Arata now knew what he had to do but he could not act immediately. Orihime's fear and avoidance of him was still relatively fresh so he first had to give her some space for a time. Most likely on the weekend would he enact his "Get-Orihime-to-no-longer-be-afraid-of-him" plan. The extra time would also allow him to scout out interesting places to take her.

Another thing was that he needed the extra time to go over what he was gonna say and finally, what he was gonna allow her to have.

And that was what he was doing right now. He just wrapped up work and was now just strolling around town for any interesting places or, more specifically, movie theaters and restaurants. In his mind, he was conversing with Hitokiri about what he should and should not say.

He found himself in the same area as the ramen shop Yoruichi brought him to. After familiarizing himself with the Japanese Yen system, he realized that the shop was affordable for someone with security guard earnings.

Hold on... don't soul reapers get paid too?

Arata visibly stops. He did not think of that. Hell, he never really considered the position a job in the first place. He will need to talk one of the captains about this.

He passed by multiple restaurants and shops and he was honestly impressed with the variety in locations and foods. He saw some Italian restaurants, some middle eastern cuisine, bakeries, etc. He recalled that back in his original world, none of that was prevalent. Each side were too scared or hesitant to set up any sort of trade or business in foreign places.

All the places he has seen were good but he wanted something more, someplace Orihime has most likely never been before yet someplace that was also affordable and would not drain his wallet in an instant.

We walked across an alley entrance when he suddenly started hearing voices from within.

Honestly. What's with criminals always lurking in alleys? Why can't they just make our lives so much easier and just come out into the open?

'Pretty sure that defeats the point of hiding' Arata comments.

He heads deeper into the dark passage until he finds the sight of woman surrounded by three men. The men weren't anything to note. Trashy, thuggish, dirty, and every other insulting adjective. The woman, however, was a different story.

She was about 5'4 in height with a voluptuous yet slender figure. She was tanned with red hair styled into a bun with a golden pick through it. Her eyes were dark green with dark eye liner put near her eyes. Her lips were covered in red lipstick and two small, golden piercings below her lips. Her clothes consisted of a red, form-fitting red dress with a low backside with no straps that accentuated her large breast and red open-toed, high-heel shoes. Her nails were painted red as well.

She did not look afraid as the men around her circled her, eyeing her with perverted intent. "Listen boys, I'm a very busy woman so would you kindly let me be on my way?"

"You kindin'?" one of them laughed. "A hot babe walks in here, lookin' like she owns the damn place, and you expect us let you go without any fun?"

The woman quirks an eyebrow as she sees a large masked man come up from behind the thugs but did not say anything until he was standing right behind one of them. "Well, it's either that or I let my bodyguard mangle you up"

"Wha-" but the thug was grabbed by the neck from behind and was lifted up. Arata squeezed his tender neck painfully as the others screamed in terror and ran away, leaving their friend to fend for himself.

He wanted to do it. He so wanted to bathe in this man's blood, to bring death once again. It would have been so easy too. With just a little more pressure, he could snap his neck like a battered twig. He was close to doing it until...

Orihime's smiling face flashed inside his mind.

He lightly shakes his head and, very slowly and reluctantly, he let the man go. Technically, he and his friends didn't do any harm other than harassing this woman so it was... sort of fine to let them live.

That didn't mean he couldn't do other stuff and so, Arata grabbed his arm and broke it by the elbow, forcing his arm to go into a weird angle. The man screamed and Arata pushed him in the direction of where his companions ran.

The man turned to Arata, his eyes crying tears of pain but anger sparked within them as well. "I-I won't forget this! You'll regret ever messing with-!"

Arata then walked up to him and stared him down. "Do it then. I want to meet these other companions of yours so I can find out what other body parts I break"

The man screams again and cries as he runs with his tail in between his legs and his arm swinging painfully as he ran.

Arata turns to the woman and saw that she was studying him. He did so as well and found a significant amount of reiatsu within the woman. It was close to Karin and Yuzu's level of spiritual power but only a hair stronger.

There it was again. He was having the same suspicious feeling he had with Candice and Kisuke. She was hiding more than she let on.

"I had that under control you know" she said.

"Last I saw, you were surrounded three to one. I hardly count that as 'under control'" he retorts.

