Chapter 16: Aoi Shichika
5 months since Setsuzo first woke up in Hueco Mundo
Karakura town was the home to many individuals. Most famously, Ichigo Kurosaki, Sado Yasutora, Inoue Orihime and Ishida Uryu, but only to the Shinigami living in Soul Society and a few select people in Karakura town. Otherwise, those four were not at all famous, except Sado Yasutora, as he made a career in pro-wrestling. Ichigo Kurosaki and Ishida Uryu had decided to follow the path of medicine, as both went to a university to study the subject. Inoue Orihime stayed in the bakery and learned the profession.
To the outside, they appeared as normal commoners with no special property to them. Just like another girl living in Karakura town, who was even more inconspicuous.
Living in an apartment building near the Karakura high school, on the second floor and being in a hurry to get ready, was Aoi Shichika. She had overslept, and was just now shocked into a state of hyper-awareness, as a glance on the clock told her she was running late. Again.
"Oh shit, not again. Mom!", she yelled through the apartement. Her mother was just as messy as her (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree), and had of course overslept as well. At least they were in harmony when it came to that.
"We overslept, get up."
The door to her mother's bedroom was ajar, as always when her mother stumbled into the bed in the evening and just couldn't care enough to close it. Disgruntled noises resounded from what Aoi liked to call the lion's den, until the point where her mother must have taken a look on the watch.
"Oh shit, not again."
She came running out of her bedroom and almost crashed into the wal opposite of the bedroom doorl.
"Breakfast?"
"On it, get to the showering."
Her mother gave her a quick glance and ran back into her room, just to storm out again with her working clothes and some fresh underwear and steered towards the bathroom.
Occurences like this had happened many times before, which is why Aoi and her mother came up with a very elaborate plan in case they should both oversleep (which happened a lot).
Whoever was up first woke up the latter and started to prepare a breakfast to go, whilst the other went under the shower and got presentable. Her mother was mostly the one who woke up first, but in rare cases like this day, the whole scheme was switched. Her mother and herself weren't really on a very intimate level when it came to their parent-child relationship, but they could work very well together if required.
She was into making breakfast for about ten minutes when her mother got out of the bathroom with her clothes on and some necessary make-up applied, hair not yet done.
"Switch", she said after almost having kicked open the door.
"Toasts are in the toaster, eggs are in the pan, butters already out to heat up."
"Bacon?"
"Ran out yesterday", Aoi said while in her room to get her clothes and underwear.
"Shit", resounded the answer from the kitchen.
Aoi ran to the bathroom and started undressing. "Improvise for youself, I don't need anything else."
She bound her hair together, got under the shower, turned on the hose and received another shock as she remembered that they used hot water as rarely as possible.
"Uhhhh, that's cold", she let out while doing the necessary cleaning. She never washed her hair in mornings like these, that would take way too long. After a good five minutes she got out of the shower again, freezing but refreshed and fully awake now. She dryed off her body, pput on some underwear and then her working clothes, which consisted of a waitress' garments.
She opened the bathroom mirror to be greeted by the short supply of make-up and medication they possessed, as everything else wasted space. She did have one or two eyeshadows and or lipsticks for special occasions, but those rarely happened, if at all. She didn't really have that many friends and even the ones she did have weren't really the type to get invited to some big part or something.
She got out into the living room that connected the kitchen with the rest of the apartement. A corridor led away from the living room, where a door was on each side, leading to a bedroom. Her parents on the right side and hers on the left. Her father was out of the house, he was on a business trip as atraveling agent and her mother and herself were working jobs as a cook and a waitress in different engagements.
She steered towards the kitchen to get her egg sandwich and once again had to think that she was pretty much her mother's spitting image. Medium long brown hair, normal build in height (for a woman), even the face was more or less the same. The only things that were different were that she was missing her mother's beauty spot on the left side of her cheek and the fact that she didn't have her mother's striking green eyes.
No, she had been born with her father steely blue ones. She didn't mind the missing beauty spot, but she would have loved it if she had gotten her mothers vibrant striking green eyes, seeing as green was the rarest eye color on the planet. She walked into the kitchen, only so that her mother could put an already finished sandwich into her hands while running past her.
