Through Heart and Soul: To Love-Ru (改訂版)

by The Red Infinity

Sainan Town is a small city on the outskirts of Japan which is known to be a peaceful and quiet town. One of the residents, Yuuki Rito lives a quiet life there with living and spiritual alike. That is, until the greater worlds of both the spiritual realms and outer space collide and it falls into Rito's hands to help rework the balance of it all.

13. Fangs of the Dragon

⦏ Bleach (stylized as BLEACH) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. ⦐
⦏ To LOVE-Ru is a Japanese manga series written by Saki Hisemi and illustrated by Kentaro Yabuki, creator of Black Cat. ⦐
⦏ As shown above, I do not own the characters introduced or alluded to within either series but am simply a writer telling of a fanfiction that's aim is to meld their stories together. . . Possibly. ⦐
⦏ I only own what original characters will be introduced in this story, the first example being Masaki Inoue. ⦐
ー Disclaimer

---

⦏ Wednesday: July 16th, 2008 ⦐
❲ 7:49 a.m. ❳

Oshizu's day began just like any other. She outstretched her ethereal arms toward the rays of sunlight that peered in through the torn ceiling of the abandoned building she took shelter within.

It was quite a shame that she lost the abandoned school building as a shelter. It was a comfortable, secluded area. There, she may at least get one or two visitors. Even when those alien men gathered in the vicinity, she at least had some company: even though the ability to sleep was taken as the toll.

Nowadays? There was no one.

She had to admit that over the past while she has gotten the best sleep she had in ages. But the toll this time was that she felt lonely. She missed Rito and the bunch...

Rito.

She wondered if he had recovered well enough from the fight with that Shinigami. That line of thinking lead her to also ponder on why she had not been pursued by the agent since then. Perhaps he returned to that Soul Society place?

As a Nehanrei, Oshizu had never seen what the worlds of those passed on looked like. She was someone out of the loop in regards to the soul cycle.

While it came with the perk of being able to inhabit the Living World free from worry about becoming a Hollow, it also bore the burden of being a target of the Shinigami.

Even so, she had people she could call friends now, so that gave her some levity despite it.

Speaking of which, perhaps she should go see them. She had been meaning to explore the world and see how it had changed since it made contact with her.

That sounded like a plan, yes.

Thus, the girl had set out for the day.

What a beautiful morning it had been!

She floated around for a few minutes that felt like forever to her. Basking in the sunlight she could only partially feel, she still enjoyed the atmosphere that went along with it. The moment she had stopped embracing in the atmosphere, she realized she was now approaching Sainan High.

Perhaps she truly did miss the abandoned schoolhouse, as she surmised that was the direction she was headed for.

With a glance toward the gate, she would notice students beginning to gather. Oh yes, she supposed school was about to begin for them. A further glance allowed her to notice that Rukia had been stepping to the gate herself, but without the company of Rito or Lala.

"...does she always walk alone?"

"Yup. She did last time I was here, too."

"Is that so..."

Wait a moment. Who was she conversating wi-

When she had turned around, her jaw dropped loose when she saw who it was. The man that had attacked Rito the other night!

"Y-you're that Shinigami!"

"Correct‼"

Oshizu's shock turned into disappointment as she saw the man pull at a string of his hat. When he had, the top of it had sprung up with an O symbol presented to the girl.

After a few times of pulling the string, he would let it back down with a soft grin on his face as he crossed his arms.

"Do you plan on attacking me again...?"

"No." He pulled his hat again, an X on it instead, "My business only has to do with Kuchiki Rukia this time, so you can feel free to do whatever."

"R-Rukia-san!?"

She recalled that she was brought up as a topic when Rito confronted him the other night. Apparently there was some crime she had committed...?

The ghost girl turned her head. She had to give warning to the others!

When she noticed Rito's group approaching, she quickly floated down toward them.

"Rito-san‼"

Oshizu called for him, but she found her cries unheard. Should she use her powers to get his attention? Ah, that would be a bit much, would it not...?

But if she did not warn him quickly, things might turn out awful!

Okay, Oshizu, just have to stop him and he'll notice. A surefire pla-

"Haruna, what's with you today? You're never so far behind."

"S-sorry! I overslept!"

Oshizu was too caught up in her thoughts at the moment to realize she had been heading straight for a crash.

At least, what would have been a crash. Instead...

❲ 3:53 p.m. ❳

...she flung straight into poor Haruna's body. She had seen Rito enter his body before from Soul State, but that was one thing. That was his body, after all.

In her case, she had entered Haruna's, which already harbored a soul. From what readings Mikado gave, she was unintentionally causing Haruna harm by remaining in her like this.

Oh, she never intended to make things worse.

She rubbed her... Well, Haruna's fingers against her temple. There had to be something she could do to help in this matter...

"If it's a search for Kuchiki, then I'll accompany you." Yui's voice was the first that Oshizu heard.

Lala hummed at that, "I don't think it's really necessary, though."

"More eyes to search around would be good, wouldn't it?" Yui retorted.

O-Haruna frowned at this. How long did they plan to fight...?

"I don't mind if we all searched." O-Haruna spoke up.

"Sniff Sniff Trace-Kun can do perfectly fine."

"You mean the pervert bot that snoops on the girls' changing room? Absolutely not."

O-Haruna felt a sweat roll down the back of her head at that. She had no idea that such a thing would be in Lala's possession. She supposed that she could not know what to expect from an alien princess...

She heard Masaki audibly sigh as he walked over to the pair.

He gently placed his hands on either of Yui's shoulders as he began to push her out of the room.

"Didn't you have a meeting at the Morals Committee today? Don't wanna miss out on that!"

"What- But Sairenji-"

"Lala's got it covered!"

"Masaki-kun—!"

Whatever else Yui had to say was cut off as the distance they had from the room increased.

Well, she supposed that solved the issue of who would travel alongside her. She moved her attention toward Lala, who walked over to her with a bright smile.

She wondered why her and Yui failed to get along...

"Are you ready to go?" Lala asked.

O-Haruna had looked to her for a moment. She then gave a light nod of her head.

"Yes, I am."

Whatever may happen, she needed to be resolute. After all, this was for Haruna's sake, as well. They may not have known each other personally, but she would like to be friends with her just like she was with Rito and Lala.

---

"—if that's how you want to play it..."

Rito reached into his bag. It rustled for a moment before he drew out Kon, who had immediately kicked around, making kung fu noises.

"What the!? What's the trouble, what's goin' on!?"

"Nevermind that, just gimme your pill."

"Huh!? At least explain to me what's goin o-"

Kon was unable to finish as Rito shoved his hand into the plush's throat. His bead eyes opening wider despite physics as he felt the hand swimming into his core.

After some struggle, Rito would pull his hand back out: the pill in hand... covered in saliva.

"Ugh. I didn't even know plushes could have spit in their mouths..."

He wiped it off on his shirt as he dropped the doll into his fallen bag. After it was cleaned off, he tossed it into his mouth.

After an audible gulp, Rito's Soul State would eject from his body as it hit the floor.

"—Rito's down!" Mio called from the distance, unable to see what truly happened.

Then Kon raised his head from the ground and shook it, pushing himself up from the ground with a hop.

"And he's back up again!"

Back over to the confrontation, Kon would point his finger at Rito with a scowl.

"You didn't have to manhandle me like that, asshole!"

"Sorry, sorry. I'll make it up to you later." Rito began to pull at his sleeves, a wide grin on his face, "For now, though? Just watch me mop the floor with this guy!"

Ren gave a soft smirk at this. His hand raising to slip into his breast pocket. When it had, he drew from it what looked at first glance to be a silver coin with a strange insignia in its center that Rito did not recognize.

"Hey, what's tha-"

Without elaboration, Ren would snap the coin in two. With a spin of his heel, he threw the two pieces far off into the distance with an impressive throw.

Rito and Kon both sweatdropped at the sight, completely unsure of what to make of it.

"W-what the hell was that!?"

"The setup needed for this duel between us." Ren returned.

"Setup...?" Kon echoed with a raised brow.

Ren raised a finger with his smirk still intact, "It was Hollow Bait. By crushing it and scattering it into the atmosphere, I've made it so Hollows will gather here in this town."

Rito's eyes widened at this. A sense of dread seemed to cover his features.

"What—!?"

"The one who defeats the most of the gathered Hollows within the next 24 hours will have won this duel. How about that for the rules?" Ren flicked his hand through his hair, "They're simple and easy enough for someone like you to understand."

Rito stomped his foot on the ground, "What the hell are you talking about!? Are you an idiot?!" He marched forward, grabbing onto Ren's collar, "Who in their right mind would put an entire town in harm's way just for the same of some duel!? What the hell is wrong with you!?"

It was then that Ren's smirk finally lowered. Instead, he grit his teeth as he glared back at Rito.

