The mission that was handed out to the 3 girls was given out to someone else after a strange turn of events. Tori had gotten sick from eating way too many watermelons, and had an overdose of drinking sake. Mika could be found nowhere and Rina was just too tired to fight. Tori was in 4th Division's care, they were wondering how she had managed to get that sick. So they started interrogating her two friends, Mika started playing 20 questions with them, Rina just asked 'what did you expect?' to them. The girls were no help to them at all whatsoever. 4th Division really had no choice but to wait for her to wake up. The girls walked back saying stuff about 'interrogating was troublesome' 'a waste of time' and such. They walked out to Rukongai to train for awhile. It was getting late, so decided to head back but something blocked them. A hollow, it was huge compared to most, it was nowhere near a Menos' level though.

"Hibana!" Rina shouted out.

"Barricade!" Mika shouted out as well.

In an instant, their zanpakutou's changed form. Hanabi was a blade engulfed in black flames with a tint of reddish orange. Bakufu became a solid ice shard. It shot out spears of ice at the hollow. None of the attacks worked on the hollow. The hollow that looked like a lizard/bird/dragon hybrid, swung its tail which whipped the girls back into a boulder. The impact was hard, but it was way too weak to stop a hyper-active girl that had been trained under Zaraki-taichou one time. She charged in once more, and slashed off an arm at an amazing speed.

"Looks like someone's happy" Rina remarked.

"Well duh! How long has it been since I've fought?"

"Excluding that pillow fight you had with Ren-Ren about 4 months."

"How bout we burn out its eyes?" Mika suggested.

Hanabi shot out a ray of lava into the air. Mika then cooled it down from the cold water her Bakufu shot out. It created steam. The steam was harmful enough to damage its eyesight. It started to stumble a bit from its blindness. Both females threw their zanpakutou's at the hollow; both were wedged into the mask. Having a burning hot item thrown to you in the face was painful as well as a freezing cold object. It howled in agony swinging its tail destroying nearby trees and boulders. All of the sudden it spit out acid.

"ACID?!" Mika shrieked.

They never expected acid from a hollow.

"We have to finish this quick!" Rina said while dodging the acid.

"HEKI!" Both girls yelled the two zanpakutou's blades exploded creating multiple chain reactions of explosions through out the hollow. The hollow was soon purified, and disappeared. The handles of the zanpakutou's fell back down to the girls, the blades soon reappeared. Their wounds weren't serious but they knew they were going to pay a visit to Unohana.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU GUYS WERE JUST TRAINING?!" A very surprised Tori yelled at them.

"You seem quite lively despite the fact that you just had a case of food poisoning AND you claimed that you couldn't do any work at all!" Rina retorted.

"But just look at you guys!!! Mika can barely stand, you guys are covered in your own blood, it looks like you guys got burned by acid and I can SO tell that your zanpakutou's used the special effect that EVERYONE told us not to use!!!!" She said in one breath, scolding her friends.

"What are you talking about I can stand!!" Mika argued she released her grip on Rina and nearly fell over immediately.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU GUYS???!!!!!" Renji asked shocked at the mess before him.

'Oh god!!!' Rina thought to herself.

"Hiya!!" Mika waved to him innocently, Renji punched her on the head

"Ow…Ren-Ren that hurt!!!" she whined.

"I'm sure that didn't hurt as much as what had happened to you guys!!!" He stated.

"We were just training, we're just here for check-up that's all; don't need to get so worked up about it!" Rina said quickly under her breath.

"Okay! Spill it! What did happen?!!" He asked, not leaving until he got an answer.

"…we met…"

"Yeah…" Renji was close on the words not missing any detail Rina was going to say.

"…the…" he nodded anxious for the answer, Tori and Mika were also waiting patiently for what their friend was going to say.

"…MUFFIN MAN!" Rina suddenly exclaimed.

"WHAT?!" Renji yelled not believing a single word. Tori and Mika suddenly broke out into the song.

"…Do you know the muffin man—"

"SHUT UP!!!!" he yelled at them.

