Tai Kaneko

Hunter Exam

Tai joins the Hunter Exam as entrant number 401 and spends most of her time keping her head down while trying to pass each phase like everybody else. She meets Gon briefly on the airship to Split Mountain, but is too socially awkward to make friends with him or his friends. Her Hunter Exam experience ends during Phase 4, when her target, Sipher is killed and has her badge taken by Gitturackur.

Heavens Arena

Tai arrives at Heavens Arena and runs into Gon after her first match. They talk while they are waiting to be called in for their matches and Gon is sympathetic to the fact that Tai failed the hunter exam. He offers to help her train, telling her that they are friends when she reacts with confusion, and Tai, not sure how to process his kindness, dubs him “Sunshine child”, looking to see how many of his buttons she can push before he shuns her like everyone else. To her astonishment, he takes the nickname in stride and develops a small crush on her.

Tai suffers defeat in her second match. She is debating leaving when she runs into Gon again and despite Killua’s obvious distrust of her, she gets talked into sticking around and watching the two boys’ fights. Killua’s irritation with her only grows when he hears her call Gon by his new nickname, which he perceives as her way of trying to insult the boy (well, finally somebody seems to have caught on!). She only means to stick around for a while, but gets caught up in the excitement and ends up with a shallow crush on Killua when she sees how cool and confident he is in battle. She tries to talk to him but he traps her in an elevator and accuses her of messing with Gon’s heart. He threatens her life and gives her an ultimatum: stay and give Gon a chance, because he likes her, or walk out of the boys’ lives forever. Tai leaves for a few days to sort out her thoughts.

She returns in time to see Gon lose his fight with Gido and decides to pay him a visit in his room. She has no way of knowing that this is the first of many days she’ll spend entertaining him while he is on bedrest. She comes to enjoy his company, and they grow close, swapping stories from their childhoods. Gon also tells Tai about Nen, which was the strange power she’d felt in the air during his last match.

Gon becomes an important person to Tai (her first human friend), and she spends what cash she has left to get him a chocolate bar on his birthday that he accepts while admonishing her for spending money on him. Having witnessed the scene, Killua is forced to accept that Tai really is trying to be Gon’s friend, and he befriends her later on for Gon’s sake, reminding her that he'd be unhappy if they didn’t get along.

The rest of Tai’s time at Heavens Arena is spent cheering on the boys as they resume their battles. She is drawn into their nen training and spends much of her time with them meditating and trying to sense her own aura without much luck. Seeing the boys’ progress gives her hope though, and a plan to ensure her succession the next Hunter exam.

With his debt to Hisoka repaid, Gon and Killua prepare to set out for Whale Island and Tai bids them farewell. Gon tries to get her to go with them but she declines, saying that she’s going to be training with Wing. Seeing Gon’s displeasure, Killua suggests she meet them in Yorknew in September, and Tai just can’t say no to Gon, who nearly crushes her in an excited hug. Realizing that she’s going to miss him, Tai kisses his cheek without thinking about how this could affect their friendship later.

Yorknew City

Tai arrives in Yorknew and realizes that her goodbye kiss was taken wrong before, as Gon seems to think they’re dating now! She bursts his bubble and introduces herself to Leorio, who’s been watching the whole thing unfold while Killua not so subtlety accuses her of kissing Gon to mess with him. They talk her into staying in the same hotel as them, and Gon goes with her to ensure she gets a room okay.

Tai is almost positive he’s got an ulterior motive; her suspicions are confirmed when they go to her room and he apologizes for embarrassing her in front of Leorio, thinking that’s why she’d turned him down since he knows she likes him. Killua told him so! Tai tries to tell him that not everything Killua says is always true, and he turns the tables, asking her point blank if she does like him. Taken by surprise, both by the sudden question and the realization that she’s not sure exactly how she feels, Tai stammers and hesitates a bit before telling him he’s her very good, close friend. Gon is aware of how long it took her to answer and takes this as a sign that her feelings aren’t set in stone. He vows to prove himself to her and Tai is ready to move on as the subject has begun to drain her.

They’re about to leave to rejoin Killua and Leorio when Gon realizes he has never given Tai a nickname. She tries to tell him it’s not necessary, but he’s determined to come up with one. Tai admits that “Sunshine child” was just her trying to get under his skin before it became her actual nickname for him. She tries telling him that just “Tai” is fine since it’s a shortened version of her full name but Gon insists on a name only he can use. Despite her efforts to dissuade him, he dubs Tai “Honey”, and they go to rejoin the others; before too long Gon lets the nickname slip and Killua bursts into laughter while Leorio doubles over trying to keep a straight face.

After being stopped from leaving to die of embarrassment, Tai slouches in a chair, listening idly as the three boys discuss plans to obtain Greed Island and focusing on the meditation Wing had instructed her to do daily. A few minutes later she is interrupted as Gon tells her they’re going to go try out a conditional auction. Realizing there’s more he wants to say, Tai urges him on and he holds up his new phone. Putting two and two together, Tai gives him her number and proceeds to spend much of the rest of this arc getting calls from him in between canon events.

She gets roped into joining Gon and Killua on their trip to the dealer’s market and stands there with the boys listening blankly as Zepile argues that the wooden vault the boys brought is genuine. Seeing the jewels spill out of it afterward entices her and she has to remind herself that she cannot and will not steal from her friends. She takes advantage of Zepile’s continued presence to sneak off on her own, but she doesn’t get far before Gon is calling out a goodbye and her dreaded nickname leaves his lips, making her cringe and take off running.

