Tanaka Shiomi knew what to expect on a typical school day. After a smelly bus ride to Karakura Town, she would walk two blocks to the high school building. Upon entering, Shiomi would walk down one hallway, turn right, then walk down another until she reached the third room on the left-her classroom. In this room she would find several cliques of people conversing in groups-there was a group of devil-may-care boys, a group of girls who wore too much makeup, and the loud group. Of this group, everyone at Karakura High School took notice.
It was the most unusual clique at the school, as a co-ed mixture of varying personalities where the sweet and innocent Inoue Orihime and Ogawa Michiru contrasted the loud-mothed and vulgar Asano Keigo and Honsho Chizuru. The most outstanding of the group, however, was a tall, lithe male with unusually colored hair, who, at this time, casually chatted with Sado Yasutora, a buff latino male.
No one seemed to mind the volume of said group, however, as it contained some of the most respected students in the high school, including Ishida Uryu, the current top student in the class.
Whatever this group could do together in such a large huddle boggled Shiomi. She figured that they could rule the town with such intimidating members.
Shiomi must have stared at said group for too long, as one loud-mouthed member vivaciously ran over to her desk.
"Good mooooooooorning, Tanaka!" Keigo shouted, ridding Shiomi of any drowsiness she may have felt after an eventful evening.
"Hello, Asano-san. You're doing well, I see..." Shiomi casually responded in a much lower volume. This was her subtle way of trying to make Keigo's volume decrease.
"Did you have a nice weekend?"
Shiomi looked down, remembering the attack of the pale-faced monster and the handsome stranger who rescued her. Without giving too much away, Shiomi replied, "I guess. It was... unusual."
Keigo noticed the drop in Shiomi's enthusiasm when she spoke. "What happened? Did your dog die or something?"
Shiomi shook her head. "I've never had a dog."
Keigo grabbed the sides of his face and fell dramatically to the floor shouting, "Poor Tanaka...!"
While Keigo was busy with the theatrics, one friend, Kojima Mizuiro, approached the two. "Good morning, Tanaka."
Shiomi smiled. "Hello, Kojima-san."
Mizuiro quickly noticed Keigo when the man started clinging to the boy's leg. "What's wrong with you?"
Keigo could do nothing but mutter, "Never... never... doggie..."
As Mizuiro tried to pry Keigo off of his leg, one girl from the make-up group named Asumi shouted to Shiomi from across the room. "Hey, Tanaka! What happened in Naruki last night? The news said that there was some kind of accident."
Shiomi knew exactly what accident she was referring to. The black beast that had attacked her last night anonymously made headlines that read, "GIANT TRUCK PUMMELS NEIGHBORHOOD." After being healed, she noticed the destruction the creature had left in its wake. Most of the street lamps were thrown askew and some windows were smashed. If she hadn't witnessed the monster's terror firsthand, Shiomi probably would have believed that a truck did the damage.
"I'm not sure, really. I think I slept through it," Shiomi replied to Asumi's question.
Asumi wasn't satisfied, however, as she inquired further. "Well, what'd it look like? Was anybody hurt?"
Shiomi wondered if she should divulge all of the details, then decided that a gossip like Asumi wasn't the best person to expose them to, especially when every student in the class was listening to their conversation.
"No, no one was hurt, but a bunch of street lamps were ripped out of the sidewalks. Some windows were smashed, too, but it wasn't in my neighborhood, so I don't know everything."
Asumi shrugged, realizing that she probably wouldn't get any juicy details out of Shiomi.
After satisfying Asumi, the classroom teacher walked in with a loud yell of, "Good morning, class! I've prepared a very boring lesson today, so get ready to fall asleep!"
Shiomi sighed, already accustomed to this teacher's unusual methods. Sitting in the second seat of the window row had its benefits-she could pretend to pay attention and observe outdoor scenery, including the gorgeous soccer field.
What Shiomi couldn't see, however, was a certain orange-haired boy staring at her from two rows back, wondering how much she truly knew about the Naruki "truck accident."
Shuhei Hisagi knew what to expect of a typical other-worldly mission. After locating the disruptive phenomenon, he would quickly dispose of it. And that would be that.
But for some strange reason, Hisagi felt that this easy mission would impact him in unprecedented ways. He considered regrouping with Ichigo, should his feeling develop into unpredicted difficulty. After all, a shinigami as skilled as Hisagi knew better than to ignore a feeling such as this.
In spite of this, Hisagi opted to spend the day scoping out Naruki, the location of the predicted hollow gathering. From a few moments of searching, he could already tell that this area was fairly residential. Several condominiums lined the blocks, most likely belonging to single business men and women. The train in the middle of town seemed to be a fairly popular route of transportation, as Hisagi observed that many humans clogged the terminals in the early hours of the morning.
