Summary: Matsumoto's plan to allow Nemu to spend time with Uryuu is put in motion.

Ochi-sensei worked her way down the list. "Ishida Uryuu."

"Present." Uryuu had everything laid out on his desk ready to start another school day. 'So strange to be going through the morning roll call at school,' he thought to himself, 'like nothing ever happened.' If he had read about the things he had done in the past few days, he would have thought them too fantastic even for fiction. Traveling to alternate dimensions, battling powerful demons, helping to throw down evil overlords bent on conquest, these were all things out of fairy tales. In those stories, his role in the victory over evil would have been rewarded with treasure, or a kingdom. Or the hand of a princess. But Ishida Uryuu was no legendary hero or long lost prince. He was glad to have gained his powers back in time, glad to help protect and save his friends. A small, bitter part of him still wished the princess had at least noticed him. He tried not to think such unworthy thoughts. Now was not the time for such things. The war was over and done. Things were back to normal. Now it was time him to return his focus on the real world and prepare himself for real life. No more fantastic adventures. No more epic battles. No more quests. And most importantly, no more messing around with shinigamis.

Ochi -sensei finished her role call and was making annotations on the roster. "That seems to be everybody that's important. Now class, I have to tell you, I haven't been teaching that long, but I've never seen any school have so many transfer students! Everyone, please say hello to our newest student."

Ishida's jaw nearly hit his desk when he saw who walked in.

"Good morning everyone." She said. "My name is Kurotsuchi Nemu. Pleased to meet you."

This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be here. For what reason could she be here? Yet there she was, in a typical school uniform, white blouse, red tie, gray miniskirt just like all the other girls. In shock, he couldn't make sense of what she was saying, as she went through a generic sounding introduction and wrote her name on the board. He glanced over to Kurosaki to see if he knew anything, but he was arguing with Kuchiki-san in furious whispers

"Did you know she was coming here?"

"I have no idea why she's here, don't blame me!"

"I'm betting you had something to do with it."

"You don't know any such thing!"

Orihime, Chad, Keigo, they all had dumbfounded looks on their faces. Nemu-san's arrival had taken everyone completely by surprise. This didn't look good at all. Shinigami doing unexpected things always meant trouble.

"Thank you for that introduction," Ochi-sensei said. "Please find a seat and we will start things off on page 256 of your textbook."

Nemu strolled purposely between the desks until she was standing next to the boy sitting to Uryuu immediate right.

"May I sit here?" she asked.

"Um, I'm already sitting here.' The boy said. "There's seats in the back."

To the casual observer, it looked like Nemu only placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. Uryuu could tell it was much more than that. It seemed she was pressing down on several pressure points at once. He could swear he actually heard the boy's bones creaking.

"Would you consider moving?" Nemu asked in her usual calm, placid tone. The boy had broken out into a sweat.

"Sure." He managed to croak. "Whatever you say."

"That is very kind of you." She said with a placid smile.

As she removed her hand, the boy almost fell over. He quickly gathered his materials and scrambled to a desk at the back of the room. Nemu took her books and supplies from her backpack and neatly placed then in the desk.

"Nemu-san" Uryuu whispered. "What are you doing here?"

While keeping her eyes forward, she whispered back. "Shhh. No talking in class. If you like, we may discuss this at lunch. Please turn to page 256."

Up on the roof, the usual gang was sitting in a circle eating their lunch and waiting for Nemu's explanation. Ichigo turned the book she had given him over looking at the front and back covers.

"I don't get it." He said,"How does this tie in to your being here? It looks like some kind of children's book."

Opening the book up, he was suddenly struck by the familiarity of the illustrations.

"Wait a minute. I know these drawings. Rukia!"

The petite shinigami didn't look up. She seemed intent on getting a certain pickle out of her bento.

"Dammit Rukia, look at me when I'm talking to you! These are those goofy drawings you were making a while back. I thought you said they were just for a report!"

Since ignoring him wasn't working, she tried calming him down. "It was for a report. I gave a presentation to the Captains at one of their meetings. Everyone liked it. Nii-sama even said I was adequate! Hisagi-san of the ninth division was writing an article on it for the Seireitei Bulletin and asked if I would like to try a limited run of books based on the slideshow."

Nemu felt this was a good place to work in her explanation. "The initial printing sold out quickly." she said. "Hisagi-san received many orders for more. It is still number one on the bestseller list."

Ichigo was turning a light shade of purple. "You mean everyone in Seireitei is reading this?"

"Even beyond." Nemu replied." It is selling well in all districts of Soul Society."

Ichigo's color deepened. "All districts? All of Soul Society?"

Nemu continued. "Most shinigami work in support functions or in other dimensions and never see the real world. Even for experienced shinigami, Kuchiki-sans book has answered many questions, including some it would never have occurred to us to ask. It has been very enlightening. Based on this, Lieutenant Matsumoto, on behalf of the Shinigami Women's Association, suggested to Mayuri-sama that a similar research method might work for one of his areas of study." She turned and looked at Uryuu. "The last Quincy."
"Oh this is so unfair!" Keigo whined. "First Ichigo has the lovely Rukia-chan living in his house and now this! Even Orihime-chan had the goddess of the heavenly valleys living with her! The only shinigami I get are a bald headed psycho and a pretty boy!"

"That's probably about as much as you deserve Asano-san." Kojima Mizuiro said while texting.