The woman shrugs nonchalantly. "I see your point. Guess now I gotta find a way to thank you for your troubles"

Arata shakes his head. "No need. I must be on my way"

"Got errands to run?" she asks.

"No. I trying to find a suitable restaurant I can bring my cousin to this weekend"

The woman visibly lightens up. "Oh! If it's a restaurant you're looking for, follow me!"

Seeing that he had nothing to lose, he follows behind her. "Why were you traversing through here anyway?" he suddenly asks.

"This is a short cut to my restaurant" she responds simply.

He quirks an eyebrow. "So we're going to your place of business?"

She chuckles, "No shit Sherlock. Why would I bring you to one of my rivals? Also, it isn't just my place. It's also my brothers. We're the co-owners". She continues on by saying, "You're in luck big guy. Our place just recently set up shop here in Karakura and we just finished construction. We should open our doors on Saturday as long as there aren't any screw ups"

Oh, how the stars have aligned.

However, before he cemented this part of his plan, he needed to know their prices. For all he knew, this place could cost hundreds of thousands of yen.

They enter back into the main shopping area and walk for a time until they come across a small flight of stairs leading down with a neon sign above reading Redwood.

"I presume this is you and your brother's business?"

"Yep. Let's head inside"

They walk down the stair and come up to a redwood door. After the woman pushed it open, Arata's eyes looked over the restaurant before him. He now understood why the place was called Redwood.

The whole interior was red. There was some variety in color but the place was a sea of red. There were booths and tables that looked high quality with green cushioning. There was a bar area at the left side with many types of booze adorning the wall. There were on either side of the bar, most likely leading to the kitchen. There were also , two at the bar, and one on the right side of the restaurant. Arcade games were near the bar area. Finally, to put more color in the place, paintings and nick-nacks decorated the walls; one of which being a pair of nodachis intersecting, making an X, place near the bar.

The place looked like a mix of fine dining and casual family diner and Arata did not know what to think. There was also the issue with the bar. He doubts that Orihime ever hit the bottle but that brought in the question of age restrictions. "Does this place have any sort of dress or age restriction?" he asked.

"Nope. Everyone is welcomed here. Age only comes into question if you decide to hit up the bar". She then handed the menu. "Here. Check out what we serve"

Arata looked over the selection and was impressed with what he saw. They sold a little bit of everything from Japanese, Italian, Indian, South American, and North American cuisine. What made the deal even sweeter was the fact they were only a little bit more expensive than the ramen shop. It'll but a dent in his wallet but at least it would be a small one.

"Sis! Did you give out the flyers like I mentioned?-" said a man as he walked out from the kitchen. He had the same hair, skin, and eye color as his sister and he even had the same gold piercing below his lip. His had a lean but muscular build at a height of about 6 feet. His hair was styled in a man bun, like his sister, but instead of a dress, he wore a red suit with a white dress shirt with the top three buttons undone, red slacks, red dress shoes, and a red blazer.

Like his sister, his spiritual pressure was higher than the average human and just like his sister, he had a sinking suspicion that he was hiding something big. "May I ask who you might be?" the man asks.

"A future customer" Arata answered simply.

The sister squealed happily when he said that and said to her brother, "This man helped me out with a few ruffians as I was making my way back here and I offered to show him our restaurant"

Instead of the normal brotherly response of "Are you alright?" or "What did they do to you?", the brother groaned, "Please don't tell me you two roughed them up too bad? If word got around that acts of violence occurred near here, I fear our restaurant won't even last for a full year"

Arata quirks an eyebrow at this. "You aren't concerned that your sister could've gotten hurt?"

"Oh, please" he scoffs. "If I did that, I'd be insulting her abilities. She more dangerous than she may look you know"

The sister chuckles. "True that. If you hadn't come along I would've broken more than just one guy's arm"

"If I was there, I would've cut their fingers off if they smudged my shirt" the brother added.

Arata was beginning to like these siblings. They're ruthless. He then realized something. "What are your names?"

They both smirk and confidently cross their arms across their chest. They then leaned on each other's backs. "We're the Akiyama twins" both proclaimed in unison.

"I am Akira Akiyama. Co-owner and head chef of this fine establishment" The brother said.

