Image 2-
Cracking Phantom Mirror
Part 1
Before Shizuku stood Abarai Renji, Vice-Captain of the Sixth Division. The distance was five meters. "If you come with me without resistance, we can make this process a lot easier for the both of us."
Shizuku looked towards Renji as she reached into her pocket and pulled a small plastic tube out. "And what if I refuse?" She retorted in her usual monotone. Shizuku had no intention of complying. Even if she was facing a Vice-Captain, she still had a goal she needed to achieve and she knew she would have no way of achieving it in custody.
"I'll be taking you into custody no matter what." Renji seemed to be visibly irritated as he furrowed his brow to the point where distortions were visible on the tattoo on his forehead. "It's just a matter of whether you can come with me uninjured or unconscious. It's your choice."
She had one goal. She would see that goal to the end no matter how damaged she would get in the process. She may not have ever felt like she had a defined identity or heart. But for once, she could say that heart desired to move her somewhere and she would not let anything get in the way of that new feeling. With an unwavering resolve, she pushed the button on the dispenser in her hand and let a round candy fly into her mouth.
"Dammit!" Renji, realizing exactly what she was doing, lunged straight towards Shizuku ready to slice. However, he was a half-step too late. The silver-haired shinigami split out of the Gigai and grabbed at her zanpakutou and caught Renji's blade with the side of her own, holding the blade with her left and the hilt with her right.
"Go, Chappy. Keep Kurosaki as far away from here as possible and make sure he doesn't get involved." She gave out a single order with a firm tone as she stood in stalemate with Renji's blade pressing down.
"Understood, pyon." Chappy, now resting firmly in Shizuku's Gigai gave a salute before taking off.
"Wait, Kurosaki?" Renji's blade lightened at a single moment of confusion, leaving Shizuku a single opportune moment she refused to miss. She pivoted about her left leg and tilted the blade up to allow Renji's blade to fall and slam against Shizuku's guard. The girl immediately tilted her blade to point towards Renji and charged forward, aiming to pierce into his chest.
But Renji regained his bearings before jumping back and evading the blade by a hair's breadth. Yet, even as the slash missed, Shizuku pressed forward, aiming at a wide variety of angles Renji could not help but consider unorthodox.
He could easily bat away slashes as necessary. The trouble came with predicting where the next slash would come from as there was no fixed pattern.
Slash after slash was pouring in as Renji had zero time to break out of Shizuku's rhythm and strike back.
Finally, one slash eventually made contact. The cut it made was shallow. It was nothing for someone like Renji to worry about. But, they became more and more frequent. The intervals between the successful strikes shortened until she would be able to hit successfully with every other strike.
She would whittle down his strength until he could not fight back.
"You're not even going to let me have an inch, are you?" He tried to ask the now silent Shizuku. But, she continued to press forward.
"Fine, then." Renji would not last if this kept continuing. He observed as her next slash would come in and cut him and drew his blade back and aimed to slam at the back of her blade. He leaned in, allowing Shizuku's blade to make a deeper cut than the previous ones and slammed down, knocking her arm away and breaking her rhythm before jumping back a few meters and holding his blade in stance.
"HOWL!" Renji let his free hand hover over the length of the blade as it transformed a six-segmented blade. "蛇尾丸 (Zabimaru)!"
A wave of reiatsu poured out from Renji, cresting a great burst of wind. However, Shizuku simply regained her bearings after having her blade forced away and took an identical stance to Renji's.
"No...way…"
"Reflect." She spoke in a calm controlled manner. There was neither hesitation nor excess emotion. Simply resolve. She, too, hovered her hand over the length of the blade. "幻鏡 (Maboroshikigami)."
The blade glowed like a mirror reflecting a bright light and then…
Part 2
"She ran out through the window…" Ichigo muttered as he looked around the room with an opened futon.
"Why do you think she would do that? She still needed to rest..." Orihime turned her head to face Ichigo and Momo.