"What's going on here?" Hitsugaya asked, all the noise had made him leave his division and investigate—yes it was that loud.

"Oh me and Rina just met the muffin man but Ren-Ren won't believe us!" Mika explained. Hitsugaya looked at them like they were idiots, which was 99.9 percent correct.

"The…Muffin Man…" He repeated giving them a hard, serious stare.

"YUP!"

Both men looked at each other, shook their heads in disbelief and continued to interrogate. Unfortunately for them they asked one little question which they got a 10 page essay long answer.

"…Which is why they came back like that" Tori finished.

"Wow that had to be the smartest thing you've probably ever said in your whole life." Rina should not have said that, Tori pounced on her friend which caused her to fall to the ground. It was 9 PM and Renji and Toshiro still hadn't gotten an answer.

"Renji, you should be finishing all those 3-week overdue reports" Byakuya suddenly appeared behind him.

"U-uh…right! But first, do you think that these girls met the muffin man?" he asked his superior. Yachiru suddenly popped up from nowhere.

"You guys met the muffin man?!" Yachiru asked excitedly.

"YEAH! But you know what?!" Mika asked her with the same amount of energy Yachiru had.

"WHAT?!"

"He…didn't have any muffins with him." Mika said.

"NO!" Yachiru cried out in disbelief.

"What did happen to you?" Byakuya asked Rina who was still on the ground, her friend was sitting on her back.

"Didn't you hear? We met the muffin man" she replied sarcastically. The girls obviously did not want to tell them about their hollow encounter. After 4 games of 20 questions, the men gave up and left. Unohana treated them shortly not asking any questions at all.

Renji did not like to lose at all so the next day when he saw Mika, he immediately asked her once more. Mika didn't like to lose at all either so all she did was copy he words. This annoyed Renji a lot.

"Why are you copying me?!"

"Why are you copying me?!" She asked smiling.

"GRR…"

"GRR…" Renji suddenly got an idea.

"Renji is the smartest, strongest, best-looking man ever!"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!!" Mika shouted.

"HA YOU STOPPED!!!!...WAIT! GET BACK HERE YOU!!!" he started chasing her all over Seireitei realizing his stupidity.

---

"What happened last night?" Ukitake asked Rina; he had heard about the girls' reappearance as if they were the living dead.

"Nothing" she simply answered and kept on working. He took all of her work away from her.

"You're not going to work at all until I get an answer from you!"

"Really?" she asked with a hint of concern.

"Yes, now—"

"DOUMO ARIGATOU TAICHOU!! HONTOU NI ARIGATOU!!!" She thanked her captain and rushed home to get some actual rest.

"What? A-a…bbbut!! GAH!" He realized what he had just done, he gave himself work to do for the whole day. There was really no point to ask Tori, she herself didn't know the truth.

---

Yamamoto Genryuusai-Shigekuni got himself involved later on. If the girls wouldn't tell anybody, they would have no choice but to confess to him. Several shinigami that really wanted to know showed up in 1st Division's office to hear the truth.

"Ok girls what happened? You won't tell anybody so I suppose it's something serious" His logic seemed well, logical.

"DOESN'T ANYBODY BELIEVE IN THE MUFFIN MAN?!!" Mika yelled out.

"Guess not…" Rina said she wasn't really paying attention; she was reading manga, while her friend doodled in marker on the floor. Yamamoto's eye twitched at what the two were doing.

"It's common courtesy to look at the person speaking you know" he told the girls who weren't listening.

"Yeah, well…this guy in the manga is talking right now and I'm looking at him so there!" Rina proved her point and continued reading.

"Yeah…and I don't like looking at old people talk, it's always about their childhood or some exaggerated war story." Mika added. He continued on, ignoring what the two had just said. After 10 troublesome minutes later the answer wasn't revealed. All the girls had done was agree with everything he had said.

"Are you listening?"

"Uh-huh"

"Are you lying?"

"Yup"

"Are you ever going to tell me and everyone else what happened?"

"Sure"

"Then what is the reason?"