"And I'm Akane Akiyama. Co-owner, sous chef, and the face of Redwood" the sister then said.

"And you are?" they both said.

"Arata Takahashi"

Akane smirks. "Well, Arata Takahashi,". She then walks to the podium and writes his name into the reservation book. 'Congrats on being our first reserved guest here in Karakura town. Hey bro! Let's give him a discount. He seems like a swell guy!"

"We haven't even opened and you already want to start handing out discounts?" Akira deadpanned.

"I'm co-owner. I'll give him a discount if wanna!" she childishly said.

The brother rolls his eyes at his sister. "Whatever you want Akane" he relented.

She chuckles. "Well, we'll see you on Saturday Arata?"

He simply nods. He looks at the clock and notices how late it was getting. He bids them goodbye and leaves Redwood.

Akira's face turns serious as he looks at where Arata left. "So that's who Kisuke was talking about"

Akane nods. "Mmhm. Shady figure that one is. Hella surprised when I saw the man". She turns her head to Akira. "Think he's with Aizen?"

Akira shakes his head. "No. I don't think so. You?"

"Same" she denies.

"What makes you say that?"

She simply points to her stomach and smirks. "My gut never lies" she states.

Akira groans and heads back into the kitchen.

Some time later...

Arata returned back to Candice's place. He walks into the living room to find the green-haired girl watching T.V.

"Sup" she said without looking at him.

He nods and sits next to her, watching T.V together. Minutes go by of the two just watching until Candice looks at him and smirks as an idea forms inside her head.

She shifts her body, sitting sideways on her coach, and places her bare feet on Arata's lap. He immediately looks down and then at her. "What are you doing?" he questions.

Her toes spread as she stretches her body. "I've been out all day and my feet are killing me. Would you be a good housemate and massage them for me?" she requests.

Arata looks down at her feet as they lay on his lap. Just like the rest of Candice, her feet were the definition of perfect. Her soles were slender with high arches and long slender toes that were painted green. She wiggled her toes at him, inviting him to touch.

"Why do I have to massage your foul-smelling feet?"

She frowns. "It feels better if someone else does it. And they are NOT smelly. If you hadn't noticed, I showered a few hours ago and I got myself a pedicure"

He looks between her, the T.V, and then her slender feet, All he wanted to do was just watch T.V but it would seem the universe had other plans. Candice saw this and said, "Look, you can continue watching. You don't need to keep your eyes on my feet at all times"

He thought about for a few more seconds and relented to her wishes, grabs her feet, and started massaging. He kept his eyes mostly on the movie being shown but glanced down every so often. Her feet were smooth and soft, though, with what he knew of her, that was no surprise. The woman loved to pamper herself. He started from the bottom to the top, from her heel to her toes, squeezing and rubbing everywhere he put his hands on. He repeated the same on each foot.

Candice moaned at how good it felt. "I deserve this" she sighed. Arata's hands were calloused yet they felt good as they rubbed her aching soles. The way he squeezed them, hard yet not painfully so, made her fantasize about what other things he could do with his hands. When Arata reached her toes, she gasped when he started cracking each and every one of them. To think he was this good and he wasn't even concentrating mostly on massaging amazed her.

It actually felt so good, she fell asleep. Arata noticed this and contemplated whether he should stop or not. In the end though, he continued massaging as he watched the rest of the movie. He was so immersed in what he was watching that he barely noticed he was still rubbing her feet until the end credits started rolling.

Candice awoke a few minutes after the movie ended and flexed her toes. They felt relaxed and soothed. She smiled up at Arata. "Where on earth did you learn how to massage that good?" she chuckled.

"Past experiences" Arata simply said. He remembered Sakura returning after week long missions and asking Arata to massage her wherever she wanted, to his past self's discomfort. There was also that female shinobi he traveled with for a time so It was safe to say, he knew how to give a good massage.

Another idea came in her mind and she got up from her seat and behind the coach, behind Arata. As the new movie was starting, Arata, confused at what Candice was doing, slightly jumped when her hands touched his shoulders. "That foot massage was so good, I just have to return the favor. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy"

"Listen, I don't need-" but he stopped talking as soon as she started. In contrast to his hand, Candice's hands were pedicured and soft. They did not hint to the fighter within her.

