Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

The night deepens.

Machi fell into a deep sleep. Perhaps it was because of Law's presence that she went from the second stage of light sleep to the fourth stage of deep sleep.

Trusting Law and knowing that he was by her side, she felt a sense of security that she herself was not aware of.

Law, however, didn't sleep. Resting his hands beneath his head, he stared at the ceiling, replaying his battle with Hisoka in his mind.

This was a habit he developed during combat training. Even if he maintained an undefeated record, he would review the battle afterwards to find out the mistakes that occurred during the battle, or which step resulted in a wrong decision.

By recognizing these errors and committing them to memory, he aimed to avoid repeating them in future battles.

As he reflected, his eyelids grew heavier, and before he realized it, he drifted into sleep.

…

The next morning, Law woke up, but found that Machi was still sleeping.

Turning his head to look at the sunlight coming in through the window gaps from outside, Law stretched himself lazily. He did skipped breakfast, freshened up briefly, and began his daily Nen training.

Taking out a stone the size of a washbasin, he trained by separating and reassembling it repeatedly for an hour.

When an hour passed, Machi woke up.

Noticing her stirring, Law looked over at Machi and asked, "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Anything is fine as long as it's something you make."

Machi replied nonchalantly, then jumped off the hammock and walked towards the bathroom.

Law chuckled, tidied up his training area, then opened the door and went out, planning to go to the market.

Since he will set off tomorrow morning. Law doesn't plan to do any actual combat training today. He plans to go to the market to buy some vegetables and have a luxurious feast this evening.

The market at Meteor City is small and unimpressive, but the traffic is good. However, the number of products in various stores is generally too small.

One type of store that sells a large number of products is the electrical appliance stores.

The products inside are all electrical appliances picked up from the landfills. After simple repairs, some televisions, radios and refrigerators can be barely used.

When Law arrived at the market, he went straight to the food section.

The quality of meat and vegetables was uniformly mediocre, so there was nothing to choose from. Law quickly purchased the ingredients, with pork being the most expensive, and most of the money he brought with him was gone.

On the way back, Law suddenly stopped in front of a small clothing store.

The shop had a narrow entrance with a wooden door on the left and a glass display case on the right. The glass was riddled with cracks and is barely held together with tape.

Above the store, a piece of white paper with the words Grandma Mei's Clothing Store written on it served as a makeshift sign.

Clothes are a luxury item on Meteor City. Even Chrollo only has a few sets of clothes at home. While a guy like Uvogin, who has a relatively good living condition, wore the same shorts and sleeveless shirts year-round.

After Law came to Meteor City, he only changed into two sets of clothes in rotation. As for Machi, she was still wearing the white training suit with long sleeves on the upper body and shorts on the lower body.

The reason why Law stopped was that he saw a pair of purple mid-length socks hanging on the shelf in the glass.

'The same color as Machi's hair.'

After hesitating briefly, he pushed the door open and entered.

The clothing store's interior was as cramped as its exterior suggested.

In front of the door was a counter with an old woman lying on it. She was smoking a brass pipe in her mouth. When she saw Law come in, she made no effort to greet him.

The strong smell of tobacco made Law wrinkle his nose. But when he thought that this was Meteor City, he quickly relaxed.

Taking a quick look at the room, Law saw smoke hanging in the air. There were not many clothes inside, and they were all hung directly on the wall, saving a lot of space.

The main reason he came in was because of the pair of purple socks, so Law just took a quick look at the surrounding and then looked away.

Seeing that the old woman had no intention of entertaining him, Law pulled open the curtain without hesitation and took out the purple socks from the glass case to have a look.

It is made of velvet and feels average to the touch.

'It is probably not second-hand, but imported from outside. Judging from the size, it should fit well.'

Law paused, then decided to buy it. He took the socks and walked towards the counter, then placed them on it.

Only then did the old woman become interested and look directly at Law.

At this moment, Law noticed that the old woman at the counter was maintaining Ten, meaning that she's was also a Nen User.

A flicker of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he had no intention of probing further. He asked directly: "How much is this pair of socks?"

"13,000 Jenny." The old woman spoke in a low voice, puffing out smoke as she answered.

'It's really dark...'

