The full moon hung high in the sky, and the mist obscured it from time to time. The shadow of the hell butterfly flickered in the moonlight, and the street lights seemed to be subject to some kind of interference and kept flickering, adding a strange atmosphere to the night.
The two of them walked out of the door and disappeared into the darkness following the direction of the hell butterfly's flight.
······
The next day.
Everything on campus seems to be the same as usual. No one remembers what happened before. This shows that Kisuke Urahara has done a good job in the aftermath.
Thus, the world in which only Ishida Uryū was injured was completed.
When Kurosaki Ichigo saw Ishida Uryu coming to the classroom with his hands wrapped in bandages, he couldn't help but sympathize with this guy. After the battle that day, everyone's injuries were treated, but this poor guy was like an orphan.
No one cares.
"Ishi...Ishida, what's wrong with your injury?"
On the podium, the teacher looked at the physically disabled Uryu Ishida with some shame. He had not seen him for just one night. How could this child be like this?
"It's okay...I accidentally fell down the stairs."
Ishida Uryu found a reason that was not very convincing at first glance.
Fortunately, the people in his class were not very good, and no one really cared about where his injuries came from.
"Oh... forget it." The teacher sighed helplessly. Because she was still in class, she didn't continue to ask.
In short, it seems that the other party can still insist on coming to class. It is probably just a skin injury on his hand, although it looks a little bit ridiculous...
"Go back to your seat and get ready. Let's continue the class."
"Is that guy really okay?"
Kurosaki Ichigo couldn't help but complain.
He saw that Uryū Ishida's hands were tightly wrapped, and his left hand that was used to pull the strings had been wrapped into a rice dumpling with not a single finger exposed. The only ten fingers that could be used were probably the thumb, ring finger and little finger of his right hand.
"Why do you care? It's not your fault."
Kuchiki Rukia didn't even raise her head to look at Ishida Uryu, "He found this all by himself."
She didn't have time to care about others now, because for some reason, she had an ominous premonition since last night.
It seems... there is a familiar breath approaching here.
"Now is really not the time to worry about him."
Xuan Hao, who was sitting next to him, held his chin with one hand and flipped through the textbook boredly with the other, "You should take care of yourselves first."
"Why? What's wrong?"
Kurosaki Ichigo was a little confused. Isn't everything over? Is it possible that there are still missing Hollows that have not been resolved?
"They're coming."
Regarding Kurosaki Ichigo's question, Xuanhao only said four words.
Kurosaki Ichigo still didn't understand after hearing this, but Kuchiki Rukia on the side seemed to have heard something extremely terrifying, and her whole body became stiff.
No way? He looked at the ugly expression on Kuchiki Rukia's face and already had a guess in his mind, but he still didn't dare to confirm.
"He came to see me..."
Kuchiki Rukia sighed, the meaning behind her words being self-evident.
'They' are here to find her, and she is the 'god of death', so the people who come can only be of the same kind.
"What...what should I do?"
Kurosaki Ichigo was suddenly at a loss.
Although he had long expected that such a day would come, when it actually happened, he still didn't know what to do.
Rukia is a god of death and will return to Soul Society one day. Her companions came to pick her up. This should be considered a good thing, right?
But when he looked at Kuchiki Rukia's extremely ugly expression, he knew that this matter might not be as simple as he thought.
"What should I do!? Kurosaki!"
The snap of chalk hit Kurosaki Ichigo between his eyebrows. The teacher on the podium was holding a textbook and patting the blackboard with a kind face, "Come on, come on, stand up and answer this question for me."
"well……"
Rukia Kuchiki sighed as she watched Ichigo Kurosaki flipping through the textbook at a loss.
At this time, she remembered that Kurosaki Ichigo was still a high school student.
It should be said that if he had not appeared, Kurosaki Ichigo might still be an ordinary high school student until now, living a leisurely campus life without any worries.
She looked at the other person next to her.
Faced with the current situation, this man is probably the only one who can help him.
But Xuanhao didn't know when he had fallen asleep on the table.
"Well, I can only rely on myself."
Kuchiki Rukia looked a little bitter.
She didn't believe that this man was really asleep, he just didn't want to help her.
After all, she has been under the care of the other party these days in this world, and she is indeed not qualified to continue to trouble the other party to interfere in this matter. Moreover, this matter should not be interfered by outsiders in the first place. This is an internal matter of the Soul Society. If she really
Seeking help from outsiders would be a true betrayal of Soul Society, and you might not even be able to escape it by jumping into the Yellow River.
“Dingling bells, bells, bells—”
The get out of class bell rang soon.
Rukia Kuchiki lay motionless on the desk as if relieved.
She didn't want to think about anything now. Although she knew that time was running out, there was actually only one way left for her.
After all, this is not the place she should stay.
"Hey! Rukia! Hey!"
Ichigo Kurosaki patted the desk and shouted in Rukia Kuchiki's ear, but the guy seemed to be deliberately ignoring him and chose to ignore him.
"It's so noisy..."
Xuanhao, who was lying on the table, slowly stood up, stretched and walked out of the classroom.
"Uh...wait!"
Kurosaki Ichigo looked at Rukia Kuchiki who was lying on the table and refused to pay attention to him, and then looked at Xuanhao who was heading outside the classroom.
Originally, he wanted to discuss the countermeasures with Lucia, but now that she is ignoring him, it seems that he can only discuss it with others first.
"Why are you following me?"
Xuanhao walked on the stairs going downstairs, looking speechlessly at Kurosaki Ichigo who was following him.
"Of course I want to discuss it with you!"
Kurosaki Ichigo was a little anxious, "Didn't you say they were coming? So what should we do?"
