"Shady shopkeeper?" Rukia stroked her chin. "Ah! Makes sense. That answered my question."
Following that, she stood up from where she sat.
"Well then, I will take my leave for now. Ichigo, remember that you are now the substitute Shinigami for Karakura city."
"Hey, wait!"
The Kuchiki left after saying what she wanted, leaving Shirou and Ichigo alone to sit in silence for several minutes before either of them spoke again. The latter took the word of being the substitute Shinigami with salt.
"So..." Ichigo started. "Shady shopkeeper?"
"Yup."
"And who is that shady shopkeeper? Did that gorilla know about all of this?"
"No, he doesn't." Shirou lied through his teeth.
Back when he first saved Ichigo and his mother, resulting in the former's memories being lost, Isshin made him promise to keep secret about his heritage and power to his twin. Until he deemed Ichigo old and ready enough, his younger twin brother shouldn't learn about their background.
It was strange at first, but now Shirou knew the reason.
'Ichigo has a large amount of reiryoku. Dad probably kept them suppressed until now, but for some reason it leaked and Hollows gathered here to find him.'
The monster called Hollow sought a high density of spiritual particles called Reishi, or reiryoku in the Human World. Their main prey were Pluses, wandering souls that hadn't crossed over yet.
Pluses with strong willpower possessed larger amounts of Reishi compared to weaker ones. Therefore, it's more delicious.
'Ichigo's reiatsu is overflowing due to our parents but he can't control it due to the lack of training...' Shirou deduced.
However, Shirou also realized that Isshin had hidden something from him. Whatever it was, it must be related to why Ichigo could become a Shinigami.
"I will take you to the shady shopkeeper tomorrow. Maybe he can help you." He said and patted Ichigo's shoulder, "For now, rest. Today must have been exhausting for you."
His brother sighed and shrugged slightly before getting off the couch.
Without saying anything else, they went upstairs towards their respective rooms to retire early.
***
Before going to school, the brothers paid a visit to Urahara Shop.
"Urahara-san!" Shirou called out. "Hat and clogs! Are you here?!"
"I'm here~" Urahara exited from his storeroom and approached them, waving casually. "Oh, you're together today? What's with this special occasion?" He smirked knowingly.
"You know everything already." Shirou shrugged. "Ichigo became a Shinigami last night. My brother needs help. And you're the perfect guy."
"Aww~ Shirou-kun is complimenting me? I am honored." Urahara grinned and wiped a fake tear from his cheek.
Ichigo looked suspiciously at them from aside.
No matter how he saw it, this man was indeed shady, just like what his brother had said. Could he trust this guy? Ichigo glanced over to his twin who gave him a nod.
Seeing his brother's reaction, he hesitantly accepted the answer. It seemed that Shirou trusted this weird man, so perhaps there wouldn't be any harm done here?
They entered the shop upon being prompted by the owner and sat down across the table from Urahara.
"So, you became a Shinigami? How interesting!"
Ichigo grunted unhappily but remained silent.
"We have several requests for you, Urahara-san." Shirou stated firmly. "First of all, can you look after Ichigo for me? And secondly, the Shinigami called Kuchiki Rukia seemed to lose her power after giving them all to my brother, so can you help her too?"
"Oh? Ohoho~" Urahara chuckled softly.
He fanned himself as his eyes twinkled mischievously. Then he tilted his head to the side and rested his cheek on his palm while smiling mysteriously.
"You want me to train your brother and also take care of the little bunny Kuchiki-chan? As usual, you're so kind and overprotective, Shirou-kun~"
"Just think of it as a way to repay me for helping you every day."
"... Good point. Alright then. Consider it done."
Both brothers raised an eyebrow in surprise.
They didn't expect him to agree immediately.
Urahara saw their confused expressions and chuckled again. "I'll do whatever you ask because it might lead to fun events soon."
That definitely sounded suspicious, coming out of his mouth.