She receives a call from Wing, who lectures her for not calling to let him and Zushi know she’d arrived safely, and she apologizes profusely. Wing is glad to hear that she’s keeping up her Nen studies, but admonishes her to spend time with her friends because that’s why she is there in the first place. Tai vows to do better and calls Gon after they hang up but the boy isn’t picking up, which is not like him at all. Against her better judgment Tai starts to worry and ends up waiting with Leorio and Zepile after hearing that Gon and Killua went to hunt the Spiders to get the reward money. Leorio offers her a drink that she refuses because she’s too young, but she appreciates the gesture and sees it as his way of trying to reassure her like an older brother might. Still, she’s so worried she can barely focus on anything, and she dozes, waking up hours later to Gon’s smile and apology for missing her calls. Relieved that he’s okay, Tai is overcome with emotion and wraps him in a tight hug, crying until she falls asleep; realizing he has no way to get her into her room, Gon lays her to sleep on the couch.

Tai wakes up to a photo Killua took of her hugging Gon the night before and realizes he’s blackmailing her as he makes it clear that unless she does whatever he says, he will show it to Gon. After chasing him and failing to get the phone out of his hands, Tai gives in to Killua’s conditions and tags along with the boys when they go to the park. She narrowly avoids being caught in their food fight. She stands there laughing when Gon gets a pie to the face before introducing herself to Kurapika, who she feels might be a bit too formal for her tastes. .

Returning to the hotel, Tai ends up squished between the boys in the elevator and decides to go to her room because she doesn’t wanna intrude on the reunion between the main four. Though reluctant to part ways already for the day, Gon lets her go, but not without promising to call her later and using that nickname again. Tai steps out of the elevator and groans inwardly as she hears Kurapika become the second person to assume she and Gon are dating. A few hours later, she receives a call from Gon explaining how he and Killua are going to help Kurapika capture a member of the Phantom Troupe. The call ends almost as abruptly as it began. The defeating silence that follows gives her time to think about a lot of things. She comes to terms with the fact that she does view Gon as more than just a friend, and then worries that she might not get a chance to tell him if things go awry with the Phantom Troupe.

Tai barely sleeps and nearly jumps on her phone when it rings the next morning, making a beeline for Gon’s room. He meets her at the door with the phone still to his ear and asks if she’s okay. Tai explodes on him, unleashing all her pent up frustration with the situation, and fears of being rejected once he knows the real her, who isn’t always so well behaved. Summoning all her courage she kisses his cheek and finally admits she has feelings for him. Gon surprises her with their first real kiss and makes a corny remark about already knowing she was a thief since she’d stolen his heart. The moment is broken as Killua suddenly interjects, and they realize he’s been standing in the open doorway watching them! He informs Tai that he’d kept his end of their deal, then reveals that he’d gotten a photo of their first kiss which he likes better than the last one anyway. Gon is totally unphased by Killua’s intrusiveness and just hugs Tai, picking her up off the ground in his happiness after she confirms that yes, this means they’re dating. Killua gets uncomfortable with the PDA and takes his leave. Gon asks Tai what her deal had been with Killua and she tells him the she might tell him…if he can catch her once they leave the hotel. This prompts one of the most intense games of tag either of them has ever played before.

Greed Island

After learning of the boys’ failure to get hired to play Greed Island, Tai has to drop more bad news on them: she’s running out of money so she’ll have to leave Yorknew herself. Gon offers for her to stay in his room for a few more days and she hesitates, seeing that he’s not quite willing to say goodbye yet (she’s not either, but she’s also too shy to suggest the kinds of things he did). She’s worried about being unable to pay back any debt this will put her in and Gon insists that all he wants in return is a little more time with her before she goes. Tai relents and they train hair for the next few days, celebrating when each of them has a break through. Tai is overwhelmed when she feels her own aura for the first time while Gon is filled with pride for her.

Leorio comes to give Gon the money Zepile had made for him to buy back his Hunter’s License and has a fit when he learns that not only are Gon and Tai dating, but they’re staying together in a hotel room! Irritated at his implications, Tai labels him a pervert and leaves in a huff. When she returns, Leorio is gone and she informs Gon that Wing has requested she return to Heavens Arena and resume her training at once. Seeing that Gon is sad she offers to do whatever he wants for their last night together and regrets her words as this ends with her laying in his bed that night, buddied cuddled and held onto like a lifeline.

The next morning Tai leaves and it’s sad for everyone. Even Killua seems bummed. Seeing Gon looking so uncharacteristically sad hurts, so Tai leans in to whisper something in his ear that perks him up. She kisses his cheek and is ready to leave when he tells her it’s a promise and gives her a goodbye kiss. Blushing, Tai prepares to board the airship but is stopped as Leorio arrives, shocked that she’s leaving. She smiles and thanks him for showing her what it might be like to have an older brother before saying goodbye again and finally getting on the airship with Mafura in tow. By the time she takes her seat she’s already gotten a slew of texts from both Gon and Killua, and she can’t help becoming a little emotional. She may have told Gon this wasn’t “goodbye forever”, but she still has no idea when she’ll see either of them again. Still, she’s determined to be at least a little strong when they do meet again.

