It was almost May. So far, life in high school wasn't so bad. Katsuko performed well in all her subjects so far that it even irritated Haru since he thought she had no chill in being so good at school, not that it was a bad thing, he was proud of having such a smart friend.

Katsuko had met new people thanks to being in a new environment. But she didn't make a lot of new friends with girls. She didn't really spend that much time with other girls since she didn't really make the effort to socialize with them. The only one who actually came close was Arisawa Tatsuki, that girl was easier to get along with since she seemed to be on the same type of wavelength as her. Katsuko and Tatsuki weren't exactly the girly type of girls with the latter being more of a tomboy. She was just casual friends with the short haired girl. One of the things Tatsuki first talked about with her was whether or not she was dating someone in her circle of friends, specifically if that someone was Ichigo since she was the only girl that actually hung around him closely like it wasn't a big deal. When she answered negatively, she couldn't help but notice a burnt orange haired girl on the side look a little surprised (or relieved) by her answer. It made Katsuko wonder whether or not it was that girl who asked Tatsuki to ask her that question. Katsuko took notice that the burnt orange haired girl was friends with Tatsuki's since they always talked and laughed together when the break.

That burnt orange haired girl's name was Inoue Orihime. Honestly, Katsuko found her… just a tad bit annoying. Just a bit. It was just the way she was so cheerful and clueless that got her a little annoyed. It was a bit too much for Katsuko since she was practically the opposite. Katsuko was harsh, quiet and level-headed, her character was probably why she didn't like being around loud people and energetic people, hence the reason why she found Honsho Chizuru the most annoying thing in the classroom, the same girl who literally got kicked out of the classroom on orientation day. Apparently, she had an obsession with Orihime, specifically her breasts since she kept trying to grope her in daylight, causing Tatsuki to take action and try to swat her away from her friend.

Katsuko nearly groaned out loud once from all the commotion since she was just trying to draw in peace with her music. It made her realize how much she hated noisy people. But there was one person that was an exception to that. He was usually hyperactive but he made up for her by being quite earnest when she got to know him.

That person's name was Asano Keigo. Her first impression of him was that he was an odd ball, a real weird one. When Katsuko, Ichigo and Chad were eating under the shade on the roof (Haru and Jun were already part of the basketball club), he and his friend Kojima Mizuiro went to join them for lunch since they were in the same class. Mizuiro seemed more at ease since he ended up curiously asking questions about their rumors while Keigo was sitting in a stiff posture next to him, sweating bullets. She remembered the first thing he said to her.

…

…

…

Katsuko stood up and dusted her skirt and shorts. She wanted to throw her wrapper in the nearby trashcan. When she passed by Keigo, she accidentally knocked over his juice box with her foot that was fortunately not opened yet.

"Oh, sorry—"

"NO! I'M SORRY!" Keigo screamed as he pulled away his juice box and put it on his other side. "FORGIVE ME. I WAS A FOOL."

"..."

Chad and Ichigo blinked.

Katsuko just stared at him dumbly as she wasn't sure what to think. "Um… okay."

"You'll have to pardon this guy, Hiragi-san." Mizuiro smiled at her. "He's just strange like that."

"Don't make it sound like I'm like this on a daily basis." Keigo cried.

"Technically, you have been."

…

…

…

It took about two weeks and four days for Keigo to finally realize that Ichigo, Chad and Katsuko were nothing like the rumors, prompting him to fully expose his full personality to them without fear of repercussions. At first, she found him annoying like Chizuru since he was noisy, but the only reason she was able to tolerate him was because she liked the earnest why he tried to make the group more lively. He was that one weird friend in the group which wasn't a bad thing. He was an idiot, but a tolerable idiot.

Life was normal and there wasn't anything big happening.

