-M . A . S . K-
(K.A.M.E.N)
.P.r.o.l.o.g.u.e.
On December the sixth, 2008, a Japanese boy by the name of Ichigo Kurosaki died. This boy, who at the time was 14 years of age, had been walking home after dark. He had spent the evening at the nearby house of a friend, and they'd been working on a school project together. The project was about Japan's place in the international system of importing and exporting. Ichigo Kurosaki and his friend had decided on a few choice products that Japan was known to export-namely, video games, manga, and PockyTM.
After several hours of very little productive work(their research on video games led them to some very `hands-on` experiments)they decided to split and recommence the project in class.
Ichigo Kurosaki stepped out of his friend's doorway and began walking down the street to his own house, a hand lazily waving farewell.
Simultaneously, a drunk truck-driver was rushing on his route, which happened to include the road on which Kurosaki was walking.
Due to the nature of his intoxication, as well as his haste to reach the location that he should've arrived at well over an hour ago, the truck-driver found it difficult to stop when his path was heading towards a young adolescent with notably orange hair.
The truck's brakes squealed against the pavement. Kurosaki stepped back, eyes widening.
A collision was made.
The driver, panicked and cursing, sped away at an even greater speed than before.
Ichigo Kurosaki died that night.
Such a fact is undeniable.
However, Ichigo Kurosaki was already registered in the Seiretei archive books. The loss of his soul would've been noted, and acted on by the Shinigami. Drawn by the boy's high reiatsu, legions of minor Hollow swarmed and consumed both his body and his soul.
A replacement needed to be made.
The next day, the boy known as Ichigo Kurosaki went to school. Life continued, for the one named Ichigo Kurosaki.
Ichigo Kurosaki died that night, but no human in the world knew. Not his family, not his friends. . .and for some time, not `himself`.