"KEEP YOUR MORALS TO YOURSELF!" Ren barked back, "It's completely unnecessary to be concerned about other people!"

Ren smacked off Rito's hands and took a step back. When he had, he raised his arm to present the cross that dangled from his wrist.

"I will kill the gathered Hollows without leaving a single survivor!" His eyes then narrowed, "So that's all you should focus on as well. That is, if you have the confidence to protect people from Hollows."

Rito merely stared up at the Quincy in complete disbelief.

"You should be able to take on a challenge like this." Ren huffed as he turned away, "Now if you'll excuse me. I have Hollows to kill..."

---

"Quincy..." Urahara let the word sit on his tongue for his moment as he rested his chin in his palm, "That's a word I haven't heard in a long time."

"A long time...?" Rukia echoed, curious on how far the subject dwells.

"It certainly does have an ancient connotation, doesn't it...?" Tessai arrived soon to set down a cup of tea for their guest, who listened intently to the both of them, "For me, it has been roughly 200 years since the last I've heard anything regarding them."

"200 years...?"

Rukia blinked. That meant that these Quincy were around longer than she had been alive. If that were the case, why was this the first time she was aware of them!?

"Explain that to me! What the heck is a Quincy!?"

"I think the better question would be who were they..." Urahara calmly replied, "In a long time's past, there were a people that lived beside humans and monsters alike. While they looked human on the outside, they had the ability to access spiritual power just like us Shinigami. Together, they formed a clan that was destroyed more than 200 years ago..."

"Did you say destroyed...?"

"Yes. As far as we can understand, they were humans who, like dear old Rito, had the ability to detect the existence of Hollows. Their clan truly began when they begun training to confront them. To defeat the Hollows, like Shinigami can." Urahara lowered his gaze some, "However, there was a distinct difference between the Shinigami and Quincy... One that dug a deep ditch that lay between them since ancient times..."

"To kill, or not to kill." Urahara gestured a hand toward the side, where Tessai would present a board with drawings that... Rukia had to admit she was envious of. "As you know, the Shinigami fight to purify Hollows and allow them passage to the Soul Society. The Quincy though? The fight Hollows for one purpose..."

When the diagram turned to show the fate of the Hollow mask on the right, Rukia's eyes widened.

"The complete extermination of Hollows." Kisuke elaborated on what she was seeing, "If you think about it, it's only natural. After all, they were human. Hollows devour the souls of humans. 'Why must it be that they, who harm and kill friends and relatives, get sent peacefully to Soul Society?' Whomever thought so, could see what they did as reasonable."

"So they stubbornly tried to kill Hollows. They held the faith that they were avenging their friends." Kisuke then lowered his hand as Tessai retracted the board, "However, it was only according that it ended up being that very faith..."

Rukia's eyes slowly widened.

"—that lead them to their demise."

---

『 Tʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ Hᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴀɴᴅ Sᴏᴜʟ: To-Love Ru 』
【 Chapter 13 | A Crease in the Clear Skies ~𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧~ 】

---

As clouds passed over the blue skies above Sainan Town, the skies seemed to be beautifully clear as usual.

Though, with a closer inspection, one would come to notice there was a disturbance. A rumbling began to sound.

Soon after this rumbling came apart the very skies themselves. A small black tear in its blue that made way into a darker place beyond it. Crawling out from it would be a Hollow's head that screamed out into the winds. As if it were a declaration of defiance against the serenity that existed before its presence.

This defiance, however, was prematurely decimated as a stream of blue light shot through it. Its body vanished into thin air, leaving the crack as the only evidence of its appearance.

Glaring up at it from the streets below had been Ren, who narrowed his eyes.

"That makes 8..."

Swiftly, the boy shifted his gaze behind him. He swirled around to fire another shot.

"9..."

Another.

"10..."

The next much faster than the last.

"11..."

His eyes narrowed as he heard the sky crackle further behind him.

His opponent, Yukki Rito, was quite the fool.

Unlike him, Ren knew exactly who the Hollows would be targeting. High spiritual pressures that mostly surrounded that boy.

Hmph.

Rito had better color himself lucky that Ren had no intention of leaving a single Hollow that appeared alive. At least then, that failure would realize just how insignificant his power was in comparison to the Quincy's.

That powerlessness will lead him to the grave. Just as He predicted.

---

"Haaa~h."

Tatsuki frowned. She dropped the water bottle she had been drinking from into the trash can once she downed the last of its contents.

She felt rather accomplished. After all, the Martial Arts Club managed to win the Tokyo Competition, with her as the MVP. She was in great condition physically. She also had no doubt in her mind that she would come back from Nationals with gold. The team was starting to liven up given that exams were over, and summer was right around the corner.

Her grades were well enough to keep her from having to take remedial classes, so she was satisfied enough with them.

But lately...? She had been feeling lethargic.

She was not exactly sure why, but she had a few guesses.

The first thing that came up to mind was the whole deal between Rito and that transfer, Rukia. It was freaky to learn that she was from some death god who was actually in their school cause she was having Rito of all people fight monsters Tatsuki herself was completely unaware of all this time.

Or... Was she...?

She was suddenly drawn back to the memory of the Spirit Hunter Broadcast... Her brain told her that there was nothing peculiar about the evening and the show went on perfectly. But... Somewhere deep within...

"Mika, you're just the cutest, I mean it!"

"Ahahaha... Really, Yoshi?"

"I'm serious!"

"Oh, wai- Stop that, Yoshi! Someone might see us!"

"It's fine, nobody's watching us."

"Don't you have a car...? Or somewhere that's more—"

"Dammit—" Tatsuki ground her teeth, "They've been flirting all day..."

How the hell was she supposed to concentrate with the two in front of her being all over each other and so damn loud!? They could take their lovey dovey crap somewhere else!

"THEY'RE JUST DAMN GHOSTS!"

Correct. The two she had been referring to were a couple of apparitions, a man and a woman, who embraced one another while laughing and smiling in the warmth of the other's company.

Hell, if she wanted to see something like that, she would just go find wherever Lala and Rito were. Knowing them, they were probably together...

Together.

Tatsuki lifted her head to stare up at the sky above her.

That was just another thing that bugged her lately. She thought things were already complicated enough with that Lala. Some girl who came from outer space and ended up starstruck for Rito. She even went so far as to claim him as her fiancé before even being transferred.

Now all of a sudden, her childhood friend pops up out of nowhere...?

Not to mention Haruna had been weird today, too.

So much on her mind, but not a single damn answer to what she should say or do about any of it...!

It pissed her off. This feeling of cluelessness ate at her.

She thought just being in the know would be enough for her. To at least have some idea of what strange happenings were going on where she was not looking. But, that was just not the case anymore.

After all, it only confirmed that all this time that she thought Rito looked so worried about every little thing all the time. Days he spent digging up flowers for the sake of people who died before he ever got the chance to meet them...?

Those times all started to make sense. To the point where she agonized over it.

She remembered his answer when she confronted him on the subject of him seeing ghosts so long ago. He denied the possibility. All with a dumb smile on his face.

Why was she stupid enough to believe him back then...?

Sometimes she had to even wonder if she really could consider herself his friend. She reflected on the matter and thought back to those old days, the days where he would only ever smile or cry to keep that same smile.

She normally only ever thought about it once a year. But since encountering Oshizu, her mind seemed to always be focused on those times.

Back in the days where she actually understood Rito as a person.

From the fourth grade up until the near end of Elementary, she had a firm grasp of his character. But on that rainy night, it was all gone.

She left out a key part about the story when she reflected it to Haruna...

During the third year of Junior High, Tatsuki became aware of how she felt about him. Whenever she would catch them attempting to interact, the awkwardness was mutual and they ended up not even uttering a word.

She knew from then that they were both into one another.

Tatsuki saw it as an opportunity. If she set those two up, then maybe that night would not have to haunt them anymore...

Maybe Rito would smile like he used to again. Even if it meant—

"AAAAGH!" She suddenly screamed out in frustration, running her hand through her hair frivolously.

Why the hell was her mind thinking so hard about this, anyway!?

A boy and a girl liked each other. She was friends with both! It was only natural she would want them to be happy together!

As her thoughts turned toward Haruna, she gulped.

Of course, as her best friend, she wanted nothing more than to voice these frustrations to her, but... How would you approach someone like Haruna about this...?

She was utterly terrified of anything that remotely related to the spiritual. So to tell her that not only were ghosts commonplace, but there were ghost monsters roaming around?

Tatsuki would probably never even get to finish before Haruna clocked out from terror.

Even so, she let out a sigh. She had been talking to her far less lately. Tatsuki hoped that Haruna was not upset about that...

But... Of course she would be...

She shook her head and stepped off of the wall she leaned on. She brushed past the apparition couple, who were thrown off as their bodies fizzled out briefly from Tatsuki passing through them.

---

His sword swung swiftly, cutting through the arm of a Hollow before it could land the attack it intended for an innocent soul.

