Chapter 7
The New Student
"We have a new student in class today," Ueda-sensei said as he entered the classroom. "Would you like to present yourself?"
"Sure," said the bot that followed him.
Karin stared. She just stared.
"My name is Hitsugaya Tōshirō. Pleased to meet you," he said with that monotone deep voice of his, which didn't sound pleased at all. In fact, his whole appearance screamed of indifference. He couldn't have cared less.
The entire class were whispering. "Look, he has white hair", "Do you think he bleaches it?" and "Those eyes!" Karin could hear them whisper. Tōshirō ignored them and sat down next to her. She leaned towards him. "What the hell are you doing here?!" she whispered angrily.
Tōshirō didn't flinch. "What do you mean? I'm the new transfer student," he answered innocently.
"Sure, and I'm Santa," she snorted scornfully. "What are you up to?"
"Kurosaki. Hitsugaya. Something you'd like to share with the class?" their teacher asked and looked at the two of them.
"No," Karin said and pouted. Then she added in a lower voice to the white-haired kid next to her: "This I not over!"
Tōshirō just shrugged.
Damn him! Why did he always have to be so indifferent? It was so frustrating! Karin scowled at him for the rest of the class. Some of the other students looked her as if she was a crazy person. She didn't care.
When the bell rang, the entire class gathered around the "new student". Karin narrowed her eyes further. This was just ridiculous! He wasn't that interesting. In fact, he was not interesting at all. He was a damn pain in the neck, that was what he was.
Her fellow students – especially the girls, to Karin's annoyance – clung around him. They asked him all kinds of questions which Tōshirō only gave vague answers to. He couldn't answer most of them. When someone ask you where you were from, you can't exactly answer "The Spirit World". Not that Tōshirō cared about them anyway.
In the end, Karin had had enough of his act. She pushed away some girl and grabbed Tōshirō's shirt. Then she dragged him with her out of the classroom. "Hey!" he shouted, but she ignored him. They stopped in an empty hallway.
"Tōshirō. What. Are. You. Doing here."
The boy scowled. "I'm attending your school."
"Yeah, I figured out that much," she said sarcastically. "What are you really doing here?"
Tōshirō stared for a moment before he answered. "The truth? To keep an eye on you."
"I knew it. You're stalking me," Karin said when she heard the boy's reply. The response was immediate.
"I am not stalking you!" the white-haired boy shouted angry. Karin smirked in amusement. He was hilarious when he was angry. And she had to admit, he was kind of cute as well. Not that she would ever say that out loud.
"Sure you are," she continued, still amused. "Following me to school, watching me at night? That's definitely stalking." Tōshirō seemed surprised by the second statement. Which made Karin smile even more. "Don't think I didn't notice. After receiving your powers, I've been able to sense people's present to a much higher degree than before."
He blinked. "Your Reiatsu control is fairly impressive, for a human to be. For you to have developed an ability to sense other Spiritual Pressures so fast was… unexpected."
Karin supressed the urge to grin.
Tōshirō regained calmness. "Well, then. Was that all?"
Karin scowled. "For now. And just as you know, I'm still not okay with this," she said clearly. Then the two of them went back to class without another word.
The entire class started at Tōshirō and herself as they entered the classroom. She ignored them and found her seat. Her friends gathered around her desk.
"Hey, Karin," Ryohei said. "Wasn't that the boy from a couple of days ago?"
"Do you know him?" Heita asked in disbelief.
"Yes, it was him, and no, I do not know him," Karin said determined.
"But you just dragged him out of the classroom!"
Karin scowled at the boy and he shut his mouth. The four of them slowly backed off, deciding that it was best to leave her alone. She was clearly not in the mood for talking. Especially not about a certain white-haired kid.
How was is that her life had developed into such a nightmare? One thing was to show up once in a while, but to join her class? Come on! She was starting to think that her joke about him stalking her wasn't a joke at all. He was stalking her.
She could understand that he needed to check up on her once in a while. She did have his powers after all. But this was just too much. That bastard. Did he intentionally try to make her miserable? At least, that was what it felt like.