Tai’s training is kicked up a notch, and after learning from Gon that he and Killua passed the Greed Island screenings, her determination to improve herself leads her to sacrifice much needed rest and relaxation to practice and study outside of her sessions with Wing and Zushi. Wing catches on and threatens not to let her go take the Hunter Exams next year if she doesn’t chill and Tai pours out her heart to him about how she needs to catch up with the boys and also she needs a hunter license for her own goals that she had briefly forgotten about. Wing allows her some extra training time but warns this is the end of his leniency and he won’t tolerate anymore sneaking. While following his rules, Tai strikes up a friendship with Zushi and secretly starts thinking of him as her little brother.

Tai enters the 288th Hunter exam, and after a brief run in with Killua, who laments that Gon would be mad if he kept her from passing, she manages to succeed and secure her own Hunters License. Wing and Zushi are happy upon her return, and training intensifies again as she is introduced to Ren and told she won’t be taught another thing until she’s mastered it. The work is harder than Tai expected but she doesn’t dare complain now that she’s on the path to reaching her goals.

Chimera Ant

Tai gets a call from an unknown number and is greeted by a strange female voice, with Gon calling out to her in the background. It turns out the female is Bisky, the boys’ newest teacher, and she’s calling to check up on what kind of person this “honey” is that Gon wouldn’t shut up about. They talk for a few minutes, and it would be a lot more intimidating to Tai if Gon didn’t keep interjecting and flat out snatching the phone once or twice to talk to her himself. The call concludes with Biscuit saying she’ll need to come assess Tai herself, leaving the purplette baffled and slightly concerned.

Biscuit shows up a few days later in the middle of Tai’s meditation exercises, and after giving her a once over she classifies her as hopeless. She plays a mind game with Tai and succeeds in getting her so agitated she puts on her best display of Ren yet before ranting passionately about how only she can decide her own fate, and she doesn’t care if most female hunters do sell their licenses to set themselves up for life- she’s not like that! She has goals and a dream to chase, and the boys to try to catch up to. Her Ren display may not have been super impressive, but Biscuit is drawn in by her passion and remarks that she understands what Gon saw in her now. To Tai’s shock she announces her intent to take over her training and she’s barely said her goodbyes before she and Biscuit hit the road on a journey to toughen her up that comes to a screeching halt when Palm contacts Biscuit for assistance with Gon and Killua’s training.

As her active student, Tai comes along with Biscuit to Doli City and is more than a little happy to see Gon again. She’s expecting her training to be put on hold so she is taken aback when Biscuit looks away from the boys and tells her to get over there and join them in trying to maintain Ren for three hours. Tai is horrified and thinks she’s asking way more than she can handle but she joins in anyway and nearly collapses not too long into the exercise. This would go on for several days, with Biscuit giving them massages in between to replenish their energy for the next round, before Tai finally collapsed. No amount of healing therapy from her mentor is enough to cure the fatigue, and the boys advance beyond her limits. Another fifteen days go on before she can actually hold her Ren for the allotted three hours, with her being subjected to whatever torturous routine Biscuit could come up with after that while the boys go off to face Knuckle and Shoot.

The night that Palm confronts Gon about their chances of winning against Knuckle ends up being one of the worst times for Tai. She ends up irrationally jealous when Gon starts gushing over the woman’s cooking, and acting so eager and excited about everything that comes out of her mouth. Unable to handle watching him gush any longer, Tai gets up and leaves the room without a word. A clueless Gon notices her absence shortly after and asks where she’d gone, only to be sent out to look for her by an irritated Biscuit. He finds her and after a bit of effort he gets her to stop ignoring him. It doesn’t take long for him to figure out that Tai got jealous and he fights back laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation while he reassures her that she’s the only girl he likes. They return to the hotel a while later and after taking days to figure out her punishment for disrupting their routine, Biscuit puts Tai through the worst training routine of her life.

Tai is with Gon when he sees the damage Biscuit did to Killua’s face and she finds it hilarious, laughing openly until he brings up the punishment she had endured at Biscuit’s hands. Gon brings up a nice dream he had about her and Tai pales, realizing he’d somehow known she kissed his forehead while he slept the previous night. Killua leaves the room and Tai cringes as Gon tries to get her to admit it wasn’t a dream. She changes the subject and they end up talking about how she won’t be there to comfort him like that in the NGL. Gon is outwardly grateful she won’t be in harm’s way, and she’s sad she can’t help him at all. “Just promise me you’ll come back.” She begs, and he pinky swears to her that he will.

Tai gets jolted awake by Biscuit and is told that the two of them will be retreating after Gon and Killua leave for their final match with Knuckle. Having a feeling this relates to the increasingly malicious aura oozing from Palm, Tai is fine with this, but sad when Biscuit tells her she can’t tell the boys they’re leaving for the sake of them getting out safely. Tai wakes up the next morning to see Gon watching her since she slept sitting up against the wall. He asks why she’d let him sleep with his head in her lap cause now she’s gonna have a bad back and Tai gets flustered, saying she didn’t mind since this would probably be the last time she saw him for a while. Gon questions her and she cracks, telling him how she has to leave with Biscuit that night. He’s sad but promises to keep quiet about her leaving if she can find a way to tell him goodbye without actually saying it when the time comes. She tells him goodbye with a kiss, insisting it was for luck when Biscuit calls her out on breaking her word, and the two of them hurriedly get on an airship out of Doli City before one Palm Siberia’s wrath can reach them. Tai’s training resumes. She struggles with enhancement exercises similar to the ones Gon and Killua endured in Greed Island.