"Remember to wear a jacket, it's getting colder outside. And don't forget to go to the store in the evening, you know what to buy."
"Got it."
Her mother stopped for a moment, looking like she wanted to say something else, but then shook her head and stormed out the door.
"Love you", Aoi managed to respond before the door was shut. She got back to her room, where she had accidentally forgotten her apartement keys and picked them up while looking for her purse. She found it after looking under her bed (what was it doing down there) and got on her way.
She closed the doors and took the stairs down to the garage to get her bike. She hopped on and started to drive as fast as she could. Her working place was about a ten minute drive away, but she was willing to let her outer appearance get a little bit out of order to make that eight minutes.
She passed a few fellow bikers on her way to work and greeted the occasional passenger.
And then there was the new anomaly that had appeared in her life randomly about a month ago. The ghost of her old neighbor who had recently deceased with a chain growing out of his chest.
Well, it wasn't really the ghost, but more like her ability to see ghosts that had appeared a month ago. Since then, they had popped up randomly in all the places, (never in the ladies room before, but Aoi was sure that was bound to happen at some point) and they simply wouldn't leave her be by asking her questions that ranged from "where's my sock" to "why am I dead" and her usual response was "how am I supposed to friggin' know?"
Luckily, she had been able to ignore the rare ones that showed up during work and was thus able to avoid being labeled crazy. For the moment at least. It wasn't like she was famous for being a weirdo or anything, but it also wasn't really like she was popular by any means. She got to work and used the back door entrance where she encountered the usual dead lady standing in the alley.
"Excuse me miss, could you tell me how I get to the afterlife?"
Aoi took a quick look around to make sure she was alone, before turning to the lady and saying: "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but for the third time this month, I have no idea. Do I look to you like I've done it before?"
"You certainly have the aura of someone who has done it before, although I'm not sure if that was a success."
"And again, for the third time this month, what is that supposed to mean? You keep saying that but I have no idea what-"
Suddenly, the door opened and her boss' face was coming out of it, which made her instantly stiffen up.
"Shichika, what are you doing out here, who are you talking to?", he asked.
"Nobody, just the usual motivation chants before starting another great day of work."
"Don't try to fool yourself girl, this ain't a great day of work, 's just work", he said tired. "Get in already, we need you, you're almost late again."
"But only almost, as always. That means I'm technically still in ti-"
"Don't push it girl, now come in and get to working", he said in a brisk manner.
She stiffened up again and said: "Sir, yes sir, on it sir", she said, ignored the dead lady and got inside.
I'm barely up and crazy stuff is all over the place already.
She went into the privat section for workers to deposit her mantle and purse, went to the kitchen and helped to prepare the machines and counters on the inside the café, when she noticed a little boy eyeing one of the deserts she had just put into the cooled showcase next to the counter.
It was just when she was about to talk to him that she noticed her new favorite thing since last month: a freaking chain growing out of people's chests.
Oh, for crying out loud.
She just turned around and ignored the boy, until she heard him ask: "Do you know where my mommy and daddy are?"
Ah come on, that's just not fair.
When it came to talking to ghosts, she was always torn between two sides.
One side was telling her to help them, talk to them and comfort them. That might have seemed weird, it certainly did to her in the first week, but she had acclimated fast to her strange new life as a secret medium.
The other side was telling her to uphold her image which wasn't really that great in the first place, not talk to them at all and avoid being elevated from a nobody who didn't apply for college to a complete nutjob and possibly losing her employment. It was that cold, calculating side of her, always lingering beneath the surface. She didn't like that part of her at all. What frustrated her most was that she didn't know from whom she had inheritated that part of herself. Or, and that straight up frightened her, it was just something she had developed herself over time and just didn't realize it.
She wanted to ignore that ghost. She really did, but she couldn't, not when confronted with that question. She went around the counter, grabbed a towel and started cleaning the tables in order to put the decour on it.
"Psst, little guy, get over here", she hissed. He turned around and slowly hovered towards her. She carefully avoided any eyecontact and talked only in a muffled voice.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know where your parents are. Go ask somebody else, I'm sure there's someone in this city who can help you."
