As soon as Kise entered the train car, he plopped himself onto the empty seats, sprawling out like a starfish with its face towards the ceiling. He gasped for air, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and into his jersey. One loose arm drooped until it was brushing the floor; the other pressed itself against the seats in search of stretch room. If anyone could look in through the tinted car windows, they would think he was dying.

"You aren't dying, Ryota-san," said Uryu. Stepping in, he made sure the door slid shut behind him before sitting down. Even then, Uryu took a sigh of relief when they started moving: he had booked this particular train car a week in advance with the last of his part-time earnings, so he sure as hell wasn't letting anyone else in now. Surviving was more important than winning to him; a person only has one life, after all.

Uryu dropped his bag beside him, which landed with a muted thump against the wooden floor. The compartment car was fairly small, he noted, with a single square window framed by plaid curtains and only two seats, maroon like the walls and just long enough to splay out on. Though fairly cramped, it was the best he could afford. Relaxing, Uryu extended his legs a little from the seat, but only that – any further and he would kick Kise's head. Across from Uryu, the blonde was starting to regain lung functionality. Despite his normally good stamina, Kise had trouble pulling himself back to a sitting position.

He spoke first. "That... was a hollow? You said not to worry about them, Uryucchi!"

"I meant it; I just didn't expect an attack so soon," said Uryu, wincing at both his carelessness and his new nickname. "He wasn't very tough, but fighting with bystanders is pretty difficult. I hope you're alright?"

"Yeah," said Kise, between ragged breaths. He pulled at his collar, trying to cool down; it was chilly in here, but he didn't mind. "Yeah, I'm fine. Even though you told me hollows were evil spirits, I really wasn't expecting a giant, mostly invisible monster. I thought it would be... more creepy and less straightforward-murder, y'know." He grinned sheepishly. "I did get a couple clutch dodges in there though."

"Yes, quite fast at running away too. I could tell you were an athlete," remarked Uryu, adjusting his glasses.

"Agh, you saw like, the most uncool side of me right after we met!" By now, the train had picked up its full speed, and both Kise and Uryu had to brace themselves against the acceleration. "If we have spare time," Kise said, straightening, "I'll show you the ropes in basketball like Kurokocchi showed me. Then we'll get to know each other better as a team, and I'll redeem myself a bit."

Uryu nodded, betraying a small smile. "That sounds fine, actually. As long as the court is indoors and nobody in the War can corner us, it'd be a good opportunity to work out cooperative dynamics in a low-risk, yet high-stress environment." Uryu paused, as if remembering something. Then he unclasped the bag beside him, rifled through its contents, and produced a large white binder. He held it up, turning it so Kise could have a better view. "On the topic of the War," he said, "I'll need you to read this."

Impressed but somewhat intimidated, Kise hefted the binder to eye-level. Scrutinizing it suspiciously, he read the cover text aloud: "The Holy Grail War. Subtitled, What We Know So Far." Kise whistled as he leafed through the pages. "Wow! How did you find out so much in just two days?"

"It's nothing big. I just asked a favor from Urahara-san. Got most of the information from him."

"Urahara-san? Does he have experience in Holy Grail Wars?" inquired Kise, hopeful.

"Unfortunately not... even he has no idea why these portals started showing up. They're very useful for getting from your universe to mine," said Uryu, "like this morning, but frankly it's something unprecedented in Soul Society history. The only thing we've seen like it is the Garganta, but those are on a much smaller scale."

Kise leaned back again, disappointed. Letting out a deflated sigh, he turned his head, leaning an arm on the far side of his seat to peer into the pastel evening sky. The grey clouds overhead, thin and wispy, scattered the brilliant glow through their half-shuttered window. Its tinted one-way glass let in a patch of slanted light, angled more and more harshly as the sun seemed to escape behind them. Still looking away, and with his hair made golden by illumination, the words came slowly: "I don't really get what's going on."

They stayed still for a moment, just listening to the rumble of the rails beneath them. Then Uryu spoke.

"As an evil spirit exterminator to a basketball player, neither do I." Uryu bent forward, clasping his hands together, considering his words. "Still, if we look at the info in that binder," he said, jabbing his index finger onto the plastic cover, "and look at patterns in the past, we might be able to learn something. As far as I know, it's like a basketball game, of sorts... except we don't know how many players there are, how the other teams play, or what exactly the rules are. But there are rules," he said. "There have to be rules."

From his seat across from Uryu, Kise shook his head. "It... doesn't sound like a game at all, Uryucchi."

"I'm glad I have a Master that's reluctant to kill other people – that's the opposite of what a Quincy is supposed to do – but we're stuck here. Neither of us wanted to get strung up in this War, least of all me, but the matter of fact is, it will continue whether we play or not." Uryu's voice shook at these words, as if reluctant to go on. He followed Kise's eyes through the window, trying to think of something else to say, until, suddenly, he jerked upright.

"What happened?" urged Kise. His full attention was on Uryu now.

"I feel someone's spiritual pressure. From outside the car."

There was little time to process anything further. In an instant, Uryu saw a flash of blue light – heard something resembling a soft footstep at the car roof. Then, the tail carriage of the Yamato Express line from Karakura to Heisei erupted into a column of flames and fell, with its only two passengers, into the sea.

Ishida Uryu

Archer-class. Also qualifies for Caster.

Master: Kise Ryota

Parameters:

STR/END/AGI/MAN/LUK/NP

D/ C/ C/ B/ D/ ?