As their journey continues, Tai is drawn to a woodsman’s booth in a town. Biscuit notices her eyes lingering on the boomerang he has on display, and she buys it, incorporating it into their training. After an incident where an aura laden boomerang burns through Tai’s gloves, burning her hand, a good majority of the rest of their time training is spent working with the boomerang and teaching Tai proper aim and control, both of the boomerang and her aura in general. She’s just getting the hang of detaching her aura and enveloping the boomerang with it when they receive news of Netero’s passing and have to head to Swardani City.

13th Chairman Election

While en route, Tai receives a phone call from Killua about Gon’s condition. She is horrified to learn of his actions in the NGL and full of grief with the realization that he’d chosen to abandon everybody, including her. He broke his promise to her. Once the airship lands Tai hurries to the hospital where she sees Gon’s condition for herself. She falls apart outside of his room and is found there by Leorio. The two console one another once Tai realizes he feels even more helpless than her, and their sibling like bond grows as Leorio lets her cry in his arms for a little bit. Once she calms down she tells Leorio that as upset as she is about Gon throwing everything away she needs him to pull through so she can kill him for breaking his promise to her.

Tai spends most of the rest of the arc stuck like glue to Leorio, thought she is absent after he gets roped into participating in the chairman election, mainly sticking around the hospital and keeping to herself since Killua is gone and she doesn’t know anyone from the Chimera Ant extermination squad. She doesn’t go to vote when it’s time, prioritizing being at the hospital in case Gon’s condition changes. She is among the hunters waiting outside the hospital when Killua arrives with Alluka, sticking with Biscuit for comfort as needed.

She knows not what Alluka does, but the powerful aura that blankets them shortly after she and Killua go inside is overwhelming; as she stumbles, trying to stay standing she looks up and sees Gon standing in the doorway, fully restored and smiling as radiant as ever. As he makes his rounds greeting everybody her heart is heavy with grief in spite of the relief and joy she feels at seeing him well again. Still, when he gets to her she can’t help throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shoulder as she bursts into tears. Gon apologizes for worrying her but it’s not enough. She tells him he should be sorry for making everybody worry and he sheepishly apologizes to everyone. It’s still not enough to quell the hurt anger churning inside but Tai accepts it anyway and after promising they’d talk later, she joins everybody in taking Gon to Leorio.

The reunion is touching, but Tai’s still in a funk and she tells Biscuit that they should get going to resume her training now that her errand is done. They barely get outside before Tai hears her name and she turns around just in time to be tackle hugged by a green blur. Gon accuses her of leaving without talking to him and she snarks that they had spoken at the hospital but Gon won’t drop the subject, accusing her of leaving without saying goodbye. Tai turns on him, saying he’d done the same thing with the choices he’d made at the NGL and things go downhill as they dissolve into a big argument that just escalated as Tai continues to unleash on him. She knows now that she’s upset because she feels he abandoned her personally but she can’t bring herself to say it so she focuses on how he abandoned everybody as a whole. Finding her courage after a bit she asks if he even thought of her when he was throwing his life away and panics when he goes silent. Not sure she wants to hear his answer, she tells him she hopes what he did was worth throwing everything, including their relationship away. She leaves with Biscuit, trying to ignore Gon calling out to her that this is not over. That they’re not finished.

Separation and Growth

Timeskip about a year. Tai is now a fairly confident nen user, relying solely on an ability called “Blazing Rebound” that utilizes a boomerang. After a year of encouraging Tai to block Gon’s number and ignore all his attempts to reach out to her, Biscuit ditches her and Mafura on Whale Island where she inevitably runs into Gon, who has apparently been telling his aunt that they’re still dating (Mito seems unsure about the whole thing an comes off as not liking Tai as a result). Tai gets mad but he reminds her she didn’t officially break up with him before she ran off and…she can’t refute that. They talk over a campfire and Tai reluctantly agrees to let him try to win her over again, but promises that it will not be easy. She’s still nursing a grudge over him “abandoning” her after all. Gon rises to the challenge, and she boards a ship off the island the next morning, intent on leaving him, but he’s predicted that and is already on the ship waiting for her. They banter a bit before Gon asks what her plans are and she informs him that she intends to go see Wing and Zushi. After that, she’ll embark on the hunt that made her want to be a hunter to begin with- that is the search for her true parents. Tai shows him the two clues she was left with as an infant (a torn corner of an old map, and a yang pendant engraved with the characters “Kan”) and he agrees to help her.

The Hunter and the Hunted

Two days have passed and Tai is already fed up with Gon’s advances. She slaps him after awaking in a situation that results in an accidental kiss and the day doesn’t get much better from there. Even Gon’s effort to smooth things over by getting her food later doesn’t help much, though she begrudgingly accepts it anyway cause she’s starved and broke (she plans to pay him back once she has money). They arrive at Heavens Arena in time to see Zushi win his tenth match in a row, qualifying him to challenge a floor master, and Gon is so clingy. Tai put up with him holding her hand when they were trying to get through the crowd, but now she wants him to let go and he refuses.

Wing finds them arguing in the hall and breaks it up; Zushi finds them shortly after and Tai is so sweet to the boy. Not realizing she views him as a little brother, Gon is pretty jealous of the whole display. After being asked about her Nen studies, Tai offers to give a demonstration and Wing takes them to a less populated area so she can show them. Everyone is impressed with her Blazing Rebound, though Tai admits she can’t always execute it as well as she did this time. Wing picks up on the lack of harmony between Gon and Tai, and the former gets offended when she brushes it aside, stating she’s got bigger things to worry about. Wing treats them all to lunch to celebrate the reunion and Zushi’s victory, and Tai fills them all in on what’s important to her now. Wing suggests that Tai check out some maps to try and find a match to the scrap she has and they all go their separate ways after lunch, promising to meet again soon.