"Don't you start Mizuiro. And stop being so overly formal!"

Chad contributed in his usual way by saying nothing.

Uryuu picked up his lunch. "Nemu-san, could you please come with me. We need to talk privately."

"You see!" Keigo cried, "He already can't wait to be alone with her. Why does everyone else have all the luck?"

"Can it Keigo." Ichigo said," We have more important things to talk about."

"Like what?" He sniveled

Ichigo turned to glare at Rukia. "Like when a certain somebody was going to tell me about these books!"

"I was going to tell you eventually!"

"Like you were going to tell me about your little gigai storage operation?"

"I was going to cut you in!"

The sound of their bickering faded away as Uryuu found a quiet corner on the roof. He sat down and gestured for Nemu to do the same.

"Alright Nemu-san." He said " What is this all about?"
"It is as I have said." She explained "Based on your demonstrated abilities, we have re-opened the Quincy study file. Mayuri-sama wishes to catalog all the knowledge we can obtain on you and has been convinced that this was the best method."

Uryu couldn't help but feel skeptical. "Your father has centuries of data to use as a baseline." It still hurt to think how he had obtained that data. "You put those loathsome spy bacteria on me and were observing me for months without my knowledge or consent. I have no doubt you helped yourself to samples of whatever looked interesting while you were 'fixing' me. Why am I still being studied?"

"Nothing is adding up." She replied," You are using techniques we have heard about, but never seen used as well as some that are without precedent. Surveillance showed nothing that would be considered strange for a normal male teenager until your father helped you regain your powers. Analysis of your tissues showed baseline Quincy normal, even down to the blood, phlegm, sp.."

He held up his hand. "Stop, please, I'm trying to eat!"

Nemu looked at him blankly. "I don't understand."

"Never mind." He said. He looked at her bento. "So, what are you eating?"

She opened the box to show a large red pill.

"That's it?" He asked.

"Yes." She said. "Mayuri-sama felt this would be sufficient."

Uryuu figured the pill probably contained enough nutrition to sustain Nemu's vital functions, and not one calorie more. "Here. You can have some of mine."

Uryuu held out his bento for her to take some of the food. He hadn't eaten anything yet. She shyly picked out a few things watching his face while she did so. She didn't want to anger him by taking his favorites or taking too much. Apparently, this was the wrong response. Seeing how little she selected he took her box and put half of everything from his in it.

"There." He said. "That's more like it. Now, continue."

Once again, his kindness and attention made her feel warm and light. She was glad Matsumoto-san came up with this plan. "Mayuri-sama admitted what is now being called 'The Kuchiki Method' seemed to be effective in obtaining data in an organic and non-linear fashion. With some prompting from the Shinigami Women's Association, he has allowed me to apply this method to obtain answers on your special abilities."

Uryuu looked at her through narrowed eyes. He wasn't sure he like the direction this was going. "So what you're saying is..."

"I will live with you and work alongside you reporting in every day to map out what it is that makes you what you are." She finished.
He was afraid she was going to say that. When she said she was going to use a similar method to study him, he had hoped she would just be going to school for a couple of weeks or something along those lines. Instead, it looks like she wanted to replicate Kuchiki-san's entire experience.

"Look, Nemu-san," he said,"Kurosaki and Kuchiki-san have a unique relationship."

They both glanced over to where the couple in question were sitting. Rukia had Ichigo in a headlock and appeared to be trying to cut off his circulation.

"Admit it!" She snarled, "Admit that bunnies are cute!"

"Not the ones you draw!"

Uryuu and Nemu turned their gaze back to each other. "I just don't think it will work." "Would arguing help?" Nemu asked. "I have been practicing."

She drew her eyebrows together and turned her mouth down into the semblance of a frown. She pointed at Uryuu.

"You are rude and inconsiderate! I am quite cross with you!" Uryuu simply stared. Nemu leaned forward and whispered, "It is your turn now, Ishida-san."

Uryuu shook himself. "No, you still don't understand. Uh, let me think, how do I put this? Um, they met under unusual circumstances."

"We met under unusual circumstances."

"Yes, yes that's true, but, um, they saved each other's lives."

"We've saved each other's lives."

"I don't think your father would have really killed you."

"He definitely would have killed you."

"Yes, and I'm grateful you gave me that antidote. Oh, I know. What Kuchiki-san did was illegal."

"Giving you the antidote was also illegal. This is fun."

Uryuu sighed. This was harder than he thought it would be. He chose his next argument carefully. "Kuchiki-san had to stay close to Kurosaki because she needed him to do her job. That changed over time, but that's why they had to stick together. You do not need to stay around me."

Nemu looked down towards her feet. "I cannot go back now. It took a lot to convince Mayuri-sama to allow me to go. I cannot abort the mission without his consent."

Uruyu knew how bad it would be if she went home empty handed. "Nemu-san. I'm not saying you can't study me. I'll even help if I can. But at the very least, you must find somewhere to stay at night. OK?"

Nemu brightened up immediately. A faint smile appeared on her face. "Thank you Ishida-san. I will try not to burden you."

"Don't worry about it." He said. "Finish eating and we'll get back to class. We'll figure something out after school." He was under no illusions that the problem was solved. As long as she was here, things would be tricky. Still, once he found her a place to stay, things would be manageable. Right?