"Tenth grade, group three" I muttered to myself as I overlooked my schedule.
It turned out that Kisuke was a trustworthy man and he had done as he promised. The uniform white blouse was a little tight along my chest even though I didn't even have that big of a bust, I'm hoping it wasn't on purpose.
The wind howls as the students arrive through the gates, hustling and bustling down the corridors. Friends are greeting each other with a hug or a playful punch while newcomers stand looking scared. The seniors stand, tall and proud, confidence born of experience.
Laughter sounds along the halls, joined with excited conversations and shouts. Model worthy girls perch on the tables like exotic birds gossiping and giggling, a football flies above their heads between two jocks in varsity jackets parading their toned muscles in a passing classroom. Groups of high schoolers sit around the room laughing and causing all kinds of ruckus, all except one group that sit silently staring at laptop screens with massive headphones which appear to be permanently strapped to their heads. It was easily all intimidating.
The halls were full of light green and creamy yellow hues just like my house. I knew I was going to get sick of these color quickly in this town. It's like I couldn't get away from it. Nonetheless, I was still trying to make sense of the maze-like halls. I gave up quickly and turned to the person closest to me which was a brunette boy who looked friendly enough.
"Excuse me, by any chance do you know where tenth grade, group three is?" I asked in the sweetest voice I could muster.
The boy looked confused and shocked for a moment before his face completely morphed and he was now ecstatic. "Of course my princess. In fact I'm heading there right now!"
I hesitantly brushed off the princess remark and followed him with a smile. "So we'll be in the same class?" I asked making small talk so there wouldn't be any awkward silences which I absolutely couldn't handle.
"Oh yes! Aren't you excited? We're going to spend so much time together, eat lunch together. Unless you're in higher level english, and math, then that would be such a shame."
"Actually, I am in higher level english, and math. Sorry." I said shyly, stifling a small giggle.
"Oh well, tough luck I guess. Anyways, I'm Keigo Asano."
"Hotaru Shimizu, it's nice to meet you." I said as a smile was plastered onto my face.
"We're here. But before I open the door I just want you to remember that I am the only manly male in this room." Keigo stated before sliding the door open to reveal a light green room with less than two dozen brown chairs and desks. It was a normal plain classroom with students. "Hey Ichigo! You may have Orihime but I have the newest beauty in town!" Keigo called out as he swung an arm around my shoulders.
I flushed in embarrassment but didn't say anything or push him away only because first impressions always stayed and I didn't want to be rude. I scanned the room and I found Ichigo. The same one that I crashed into yesterday with my skate board. My cheeks burnt more from guilt and embarrassment this time.
"You!" Ichigo shouted with a pointed finger at me bring even more attention to my small figure.
Ichigo looked offended but crossed his arms and glared at his table. "What? You know Ichigo already?" Keigo cried.
"Yeah kind of." I admitted looking up to the brunette.
"Well now I have no chance. I might as well just disappear." He sulked taking his arm back and dragged himself to his seat.
I payed more attention to the class. It was chaotic that's for sure, but what seemed to bug me was the fact that several students had reiatsu at all, it was surprising sensing it from humans. What else that caught my eyes was the small wooden badge with a skull carved into it hanging from Ichigo's belt. I remember my dad mentioning something like this in one of her teachings. It was a substitute soul reaper badge. It seemed as though it had caught not only my attention but a girl with short spiky hairs' attention.
Choosing to follow Keigo as I sat in front him and said "Hey, I'll still eat lunch with you if that makes you happy." Hoping to cheer him up.
Keigo's face lit up immediately but before he could say anything the teacher walked in greeting everyone and asked everyone about their summer and the usual. Then, the moment I had dreaded came. "I have exciting news for you all, we'll be having two new transfer students joining us today. Hotaru, would you please introduce yourself?"
With damp hand and dry mouth I stood up. "Hi, I'm Hotaru Shimizu. It's nice to meet you all." I squeaked mentally regretting using a high pitched voice.
Thankfully a weird noise that I could only explain as a repetitive cat chatter that had been autotuned had made Ichigo jump out of his seat in dumbfound shock. It had the maturity of the class turn to him not giving them enough time to dwell on the fact that my voice had cracked and squeaked.
"Hey, please be quiet. It's nice to meet you Hotaru. Now, before we start class we also have another new student." Mrs. Ochi made her way towards the door and slid it open while not noticing that Ichigo had followed her and slipped passed her until it was too late. "You may come in now - Hey! Ichigo where are you going?" She yelled from across the hall, apparently the other transfer student wasn't in sight as well.
