"This is Black Flame Amaterasu," Nanaya muttered with a satisfied smirk, watching the two fleeing figures on the roof of Kurosaki Hospital."Even you two have to suffer a little, right?"
After ruffling Yuzu and Karin's hair affectionately, Nanaya turned toward Kuchiki Rukia:
"Hey, Rukia, are you alright—hey...?"
He trailed off.Rukia hadn't responded. She was frozen in shock.
"Impossible... how could this be...?"
Leaning against the wall for support, Rukia stared out at the street, her expression still full of disbelief:
"What are those two...?"
"They're clearly just humans... yet they can see me, a Shinigami...!""And not only that — both of them have such terrifying spiritual pressure..."
"One can fight a Menos Grande with only his body, and then... somehow, after some kind of change, he burned it to ashes...""And the other — he... he absorbed all my spiritual power, even though I only meant to give him half!"
"..."
"Alright, alright, stop overthinking it."Nanaya walked up, lightly tousled her hair, and said with a grin:"The world's a big place. Anything can happen. If something exists, it makes sense."
"No — you don't understand how insane this is!"Rukia shook her head hard, knocking his hand away and glaring at him:
"You're not a Shinigami, you're not a Quincy, you're just... a human! There's no way you should be able to fight a Menos Grande!"
"There, there, be good, calm down..."Nanaya just smiled and reached out again, ruffling her hair playfully.
To be honest, Rukia's hair was too soft — like playing with a silky plush toy.Under Nanaya's calming touch, Rukia slowly, slowly took a deep breath, gradually regaining her composure.
Finally, she turned to Nanaya and said:
"Thanks... I think I'm calm now. I'm—"
Wait.
Her eyes sharpened.Her cheeks flushed bright red.She stared at Nanaya, gritting her teeth:
"You're that pervert! The one who touched my chest! Now you're taking advantage of me again! Do you even know how old I am!?"
"It doesn't matter!" Nanaya flashed her a thumbs-up with a bright grin. "I judge people by face only! And you're cute enough, aren't you, little lady?"
Rukia practically choked on her own anger.
Forcing herself up despite the pain, she clutched her left shoulder with a wince:
"Ugh... it hurts..."
The bite wound was deep, limiting her movement.
"Want me to carry you?" Nanaya offered casually.
"Absolutely not!" Rukia said firmly, shaking her head like a drum.
"Alright, alright."
Nanaya shrugged helplessly, then turned to Yuzu and Karin:
"Yuzu, Natsuki, you two go inside first and check on Ichigo.That guy's taking way too long."
The two girls nodded and hurried toward the hospital.
Not long after—
"Nanaya-nii!"Yuzu rushed back out, panic written all over her face."Something's wrong! Ichigo-nii fainted! No matter how we call him, he won't wake up!"
"Huh?!"
Nanaya's expression shifted slightly. His eyes flicked toward the hospital rooftop instinctively.
Those two shady guys... they wouldn't have gone that far, would they?
At this point, Rukia gritted her teeth through the pain and explained:
"Don't panic. He wasn't attacked.It's just... the first time a soul leaves the body, it's easy for this to happen.Once his soul returns to his body and he sleeps a while, he'll be fine."
Saying that, Rukia took out a bottle of spray from her sleeve and began limping toward the hospital.
"Don't stop me... I need to erase the girls' memories of tonight, or else they'll be traumatized."
Watching Rukia's stubbornly limping figure, Nanaya suddenly thought of the original Bleach story.
At that time too... Ichigo, Yuzu, and Karin were unconscious, and it was probably this tiny Shinigami girl — injured and exhausted — who quietly cleaned up everything by herself.
"What a tough, stubborn girl..."Nanaya shook his head and smiled.
Without a word, he picked up Kurosaki Ichigo's unconscious body with one arm, and gently supported Rukia with the other.
"Wait, wait—what are you doing?!"
Rukia flinched instinctively, trying to pull away.
"Calm down!" Nanaya said quickly."I'm not taking advantage of you. You protected us — let me repay the favor a little."
After a few useless struggles, Rukia gave up.
Muttering under her breath, she grumbled:
"Stupid kid...You don't even know how old I am... this kind of thing... means nothing to me..."
"Yeah, yeah," Nanaya replied easily.
Helping her inside, Nanaya carefully rejoined Ichigo's soul with his body.