"Perhaps she heard me and left…" Hinamori spoke up. "After all, a Vice-Captain came to this town to chase after her. It makes sense that she would run."
"No, it doesn't." Ichigo clenched his fist. "She was ready to put her life up as a bargaining chip to protect her friend. No matter what, I can't see someone like her simply running away because of a strong opponent."
"…and I don't want to put you all in danger to do that…"
Some of Shizuku's words passed through Ichigo's mind.
"No…she didn't…" Ichigo placed his hand on his forehead and gritted his teeth. "That idiot…she doesn't want us to become enemies of the Seireitei for her sake…"
She had to have left for only one reason. She thought that being caught in Ichigo's presence would put him in danger. So, escape was the only option. She would cut herself off from him and Orihime.
"What are we going to do, Kurosaki-kun?"
"I'm going to go find that idiot, help her out, and then smack her upside the head when all is said and done."
Momo let her eyes stay wide open at the odd spectacle that was Kurosaki Ichigo before turning to Orihime. "Is he always like this?"
Orihime gave a short chuckle. "Well, he wouldn't be the Kurosaki-kun we all know and love if he wasn't."
Momo, who always figured that the company she kept was a weird bunch, stared at Kurosaki Ichigo as a simple realization dawned over her. "The world really is a big place…"
Part 3
There was absolutely no way what he was seeing was reality. Renji kept telling himself over and over again but he could neither deny the sight he saw nor the reiatsu he was feeling. "Why the hell can you use Zabimaru?"
Shizuku stared at him without saying a single word and readied a stance with what appeared to be a six-segmented blade, identical to Renji's, in her hand.
"Answer me!" Renji swung his sword in haste. The segments split apart, connected by a stretchable thread that expanded, threatening to reach over to Shizuku and jab one of the protrusions into her side.
But, she blocked.
Her segmented blade made contact with Renji's own through a light swing. His own blade was knocked away and his hand along with it.
Shizuku then dashed forward, pointing Maboroshikigami forward as if aiming for a thrust. Renji retracted the blades and blocked the incoming thrust, only to be pushed back by a few meters.
…or so he had thought.
What he had felt was not the feeling of being pushed back by an opponent and grinding to a halt. It was a different sensation altogether.
It was the sensation of his body unconsciously thrusting itself back at the moment of contact.
"You've noticed it, haven't you." Shizuku finally spoke.
"That blade isn't real, is it?" Renji realized that all of his denial was on point. "I don't know how, but your reiatsu is convincing me that it's real…"
"Maboroshikigami is a phantom mirror in all senses of the wold. It reflects and deceives. From the very beginning, you have been fighting an illusion. In reality, I coat this blade in reiatsu and it takes the appearance of the opponent's Shikai in all senses. All attacks, blocks, and contact will lead to your brain to unconsciously act as if it has been hit by the attack…"
Renji could piece the rest together. Because it was his own Shikai he was sensing, his brain unconsciously reacted to all forces from her attacks.
"Your brain already knows and has sensed the reflection I gave." Her voice neither seemed concerned nor confident. It was as if she was completely detached. "Therefore, closing your eyes is pointless. Cutting off all senses is pointless."
In an instant, she flash-stepped to a meter in front of Renji. Under normal circumstances, he should have been able to respond in an instant. He had spaced out, however. That moment of shock had washed over him.
Shizuku let the illusory whip blade extend as she raised it and pointed it to the heavens. As she swung down to slice down on his left shoulder, Renji broke out of his shock and raised the edge of his blade to catch the edge of Shizuku's. He could only catch the segment closest to the blade guard. Luckily, the whip-sword had not touched him. He could feel the force of the other blade as she attempted to push down but she would not stab into him.
But, in that second, he felt the feeling of flesh being cut and the sensation of steel pushing bone.
No.
It would be more accurate to say that he felt the sensation of his flesh tearing itself open while the muscles pushed into the bone as if a blade was cutting through.