A ginger haired girl and a large muscular student made they way out to follow Ichigo as well causing a ruckus in the hall with Mrs. Ochi and a lot of confusing in the class. Keigo seemed to find the idea of the three students rebelling and decided to try it out for himself but failed miserably as the teacher caught him by the collar of his uniform and threatened him to go back into class.
It was ten minutes into japanese literature class when the three rebellious students showed back up saying that there was a long line at the girls and boys bathroom. The girl didn't let them stop there, she went to go on about how they all had run into a ladder that had taken up the entire hall way so they had to run all the way around the school just to get back to class but then the P.E. teacher caught them and to punish them they had to do 50 pushups. It was such a badly made up story that even Ichigo and the hunk seemed to facepalm themselves mentally.
Suspiciously enough, the second transfer student showed up just minutes later. "Pay attention everyone, the other transfer I told you about it here. Why don't you introduce yourself?" Mrs. Ochi announced kindly.
The transfer student was a tall male who had brown eyes and jaw-length blonde hair with a straight cut, he stood with confidence as he wrote his name in perfectly written kanji on the blackboard but it seemed to be backwards. He then turned to face the class and spoke about the different kanji that spelt Shinji Hirako.
The classroom snickered at the fact that Shinji had spelt it backwards which Mrs. Ochi had pointed out but Shinji went to brush it off by saying "It's a really good trick isn't it? Backwards writing is a very unusual skill of mine."
"So that's what you were up to." Mrs. Ochi teases. "Now, where will we have you seated?" She asked to herself as she scanned the selection of empty seats.
"Oh, Mrs. Ochi? I'd like to sit next to a cute girl." Shinji said as he eyed the female students which made most people giggle uncontrollably. I kept a straight face though. There was something off about this guy.
A few girls started flirting with Shinji by offering up the seats next to them even if it had an occupant, some girls even offered to 'study' with him after school and share notes. Mrs. Ochi came to a decision soon enough and had him seated in between Ichigo and I which Shinji obliged to.
"Look's like you and I are going to be neighbors." Shinji greeted to both Ichigo and I with his oddly straight white teeth. "I hope you and I can be friends, Ichigo, Hotaru."
I never gave him my name and I don't think the teacher mentioned it. I gave him the sweetest smile I could muster and said "Of course." Ichigo seemed like he was brought out of his thoughts and without thinking he said agreed as well.
The rest of day went smoothly after the commotion in the morning. I got to meet a bunch of people. The ginger girl turned out to be called Orihime she was very kind yet weird, the hunk turned out to be a guy called Chad, the spiky haired girl that I found out was called Tatsuki, but there was also a boy with long black hair called Mizuiro that I got to meet. I'd say it went good and I could get used to being here, the work was easy and the people were kind.
I was walking home trying to take different paths because apparently Ichigo and I seem to live in the exact same area and I didn't want to make it seem like I was a stalker. It turns out it's not just the same area, we lived right next to each other. I felt idiotic for not pulling the pieces together sooner. Next to my house was a clinic called Kurosaki Clinic. Kurosaki as in Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo never noticed me though so I'll just have to mention it in the morning so I don't have to walk the long way everyday just to make it seem as though I don't follow him as a weird kink of mine.
I was just finishing my homework when it happened in a second. It was totally unexpected but I felt my smirk grow as I heard the roar. I was starting to wonder when I was going to fight a hollow. It had been two month since I last killed one. I reached for the gikongan in my back and popped a pill into my mouth letting my shinigami soul be extracted from my body. Instead of my uniform I was now wearing white undershirt and the basic black kimono that any soul reaper would wear but I had modified it so I was more flexibly to fight. The ShihakushÅ had been cut so it was sleeveless, barebacked, and was short on the legs. I felt like is allowed quicker movement so the fabric would drag me too much. I also wore a plain obi sash around my waist to hold my zanpakuto, Sekhmet. My sword had red leather wrapped around the hilt, the tsuba had two entwined golden dragons curled around each other.
I watched the gikongan activate and deal with my body responsibly as I ran in the direction of the hollow, jumping out of my window and following its reiatsu. The adrenaline floods my system, I think my heart will explode and my eyes are wide with excitement. I felt lighter than I would in my normal body as I jumped onto the roof of a random house. Immediately I see the monster. It was like a humanised buffalo, it was ugly that for sure, it had a mask that looked a lot like a snake with normal human teeth.
I pulled out my katana and readied a stance as it turned to face me. "Ah, a soul reaper. I've hear that you guys taste delicious. Wait till they heard I ate a pretty little girl like you." It boomed with its raspy voice that seemed to echo.
"I don't think you'll be able to tell them when I'm done with you." I smirked as I launched for the hollow.