As the Hollow recoiled from the attack, Rito was quick to take the initiative. He stabbed forward strike his blade at the nape of the Hollow, the force of the blow throwing its entire body onto its side to slide against the pavement.

After one more swing of his blade, he pulled it with an upward swing. The blade having cut through the neck of the beast.

The young man retracted his blade with a growl.

Utterly ridiculous!

That Ren bastard pissed him off to no end!

There was no way he had a completely straight face when he decided to set off the entire town as a infestation zone of Hollows! The nerve of him!

Rito swung his head back. His expression morphed into a scowl as he saw more Hollows beginning to gather behind him.

He quickly drew his blade and charged forward. With a roar, he slashed through them with no hesitation.

That made five in just the span of a second.

Rito cursed himself.

His range of detection was far too narrow to cover the entire town. He was just not capable of doing so on his own.

He needed a way to know where the danger was...

It was then that he came to a realization. Before, he was under the impression that Rukia's pager was broken, but—

Rito's attention turned behind him to Kon, who kicked the disintegrating corpse of a slain Hollow off of him. When he noticed that the boy's gaze was drawn his way, he looked back with a blank expression.

"Kon! We've gotta split up and find Rukia‼"

"Huh!?" Kon placed a hand over his chest, "You just forced me into this mess of yours, and now you're trying to work me to the bo—"

"RIGHT NOW ISN'T THE TIME‼" Rito struck Kon over the head so hard it wobbled back and forth, "I'll make it up to you later, so GO‼"

"OW!" Kon rubbed his head as he retreated from the scene, "Jeez, it's your own head! What kind of crazy person would hit themselves that hard!?"

---

The hero of the people, Don Kanonji, had paused in the midst of his dressing for the next shooting. There was a disturbance in the force. He could tell that there was the large stench of an evil spirit around...!

"Mister Kanonji, please don't move!"

---

「 𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬｡ 」

---

"—hm?" Urahara raised his gaze.

Rukia struggled to understand why that would be the case. Was she missing something?

"Is something wrong, Kisuke?"

Before receiving an answer, her pocket would erupt with the sounds of beeping.

"Shit! A Hollow!? At a time like this!?" Rukia had drawn her Denreishiki, "Sorry, Kisuke, I'll have to continue this nex—"

Rukia's eyes snapped wide.

The signal had already vanished? Well then, that Rito turned out to be quite efficient, even without her. Though, she supposed that she should expect that after he managed to defeat Grand Fisher.

Wait. Another signal had come just as quickly!? No. Not just one... More. They only seemed to multiply indefinitely.

Just... What the hell was going on—?

This rapid increase in Hollows... It was just completely impossible—

Immediately, Rukia rushed out of the store. When she had...

The last thing she had ever expected to see was a massive black crack in the blue sky.

"What is with the sky—?" Rukia's thoughts absolutely had to escape from her lips, "What is... This spiritual disturbance—!?"

She knew that cracks appeared in space when Hollows appeared. But she had never seen one that spanned across the horizon like this...

---

"HE—Y, MIKAN—‼"

Mikan stared off into the distance. Her eyes gazed out toward the sky.

Unlike her friends who were walking nearby, Mikan could see the black crease in the air. The one that was slowly coming to bend the sky itself.

Her eyes snapped wide.

Was something happening again...?

Was... Rito in trouble—?

"You wanted to go shopping, right?" Sachie asked, "We'd better go soon!"

"Ah, r-right!"

---

Tatsuki had her hands tucked into her skirt pockets.

She had thought that this walk would help her relax some. But instead, she just had a terrible feeling welling up within her. One that only raked up indefinitely given her uncertainty of what the feeling even was.

It felt disgustingly familiar... But just why was that...?

"Is she ignoring us...?"

"Nah, man. She clearly just didn't hear us."

Oh, she figured out the part that disgusted her.

Tatsuki's brow twitched as she looked in the corner of her eye.

Two punk looking guys were following behind her. Definitely looking to get some favors out of her. The variety she had no intention of giving out.

"Come on, Miss. Spare us some of your time?" Yama-bro insisted, "We promise it won't be a waste of it."

"Yeah. It can go on for as long as you want it to." Shiro-bro spoke up from behind, earning a skeptical glance from his partner.

"Oh really...?" Tatsuki looked back with a grin on her face.

It was then that her skirt upraised.

Why?

It was because she kicked off the air and dropkicked into the face of Yama-bro. The man being flung back by the force of the attack straight into Shiro-bro.

When she landed on the ground, she placed a hand on her hip as she glared down at the fallen men.

"Then that's all the time you get out of me."

She was about to merely turn away with a huff, but the least expected thing came to pass...

Suddenly, a massive burst erupted behind her. The sound of the crash reverberating in her ears from the close proximity as dust kicked up past her. The force of it had almost thrown her off balance.

"W-whoa..." Shiro-bro sat up from his dazed state, "That freaked me out...!"

"What was that just now!?" Yama-bro pulled Shiro-bro up from the ground once he himself recovered, "A gas explosion!?"

"Whatever it was, I'm outta here!"

The both of them had taken the initiative to evacuate from the scene. A decision that proved to save them from a grim fate in their near future.

A fate that would have been delivered by the hands of the mighty beast which stood in the center of the fading haze. A large bipedal Hollow with an extremely muscular body. Its arms noticeably widened as they progressed from its shoulders, culminating in almost cube-shaped fists which matched the size of the Chinese guardian mask over its face.

From Tatsuki's perspective, however...

It was nothing more than a massive haze. No. Something existed within that haze. She could not make out exactly what it was, but...

She was certain that something was standing before her.

She had no time to question it however. Her instincts demanded her to run. A quick leap to the side to any outside perspective would have made her seem like she was just bouncing around.

But the sudden eruption of the ground where she previously stood had told her that it was an action that saved her life just now.

In quick succession, she bobbed her upper body toward the left. The haze now looming past her shoulder.

Was it targeting her specifically...?

If that were the case, then...

Tatsuki spun on her heels to dash toward the direction opposite of the two thugs that fled.

They may have annoyed her earlier, but that was no reason to want them to die brutal deaths courtesy of whatever the hell was after her.

Whatever it was, she could figure out how to deal with it once she was in a secluded area. One where no one else would be caught in the crosshairs.

If she kept up for at least a little while longer, she could reach a lot nearby. She was more than sure that it should be vacant around this time.

For now, all of her thoughts needed to be concentrated on one thing...!

---

「 𝐀𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬｡ 」

---

"Just perfect..."

The Shinigami that had fought Rito crouched over the edge of a rooftop as he watched more cracks form in the skies ahead. Behind him was a pile of Hollow corpses, all of which slowly dissolved into black mist.

He had not been given the clearance to exterminate Hollows within Sainan Town. However, there were far too much of them for him to ignore. Especially given that that kid was not even strong enough to put up a fight.

Rising from his perch, he leapt to the skies. As the wind brushed around his form, he drew his blade. In the instant the metal showed itself to the world, it cut through a line of Hollows before they could emerge from their cracks.

He was able to easily mow through them, but he still felt that something was amiss here. This rampant appearance of Hollows was not random. It was far too many for that to be the case.

Were they all simultaneously attracted by something...?

His eyes snapped wide as he felt a number of powerful presences. Dammit, each of them were too far for him to take on himself. Now he had to root for the kid.

What a mess this day has become...

"Rito—‼"

A familiar voice caught the swordsman's eye, his attention looking to the streets below. It was there that he saw Rukia running, clearly in search of the aforementioned kid.

Well, he supposed there was no reason not to say hello in all this chaos. Not like he could focus on his mission with all of this going on.

Allowing the concentration he had on his feet to cease, he began to sink toward the earth below in rapid speeds.

Rukia stopped when she noticed something approaching. She quickly turned her head to see that a Hollow was making its way toward her, she raised her hand and allowed energy to gather against it.

It was too close for an incantation, so she would have to use—

The descending Shinigami's blade struck first. The Hollow slashed through horizontally with a precise strike which evaporated its body immediately.

When the corpse had vanished from view, he sheathed his sword. Standing upright, he pulled his hat up to look at her with a grin.

"Why, hello there, Kuchiki-san~"

When he had addressed her by name, the girl froze. After a good second of eye contact, she broke it to give more attention to checking over his figure.

When she had, she took a step back while clutching her Denreishiki tightly.

"You must be the Shinigami who attacked Rito..." She narrowed her eyes, "Just who are you?"

Unbelievable. Had she truly questioned it...? Well, he supposed it had been quite some time since they last saw one another.

There was no harm in humoring her.

"Kuchiki Rukia... That's a name that everybody at Shin'ō Academy knows."

A gasp came out of Rukia from that. Seems she did not expect her days at the academy to be brought into the picture.

"Let's face it, you're famous."

