Chapter 6 (Arc 1: JAP): Bohemian Rhapsody
Written By: Ethorthecinderace_TCC_
Ichigo sat at his desk, napping. Which was reasonable considering the massive amount of tiredness that he felt over the past few hours alone. But then again, he did at least pay some sort of attention to classes, using a tape recorder app on his phone to record the lectures, it was something that he was doing already for the sake of Ryuji and Shiho, who often had better things to do than just work on school work… which in Ryuji's case, he had a feeling he was ALSO taking a nap in the middle of class.
Speaking of school he and the rest of the group almost was… or in the case of him and Ren, they were late. He needed help trying to find his homeroom teacher Sadayo Kawakami, which was lucky since both Ichigo and Ann had that same homeroom teacher as well. But when the lunch bell finally rang, Ichigo sprung awake without much issue and walked directly out of the room headed to the school store, he had to make it there quickly if he wanted SOMETHING extra to eat… for some reason, he held a lot more hunger that he knew the lunch he brought was not gonna be enough to quench. When he made it to the school store, there was a small line that looked to be going at least somewhat quickly. Which was good.
As Ichigo got in line, his phone began to ring, which caused Ichigo to sigh in response. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID, before accepting the call.
"Yo, Wassup Hat n' Clogs?"
"Good afternoon Ichigo! How's my favorite student doing?" asked Urahara
"Getting lunch, wassup with you?" asked Ichigo
"Well we just got done serving a bunch of customers on our end and I wanted to check up on you." said Urahara, "I wanted to see how your classes were doing as well as the reason behind that spark of power I felt from you."
Ichigo froze at that, "What?"
"Well, it should be obvious! There was a power spike around your school and thought it was you. Well, it was three power spikes but one of them had to be you right?" asked Urahara
"Look, can I call you back?" Asked Ichigo, "I don't think it would be a good idea to talk about this… where I currently am. I will call you again when I get to the roof."
"Sure. sounds like a plan!" said Urahara, "I am interested to hear the story of how this power spike came to be."
"Yha. Talk to you soon" said Ichigo before hanging up. He was standing in front of the counter of the store and ordered a couple of loaves of bread. After he was done he walked to the roof and called Urahara again, "Yo."
"So what happened?" asked Urahara
"Well… it's a lot to explain," said Ichigo before he began to explain everything to Urahara, "And then we made it back to this world, at least, I think that is what that Navigation app or whatever said. It sounded like one at least. I think that might have been when you sensed Me, Ryuji, and Ren."
"I see." said Urahara, puzzled, "I guess this is not as peaceful as your father thought it to be."
"Guess not," said Ichigo before taking a bite out of a loaf of bread. He swallowed it before saying, "The worst part is, the guy that was there, Kamoshida, doesn't seem to remember anything from there. Almost like they were entirely different people."
"But yet you are sure about that person being Kamoshida?" asked Urahara
"Positive."
"Well… I will see if I can do some digging about this because this is not something related to spiritual beings at all." said Urahara, "Hey do you know if you can channel that power again?"
"Here in the human world?"
"Yes."
"I haven't tried it," said Ichigo
"It is very much possible, Ichigo," said Heathcliff through Ichigo's mind, "Just let me take control for a small bit."
"Heathcliff says it is possible… I am gonna try it," said Ichigo
Ichigo closed his eyes, and almost instantly things began to visibly change. Ichigo's posture changed, turning into a more confident and assured version of the posture that he adopted after Heathcliff was awakened, his mouth expanded into a monstrously open smile, with his canine teeth growing longer, almost growing as long as a vampire, and when Ichgio- No HEATHCLIFF opened his eyes again they were a bright golden color. He brought the phone to his ear and said, "Hello there Kisuke Urahara."
"Ah, you must be the Mythical Heathcliff that I heard so much about," said Urahara
"Yes indeed, it is a pleasure. Although I guess when it comes to past experiences, I wouldn't say it was as much of a pleasure as I was hoping it would be." said Heathcliff, "But then again, considering you are the reason why my other self got so powerful to begin with, as well as how he mastered his Bankai so quickly, I must be thankful."
"You are quite welcome." said Urahahra, "Now then, can you please let Ichigo back onto the phone? I must get back to speaking with him."
"Well… I would love to." said Heathcliff before giving off a slight chuckle, "He is about to fall asleep again, awakening to me was a very tiring experience."
"I will make this quick, I promise," said Urahara "Thank you," said Heathcliff before he closed his eyes, and when they opened again, Ichigo's own brown eyes showed back in their place. Ichigo said, "I guess that answers our question."
"Indeed!" said Urahara, "Now then, don't go back there unless you are 100% prepared. Understood, I will make sure that you and your new crew will be prepared for anything."
"Wait? Really?"