After failing at a shop with various types of maps Gon suggests calling Leorio for advice. The call is…tense. Tai hasn’t contacted him in like a year and as her self appointed older brother figure he’s taken it pretty personally. Leorio lets up his lecture when he hears Gon and assumes that Tai has finally let go of her grudge on him- learning that it’s just the opposite, however, he lays into Tai again, telling her to let it go and just be happy Gon is alive. Tai gets mad and tells him she didn’t call for that and he reluctantly advises she check a library after hearing the situation. The call doesn’t end though without him admonishing Tai to let her grudge go because it’ll be good not just for Gon, but for her too. Tai is left with food for thought but pushes it aside as they go to the library and dig up every book on maps they can find and start comparing each page with her scrap of map paper. Killua shows up not too long into this and takes Gon out. They talk and Killua is furious that Tai isn’t treating him right. He advises Gon to back off and let Tai cool down for a while, and Gon decides that he’ll have her hold onto something of his until she’s ready to talk so she can’t assume he abandoned her again.

Returning to the library, they find Tai asleep and decide it’s time for her to get some air. Killua coaxes her into leaving the map comparing to Gon and Mafura and they go out walking, which ends with him trapping her in an alley and trying to intimidate her into forgiving Gon. Tai is not the same scared girl he threatened in an elevator years ago though. Aura flares around her as she dares him to try to kill her; they argue for awhile, only going silent when he makes Tai realize she judged Gon without knowing everything that happened in the NGL. Still mad, she says she needs a break from Gon’s antics and agrees to talk things out with him if he’ll back off for a bit…She’s completely unaware that she’s going to get just that.

Back at the library, they learn that none of the maps in the books matched and decide to check the hunter website. They find a perfect match and Tai realizes she’s going to need money so they can head to Yorknew, which is where her scrap of map is from (also, the computer screen’s light revealed hidden writing on her map piece, leaving her with two addresses and times to wonder about). Tai enters Heavens Arena and proceeds to fight her way up the ranks in order to save money. After a couple months she decides she’s ready and they head out on the next airship to Yorknew. Gon gives Tai his Paladin’s Necklace to wear until she’s ready to talk with him about the events that led to her grudge on him.

Return to Yorknew

The trio reaches Yorknew and gets two rooms in a hotel (Gon is bummed cause he thought they’d all share a room but Killua reminds him they’re older now). After settling into her room, Tai goes to the boys’ room and they look up the two addresses that were unveiled on her map piece before. Turns out there’s a large list for each. Each address had a day of the week and time attached to it, bringing Tai to realize that she can only check one address from each list per week. She’s suddenly very grateful she saved up so much money cause this hunt will take a while. Gon and Killua voice their intentions to help her on he quest and the hunt begins. They do this for at least two months before something of interest happens. The mafia appears at the pier Tai is currently investigating, and, ignoring both Gon and Killua’s warnings, she decides to get a closer look.

Despite using zetsu to mask her presence, Tai still runs into trouble and is nearly discovered when she gets tangled in fishing net and falls. It’s only thanks to Mafura, who tangles himself in another net and thumps himself around, that the mafia girl who comes to investigate labels him the source of the disturbance. This girl is…familiar to Tai for some reason. There is a tug deep in her soul toward her but she can’t explain why and decides to chalk it up to exhaustion from working so hard lately. The mafia take their leave, and Killua and Gon finally catch up to her, as the latter had followed her scent. Laughing, Gon dubs Tai “the catch of the day” before helping disentangle her from the net, and she gets lectured and thumped by Killua for taking such a stupid risk. Tai tries to defend herself and mentions the strange feeling she’d gotten around the mafia girl but now Gon is mad and they argue about how she’d taken off without any regards for how worried he or Killua would be, and she turns on him, reminding him that he’d done exactly the same thing himself, adding, “It sucks to be forgotten by someone you care about, doesn’t it?” The argument ends and they go their separate ways for the night.

The next morning Tai is awake thinking about it all and realizing that Gon had gotten a taste of his own medicine the night before and he clearly didn’t like it, but maybe now he could understand how she feels. She’s thinking maybe it’s time for them to talk when he texts her, inviting her for ice cream as an apology for blowing up at her the night before. Tai accepts and returns his Paladin’s Necklace at the ice cream parlor and they decide to talk that evening. Despite a very bad case of nerves on Gon’s part, things go off without a hitch (though Killua does have to steal his room key and lock him out of their room to make him go meet Tai). They work out their issue and decide to give them a try once more. Tai’s plan for them to take things slowly fails when Killua refuses to let Gon back in the room, forcing him to camp out on the couch in her room. The next morning she awakens to him cuddled up to her in the bed and realizes how impossible it is to take things slow with the boy. She tries to go back to sleep but overhears Killua at the door teasing them and has to pretend to be asleep when Gon gets up to deal with the boy’s taunting.

