It had been a month since she was stationed in Karakura Town, but Rukia had yet to receive orders to return. Back then, Captain Ukitake had said she would be stationed for "about a month" without giving a specific timeframe. This was the norm for stationing missions.
Of course, Rukia wasn't in any hurry to return to the Seireitei. As a Shinigami, executing orders was her bounden duty, not to mention that the World of the Living seemed... pretty good?
Regaining her confidence? Perhaps. Compared to the overwhelming sense of powerlessness she felt in the Seireitei, this past month in the World of the Living actually gave her the feeling of being back in the Rukongai.
Perhaps, if her companions hadn't died one by one, staying in the Rukongai would have been happier? If only she had possessed enough power back then to protect those ordinary lives...
Of course, this was just a faint feeling. Even in the World of the Living, Rukia faced all sorts of problems, such as promptly repelling Hollows that invaded the World of the Living, and finding souls wandering who knew where. After all, not all souls would obediently let a Shinigami perform Konsō.
"It should be here, right?" Rukia looked at the two-story family clinic in front of her. She could sense a soul inside, right in that room on the second floor, and the Hell Butterfly also led her in this direction.
Watching the Hell Butterfly fly into the second-floor room, Rukia lightly pushed off her toes and followed it inside. What met her eyes was a simple, tidy room. It was very ordinary; she had seen many like it in the World of the Living.
Standing on the right was a boy with short orange hair who looked a bit fierce. But that face... *Lord Kaien?!*
*How could that be?* The surprise on Rukia's face vanished in a flash. The boy didn't have the slightest fluctuation of Reiryoku. He was clearly just an ordinary human.
Leaping down from the desk she was standing on, she noted that the wandering soul she had been looking for was right here. "I'm close..."
However, if Rukia had been a bit more observant, she would have noticed that the surprised expression on the face of the boy who looked exactly like Kaien had also vanished in a flash...
Although his naturally orange hair always made people mistake him for a delinquent, Kurosaki Ichigo always felt he was a very ordinary high school student, except for the fact that he could see the souls of dead people...
Was this a gift? Or a curse? Probably both. As he grew older, these dead souls always seemed to follow him around.
Although he was happy to provide help to these poor people, like chasing away punks who loitered and fought where they stayed, he wasn't a monk after all. He had no way to help these souls pass on.
Thanks to this bizarre talent, Ichigo had gradually become immune to horror movie tropes like someone suddenly walking through a wall, or turning around to see a ghastly pale face. It was normal; living in a horror movie every day, if he wasn't used to it, he probably would have gone crazy by now.
But that didn't mean his home was open to the public at all times, especially his own room!
He had just returned to his room, only to see a girl wearing a black kimono standing on his desk, with a katana hanging at her waist. *A ghost from the Sengoku or Edo period?*
*No wait, could a little girl even be a samurai?! And that hairstyle, it shouldn't exist in ancient times, right?*
*Human, definitely a human! As for this outfit? It must be some kind of ninja suit, right? The really chuunibyou kind! Which means, the person in front of me is a thief!*
Ichigo silently deduced the intruder's identity in his mind, until he heard her mutter to herself, "I'm close." All his guesses were validated. This person was a thief with a screw loose!
"Close? Close my ass! Are you an idiot?!" Ichigo yelled loudly, simultaneously planting a kick right on the uninvited guest's rear. The girl was very light, and one kick sent her flying.
Spinning twice in the air before face-planting on the floor, Rukia was momentarily stunned. *What is going on?*
"Being a thief so blatantly! 'I'm close'? You mean that, right! The safe or whatever!"
Hearing the angry roar behind her, Rukia finally realized that there was actually someone in the room. *But isn't he a human?*
"You... you can see me?" Wait, being able to see her wasn't strange. The crux of the problem was, "Why did you kick me? No, how could you kick me?!"
Shinigami were also considered souls. They could use Reiryoku to harm humans with physical bodies, but human physical bodies couldn't touch them. So how did this boy kick her?
"What are you talking about? I don't understand! What do you mean 'see'..."
Being able to kick her further proved his guess. As for seeing her, did she think she was wearing an invisibility cloak instead of a ninja suit?
*Very likely.* Ichigo quietly shuffled toward the bedroom door. Whether he called the police or a mental hospital later, he had to prevent the intruder from escaping.
As for the katana at her waist, it should just be a toy, right? He'd call his old man up in a bit. With their combined strength, they could definitely subdue this lunatic.
"Ichigo..."
Like father, like son. His old man's voice rang out from behind him, but before he even had time to turn around, a pair of knees slammed into his back, sending Ichigo flying forward.
"You're too loud! Stop making a racket on the second floor!"
This was a family tradition. While declaring a mistake, one must also make the other party's body firmly remember the pain of that mistake. Thanks to this combative old man, although Ichigo was a good kid, in terms of martial prowess, he was among the best, if not the absolute ruler of his entire school.
But at a time like this, was it really the moment to carry out family traditions?! Getting up, Ichigo rushed in front of his old man, raised his leg, and landed a kick square on his chin. Equality was also a major tradition in the Kurosaki household!
"You're so annoying! Is this a normal reaction to encountering something like this?!" Seeing his old man get up and assume a fighting stance, Ichigo figured this hyperactive, violent middle-aged man hadn't even noticed there was an extra person in the room.
Ichigo pointed to where Rukia had fallen and reminded him with a displeased tone, "Do you see this person? How is our security so bad?"
"See? See what?"
"Huh?" Ichigo twitched his mouth. *Did that kick just now mess up his old man's head?* Jerking his thumb violently toward Rukia behind him, Ichigo continued describing, "This idiot dressed like a samurai!"
He watched his old man blink with a blank expression, as if he truly couldn't see the female thief behind him. "Did another ghost wander into your room?"
Right. Although it was a talent, out of all his family members—including his dad Isshin, and his sisters Karin and Yuzu—only he could see ghosts. This wasn't a special ability unique to the Kurosaki family.
So, unless his old man's brain really was broken by his kick, the girl behind him was actually a ghost? *But that isn't right. I was able to kick her earlier.*
"How many fingers is this?"
"Three. Now two!"
Ichigo confirmed that his old man's eyesight was indeed fine and continued asking, "Then look again. Isn't there someone wearing a black kimono right..."
"It's no use. Ordinary humans cannot see me." A slightly cold voice suddenly rang out from behind him. It was the girl's voice.
*She really is a ghost. Maybe she truly was left over from the Sengoku period, which is why compared to other ghosts, she seems, uh, more tangible?*
"I am..."
*Probably the daughter of some shogun or daimyo?*
"A Shinigami!"