He could think back and remember it as clear as day. He remembered a time where everyone in the school would at least have one or two conversations with her as the main subject.

She must have felt like royalty walking through those halls. Every gaze. Every thought. All focused on her. A star that the people could gaze upon in the shape of one of their fellow students.

"Adopted in one of the Five Great Noble Houses, the Kuchiki Clan, you were known to the rest of the student body as the Princess of the Rukon District."

Rukia crossed her arms.

The swordsman then raised a hand toward his hat, "And I, of course, am Saido Eikichiro. You remember me, right?"

—the silence was far more audible than Saido would have liked.

He then stomped forward and leaned his body forward, "Maybe this will ring a bell for ya: they call me that really funny guy..." He then stepped even closer to Rukia, her just staring up at him with an unamused glare, "...right~?"

"—I've never heard of you."

Saido double took as if he were struck in the gut by a powerful punch. One that was enough to knock the wind out of him for a moment.

After he lowered his hand, he swiftly spun around. That allowed him the time to cut through another Hollow before it jumped at the pair.

"Well, no matter." Saido raised his head, his face stern, "There's another very important matter we must attend to."

Rukia seemed hesitant for a moment, but then took a combat stance.

From all around them, Hollows came rushing in as a massive horde. There was no time to make any other decision than to either fight for their lives or run.

Their choice? Of course, it was to fight.

---

Lala had been holding O-Haruna by her arms while she took flight over the city. Hopefully, they would be able to catch a glimpse of Rukia soon.

It did not help that she actually was unaware of where she would actually be if not by Rito's side.

After all, they were together so much that people were making rumors that they were an item, despite Lala making it perfectly clear for everyone that she and Rito were going to be married!

It made her puff her cheeks in annoyance.

At least Rukia did not seem to be making any advances on him. Otherwise, those rumors would be more than just an annoyance.

"Lala-san? Are you alright?"

She blinked when she looked down to the girl in her arms, a smile crossing her features.

"Yup! I'm A-Okay! How about you, Oshizu-chan?"

"I'm alright." The possessed girl gave a smile, "Though... I never realized flying would be so nerve-wracking when you have to worry about falling..."

"Aww, don't worry about that! I wouldn't let that happen to you!" Lala assured with a smile of her own.

"Lala-sama, something seems to be approaching us."

Her eyes immediately looked ahead to see what it was Peke might have been referring to.

They certainly caught onto what they were speaking of quick.

In the distance was a massive dragonfly, its wings flapping violently against the air. But Lala had never seen one of those when flying around before...

Did that mean it was—

⦗ BGM Cue ー heat of the battle ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

No time for that. A cry from Peke was enough for her to quickly make a beeline downward. A whipping sound in the air signaling her to the fact that she managed to dodge an attack just now.

"L-Lala-san!?"

O-Haruna held onto her for dear life, while also clutching onto the D-Dial tightly. That was good for Lala, as she could instead focus on keeping them out of harm's way.

As she descended toward the ground, she would swipe in either direction as more attacks came down. Her gaze moved back toward the bursts in their surroundings. Her eyes widened upon the sight of what the attacks actually were.

"Lala-sama, it seems at first glance to be compressed air!"

Lala frowned. That was certainly part of it. Though, at the same time, she could not shake the feeling that there was something more to it than that.

At any rate, she kept onward. The wind brushed over the pair of them as Lala made graceful sways to avoid each coming blast one after the other.

Screams and panic would soon fill the unknowing citizens that were devastated thanks to the destruction, but that was not Lala's priority at the moment.

What was far more pressing was the fact that the blasts were becoming sharper. Quicker. To the point that she was just barely able to dodge without harm while still carrying O-Haruna.

She cursed her limitations...!

The pinkette looked down to O-Haruna with a stern gaze.

"Oshizu-chan! We're going to have to split up!"

"W-wait, what!?"

"Input this code into the D-Dial—"

Once they began to hover closer to the ground, Lala would allow her wings to droop. This allowed for them to drop toward the ground with a light bounce thanks to Lala's agile reflexes.

When O-Haruna did as told, what would be projected from the device was what looked to be a toy wand in shape with bat wings sticking out of its top.

Lala stepped over to O-Haruna, taking the D-Dial and wand from her hands. Gently, she pushed a few buttons on the device and out came a small circular device which seemed to have a radar on it. Its marker blinked as a blue flame symbol appeared in the corner of its radius.

"Take this, Oshizu-chan. It should lead you to where Rukia is."

"B-but, will you be alright, Lala-san?"

"Don't worry, I'll be okay!" Lala pumped a fist with a small smile on her face, "I'm not trained up like Rito, but I know how to defend myself!"

O-Haruna looked to the device she was handed with a reluctant frown. But, she was aware that she could not assist Lala due to her current limitations, so she decided instead to follow the device as told.

As O-Haruna took to run off, another compression flew down toward her.

Lala narrowed her eyes at this, stamping her feet on the ground.

She personally preferred to stay out of the front lines. After all, what combat training she got from Zastin was far more suited for hit and run tactics than direct confrontation.

However, if Rito was not here, there clearly was something that was holding him up. That meant that it was all up to her from this point forward.

—and as his bride to be, she would not fail to hold her own.

The wings on her back had arched backward as she crouched.

The wand in hand soon flickered to life with clicking sounds as the wings on top had suddenly slammed forward and collided with one another. In the spark that followed, they would begin to swirl into one another. In an instant, they would be replaced with a long blade which protruded from its end.

It was then that Lala kicked off of the ground.

Using her wings to increase the speed of her forward leap, she would make it in well enough time to come between the compression and O-Haruna. She swung forth her blade, the hazy coil dragging against its edge in the first clash before it inevitably was cleaved in two by the sword she wielded.

When she had, she looked down to see that two halves of what seemed to be a stinger laid on the ground in two craters beside her. She figured there was something more to those earlier attacks.

She had no intention of finding out what being hit by those would do to her.

It was then she took off to the skies. That way, she could fight it without risking harm to O-Haruna. After all, it was not only Oshizu in danger, but Haruna, whose body she possessed, as well.

Two more shots were sent her way.

No problem for Lala, though, as her sword proved swift at cutting through them.

Now, if she remembered Rukia's teachings to Rito... The most effective way of dealing with Hollows were their masks. She flew forward with a kick off the air. The wind brushed around her as she arched her blade.

When she thrusted it forward, the weapon had passed through what seemed to be air itself. Lala's eyes widened at this.

"Lala-sama, it's moving!"

Immediately, her gaze snapped over to the side. There she would see that the Hollow was whipping through the air at impressive speeds, even for her standards.

Even so... Her Anti-Gravity System could still keep up!

Lala flew after the Hollow with a quickness. Chasing it through the skies as the beast passed into a cloud. When it did, she would narrow her eyes to keep her focus as the white puff clouded her view whilst she traveled into it.

It was when she emerged on the other side that she would see what the opponent's plan had been the whole time.

Its tail raised toward her, she would see the coils of wind rotating into its edge as a golden stinger came to protrude from the open end. Unlike the shots fired before, the coils were beginning to amass a red glow to them, something that Peke caught onto.

"This attack will be stronger than the others!"

Lala had a suspicion that were the case. But it was too late for her to move out of range. Just when she made to do so, the bullet was fired straight into her direction.

The quickest thing she could do was raise the flat end of her sword.

When the stinger struck against it, Lala felt herself dragged back by the momentum of the collision. A red stream ran through the air as it dragged her across the aerial battlefield.

In an instant, a building came to burst as the stream ran through it. The debris rapidly dropped down toward the streets below.

Within, Lala had panted while she pushed the rubble collected over her off.

Now, instead of her uniform, she had been wearing Peke's basic Dress Form. Though it was rather battered thanks to the collision.

"Are you alright... Lala-sama...?" Peke grunted out.

"Yes, thanks to you." Lala looked up to her hat with a smile, "Great job, Peke."

She looked to her weapon in hand, it was still intact. Though the blade form glitched briefly. She only needed it to last long enough... Though, it would be better to ensure it can be used at the most effective moment.

Dismissing the wand, she would draw out her D-Dial and input another code onto the pad. What was to emerge from the shimmering light of the screen would be a bazooka adorned in the usual trademark design of all her machinery.

⧼ Transmit Confirmed: STICKY GOOEY LAUNCHER, DEPLOYED! ⧽ called out the device.

"Alright. Let's get you out of the sky...!"

Her lips curled into a smile as she leapt out from the debris and into the air. There, she would let the cannon unleash a flurry of shots. These shots consisting of viscous purple cannonballs that hurtled at the Hollow she faced off again.

To her disappointment, it seemed to have no trouble dodging her shots.

Boo! She needed to get a shot on its tail before it could fire another one of those big shots again.

So, she kept the shots coming. The Hollow made to dodge what it could as the distance slowly closed between them. For what it could not avoid, it shot its stingers at to take the burden of the blows.

