Karin was sitting on her sister's bed beside her. It had been at least 3 hours since Yuzu lost her consciousness and she has yet to awaken from her slumber, leaving Karin full of worry and confusion. She had already put the kids to sleep and now she was waiting for her sister to awaken and explain what was happening. Did her father tell her sister what they were talking about that's why she wrote those words, but even if that were the case, why did she do something weird like that instead of talking to her. Did Yuzu perhaps overhear her talk with their father and thought of leaving those writings as a message and wait for Karin to find them herself, so she wouldn't feel troubled with the fact that her sister overheard her, but she collapsed from exhaustion before she could leave, but even that doesn't make much sense to her. And the writings themselves are worrisome, she was troubled when her father uttered those words, and now they were repeated in a strange way, Karin couldn't help but feel that there must be a hidden reason behind all of this shit, the dreams, her father and sister, even the timing of the Abarai's problem. Karin was consumed that night with worry that she decided that she needs to do something, otherwise she would lose her mind, so she decided to check on the kids for the time being while leaving the worrying for tomorrow.
Karin was floating. Only blue sky with few scattered white clouds were in her field of vision. A strange feeling filled her, an emptiness she's never felt before. Then suddenly, the sky was changing, the previously calm sky was preparing for a storm, right above her. She was getting scared, she wanted to call for help or even try to swim away but she couldn't, she could only watch as the storm was getting stronger. Until she heard a voice, a man's voice that seemed so clear despite the storm" You can't fight the upcoming storm so just give up and only watch, that's the only thing you can do". The only thing Karin could think of was that whomever was talking, he didn't know who she was. She was Kurosaki Karin, she would never give up without fighting. She told him with renewed determination " I never back down from a fight, I will fight anything and everything that comes my way, and I'm getting out of this storm alive you hear me". But the voice didn't back down either:" Then are you ready to sacrifice anything and possibly everything during this fight?". Instead of making her give up the fight, Karin felt as if whomever that was, he didn't want to scare her, instead she felt as if he was preparing her for it. So she decided to show him what she was made of " I will fight till the end and survive, and I'll make sure not to lose anything on the way. I'm ready to fight". She didn't wait long to find out his replay as she felt that she was being pushed gentle into the water while hearing his last words:" I really hope you can make it". She was drowning slowly in this seemingly bottomless water. She was wondering if she would be able to breathe under water, but soon she ignored that worry, she was in a dream, she was sure of that, what could possibly go wrong in a dream! The water was turning black, that was quite unusual, as if there were dark clouds twirling in the water making it darker, and the fact that she was going deep into the water didn't help either. Among the darkness, she saw a hand. There was someone being engulfed in the darkness. She tried to swim towards that person, but it felt as if there was something stopping her. The water was swallowing that person while pushing her away. Then a red light penetrated the dark clouds, a light that came from within the centre of the darkness, right below the person. It divided the darkness into two halves, as if it was a light coming from opening a double door that illuminates a dark room. She was trying to take a better look at that person, hoping to find out who he was. Then suddenly a lot of hands emerged from the open doors, surrounding that person and pulling him into the open doors. She wanted to help, she tried to swim towards them but she was snatched roughly upwards, away from the darkness and from the open doors. She could tell, she was being snatched away from the dream itself, the only thing that remained was an echo :" You still need to light the way to the truth before going into the darkness".
Karin woke up suddenly. She didn't remember falling asleep on her bed. The last thing she remembers was checking on the kids. She must have fallen asleep from tiredness without noticing. A sound from beside her notified her of other people in the room. She found both Kazui and Ichika had already woken up and staring at her, with Yuzu sitting behind them, looking at her with eyes full of worry. Her mind froze for a second, Yuzu woke up and looks fine. Without a delay, Karin slid from the bed, grabbed her sister and asked her seriously:" what happened yesterday?" . Yuzu was startled, and it clearly showed on her reply:" what happened yesterday? I was in the college preparing for the event. I told you didn't I?" . That was definitely not what Karin was waiting for, so she asked again:" I mean what happened after you came home late at night?". Yuzu still didn't know what she was talking about " what happened after I came back? I was dead tired that I fell asleep right away". Karin was perplexed, she was sure about what happened last night. Yuzu definitely screamed last night and wrote those words on the bathroom mirror. Could she have been imagining things due to her latest worries. But Kazui proved that Karin's memory was not tricking her when he said:" Auntie Yuzu, don't you remember? Last night you screamed while in the bathroom after writing on the bathroom mirror! We were really worried then. Don't you remember that happening at all?". Yuzu was startled, she had no memory of all of that" you must have been mistaken, maybe the screaming came from our neighbour's ". " And if that were true, why were you unconscious on the bathroom floor?" asked Ichika this time. All four of them were sitting on the floor, not understanding what just happened. Later on, the kids were telling Yuzu about what happened to her last night while Karin was on the phone." Toshiro! We need to talk. Now"
Hitsugaya Toshiro, Captain of the tenth squad and a child prodigy, was currently headed to the world of the living to meet up with Karin. They had agreed to meet up as soon as possible to talk about something that he believes is quite important. Karin seemed serious while making that demand that his head became filled with all kinds of problems she could be in right now. He was becoming worried by the minute that he was feeling that the travel through the senkaimon was taking forever. As soon as he reached her, he asked her worriedly :" what happened?". She held his hands tightly and looked into his eyes and said:" There is something big I need to share with you. It's something that can't wait for long I'm afraid". His heart sank at hearing those words from her, but still he squeezed her hands back reassuringly and with a serious voice " I'm all ears". Karin didn't know from where to start or what to say, she was filled with a whole mess of intertwined feelings that she could no longer understand on her own, but she knew she had to tell him. Ever since they confessed their love to each other, they became each other's half. They shared everything: thoughts, feeling, opinions and everything that could possibly be shared, to the point that they knew each other's deepest secrets. She steeled her resolve and started telling him everything. Everything that she had shared with her father before, plus the new things that happened afterwards: her recent dream, what happened with Yuzu and even her thoughts of everything happening lately. Toshiro listened attentively to every word she had said, understanding her worries and even feeling them himself. A lot of things were happening all of a sudden in a complete mess, although they seem unrelated but still, there could be some sort of a connection between all of these things. " Let's do it this way, I'll look into Abarai's mission in hueco mondo and try to find if there had been any abnormalities either in soul society or the world of the living while looking up that kid that annoys little Abarai. You, on the other hand, try to look more into your sister's matter and go back to Karakura and question both your father and Dr Ishida. When either of us finds anything, we should inform each other as soon as possible. We also must be secretive while looking around so as not to bring attention to what we're doing, unless things get out of hand and we need help". Although nothing was resolved yet, but somehow telling Toshiro everything made her feel better. "Thanks Toshiro, for being here with me, and for listening", " What silly things are you saying now! There is no way in hell I'm leaving you in this mess alone. I love you and I will always be there for you, so treat me being here for you is a given" was Toshiro's warm and sweet answer, and that was all she needed to hear right now.
From a place not far away from the couple, three men shrouded in blackness, stood in the shadows watching, waiting for their chance to strike" You won't have the chance to get in our way". And in a far away place, two men were fighting, fighting in a war that they already knew how it would end, but still going with the flow; so as not to change the flow of history, even if it meant their deaths.