"Pairo!"
"Mom!"
"Dad!"
"Aunt Miseuru!"
"Uncle Chikuta!"
"..."
"Elder!"
Kurapika, only twelve years old, ran through the forest where he was born and raised.
128 compatriots—not too many, not too few—yet Kurapika remembered each of their names and faces, and could easily list the preferences of those he knew well. He ran through the entire village, knocking on every door, shouting everyone's name.
He was getting tired, exhaustion weighing him down, his eyelids drooping uncontrollably.
But he refused to give up, dragging his unwilling legs forward, still searching the empty village for any sign of others.
"...Kurapika."
A familiar young voice called from behind him. All the weariness left Kurapika's body, and he turned his head with surprise, "Pairo!"
A brown-haired boy, about his age, stood a short distance away, smiling with his hands clasped behind his back.
Though he sensed something peculiar about the smile, Kurapika didn't want to doubt his lifelong friend. He asked in a voice filled with the joy of finding a savior, "Pairo, do you know where everyone went?"
Pairo's smile remained unchanged as he raised a hand, pointing behind Kurapika, "There's someone up ahead."
"?" Getting no further information from Pairo, Kurapika looked in the direction he pointed.
The village was still empty.
"There's nothing there." Kurapika was certain he had found nothing, so he turned back to Pairo, "...Pairo?"
Pairo, who had been standing there, had also vanished.
As at the beginning, the surroundings were deserted.
"Pairo." Kurapika's voice began to tremble with fear.
"Mom."
"Dad."
"Aunt Miseuru."
"Uncle Chikuta."
"..."
"Elder."
This time, he forced his way into every house.
The small Kurta village was simple and honest; there was no theft or robbery, so no doors were ever locked.
This was the first time since Kurapika could remember that he had entered someone else's home without permission.
The guilt of breaking basic etiquette made his heart pound.
No, perhaps it wasn't guilt that made him anxious, but the inability to comprehend the current situation.
"Where did everyone go?" Kurapika searched every house in the village but found no trace of anyone.
He had no choice but to leave the village and search the surrounding forest.
"Pai—ro—"
"Ma—ma—"
"Da—d—"
"..."
His voice grew weaker and weaker. He couldn't walk any further. His legs buckled, and he collapsed onto the grass, his eyes stinging slightly.
"Where did everyone go?" his voice cracked a little.
His vision suddenly darkened, and he turned his head with a vague premonition.
A woman was standing right beside him. As he turned, he brushed against the silver-white ends of her hair—no one in the village had hair that color.
"Little one, no need to rush home. We arrived early. Your village is completely finished." A voice, unhuman and cold as metal, came from above Kurapika's head. "Let me see your Scarlet Eyes. You might die a little more painlessly."
His body stiffened, and Kurapika slowly raised his head.
The shadow cast by the humanoid figure flowed like black ink, casting a dense darkness over Kurapika's face.
He couldn't make out the other's features. Kurapika's eyes were blood-red. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
"Ah, right, there needs to be proof." The black humanoid held a book in its hand.
It was the adventure biography Kurapika had left with the Elder.
"..." His throat felt choked, and Kurapika still couldn't make a sound.
"The battle is over. Every pair of Scarlet Eyes will be dug out; that stuff is valuable. I found it troublesome, so I slipped away. Well, didn't expect a bonus find."
"..." Kurapika mustered all his strength, not knowing what he was even shouting, just screaming at the top of his lungs, "...Aa... Aaa..."
Kurapika opened his eyes, like a drowning person who had just been rescued, his chest heavy. He gasped for air.
A completely unfamiliar, low wooden ceiling came into view.
His limbs were cold, the dampness clinging to his skin intensifying the chill. The warmest part was concentrated on his forehead—a hot towel.
As he opened his eyes, the hot towel moved, wiping away the sweat that had broken out on his face and neck.
Unaware of his current situation, Kurapika wanted to do or say something, but his body was weaker than he could have imagined. Even with all his strength, all he could manage was a faint moan, like that of a dying person.
Am I dying? Or am I already dead? Kurapika couldn't help but wonder.
Unable to distinguish dream from reality, his mind was still hazy.
Fortunately, it was quiet around him, allowing him to focus on sorting through the tangled thoughts in his head.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Right, he remembered. He and Pairo had undergone the "Outing Test." They had bought all the village's daily necessities, then rode back to the village on a land bird. Afterward, they would hand over the supplies to the Elder, and the test would be complete, granting him the "Outing Permit" he desired from the Elder. With the "Outing Permit," he could go outside and find a way to cure Pairo.
Only one step left.
As they were about to return to the village, they were stopped by a strange woman with silver-white hair.