Haha! Now she had it for sure!

Just had to keep the pressure on it and eventually one good shot would make its mark!

The roundabout kept up for a solid few seconds before Lala paused.

—Launcher-kun was out of ammo. Thus, it dismissed itself abruptly given it could no longer provide fire.

"Lala-sama... You should really apply a reloading feature to that one..."

"But I don't really ever use it often..." Lala rubbed her chin, "I guess one would be useful—"

Lala spun toward the side to narrowly avoid a direct hit from the stinger that launched her way. Her eyes snapped shut to bare the pain that was the cut on her thigh thanks to the attack. While Peke did work to repair the damage to her clothes, he had no functions to heal her actual person.

Before now, she never imagined herself ever getting hurt beyond just a few scratches from a failed experiment or two. Then again, every other time she would fight, it would be settled pretty easily. She liked to think of herself as fairly strong, after all!

Even so, these Hollows were no joke.

She knew she had watched Rito fight against some and come back wounded, but she supposed she never understood what was like to be on the receiving end until now.

Lala felt a small smirk develop on her features.

Now that she did understand... She could feel as though she had a better grasp of the new world the earthling had introduced her to.

Another code was input into her D-Dial with speedy movements of her thumb.

⧼ Transmit Confirmed: GRABBY GRABBY HAND, DEPLOYED! ⧽

Lala raised her arms upward, the device in hand this time having the handle of a jackhammer, but instead of a heavier end, it had been a metal claw.

Clicking the trigger, the claw would fire forward in a spiral as the dragonfly moved to pull away. In the midst of its motion, the claw would catch onto the bulk of its tail.

Lala cheered to herself at the success before she gave all of her strength into a downward swing. The Hollow was unable to escape its fate as it was whipped down to the ground with a hard crash. The streets below caving in slightly from the sheer weight of the creature.

From the explosion, the people that were minding their business below that stuck around this whole time finally chose to flee from the scene. The Hollow soon recovered from its daze and began to pull itself out from the crater.

Before it could fully recover, Lala would soar through the air down toward the beast. Her arms both outstretched as a pink light would form a swirl before her.

"I GOTCHA NOW‼" She boldly declared, "SPINNY SPUNNY ROPE-KUN‼!"

As she called her next invention's name, the light materialized into a metallic rope which had heart shapes on both ends. The rope, true to its name, swirled around rapidly as it approached the Hollow. Its size expanded all the while until it finally wrapped tightly and kept the beast bound to its position on the ground.

When the opportunity presented itself, Lala once again drew out her wand. The wings once again forming into the black blade she wielded moments ago.

She then flew forward and raised the sword overhead. Once she made it over the Hollow, she would dismiss her wings to allow herself to drop down hard.

The blade stabbed deep into the mask of the Hollow, causing it to bellow out into the heavens from the pain that overtook it.

Lala grumbled as she held it down while it squirmed in the bindings of her rope. Even still, she pulled the blade back some and then stabbed deeper.

A final yelp of pain was enough to silence the large beast.

⦗ BGM END ⦘

As she pulled her blade from its corpse, she wiped her forehead.

"I did a great job~!"

"That you did. Well done, Lala-sama."

Lala giggled at that.

She supposed she had better take a look at the signal she had O-Haruna follow. If she caught up now, she may even catch up with her. Or at least meet up with her soon, hopefully having already found Rukia.

---

"We'll see you tomorrow, okay, Mikan?"

"Okay, see you—!"

Mikan waved her friends off. A doting smile was on her face.

Internally, though? She was at a constant state of unease.

She was not doing well today.

A direct consequence of the strange atmosphere that only she could feel out of her friends. It bothered her to extents they could never understand. To the point where she could not even focus on half the useless conversations they had within the store.

She placed a hand over her face. She was supposed to make dinner soon, but she knew that this feeling was not going to die down anytime soon.

She supposed the best idea was to take a warm bath when she got home and get some sleep. She was sure there were enough leftovers for the pair of Rito and Lala to survive the night without her.

Her brother may have been useless in the kitchen, but he could at least handle a microwave.

Just as she had neared a turn toward a neighborhood close to her own, she stopped when she saw someone crouched over and leaning against the wall as they caught their breath.

To her surprise, this was someone she knew well.

"Tatsuki-san?"

In response, the tomboy raised her eyes toward her. Her lips parted slightly and her own features showed that she was just as surprised as Mikan was.

"Mikan..."

"I thought your house was on the other side of town, what are you doing h-"

Mikan was unable to complete her questioning as a blur rushed past her face.

One she had the luxury of not discovering to be a fatal blow thanks to Tatsuki's quick maneuver to tackle her out of harm's way. A massive fist having crashed straight into the ground where Mikan once stood.

When the owner of the fist leered over to glance toward them, the massive mask seeming to peer into the girl's very soul, Mikan's eyes snapped wide.

"What... Is that...?"

Tatsuki gave no answer as she merely glared up at the beast that drew closer.

---

「 𝐀 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧｡ 」

---

"This seems to be it."

Rukia looked down to her Denreishiki. There, she would be able to see that besides all of the other signals for Hollows, there was a larger one present at the location where she had been. One that was seeming to draw more out from its mere presence.

If they had dealt with it swiftly, then it should prove beneficial to the cause of clearing this mass congregation of Hollows.

While her situation was not ideal, she at least had a Shinigami at her side...

...who was asleep.

"Hey! Saido!" Rukia kicked at him, "GET UP! We have a job to do‼"

She stared at him with a twitching eye as she saw her efforts were in vain.

She could not believe this was the man Soul Society sent to keep tabs on her. How could he be so lax in a situation such as this? There were Hollows left and right, far too many to be fought through by any singular person.

Yet there he was. Off in whatever dreamland he could possibly conjure in this turmoil.

Well, whatever. She did not see him fit to be a good partner anyhow. She would just have to confront it alone. Hopefully, with any luck, Rito would already be on his way here. She just had to keep it busy until she could get a sense of his spiritual pressure.

She took a calm breath. She just needed to be cautious.

When she stepped into a shopping mall, the sight that greeted her was not one she had ever expected. Her eyes snapped wide as all seemed to be completely peaceful within the halls.

...except they were not.

The pedestrians within the building lacked any awareness that all of their shoulders had been perched by what looked to be... Leaches.

Rukia grit her teeth. She surmised that nothing about them could be good and thus prepared her hand to fire off a Sho at the ones within eyesight. She had to destroy them before they could cause any further damage.

Before she could fire, though, she suddenly felt a presence behind her.

She had no time to turn back and confirm its existence as she felt an impact at her side that had crunched her ribs. Her body was lifted into the air with ease. Though before she could go far, another impact would strike at her chest and fling her through the window into one of the nearby stores.

This startled the staff and customers within, who had all moved to avoid Rukia. The girl laid out atop of a now bisected manikin.

When she weakly raised her head toward what had struck her, she would find herself stared down by a Hollow that dwarfed her at over twice her height. The sound that slowly escaped from its locust mask was a hiss.

Rukia thrust her fist at the creature, attempting to fire a blast at it. Before she knew it, it had vanished from her sights.

Was that—

"Shun...po...?" Rukia mused to herself.

No. That was not possible for a Hollow like that. So, how was it that it moved so quickly...? At any rate, she had to stay alive...!

---

Yui stood outside of the school with a frown.

The meeting put her in the need of some reconnaissance. The utter lack of motivation any of them had, all because the summer break was approaching.

She was aware that they would have no need to uphold such duties over the break, yes. But they still had three more days of school.

If the Morals Committee lost their nerve when they were this close, then what kind of example would it set? It frustrated her to no end.

Though, she could not entirely blame them. After all, she also had to admit that she was a bit distracted herself.

Haruna's body had been possessed by Oshizu, the ghost that lived in the Old School Building.

Yui spun her head around and directed a stern glare toward a specter that had been following behind her with a lecherous gaze. Startled, the spirit fled with comical tears in his bespectacled eyes.

From what she understood, Oshizu was different than spirits like that. To such a degree that she would under normal circumstances be considered a threat to this Soul Society place that Rukia originates from.

Which meant that while Oshizu was inside Haruna, she may have inadvertently caused the poor girl to also be considered a target for them.

She saw the injuries that Rito had, which concerned her enough when she had no idea where they came from. It was nerve-wracking to think those came from a Shinigami.

If Rito ended up like that when he could fight back, then what would happen to Haruna when Oshizu could not?

Now she was forced to entrust both of their safeties to that Lala. Someone that she could personally only trust as far as she could throw her.

Not to mention that there was another thing that bothered her at the moment. She took a glance to the roofs of the school. There was something that disturbed her, but she had no way of confirming her suspicions just yet.

"Yui-chan, you're still here?"

Almost as if on cue, Masaki would arrive.

"I could ask you the same thing." Yui smiled gently toward him, "The rest of the Committee have lost their edges because of summer break, so I had to put in a bit more effort than usual today."