"Yeah sure whatever…"

"…"

"…Sorry you say something?" Mika and Rina asked in unison, they had snapped out of their trance.

"…What is the reason for your injuries?" he asked once more.

"…I thought we already told you" Mika said slightly confused.

"…What was the reason that you had to use that technique?"

"Oh…its cuz a hollow would've killed us if we didn't…"

"A hollow? You have fought many hollows before and you've never had to use that technique, why now of all times?"

"It was big, it was ugly, it looked like a clown—"

"I can understand why Rina would've used it" he interrupted, earning himself a glare from the female. True she had a phobia of clowns—that would explain why she would always stay away from Mayuri; but she didn't like it when someone mentioned it.

"…anyways…it was a lizard/bird/dragon hybrid, it had a long tail, it spit acid, it was noisy…" The list got even longer and longer.

"If it was a hollow then why didn't you say so?" he asked.

"We thought you were smart enough to tell what hollow attack's injuries looked like. You guys can't be that dense." Rina answered.

"I'm hungry, I wanna cookie!" Mika said suddenly.

"Let's get your cookie then" Rina sighed, the two left the room.

---

"Ya know I'm not quite sure why you're afraid of clowns…" Mika said once they were back in their apartment.

"You really don't want me to explain." She said quickly.

"…I guess, after all you'd probably give me this really long explanation with a lot of big words…"

"HUWOZ!!! BEEN A WHILE!!" Tori was on the couch snacking on sugary goodness. Mika joined in immediately.

"By the way I heard of this festival that's coming up this spring!!!"

"Oh the Sakura Matsuri?"

"YUP!! HOW 'BOUT WE ALL GO AND SPEND TONS OF MONEY ON FOOD, CANDY GAMES AND STUFF?!" she suggested.

"I'm right here you don't have to yell!!" Mika yelled back, she was near-deaf from her friend that had forgotten about her.

"…Well you guys can go, I'm not into that kind of stuff…" Rina told them shrugging the subject off.

"WHAT?!!! COME ON!!! WE'LL INVITE BYAKUYA TOO!!!" Mika yelled.

"I'm right here, you don't have to yell!!!" Tori repeated what her friend had said before. The suggestion was probably something they shouldn't have said…

"We're just comrades nothing more!" She said slowly so that they would understand.

"Aww…come on!!! PLEASE!!!!" Tori begged she gave her 'the face'. She knew that her friend had a BIG weakness for small and cute things.

'Oh…why did she have to use 'the face'??'

"Oh…okay…" She sighed giving in to their offer.

"YAHOO!!!" Tori screamed in delight.

"What?!" Mika yelled she was temporarily deaf from all the noise.

---

"Hey I have a question" Yachiru asked Rina, they were on the rooftops at the middle of the night.

"What is it?"

"Why are you scared of clowns?" She cringed, the one thing she hated the most, talking about her fears.

"Well, they have scary faces, they're actually sad even if their make up says their happy, they always have pie, the big red nose, the hair, the baggy clothing and big shoes…" Yachiru listened intently.

"…Why do you want to know?"

"Oh…I just wanted to tell clown-taichou he's scaring you" Yachiru said with a smile.

"Uh-huh…"

"Well I better go, Ken-chan's gonna wonder where I am"

"That guy cares about people?" She asked

"Yea…he's a strong guy on the outside, but he's a pansy on the inside, bye Rina!" She jumped of the roof, and went back to her division.

'Zaraki, a pansy? Nah!'

Being an insomniac had a good side and a bad side, she couldn't sleep like her friends, but she could see the beauty of the night sky.

"IT'S MINE!!!"

"HAND IT OVER IT'S MINE! I CALLED DIBS!"

"NO!!!!!" Mika and Tori were arguing about something.

"What is it now?" Rina asked tiredly.

"IT'S THE APOCALYPSE!!!"

"WHAT?!"

"THERE'S ONLY…ONE…………DONUT LEFT!!!" The sound of doom rang out in the background when she said that.

"Hey, how'd you do that?" Tori asked Mika how the sound effect had kicked in.