That is until they reached the middle of May, something unexpected happened in the 1-3 classroom. The teacher had announced the arrival of a transfer student so suddenly. Katsuko had found that odd since she thought they'd hear about the transfer student before they came instead of learning it the day they arrived. When the teacher called them in, Katsuko first noted how petite the girl was. She had black hair likes her except it was shorter. She had light skin and purple eyes. Her name was Kuchiki Rukia. Apparently, her family had this situation that forced them to urgently move and have her transfer to Karakura High School.

The teacher told Rukia to take her seat at the desk next to the empty one behind Katsuko. That seat behind hers happened to belong to Ichigo who was absent that morning. She was curious about the reason why he didn't show up but she didn't shoot him a message about it, thinking he was just late.

When Rukia passed by Katsuko, the petite girl expressed a bit of surprise when she saw her but it was immediately replaced by polite smile. Katsuko couldn't help but notice how strained it was.

Strange girl, that one.

…

…

…

Ichigo never showed up for any of the periods before lunch time, he didn't even show up at school during lunch. It made Katsuko wonder if he got sick or something.

"Hey, Katsuko." Jun and Haru came to her desk while she was sketching.

"Hm?"

"Did you hear what happened?" Haru sat on the desk on her right. "There was a truck that ran into Ichigo's house last night."

"Oh yeah? Cool." She erased a line that she considered wasn't good enough.

But then she froze.

Wait what.

Katsuko gave Haru an incredulous look when she dropped her pencil. "Are you serious?"

Obviously, she couldn't help but imagine the worst. She really hoped nothing happened to her friend or his family.

"Yeah, Mizuiro passed that information onto us. Y'know how he is, checking his phone all the time and stuff." Jun said nonchalantly while holding up his own phone.

"… By the way your acting, I guess everything is fine…" Katsuko said slowly while looking at him skeptically. "I mean, Mizuiro would have mentioned it to you if someone got hurt or something."

Jun smirked. "I thought you'd go into a panic or something the moment you heard."

Katsuko shrugged. "I won't jump to conclusions if I use my brain that I was born with."

"Or maybe you're just cold hearted." Haru grinned.

"Maybe." Katsuko nodded.

Just then, the door in the back opened. Drawn by the sound of it, the three friends looked back and saw Ichigo walking inside with his usual scowl on his face. Haru hopped off the desk while Jun raised his hand to greet him. Katsuko moved her seat so she could turn around. Keigo, Mizuiro and Chad gathered around her and Ichigo's desk when he sat down.

"Yo, Ichigo." Keigo leaned against her desk. "I heard a truck crashed into your house."

"Pretty much." Ichigo leaned back in his seat.

"You guys okay?" Katsuko asked curiously.

"We're fine. No one got hurt since it was downstairs."

"Lucky you." The black haired girl smirked.

"Did you finish cleaning up?" Mizuiro asked next to him.

Ichigo gave him an exasperated look. "Are you kidding? That's going to take forever."

While Katsuko was chuckling at his response, her eyes caught Rukia casually walking to their group. When Rukia took notice of her stare, she gave her a close eyed smile. Katsuko couldn't help but feel uneasy by that overly polite smile of hers, it made her want to cringe. Rukia stopped behind Ichigo and called his name in a surprised tone.

Ichigo flinched at her voice and whipped around.

"My name is Kuchiki. I will be sitting next to you."

The orange haired boy shot up from his seat, making his friends look at him weirdly.

"Y-You?!" he sputtered as he pointed at her.

"What about her?" Haru quirked an eyebrow.

"Wh-What? What's wrong with you, Ichigo?" Keigo wondered curiously at his odd reaction.

While her friends around her explained the situation to him, Katsuko just sat there quietly while observing the two. Rukia had denied any sort of acquaintance with Ichigo, saying that it was her first time meeting him. She didn't understand why. But she had this weird feeling, she felt like there was something off about Rukia. She just didn't understand what it was. Something deep inside of her was telling her that something was amiss.

The long haired girl watched as Rukia asked her to show him around the school which he stiffly complied to and followed her out of the classroom.

"No way, do you think Rukia-chan has a crush on Ichigo on her first day here?!" Keigo freaked at the possibility.