He turned his head slightly to see that the whip-sword Shizuku used had completely retracted, causing the protrusion of the second partition to cut into his left scapula and push it into his clavicle.
She lifted the blade in her hands as Renji's knees buckled and his upper body descended. She would make one last cut to knock him out and then continue her flight. However, that was not fated to happen Renji took a different approach and tackled her, throwing her body back.
As the girl slammed onto the ground like a rag doll, Renji took the opportunity to right his posture and point Zabimaru out in front towards Shizuku who was pushing now pushing herself to stand back up.
"Just this much isn't going to be enough, huh." Renji gave a deep sigh and stared straight into Shizuku's. "If you're not going to give up that easily then you leave me no choice.
"卍解 (Bankai)!" A lone tornado surrounded Renji. From within a white snake head poked up from the top of the tornado and broke through causing it to dissipate and leave behind a snake head connected to what looked like the vertebral column of a snake, held at the tail end by Renji who was draped in a fur cowl. "狒々王蛇尾丸 (Hihiō Zabimaru)!"
The great Baboon King stood at the ready to beat down its next prey.
Part 4
Ichigo, Momo, and Orihime stood outside the Urahara Shop. They could feel the two spikes in reiatsu off in the distance.
"Don't tell me she ran into Renji…" Ichigo tapered off with a hint of confusion when he saw Shizuku running towards the group.
"Shizuku…?" Ichigo muttered.
"Yes, it's me, pyon!"
"Pyon?" Ichigo and Orihime both questioned simultaneously.
"Don't tell me…" Ichigo's mind took him back to rough memories with a very energetic artificial soul.
"This is the most popular artificial soul among female Shinigami…Chappy."
"Woohoo! And your arm goes…break-pyon!"
"Chappy…?" Ichigo shuddered. He could still feel the sensation of the artificial soul in Rukia's body manhandling him and subsequently breaking his arm. He grabbed at his shoulder and started massaging it almost unconsciously.
"Now that you mention it, she does have Chappy's mannerisms." Momo looked straight into Chappy's eyes, crossed her arms and nodded.
"I don't know what you're talking about, pyon." Chappy averted her eyes.
"You're definitely not Shizuku. There's no way she'd act like that…" Ichigo stepped back. "There's no way she'd say pyon."
"Tch. You're a meanie. You know that, right-pyon?" Chappy took a step forward. "And meanies deserve to be punished-pyon!"
As soon as her sentence finished, she propelled herself into the air, flying in a simple parabolic arc until she landed straight onto Ichigo.
"GAHHH! NOT AGAIN!"
"Kurosaki-kun!" "Kurosaki-san!"
The two girls immediately grabbed at Shizuku-Chappy's arms and pulled her away.
"Dammit. This is the second time you've done this, Chappy!" He got back up and pointed straight at the face of Shizuku-Chappy who was giving an unnatural cutesy smile.
"Pyon?"
Ichigo gave a sigh as he realized he could never get along with the she-psycho given the name, Chappy. "Where is Shizuku?"
"Shizuku-san is somewhere elsewhere-pyon."
"In other words, you're not going to say anything."
"Pyon."
Ichigo gave a sigh before tapping his Shinigami Substitute Combat Pass onto Shizuku-Chappy's forehead, causing the body to go limp and a spherical pill to fall out of her mouth. He picked up the pill and put into one of Shizuku's pockets.
"Alright we have a general idea of where she is anyway. We should-" Ichigo stopped as he felt Renji's Reiatsu spike again. "Dammit! Is that idiot using his Bankai?!"
He slammed the Combat Pass into his chest, causing his soul to separate from his body again. Momo popped an artificial soul of her own and split off from her body.
She spoke to the artificial soul now inhabiting her own body. "Take the unconscious bodies back into the shop and explain what happened."