As it tried to reach out and grab my from the air I sliced its fingers like it was butter. The hollow roared in pain and it clutched it's wounded hands leaving it vulnerable for an attack. I landed on another roof and launched myself again at the hollow this time with both sword next to each other in both hands above my head and swung down on the hollow's mask shattering it completely. The hollow incinerated so there was nothing left to see except the neighborhood. Luckily nothing was damaged.
"Hotaru?" I turned around to see Ichigo as a soul reaper. "I didn't know you were a soul reaper." He said, confused.
"I guess we learn something everyday." I shrugged innocently. The fact that he had high reiatsu made sense now.
"Are you from the soul society?" Ichigo asked. "They should already know that someone is protecting this area."
"No I'm not from the soul society. I'm just a regular human, my mother was actually a soul reaper though so I guess I'm half-half." I explained.
"Oh, well you better not hog all the hollow because you'll ruin my reputation." Ichigo teased before waving a goodbye and leaping out of view.
"I'll make no such promises." I giggled.
"Aah! Why are you dressed as a soul reaper? I see you what are you rascals up to!" Yelled a soul reaper with an afro from another roof.
Ichigo and I looked at each other in confusion then Ichigo looked at the stranger and asked who he was which seemed to shock him "What? Who am I? I'm Zennosuke Kurumadani. Mrs Rukia Kuchiki had some trouble with the law so an elite soul reaper was left in charge of the area. So tell me, are you shaking yet?" The stranger boasted while trying to make himself look cooler by puffing out his chest.
"No." I said bluntly but Ichigo went with a more friendlier way.
"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, I'm a substitute soul reaper." Ichigo reached for the badge I had noticed earlier and continued to say, "This is my pass."
"A combat pass? No way!" Questioned the Afro man in shock. But then he burst out laughing and said "That's funny! A combat pass? Give me a break, kid, who do you think you're fooling with that thing?"
Ichigo cursed to himself as he glared at the badge in his hand. I hadn't payed attention to anything he said because I felt a strange reiatsu approaching. It was small but enough to intrigue me. It wasn't the kind that I felt from Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, or the others. It felt like it was being concealed just letting a little seep out at a time to attract attention on purpose. I spun around, unsheathing my zanpakuto and blocked a swing that was aimed at Ichigo.
The opponent was Shinji from class. This seemed to shock everyone but the Mr Afro was shocked for a different reason. "Who are you?" I demanded along with Ichigo.
"A zanpakuto?" Ichigo whispered to himself, I could feel the gears turning in her head as he processed more of the situation that was unraveling before him.
"Shh, you mustn't make too much noise you two. Those that have spiritual power like you possess, Ichigo, need to learn how to stay calm. Or your presence will be felt." Shinji said calmly.
It was true. Ichigo did need to stay calm or he'll be attracting more hollows in no time.
"Felt by who? Who will feel it?" Ichigo demanded, not even bothering to remain calm.
Honestly, I don't know how dumb he could get. The answer was obvious, even Shinji was thinking the same thing. "It seem I need everything to be out in the open for you to understand it. You are so foolish and blind." Shinji remarked mockingly.
As if on queue, I felt several hollow's reiatsu. Several powerful ones. Who was this guy? I knew there was something off about him. "Listen Ichigo, I have to leave and please, you have to stay calm. I'm leaving this guy to you." I said facing Ichigo as I pushed Shinji's sword away with pure muscle and flash stepped away to the nearest hollow before Ichigo could even reply.
I arrived at a small park to see Uryuu fighting a hollow. Well, more like two hollows. Before I could even release a Haduo spell, a blue beam of light sliced one of the hollows tongues that was about to wrap its way around Uryuu. I guess I'm not needed here. A man with a quency bow had arrived to save the day before I could so I flash stepped my way to the next hollow.
This hollow looked a lot like a purple cheetah without spots with human hands with a mask that took the familiar shape of a dragon's face with the snout flattened and the eyes were replaced with slits. It was fast and it was charging at a slightly transparent orange triangular shield which was being held up by a frightened Orihime. Honestly, I felt bad for her. She didn't seem like someone who should put up with hollows and the dangers of being who she was. She looked too fragile.
I readied my hand that was aimed at the hollows head and poured concentrated spiritual power into it and mentally chanted the words "Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!" The build-up of energy generated an orb of yellow lighting above my palm, it sent goosebump across my arm as it when souring in a huge blast of lightning strikes at the hollow, instantly killing the beast while also creating a big of damage to the concrete road.
"Are you alright, Orihime?" I asked as I approached Orihime's receding shield.
Orihime looked up from her crouched figure with a shocked expression and then nodded animatedly saying "Yes of course! Thank you so much for saving me Hotaru. I didn't know you were like Ichigo."
"Well, today is just full of surprises." I said smiling as I helped Orihime up.