Meanwhile, Rukia hobbled over to Yuzu and Natsuki, pulling out her spray.She gently misted each girl's forehead.
In seconds, the two girls' eyes drooped, and they collapsed into a light sleep.
"That's good," Rukia murmured with relief."They'll forget everything that happened tonight. To them, it'll just seem like a bad dream."
But then she glanced at Nanaya... and for a second, seriously considered spraying him too.
...Only to realize quickly:With Nanaya's absurd spiritual pressure, this level of hypnosis wouldn't work at all.
After settling Yuzu and Natsuki into their beds, Nanaya finally turned back to Rukia, stepping closer to check the deep wound on her shoulder carefully.
"What are you planning to do next?!"
Nanaya asked casually as they moved along.
Rukia Kuchiki: "..."
"..."
"Let me down already! We're here!"
Rukia's face flushed red as she struggled fiercely in Nanaya's arms, her legs kicking helplessly.Finally, Nanaya, laughing to himself, set her down gently.
"You damned pervert!"Rukia stood firmly on the ground, glaring daggers at Nanaya.
"Hey, hey, hey, be fair when you talk, alright?"Nanaya spread his hands innocently and explained, "You said you didn't want me to carry you — so I just used a princess hug instead."
Rukia's face turned an even deeper shade of red.
"Then why not just carry me normally!?" she shouted, practically fuming.
The first time in her life anyone had princess-carried her... and it had to be this shameless brat!
"Tch... Forget it. We're already here anyway."
Rukia decided to act like an adult and forcibly forgave Nanaya for his rudeness.
Turning her head away huffily, she looked at the shop in front of them.
A small, old-fashioned wooden store stood quietly, its entrance bearing a simple four-character sign: [浦原商店]— Urahara Shop.
The sliding wooden door was already closed, the soft orange glow of evening light spilling across the storefront.
Nanaya blinked in surprise.
"Is this really just a grocery store? You're planning to treat your wounds here?" he asked, a little skeptical.
Though he played dumb, Nanaya knew perfectly well what kind of place this was.
The Urahara Shop—On the surface, a humble convenience store.But in truth, it was opened by none other than Urahara Kisuke: the ex-captain of the 12th Division, the former head of the Soul Society's Research and Development Institute, and now a self-exiled traitor.
Although it looked like a junk shop, the products inside were all dangerous artifacts related to Shinigami affairs.
And the two seemingly ordinary young assistants were far from normal; both were capable of holding their own against even the seated officers of the Seireitei.
Not to mention Tessai Tsukabishi — the shop's deputy manager — who once served as the Chief Kidō Corps Commander.His mastery over Kidō spells was top-tier, bordering on legendary.
And the most dangerous of all—Urahara Kisuke himself.His combat ability aside, that man's mind alone was terrifying.
"Yeah, this store's... more than enough," Rukia said casually, knocking lightly on the door.
"Manager, open up! I want to buy something!"
Creak—
The old sliding door opened a crack, and out strolled a languid figure.
Yawning exaggeratedly, Urahara Kisuke shuffled into view.
He had messy light yellow hair with loose curls, military-green eyes, and a scruffy chin.His outfit was just as slouchy — a short dark green jacket, a light green inner shirt, baggy pants, and the signature green-and-white striped fisherman's hat.On his feet, he wore casual wooden sandals that clacked softly against the floor.
The whole vibe he gave off was easygoing, even a little sleazy — someone you'd instinctively never take seriously.
Until you realized how dangerous he actually was.
"Oh? Isn't this Rukia-chan?"Kisuke's eyes twinkled mischievously."You're looking pretty rough. Need me to patch you up?"
While he spoke, Nanaya observed him carefully from behind Rukia.
Then—
"Wait, Manager, what happened to your hair!?"
Rukia suddenly exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock.
At her words, Nanaya took a closer look too—
Sure enough, Urahara Kisuke's usually smooth light yellow hair was... a mess.
A large chunk near the back was scorched black, curled and frizzy like burnt straw.A faint, acrid smell of burnt hair lingered around him.
"Ah... haha..."Kisuke scratched the back of his head awkwardly, stealing a side glance at Nanaya.
Then he quickly turned back toward Rukia and said, trying to brush it off:
"Nothing, nothing. I just had a little... accident with fire."
The corners of his mouth twitched as he said it.
Clearly — someone was to blame for that little "accident."