He never thought about it until now, but he was pretty sore. He learned how to deal with aches and pain after some time, but having all those knots untied felt great. He sighed as she continued massaging his shoulders.

Candice frowned as she focused on the kinks in his shoulder. "Damn. You're really wound up tight huh?"

"Comes with the job"

He was referring to his job and exercises at Kisuke's place but Candice knew it was more than that. The Wandenreich was always watching the Soul Society and they too saw the battle between Arata and Kenpachi and they saw Arata as a soul reaper. Honestly, it unnerved her a little at how powerful Arata was. He was able to contend with Kenpachi Zaraki of all people and anyone with a brain could tell you that is no easy feat. Even so, she learned not to let it bother her. The man was going to stay in her home for a few more days and will most likely be a frequent visitor. Unease was not needed. That, and the man was pretty hot, which made it easier to get along with him.

Thinking this, Candice stopped massaging him, letting her hands sit on his shoulders, and pushed her breast into his head. "I know another type of massage that can get you nice and relaxed" she purred.

"Explain"

Before she could tell him to blow up the air mattress in the garage while she went to find some oil, the door bell rings. The veins on Candice's head pop. The moment was ruined! Whoever was at her door better be someone important or she was gonna get a knuckle sandwich.

When she opened the door, her agitation evaporates instantly, because there stood her king.

Yhwach was not dressed in his usual attire, instead opting for a blue polo, black dress shoes, and khaki pants and instead of his stoic, stern expression he usually wears, he had a happy, smiling, and gentle face.

Before Candice could say "Your Majesty", Yhwach spoke first. "My dear niece! It has been too long! How has Japan been?" he said, seizing her into a hug. His head neared her ear and he whispered, "Play along". She nods as she had a grasp on what he was doing.

"Uncle! Y-You didn't say you were visiting! How long do you plan on staying?" she asked. She was hoping not long because she wanted her private time with Arata.

"Not long my dear. Probably for one or two more days. Business trip unfortunately". He then noticed Arata walking up to them. "Oh, is this your boyfriend Candice?"

"Not my boyfriend yet" she laughed. "C'mon. Introduce yourself" Candice said to Arata.

Arata looked up at Candice's "uncle". With Candice and the Akiyama twins, he felt that they were hiding a lot from him. This man though? That feeling was amplified to the heavens. Just from his eyes, he could tell he had seen more battle than anyone. He seemed like some sort of general, maybe even a king, with ambitions that rival the world in size.

His spiritual pressure also seemed off. It was weak yet it looked like it was slowly growing. Whoever this man is, something is off about him

With all of this in mind, one thing is for certain... he did not trust this man.

"Arata Takahashi"

The "uncle" looked him up and down, clearly studying him. With Yhwach near perfect omniscience, he looked into this man's soul and found an interesting find.

Yhwach smirked as a plan formed inside his head.

"Yohann Baker" Yhwach lied. "A pleasure to meet you" and he extended his hand. Arata looked down at his hand hesitantly, but, slowly, took it and shook.

"Uncle, I have a pot roast cooking in the oven. Do you want to stay for dinner?" Candice suggested.

"Johann" smiles. "I would love to"

"Great! Arata, prepare the plates and take the food out the oven. The mits are by the oven. I just want to talk to my uncle for a little bit 'kay?" Candice said.

Arata narrows his eyes at them but follows Candice's commands and exits the room.

Candice sighs before talking in a low voice to her king. "What're you doing here you majesty?"

Yhwach chuckles, his true nature resurfacing. "I simply wanted to see this mysterious stranger for myself"

"You're planning something" Candice outright stated. "You are, are you?"

Yhwach simply nods. "You are correct Sternritter T. However, those will have to wait. We have dinner to eat" and he heads to the kitchen with Candice following. "Tell me, is this pot roast your mother's recipe?"

Candice stops and looks down. Yhwach notices, stops as well, and looks back at her. "Y-Yeah. It is" she stammers.

Yhwach nods. "Let us see if it rivals your mother's cooking" and he heads inside the kitchen.

Candice balls her hands. She composes herself before anything else, breathing in and out, and after all that was done, she went to dinner. However, before she did, she went to her room to fetch a bottle of vodka. Her best kind considering her king was here as well.