⦏ 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


⦏ Thursday: July 17th, 2008 ⦐

"Hey. Rito."

. . .

"C'mon. Wake up already!"

"Nngh... Yeah...?"

"Would you look at the time already!? Hurry up! HURRY UP!"

Rito's eyes would snap open just in time to get a tiny foot stomped onto it. To his dismay, it was Kon jogging in place on his face. His idea of waking someone up in the morning...!

Ugh. He missed when Lala being naked was the morning shock of the day...

"Wake up! HEY! It's morning! MOOOORNING~!" Kon had cheered carelessly, "Hey! HEEEY, RITOOO~!"

For the stuffed animal, he was not given any warning before his face was filled with Rito's fist. His vision went black and white for the brief second before gravity pulled him aside and slammed him full force into the closet door to hit the ground.

⦗ BGM Cue ー oh so tired ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH‼" Rito shouted, "You can get off my face, geez!"

"Wha- Uh- I had to wake you up!" Kon protested, "Since you clearly can't do it by yourself!"

Rito grumbled as he had gotten out of his bed. In a roundabout fashion, Kon would climb up onto the bed while the other began to get his bearings.

"What's with all the racket so early in the morning, huh?"

"Don't you huh me!" Kon crossed his arms, raising his round chin slightly, "You missed your breakfast, y'know!"

"Oh shi—"

Rito swung the closet door open. There was no Rukia to be seen. If she was out already, he was definitely behind on his schedule!

"Exactly! So hurry up and get dressed for school already!" Kon demanded, pointing his paw at the other, "Unleeess~ You want me to go in your place, insteeead~?"

"Yeah, no thanks." Rito waved his arm at that, "All you'd do is make me out to be a bigger perv than the principal if I let you go."

"Wow, you could just go ahead and skip it, though!" Kon pointed forth his paw, "You have my permission."

At that, Rito had scoffed. Placing his hands on either hip, he puffed a cheek at the mod soul.

"And where do you get off talking all high and mighty?" Rito refuted.

"It's only a right for the Great Kon." Kon declared, "Personal partner of the Substitute Shinigami, Yukki Rito!"

"Partner, huh? Well, whatever—" Rito waved off the notion, turning away, "I'm gonna get going. Hopefully I can find something to eat on the way. You stay here and keep out of trouble."

Kon watched as the boy left from the room and shut the door behind him. When he had, the stuffed animal had spun around and dropped onto his back.

"Take your sweet time~!"

After some silence, he popped his eye open. He then bounced up from his spot and began running off.

"...not!"

He was tired of being treated like some object! After all, he was so integral to Rito's work. Yet he was always treated like he was nothing more than just some stuffed doll that him and Rukia can throw around!

Was he not their precious companion!? Was he not their equal in any capacity!?

Well, fine! If that was how it was, then he would simply run off and go start himself a brand new life!


"Yaaaa~hahahaha‼"

Ururu swept quietly at the front of the Urahara Shop.

The opposite could be said for her partner. Jinta ran back and forth around her with his own broom raised over his head while laughing like a madman.

After a few laps, Ururu would finally decide to speak her mind...

"Jinta, can you please focus on the sweeping?"

"Oh, shut up, Ururu!" Jinta snapped back, "This is the soccer that all men go crazy for! SHOOT‼"

"Honestly..."

A sigh was the last thing Ururu had done to comment on it. Turning her head back, she would notice a figure standing at the fence. She turned back soon to open the door to the shop where Tessai and Urahara would be conversing.

"Hello? Tessai... Mr. Kisuke..." When she realized the two had stopped their talking and given her their attention, Ururu would point toward her left, "There's a cat..."

Upon her notification of its presence, a black cat would peer into view outside the door.

"OH~!?" When he saw her, Urahara's eyes had sparkled brightly, "Can it be~? Yoru-chan, is that you—!?"

The cat gave him a blank stare as Urahara lifted it into the air with a cheerful laughter. One that earned the attention of all his workers as he waved it around back and forth.

