World of the Living, Karakura Town.
The desolate, lonely, and cold night sky was already covered by dark clouds, without a single star shining through.
On this rainy night, Ichigo Kurosaki was depressed. Like a homeless ghost, he wandered the streets, an unprecedented sense of loneliness, powerlessness, and anxiety about the future welling up in his heart.
In the rain, he seemed to have been abandoned by the whole world. At this moment, Ichigo was a helpless child, with a belly full of grievances that he couldn't tell anyone, and no place to call his own.
In the underground base of the Urahara Shop, through contact with Pesche, Ichigo Kurosaki received one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that his good friend Chad, Inoue, and Nel seemed to be alive.
The bad news was that Bai Yuetong seemed to be a pervert. He was running wild in Hueco Mundo, collecting good-looking female Arrancar for parties. Nel and Inoue were suspected to have already fallen victim to him.
This made Ichigo fly into a rage, wishing he could kill his way back to Hueco Mundo on the spot. But he was held back by Urahara, Hiyori, and the others. Rushing in recklessly would not only fail to save his companions, but might also cost him his own life. And this time, the enemy was despicable and shameless. If Ichigo dared to act rashly, the other party would not hesitate to use the hostages as threats. In that situation, his captured companions might suffer even more.
Ichigo didn't care about being injured himself, but he was unwilling to risk his companions being hurt because of his recklessness. So, even though he was seeing red, he temporarily endured it.
And after contacting Soul Society, the bad news came one after another. The Soul Reapers in Soul Society had suffered heavy casualties. Renji and Byakuya might never wake up again.
And there was even more devastating news: Rukia was missing. She might be dead without a trace, or she might have been taken away by the enemy.
But besides the pervert in Hueco Mundo, the Quincy in the war had no record of taking prisoners. They were all cold-blooded killing machines who would not leave any captives, only mercilessly ravage the Seireitei and slaughter the Soul Reapers.
So, Rukia was most likely... dead!
This blow to Ichigo Kurosaki was extraordinary. When he heard it, it was as if he had been struck by lightning. His mind went blank, and he stood stunned for a moment. Tears gushed from his eyes. The successive bad news finally made him break down, and he fell to the ground, wailing.
At the same time, a strong hatred and killing intent instantly surged in his heart. This was the second time in his life that the gentle, saint-like Ichigo, who was never willing to kill, had felt killing intent.
Ichigo Kurosaki's power, driven by this monstrous killing intent, instantly skyrocketed, crazily increasing. He was like a ferocious great white shark about to rush out from the deep sea and devour everything!
And the killing intent was so strong it was almost tangible. The bone-chilling, bloodthirsty spiritual pressure almost directly crushed the nearby Urahara, causing his soul to completely disintegrate. Fortunately, Hiyori and the others reminded Ichigo, thus saving the life of the now-flickering Urahara.
Because this was the first time Ichigo Kurosaki had truly experienced the heart-wrenching pain of losing a comrade. At that moment, Ichigo seemed to understand Ginjo's hysteria that night a little better.
And what made Ichigo even more disheartened was that he could inexplicably sense that the just-survived Mr. Urahara seemed to be wary of him. Although he didn't show it on the surface, it was as if someone was whispering and sharing their inner thoughts in his ear. The already sensitive, emotional, and gentle Ichigo could just inexplicably sense a rift.
In the past, even when he could sense Ukitake's surveillance and the Seireitei's vigilance and supervision of him, which were all out in the open, he hadn't experienced a true loss because of the Soul Reapers. Instead, he had gained the power to protect because of them. At that time, he could still remain calm.
Although he hadn't spoken out against Kugo Ginjo, who had a crisis of faith in Soul Society after being persecuted by them, and even expressed understanding, he still couldn't truly empathize with Ginjo. He was more willing to believe in Soul Society, believe in the Soul Reapers, and see them all as companions to be protected.
But now, for some reason, Ichigo's heart was a little sad. Although he still trusted Mr. Urahara, he couldn't go back to the original state of having no reservations. He would always inexplicably think of the words Bai Yuetong had said to him.
So, with his mind in a mess, Ichigo ran out of the Urahara Shop as if fleeing. But on this cold, rainy night, he had no idea where to go.
