Ichigo strained to get his eyes open as the morning came. Did he have to go to school this morning? The days in Psyren had really screwed up his sleep pattern, nothing like this had happened since he was a soul reaper and had to follow orders to kill hollows that appeared during the night. No he wouldn't go to school this morning, it was Friday, last day of the week. He really should remember what day it is.
He had missed out on his fullbring training, yes, that was something he had to wake up for, to get stronger to protect his friends and family, and to also prevent that future he saw with his own two eyes, the one that left the earth in ruins. Why hadn't Soul Society prevented such a thing from happening though, were the forces that caused that too powerful or was it because the rules of Soul Society prevented them from interacting with the living. Either way he still had to get stronger, possibly more so than he was before his power loss, then, then he would be able to protect everyone.
The sound of incessant knocking at Ichigo's door caught his attention, how long had that been going on? It didn't seem to matter as Yuzu and Karin both burst into the room.
"Ichi nii/Onii chan" they both cried.
"Where've you been?" Yuzu demanded. "Ever since you deal with the after life was over I thought you wouldn't disappear anymore and then you just vanish without a trace, you haven't gotten yourself in that Psyren thing everyone's talking about, have you? People who involve themselves in that tend to go missing for days on end sometimes and others simply vanish" Yuzu sobbed
Ichigo was surprised by this, just how long had this Psyren thing been going on for? He had certainly never heard about it.
One apology and short explanation later Ichigo ended up going to school to find out just who else knew about this place called Psyren.
"You dumbass Kurosaki," one Uryuu Ishida said as he spoke to the orange haired teen before him "this Psyren case has been going on for a long time, it's brewing all kinds of trouble and people with supernatural abilities have been popping up all over the place, well that's at least what people believe, all 'supernatural' abilities I know about only pertain to the spiritual side of things and I haven't sensed a single disturbance in the reishi flow in the air" Uryuu explained. "But seriously, how haven't you known about this?" Uryuu finished pushing his glasses up.
"I don't know, no one at school ever talks about it and I rarely ever watch the TV" Ichigo just shrugged after saying this to which Uryuu just sighed and shake his head. "Well that's all I needed to know for now I'll be going, see ya" Ichigo said as he headed for the school gates waving a hand over his shoulder.
"Where do you think you're going Kurosaki?" Uryuu said calling out to Ichigo annoyed at his antics.
"I don't think I know where I'm going, I know where I'm going" Ichigo replied with a smartass remark causing Uryuu to growl at him before turning and heading into class.
Ichigo strolled through the streets heading towards the base for Xcution when he heard a voice in his mind calling out to him.
"Where are you? I've been looking all over for you Ichigo" a voice sounding similar to that girl Amamiya he met in Psyren appeared in his mind.
Ichigo tried returning his voice in the same manner and seemed to succeed; having voices in your head for a little less than a year did help though. "Walking through the streets in a particular direction" Ichigo responded giving as little information as possible.
"Found you!" Amamiya responded to Ichigo.
"Ah shit, run" were Ichigo's thoughts as he began sprinting towards the apartment complex "I need to train can't she just leave me alone for now" Ichigo thought about all the training he had to catch up on and started using bringer light to accelerate the speed at which he advanced through the streets, the apartment building only a few blocks away.
"Why are you running? And furthermore why are you skipping school? You aren't a real delinquent are you?" Amamiya's voice came from beside Ichigo as he hurtled through the street.
Ichigo slowed to a stop and looked at the girl besides him with a quirked eyebrow wondering why she bothered to try and catch up to him not wondering how she had done it as he had already seen some of her capabilities in Psyren. "Why are you following me?" Ichigo questioned "And no I am not a delinquent." For a girl who seemed to be a dangerous sword weilder she seemed a lot more feminine than in Psyren because of the change of clothes she was wearing. They consisted of a striped scarf, a white t-shirt with a rabbit on the front of it that said 'little' across the rabbits face, and a skirt as well as striped stockings.
"You saved my life, I think it only appropriate that we go on a date" Amamiya gave a slight blush at saying the last part.
"A date?" Ichigo asked confirming what he had just heard earning a nod from Amamiya.
"And a little explanation on what Psyren is" Amamiya said to Ichigo "come, before we're late please"
Ichigo sighed and nodded his head, "Alright, I'll come with you, just don't disturb me tomorrow, I have something to finish before we go back to Psyren" Ichigo said listing his terms to which Amamiya smiled and nodded before grabbing Ichigo's arm and began dragging him through the streets to the train station as their mode of transport to Shirataki. "Hey, hey, watch it you'll pull out my arm with that monstrous strength of yours"
"I don't care, you seem to be able bodied enough to know when your in danger" Amamiya smiled to Ichigo as she continued to pull rather than drag now as Ichigo's feet had started moving on their own to prevent him from grinding along the pavement.