"Oh, Yoru-chan, it is you~! You came baaaack~❤!"

"Uh, Tessai? Who's the cat...?"

"Its name is Yoruichi. It is the Boss's last remaining relative."

"Heh... His last relative's a cat?" Jinta blinked, "It kinda seems like our boss is... Very pitiful."

To that, Tessai had sighed: "I suppose you could say that..."


Lala had never felt such torment before.

Her breaths had a slight hesitation to them as they had left her lips. Beads of sweat running down her face in a manner that made it seem as though she was an ice sculpture beginning to melt.

She could even almost hear the sizzling of the sweat that ran down her cheeks.

"Muu—" Lala raised a hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, "Why is it so hot this early in the morning, Rukia?"

"That would be because it's summer." Rukia shook her head lightly as she placed a hand on her hip, "If you're stumped by this, you'd best prepare for this afternoon. It's supposed to be even hotter."

"Ugh... We don't have summer on Deviluke..." The pinkette had groaned, beginning to pull on her collar, "Maybe I should spend the day naked..."

"You will not." Rukia quickly shut her down.

"Oh come on, I was just kidding, Rukia~" Lala giggled at her reaction, waving off Rukia's concerns.

"Knowing how you walk around the house regularly, I doubt you're joking."

Lala giggled again, sticking her tongue out.

"But what I hear is that after this week's over, summer vacation starts!" Lala raised a finger, a lightbulb appearing over his head, "Do you have any plans for this summer?"

"Oh, um..." Rukia's expression lowered at that, but sprung up into a bright smile, "I have no idea!"

"Well, get this! Haruna told me about something called a fireworks festival she's going to with Tatsuki and everyone in August!" Lala clapped her hands together with her usual bright smile, "You should come along, too, Rukia! We can both experience our first time going together~!"

"A fireworks festival...?"

To Rukia's parroting, Lala nodded twice.

"Ooh! We should ask Rito to come with us, too!" Lala placed her hands behind her back, "Then it can be like when we all went to go see that Spirit Hunter thing together~❤!"

"Really, now? I just remember the part where you started jumping into security." Rukia began to giggle herself.

"It was really fun, though!"

At Lala's remark, Rukia could not help but smile, "Yes, I agree. It certainly was an interesting time."

Lala had blinked, looking to the corner of her eye. Hearing no response from the princess, Rukia would simply smile and pick up her pace.

"Well, then. Come on, Lala. Let's hurry to class."

As she began to walk ahead, Lala watched the benched Shinigami with a puffed cheek.

There was something about her that was off. She could not put her mind on what it could have been, though...

⦗ BGM End ⦘


『 Tʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ Hᴇᴀʀᴛ ᴀɴᴅ Sᴏᴜʟ: To-Love Ru 』
【 Issue 16 | Ends of Two Worlds ~𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔~


The bright blue skies would normally be a sign of cheer for anyone freshly walking out in the morning. However, for the small plush that was Kon, it was an overbearing weight that reminded him he was not prepared for the journey he resolved to travel.

"Y'know, running away to start a new life seemed like a good idea..." Kon walked forward with his paw rubbed against his chin, "I wish I remembered to bring along something to eat."

He pondered on it more.

"Come to think of it, I don't have any money. Actually, I don't have any pockets either."

When he lifted his gaze, he would notice two girls approaching. Wait, those girls were from Rito's school, weren't they? Perfect! He had a plan...

"You know, I was so worried about how exams would turn out that I almost forgot about summer vacation." One of the girls was Ogawa, from Yui's class, "Did you have anything pla-"

"Hm?"

The two stopped when they took notice of Kon laid out on the ground before them. The plush was sprawled out lifelessly as he stared up toward the sky.

His plan was perfect! After all, there could be no girl in the world who could ignore his cute and adorable exterior! Any girl simply had no choice but to pick him up!

Now, just for him to wait for that pivotal moment! Kon was perfectly ready to be picked up off the ground!

He could just imagine it!