"Roger that." The artificial soul that was definitely not Chappy immediately took to action, dragging Ichigo's body and Shizuku's gigai into the shop.
"Alright, then. Inoue, Hinamori. Let's get going."
Part 5
Every single danger signal in Shizuku's mind kept telling her to run away. Now is not the time to use that trump card. There is no way a Shikai can beat that Bankai. JUST RUN.
But her body reacted too late. She tried to take a half-step back to initiate a run as soon as her mind returned to focus the enemy in front of her. But, the snake head barreled straight towards her with its mouth open. She could only react in time to block with the edge of her blade. However, her body was thrown back within half a second of collision, flying back until it slammed into the ground again while she lost her grip of her sword that landed even further back.
Without even attempting to get up or go after Maboroshikigami, Shizuku slammed her hand into the floor. "Bakudō Number 21. 赤煙遁 (Sekienton)."
A large mass of red smoke billowed out at an alarming rate from her hands and floated up, blocking Renji's sight. Nevertheless, the snake head barreled through the smoke. But, it made no contact with anything.
Shizuku had pressed up against a wall on the side of the road and dodged the incoming attack by a margin of a couple of centimeters.
She ran back to grab the sword that was now lying underneath Hihiō Zabimaru. Once she did, the red smoke had completely dissipated, leaving behind the image of Shizuku holding her blade while Zabimaru's head was moving further away after having passed her.
"Dammit!" Renji, realizing the opening he had given, immediately pulled Hihiō Zabimaru back. However, Shizuku was more than ready to take advantage of that opportunity. She sealed Maboroshikigami and sheathed it before raising her hands.
"Bakudō Number 8." She quickly drew a symbol in the air with the index and middle finger of her right hand. "撃 (Geki)."
Renji's body began to emit a red light as it completely stopped moving, causing Hihiō Zabimaru to fall straight to the ground. His face could only show pure bewilderment as his body ceased to move.
"Bakudō Number 4." A crackling yellow energy rope formed around her two hands. "這縄 (Hainawa)." She threw the rope which reached over to Renji and bound around his arms and body before slamming them together.
She then reached at the hilt of her sword again and started to pull it out.
"卍- (Ban-)."
However, before she could finish, a hand reached from behind her and grabbed her wrist, preventing her from pulling the blade out.
"There's no need to use that, Shizuku." A familiar voice came from behind her.
Shizuku turned her head back to see the face of an all too familiar friend. He had black eyes, wavy hair, and his expression resembled that of a protective older brother trying to prevent his younger sibling from doing something stupid.
"Mamoru-kun!" Shizuku let go of her blade and turned around to face him. "You're alright."
Mamoru gave Shizuku a pat on the head. "You're a bit bruised, but you're not doing to bad yourself, Shizuku." He then looked at Renji who was struggling but seemed close to breaking out. "But, I guess we couldn't evade the Seireitei forever. Come on, let's return. I have an idea about how to end all of this."
He jabbed his blade into the air behind him and turned it, opening a Garganta. Shizuku looked back at Renji and then looked in the direction of the Urahara shop before turning to face the Garganta. "Alright. Let's head off, then."
Part 6
Renji couldn't move. His bankai was lying on the ground as his entire body was completely restrained and both fugitives were about to escape.
He would not let that happen.
He absolutely would not let that happen.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
He poured out all his reiatsu through his entire body as he focused purely on breaking the bindings while the two fugitives were talking and the moment they turned around, his body finally moved as he felt all the bindings shatter to pieces.
"I won't let you escape!"
Hihiō Zabimaru immediately rose up and moved straight towards the two. It's body's segments split with as its mouth opened to reveal a red orb of energy.
"狒骨大砲 (Hikotsu Taihō)!"
As soon as he shouted this, he saw the male fugitive drawing out his word and saying something.
"Protect. 巴丸 (Tomoemaru)."
The boy's blade was replaced with three large, floating, silver shields, each with a black and red tomoe sitting on the center.
