Day 2

After he vanquished the Hollow, Tom returned his double-bladed zan-paku-to to its scabbard on his left side. Just then, police cars pulled up in front of the house, their head lights shining through the hole the Hollow had made earlier. Tom put his arm over his eyes to block the glare. The police immediately jumped out of their cars, positioned themselves behind them like barricades, and pointed their pistols at Tom. "Put your hands in the air and come too us slowly" said a voice from a megaphone coming from the group of officers. "What!? No!! I didn't do anything!! I was-" Two officers that came through Tom's bedroom tackled Tom from behind and to his left. "Oof!!" Tom struggled to get them off of him. "STAY DOWN!!!" said one of them as he slammed Tom's head against the floor. The other officer pulled the sheathed sword from Tom's side. "Looks like we got a murder weapon!" said the officer to his partner. "What!? No!! I didn't kill anyone!!!.... Except the Hollow that attacked my home," Tom stated. "Hollows, eh!?" said the officer sarcastically, "Looks like we'll need to test him for drugs in his system!!!" "Yeah!! This one's real loopy!!!" said his partner. "I don't do drugs!!!" yelled Tom, "If I did, imagine how much loopier I would be!!!" "Let's do a psychological background check, too!!!" said the officer. At this point, all the officers had flooded into the house, checking on Tom's unconscious family and Karin. "They're all fine!" said an officer about Tom's family. "Are you okay, miss?" asked an officer to Karin. 'Karin!!!' thought Tom. "Yes, officer. I'm fine," Karin responded. "Hey, Karin!! Tell them about the Hollow that attacked the house!!!" Tom pleaded. "Do you know what he's talking about?" the officer asked. "No, sir. He's obviously delusional." Karen replied calmly. "WHAT!!? That's bull-crap!!! Tell them what happened!!!" Tom demanded. "C'mon. Let's get you out of here," the officer said. "Thank you, officer," Karin stated. "TELL THEM!!!" Tom bellowed again. "That's enough out of you!!!" said an officer putting hand cuffs on Tom. "You're under arrest! Anything you say can be and will be used against you in the court of law," the officer stated. "KAREN!!!" Tom bellowed once more. "You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you," the officer finished. "TELL THEM!!!" Tom yelled again. "C'mon!!!" said the officer as he picked Tom up off the ground. As he led Tom outside, Tom could here a faint voice saying "Tom! Tom! Tom!" As it kept going, the voice became clearer. "Tom! Tom! Wake up!" Tom woke up in his bed, his mom standing right beside him. "Huh!" he exclaimed, "What time is it." "Seven forty!" his mom answered, "Now can you make Aiden some eggs before you get ready?" "Um, sure," Tom answered. He then glanced at his window, which wasn't shattered from last night. His mom walked out of the room. Tom got out of bed and walked quickly to the kitchen. When he got there, he turned to look at the left wall in the dining room. "Holy crap!!!" he said to himself. He saw that the hole that was made by the Hollow last night was completely gone. 'Wow! She sure did a good job cleaning up… At least if it wasn't a dream!' he thought.