"Some caring person you are" Ichigo whispered.
"I can be if I want to be" Amamiya responded, her ears attuned with a little rise energy to figure out what he said about her.
"So where are we?" Ichigo said as he stood in a musical theatre. He went unanswered as Ichigo was ushered into a seat by Amamiya. "You do realise that the sign outside said that the performance isn't until tonight?" Ichigo said as he sat down in a chair next to Amamiya.
"I know" Amamiya said with one of the cutest smiles she could muster, "but Matsuri sensei said she'd play one right now" Amamiya said practically bouncing with joy.
Wow, who knew ones attitude could change so much? Ichigo did, too many captains bring questionable reasoning into conversations sometimes. Even behavioral standards of a child sometimes exceeded theirs.
"The drunk biker woman from last night, is a pianist?" Ichigo said giving Amamiya a questioning look. Ichigo was ignored though as a woman walked onto the stage and sat down in front of the piano that was on the stage in front of them and began to play.
Ichigo had never heard such a well-refined musical play; he thought it was rather amazing the way she held herself elegantly while playing the instrument in front of her. Even though Ichigo had never been much of a fan of classical music and only listened to it occasionally it drew him in and he deeply enjoyed hearing the notes flow in a rhythm as each finger struck a new key.
Besides Ichigo he could hear small quiet cheers of excitement as the music continued to play, Amamiya obviously loved this person as an adopted sister of sorts to be calling out like that and even appeared to love the music she was hearing from what he could hear. Ichigo turned and was rather...taken back by the look on Amamiya's face as she held her hands up in front of her in fists of excitement and stars glowed in her eyes, she was good at facial expressions, Ichigo would give her that, but not as good as Orihime, she was a strange one.
"How was that Amamiya?" Matsuri said when she finished playing and looked up into the theatre where they were seated. "That was a concert on me, celebrating your safe return from Psyren"
"Amazing as always Matsuri sensei." Amamiya screamed jumping out of her seat giving Ichigo reason to block his ears momentarily. Turning to Ichigo Amamiya told Ichigo who the pianist was. "That's Sakumo Matsuri, a world renown pianist" causing Ichigo to raise an eyebrow doubting that this was the truth but he believed her anyway.
Over the course of the next hour Matsuri played an entire concert just for Amamiya and she seemed to love every moment of it. To have someone you know willing to play a concert just for you is pretty amazing and Ichigo wondered just how exactly they came to meet each other.
Some time later after the concert Ichigo came face-to-face with the drunken biker pianist chick and to actually meet her when she was sober felt like a slightly different experience than the motorbike incident from last night.
"Yo sorry to keep ya waiting, had to change out of those clothes." Matsuri said approaching the two who were now in an area out the back of the stage. "And I'm guessing you're Ichigo, nice ta meet ya."
"Yeah, nice to meet you too" Ichigo replied.
"Hold it!" a man yelled as he burst through a door behind Ichigo and came to a stop just in front of him and looked at Matsuri. "I finally found you Yakumo! You have an interview for two magazines and a photo shoot today. Your schedule is booked solid. So what the heck are you doing here?"
"So you finally showed, here to lock me up again manager Kikuchi?" Matsuri said getting into a ready stance.
"It's Akuchi!" Akuchi said shocked that Matsuri still didn't know his name even after all the times he had told her that it wasn't Kikuchi, and that it was Akuchi.
"I go where I want and do what I want! Like I care about some stupid schedule" Matsuri said. Ichigo just looked on in confusion as the scene played out before him wondering what was going on exactly, did Matsuri try to get away from this stuff often?
"If you keep getting hung up on schedules you'll never get a girlfriend" Matsuri said to the man.
"I'm just doing my job" the man cried in return.
"Well then…how 'bout you let me go if I let you watch me grope Sakurako a bit" Matsuri said having already moved behind Amamiya to grope her, Amamiya disturbingly did not seem to care much at all and just stood there unmoving.
"Knock it off!" Akuchi yelled before realising that the problem he was facing might have to do with one of her faults, drinking. "Don't tell me…you're planning to go drinking again…aren't you?" Akuchi questioned Matsuri. Matsuri broke her eye contact with him and looked away suspiciously. "Look me in the eye!" Akcuchi said still not receiving a response from Matsuri.