A second later, Renji's attack engulfed everything on that road. A sustained flash of red light threatened to dye the sky above it with a color of equal intensity.
After five seconds, the red light thinned out and disappeared, leaving nothing but smoke and dust in front of Renji's path.
Renji, panted and stared in front of him as the dust parted and his bankai dissipated.
He took a knee and stabbed the blade into the ground while the wound on his back continued to pour blood.
All he could see was an empty road scorched by the attack with a small circular section of the road left completely untouched.
It was as if all signs of life before him had completely disappeared.
Part 7
With all the commotion going on, it was pretty obvious where the combatants would be and as expected, the three had found an exhausted Renji kneeling in the center of the road with a big gaping wound on his back.
"Abarai-san!" "Renji!" As Ichigo and Momo called out to him, he got up and turned to face them.
"Ichigo. Hinamori. Inoue…" He gave as forced a smile as he could while trying to stand up with an obvious stagger in his step.
"Don't force yourself, Renji." Ichigo stopped and caught Renji by the biceps and allowed him to sit back down. "Inoue!"
"Right." She went behind Renji and picked up her hairpins while looking at Renji's wound. Four of the petals flew out from the hairpins and flew above and below the wound before an orange light came out between them to start the healing process.
"What happened, Abarai-san?"
"I ran into one of the fugitives and tried to put her into custody but the other fugitive came and made her escape."
"Tried to put her into custody…?" Ichigo looked to the scorched road. "THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THE WORK OF SOMEONE WHO WAS ONLY TRYING TO CAPTURE SOMEONE!"
"Well, I can't help it! I was fighting a fifth seat with my limiter on! Of course, I was going to have trouble!"
"But, how are you so sure they escaped?" Hinamori interjected before Renji could scream any louder and exacerbate his wound's seriousness.
"Eighth Seat Houki had opened a Senkaimon before I had broken out of the binds Iroha cast onto me and he had activated his Shikai right before I fired."
"Eighth Seat Houki's Shikai is Tomoemaru. It's a Shikai that replaces his blade with three large, floating shields and makes a powerful defense for anything that is hidden behind it." Momo spoke, as if reciting basic information. "It was in the data next to Fifth Seat Iroha's Shikai Maboroshikigami…which you didn't read, Abarai-san…"
"Umm…"
"You were in such a rush that you never learned the fact that Fifth Seat Iroha's fighting style runs entirely on surprise, startling, and disruption."
"Umm…"
Ichigo looked straight at Renji who seemed to be trying to avert his eyes. "So, you got wounded because you got zealous and decided to run in without information."
"Shut it, Ichigo."
"Well, at least that means she has yet to fall into the hands of the Seireitei yet. Though, we've pretty much lost her now."
"In all likelihood, Kurosaki-san, the two of them are going to head back to the Seireitei and lay low there."
"Actually, I never did get your answer to that question I asked earlier thanks to all the confusion, Hinamori-san."
"What was it?"
"I doubt Renji knows the answer-"
"I heard that!"
"But why are you going after Shizuku? I understand you're chasing after this Mamoru person because he helped Shizuku's escape. But why Shizuku?"
"Honestly, we weren't given any reasons. We were just told to watch out for her Bankai. Beyond that, nothing else."
Ichigo's face took on his trademark scowl. "Were you even given information about her Bankai?"
"The higher ups gave us nothing to work on with regards to us. Data on her shikai and fighting style were all that were given." Momo promptly replied.
If the group chasing after the girl had no idea why she was being arrested and were not even privy to certain information, then there was no way for him to find out what Shizuku's supposed crime was. All he knew was that her Bankai was kept classified.
"'Central 46 will soon issue the kill order so just get out of here! I refuse to let them enact that twisted justice for the sake of maintaining the status quo.'"
Was her Bankai the thing that was threatening the status quo of the Seireitei? That was the only possibility Ichigo could connect out of all of this.