Still, since he promised to assist them, Shirou decided to give up thinking too much about his intentions for now.
"Thanks, Hat-and-Clogs." Ichigo bowed sincerely.
After that conversation ended, the trio discussed the details about how things worked regarding Ichigo's condition.
In the end, he would stay at Urahara's place under surveillance for a few days. The shady shopkeeper assured him everything would return back to normal after a while.
With that settled, Shirou left Ichigo at the store so his sibling could get used to his new power.
Leaving that unattended or untrained would be dangerous. Not to mention, Ichigo was literally a Hollow magnet with his unrestrained reiryoku.
'I wonder how Urahara-san knows about Kuchiki-san...'
As Shirou thought about that, he was greeted by someone from behind.
"Good morning, Shirou."
He stopped on his track and turned around only to see Kuchiki Rukia, the Shinigami from last night, dressed in a school uniform.
His eyes widened in surprise, not expecting to encounter her at school grounds. She peered curiously at his own amber orbs.
"Morning..." Shirou responded dryly and started walking again, but she caught his wrist and forced him to face her instead.
"What? Do you need anything from me?" He asked plainly.
"Ah, yes." She paused momentarily, then continued speaking once again. "Cough, where is your brother? I can't see that orange hair anywhere."
"At home. He won't come for at least three days." Shirou answered curtly. "Urahara Kisuke, that shady shopkeeper, will train him to use his power correctly. You know him, right?"
The raven haired girl hummed in agreement after hearing Urahara's name and nodded before adding quietly, "If that man is taking care of your brother... then I will entrust that responsibility to him. Still..." she trailed off mid sentence.
"You're curious about me?" Shirou smiled wryly. "Don't worry. Just treat me as another human with strong reiryoku that can see ghosts."
After saying those words, he resumed his journey towards the school building.
'Kurosaki Shirou...' Rukia thought deeply. 'Aside from that incredible reiryoku, it seems like he knew a lot about this world too. Not to mention, Ichigo is also strange.'
The Shinigami was confused, but she had a bigger worry at the moment. Sighing inwardly, she followed behind the red headed teen, hoping nothing went wrong during her tenure in the living world.
***
"We will introduce you to a new transfer student. Her name is Kuchiki Rukia, I hope you can get along well with her."
The teacher announced in front of the class, making Shirou sigh at the blatant show of manipulation at work. He knew that there was a magecraft to alter memories, but the one currently being done was probably a Shinigami thing.
Sitting near the window side, Shirou stared blankly ahead as he watched his classmates greet Rukia. Some boys gave her creepy looks whereas some girls glanced enviously at her beautiful appearance.
In contrast, however, Inoue Orihime seemed excited by the newcomer. Keigo also cried happily at the newcomer who talked to them during lunch break.
Unknown to them, Rukia only got closer because she wanted to observe Shirou.
Of course, she tried to be subtle about it. So subtle that another resident of the strange world, Ishida Uryu, didn't notice anything strange as of now.
School life hadn't really changed beside the additional Shinigami in Shirou's class.
After school ended, Shirou decided he would go to Urahara Shoten to look at Ichigo's training. He changed to his outdoor shoes and left the school.
On the road outside the school gate, a short figure with black hair seemed to be waiting for him with crossed arms.
'What is she doing here?'
He pretended not to see her and walked past Rukia.
"Cough."
A cough was about to stop him, but he hummed and pretended not to hear it.
'That's just someone trying to catch my attention, but I have more important business to attend to.' The boy convinced himself.
Suddenly, there was another loud cough coming from somewhere nearby.
"Cough... cough COUGH COUGH!"
It kept coming right behind him and became louder than before as time passed by. However, he kept ignoring it until someone tapped his shoulder repeatedly.
"...Huff."
He then stopped in his tracks and turned around with a frown plastered across his face.
"Can I help you?" Shirou asked flatly while looking at Rukia who stared back sternly.