Pick and Choose

"Ichigo, suppose you were standing at the edge of a cliff…" The gang paused in the middle of their lunch and conversations as Mizuiro continued, "In front of you is a deep gorge, across which are two people hanging on the edge. In your hand you hold one end of a rope tied to a tree. The gorge is too wide for you to swing across, so all you can do is throw the rope to one of them. You can save one, but not both."

The orange headed young man's brows furrowed. "What is this, some kind of mind game?"

"Something like that. Let's say that Inoue-san is one of them, and the other one…" Mizuiro's eyes drifted over those present before settling on his choice. "Is Arisawa-san."

"Hey! Why me?"

Mizuiro shrugged. "Random pick?"

"Like hell, you chose me on purpose!"

Mizuiro smiled disarmingly at the martial artist who had leapt to her feet before turning back to his subject. "So Ichigo, who would you save?"

A visible shade of red crept into Orihime's cheeks and a less visible lump formed in Tatsuki's throat. The rest watched with interest as both girls turned towards Ichigo, who seemed nonplussed by the whole situation. "… Who I would save between these two?"

Mizuiro nodded with a perfectly innocent smile. "Mhmm."

"And I can only help one."

The questioner nodded again.

"Then it's obvious, I'd save Inoue."

Orihime's hands went to her burning face as her eyes widened, her mind turned blank by the boy's response.

Tatsuki's lips parted slightly, her expression masked with something unreadable for an extended moment until she recovered and sighed loudly in an annoyed tone. "...Of course it's obvious." She turned and flashed a menacing look at her childhood friend. "I'd kill you if you abandoned Orihime, you know."

"I said I'd help her, didn't I?"

"This whole thing is stupid… I'm going to the bathroom."

"Wait, I'll come too!" Waking up from her reverie, Orihime trailed after her bset friend as Tatsuki walked quickly towards the stairwell as the remainder of the group followed them with their eyes until they disappeared from view, the sound of their footsteps, one a light patter and the other a heavy, angry stomp, echoing and fading.

"… And then, after I had tossed the rope to Inoue…"

The corner of his lips curved up in a small smile.

"I'd dive in after Tatsuki wherever she fell."

The remainder of the gang digested this for a moment before Mizuiro shook his head exasperatedly. "It's too late saying that now that Arisawa-san has left, you know?"

Ichigo blinked. "Um, what?"

"She definitely got the wrong message." Said Chad as he collected the trash around him and stood to leave.

"Ok, you guys are really confusing me now."

"Kurosaki," Ichigo turned as the Quincy rose from his seat, pushing up the frame of his glasses as he turned towards the direction of the exit. "If you don't let the people that matter to you know that you care, you'll lose them. That's what we have speech and mouths to speak them for."

As the last of the gang filed downstairs, Ichigo found himself alone on the atrium and completely without a clue. "Hey, I thought it was just some mind game!"