They would carry him home with them, talking about how dirty he was the whole way. They would giggle the whole way and call him cute and adorable, anyway! Then, when the time came, one of them would take him with her into the bath and... Ooh, he just could not wait!

"Aww~ What a cute, stuffed anim—"

She was cut off by the other girl stomping over Kon's face, "A filthy stuffed animal."

Kon had wished that was it, but... The only possible outcome was for matters to get worse.

Why? Well. It was rather simple, in fact...

"That stuffed animal... Just spoke, didn't it...?"

"Y...yeah..."

Oh no! Kon had instinctively let out a yelp when she had suddenly stepped on his face like that! In his defense, it was completely outrageous! There was absolutely no way that anyone else would be silent in his position!

"If we catch it and sell it to a TV station..." Ogawa began.

Sell him!? Oh no... He was definitely not going to let that happen! That meant only one option...

"AH! IT'S ESCAPING‼"

Kon ran for the hills. Rushing off into the distance, he kicked his legs with as much power as he could muster.

"Oh no, it's gonna get away!"

"Just leave it to me..."

Crouching down, the other girl would raise a hand toward her glasses. Gently pulling her glasses off her face, she would take into a starting position.

"It takes some guts to try and run away from me, the Track Team's First Year Star, Kunieda Ryo..." Her eyes narrowed as they locked onto her target, "100 meters..."

Like an imaginary gun had fired, she would zoom past Ogawa in a blur. Her body arched forward, her body propelled forward with remarkable speeds.

"...in 12 seconds flat!"

"NOOOOOOOOO~‼"

He cursed the heavens. Why did Rito's school pump out nothing but crazy freaks that were incredible in some kinda way all the damn time!?

All he wanted was to be treated kindly—!


Rito let out a sigh, adjusting his shorts some as he turned to look down the hallway.

"Yo, Rito. What's goin on?" Saruyama asked beside him, adjusting his own shorts, "You been lookin around like that for, like, 5 minutes now."

"It's nothing." Rito said while his attention was still focused on what was behind him, "It's just that: Since this morning, it's felt like someone's been watching me..."

"C'mon, c'mon!" Saruyama had walked ahead, following the rest of their class, "I hear we're getting a free period today!"

"Shut up. I'm comin'." Rito followed behind with a low grumble.

Unbeknownst to him, there was someone watching him. A girl with minty green hair that grew darker toward the tips of her hair.

She had been waiting a while for the perfect moment... And now was it!

"HEY! What're you doin' over there!?"

Blast!

Behind her was Motemitsu, his usual sparkly smirk on his face as he gave a thumbs up toward her.

"THAT'S OUR MOTEMITSU-SENPAI‼" ...of course, his trademark posse was also behind him, "IF ALL ELSE FAILS, HE'LL ALWAYS BE READY TO FLIRT‼"

She turned to face him, blinking twice when she watched his jaw drop. He suddenly took out a book and began flipping through it.

Oh...! She had no time to waste with whoever this was! Rito was getting away!

"SWEETHEART! PLEASE GO OUT WITH M—"

The senior's voice faded off in the background as she ran down the hall. If she hurried, she would hopefully get the chance to make up for lost time!

"THAT'S OUR MOTEMITSU-SENPAI! COMPLETELY DISREGARDED‼"


The black cat that came to visit Kisuke was sitting outside on the porch. Staring up toward the sky, it sat back with a serious expression.

"What's goin' on, Yoru-chan?"

Behind the opening door was Kisuke, who had a bright smile on his face while he held up a pet bowl and glass bottle of milk.

"Is it going to rain?" He shot a brief glance overhead before bringing his attention back toward her with a slightly brighter smile, "Come come, I've got your milk~❤"

"Would you cut out the act, Kisuke." The cat had suddenly spoke, "You should be very much aware by now..."

Turning back toward him, the cat let its bright yellow eye be seen in perfect view.

"That they have arrived..."

"About that..." Kisuke's face had grown stern, "You want to talk about it now or after your milk?"