"I dunno…but who cares!"

"Why don't you split the donut instead?" Rina suggested. "Or go buy more?"

Tori split the donut with her zanpakutou, which sawed the table in half and devoured her half in one bite.

"YUM! I'M GONNA SEE SNOWFLAKE NOW! HE HAS WATERMELONS WITH HIM I KNOW IT!! AND MATSUMOTO HAS SAKE!!!" She cheered as she rushed out to 10th division, still in PJ's and rabbit slippers.

"I'll follow her so she doesn't get sick again!" Mika volunteered. She didn't open the door but smashed right through it, running down the hallway following Tori. She was in her duckie PJ's and wearing her moose slippers.

"Oh god…" Rina sighed to herself; they couldn't do a lot of damage—could they?

---

"YEAH!!! MORE WATERMELONS!!!"

Hitsugaya couldn't complain, he loved watermelons. Mika and Tori were just the same. Matsumoto came in later with sake and more watermelons. Hitsugaya didn't kick her out for bringing in sake since she had watermelons (like the actual fruit, not... yeah...) too. Hisagi and Kira, her drinking buddies came in too. Everybody started drinking and was drunk in 20 minutes. They were clearly drunk and started playing volleyball with a whole watermelon. How it didn't split was and is, still a mystery. The group was lucky nobody came in to see what they were doing. Well Hitsugaya wasn't playing, he was taking a little nap on the couch and he looked oh-so-cute!

"Awww… KAWAII!!!" Tori exclaimed then glomped Hitsugaya who didn't wake.

"OH MY GOD HE'S DEAD!" a drunken Matsumoto cried out. Everybody panicked and ran out screaming about a dead captain. He awoke minutes later to see his division messed up, and he was all alone.

"Need a hug?" Tori asked, she came back later and saw him quite distraught. He nodded and Tori tackled him sending him to the ground. She saw a jug of sake, and chugged the whole thing. She passed out soon after, sleeping on Hitsugaya's back, he didn't mind he was tired too.

---

Mika was running away from 10th Division. She stopped thinking to herself 'where am I going?' While she was pondering she bumped into Renji.

"What the--?" he turned around and saw his stalker. "Man you're a true stalker…" he said to himself.

"Hiya! Ren-Ren!" Renji still twitched at the name, he was getting used to it…slowly.

"Whaddya want today?"

"I dunno!" she was playing another game with him, he knew it. She suddenly punched him in the arm.

"OWW!!!"

"TAG YOU'RE IT!!!" She shunpoed off. Renji who so wanted revenge chased after her. After they punched each other multiple times they called the game off, because they couldn't feel anything in their arms. They were in Rukongai—yes the game went very far. They were resting underneath a sakura tree poking each other. They couldn't feel their arms but decided to poke each other.

---

Someone was pounding at the door of the apartment. Rina grumbled, she was able to get rest for awhile but then someone had to disturb her. She opened the door nearly hitting whoever it was with a frying pan, but a hand grabbed her wrist before she was able to.

"Oh…hi Kuchiki-taichou" He let go of her arm, the pan was inches away from his head. "Whaddya want?" she sighed.

"I have a feeling that you know where my lieutenant is"

"What makes you think that?"

"I heard he was having a game of tag with your friend."

"Oh…you mean, 'Torture Tag'?" 'Torture Tag' was the game of tag Mika and Renji just had. It involved a lot of pain.

"Well, they're probably in Rukongai. The game does have no bounds." She guessed that would be where'd they be, she wasn't quite sure though, so she and Byakuya went off on their own to find the duo.

---

The duo were still poking each other.

"Why are we poking each other?" Renji thought out loud.

"Cuz…we just are!" she continued poking.

"My finger's getting sore" he whined.

"Same here." They kept poking each other.

"I can't stop!" Mika said getting quite scared.

"It's the CURSE of the… 'Pokey-Poke'" Renji said.

"…the Pokey-Poke?"

"Yeah…"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed.

"I'M RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW!!!!"