"Do you know who I need to ask to find them?", he asked hopefully.
She couldn't bear it anymore, checked if there was anyone coming out of the kitchen and looked the kid in the eyes and said with all the compassion she could bring up: "I'm sorry kiddo, I don't. Where ever that person is, I just know you won't find him or her here."
She went back to cleaning the table again and noticed from the edge of her vision how the boy slowly faded away with a sad expression on his face.
She decorated the table and went on to the next one. And so, the day went by, one or two ghosts showed up which Aoi successfully ignored, she met the dead lady in the alley again during one of her breaks, she went back in, had the occasional rude customer and the lovely old lady from across the street who was managing a jewelry store, she was always a generous tipper.
The afternoon was pretty alright, even if that lady in the alley proved to be increasingly persistent. Around seven o'clock she was able to get off work. It had been a normal day so far, or at least what categorized as her new kind of normal.
She wished her fellow co-workers a good night, picked up her things and got ready for an uninterrupted, cozy walk home. And then that boy just had to stand around in the alley at the back of the café where she got out. She got her bike, walked passed him and didn't hear anything what so ever until she was almost out of the street. The sobbing of a lonely little boy who had lost his parents.
She turned around, laughed cynically and said: "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not like that."
She turned around again and faced the street.
"I don't feel guilty. Not at all. No. I'm just gonna go along with my business, go to the store, get some Bacon and other things, go home and be done with this whole day, which is already ten times crazier than it used to be without me talking to myself and me possibly helping a friggin' dead kid find his possibly also dead parents in a completely normal monday to friday town."
She turned around to the kid again.
"Nope, this girl is fresh out of pity. Or shits to give. I don't feel guilty, not at all. I don't feel-"
Disgruntled noises exited her mouth as she tried to wrestle with herself and settle on "I don't feel guilty".
"Fuuuuuuuck me", she said, instantly regretted it and checked the area to see if anybody heard that, which she would have been extremely embarrassed about.
The universe just loves to hate me, doesn't it?
She turned back to the kid and whistled. The kid looked up and after she gave him a meaningful nod he dawned a smile so bright, one might mean the sun had gone up.
While waiting for him, she pulled out her headphones and put the one with speaker function in.
"Alright, this is how it's gonna go. I'm gonna act like I'm talking on the phone the whole time while your with me. When around other people, I will act as if I'm ending the phonecall and from that point on out, you're quiet until we're alone again, understand? I am helping you, as good as I can anyway, but I'd like to still appear as a normal person to the outside world that doesn't talk to ghosts other people can't see, got it?"
"Yup", the kid nodded happily.
She took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she was about to do. It was essentially not that crazy, she was just helping a kid find his parents. It was bat-shit insane though, since that kid was a dead ghost.
When the whole thing had started a month ago, she had been pretty feaked out. She had shut herself in her room all weekend long, since there were ghosts all over the place. Eventually though, she had needed to go outside again to work. The ghosts didn't seem hostile, all they had been doing was talking to her and asking questions about how to pass on and where their relatives were. Some were pretty chill, while others were freaking her out a little.
"Do you know where we could look first?", the kid asked hopefully.
"Yeah, kind of. I… I know a guy. He's been here for some time and he might know something, but it's not a guarantee, so don't get your hopes up."
Aoi started walking in the direction of the more abandoned parts of the city. The kid followed, still with a shining smile.
"Hey, what's your name?", she asked after some time.
"Toko Otoribashi", he answered.
"Alright Toko, I'm Aoi." She thought about how to ask the next question in a sensitive manner, but decided to just go for it, since there was no real talking around it.
"Toko, how did you die?"
He shivered a little and looked like he had touble giving an answer, but eventually said: "I don't… really know. All I remember was that I was walking home with my mommy and daddy and all of a sudden everything went black. The next time I opened my eyes I had this chain coming out of my chest and I saw this weird… monster. It looked horrible, like a giant bat with a skull like mask on its head."
That sounded positively terrifying, but way too strange to be true. Careful not to sound scared, she asked: "How… giant are we talking?"
"Like an elepant?", he answered, not sure if the comparision was accurate.
First dead people and now a giant bat the size of an elephant. That's just great.