"That's so like you." Masaki shook his head lightly, "You know, you are allowed to just be Kotegawa Yui and not the Paragon of Morality sometimes."

"I know that!" Yui turned her gaze away with a huff, "Things could get out of hand if someone does not maintain order."

"That's definitely true." Masaki chuckled sheepishly, "I've seen some crazy stuff around lately."

"Most notably thanks to that Lala Satalin Deviluke." Yui unintentionally scowled as she recited the name, something that did not go unnoticed by her best friend.

"Yui-chan..." Masaki raised a finger to point at her, "She's a really nice person. I'm sure she's not all that bad."

"We don't know that..." Yui retorted.

In her mind, that was true. After all, if she would force Rito into marriage just to stay on Earth, what else could she be capable of? They had only seen a few of the inventions she has up her sleeve and it has made every school day as chaotic as it could possibly be!

"Are you sure you're not just saying that because you're jealous?" Masaki tilted his head lightly.

"What—" Yui's voice came out in a squeak as she tried her best to respond calmly. "W-what could even make you say something like that!?"

Masaki gave a sly grin, "Oh, I couldn't think of any reason at all."

Yui felt the need to slap him all of a sudden. As well as feeling her cheeks become almost too hot to bare.

But, when she began to think about it, she was struggling to find a way to deny it. Would denying it even be right...? It would be a lie to say she was not jealous.

But it would be embarrassing to say that she was!

"Urrrgggghhhhh—‼" Yui held either side of her head, averting her gaze from Masaki.

It only made her feel worse when she could clearly hear him snickering at her. He may have been her best friend, but he was such a jerk sometimes!

"KYAAAA‼"

The pair both looked to the distance as they suddenly heard a scream.

"What happened!?"

"ALL OF THE FIRST FLOOR WINDOWS ARE SHATTERED‼"

"IS ANYONE HURT?!"

"What... The...?"

While Yui did have some interest to investigate, she had a bad feeling. One that told her very being to not find out what had been going on.

Though, she knew that no matter how bad her feeling was... It would never be a match for Masaki's curiosity.

"Let's go check it out, Yui-chan!"

Just like that, he took off toward the source of the sound.

While she was thankful for the distraction from their earlier, she now was worried about something else. She glanced back toward the distance with a frown.

The light breeze of the wind was all that broke the silence.

---

⦗ BGM Cue ー the enemy unseen ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

When Tatsuki tackled Mikan to the ground, the ground erupted just as her instincts predicted. She braced herself for the rubble as she hugged onto Mikan's body to shield her from the debris. The wind that erupted from the impact ruffling her clothes.

When the dust had finally begun to settle, Tatsuki glanced back toward the site.

The haze ceased all movement. What could have been the reason for that...?

Was it waiting for them to make a move? Or was it something else...?

It frustrated Tatsuki that she could not tell anything more about it but the fact it was there. Shit. If only she could see whatever it was a little more clearly...

"It's... Happening again..."

Tatsuki perked up when she heard Mikan's voice slowly speak up.

"What... Is that...?"

Slowly, Tatsuki would turn back to see that Mikan's gaze was directed toward the haze. Though, her eyes showed to be tracing over its features, almost as if...

"What is that... Thing...?"

Could that actually mean that...?

"Mikan, you..." Tatsuki fully turned toward her as she closely observed the smaller girl's expression, "Can you see it... Clearly...?"

"Can... I see it...?" Mikan's gaze slowly moved up toward Tatsuki, still petrified by what she was witnessing, "What are you talking about...?"

Tatsuki was astonished by how Mikan had been treating her as if she were the odd one out in this situation.

"I can see it clear as day!"

Tatsuki seemed to struggle to process it. She supposed on one hand, her older brother was involved in whatever was really going on behind the scenes. It made sense that Mikan would also be able to see ghosts. But then, that meant that not only did she miss Rito's visibility of ghosts, but she also missed that her sister could see the very same things.

No wonder the pair gave strange glances to one another whenever she ate dinner at their place.

"TATSUKI! BEHIND YOU‼"

Tatsuki's eyes snapped wide as, sure enough, the presence she felt drew dangerously close.

Thanks to her own reflexes, she was able to tackle Mikan again and roll out of the way from a punch that struck the ground. As she slid against the ground, she looked toward where the hit landed...

There was no haze.

Was it... Gone?

"Tatsuki! On your right!" Mikan suddenly called out, "RUN‼"

Tatsuki jumped alongside Mikan as she heard the ground cave at the force of the haze.

"Tatsuki..." Mikan looked in the direction of the tomboy as she was looking around with squinted eyes, "Can you... Not see it?"

Tatsuki hesitated for a moment. Now the fact that Mikan, an eleven year old girl, was capable of seeing things that she herself could not: it was beginning to make her cheeks flare up.

"I-I can see it..." Tatsuki sheepishly gave back, "...somewhat." A barely audible add-on.

"So in short, you can't see much." Mikan deadpanned, Tatsuki's expression morphing to look as though she were slapped.

Mikan would dust herself off as she got up, looking toward the haze with a frown.

"Okay. It's starting to look like there's no other options here..." Mikan snapped her attention to the tomboy, "I'll be your eyes, so you hold onto me!"

. . .

"—Mikan, this is a terrible idea..."

"It's fine!"

Tatsuki felt her conscience beating at her.

Now she was on the run from whatever the hell was after her with Mikan on her back.

This was her friend's sister, and she was using her as a medium to see something that could kill either of them with one hit. Ugh. Why did she drag her into this?

"Use me if you have to, I don't care!" Mikan reinforced, "This isn't the first time I've seen these weird monsters!" Her fingers had clutched against Tatsuki's shoulder, "It's been bothering me this whole time... I want to know. I want to know what connection they have to Rito."

Tatsuki gave pause to that.

She had to admit. She felt the same herself before Oshizu explained everything to her. No. She still felt the same now. After all, to think that her friend was regularly fighting these things while she was blissfully unaware...?

The chord struck home for her.

"LEFT! DODGE‼"

Tatsuki hopped backward as instructed, her eyes widening as she almost saw... A hand that nearly struck her? She narrowed her eyes to try and focus on it better.

But it was to no avail. It quickly reverted back into a mere haze for her.

Damn! Why could she not see it!?

"Right...!"

Tatsuki moved her gaze to the side that Mikan had mentioned. But it was too close for her to avoid. So instead, she turned so that Mikan would not take any brunt of the blow.

Her eyes snapped wide as she felt her entire body double take, barely able to brace the impact that befell on them as the both of the girls were sent flying backward from the attack.

⦗ BGM END ⦘

When they had hit the ground, the two had both grunted from the pain. Tatsuki in particular had coughed out blood as she clutched her chest from the pain.

"T-Tatsuki!?" Mikan pulled herself up quickly and grabbed onto Tatsuki's shoulders to try and support her, "Tatsuki, are you alright!?"

"Hey, what's going on over here!?"

Tatsuki groaned as she lifted her head to take a look at who spoke up. It looked as though a police officer had arrived onto the scene. Most likely from someone calling about the sudden demolition going on involving that thing that chased her here.

"What happened to her!?" The officer questioned, "Have you been attacked? Did you see where the attacker went!?"

"You—" Tatsuki struggled to get her words out. The pain in her chest the largest sign of her body's defiance to the idea.

"YOU HAVE TO RUN!" Thus Mikan spoke for her, "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS—‼"

"Ma'am, I assure you that everything's going to be alright now." The officer spoke calmly, clearly unaware of the threat that loomed over them.

"I'M SERIOUS! DON'T COME NEAR US!"

"Here, if you feel threatened, I can assure we'll offer you our protection. Please, just come with me and I'll find your friend the help she n—"

Tatsuki and Mikan both looked in horror as the top half of the officer's body became a geyser of blood that rained over the street before them. Anyone who happened to be watching from that point would all flee in terror from the sight, their screams echoing behind them as they ran.

"NOOOOOOO—‼" Mikan bellowed in shock, her voice cracking somewhat.

Tatsuki cursed herself as she continued to wallow in her pain.

Damn it all, Tatsuki...! She had to get up! If she did not, then Mikan would end up like that next!

There was no way she could let that happen! If she had allowed a little girl to die by the hands of some monster, then there was no way she could ever be deserving of the title of Strongest.

She refused to be put on the sidelines any longer.

If there was some fight going on in secret, then she better damn well be part of it. After all, she has every intention to be the strongest woman there was!

She trained herself day in and day out. She took a great diligence to ensure that she was prepared for any fight. At any time.

This one presented before her...? It would be no different.

Tatsuki's hands firmly planted themselves against the ground. With a bolster of willpower, she forced herself to get up from the ground. Her eyes gave a brief glance to the red droplets that fell from her own body to the floor below her.

