have been prepared for these secrets to be known by her.
"Ahem, since you said you've forgotten everything, we'll start from the very basics. Now, it's Teacher Bisky's Nen Ability class time." Bisky cleared her throat, adopting a professional demeanor as she pulled a blackboard from somewhere, a piece of chalk in her hand.
"Clap clap clap!"
Mori, who had been standing by the door like a doorman, cooperatively clapped his hands with a smile. Kevin could only silently raise his hands and join the applause.
Bisky nodded with great satisfaction. She began writing on the blackboard, then produced a pointer from who-knows-where and tapped it authoritatively. "So-called Nen Ability is the use of one's will to control the life energy, or aura, that flows from within the body. All living beings possess this energy, and humans unconsciously emit it constantly. To use and freely control such power requires long, dedicated training. There are generally two ways of awakening, but given you've already learned Nen, we'll temporarily skip that stage. We'll proceed directly to controlling your aura."
She tapped the blackboard again, drawing attention to four large characters written there. "First, the Four Major Principles. These are the fundamental skills after learning Nen, and the absolute foundation of all Nen Ability."
This made Kevin sit up straight. He understood that every discipline required a solid foundation, and that mastering these basics would make everything else easier.
"Ten. Zetsu. Ren. Hatsu." she recited, pointing to each in turn. "Ten — The ability to stabilize the aura flowing throughout the body. In combat, the strength of your Ten determines your durability against Nen attacks. Zetsu — The ability to seal your aura nodes, erasing your presence and making your existence faint. A useful technique, but it leaves you utterly defensible against Nen. Ren— The ability to explosively enhance the aura stabilized by Ten, used for various applied techniques. Its most basic use is to amplify raw attack power. Hatsu — This is the true purpose of Nen, the culmination of the Four Major Principles. It is the expression of your unique aura. After mastering the others, you use Hatsu to manifest your personal ability—a self-constructed superpower, your finishing move!"
Kevin listened with rapt attention, trying to engrave every word into his mind. This was the secret art, laid out before him.
After her explanation, Bisky looked at Kevin inquisitively. "You should already have your Hatsu. You've clearly already constructed a Nen Ability." She was confident she wasn't mistaken on this point.
Mori, by the door, couldn't help but open his eyes wide in surprise. If Kevin had already constructed his Nen Ability, why was his performance in their recent fight so… unpolished? He was far from a beginner, yet he seemed stuck in a foundational phase, not yet fully leveraging a personalized power.
"Hatsu?" Kevin immediately understood and couldn't help but slap his own forehead. "If the Hatsu you're talking about is a personal superpower, then yes, I have one."
As he spoke, Kevin concentrated, and the familiar pharmaceutical table he had conjured long ago materialized in the space between them.
"I call it 'A Moment of Dream.'"
[email protected] /Seasay