"Of course! No rules are saying I can't, it is my job to make sure your "Recovery" goes swimmingly. Come to me tomorrow, ok. I might be able to whip something together by then." said Urahara
"Thank you, Hat N Clogs."
"You welcome Ichigo! Now get some rest Ok kiddo! I will call you when they are ready!"
Almost as if time had stopped, Ichigo heard the sound of glass shattering before a voice whispered in his ears,
"Thou Art I, I am Thou"
"Thou hast Established a new bond"
"Now, with the Creation of the Link of the Magician Arcana"
"The Bonds that are Established will Bring more Opportunity for Hope"
And just like that… the voice stopped.
"Hello? Did you hear me there kiddo?" asked Urahara
"Yha, I will keep an eye out." said Ichigo, "God I must be spent."
"Then when you get to Sae's place, rest up ok!" said Urahara
"Okay. Talk to you later," said Ichgio before hanging up the phone and making it back to class.
(The Velvet Room)
Just like before, the sound of the velvet room's song filled the room, almost as it did that morning before. Ichigo opened his eyes and yawned as he stretched the tiredness out of his own body and mind.
"Ah, well this is a surprise." said Theo, "Most of my charges don't come back to the velvet room this consistently. Welcome back Ichigo"
"Hey. God I am never gonna get used to this place," said Ichigo. He stood up and then walked over to the bar that Theo was attending to, and once Ichigo sat on a barstool he spoke, "So… I am assuming that is what you meant?"
"That Heathcliff headed your call? Yes. Sadly I did not predict that it would be Heathcliff that would head your summons and become your persona… Nor what happened afterward, with the abilities that I assist you with." said Theo, "Now then, it is my duty as the Attendant of the velvet room to inform you of what services I provide for you, first of all, you must have noticed the fact that you now have a persona." Theo said that last part with a sassy grin
"No shit," said Ichigo with a deadpan
"Well, these personas are the representation of oneself, and can be strengthened by one's personal growth, or another method that you have already started." said Theo before throwing a Menu onto the table, "Social Links, all of them are listed in this handy guide."
Ichigo looked at it for a second before picking it up and opening it, before closing it, "This only has one page."
"Of course! You only have one social link that you have forged so far. Social links are your bonds with other people, they are people that are true bonds, bonds forged from bettering the relationship over time, and then… well, you will find out soon enough."
"Being vague ay?" asked Ichigo
"For good reason, After all, I cannot give you all the answers just yet," Said Theo, "Anyhow, I must give you one more bout of knowledge, the compendium."
Theo grabbed another menu and placed it on the table. It was a lot bigger, containing many pages from what Ichigo could see. Ichigo picked it up and opened the book, "It's only got Heathcliff on here so far… Why is that?"
"Oh simply because you haven't encountered or fused any more personas yet, but when you run into that bout of knowledge, I will give you more of an explanation then." said Theo, "But for now It is time for you to go back into the real world, the next time we meet, will be when you come in here of your own free will."
"Ok. Thank you Theo," said Ichigo
"You are quite welcome."
And almost on cue, another shattering of glass reverberated through the world as time stopped, and once again the whispers resounded in Ichigo's ears.
"Thou Art I, I am Thou"
"Thou hast Established a new bond"
"Now, with the Creation of the Link of the Wheel Of Fortune Arcana"
"The Bonds that are Established will Bring more Opportunity for Hope"
"I guess… Like My elder sister before me, I gain the privilege of becoming one of your many Confidants and Social Links within your journey" said Theo before picking up the first Menu and Opening it, "Ah, the Wheel Of Fortune Arcana. Interesting." He closed the Menu and gave it to Ichigo, "It is the same one I share with my twin sister. As well as an aspect of one of our past charges. That is a story for another time, however. It is time for you to go and wake up."
Ichigo nodded… and soon, he was back in the real world.
(Shujin Academy, 4/11/2016, Afternoon)
Ichigo awoke, feeling his arm getting poked, he sat at attention after waving off the person that was poking him.
"Yes?" asked Ichigo
"I understand that not all of my lectures are the most interesting in the world, Kurosaki-Kun, but sleeping through all of them? That is not something that you usually do, first, you are late, and then you sleep in class. Are you feeling alright?" asked Kawakami-Sensei
"Yh-Yha, sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night," said Ichigo
Kawakami-Sensei sighed before walking back over to the teacher's stand and continuing with her lecture, before the bell rang, causing most of the students to flock out of the room, minus Ann and Ren, who stood up and walked toward Ichigo
"So. you got hit with it too ay, Ichi?" asked Ren
"Yha… so, I guess we should go and talk about what happened?" asked Ichigo
Morgana poked his tiny cat head out of Ren's bag, "Yep, I at least HOPE that was that plan." said Morgana
"I was gonna ask if we could if it wasn't or not, that was all… to god damn weird," said Ann, "Besides that, are you two of? You two were basically in a coma all day."