「 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭.ᐣ 」


"Al~right, Tatsuki! I'm all ready to go!" Lala declared, arms outstretched and bat in hand, "Gimme your best fastball~!"

"S-should we really we doing this...?" Haruna placed a hand over her mouth, looking back and forth between her two friends with worry.

A squeak sounded from the tree that overlooked the courtyard the girls were in. Watching with anticipation as the girls cheered below was a ragged Kon, who had held onto the stump of the tree beside her with a glint in his eye.

"He he he he...!"

His gaze fell directly upon Haruna. The ray of hope that represented his dreams for freedom! She was neither the boobalicious sunshine that was Lala or the modest older sister-type that Rukia was, but she was the perfect medium that he needed!

Now, his plan was simple. All he would need to do is fall in her path. If that were to happen, she would have no choice but to pick him up and embrace him with her tender care! The perfect line that led him straight to the wonderful, welcoming presence that was Sairenji Haruna!

Yes, it was utterly flawless! It was time to put it into action‼

Jumping down from the tree, Kon would begin running across the field in the direction of Haruna.

Just wait, Haruna! Kon was coming for the sweet, sweet comfort of her delightful cuddles~!

...wait a minute, why could he hear the dirt picking up behind him?

"Alright, pitch incoming‼" Tatsuki had declared.

Looking back, a cold chill ran down Kon's spine as he saw the way the girl had arched her entire body back to put all of her power into the upcoming kick.

"Here comes the Dragon Bazooka‼"

He let out a scream as the soccer ball she kicked had gone straight into his back, the force propelling him forward straight towards Lala. His eyes widened in the mere seconds he was given to realize that she now wielded the bat with a mighty determination in her eyes.

"Here we GO!"

With a hard smack, Kon would be struck alongside the soccer ball. With Lala's strength, there was no time before the both of them were sent flying off into the heavens above.

"LALA-SWAN, HOW COULD YOOOOOUUUUUU—"

Turning to watch as the ball flew off, Tatsuki frowned as it dissipated into a white star.

"Y'know, you said that you had an idea to spice things up. But all you really did was make it impossible for anybody to play defense." When she turned back toward the pinkette, her expression grew deadpan, "And just one run hardly seems like a good excuse to bring out the champagne..."

Lala turned back toward her with a confused expression, continuing to shake the bottles she mysteriously had anyway as the girls broke out into chatter.

"What are they even doing over there..."

Rito mumbled to himself while other boys were getting the soccer balls back into their containers. Unbeknownst to him, a wild Keigo would come swimming through the air to jump onto his back.

"Yoooo Ri~to! What're ya doin'!? Checkin out the ladies?"

While Rito wrestled Keigo off to restore his vision, the mysterious girl who had been watching him earlier had rushed out from the school building while looking around.

"Oh great..." She groaned, "Because of that weirdo, I lost track of Rito!"

"Hey, I think the one Lala hit's comin' down!"

When Saruyama called out, the both of Rito and Keigo as they both jogged to where they thought it would land. Mizuiro, though, had a cringe on his face already when he saw the real trajectory of the ball...

Straight to the unaware mystery girl.

"Hey, look out—"

Suddenly alert to her surroundings, she noticed far too late that a soccer ball had dropped straight into her. The girl tried her best to keep standing, but her hind leg gave out after the first step backward and the whole tower crashed.

"Oh crap!"

"Keigo, you take the ball. I'll get her to the nurse!"

"Err... Right!"


"Come on...!" Rito's hair blew in the wind, him feeling the blood over his face beginning to evaporate, "You're not beating me, dammit‼"

Tightening his grip on the handle of his sword, he began to raise it upward. With that push, he saw that the beam began to raise. That brought a smirk onto his face.

"Good... NOW WE'RE TALKING‼"

Swinging the sword downward, a golden light would make a line down the entire front of Rito's vision. The line slowly thickened before him as the beam splashed in either direction akin to that of ocean waves.

Overhead, the clouds above would tear apart. Opened by the end of the golden streak that shot up into the heavens as it spread in either direction in the shape of a bird's wings.

