At Karakura Town First High School, on the edge of the rooftop—
Kurosaki Ichigo had both hands in his pockets and rolled his eyes at the petite figure beside him who was fiddling with her phone.
"I am telling you, this Shinigami job of yours is way too troublesome!"
A month. A full month.
During the day he had to be hypnotized by teachers in the classroom, and during breaks and at night he had to carry his Zanpakuto around and do part time work, clearing out those Hollows that did not know their place.
This kind of life was even more tiring than working at a convenience store.
What made his heart even more blocked was that Rukia that girl had actually gotten herself some kind of gigai, and with one change turned into his classmate, playing at being a transfer student in school.
'Hey, you are the Shinigami here.'
"Ichi~ go!"
Rukia gave him a sweet smile. Those big eyes rolled around as she tried to get through with her acting cute.
She did not want this either.
But she was confused too. How was it that after a month, the spiritual pressure inside her had not shown even the slightest movement? All the spiritual pressure in her body put together was barely enough to cast "Bakudo number one, Sho." She could not even hurt a single Gillian, so how was she supposed to do Shinigami work?
It was not like she had not tried to find a way. On the second day after her spiritual pressure disappeared, she had already gone to the address Captain Urahara left, Urahara Shop. Even the gigai was something she got from that strange shopkeeper Urahara. But that guy could not say anything useful either.
"Damn it! Hurry up and recover already, Kuchiki Rukia!", Kurosaki Ichigo kicked the railing in irritation, "My time is not meant to be used on wiping out these trash mobs! Even though today is pretty quiet, the moment a Hollow appeared, the signal disappeared again."
He did not dislike the feeling of clearing out Hollows for his own city, but he had more important things to do right now.
If he did not have strength, how was he supposed to take down the Hollow King Palace.
But with Rukia following him every day now, he did not even have a place to do real combat training.
"There is nothing we can do. I have no way to contact the Soul Society for support for now. And the fact that the Hollows are suddenly disappearing is something we should be careful about too. This looks really strange," Rukia turned her eyes away guiltily. She had no idea things would turn out like this either.
She originally thought it would recover in a few days, but she never thought it would still not be back even now.
And just as Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia were talking, the rusty iron door to the rooftop was suddenly pushed open hard.
People coming up to the rooftop happened from time to time, so Ichigo did not pay it any mind.
But almost instantly, the two of them stopped talking and looked toward the door.
In the doorway stood a slender boy in a neat school uniform. He wore silver rimmed glasses, and his parted short hair lay neatly against his head. He looked thin and calm, giving off a distant and aloof air.
Seeing the boy, Kurosaki Ichigo spoke in surprise, "Ishida?"
Even though they had not interacted directly, he had learned from Sensei Aizen that this boy and his father were both Quincy.
So even though he had never talked to him, he still knew who he was.
"Kurosaki. Kuchiki," Ishida Uryu swept a cold glance over the two of them and lightly adjusted his glasses. With a tone full of certainty, he said, "You two are Shinigami, right."
"Huh? Who are you?", Rukia's heart jumped. She looked at this seemingly ordinary high schooler in front of her with caution.
Why would a normal person know about Shinigami? This was not normal.
"Yeah, I am a Shinigami. What about you?", Kurosaki Ichigo did not want to waste time and just wanted to know what the other side was after.
"Heh! So you really are Shinigami."
The corner of Ishida Uryu's mouth lifted into a cold arc, a kind of obsessive madness burning in his eyes, "In that case, let us have a match. Let us see whether you Shinigami are really stronger than Quincy, and more suited to destroying Hollows."
As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed a handful of tiny, faintly glowing particles from his shoulder bag, swung his arm, and scattered them into the air.
Those tiny particles rapidly vaporized in the air, turning into invisible yet eerie breath that instantly spread out.
When she saw this, Rukia's face suddenly went pale.
"Hollow bait? Are you crazy? Ishida Uryu!", she shouted, her voice trembling with shock, "That will attract countless Hollows to Karakura Town! There are so many innocent normal people here! What are you trying to do?"
"It is just to create a suitable field for this match," Ishida Uryu pushed up his glasses, his tone as calm as if he were stating a fact, "As long as we kill them fast enough, there is no need to worry about anyone else."
A Quincy cross condensed out of thin air in his hand, blazing with reishi light.
The next second, a smoothly shaped reishi longbow had already appeared.
Whoosh!
With almost no aiming, an arrow radiating holy light streaked across the sky like a meteor and pierced straight through a small Hollow that was sneaking around two hundred meters away.
At the same time, countless Hollow spiritual pressures appeared around them, and black gates opened up around the school.
"Hollow bait huh? This can be used to warm up a bit."
The corner of Kurosaki Ichigo's mouth twitched slightly.
Even though he did not understand Ishida's recklessness, when he felt the Hollow spiritual pressures surging in like a tide from all directions, he knew he could no longer just stand by.
In an instant, he separated from his body and entered his Shinigami state.
What he used was something called a soul candy, which would have a modified soul take over and keep his physical body.
In truth, his spirit and body were already able to be one. If not to cooperate with Rukia, he would not even need to do this.
The moment he turned into his Shinigami state, Kurosaki Ichigo's figure blurred. Holding his Zanpakuto, he flashed around with Shunpo too fast for the naked eye to follow. Each time he appeared, a Hollow fell with a scream.
With no spiritual pressure, Rukia could only stand on the rooftop and watch the two of them compete from afar, worry showing in her eyes.
What she was worried about was not the two of them getting hurt.
This kind of abnormal Hollow gathering would definitely attract the attention of the Soul Society.
When that happened, her situation would no longer be something she could hide.
———
And just as the two of them were slaughtering wildly, two kilometers away from the center of the battle, atop a hundred meter tall building, the wind howled.
"Your son really is not like you. This kind of headlong charging, he really is a bit reckless."
Kurosaki Masaki looked into the distance at the battlefield where Hollows and Shinigami were intertwined. Her red lips parted slightly. There was an indescribable trace of nostalgia in her voice, but her eyes were utterly empty, as if they held no emotion at all.
Since that last farewell to the living world, she had been completely reborn.
Over the years, Rosse's unrestrained development had not harmed her in the slightest.
On the contrary, her complexion had grown even better. Her skin flowed with a sharp vitality, and her body had been tempered to an even more extreme and exquisite form.
She was wearing the Espada uniform of the Hollow King Palace, which perfectly accented both dignity and luxury, outlining her mature and full bodied curves with flawless precision.
The full arc of her chest, the slender grip of her waist, and the long lines that flowed from her hips down her thighs, all of it gave off forbidden allure and a sense of power.
It was a perfection carefully carved by Rosse, radiating a cold and elegant aura.
Yet in stark contrast to this body overflowing with peak vitality was her lifeless face.
What was once an ocean of gentleness now held only cold indifference without a single ripple.
Years of f0rced infusion had built a high wall in her heart.
Emotion, to her, had become something distant and vague.
Perhaps it had been destroyed by Rosse, or perhaps the endless infusion had worn down all joy and sorrow alike, leaving behind a kind of detachment that kept everyone at a distance.
Seeing Kurosaki Ichigo again, the person who had once been the whole meaning of her life, she discovered that the expectation in her chest had already vanished without a trace.
Clearly, she should have been so excited she could not even breathe...
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