"Yha. Just tired, Arsene said that this was normal." said Ren, "The weirdest part is, I think Arsene took over my body for a bit."
"Yha, Heathcliff did the same around lunch, I don't know why he didn't when I was… Nevermind. The door to the roof should be open, I will meet you two up there in a minute, I am gonna get Ryuji."
"Sounds good." said Ann, "Come on Ren, Let's go."
"Got it misses Boss Woman," said Ren
"Shut it," said Ann with a small laugh.
Ichigo stood up and began to walk out the door with Ren and Ann, before being stopped by Kawakami
"Hey, Kurosaki-san."
"Yes?"
She handed Ichigo a stack of papers, "I expect this on my desk tomorrow when you come in. I want to be sure you at least gained something from my lectures today."
"Thank you." said Ichigo before taking the papers, "I will have these done by then."
"Good." said Kawakami
Ichigo walked out of the room trying to make his way over to Ryuji's class. Witch was just down the hall after all.
"Ichigo."
Ichigo stopped in his tracks and sighed. "Hey Makoto…"
"I heard from Kawakami-Sensei that you were 2 minutes late to your first class… What's up with that? That never happens to you." asked Makoto, "Actually now that I think about it, you and Sakamato-Kun came here with ripped uniforms and slight sights of blood from where those tears originate."
"Oh come on Mako, you know just as well as I do that Ryuji and I like to beat the crap out of color gangs that jump us. Besides, that is why the transfer student, Ren, was late. We got jumped by some guys that thought it was a good idea to find out how hard I punch."
"You know, you are a horrible liar," said Makoto
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if it was that simple I doubt I would have come to talk to you, I would have just spoken to Sakamoto-Kun about the situation and would have been done with the entire situation, but there is something else that is weird that caught my attention," said Makoto
"And that is?"
"Your hair." said Makoto, "Both you and Sakamoto-Kun have much longer hair from when I saw you this morning and when I saw him yesterday, not only that, but his hair is showing some of its black roots for the first time since I met him. Besides that is not the only factor, first is the fact that your clothes are ripped in the first place, you and Ryuji, even if you did get into a fight with some thugs, both never take any battle damage from your fights, and the location of where the blood was shows that it came from you and Ryuji yourselves.
"Anything else you Noticed that pokes holes into my story," said Ichigo with a slight change in tone, from confidence to a short bout of fear.
"Yes, both you and Ryuji's postures have changed, you both used to have a little bit of a slump, But both of you are walking around more confidently than you used to," said Makoto
"Oh…"
"Yes… "Oh"." "Well… ok look, I can't fully explain it. But, I… I guess I… I don't know how to explain it." said Ichigo, "I guess I was caught slacking when it came to fighting those guys."
"That isn't like you, but I guess it makes sense." said Makoto, "We will talk more about this later, but can you please talk to Theodore today?"
"Yha, I will Mako." said Ichigo with a small smile, Electing to forget the fact he technically already did, "I was planning on doing so after school."
"Good." said Makoto, "Now then, I am going to lunch. I will see you later tonight."
"See you then," said Ichigo before walking off and trying to fulfill his plans… of meeting with Ryuji… Who was standing right in front of Ichigo, shocked as well."
"Holy shit," said Ryuji
"Yha, I guess something happened to us when we…"
"Yha, about that, Where is Ren and Ann?" asked Ryuji
"The roof, I was looking for you to take you there anyway," said Ichigo
"Sounds good, Let's go," said Ryuji
They made it to the roof in good time, only taking five minutes to get there, where they saw Ann, Morgana, and Ren waiting for them.
"Took you two long enough," said Ren
"Well, Mako wanted to talk to me." said Ichigo, "Did you notice that your hair grew out?" asked Ichigo
Ren instantly grasped his head and combed his hands through his hair, feeling that, indeed, the short and scruffy black hair that he had grown used to had grown a few inches. "Shit."
"Yha, Apparently our "Favorite" Student council president found that out, as well as a couple of other things, Our postures have changed," said Ryuji
"Oh yha! How did I not notice your black hair growing from below your dye job!" said Ann while slapping her face in embarrassment, "Damn it! It should have been obvious!"
"Don't feel too bad about that, It is hard to notice unless you got one of those mirror things." said Morgana, "Considering there was none around us when we met, and when Ryuji summoned his persona, I doubt anyone would have figured it out until now."
"When it comes to Me though, I think I might be fine. It is really hard to tell." said Ren, "Anyhow, right to business."