"I doubt it. I think she's just asking him since he sits next to her." Jun shrugged before pulling out his phone from his pocket. He started messaging Mayuka who sent him a text.

Chad had noticed how Katsuko was being quiet as she stared at the back door of the classroom.

"Something the matter?" Chad's deep voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She jolted in her seat and looked up at him where she found him looking at her. The girl just slowly shook her head, "Um, no. N-Nothing."

"Ho, hooo… don't tell me you're jealous?" Keigo asked teasingly which she responded by giving him to most apathetic face that hid an evil meaning behind it. The brown haired teen quickly backed away from her with a squeak. Even if he knew the rumors weren't true, he knew that she was scary at times.

The black haired girl huffed in annoyance.

Haru snorted. "One day, she's just going to throw something at you."

The weird feeling she felt only got worse when Ichigo and Rukia were gone for the whole third period. Ichigo never left the school since his bag was still at his desk and Rukia was the same. Katsuko had to wonder if she was actually jealous that a random girl just pulled him away. Maybe. She had no idea. But she knew she was more concerned about how he had just decided to skip third period. It wasn't like him to miss it without no apparent reason. After all, he was the one who said he wanted to maintain a good academic record instead of just being some brainless guy who was called a delinquent.

Her mind felt a bit at ease when they returned for the fourth period. At that point, Katsuko wondered if it was even worth for him to attend the fourth period since he was literally missing the whole day.

When the day was over, Katsuko grabbed her things and tucked them away in her bag before pushing her chair back. She pushed it back under her desk with her hip and joined Ichigo on the way out of the classroom. Katsuko glanced around and noticed that Rukia was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did Kuchiki go?" she mumbled.

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing." Katsuko drawled to play it cool. "By the way, what happened today? You were literally gone the whole time."

Ichigo sweat dropped. Now that he was practically playing hero in secret, he needed to come up with a lie on the spot like those undercover superheroes on TV.

"I was, uh… at the nurse's office."

Unfortunately for him, Katsuko just gave an unconvinced look. "Uh-huh okay."

Boy, I'm not buying that crap.

"Yeah, I went there."

They turned around the corner and went down the steps. As Katsuko went down the stairs, she suddenly felt lightheaded. It was like feeling an invisible force just shoved right into her and it got her dizzy. She just felt weak all of a sudden, causing her to miss a step and fall forward. Ichigo, who was looking down to make sure to see where he was putting his feet, whipped his head in her direction when he saw her fall. With his quick reflexes, he quickly shot his arms forward and grabbed her around the stomach. He quickly adjusted his grip to one arm so he could hold onto the rail so she wouldn't pull him down.

"Oi! Katsuko!"

Tatsuki and Orihime, who were going down behind them, were startled from the sudden fall and save.

Katsuko snapped out of whatever weak state she was in and noticed how Ichigo was holding her from behind. He helped her stand upright when she was trying to do it on her own.

"Watch your step!" Ichigo reprimanded her with a look.

Orihime peeked from behind Ichigo. "Are you okay, Hiragi-san?"

"You nearly smashed your face on the ground there." Tatsuki said as peered over Ichigo's shoulder.

Katsuko put her fingers on her forehead and just narrowed her eyes. It was so strange.

What the hell was that?

"S…Sorry. I'll be careful." She said before slowly going down the stairs, this time, making sure to hold on the rail next to her just in case it happened again. The last thing she wanted was a broken leg. Ichigo quirked up an eyebrow and followed after her to peer at her face. "Are you alright?"

"… I don't know, I just felt dizzy for a moment there. No idea why."

Ichigo frowned. She looked startled from the whole thing. It was pretty rare to see her shaken up like that.

The orange haired teen just patted her back once. "Maybe because you keep sleeping late."

"I doubt that has anything to do with it. I heard not eating breakfast usually gets you dizzy like that."

"Well, maybe you're coming down with something."