"Would the Central 46 order the elimination of anyone because they were too powerful?"
"I wouldn't think so…" Momo replied.
"Actually, it's not entirely impossible…" Renji cut in. Orihime's healing had finished so, he stood up and stretched his right arm. "You probably might not have heard of this Ichigo, but there was one time that the Captain-Commander attempted to teach Captain Zaraki to master Zanjutsu."
Ichigo nodded. "I vaguely remember him mentioning that back in Hueco Mundo."
"Unfortunately, that training was never completed. Central 46 had ordered that the training end before it could reach completion."
"I remember hearing about this as well." Momo continued on. "There was no formal reason given though rumors were floating around that Central 46 may have been worried that Captain Zaraki would be impossible to stop if he were to rebel."
"So, you're saying that they might be doing the same for Shizuku-chan?"
Renji sighed. "If it has to do with her Bankai, then it's a likely assumption."
"That's all the more reason to prevent her death sentence, then." Orihime spoke up. "It's not fair for her to be executed for something like that."
Ichigo nodded in response. "There's no reason to stand by and let a friend be killed for the sake of some twisted justice like that."
"Oi, Ichigo. You do realize what you're doing, right?" Renji grabbed at Ichigo's shoulders again. "You realize that by doing this, you're going to be going against the Seireitei, right?"
"Heh. That doesn't sound like the Renji who helped me rescue Rukia back during her execution." Ichigo seemed to exude almost pure confidence from that smug grin on his face.
"Watch what you say, Ichigo."
"My point is this. No verdict has been handed down yet. All of Shizuku's and Mamoru's actions have been pre-emptive. That means that we still have a chance to end all of this and prevent another possible execution without bloodshed. So, are you on board with us, Renji, Hinamori?"
Part 8
Shizuku and Mamoru traversed through the Dangai. It only took a few minutes before they reached the right in front of the exit.
"Mamoru-kun…" Shizuku could only follow behind him. She no longer held any idea what she would be doing or what would happen to her. "What are we doing?"
"We need to lay low. If we want to succeed in preventing you from being captured, we need to keep playing this game of cat and mouse with the Gotei 13." He looked at his sword which had most of its blade completely melted off. "I need to repair Tomoemaru as well. So, the best thing to do now is to lay low."
"Are we even able to do that? The Second Division will eventually find us…"
"I have my own methods. Captain Kurotsuchi never really cared for my side projects so there were plenty of things I have built up to help us mask our presence. Some built up on a similar principle to how your Maboroshikigami works."
"What then…? We keep running and we'll eventually be closed in on."
"I have ways to end this as well. I will protect you, Shizuku. That's all that matters in the end."
"No. That's not all that matters in the end." Mamoru's eyes widened in surprise at Shizuku's sudden bout of rebellion. "I'm tired of this. I hate this. Every time, I just keep placing a burden on everyone around me. First you, then Kurosaki and Inoue." Shizuku placed a hand on her chest and clutched at her shihakusho. "I hate having to make my own life a burden for everyone around me."
"Shizuku…" His face seemed relax as he gave a smile of approval to the girl. "You're finally…"
"Finally what…?" Shizuku pressed.
"It's nothing. Even if it's something I'm glad to see, I can't let this affect the plan. So, Shizuku…" He put a hand in front of Shizuku's face. "Would you care to just take a short nap? 威眠 (Inemuri)."
With those words, Shizuku's pupils began to dilate multiple times before she closed her eyes and fell into slumber once again.
Part 9
"You already finished…" Ichigo stared at the large square shaped gate he had once went through long ago.
"Surprisingly, the Reishi Henkan-ki didn't need much in the way of tune-ups. It was mostly functional once we blew the dust off." Ichigo was unsure of whether Urahara's grin was his own way of patting himself on the back or an expression of just how happy he was that he didn't have to do much work. "I would say don't underestimate my capabilities but it was I who did all the underestimating this time."