Trust and Conflict

Killua gets jealous when he notices Gon taking Tai’s side in an argument. Gon asks Tai out on their first official date (one of two first dates, since he can’t settle on the right “first” date). Still miffed about Gon standing up to him, Killua locks him out of the room without giving back his key, forcing him to see if Tai will mind him staying another night. Outside her room, Gon overhears her talking to Mafura about how she’d wanted to kiss him goodnight but chickened out cause that would make her a hypocrite since she asked to take things slow…He’s so happy that he blows his cover and a flustered Tai opens the door and accuses him of eavesdropping. She allows him in after hearing what Killua had pulled, and after a brief discussion about what he overheard, Tai admits she’d rather pick up where they left off than move slow. She awakes a few hours later to him getting in her bed again and he notices she’s not wearing her gloves. Tai freaks out when he asks about the scars he sees and puts her gloves on, insisting he’d seen nothing and going to sleep. Unconvinced, Gon confronts her about it the next morning and Tai reluctantly lets him remove her gloves. The scars, it turns out, were made by her when she was little after her peers informed her she was adopted and made her question if anybody had ever really loved her. Gon is devastated to learn of her rough childhood and determined to protect her if they ever go to her hometown, though she insists she doesn’t plan on going back. They talk and bond a lot, going out to mail letters to their families that he had to practically force Tai to write cause she hates writing.

On their way back from the post office Gon stops in a shop and comes out with a rental bag that he tells her is her outfit for their date before he leaves to go get changed himself. Tai looks in the bag and it’s a strapless white silk dress that she swears looks like a wedding gown. By the time Gon comes back in his tux she’s locked herself in the bathroom and it takes a lot of coaxing to get her to come out. Their date, as it turns out, is at a fancy little restaurant with a dance floor that Gon encourages Tai onto, stealing a kiss before the night is over. The whole night is awkward but fun for Tai, and hands down the prettiest she’s ever felt but she can’t say that. Gon ends up staying with her after she musters the courage to ask him to.

The following day things go south as a slip up on Tai’s part leads to Gon realizing Killua hasn’t been the best friend to her. He confronts Killua and learns just how much his friend had…controlled the beginning of his relationship with Tai. Even now, he still threatened or blackmailed her as he deemed it necessary. Unable to believe he’d do such a thing, Gon throws the first punch and they get into a bit of a scuffle before Gon storms off, needing to talk to Tai and get more clarity on the situation. He meets her at the park and their conversation is rocky. Thanks to how heavily involved Killua has been in their relationship, Gon is having a hard time convincing himself that what’s between them is real to her. He’s worried she’s just been acting this whole time to appease Killua. In her desperation to make Gon believe that she does feel the same way he does, Tai accidentally ends up telling him she loves him and while she’s mortified at the timing, it’s just what he needed to hear. They make up and he drags her to lunch with him and Killua where Tai’s resentment toward the boy for almost ruining her relationship turns into her challenging Killua to a fight. Gon is bewildered as an equally furious Killua tells her she’d caused the fallout by opening her mouth, then accepts her challenge and they head somewhere less populated.

Not wanting to see his friends get hurt, Gon makes them promise not to use nen; they decide to name the winner based on who can land three strikes in the other first. Thanks to some swelling in his eye from his fist fight with Gon, Killua is slower than usual and Tai is able to land the first hit, sending him into a mental fit over being taken by surprise by someone so below him. Reverting back to his assassin instincts, Killua abandons the No nen rule and nearly takes things too far. Tai is forced to use nen herself to snap him out of it, but by that point the damage is done. She’s injured and Killua, ashamed to realize he’d have killed her if things went much further, tells Gon to get her to a doctor then takes off running. As it turns out, Tai has two broken ribs and is sentenced to bed rest with Gon keeping an eye on her 24/7.

Mafia Infiltration

After nearly 2 1/2 months of bed rest Tai is fed up with Gon’s coddling treatment and tries to tell him off but he’s not convinced she’s well enough to be on her feet. Tai sends Killua a text, complaining, and bluffs that she’ll hurt Gon if he doesn’t come get him after Killua accuses her of being over dramatic. Killua arrives in time to see Tai being fed food she could easily feed herself and realizes she wasn’t being dramatic at all. Gon will only leave if Killua and Tai make up, so they do…but Tai makes it clear she doesn’t trust him and is only doing it for Gon’s sake (and her freedom). No longer stuck on bed rest, Tai resumes her training and meditation.

The hunt regarding her last resumes, and she decides to go back to the pier from before since they’ve run out of addresses to check and seeing the mafia was the only interesting thing that happened. The boys agree to help her get the license plate of the mafia’s car since she’s convinced they need to follow them, but make her agree to use phones to communicate. One vibration means the mafia has been spotted, two means somebody got the license plate number…and three is Tai’s signal to stop being reckless unless she wants Gon coming to bring her back by force. Tai inevitably breaks this rule as she decides to follow the car, barely taking note of the address it pulls into before Gon catches her and pulls her into an alley, kicking and punching until she realizes it’s him. Gon stays with her that night as neither of the boys trust her not to sneak off and go try to explore the newly acquired address.

The next day Tai and the boys look up the address that the mafia car had gone to and discover it’s a restaurant that only admits patrons in formal wear. Tai is horrified but given little choice but to wear another dress if she wants to go there and investigate. Shortly after arrival they find a table and the same blue haired mafia girl Tai had seen on the pier takes the stage at the center of the room. Killua ducks under the table, followed by a curious Gon, and Tai takes the opportunity to sneak off and snoop around. She learns about tryouts being held for a new bodyguard for someone named Kazuko before running into an intimidating man with greyish green eyes who gives her the creeps.