Mikan let out a cry in shock. The Hollow's arm swung down toward her once more. The poor girl only able to brace herself for her own demise.

Tatsuki had to admit. Rito was always a kinder person than her.

Now that she thought about it. So much was put into perspective. He went to great lengths to keep those dearly departed at peace. Replace flowers to honor them. Pick fights with gang members when they disturbed their resting places. Hell, even take beatings to ensure those very places are not desecrated.

Tatsuki was not someone who would go to such lengths. Not for any strangers, anyhow.

The people closest to her, though...?

"HAAAAGH—‼"

Mikan's eyes were wide as they focused on what had just transpired before her.

A blue flame washed over the air before her as the Hollow had cried out in pain. Caked in the center of this ember was a fist that struck clean into its forearm. The blow having caused the massive creature to stagger backward.

When the flames had cleared out, the Hollow had stood once more. Except it notably had a dent in the shape of a fist along where it was struck, the arm attached twitching violently.

The culprit behind this heavy blow was none other than Tatsuki, whose bangs covered over her eyes. When she lifted her head somewhat, one could easily mistake her eyes to have been glowing from her anger in that moment.

"Gotcha now, ya sonuva bitch—!"

「 [Instrumental] 」

Mikan lowered her arm slowly when the smoke came to clear from the clash. Her eyes moved upward to see the flames flickering from Tatsuki's knuckles.

"Ta... Tatsuki...?"

Tatsuki said nothing at first. She merely pulled her leg inward to straighten her stance.

"How did you... Do that...?"

Tatsuki raised a hand, wiping some sweat from her bleeding forehead. She gave some thought to the question as she now took a look at her knuckles that were lit ablaze.

She then turned around with a cheeky grin before boldly declaring: "I have no idea!"

Mikan deadpanned at what Tatsuki herself had to admit was an underwhelming answer. Though, her attention quickly moved toward the Hollow, whose attention was now focused on the tomboy.

"I-it's still—!"

「 Been a little while, but I'm still battlin'. Movin' fast, but you's just prattlin'. 」

"Don't worry, I've got it."

Tatsuki looked back toward the Hollow.

It looked to its twitching arm with a growl. It soon punched its own arm once. Twice. Three times. Finally, it would stop twitching. Allowing for it to control itself once more.

Then, it looked toward Tatsuki with a deep fury in its eyes. All before it swung its body in either direction as a roar escaped from its mask. The sound strong enough to emit a small sound wave that blew away the rubble around the three.

To this, Tatsuki merely clutched her fist tighter, the embers emanating from her knuckles flaring up some in response. Then, she kicked forward as she rushed toward the beast.

「 No time for me. No tanglin'. 」

"W-what're you doing!?" Mikan immediately stood up from the ground, "Just one hit from it took out that police officer!"

The Hollow roared out against the retaliation from Tatsuki. With its right arm, it swung toward her charging form.

This did not deter Tatsuki from her charge. Instead, she increased her own pace.

Just as the hand seemed as though it were going to crash down upon her, she dropped her body weight to the ground. It would be then that she slid underneath the hand. Her arm swinging upward to strike at the palm.

「 Hit you in the spot with no angle and... 」

The Hollow cried out in pain as blue flames would erupt from its palm. Its eyes snapped wide as it pulled its hand back. When it looked into its palm, it would see that there was now a dent imprinted there in the shape of Tatsuki's fist.

Tatsuki underneath him would pull herself backward in time to dodge the stomp it made onto the ground.

She continued to roll along the ground to dodge the next three consecutive stomps. In the punch that came after, she would somersault backward to ensure that she was not struck by it.

When she had, she pressed her fingers against the ground to halt her brief slide as she looked up to the Hollow who was preparing another attack.

「 I'm not a princess... (A lot of anger in it.) 」

Tatsuki had gotten onto her feet.

She looked up toward the Hollow with a smirk. Now that she could see it clearly, the game had completely changed.

The fear of uncertainty of her every movement. The concern that she might make a mistake in interpreting it. The worry of having to use Mikan as her guide to the unknown.

All of it was cleared away. All of it moved out of the way from Tatsuki's path.

The path to her certain victory.

"Tatsuki, watch out!"

「 Not a cutie girlfriend, oh no. Don't. You. Know? (Ho!) 」

Mikan let out a gasp as the blow was once again stopped.

This time, it was due to the punch being caught by Tatsuki. Her arm shook against the might of the fist that dwarfed her entire body. Even still, she held strong against it.

It was a bit crazy to think about how she was fighting a giant monster right now with her bare hands. She had to wonder what drove this adrenaline within her more.

The fear of dying by the hands of the giant beast...

...or the excitement granted by this power that now coursed through her?

Tatsuki's hand crunched against the fist that nearly struck her. Flickers of blue flame erupted around the hand before it finally crunched down in her hold as well. As though it were a mere can of soda that she crushed in her hands.

「 Flashy rhymes, coated with spangles. 」

Tatsuki leapt back as the Hollow swung its arm in retaliation. Its hand now firmly clutched around the wrist that held onto the now unusable hand.

She watched as it let out a roar in frustration before it violently tore off the appendage. Black blood spewing out over the streets as the discarded limb dropped with a thud atop of a car that was crushed by its weight.

The Hollow huffed as its wrist now bled out. Its eyes showing a deep, visceral hatred for the girl that fought against it.

Tatsuki merely smirked at the sight.

"Not so tough now, are ya...?"

The Hollow roared in response as it charged toward her again.

「 Add some sounds in it, times wangles. 」

Tatsuki leapt from the ground onto its arm when it punched toward her. She first had to lower her hand and ensure her own balance. But after a few milliseconds, she had adjusted and began to run along its arm.

While she was not a gymnast or anything, she liked to consider herself rather flexible. Being the ace of the martial arts club meant she had to put herself into practice of being able to fight any opponent.

Giant monsters being added to the plate was no big deal to Tatsuki. After all, they would do a lot better to hit than a sandbag!

The Hollow swung its handless arm at her in attempts to swat her off of itself, but Tatsuki managed to narrowly avoid it with a leap into the air.

She pulled her legs upward and slammed them down.

Surely if her hands were able to, then her legs would have to be able to—

「 Three dots connect to rectangles. Just like music, sounds connect in rambles... 」

A burst of flame erupted from her feet as they struck at the arm. The force of the blow had caused the Hollow's arms to fling downward and strike at the ground.

Tatsuki herself would land on the ground behind the beast with a somersault. She got up from the ground quickly after that.

Good. Now she could draw the beast's attention away from Mikan. She raised up her hands once the Hollow moved its attention back toward her.

"Come on, big guy! Don'cha wanna piece of me!?"

It snarled in response. The beast moving its body around to glare down toward the girl.

She nudged her fingers once it had, a devious smirk on her face.

「 You cannot run away. (Hell nah, no man can run away!) 」

When the punch had come down for her, Tatsuki had out stretched her arms.

Clutching her arms against the fist that came down, she grit her teeth. Once again, she had stopped the force of the punch with her bare hands.

When the Hollow attempted to pull its arm back, Tatsuki's grip had tightened. To the point where blue flame took to run along the Hollow's entire arm. Finally, Tatsuki's tight grip would present itself on the body of the creature. Its arm shaping to squeeze tight like a raisin, the Hollow screamed out in pain at the sudden force.

She then spun around on her heel. A loud cry escaped from her lips.

When she had, her eyes narrowed. In her effort, the ground cracked under her feet. A true test of her strength.

Even so, she was the damn best at judo!

An aggressive roar let out from the girl as she pulled the Hollow over her shoulder. When she finished her attack, the Hollow crashed onto the ground.

「 From me, I stay in your head as one. Big. Threat. 」

Tatsuki walked over to the Hollow after her work, her grin still present on her features. It had been struggling to get up from the ground, given the state both of its arms were in.

As she watched it scrape its bleeding stub against the pavement, she took to stomp on its side. The Hollow gave another cry of pain as the sounds of snaps could be heard underneath her foot.

This was still crazy for her to think about. She put a giant monster down as if it were any other random guy.

With this kind of power, she would not be on the sidelines any longer.

Now, she just had to ensure that this creature would not be getting up again.

Her eyes slowly curled into a devilish smirk as she popped her knuckles. Her eyes seeming to have a blue gleam to them as she stared down at the Hollow.

「 It's de~mo~li~tion~! 」

Tatsuki threw her fist down toward the Hollow.

The Hollow's body bounced against the ground at this punch as it coughed out in pain. Before it could properly react any further to the punch, another would fly down.

One became ten.

That number only came to skyrocket soon after as Tatsuki remained unrelenting. The punches becoming so numerous that it would seem that she had grown a countless amount of arms in the midst of her punching.

Flickers of blue flame washed through the air as the Hollow's body swung in either way as it was buried deeper and deeper into the ground from the punches.