She would have loved to just debunk the kid's statement on the spot, but couldn't help that after having gotten the ability to see ghosts, ridiculing one of those ghosts for having seen something like that kinda felt… hypocritical. She had just been introduced to this whole new world and couldn't really act like she understood anything about it, because she really didn't. She was at a complete loss, so assuming the worst was probably the better call here.
"And your parents, do you know if they, uhm, survived?"
"I… I'm not sure. When I woke up, everyone was gone and I had this chain coming out of my chest."
Ok, so no clear status on the parents. But maybe she could get him to tell her a location?
"Do you know where exactly you died? You know somewhere near one of the more recognizable places in the town?"
"I remember walking under a bridge near the river…"
"Ok, that's something. Let's see where it'll get us."
"What do you mean?", he asked a little confused.
"The guy were visiting is, well, like you, but different. See his chain is locked to the building he stays in. He can't really move around that much, but he's been here ever since I was able to see ghosts. Judging by your chain, you didn't die that long ago, so chances are that he may have caught something about it."
Her goal was an empty arcade, inhabited by the lovely but a little cynical old owner that sadly passed away by courtesy of a heart attack. It was somewhere in the northern part of the city, past the Yumisawa park. They arrived at their destination and there was an unsurprising lack of people around. Some time ago, this place would have been practically exploding with humans, but then the arcade was shut down after the owner had died and none of his relatives had wanted to take over the business, so they opted for the easy solution and just got rid of it.
The owner had not been fond of that at all, which is why he somehow bound himself to that place. She had honestly no idea how something like that was possible, but she didn't really wanna know either. They reached the store and it was still just like she remembered. Shut down, old and looking like it had not been taken care of for a while.
The only new addition were the chaines wrapped around the building that came from the most impossible places. She used to come here a lot as a kid and always loved the place. Which was also why it was one of the first spots she chose to hide from the ghosts a month ago and almost got a heart attack when the dead owner had been standing in front of her all of a sudden with a chain coming out of his chest that enwrapped the whole edifice.
"Kanda-san, you home?", she yelled around after casually climbing inside through a broken window.
"Of course I am, where else would I be but here?", a gentle voice answered from the dark. A shape started to form and soon the body of Shiro Kanda completely appeared out of thin air.
"I thought you wanted to try to stay away from spirits and live your life the same as it was before?"
"Still am", she quipped back.
"Ah yes?", he asked and glanced past her towards the boy. "How has that been working out?"
"Pretty mediocre until I realized my heart wasn't made out of stone when I heard him over there cry for his parents", she answered and pointed to Toko over her shoulder.
Kanda's expression became a little more heartfelt and he said: "You always were kind-hearted, no matter how hard you tried not to be."
"I wouldn't go that far, but let's say my stubbornness has its limits." She intended to say that with conviction, but Kanda-san just smiled at her gently. He floated past her and kneeled down in front of the Toko to look him in the eyes. "And how might we help you?", he asked with a comforting voice.
"Like I said he's looking for his parents. I brought him here because I thought you might have a clue or two. Appearantly they died near a river. Do you know something about that?"
Kanda-san was still looking at Toko before he answered with: "Yes, I picked up a Thing or two. Last I heard, two spirits who have recently deceased were seen around an abandoned compound in the western part of Karakura town."
Abandoned. Like ghost houses. Great.
"Do you know anything else?", she asked.
"No, I'm afraid that's all I can give you."
"Alright, thank you, Kanda-san." She walked past him towards the broken window and gave Toko a nod to follow her. "I'll bring some flowers the next time I come by here."
"Aoi", the owner said and suddenly stared at her with an intensity she had rarely seen him display, alive or dead. "Be careful. I have no idea what is going to await you there."
"Yeah sure", she replied a little unsettled. "I'll keep that in mind."
ooo
Aoi had to think about Kanda-san's warning the entire walk to the western part of the town. There had been something in his eyes, as if he had a vague idea what to expect, but wasn't sure if he was right, or maybe worse; he was hoping that he was wrong. It worried her. A lot. There were tons of things she didn't know about this whole new world (that she was still planning on ignoring as much as possible).