The brightness of the setting sun gleaming in its resonance, the particles of Spirit Energy dropped toward the ground like rainwater.

As the Menos Grande's body dissolved, Rito raised his sword and rested it over his shoulder. Heavy breaths escaped from his lips as he leaned his head back to look toward the sky.

The Golden Darkness stood over a water tower, overlooking the entire town.

She was originally brought here under a contract to take the life of Yukki Rito. However, that was under the pretense that his character was entirely depraved.

As far as her observations have gone, the person that was described does not at all match up with reality. Though, she supposed that was under dire circumstances.

"I suppose observing him today will give me the answer I'm looking for..."

Raising her hand gently, she quietly watched as a bird orbited her. After a full 360° turn, it would perch itself upon her finger with a chirp. Lifting her gaze, she emotionlessly watched as it soon joined a pair of birds that would join in orbiting the blonde girl.


"U...uuunn..."

Slowly, her eyes would open to the world around her. There, she would see a smiling Rito who had sighed in relief upon noticing her.

"You came to!"

A pink blush threatened to consume her face as she sat up. Her head turned over to look at Rito as he stood up from the chair beside her.

"I'm relieved you're alright." Rito rubbed the back of his neck, "Oh, Mikado-sensei's in the staff room right now."

The girl stared at him with a blank expression. She was still processing the scene in its entirety. After all, this was real, right...? She grabbed onto the hem of the comforters over her just to confirm to herself this was truly happening...

"Oh! She said it's only a minor concussion, so there's nothing to worry about." Rito gave a small smile as he placed a hand on his chest, "I'm sorry. If I was paying more attention, I could've caught that ball before it hit you."

Awkward silence...

The two cowlicks that bent backward atop of her hair had flicked back and forth a few times.

"Um... Is something wrong?"

That was it.

Quickly, the girl would bounce out of the bed in Rito's direction. Her arms outstretched, they would wrap around him and squeeze as tight as she possibly could.

"RITO-KUUUN~❤"

"H-HUH!?"

She ignored what noises he made as she rubbed her cheek against him over and over. Basking in the embrace, she took in all of what she could of his natural scent.

AH! It just made her all giddy just thinking about their closeness ❤!

"Wait—"

Just when she had finally engraved the scent into her memory, Rito would suddenly pull away from her. She leaned back onto the bed as he flailed his arms around adorably.

"W-what's gotten into you!?"

"I'm just... So happy~!" The girl chirped, her cowlicks waving to either side, "The two of us are finally alone‼"

"Wha—"

The mint haired girl clasped her hands together, a wide smile on her face when she saw his light up with a blush.

"I... I've been watching you for a long time!" Her voice softened, the girl pulling back into herself, "I've been meaning to tell you my feelings... But I never got the chance..."

"Your feelings? W-wait, what are you saying...?"

She gulped. Her face became a deeper red.

The moment she had been anticipating all day was now. Just speak honestly and everything should work out!

"I love you!" She spoke as clearly as she could through her embarrassment, "Please go out with me‼"

Staring at Rito, she would watch as his face dial up slowly from a neutral expression to full-on shellshocked.

The boy took a slow step back as he tried to mumble out the first thought on his mind. While she awaited some answer, she could feel every nervous thought in her mind creep in throughout her body.

She placed a hand against her lips.

"I get it." She spoke up after Rito's embarrassment, "There's someone else you like besides me... But even so, I..."

Rito blinked, left a blushing mess as the girl gently rubbed her fingers against her lips.

"I can never forget that kiss I shared with you... Rito-kun..."

"K-kiss!?" Rito had jumped backward, his entire body reeling backward in his surprise. "Y-you and I!? We kissed!? When!? Where!?"

"You... Don't remember...?"

She was slightly disappointed. However, after some thought, she came to a realization. That was perfect...

"Perhaps all is not lost yet..."

Slowly the girl licked her lips as she had gotten up from the bed. Looming over the boy, her hand would spread over his back slowly while the other's index finger had drawn circles on his chest.