Tom arrived at school an hour and twenty minutes later when Matt, one of Tom's close friends, walked up to him shortly before the first bell rang. "H-h-hey, T-Tom! H-have you seen the new g-girl?" he asked (he has a stuttering problem). "No," Tom responded. "S-she's pretty awesome!!" Matt said. "Whatever you say," Tom replied. He could've cared less about the new girl Matt was talking about. "Hey, Tom!!!" a voice said from behind Tom. "Who the heck!?" Tom exclaimed as he turned around to see who was calling him. It turned out to be Karen, except in a tank top and some jeans instead of her samurai attire. 'What the crap is she doing here!!?' Tom thought to himself. "You know her?" Matt asked. "Yeah, I know him from…" Karen began. "FERNANDINA!!!" Tom finished. "Fernandina?" Matt asked. "YES!!! Yes. I knew her when I lived in Fernandina," Tom answered. "Cool! S-so what brings you out here?" Matt asked. "Umm…" Karen replied. "HOUSES!!!" Tom answered. "Houses?" Matt asked. "YES!!! Yes. Housing's too expensive in Fernandina, so y'all came out here to buy a house, right Karen!!?" Tom replied. "Yeah, that's right! So what's your name?" Karen asked Matt. "Name's Matt!" Matt answered. "And mine is Karen. Nice to meet you!" she replied. "So I noticed!" Matt stated. "So if you excuse us, we got some… Catching up to do!" Tom said as he walked away, pulling Karen by the arm. "Okay, I getcha!!" Matt said as he winked at Tom, "See ya later!" Tom took Karen somewhere where no one else was around. "WHAT… THE CRAP… ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Tom exclaimed. "Well, let's go over the facts. One: you completely drained me of my soul reaper powers," Karen stated. "Oh, you didn't mean to do that!!?" Tom asked, 'Okay I could have sworn I've seen this off of something!!' Two: I can't get back to Soul Society. Three: without my powers, I'm vulnerable to Hollows, so I'm in this gigai." Karen stated incompletely. "What's a gigai?" Tom asked. "Artificial body!! Now, listen!!!" Karen exclaimed. "There's more!!?" Tom asked. "Yes!!! Now, SHUT UP!!!" Karen yelled, "Four: Kids are forced by law to go to school, so here I am!!!" Karen finished. "Yeah, I'm fully aware of the laws, so that last part wasn't necessary!!" Tom commented. "Oh, one more thing!" Karen remembered. "What!!?" Tom asked. "You're now an unofficial Substitute Soul Reaper. That means you have to fulfill all the duties of a Soul Reaper, at least until I get my powers back," Karen explained. "WHAT!!! NO WAY!!! I can't do it!! I have prior responsibilities!" Tom said. Just as Tom finished, the school bell rang. "I have to go to… Oh crap!" Tom exclaimed as he realized he had ISS that day. "Tom B******, Please come to the office. Tom B******, please come to the office," said the principal from the overhead speakers. "See ya," Tom said grimly as he headed to the office. When he got there, Mrs. Copps and Mr. Braddock were waiting for him. "Yes?" Tom said. "Tom, we talked with your mom yesterday, and we decided to lighten the punishment with three days of after-school detention rather than ISS, so go ahead and get to class." Mr. Braddock told Tom. "Um… Yes, sir! Thank you, Sir!" Tom said as he left the office.

Five hours later, Tom arrived at his sixth period class, gym. As he walked into the gymnasium, he looked all around, much like he did in all of his other classes that day. 'Hmm… Looks like I don't have any classes with her,' he thought to himself, 'Thank God!!' "Hey there!" called Everett, one of Tom's friends, "Wassup!?" "Nothin' much" Tom stated. "Not from what I heard!" Everett argued. "What do you mean!?" Tom asked. "You know!" Everett said as he turned his back towards Tom. Everett wrapped his arms around himself and made smooching sounds. "…With the new girl!" Everett finished, as if his make-out imitation was part of his sentence. "WHAT!!! It's not like that!!! How many people have you told!!?" Tom exclaimed. "Chillax, man! I didn't tell anyone!!" Everett explained. "Oh crap! You don't mean-" Tom began to ask. "Tom!!!" called Karen from the door to the gym. "Crap!!!" Tom exclaimed. "I see things aren't going so well!" Everett stated. "We need to talk!" she stated as she grabbed Tom's wrist, "C'mon!!" she commanded as she began to pull. "Screw you!!!" Tom said, pulling his arm back, "I already told you! I'm not doing it!!" "That does it!!!" Karen exclaimed, "Binding spell, the first! Sai!" she stated as she held out her hand, her palm facing Tom, thumb, ring finger and pinky finger tucked in. Tom's arms and legs flung behind him uncontrollably, and he fell to the ground. Tom found himself unable to move. "WHAT THE CRAP DID YOU DO!!?" Tom bellowed. "Aside from healing, my kido can be used for attack and binding as well!" she stated, "Now you're coming with me!" "And like I said before," Tom began, "SCREW YOU!!! I doubt your able to carry 200 pounds of my bulking muscle!" "WATCH ME!!!" Karen exclaimed as she picked Tom's body up, put it under her arm and began running. "What the h*** just happened?" Everett asked himself.