「 Wi~ping all ou~t~! (Wipe out!) 」

Under the force of the punches, the body of the Hollow was violently crunching and deforming. Beaten down under the weight of Tatsuki's fists that kept it grounded despite gravity's attempts to pull it away.

Its eyes began to lose their primal edge as the volley of strikes continued to overtake its form. A crater formed underneath its body as its weight was slammed into the ground over and over thanks to them.

It would be then that Tatsuki swept her foot under the body of the Hollow, causing it to move upward into the air.

She arched her arm back and struck at the Hollow's core. A massive burst of flames erupted from her knuckles, launching the monster across the pavement.

Propelled with the force of a freshly launched rocket.

「 I won't go~... (Yeah, yeah.) Until it's o~ver~! (Once again.) 」

As the Hollow flew forward, black blood spewed out as its left arm snapped off and flung to the wayside. Finally having reached its limits to staying thanks to Tatsuki's punches.

In a short while, its body hit the ground with a thump and rolled along it for some time before finally coming to a stop.

Tatsuki let out heavy breaths as she stared down the beast ahead of her. She looked on with a mixture of pride and desperation.

On one hand, she was glad to have beaten the monster or whatever it was. It felt incredible for her fists to beat against a genuine monster's body like it were nothing.

To counter that, though, she had no certainty that it was over.

A sentiment that was all but confirmed when the Hollow twitched.

「 It's co~a~li~tion~! 」

Tatsuki frowned as the Hollow began to arise from its downed position. Its eyes glared daggers at her as it began to stand upright. Bloodied and battered as it was, it still carried the determination for victory.

Tatsuki supposed she should have expected no better. She was dealing with a genuine monster.

Even so, she had no intention of backing down. Her lips slowly began to part as she put her fists against one another. She closed her eyes gently as she began to focus.

Discipline. A core principle of the martial art she loved so dearly. Along with it, she learned one thing that she always strived to accomplish in all of her fights.

No matter how hard the tide of battle turns, she must always finish the battle with one decisive strike.

「 Pieces of wreckage~! 」

The Hollow stepped forward. Another step afterward. Soon did it begin to march toward its intended prey.

Said prey remained focused on her concentration. A low bellow escaped from her lips as took in breaths through her nose calmly.

The flames around her knuckles would soon begin to expand and coil around one another. This process continued until it began to coil into a distinct shape that began to swirl around her body. This shape was that of a Chinese dragon which had spun around her.

In the presence of this dragon, the flames along her knuckles expanded to surround her fists in their entirety.

Soon enough, the Hollow began to run toward her. Its arm pulled backward as it rushed toward her.

「 Come to me~... And let it be o~ne~! 」

Mikan was about to call out the immediate danger to Tatsuki.

Tatsuki had been fully aware of the approaching Hollow. After it came into arm's reach, her eyes snapped open. When she had, her eyes gleamed a bright orange.

The flames around her fist and the dragon around her would soon also take on an orange color. The flames flickered violently as the Hollow punched toward her.

Her lips curled into a wicked grin as the massive fist was flung toward her. To meet the attack, she would thrust the both of her flame coated hands as a counter.

When fists collided, the Hollow cried out in pain as its arm began to crackle with orange flame that ran up its entire arm. Tatsuki let out a roar as she continued to push her fists forward.

As she did, the dragon that floated around her had flew forth and roared out. Its head slammed into the Hollow's chest, throwing it out into the air.

As the Hollow flew off, its body burned. A surprise showed in its eyes as it noticed its limbs were becoming mere ashes in the wind. Brought to the mercy of the dragon that pulled it along.

Before long, there was no Hollow to speak of.

「 (End) 」

Being direct witness, Mikan had no words. After all, it all happened so suddenly that she had no time to even grasp the situation.

Tatsuki had, just moments prior, been completely unaware of where exactly the creature was moving. Yet. During that exchange just now, she was aiming for it. No. She was completely able to pinpoint its exact location.

She was unsure as to why, but...

Tatsuki was now able to see them, just like she was.

What happened just now...?

She could only watch in astonishment as the dragon around Tatsuki vanished and she collapsed to the ground. This immediately drove Mikan from her stupor and brought the girl to rush over to support her friend.

"Tatsuki! TATSUKI!" She cried out.

As for Tatsuki, she was completely stumped herself.

She was at its mercy before. But after she got fired up, punching that Hollow was no issue. In fact. She only felt power well up within her. As if...

It was always there. Like it lied in wait for her to finally draw it out...

Strange.

But even stranger was that, though Mikan had failed to notice it...

Tatsuki was now staring up at the dragon that had been coiled around her before, it invisible to any eyes but her own now.

She thought she had just imagined it in the heat of the moment as a way to psyche herself up. But... No. It was now staring down at her, and was very much real.

Did it have something to do with how she defeated that thing before...?

Why could she suddenly see it so clearly...?

Why was she able to spew out flames from her fists?

Why was she suddenly... So damn hungry that it left her unable to move a muscle?

She was completely unsure. Nothing made any sense at the moment.

—she guessed there was something more important for her to be worried about right now.

"Hey, Mikan..." Tatsuki moved her gaze toward the girl that leaned over her, "You're not... Hurt, are you...?"

Mikan began to break out into tears as she shook her head, "You dummy... You're the one who's hurt, not me...!"

---

「 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧'𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐫, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧｡ 」

---

"Maaaan—"

Saruyama groaned as he swept up shards of glass into a dustpan.

The young man let out a groan as he turned back with a frown.

All he did was sit in his usual reading spot for a good read before heading home for the day. It was not his fault that the members of the Judo Club broke out into a fight. They broke their stupid window, not him!

They even had the audacity to claim that it was not them. One even claimed that his arm did it against his will. What a load of bull.

The biggest load of bull was the fact that he was the one having to clean it up!

"Why do I have to clean this up, Kotegawa!?"

Yui, who had been supervising him with crossed arms, had merely presented the material he had been reading.

"Magazines of such obscenity are not allowed on the school premises."

"THE PRINCIPAL READS STUFF LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME‼"

Yui sighed at the rebuttal, her attention now turned away, "...he's a lost cause."

"Oh, come on. Don't whine about it so much, Kenichi."

Saruyama grimaced as he looked to see Masaki happily sweeping up other shards of glass. Such a teacher's pet, this guy had to be. He refused to believe his rank was one made of smarts.

Teachers loved the guy. Especially the hot ones!

Saruyama internally ground his teeth. He and Mizuiro both hogged all the honeys, and it infuriated him to no end‼

"Soon as we get done with this, we can all head back." Masaki then looked up to Yui, "Ain't that right, Yui-chan?"

Saruyama huffed and continued to sweep up shards.

He supposed that was a fair point. The sooner he got out of here, the better. Yui was the local sheriff when it came to discipline, his absolute archnemesis. In the case of Masaki, the guy made him feel more single than usual to be around, and Masaki was single too!

Why did fate have to grip him by the balls like this!?

"Yui-chan? Is there something wrong?"

Saruyama took a break from his self pitying to look over at Yui himself. She seemed to be staring off somewhere. How strange. He did not expect for her to be the type to zone out.

He moreso expected for her to shout at him to get back to work. Now that would motivate him. Especially if she got violent like she did with Rito.

Wooh! That would get the engine running.

Wait. Saruyama, snap out of it!

He looked in the direction where Yui had been, but nothing had been there...

Strange.

After a few seconds of silence, Yui would come to turn around toward them. She cleared her throat before she stepped forward. When she had, she had suddenly started to push them away from where they were cleaning.

"Come on, we've been here long enough. It's time we go home...!"

"Huh? But what about the cleaning?" Saruyama questioned.

"Don't worry about it, just go home!"

"Hey, Yui-chan!?"

As the trio took their leave, the empty space that Saruyama saw over the roof of the gym...

Would be covered over by what looked to be a tentacle.

---

⦓ THS #13 ⦔
❱ END ❰

---

⦏ You've hit the finish line for Issue 13. Congratulations! Thanks for your time. I sincerely hope you enjoyed. ⦐
⦏ This Chapter was meant to focus on who was being affected by the Hollow Bait being dropped outside of Sainan High. Also giving the chance for Lala to finally throw hands in this fic. Since I didn't need any buildup, the chapter ended up shorter than others. ⦐
⦏ I see that everybody's genuinely afraid that Yami won't be in the Soul Society Arc... While I won't say too much on that, I will say that she is fully intended to be there as part of the rescue team. ⦐
⦏ As for what Tatsuki is... I'm not telling. At least not yet. Just know that it may or may not be an important term for two other in-verse fics. ⦐
⦏ In the anime, Saido was brought in for Grand Fisher specifically, but personally, I felt like having Rito encounter GF alone was a lot better considering it was always meant to be personal. Also, having him involved in this matter makes more sense given its a literal infestation of Hollows. ⦐
⦏ Next time, Hollows make their way into Sainan High? Don't miss it! ⦐
ー Red