Tai returns to her table and realizes the boys had noticed her absence. They’re not thrilled and lay into her for ditching them after they get back to the hotel. Tai is nonchalant about the whole thing- yes she took a risk but it got them information and that’s what matters in her book. She tells them of her plans to go to the bodyguard tryouts and after realizing that she’s not planning on letting them come the boys try to stop her. Irritated at the interference and taking it as then not trusting her, Tai argues until Gon relents, making her pinky swear that she’ll be careful. Seeing that he’s been overruled, Killua gives Tai a slew of rules to follow if she gets hired, and tells her he and Gon expect daily updates for both their sanity.

The next day, Tai tells the boys goodbye and leaves Mafura in their care. Gon pouts as she kisses the ferret goodbye but not him and quickly remedies this before she can leave. Upon arriving at the location of the tryouts, Tai introduces herself as Taiyumi, a nobody from Meteor City, and discovers that the tryouts are actually an all out brawl where anything is allowed! The last two people standing will be hired. “Taiyumi” does well until the second to last match, when her shoulder gets injured in battle. Despite the setback, she goes on to the final match, which is against three other men, and with less space to move around and more than one person after her, she is the second person to be taken out as she is forced to surrender when one opponent slams her into the ground and holds her arms behind her in a vice grip that promises more pain if she doesn’t quit. Tai surrenders and is preparing to leave when gun shots sound and she hears an angry “Daddy! Not again!” Suddenly the bluenette with braided buns, who she’s just realizing now is Kazuko, motions her forward, offering her a job since “daddy killed another one”, and she realizes she’s somehow managed to infiltrate the mafia after all!

After checking out her room Taj heads to orientation, which is Kazuko’s fancy term for putting new hires against one another in one on one matches to assess their skills. Tai is the only one to meet her standards and advances to stage two - training exclusively against the bluenette. The whole time she’s overcome with this familiarity toward Kazuko. She can’t understand it but purposely fights poorly in order to prolong this training in order to try and get to know the girl. Kazuko catches on when an exhausted Tai accidentally blasts her with aura and reveals that she knew “Taiyumi” was a hunter all along because of her use of Nen.

Tai gets put to work guarding the mafia hq’s main door and is bored out of her mind until she overhears talk of a forbidden record room. Thinking that a good place to start searching, she keeps her eyes and ears open and is rewarded with the knowledge she needs when a janitor comes in with the intent of cleaning the entire basement floor, which is where the record room is. Tai uses her lunch break to go down there and sneaks into the record room, only to find herself accidentally locked inside when the janitor leaves as the door only opens from outside or with a key. Rummaging through the various file cabinets, Tai comes across a file labeled “Kaneko” and reads it. It’s a file on a married couple who wears matching yin and yang pendants, and Tai’s already suspicious they might be who she’s looking for…the last page seals the deal though, as she sees a photo of the couple holding twin infant girls- one with lavender hair and the other with aqua blue. The realization that she has a sister is a shock, and enough to make her momentarily forget that the Kanekos are listed as deceased.

Tai is debating on how to escape the record room when the door opens and Kazuko catches her red handed. She makes an excuse to explain her presence and while Kazuko doesn’t believe it, she informs her that as long as she does her job, she could care less what else Tai is up to as long as she’s not plotting the mafia’s demise. Tai has been looking at her and wondering if she might be the missing twin from the file because of her hair, and in her determination to ensure more time around the girl, she urges her to actually give her a punishment since she’s likely to just do this again otherwise, and as a hunter Kazuko should know she’ll find a way in again. Kazuko takes this in stride and at dinner that night she announces the girl’s promotion as her new personal bodyguard who will be staying at her side 24/7; in order to ensure as much, she’s moving Taiyumi’s things to her room immediately.

Suddenly Tai has no privacy so she is unable to update Gon and Killua on her progress - instead, she and Kazuko slowly begin to grow closer, as Tai realizes the girl has never had a female bodyguard, or even a real friend. Their relationship pushes the limits of bodyguard and mafia princess, but Kazuko isn’t bothered and takes things a step farther, taunting Tai over the incessant texts her phone is getting lately. This only gets worse when they run across Gon at the mall, and overjoyed to see Tai after days of no contact from her, he all but tackles her, hugging and kissing her while an amused Kazuko just stands there watching. Now that she knows who’s been texting her bodyguard all night, Kazuko starts teasing Tai a lot more openly and their bond grows deeper when she discovers the girl’s lack of confidence in her looks.

While Kazuko forces Tai to practice a dance that she has to perform at the Gushiken’s restaurant at the end of the week, Kazuko’s former bodyguard, Shu is stewing in jealousy as he believes Kazuko to be his, and looking for anyway he can eliminate Tai from the picture. Friday comes with the revelation that Tai is Kazuko’s mystery dance partner for the night and while she freaks out, Kazuko uses her position as her employer to order her to comply. Unable to refuse orders, Tai changes into the reddish fuschia dress she’s given and surrenders her face to Kazuko’s makeup skills. The dance is rocky at first, with Tai stumbling and falling early on; as she sits on the stage, frozen and humiliated Kazuko comes to help her up and she gets a glimpse of a yin pendent around the girl’s neck. The hope that Kazuko really could be her lost twin rejuvenates Tai and she gets up and does an improv dance with her.