"Maybe…"

Unbeknownst to them, Rukia, who was way behind them up the stairs, couldn't help but eye Katsuko as she went down the stairs with Ichigo.

There's something off about that girl.

Both girls were thinking the same of each other.

Two days had passed ever since Rukia transferred into 1-3's class. Katsuko still felt weird about Rukia. The petite girl kept dragging the orange haired boy away every now and then and he'd just run off with her to who knows where. There was something going on between them. She wasn't stupid.

Something was also going on with her. And honestly, it was freaking her out. Ever since that incident in the stairs, those cloudy figures she used to see were starting to become clearer to the point where they started shaping like people, like real people.

When she first saw those cloudy figures, she grew to ignore them like as if they were just blending with the environment around her. She just didn't pay attention to it.

Now it was becoming increasingly hard to ignore.

Katsuko eyed the figure walking past her, letting it get out of her way before she resumed her walk.

I don't want to get anywhere near it.

When it disappeared from her sight she started walking again.

This wasn't something she could tell her mother no matter how much she wanted to. It was apparent to her that she was the only one seeing things.

Haru once was accompanying her to the store since they both needed to buy something for school. When she got startled and nearly fell due to a figure moving past her, she tried explaining to him what she saw only for him to deny it and reason with her saying that she must have been startled by her reflection or something on the glass window they passed by. He couldn't see what she saw. Who was to say that her mother could see it?

Katsuko groaned and scratched the back of her head in frustration. "Why the hell is everything getting so complicated— what the fu…" she retracted her hand from behind her and held it in front of her when she stopped walking.

Her hand was wet.

She glanced up and saw that she was under a leaking pipe that was attached to a store.

"Ugh, gross." She shook her hand to try and remove the liquid that came from who knows where. With her other hand, she pulled out a tissue to wipe off the rest. She noticed a smudge of black on her hand.

"Oh come on." Katsuko's eye twitched in annoyance. It definitely looked like a smudge of black ink. She did recall using her black pen at school earlier when she was retracing over the lines she drew with her pencil.

I should throw that in the trash later.

If it were not for her obligation to stay close to Ichigo, Rukia would have highly preferred staying in the classroom instead of having to get dressed into some fitness gear. The short girl chose a random locker for her that was situated close to one of Ichigo's friends. Hiragi Katsuko was her name. Rukia wasn't sure how to feel about that girl. She was just giving off a strange vibe that she couldn't describe. It really was strange.

Rukia accidentally dropped the P.E shirt that the school had provided her, but before she could reach down and grab it Katsuko had done it for her. The taller girl held it out for her with a neutral expression.

The Soul Reaper in disguise put on her well practiced smile. "Oh, thank you Hiragi-san!" she said cheerfully.

Katsuko resisted the urge to cringe. "Yeah, no problem."

Rukia took her shirt from her and was quick to notice Katsuko's hand. Her eyes were drawn to it.

The black smudge on her hand was radiating faint spiritual pressure of a Hollow's.

Katsuko was already going through her things in her locker and she didn't notice the way Rukia was secretly staring at her hand.

It was clear to Rukia that Katsuko needed to be kept on eye on for now. A Hollow had marked her as its next target.

Hollows, Soul Reapers and swords stuff are happening in the next chapter! All these weird vibes that Rukia and Katsuko are getting from each other will be explained later on! This chapter was supposed to be a bit longer but I had to cut it out and fit it into the next chapter since I didn't like how it was. So yeah, you can expect the next chapter to be longer than this one for sure.

Just a little heads up, I might be updating this story irregularly due to my sudden surge of inspo for an old story I'm rewriting called Re:Freezing. I'm putting that out there since there might be people who are used to my weekly updates. I like to try and post weekly but I know that ain't happening now lmao. Plus, it's not really good to just pump out chapters just because I want something out there. I'll take my time.

Also, I noticed that the number of followers/favorites of this story has been increasing! AYEE YOO! WELCOME! I APPRECIATE YOUR PRESENCE.

See you guys in the next chapter! Don't forget to REVIEW!