Karen took Tom to the park right next to the High School, where Tom could see a little boy being cornered by a Hollow. "What the heck!? Shouldn't that kid be in school?" Tom asked. "That's a spirit, you arse! Those are what we call Wholes, in contrast to the Hollows which prey upon them along with the souls of the living," Karen explained. "Well, activate my soul reaper-ness, or whatever, so I can slice that thing!!" Tom commanded, "But first, stop this freaking kido!!!" "Sure!" Karen said almost sarcastically as she put a glove with a scull insignia on her right hand. She then slammed her palm into Tom's chin, actually pushing Tom's samurai-clad soul out of his body. "Alright!!!" Tom exclaimed as he began running toward the Hollow. "Wait!!!" Karen commanded. "What!!?" Tom asked. "Don't kill that Hollow!!!" Karen demanded. "WHAT!!!" Tom exclaimed, "That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard!!!" Tom stated, 'Come to think of it,' Tom thought, 'I've heard worse before!' "I can't just stand here and watch that kid get eaten!!!" "Whether before your very eyes or out of sight, souls will be consumed by Hollows either way," Karen stated. The Hollow began getting closer to the boy. "DON'T DO IT!!!" Karen commanded, "A soul reaper must be fair to all ghosts! You can't only save them when it's convenient! If you save him, you must commit to saving all the wondering souls, wherever they are! You have to be willing to put your other priorities aside!" The Hollow roared loudly as he approached the boy. "Choose, Tom!" Karen commanded. The boy was on the ground in front of the Hollow. The Hollow lunged out to devour the ghost boy. "AAAAHH!!!" the boy screamed in terror, putting his arms over his face. Tom leaped in front of the boy and sliced off the Hollow's right-hand fingers. "Huh!?" the boy mildly exclaimed, looking past his arms. The Hollow screeched in pain as it backed away. "Tom," Karen began, "you made your decision?" Tom stabbed his sword into the ground in annoyance. "GIMME A FREAKIN' BREAK, WOULD YA!!!?" Tom shouted, "I saved him because I was here, so what are ya gonna do about it, eh!!?" "WHAT!!!" Karen exclaimed. "As I've said before, my prior responsibilities to my family come first!" Tom began, "However, I am indebted to you for saving me and my family, so I'll help you out with reaping soul since I'm not a total dirt-bag! Sound good to you?" "Hmph! Not like I have a choice, do I!?" Karen remarked as she smirked at Tom. "Okay, then! Small talks over!!!" Tom stated as he charged after the Hollow.

The Hollow pulled its left hand back, and then swung it down at Tom. Tom side-winded to his left, dodging the blow, then hopped onto its knee, jumped straight up off of it and sliced the Hollow's face. The Hollow shrieked as it faded away. "Okay, then!!" Tom exclaimed as he looked at the little boy, "So Soul Reapers help these ones get to the Soul Society, right? So how do I do that?" "Take the butt of your zanpakuto," Karen explained, "and place it on his forehead." "You mean like this?" Tom asked as he stamped the back of his sword onto the boy's forehead rather hard, "That's easy!!!" "What do you mean 'easy'!? That really hurt, you meanie!!" The boy remarked as he faded away. "Let's get back into your body," Karen suggested, "and back to class before you get in trouble for skipping!" "Hah! Good one!" Tom remarked, "Coach Smith doesn't care! Umm… which gym teacher do you have?" "Coach Richards," Karen said. "Boy, are you in for it!!!" Tom remarked.

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