The subway line was approximately five blocks away from the train station, and seemed to be less popular. Younger humans, most likely attending college or high school, seemed to prefer this route.
During these observations, Hisagi praised himself for briefly studying human culture prior to this mission. Otherwise, many of the selandmarks would appear even more foreign.
There was another mode of transportation that caught Hisagi's attention. A large public bus stopped in front of a pale blue building that appeared to sell commonplace items, such as food and toiletries. While this intrigued him, the familiar young woman who approached the vehicle intrigued him even more.
Hisagi recognized the big brown eyes and complimentary brown hair, which flowed all the way down to the girl's shoulders. He watched as her small hand gripped the bar in the bus to pull her figure inside. She nodded and smiled at the bus driver, handing him some change. Her toned, tan legs led her to a seat on the left side of the bus as she placed her purple bag next to her. The girl crossed her legs and straightened her skirt, looking out the window as the bus once again began to move.
As Hisagi watched the vehicle depart, he became mildly disgusted with himself for ogling a teenager when he was hundreds of years old, despite his appearance as a young adult. He excused his behavior with the belief that there was nothing else to do in this boring little town.
Hisagi sighed, scratching behind his head. "Damn it..." he cursed out of boredom. He settled for stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking around until something eventful happened.
He passed several humans, either in groups or alone. The younger ones appeared to gather to form strength in numbers, while the older humans seemed to prefer solitary travel.
After dismissing several obnoxious groups of humans, Hisagi approached a building that possessed a reiatsu similar to one he felt last night. He immediately identified this building as belonging to the young girl he had saved, and recently saw on that bus.
Hisagi stood in front of the house for a moment, wondering whether or not he should enter. When he recalled the fact that the girl would not be home for a couple of hours, having left for school, Hisagi opted to enter the building.
The interior seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary for a normal human house, if not slightly bigger. Hisagi walked through the kitchen, living room, den, and dining room without seeing anything or anyone interesting. He huffed in disappointment, then recalled that human houses usually have individual bedrooms.
After exploring the entirety of the downstairs, Hisagi wandered upstairs, and entered the first door he found. He was slightly disappointed to discover a plain white bathroom.
"Tch," Hisagi sighed, unintentionally slamming the door. He walked down the hall a bit further and opened the next door on the opposite wall.
He could easily identify this as a bedroom, noting the small bed against the far wall. Hisagi couldn't help but wonder if this bedroom actually belonged to a girl with all of the soccer posters adorning the wall. The green bed sheets also gave nothing away, but the spiritual pressure he felt indicated that the girl he had saved spent a fair amount of time in this room.
Hisagi clearly didn't feel bad snooping, as he began inspecting underneath the bed and on the bookshelves for any indication of whether this bedroom belonged to the girl or not. He quickly spun around, finding nothing from either location, and spotted a dresser. Hisagi sighed, thinking that probably would have been a good place to start searching.
He walked up to the wooden drawers and pulled the top one out, literally. Hisagi stumbled and dropped the drawer to the floor. His mouth opened slightly when its contents scattered throughout the room.
Pink, white, and purple undergarments were skewn across the floor. Lacy bras and colorful panties seemed to be commonplace in this drawer. After this discovery, Hisagi knew that this room belonged to that girl.
He sighed and sat on the floor, beginning to clean up his mess. While Hisagi picked up the girl's undergarments, he couldn't help but notice that she kept some rather unusual articles. While most of her panties appeared to cover what they were intended to, some of the ones located in the back of the drawer seemed rather revealing. One pair was made entirely out of black lace.
Being a man, Hisagi couldn't help but envision the attractive young girl wearing those thin, lacy panties for him, sprawled out on the bed, a curious blush adorning her cheeks. Her hands shyly covered her breasts, but exposed her toned abdomen for Hisagi's viewing pleasure. He could remember her light, airy voice, and imagined her whispering his name.
"Hisagi..."
At that thought, he shook his head. Not only did he feel like a house invader, Hisagi felt like a dirty old man. And he didn't feel that way often.
With a sigh, he put away the rest of the girl's sexy panties and didn't even look when he picked up her bras, for fear of imagining her plump, round breasts filling them.
Hisagi easily lifted the drawer and shoved it back into the dresser. After completing such a tedious task, however, he felt unusually tired. Unable to see a negative aspect to it, Hisagi decided to lay down on top of the green sheets.
The girl's bed was soft and fluffy, and easily allowed Hisagi to fall asleep. He hadn't slept the previous night, due to the suspicion that another hollow might have appeared; therefore, a light nap felt truly well-deserved.
It was unfortunate that only four hours later, Hisagi awoke due to a high-pitched shout.