"Oh so now you're trying to insult me? Is that how it is Kikuchi?!" Matsuri said.
"Not at all! I respect you for your talent" Akuchi pleaded hoping he hadn't upset Matsuri.
"I can't play the piano without a little booze" Matsuri said finally turning back around to her manager giving him a wink of confidence as to say that her statement was true.
"Quit talking absurd!" Akuchi said not believing a single thing that Matsuri just said al while wondering how a great pianist could turn out to be someone like her, Ichigo was also having similar thoughts at this point in time.
"Well I think it's time you left Kikuchi," Matsuri said ushering Akuchi towards the exit before shoving him out and closing the door behind him. "Couldn't he see that we were busy having a conversation between us?" Matsuri sighed a bit before turning back around to find Asaga and Ageha entering from the stage entrance.
"Sup" Asaga said casually still wearing his school uniform obviously having left school without changing before he got here.
Ageha was in the same state but he was a little…beaten up. "I can't believe my sister beat me up last night over getting home late, and I was sick as well!" Ageha finished shouting "Why'd we get a nose bleed last night Amamiya?"
"Your power awoke last night because of the atmosphere in Psyren that you were introduced to. It holds something that causes the natural limiters of your body to be broken, you were infected with it and now you too can use this power." Amamiya explained to Ageha and the others.
Asaga seemed a little interested but was surprised when he saw Matsuri "Yakumo Matsuri?" Asaaga questioned pointing at Matsuri. "Don't tell me that biker was her?" Asaga said not quite believing what he was seeing.
"Apparently." Ichigo dully answered Asaga's question.
By now everyone was looking at Matsuri whom was sitting in a chair behind a desk spinning around to face the others. "My, this room seems rather crowded" Matsuri said standing up "All this junk is in my way." Suddenly chairs and tables were flying through the air to a corner of the room, although it seemed that Matsuri had no regard for whether or not someone was in the way of a piece of furniture as it flew through the air hitting both Asaga and Ageha giving them a few new light bruises. Amamiya and Ichigo escaped the flying furniture through their own methods; Amamiya applied a small use of rise while Ichigo used his bringer light to avoid the flying furniture.
"It's that strange power again." Asaga thought to himself surprised and curious at the same time.
"Alrighty, gather 'round, let's have a chat about Psyren" Matsuri said having finally finished throwing away all the furniture and had now retrieved four fold up chairs from the mess she created.
"Hold on," Ichigo said holding his and up "how can we talk about Psyren to you? It'd go against the rules, wouldn't it?"
"Normally yes, but I'm a former drifter so in other words I've already completed the game set out by Nemesis Q, and by that I mean that my point score has dropped to zero" Matsuri said answering Ichigo's confusion. "I was a drifter way before you guys and I've been back and forth from that wasteland more times than I could be bothered to count"
"You beat it?" Ageha said sounding as though he didn't quite believe Matsuri.
"Sure have" Matsuri replied smiling.
"So what is that place? What is Psyren?" Ageha asked rapidly not giving Matsuri a chance to answer them individually.
"Woah, woah, just listen, all the answers are on the back of your cards" Matsuri said.
"They are?" Ageha said incredulously "There wasn't anything there before when I looked"
"Just take them out you two" Amamiya said stepping into the conversation. "Truth is, it takes a little more than just looking at the back of the card. There's a little trick to it. All you have to do is hold the card in front of your forehead.
"Um, ok then" Asaga said unsure placing the card in front of his forehead revealing the number forty-eight in the top left corner of the card and a list of rules in dot points outling the various rules of the game that you mustn't step over the boundary of. "Forty-eight…you mean this is the value of what's left on our cards?"
"That's the secret…hey Ichigo why haven't you checked your card yet?" Matsuri said noticing that Ichigo had yet to retrieve the card from his jacket pocket.
"I've already seen it," Ichigo replied, "I stumbled across it in my time in Psyren by accident"
"I see…well then, Asaga, Ageha, only the people who are able to find this information manage to survive the first round…" Matsuri said all seriousness in her voice.
"What? If everyone had known this from the start, then…" Asaga said, slight traces of anger and despair in his voice.
"…Now read the last line. It says 'good luck to all trying to change the future'" Matsur said reading a sentence aloud.
"No fucking way! How can that be the future? What happened?" Ageha yelled demanding answers. "Leap through time? It doesn't even seem possible to begin with and even if it was why did Japan end up a waste land?"