"Right, right." Ichigo suppressed the growing urge in his mind to dropkick the man right there. "Are the conditions the same as the last time?"
"Pretty much. Though, is there any specific location you'd like the other gate to open on?"
"Actually, if we don't want to draw any suspicion, it might just be best to have it connect to the main gate." Momo interjected before anyone could bring up any suggestions.
"We can guide you to wherever you need after that," Renji said.
"So, you'd be able to take us to the Thirteenth Division Headquarters?"
"We can. I assume you'd want to meet up with Rukia, then?"
"That would be the best course of action. So long as Shizuku and Mamoru decide to lay low, we have a fair amount of leeway."
With that, the giant square-shaped converter started to activate. "If that's all settled, then hurry up. The converter will only be active for so long."
Ichigo gave a quick look back to the other three and then started to walk to the converter. "Let's get going, then."
Interlude II
How many times had she fallen asleep in the past 24 hours? Shizuku could swear she was now just getting way too used to waking up after falling unconscious for some reason or another.
The room seemed to be dimly lit by candles at a table on the opposite end of the room from the bed she was sleeping on. Despite the lack of covers on her body, she did not seem to feel the slightest bit cold.
Shizuku slowly picked her upper body off the bed and got into a lazy sitting position supporting herself with just one hand while her knees were still locked together. After rubbing her eyes with her free hand, she finally had a look around the area.
It was a simple rectangular room with walls that seemed to be made completely of stone. There were no windows anywhere though there was a door on the furthest wall away from her, which likely functioned as an exit.
On the wall adjacent to the bed she was laying on was a sentence written in giant lettering that said "I will be called onii-chan someday!"
Shizuku narrowed her eyes at the sight of those words. "I have my doubts…."
At the very least, she was sure that was something Mamoru would write which meant she was likely in one of his hideouts. She wondered why she was there until she remembered something Mamoru had said.
"I need to repair Tomoemaru as well. So, the best thing to do now is to lay low."
"Lay low, huh…"
In other words, he wanted her to stay put until they had enough leeway to make the next move.
Shizuku, however, had no idea what the next move was or even what Mamoru's endgame was. All he had said was that he would protect her.
She got up off the bed and made her way to the table with the lit candles on them. It was likely his desk. However, the surface was devoid of any materials.
She had nothing to do, so it was best to just start rummaging through his stuff like she usually did when bored.
So, she opened the top drawer on the desk. Empty.
Second Drawer. Empty.
Bottom Drawer. Jackpot.
There were pages and pages of bound paper, which was likely Mamoru's own notes. She took the papers at the top and went back to the bed. It was likely some of his notes from his work as part of the R&D Department. She quite enjoyed perusing his materials, even if she had no idea what the calculations meant.
She turned the cover and started reading through. She went page by page.
But something was not right.
She could actually understand these. There were very few, if any, complex formulae she would be unable to understand littered throughout these notes. Instead, there were much more conclusions, logical statements, and steps.
Her eyes started to widen as she realized the implications of what was written and as she finally made it to the last page, any suspicions she may have had were confirmed.
"Mamoru-kun…you idiot…" She muttered. "You don't have to go through all of this."
She gritted her teeth. It was frustrating. All this time, he was planning something far more dangerous than he let on.
"Was this what you meant when you said you have your ways to end this…" It was definitely not something she would have liked. Regardless of intent, this was not the way she wanted it to end.
She dropped the papers in her hand on the bed and walked out the door.
She would absolutely not let him proceed with this plan. That was something she was absolutely certain of.
A/N: With that, the story's setting turns to Soul Society. How things will go from here is anyone's guess. Though, Mamoru's actions have been the monkey wrench that has set this plot into motion. As for Shizuku's decision to run last chapter, it is rash. Though, there was a reason for her starting to make these rash actions.
Well, new chapter should either be out next week or the week after as I may be unable to upload next week.