Ichigo didn't want to go home for now. As the older brother, he didn't want his sisters to know about his sorrow and pressure. That would add to Yuzu and Karin's burden.
And he was hesitant, afraid, and temporarily didn't dare to face his father. The fact that his mother was a Quincy gave him a bad feeling.
So, after running out of the Urahara Shop, when he saw his father on the street with a cigarette in his mouth, about to greet him and seemingly wanting to talk, Ichigo didn't respond and instead ran away even faster.
Later, Ichigo might make up his mind to find out the truth about his origins, but for now, after suffering so many blows, he just wanted to escape for a while.
But after running out, Ichigo didn't know where to go. He could only wander the streets aimlessly.
However, Ichigo was lucky. Just then, a van pulled up in front of him. The warm headlights shone over, illuminating the drenched and pathetic Ichigo.
"Isn't that Ichigo? What happened?" Ikumi Unagiya rolled down the window and was very surprised to see the disheartened Ichigo.
"Miss Ikumi?" Ichigo's reaction was a bit slow.
His face was a mixture of tears and rainwater, his body was stooped, his thoughts were slow. He looked up to find that it was the older sister who took care of him at his part-time job.
The explosive killing intent that had erupted in the Urahara Shop had pushed Ichigo's power to skyrocket, but the surge in power did not bring him the slightest bit of joy.
After coming to his senses, Ichigo was afraid of his increased power, afraid of the self who had almost unconsciously crushed Urahara.
His natural gentleness and kindness, combined with the pain of losing someone important and the entanglement of a pile of trivial matters, made Ichigo more and more indecisive, more and more pained and depressed.
After coming to his senses, he was ultimately not driven by that killing intent to cast aside all miscellaneous thoughts and become a ferocious and brutal great white shark. Instead, he had become a little goldfish that now only wanted to escape everything and stay alone in a fishbowl.
Grimmjow's death had already dealt a deep blow to Ichigo. Now, even Rukia, who could always give him the courage to break through the gloom and fear and move forward at critical moments, was also dead... all because of his own incompetence, because he hadn't been in time to rescue her, because his weak self couldn't protect the one he cherished.
So, the powerful strength that had just soared to an incredible level quickly fell back, and even dropped to a level weaker than before, under Ichigo's indecisiveness, constant mental self-consumption, and sad depression.
But even so, Ichigo's stats were still very high, still crushing many captain-class Soul Reapers.
"Get in the car."
Seeing this, the somewhat heartbroken Ikumi Unagiya directly took a firm stance and made the now-dazed Ichigo get in the car. She quickly drove him back to her home and let the pathetic Ichigo take a hot bath.
In the warm and bright room.
Ikumi Unagiya shook out Ichigo's wet clothes, then put them in the laundry basket and dryer one by one. She also steamed some meat buns so that Ichigo could put on dry, warm clothes and eat hot food to warm up after his bath.
She took care of the homeless Ichigo like a mother who doted on her child, temporarily giving him a very warm place to stay.
"What on earth are you doing! Seriously... I was just thinking that I hadn't seen you in a long time, and then you show up looking like you're about to die. Are you a high school girl who had a fight with her dad?" Ikumi Unagiya looked towards the shower with some concern. The glass door was covered in steam and blurry, but Ichigo's shadow could be faintly seen.
Although Ikumi Unagiya was very concerned about Ichigo, her words sounded a bit strange.
If you swapped Ichigo and Ikumi's genders, it would be a high school girl who had a fight with her dad and ran away from home, with nowhere to go on a rainy night, being taken home by an uncle she knew...
This, this, this... this was exactly the prelude to a plot that you could only see on a slowly loading software!
However, the moment Ikumi Unagiya hired Ichigo, she had already thought of him as her younger brother. She believed that children could rely on adults and told Ichigo to rely on her whenever he needed to.
This maternal nature made Ichigo a bit uncomfortable, but it also gave the motherless Ichigo a special feeling, and a harbor for his soul to rest for a while.
Ichigo was tragic, but also happy; unlucky, but also lucky. He lost his mother at a young age, but he also met many elders who played a similar role to his mother later on, giving him warmth and reassurance, and guiding him forward.
Along the way, besides those old schemers who simply used him, he always met people who genuinely cared about him. This was also because Ichigo himself was a very charismatic young man who could unconsciously attract the people around him.
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