"Other than you asking the same question twice, it didn't happen to just Japan as far as I'm aware, because if it was there would have surely been someone trying to claim the land for themselves. If you do manage to figure out what happened you wouldn't save only Japan but the world" Matsuri answered Ageha's burst of questions.
"Again?" Ichigo thought not quite believing the possibility that even with Aizen gone that the world would still be so far under even with a powerful godlike man locked away for what should seem like eternity.
"I'm still trying to find out what happened to the world even though I can't go back." Matsuri said a serious look on her face. "That's why it's now up to you guy's to figure that out. Why Japan and possibly the world is nothing but ruins, I don't know. When does it happen? What causes it to happen? We have to find answers to these questions." Matsuri said guiding them to the building rooftop. Striding out onto the platform and looking over the edge Matsuri continued where she left off. "It was over two years ago that I first travelled to Psyren. Back then the urban myth about Psyren didn't even exist. I travelled back and forth many times trying to unravel the mysteries of Psyren, a big one being those Tavoo."
"What…are they exactly?" Ichigo asked seemingly rather interested in these Tavoo that had become apart of the conversation.
"Yeah, I'd like to know that as well." Asaga said.
"No clue," Matsuri answered "but I'm sure that the worlds decay and those monsters must be connected somehow. I've come across many Tavoo and judging from experience I'd have to say that something or someone made them. The source of Tavoo is out there somewhere, it could be a person, a place or even some other dimension."
"I'd have to say that'd be stretching it a little" Ichigo said voicing his opinion about Matsuri's last theory "although about them being created, I at least agree with that, those red cores that were implanted in them were by no means natural from the looks of it and the way they moved across the land seemed as though they were just the scouts, so…how powerful do they really get?"
"At the moment…far too much for you to handle, the others though…" Matsuri said looking at Asaga and Ageha "they have a bit to go before they're ready to fight any of them at all single handedly"
"…I've decided to work together with Matsuri to unravel the mysteries of Psyren. We must find out the source of the worlds destruction" Amamiya spoke up trying to tell the others that it was a good idea to join her and Matsuri to not only survive their travels to Psyren but to figure out the problems that caused the disaster. "Right sensei?" Amamiya said turning to Matsuri.
"There's something you still haven't told us," Asaga said making Matsuri raise her eyebrow "that nosebleed we got after leaving Psyren what happened? Both Ageha and I got it, I'm not sure about Ichigo but why?"
"Oh I must've forgotten to mention last night that you got infected with something in the Psyren atmosphere," Matsuri said waving it off as something that wasn't important "all it did was activate your power, you can all use that power now. You got the nosebleed so there shouldn't be any other problems."
"Is it called PSI by any chance?" Ichigo asked offhandedly.
"Bingo. It's actually a power that anyone could have access to but it lies dormant within most of people. There are a few who are able to use it from birth, but they tend to keep under the radar" Matsuri said a little surprised that Ichigo already knew what it was called.
Holding her palm out in the direction of a water tank on the roof top Matsuri caused the entire tank to be crushed by an invisible force causing water to come gushing out of it in large tears that had appeared under the strain of the force applied to it. It was quite impressive really; Ichigo wondered just how powerful she really was since that it looked like that was almost no strain to perform at all.
"The something in the Psyren atmosphere that I talked about, it unlocks the regularly dormant section of the brain that controls PSI." Matsuri explained, the water tank now having fully ruptured leaving a gaping hole in the side of it. "It is your greatest weapon against the Tavoo…except for Ichigo. Today you are going to start learning how to use it. Become as strong as you can before your next battle in Psyren."
"Matsuri, why do you keep saying that Ichigo has a better chance of survival than us, isn't that extremely high speed he showed us last night the same as PSI? Wouldn't that have made him a natural PSI user?" Asaga asked wondering what kind of capabilities Ichigo possessed.
"No Ichigo is a special case among humans and has a power that is limited to few. That ability though already pushes the body past it's limits, but if he learns to use both powers effectively and to their full potential he shouldn't have much more to worry about, isn't that right Ichigo, you wouldn't perhaps be by any chance in a club of sorts with people like you? I heard your type usually band together." Matsuri said looking at Ichigo with interest.
"Maybe." Ichigo said implying that he was in a group of fullbringers. "But for the moment I'd like to learn as much as I can today of this PSI stuff so I can finish my other training by the end of the week if possible. By the sounds of things I'll need to finish soon and get strong fast."
