The eldest Kurosaki sibling casually exited through the sliding doors of the train. His initial impression of the depot was surprise; already he had barely set foot in town and he felt as if he had stepped through time itself. Silver surfaces and holographic imagery lined the station, and he could see clear through the rather large building and its walls and framework to the street. Gone were aged construction techniques of the modern world; they had made way for glass-like walls and cutting edge climate controls.

It didn't seem like finding a souvenir was going to be much of an issue.

Chapter 2: Enervation

Ichigo's gaze never stilled for long. Everywhere his eyes pointed, new and amazing sights greeted them. Futuristic skylines intermingled with tasteful greenery. Truly, it was like the world of tomorrow.

He was passing by a large group of school goers. It reminded him of the efforts (or lack thereof) he had taken to get some time off. Education was important, but so was the well-being of the world; both living and dead. Something was nagging at the back of his head when his thoughts crossed that point, but he paid it little mind.

The students were around his age, possibly a little younger if their uniforms were any indication. The school they were migrating towards could be seen in the distance. It was surprisingly large, and like everything else in the city, shiny and silver.

A group of giggling girls distracted him for a moment. They were talking about something he couldn't make out, but suddenly one of them began horsing around while their friend looked on.

Must be nice to have a normal life.

Ichigo shook his head clear before continuing on his way.

'What am I doing worrying about things like this all of a sudden? Clearly this is a well-deserved vacation. I'd best make the most of it.'

His stomach began to rumble.

'Oh great. I was in such a rush to get the early train that I forgot to grab a bite to eat.'

Ichigo retrieved a map of the city he had picked up at the train stop and perused its contents. He wasn't far from a local shopping mall.

'Guess that's where I'm headed next. Should be able to find some neat stuff there too.'

As he suspected, the mall was a marvel of tomorrow's technology. Glamorous fountains and computer generated décor made for a pleasant, if interesting, mix. Approaching the nearest signpost detailing the layout of the venue, Ichigo gave it a quick onceover to find the food court. It wasn't hard, but it was on the other end of the building, a floor up.

On his quest to fill his stomach, the Substitute Shinigami passed by a number of stores. One looked like a haven for otaku. There were posters out front depicting some magical girl anime that was popular lately. It struck him as a kid show, but some unsavory types of his age range actually talked too much about it.

Near the food court, he found a complementary newspaper stand. At least now he had something to read while he ate.

Ichigo figured it would be rather odd to be reading something as low tech as a newspaper with so many electric, possibly nuclear powered text displays dotting the inside of every store, but he shrugged the feeling off.

After spending some time gathering up his meal, he flipped open the paper to see if anything interesting was going on.

Suddenly his appetite was threatening to fade.

For at least a few pages, articles about a recent string of homicides and suicides were dominant. It was a little sickening to think that this place could have such tragic happenings, especially considering how marvelous it looked.

Not letting himself become unnerved, Ichigo thumbed through the pages until he found an article with a sunnier attitude.

Before he knew it, the day had gotten away from him. It was already mid-afternoon. Schools were letting out about now, and he had yet to find anything that really stuck out to take home as souvenirs.

'I should probably go ahead and get to work on finding this thing that has those guys so riled up.'

He hadn't sensed anything since coming to the city that would alarm him. Forget large spiritual presences, there were hardly even small ones.

In fact, if he didn't know any better, this town seemed devoid of spirits.

…

'Wait.'

Ichigo gathered up the pack he had taken along for his journey before bolting down the walkways of the mall.

'That's what's been bothering me all day.'

Eyes jumping left and right, he scanned the building before ending up outside.

'How the hell did I not notice sooner?!'

Outside the mall, he did a quick pass around the building at a brisk walking pace, extending his senses as far as they could reach.

'It's not like I'm the best at sensing spiritual pressures, but even I…'

Almost retracing his steps back towards the school, he slowed to a stop. Ichigo brought a hand to his face to wipe a bead of cold sweat from it.

There was no way. Not in a city this large. How the hell could there be no trace of spirits of any kind for miles?! Even recently departed ones left a fading presence. This area hadn't been touched by spiritual power in ages…at least until he arrived.

Soul Society somehow detected a large magnitude of energy here. How the hell was it that his senses couldn't pick up anything?

'I need to calm down.'

Ichigo slowly worked his way to the back entrance of the mall. Less people tended to come to places like this. It was where the employees would enter and leave, as well as access back parts of the building.

He took a few deep breaths before considering the situation. It wouldn't do him any good to freak out over something like this. There had to be an explanation, after all. Ichigo decided he would first explore the rest of the city and confirm his suspicions.

But as he moved to leave, he heard gunfire.

Turning towards the source, he rounded a corner, ready to knock some thug's skull in if he had to. No way was he letting a homicide happen right next to him.

"Hey!" Ichigo shouted to get the attention of…a girl?

She was about his age, possibly even a student of the local school. Something was off about her though; her uniform was different, and it seemed as if she carried some strange devices with her. Then he spotted the gun.

"Put it down!" Running towards her, he prepared to subdue her before she could cause any harm.

Homura froze like a deer in the headlights. She had been extremely careful to map out this route several times in the past. No one ever came back here. Even the employees tended to use the front entrance. They were all superstitious about hauntings in the back of the mall, as well as the floor under renovation. They had a right to be; a witch had made itself known there every so often when she had visited previously.

First she would gun down the Incubator before swiftly dealing with the witch to prevent Madoka from coming into contact with either. Why then, was this boy here, charging at her?

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the white critter paused in motion for a moment before scurrying off into the mall.

She didn't have time to deal with this.

Click.

Time froze all around her. She gave the boy one last glance to memorize his face before starting back on the Incubator's trail. He hadn't ever shown up before. No one like him lived in this town. Of that she was certain.

"I said-," Ichigo stopped shouting. Before he knew it, there was no one there. Had he imagined it? There were no traces of bullets fired. He could just feel that something had occurred. This was getting annoying.

"What the hell is wrong with this town?"

"Hey, are you sure it's ok to be up here?"

"But I heard him, he's close by! Hurry!"

"Madoka…"

Those are unknown flowers to me.

Yes, they are unknown to me too.

Let's cut them off.

Yes, let's just cut them off.

We present the roses to our queen.

A/N: Right then, second chapter done with. I like what I did with this one, and hopefully I've properly conveyed the feeling of unease that Ichigo is currently plagued with. Mitakihara is a very large city, certainly much more populous than Karakura. Why is it then, that wherever he looks, Ichigo can't find even a single trace of spirits?

Cookies to those who catch all of the little references.