"Right, Morgana, what the hell was that place?" asked Ichigo
"That was a Palace, a palace is a place of someone's warped desires take form. This can affect many things, but the most often is that it is someone whose desires are something that they don't want to be seen by the world around them, for example, someone with depression would want to hide that aspect of themselves from those around them, and if those desires are distorted enough, they take the form of a palace." said Morgana, "They can take many forms, usually representing the type of distorted desires that created it, and they usually have Shadows patrolling the place, but other than those two constants and the fact that they show up in the Metaverse, I don't know too much about them after that."
"I guess we are mostly flying blind then," said Ryuji
"Wait a second, REALLY?!" asked Ann, "Why the hell do you want to go back there?"
"Well, remember what we saw there?" asked Ryuji, "There were more people in there. Like us. But they didn't have their personas to let them break out, I wanted to help them. Besides, they are all members of the volleyball team."
Ann's eyes widened and Ichigo closed his fists in rage, Morgana however had a different thing in mind, "They aren't people, they are shadows that look like people. More specifically they are the way that the Palace ruler, I think you said his name was Kamoshida, sees them. The real ones are out here in this world."
"Then that gives us another means of potentially saving them right?" asked Ren, "I don't know much about what Kamoshida is about, hell I wasn't even there when you all met his shadow form, but I think we might be able to go in there and gather information on who is in there, and then press for information while we are at school."
Ryuji snapped his fingers, "Good thinking Ren! Let's go in there tomorrow and kick some shadow ass!"
Ren nodded in approval, "Sounds good."
"Hold on you two, we are not even prepared to go in there, are you sure you two think it is a good idea to go in there again without preparations?" asked Morgana
Just as he said that Ichigo's phone rang. He picked it up and then answered, "Hat N Clogs, wassup?"
"I have got the good stuff ready!" said Kisuke
"Nice!" said Ichigo, "I will tell the others, We were making plans to go in tomorrow."
"Perfect timing on my part then! You also might want to stop by a place called Untouchable on the way over. They might also be able to help your needs."
"Sick, Thanks Hat N Clogs," said Ichigo before hanging up the phone. "I got a contact that says he has something that can help."
"You told someone about the metaverse?" asked Morgana
"And they believed you?" asked Ann in shock
"Yha, I know the guy from back when I was in Karakura, Guy knows a lot of shit about spooky shit," said Ichigo
"Whelp! Better than nothing!" said Ryuji
"I got to make a call real fast, but I should be able to come with," said Ren
"Sounds good! Are you coming too Ann?" asked Ryuji
"Sadly I can't." said Ann, "I got a call from my modeling job around lunch, I gotta get going soon, I cleared up enough time to do this talk and get there, and sadly that's it."
"Got it." said Ryuji, "Also where the hell is this place and what is the name of this place?"
"Well, Unless he changed the name of it, it should be Urahara Shoten so…"
"Yongen-Jaya." said Ren
"Wait, Yongen? Why Yongen-Jaya?" asked Ichigo, "Also how the hell do you know where it is?"
"I had to go there on my first day here to find out where Lablanc was." said Ren, "Besides, It is like, one of four shops over there that I saw, and it is the only one with a name as simple as Urahara Shoten."
"He said he wanted it to be in Shibuya!" said Ichigo, "Why the hell did he-?"
"Not important!" Said Ryuji, "Let's get going! See you later Ann!"
"Good luck you four!" said Ann
And just like that, they were off. Going to Yongen-Jaya, but what awaited them where they were going to go? What is next for our band of heroes so far? And will they be able to do to Kamoshida and his Shadow? And… What is this?
Outside the school, before Ichigo, Ren, Ryuji, and Morgana made it there, there was a tragic sight for anyone, but sadly none of the students of Shujin Academy that were leaving the school paid it any mind, or they were adults that were too busy to even pay it any mind. The sight was of a small Shiba Inu, his frame, small and frail with age, the color of his fur was gray and white, and its eyes, despite being half-lidded, were a rapidly fading crimson. An aging dog, on his last legs of life, one that had left his old owners for the sake of saving them from heartache, or at least that is what the little dog hoped he did, wished he did, but the uncertainty was true… because despite him knowing that he SHOULD have perished days ago, he kept walking, he kept living. But even though he knew his days were numbered… he accepted that… just like his first owner, his group of owners, and then the one that took charge as his most recent owner before him, "Memento Mori" was chanted in his ear as he walked… he still felt like there was something he had to do. Sadly, his feet gave out under him, forcing him to land on the ground. There was nobody there to save him, nobody there to make his final moments any easier… today was the day… today was the day he was going to
"Hey, Ichigo! Look at this!"
He felt hands force their way under his body, lifting him, he came face to face with an orange-haired man with brown eyes.
"He looks sick, We got to help him!" said a girlish voice
"Agreed. Ren, do you know where we can find a doctor?" said the teenager with brown eyes
"No, but I know someone who might! He is in Yongen, so he is on the way!" said a brown-haired teenager
"Ok. Let's get going. NOW!" said the orange-haired teenager