Law raised an eyebrow. Judging from the old woman's indifferent attitude, he decided to forget about bargaining and just pay directly.

After the old woman received the money, her expression did not change. She just kept puffing away, making no effort to provide further service.

Law was stunned for a moment and asked, "Where's the bag?"

The old woman squinted at Law and said coldly, "There isn't one."

Hearing this, Law's eyelids twitched. He thought to himself, 'Respect the elderly and love the young, don't stoop to her level…'

He grabbed the socks and left directly.

It was not until Law pushed the door and left that the old woman looked towards the door, a thoughtful look appearing in her eyes.

"Not bad."

She lifted her long pipe and tapped it against the counter.

…

When Law returned home, Machi was waiting for him.

"Here, try it."

Law handed the purple socks to Machi, who stared at them in a daze.

"What are you standing there for? Take it away." Law urged with a deadpan look.

"Oh."

Machi came back to her senses and mechanically took the socks. This was the first time she received a gift and she seemed very uncomfortable with it. And for some reason, her heartbeat was slowly speeding up.

"Try it on, I'll go make breakfast."

After saying that, Law ignored Machi's reaction and went toward the kitchen with his groceries.

"Okay." Machi responded, then stared quietly at the purple socks in her hand, with a gentle smile quietly hanging on the corner of her mouth.

'Purple, just like my hair. I like them.'

After calming down the unspeakable excitement in her heart, Machi sat on the bed, took off her shoes and put on the middle-length socks.

'They fit perfectly.'

Machi stood up, the socks reaching just below her knees, covering her slim calves.

Looking at the pulled-up socks, Machi thought for a moment, then bent down and pushed the socks down slightly, forming several layers of wrinkles.

"Well, this looks much better."

Machi nodded with satisfaction, and her heart softened slightly when she thought of Law's busy figure.

…

After breakfast, Law and Machi went to meet up with Uvogin and Nobunaga.

There was no combat training today, but instead they gathered at Uvogin's house to train their Nen for a while.

Near noon, Law called over Chrollo and Pakunoda.

Law had prepared a sumptuous lunch to entertain everyone.

After eating his fill, Law glanced at the contented faces around him and said, "I'm leaving the day after tomorrow morning to go to Yorknew City."

"What?" Uvogin's face changed and he slammed the table as he stood up.

"Don't get too excited. I'll only be away for about half a month. When I come back, you'll have plenty of opportunities to challenge me." Law said with a wry smile.

"Challenge..." Uvogin's mouth twitched, and he didn't know what to say.

Afterwards, Law explained a little bit, and everyone learned that Law had to go to Yorknew City because the Elder gave him a mission, and the reward was 5 million Jenny.

Knowing that Law would be away for nearly half a month, Uvogin and the others looked like wilted eggplants.

The thought of missing Law's cooking made them realize the next half-month would be nothing short of a disaster.

Law said nothing about the potential dangers, and Chrollo, who knew the truth, didn't say anything either.

The day passed quickly.

As night fell, everyone dispersed.

Law and Machi returned to the small house, which was only a few dozen square meters.

"Law, the rules of survival in Meteor City apply anywhere." Machi, who was lying in the hammock, suddenly said.

Law lay on his bed, habitually using his hands as pillow, and when he heard Machi's words, he replied, "But they don't suit me."

Machi fell silent after hearing this, and after a moment, she said seriously: "I just don't want you to suffer."

"Suffer..." Law chuckled bitterly and said, "The survival rules of Meteor City are too cold-hearted."

"But I survived because of them." Machi replied immediately.

"I know." Law replied with a nod.

After that, both of them fell silent and the room was enveloped in stillness.

"Machi, don't kill innocent people."

When talking about the survival rules of Meteor City, Law thought of Cook, whom he had killed, and also thought of what the Phantom Troupe would do in the future.

That's why he said such a confusing sentence.

Right now, Machi is just a little girl who has just been exposed to Nen, and her hands are still clean, cleaner than Law, who had killed a person.

"What do you mean?" Machi looked confused.

"Nothing, just get some rest."

Law said, realizing he had misspoken. He gave a silent, bitter smile and brushed it off.

The next morning, Law left early, not letting anyone see him off. He arrived at the exit of East District ten minutes early, and saw that there were already four people standing there.