"Please... I'm kind enough to remind you, right? It's up to you to think of a solution! Do you need someone to feed you when you eat?" Xuan Hao scratched his head with a look of helplessness on his face.
"No...it's not that I haven't thought of what to do...it's just...I don't know whether I should do it or not."
Kurosaki Ichigo suddenly seemed to be discouraged, and the expression on his face was a little tangled.
He could probably sense why Lucia didn't want to talk to him.
What happened next was probably not something he should get involved in. After all, it was the 'God of Death''s own business, and he was just an outsider who accidentally gained the power of the God of Death.
"What do you mean whether you should do it or not?"
Xuan Hao stopped and glanced at the boy next to him, "If it's this kind of problem, you shouldn't discuss it with me."
"Um...that's right."
Kurosaki Ichigo was stunned.
Indeed, you have to ask yourself this kind of question to get the answer.
"But let me give you some advice."
Xuan Hao looked at the young man's hesitant look and sighed slightly.
It seems that his arrival has changed a lot of things. For example, the mentality of Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia at this moment must be completely different from that in the original work.
Rukia Kuchiki was like this just now, and Ichigo Kurosaki is like this now. They seemed to be subconsciously placing their hopes on him.
This is not a good thing. If the weak always think about relying on the strong, they will never truly become strong.
"Follow Rukia Kuchiki and confirm the situation clearly before deciding what to do. Also... before making a decision, you must first ask yourself whether you have the consciousness to go all the way to the end."
With that said, Xuanhao left here without looking back.
He continued to stay at school to attend the subsequent classes, as attending classes was meaningless to him.
He thought today was probably the last day he would stay in this school.
"Soul Society? It's really nostalgic..."
While muttering to himself, Xuan Hao's figure seemed to have never appeared in this world and was missing.
The two people who came to the world after nightfall would probably find Rukia Kuchiki, and he didn't want to enter Soul Society's sight so quickly.
······
After school.
Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia walked side by side on the way home.
The two of them were silent along the way, as if they had nothing to talk about.
Such a weird atmosphere made Ichigo Kurosaki feel uncomfortable all over.
Until she returned to the clinic, Kuchiki Rukia still just climbed through the window and got into his room, then locked herself in the cupboard without saying a word.
"Really, what is going on?"
Kurosaki Ichigo scratched his head a little irritably.
He has no idea what this guy is thinking. Even if he wants to say goodbye, he won't ignore anyone?
"Brother! Let's go downstairs for dinner!"
Soon, I remembered the urging voice of the wanderer downstairs.
"Okay, here we come!"
Kurosaki Ichigo glanced at the closed cupboard, then opened the door and turned to go downstairs.
But he didn't realize that as soon as his front feet left, the cabinet door was slowly pushed open.
After dinner, the sun set and the sky finally became completely dark.
When Kurosaki Ichigo returned to the room again, he still didn't notice anything unusual.
Under the dim street lights, Rukia Kuchiki's figure kept running, as if she wanted to escape from this place.
However, she did not notice that she had already been locked tightly by two lines of sight from high in the sky.
"The back fit is 100%, and the neural integration rate is 88.5%."
Abarai Renji looked at the running figure through his goggles, "The soul and the body have been connected to this extent. How long has she been in the body? It seems that she and the body are going to be forcibly connected.
The separation will inevitably make her suffer a little..."
"..."
Facing Abarai Renji's complaints, Kuchiki Byakuya in the back remained silent.
······
"Let me ask you... Kuchiki, do you like Kurosaki?"
While running, Kuchiki Rukia didn't know why she suddenly remembered her recess chat with the girls at school.
"We are just ordinary friends."
She remembered answering like this.
This is indeed a true answer from the heart.
But she hates this answer.
Because it's too much trouble.
What you like, what you hate, etc. are all too troublesome.
Admiration, family affection and friendship are all troubles for them.
Because the relationship between the two of them precedes these, that of 'death' and 'human being'.
There shouldn't be any other relationship between the 'god of death' and 'human beings' other than ferrying souls.
She will leave here sooner or later... All of these, whether it is love, family affection or friendship, are all shackles for her that will hinder her when she makes up her mind to face her destiny.
To the God of Death, these are all unnecessary emotions.
"It's so embarrassing, Kuchiki Rukia..."
Kuchiki Rukia pinched her arm and cursed herself for looking so embarrassed.
As a 'god of death', he was reduced to such a state that he could not even survive in this world without his body.
If other 'gods of death' saw this look, they would undoubtedly be laughed at, right?
She probably imagined what she would look like when the guy who was chasing her saw her.
It is only reasonable for a 'shame' like her to be executed on the spot.
She had already thought about her ending, but she just wanted to try to struggle.
But after struggling, she soon realized it was pointless.
What if Bengyu exists?
A weak person is only a weak person after all. She has no way to control Bengyu's power at will like that man, and she can't even take it out of her body.
Hope and despair are essentially the same thing. The so-called hope itself is unrealizable despair.
"No... after all, why would I think about relying on external forces?"
Kuchiki Rukia smiled bitterly, "It seems that I have really stayed here for too long..."
She was clearly aware of her cowardice, which seemed to be because she had been immersed in the ordinary life of this world for so long that she almost forgot that she was still a 'god of death'.
The God of Death should not have unnecessary emotions when performing tasks. The only things he can rely on are his own strength and the blade in his hand.
"That's right - it seems you are very self-aware!?"
A slightly arrogant voice came from above.
"!?"
Kuchiki Rukia's heart tightened, and she suddenly turned back to look at the source of the sound.
"In other words, thanks to you hiding here long enough, you are still alive now! Rukia Kuchiki!"
As he spoke, Abarai Renji slowly pulled out the Zanpakutō from his waist, with a slightly ferocious smile on his face.