For example: the chains she had seen coming out of every ghosts chest had all heavily varried in length. Where they some kind of a time limit for them to stay in the mortal world and when they were gone, would the ghosts just pass on automatically?
Or were they an actual time limit for ghosts to move on and when time was up, they would forever be trapped with the living without ever finding peace? Or would something even worse happen, when the chain was gone, they'd die again (just phrasing it that way was already weird) and would just be gone this time?
And what was that thing that happened with the chain of the old arcade store owner? Questions over questions she had tried to suppress in the past month in order to distance herself as much as possible from everything spirit-related started to surface again and got her gears grinding.
They were walking for a good 15 minutes, when a young man in white garments with shoulder long hair and a pair of glasses crossed the streets behind her. Nothing suspicious, he kept his distance and just walked behind them. They took a few turns and Aoi glanced over her shoulder to check if he was still behind them.
He was. It wasn't all that late, around half past seven, and it was possible he was heading towards the same area Aoi was. But something was fishy, something felt just not… right. She couldn't help but get the suspicion that he was following them.
She took a few unnecessary turns to confirm her theory and low and behold, he was still following them. After the next turn to the right she walked a good distance before turning around on the spot and waiting for him. He came around the corner and was only mildly surprised to see her standing there.
She had been visiting the local self-defense club for a few years and knew how to take care of herself to a certain extent, but assuming that that person was trying to attempt what she thought he was trying to attempt, still unsettled her a bit. She crossed her arms to boost her confidence a bit and let out: "Can I help you mister? Are you lost and maybe need directions and are too shy to ask?"
Suddenly, he did something. It was very subtle and easy to miss, but for a moment, she could have sworn he glanced at her right side where the boy was standing. Then he fixed his glasses so that they in some strange way reflected the light from the setting sun (how the hell did people with glasses do that?).
Then he calmly answered: "Aren't you the neighbor of the retired doctor Shizuma?"
"I might", she answered suspiciously.
"I'm a medicine student and she recently helped me with an essay. I just wanted to bring her a little something as a token of my gratitude. She always wanted to meet somewhere to talk about and give me advice on my paper, so I don't know where she lives. She's mentioned you during a few of our tea breaks and when I saw you I thought you may be on your way home. So I followed you in order to surprise her, otherwise I would have had to call her and thereby announcing my arrival."
His eyes became visible again behind the reflecting glasses and she noticed again how he was looking directly at the boy at her side.
His story seemed alright; Shizuma-baba was pretty talkative once tea was involved.
"Ok, I believe you. I'm not on my way home though. If you wanna get there you gotta…" She explained the way to her apartement building and he calmly listened. During the whole conversation, his focus had been on her, but when she finished, his eyes moved to her right again, not for long, only the blink of an eye, but enough.
"I'm sorry, why do you keep glancing past me? Do you see something there?"
He looked her in the eyes for a few moments and then said: "I have no idea what you might be talking about. Thank you for the directions though. Have a good night."
"Yeah, you too", she responded a little puzzled.
Weird guy.
They went down the streets and after some time arrived at the sections with empty houses in the city. She searched a few of the houses by going around them and looking through the windows, while Toko got inside them to take a closer look (Ghosts were able to go through walls appearantly. Didn't seem that far-fetched in retrospect, but still).
It was around the time when they got to search a warehouse that Aoi got a really uncomfortable feeling.
"Do you hear that?", Toko asked and walked towards the warehouse, probably numb to the sickening feeling that Aoi was experiencing at the moment.
"Toko don't get too close to that, we have no idea what's in there."
"But I hear them calling", he said in a strange kind of trance. "They're calling out for me… I have to go to them."
"What are you talking about, there is nothing-"
She shut herself up and closed her eyes. Maybe there was something maybe she just didn't listen enough. She listened closely, focused aaaaand…
And against all odds heard something. It was faint. Quiet. Almost akin to a whisper, but it was there. It sounded… comforting. Soothing. As if a mother told her child that everything was alright. But there was something more to it than that, something
lingering under the surface.
It felt… incredibly rotten and wrong. Like a predator, something that was just waiting patiently until it could finally… feast.
The boy was now almost at the entrance of the warehouse, taking slow steps towards it.