While Tai tries to summon the courage to tell Kazuko that she thinks they’re sisters, Shu and Mr. Gushiken are taking a look at their intel on “Taiyumi” and watching footage of the dance at the restaurant. They suspect that she is actually Taikyu, the daughter of Gushiken’s former agents, Inara and Mizuki Kaneko. Shu is ordered to find out everything he can about “Taiyumi”, and if she is indeed Taikyu, he is to get her away from Kazuko and eliminate her by any means necessary; Gushiken explains that the two of them being together might cause Kazuko to question the lies he’s fed her over the years to ensure she remained a loyal daughter and heir to him. He advises Shu to find out if Taiyumi possesses a yang pendant with “Kan” engraved into it like her mother’s.

Kazuko is distant the next day. She’s begun to wonder if she and Tai are related after realizing their pendants make a name if put together and decided she needs answers from her “daddy” because if she and Tai are related the stories she’s been told of her parents selling her to the mafia have been a lie. Afraid that she might slip and tell Tai what she suspects before she knows for sure what’s going on, Kazuko brushes her off and tells her that she’s going to visit her father in private. When Tai still tries to come she pushes her, knocking her back, and a gleeful Shu appears to pick up the necklace Tai drops, handing it to her.

A commotion at the headquarters’ entrance stops Tai from going after Kazuko and she discovers Killua in the busted doorway fighting mafia agents with ease. Noticing her, he admonishes her for worrying Gon so much and she realizes he’s been worried too. It turns out that Shu has followed her and he calls her out as a traitor for not opening fire on Killua, then starts shooting at her. Killua urges Tai to stay with him, sensing that the guy is dangerous from the bloodlust in his aura, but Tai still doesn’t trust him and runs off with Shu on her tail. Shortly after Gon catches up with Killua, and hearing that Tai needs help he hurries after them.

Before long, Tai’s trapped in a training room on the third floor, clutching a freshly shot shoulder as Shu leers down at her. The fight begins, and Tai tries her best but she’s already been shot in the shoulder and it messes her up. While she manages to land some hits on Shu, her reaction time is slowed enough for him to catch her in Euphoric Nightmare; despite being weighed down by his aura, she continues to defy him until he grows angry enough to break her right arm. From there, Tai lives through her worst nightmare as Shu taps into her darkest fears to make her hallucinate her deepest, darkest fears. Being abandoned by her closest friends and loved ones, booming thunder that follows her no matter where she runs, and ultimately drowning.

Tai passes out and wakes up trapped in a strange world that seems like a mix between memories long forgotten and reality. A strange light materializes and guides her back to the present, and she wakes up in time to see Gon send Shu flying with his Jajanken. He helps her up and, seeing her broken arm and putting two and two together, he’s ready to finish Shu off but Tai makes him promise not to take things too far. While he deals with Shu, who is weakened drastically by the use of his nen, Tai’s training as a bodyguard compels her to go after Kazuko and she leaves to track her down, forgetting to pick up the boomerang she lost during the fight. Moments later, after resisting the temptation to kill Shu for hurting Tai, Gon turns away from the unconscious man to check on Tau but finds her gone. Stopping only to pick up her boomerang, he starts tracking her by scent, hoping to find her there before she gets into more trouble.

Meanwhile, Tai has found Kazuko in a garden room with Mr. Gushiken and it’s obvious something is very wrong - Kazuko won’t respond or look her way. Gushiken starts talking and it’s clear he knows who Tai really is. Not only does he confirm she and Kazuko are twin sisters, but he reveals that he had been responsible for the death of their parents. According to him, the Kanekos had asked to leave the mafia when they found out they were expecting, and after being denied, they instead decided to spirit their infants away to give them better lives elsewhere. Only, their father, Mizuki, had been stopped before he could buy Kazuko the freedom Inara had given Taikyu before being gunned down. Since Kazuko had been recovered, Gushiken decided that raising her in the lifestyle her parents were so against was the best form of payback he could get. Kazuko, Tai realizes, is in shock, as the whole life she’s known has been nothing but lies fabricated by the man who killed their parents.

Overcome with anger and a need to protect her last living family, Tai attacks Gushiken and a very one sided fight ensues that she struggles through with the injuries she’d sustained fighting Shu. Kazuko gets in the way to try and stop the fight, begging her “daddy” to tell her the whole thing was a lie and promising she’d forgive him if he did, but Gushiken sneers and brands her a traitor for not killing Tai the minute she saw her necklace, as he’d instructed her to do so long ago. Tai stops him from shooting Kazuko, kicking his gun out of reach and launches Eternal Blaze, an ability Bisky had forbidden her to use after she learned of its requirements and the fact that it drained all aura. She created the ability intending to use it only to protect family, however, and as Kazuko is confirmed her last living family, Tai resolves to protect her with all she has left.

Gon finally finds them and recognizes the ability as the forbidden one she’d told him about once and since she’s admitted she doesn’t know what would happen if she used it to protect non family members, he’s devastated and thinks she’s throwing her life away. He begs her to stop but it’s too late and he can only watch as Tai’s aura swirls around her in pink flames, engulfing the entire room before converging on Gushiken and consuming one of his legs. As the fire’s heat intensifies with Tai’s emotions, Gushiken falls and hits his head, rendering him unconscious. Before Tai can finish asking Kazuko if she’s okay, she falls unconscious and Gon dashes forward to catch her as she falls. Kazuko snaps out of her stunned state and tells him to follow her, and he does, making sure to be careful of Tai’s injuries as he carries her. They reunite with Killua, who has taken care of everyone in the building, and make their escape, with Gon determined to get Tai to a doctor immediately.