That woman wanted their Scarlet Eyes. That woman said their village was gone. That woman seemed to have accomplices. That woman even used the book Kurapika had left with the Elder as proof.
Were the things that woman said true?
Kurapika couldn't be sure, but he remembered that under the pressure of that woman's extremely ominous aura, his rational nerves suddenly snapped, and he attacked her.
Then... then he... his vision went black, and when he woke up, it was now.
The lingering dull pain in the back of his neck seemed to indicate how the woman had rendered him unconscious.
"..." His memory was clear, but there was something very illogical.
If what that woman said was true, how were his eyes still in their sockets? How could he still see?
Could it be...
A palm was placed beneath the back of his neck, supporting his back as he was helped to sit up on the bed, propped against a pillow.
His thoughts interrupted, Kurapika snapped back to attention and stared intently at the owner of the hand—another completely unfamiliar woman.
Her flaxen hair was braided into two long pigtails. Her heavy bangs and large, round-framed glasses covered most of her eyes. Her cheeks were dotted with freckles. Apart from that, only the lower half of her face was visible. She was probably shy. Her clothes were made of slightly coarse cotton and linen, very plain.
"Excuse me..." Facing a stranger, Kurapika chose to use the common language rather than the Kurta language, "Who are you? Where is this?"
The woman held a cup of water and handed it to Kurapika.
Kurapika cupped the mug in his hands. The pure white liquid inside transferred its warmth through the cup to his somewhat cold palms. He detected the scent of dairy products and understood what it likely was, but he didn't intend to drink it casually. He still had many unanswered questions and no appetite for eating or drinking.
After handing the cup to Kurapika, the woman took out a small notebook and a pen. She remained silent to Kurapika's questions, simply writing in the notebook.
What was going on? Couldn't she speak? Just as a new doubt arose in Kurapika, his eyes widened with an even stronger question when he saw what the woman wrote.
"How do you know my name?!"
【KURTA】
These were the words the woman wrote on the paper in the common language.
Kurapika quickly searched his memories but found no impression of her.
【KURTA TRIBE】
This was the second word the woman wrote.
【FATED DEATH】
This was the third word.
Connecting these three words, the sheer amount of information caused the twelve-year-old Kurapika to freeze completely, unsure of where to begin asking. He simply murmured, "What... does it mean?"
This time, what the woman wrote were the answers to his initial two questions.
【I AM A HUNTER OF DESTINY.】【THIS IS THE OUTSIDE WORLD.】
More and more questions arose. Kurapika's brow furrowed tightly.
【IT WON'T TASTE GOOD WHEN IT GETS COLD.】
After writing, the woman pointed to the cup in Kurapika's hands.
"..." Overloaded with thought, Kurapika felt his mind was as tangled as a ball of yarn. He managed to pull out a single thread, "Why am I here? Where are the others? There was a boy about my height, with short brown hair, have you seen him?"
The woman shook her head. She took the cup from Kurapika's hands, took a sip as a demonstration, or rather, to show that the item was fine, and then handed the cup back to him.
After drinking, she even licked a bit of milk foam from the rim of her lips. She had truly drunk it.
It seemed the woman was insistent on waiting for him to finish drinking before she would continue answering questions.
Kurapika complied.
While he drank the milk, the woman wrote a long sentence in her notebook. By the time he finished, she had also finished writing.
【THE ORIGINAL DESTINY HAS DEVIATED AND MUST BE CORRECTED. WHEN I ARRIVED, ONLY YOU REMAINED. NO OTHER LIVING SOULS.】
"Original destiny... what is that?"
The woman didn't write immediately, as if she needed to think or had reservations, but she ultimately gave a direct answer.
【THE KURTA TRIBE WAS WIPED OUT. YOU ARE THE SOLE SURVIVOR.】
"What did you say?!" Kurapika had already vaguely realized the possible reality, but it was difficult to accept.
Indeed, if he had completely disbelieved the woman's words, his pupils wouldn't have turned scarlet in his agitation.
The woman sighed and continued writing in her notebook.
【THIS IS "FATED DEATH." AND "SURVIVOR" IS YOUR DESTINY.】
"Why?!" The cup in Kurapika's hands rolled onto the quilt. He grabbed a corner of the notebook the woman was holding and questioned her with anger and disbelief, "...Why!!"
His Scarlet Eyes were like leaping flames, and the burning emotions seemed capable of incinerating everything around him.
"..." The woman moved her lips.
Although Kurapika didn't understand lip-reading, he thought of what the woman had just written and, with a little consideration, it wasn't difficult to guess the words corresponding to the woman's lip movements.
Her answer was:
Destiny.