"Toko get back here, it's a trap", she called out. He slowly turned around to her, but something was severly off. His eyes were mat, lacking any kind of life they previously had captivated and with an emotionless voice he said: "But they are calling…"
The boy didn't listen and slowly turned back to the warehouse. One more step and he'd be inside it. One more step and something terrible would happen. Just one more step…
She had to do something. Something, anything, as long as it would prevent him from stepping into that building. She wanted to run towards the entrance, grab the boy, turn around and run. Before she could even move a muscle, something flashed up from the inside that instantly froze her to the bone. It looked like a giant set of eyes, hovering in the air.
The boy took another step and was now almost past the entrance. And then she knew. She knew that, whatever she would do now, the boy was lost to the thing inside. He'd be killed again any second now and she just stood there.
Suddenly, a white flash raced past the entrance, shortly followed by a giant claw from inside the building tearing down the doors and revealing what was hiding in the warehouse.
A gigantic bat with a skull as it's head and two people casually standing on each side of it.
"You dare steal my prey?", the bat hissed towards the white flash.
"I'm not stealing anything. If at all, you are." The confident voice of the man from earlier resounded from right next to Aoi. He was holding Toko under one arm in in the other he was holding- was that a freaking lightsaber from Star Wars? He put the boy on his feet, who seemed to have snapped out of his trance, kneeled down to look him in the eyes on an even level and said: "Don't worry, this will all be over in an instant. You just stay put, I will take care of that big scary monster real quick, alright?"
He gave him a wink, got up and turned towards the giant bat. Without a word, he started walking towards it. The monster hissed and fell back as much as possible, while the kid's parents were still just standing around and doing nothing.
"Don't you dare come any closer Quincy scum, or I swear I will-"
"Or you swear you will what?", he interrupted him while raising his lightsaber. "Kill me? I'd love to see you try, besides that seems like a very odd threat, given the fact that you just backed away from me. Oh, let me guess; you'll attack the parents of the little boy over there? Trust me, before you can even so much as lay a finger on them I'll have shaved your entire body and suffocated you with the fur."
The one-liner was kind of awkward, but the man's smile was confident. Aoi couldn't help but get the feeling that he was trying really hard to be cool.
"Oh you see", the bat cackled. "I don't need to touch them."
The Quincy suddenly hesitated. "Well great, good to see that we agree on that-"
"Because I already have."
Suddenly, the parents started to move. Very slowly, with sudden and aprupt movements, which were as creepy as they were unnatural. Then, they both looked at the boy simultaneously and said: "Come to mommy and daddy my little boy."
They took a few steps further.
"Come to us", they said.
Toko fell on his back, shivering and his eyes filled with fear. "No", he answered with a shaky voice.
"Come to us", they said again, this time more forceful.
"No, I don't wanna. You're not my mommy and daddy", the boy answered a bit more assured this time.
The parent's voices started to sound otherworldly all of a sudden, encompanied by something that could only be described as an echo.
"COME TO US!", they screamed. Their images started to fall apart, holes were forming in their chests, followed by them vomiting a white substance that formed into masks while they were growing and turning into monstrosities.
The father turned into a big ape while the mother turned into a hideous snake. They now stormed towards the boy with unbelievable speed, calling out for him in their distorted voices.
They didn't come far though, as they were stopped by several projectiles made of blue energy.
"No-", the bat screamed and looked like it was trying to attempt something before three of the projectiles hit its head. All live seemed to leave its body as it fell on the ground.
Aoi looked to where the man was standing, who was now holding something that looked like a cross made of the same blue energy as the projectiles. The energycross dissolved and the man turned around to walk towards the boy, who was still lying on the ground and understandably scared.
He kneeled down in front of him again to look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry that you had to see that, kid. But your mommy and daddy they… they became evil spirits. They were corrupted by the evil batmonster, it wasn't their fault. But if I wouldn't have stopped them, they would have killed thousands of other people. Do you think they would have wanted that?"
His voice was comforting and compassionate and Aoi could tell that he really meant what he said. Toko appearantly did too, even if he was crying. He nodded and reached out for the hand that the man was presenting to him.