And that about him watching her at night? Yes, she knew about that. Or, his surprised expression had confirmed her suspicions. It was true that her ability to sense had improved, but she hadn't been sure. She was able to detect other Reiatsu, but she still wasn't able to recognize them.
It was kind of reassuring to know that it had been Tōshirō's Reiatsu. It could have been someone else's, and that wasn't a very comforting thought. On the other hand, it was creepy that he kept an eye at her, even when she was asleep.
Karin ignored Tōshirō for the rest of the day. Tōshirō ignored everybody else. He didn't care the least about all of the people swarming around him. In the end, they stopped swarming and watched him from a distance instead. He was the main topic for the rest of that day. And he couldn't care less. Neither could Karin.
At some point, a girl in her class had asked her about it. "Aren't you the least curious about Hitsugaya-kun?" she asked. "Not at all?"
"Nope," Karin answered without hesitation.
"But isn't he handsome? And mysterious?" The girl got a dreamy look. "I think those eyes of his are just beautiful. And his white hair is so cool! He's so adorable!"
Karin snorted. "I couldn't care less." Then she had turned around and left without another word.
The bell rang for the last time, and Karin went to find Yuzu so they could pick up Ichigo. Normally, Karin would play football with her friends after school and Yuzu would pick up Ichigo. Today, however, she didn't want to play. She just wanted to go home.
Yuzu asked about it. "Aren't you going to play football today?"
"No," Karin said. "Didn't feel like it today."
Yuzu didn't ask any more about it, which Karin appreciated. There was a long silence. Yuzu was the one who broke it.
"But what about that boy," she said exited. "He started in your class didn't he?"
Karin narrowed her eyes. "Yeah. What about it?"
"What do you think of him? How was he? I was only able to watch him from a distance." She sounded disappointed.
Karin groaned. "Yuzu, not you too!"
"What?" she said blankly. "Don't you like him?"
"Not at all," she said with a growl. She continued before Yuzu got the chance to ask why. "He just so annoying! He suddenly shows up at school without a word, acting like if it's no big deal. How can he just pretend like if nothing has happened? And he's so indifferent. It's irritating!"
Karin realised that most of it probably didn't make sense at all. She got carried away and forgot that it was Yuzu she was talking to.
"Er, have you, like, met before? Do you know him? Or something?" she asked confused.
"Kind of. It's complicated." Karin cursed on the inside. She thought about everything she had said and realised how it must have sounded to one who didn't know the actual story.
Yuzu found out that it was best not to ask any further questions. Karin appreciated that decison.
Yesterday, Hitsugaya had decided that he would have to stay close to Kurosaki, and the best way to do that was to join her class. This was, as he had told her, to keep an eye on her. What he didn't tell her, was that it was also so that he would be close to her if a Hollow was to show up. Considering how upset she was every time he brought up the subject, he figured that it was best to keep quiet about that part for now.
If a Hollow was to show up, it was important that he was close to Kurosaki. Since she was the one with Shinigami powers, she was also the one who had to take care of the Hollows. As he had tried to explain to her so many times. She didn't listen, but that didn't change anything. He still needed to stay close to her. And she was going to take care of any Hollow that should appear. Even if he would have to drag her with him.
Hitsugaya had been fairly surprised, but impressed as well, when she told him about her ability to sense spiritual pressures. It is true that he had visited the Kurosaki Clinic during night time. Once he even stayed the whole night. He wondered if this was an ability she had had from the start, or if it was something she had developed over time. Either way, it was impressive indeed.
That girl, she never ceased to surprise him. He wondered what it would have been like if she had been a soul and gone to the Shin'ō Academy. She would probably have made an excellent Shinigami. She had an amazing Reiatsu and a natural talent.
Though it did annoy him that he had to go through so much trouble over a single human. Couldn't she just have been a little more cooperative? Everything would have been so much easier then. And he wouldn't have had to go to school, which he wasn't overly found of. It reminded him of his own Academy days.
Either way, she could say that she wouldn't help him as much as she wanted. She was going to help him. He would make sure of that.