"You're very strong, do you know that?", he asked. He tried to cheer the boy up, though only to expected moderate success.
"You should try to move on to the afterlife", he then suggested to the boy.
"How do I do that?", the boy snieved and looked up to the man.
"Try to make piece with what happened", he answered. "Try to accept all of this, and find some sort of inner peace. I don't really know how it works, I've never done it before. If you should have trouble with that though, there is a man in this town who could help you with that. His name is Ichigo Kurosaki. He's not really someone you can overlook even if you'd try. Go search for the Kurosaki clinic and find the boy with bright orange hair. If you explain the situation, he will help you."
The boy nodded and then said: "Thank you. Thank you both." Then he dawned a sad smile and turned invisible.
Aoi waited until he was completely gone, then she walked up to the man, pointed at him angrily and said: "You. Explain."
"Explain what exactly?", he retorted in a polite fashion.
"Everything. Every. Thing. What were those monsters? How did you kill them? What was that cross thing you had in your hand about a second ago and was that other thing a freakin' lightsaber from Star Wars?"
She realized she was getting a bit hysterical, but given the circumstances, she thought that was kind of justified.
"Do you want the short version or the long version?"
"I want the explained version."
"Very well. The things you just saw are so called Hollows, ghosts that have either wandered the earth for too long or were corrupted by other Hollows. You might have heard the bat-like Hollow calling me a Quincy and that is precisely how I killed it, with the abilities that come with being a Quincy. The cross thing in my hand is actually something called Heilig Bogen, or just holy bow for you. The other thing I had in my hand is not really like the lightsabers from Star Wars. Well, it may look that way but it certainly works very differently."
"Okay but… how did you find us? Have you been following us around the entire time? Who even are you?"
"Ah yes, how rude of me, I haven't even properly introduced myself. My name is Ishida Uryu, pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Aoi Shichika, likewise. Now, how did you find us?"
"I never actually left. To be honest, I must admit that the whole story with thanking Shizuma-sensei was somewhat of a half-truth. She did help me with a medicine project of mine, but I have already expressed my gratitude towards her. I just so happened to see you when I was on the way out around that evening, I assume you work some late shifts from time to time?"
"Some of us have to do more to get by than others, but you're strolling away from the subject."
"Ah yes, apologies. Like I said, I never actually left and followed you and the boy because I had a suspicion that his parents may have already turned. And sadly, I was right."
"Alright that explains… mostly everything I wanna know. Do you know if these things turn up often around here?"
"Rarely as of late, but every so often an incident does occur."
She hesitated, partially insecure if she'd even want to know much less do what she was gonna ask next, since it was contradictory to what she actually wanted to accomplish: staying the hell away from that new world, but still, she had to ask.
"Those Quincy powers of yours… is it possible to learn that? I mean, is it some kind of religion, or secret society that one has to enter?"
"Some of that last part yes, but no, you cannot learn what I can do. Being a Quincy is a family thing, powers received through the bloodlines and not some kind of cult if that's what you think."
"Hey no problem, I was just curious. I want to stay the hell away from this stuff anyway. I kind of have to go though, I'm running late, so see ya. And thank you for saving me", she said but already turned around to get on her bike and drive away.
"I said you cannot learn what I can, I didn't say it's impossible for you to learn anything at all."
She stopped and turned back towards him. "You could be able to develop some unique power, if you have what I think you have. Does your mother still live?"
"Yeah, why?", she asked puzzled.
"Ask her if anything strange happened during her pregnancy, a kind of unexplainable incident or accident she was involved in. If that's the case, look for either a man named Sado Yasutora or a girl called Riruka Dokugamine. They can teach you how to use your power, if that is what you wish."
She thought about it for a moment, but immediately dismissed the idea.
"Thanks for the generosity, but I'd rather like the things to stay the way they are. Like I said, I only asked out of curiousity. Have a nice night." And with those word she turned around again and started driving away.
"Yes, you too", Ishida called after her.
She drove a few minutes and then remembered that she had actually planned to go to the store. Shit. She took a look at her wrist watch and hoped she would make it in time. It was only a few blocks away, she could make it.
She drove as fast as she could. Only a few more corners. Only two more. Only one… She arrived just in time to see them hang the "closed" sign at the entrance door.
She drove up to it, and knocked at the glass, gaining the attention of the store keeper.
"Please sir, I just need a few minutes, that's all."
He pointed at the sign and said: "We're closed, come back tomorrow."
She grunted and turned around, grabbed her bike and got on her way home. This had been the weirdest and most disturbing day of her life and it was throwing a lot at her. First it had just been ghosts, which had been kind of acceptable, if a little unsettling.
Now it was evil ghost monsters that could corrupt normal ghosts to turn into freaky, weird, freaky evil ghost monsters that left a pretty haunting impression. And then there was the sort of… ghost hunter (he certainly wasn't a ghostbuster, although he seemed ridiculous enough). The ghosthunter with the lightsaber.
She just shook her head.
She needed to get some fucking sleep. Luckily, she was about to get it, as the apartement building she called her home came in sight. She put her bike back into the storage room, walked up the stairs, got inside her apartement, saw that her mother had already gotten home and probably fallen asleep, brushed her teeth, took off her clothes and shot them somewhere in a corner and then collapsed onto her bed, hoping she would wake up the next morning and remembering all of this as nothing more than a bad dream.
Author's notes:
So, do you guys remember how I once said I'll keep a regular update schedule? (Laughs nervously) yeah, me neither. It's just that my life has been picking up speed again with work, relationships and other things I had to do. Don't worry though, I will continue this story, that's just a fact. Even if the updates will get rather... irregular like this one now. On the plus side, the chapters keep getting longer and I actually keep getting better with writing them. I once told you that I write 3 chapters in advance if any of ya'll remember that and I'm done with chapter 19 now. So far I gotta say I'm pretty statisfied as to how it turned out. But that's just some explanatory side talk, so let's get on to the actual notes.
So this chapter introduces a new character, Aoi Shichika. And I gotta tell you guys, writing for Aoi is so. Much. Fun. She's the typical protagonist type in a shounen anime(normal everyday person suddenly gets super powers and gets thrown into a completely unknown world, that kinda thing). Not only that, but by witnessing the story through her eyes we can once again experience and appreciate just how ri-goddamn-diculous Bleach actually is. It also gives me as writer the opportunity to make a little fun of the world of Bleach and I love that. Don't misunderstand me, I love Bleach just as much as the next guy, hence why I'm putting so much effort into this fanfiction. Seriously, you people have no idea with how much love I am behind it (okay maybe you do, who am I to assume, don't at me). But let's be real here: Bleach can get pretty goofy at times. And that is perfectly ok, but like, come on guys. This ain't an opportunity I can just pass up.
I also really like Aoi as a character. From just this one chapter it's impossible for you to get just why I like her character so much, but we'll get to that in a few chapters (or more, not sure yet).
Then there's Ishida. It's actually stated in the official Bleach wikia that he's always trying way too hard to be and look cool. Like, he doesn't actually need his cape, but he wears it anyway, because he thinks he looks cool with it. That's why, if any of you felt like the one-liner I gave him was kinda weird, that was completely intentional. Now; Ishida has never really been known to be the sympathetic type, but just like with Renji, I imagined he as a person must have grown quite a bit since the Thousand-year-blood-war, so there's that.
Now for the reason why this chapter hasn't been updated a few days earlier as it was supposed to: I didn't really get around to finish writing chapter 19 until today and there's one simple explanation for that. An anime/manga known by the name "The promised Neverland". Guys, this show is so good, I'm telling you if you haven't gotten around to watching it, please do yourself the favor and watch it.
I watched the first 12 existing episodes (which cover up to 34 chapters of the actual manga) and because I was so damn curious to find out what happens next, I read the rest. And there's a total of about 150 chapters online, so, go figure. The good news for the people who actually enjoy this passion-project of mine, I've read all of those chapters, so I can now focus my attention on writing again.
Last but not least, a big thank you to all of you who keep waiting for and reading this story, I really appreciate it. And as usual:
If you`ve got your own opinion or ideas, PM me, or, better yet, review the story. I`ll always welcome constructive criticism.
(Go watch "The promised Neverland" though, ya'll deserve some good anime.)