"Maybe another would light that spark again~❤"

"W-wha—"

"Hold still..."

Her hands slid onto his shoulders. Her lips curled upward as she began to lean closer. Before long, they would be just inches apart from one another. Their breaths touched. Eyes staring directly into one another, her mouth opened and puckered up for the moment of truth...

"RITO—‼"

The both of them moved their gazes to the door when it slid open. There would we see a smiling Lala, who giggled when she came through the door.

"Oh, there you are~ Saruyama said you'd be here!" When she leaned her head in, she had blinked when she made eye contact with the mint haired girl, "Huh? That girl... Is that Run-chan!?"

"Lala!?" Rito almost jumped right out of the grasp he was in, "W-WAIT A MINUTE, IT'S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LI— Hold on, you know her?" His face turned deadpan almost immediately.

While ordinarily, Run would be pouting at the intrusion on her perfectly planned event. But there was just something keeping her attention occupied...

"Aah..."

She sniffled. The air had suddenly become more difficult to breathe in...

It almost felt like she was gonna—

"AAAAAAACHOOOO‼"

Rito had closed his eyes to brace himself as a cloud of dust had suddenly burst out in front of him.

When the smoke had cleared, he was no longer in the hold of the girl. Neither was he in the hold of a girl at all, for that matter. The two had stared at each other for a while. Both of them having to take a few seconds to process this course of events.

"R-REN!?"

"YUKKI!?"

"AAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH‼"


「 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐳𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 」


Kon waddled around. He glanced in either direction with a gulp.

He managed to escape those two by the skin of his teeth. In doing so, he wound up inside some weird broken down building. Was this really part of the school this whole time...? He never noticed it the last time that he was here.

Urgh. He was hoping for a peaceful refuge where all of his heart's desires would be fulfilled day in and day out. There were not too much. After all, there was no getting around the fact he was a stuffed doll now, so his needs were relatively small in size!

Even so, he could not even get that much!

The plush sighed, throwing his paws into the air in frustration.

"Agh dammit all..." He waddled forward with a groan, "I'm too tired now to even give a damn anymore..."

After a few more weak steps, the doll would fall flat onto his face. There, he had completely fallen unconscious. The utter abuse the world had given him thus far had finally gotten to the poor lion.

From the shadows would emerge a blue light. That light faintly reflected on Kon's body, it becoming thicker as its source grew closer.

There, it would be revealed that it was Oshizu who was looking over him.

"I knew I recognized that voice..." Lowering herself to observe him closer, her expression softened, "But could this really be Kon...?"


"So that's it..." Mikado had leaned back in her chair, her arms folded under her chest, "So Ren-kun is a descendant of royalty on Planet Memorze, then..."

"...uh, Mikado-sensei?" Rito had been leaned against the wall on the other side of her office, his arms crossed, "Is there something about that I'm missing here?"

"Ah, that's right. You wouldn't know, Yukki-kun." Mikado had giggled, "Those on Planet Memorze have the special ability to change genders."

Rito blinked, looking akin to a fish out of water at the information she had so calmly presented to him.

"On a specific cue, both their body and minds will completely swap from that of a male's to a female's. The opposite is also true, of course."

She slowly turned in her chair to look over at Ren, who had been holding onto his skirt with a furious blush over his expression.

"Now, ordinarily, a sneeze shouldn't be enough of a stimulus to trigger a change." Mikado began, "But the ability must have grown stronger on Earth due to environmental differences and the drastically different magnetic field from your hold planet."

Ren groaned when the spotlight fell on him, trying his best to avert his gaze.

"She even came all the way here in a girl's uniform..." His lip quivered, "Run, I wish you would have considered my feelings, too..."

Now that Rito thought about it, that backstory of his was beginning to make a lot more sense. Lala dressed him up as a girl a lot because half the time they hung out, he was his other self.

His whole complex about being manly also checked out. Strange justification for its existence, though, he had to admit.

Ren snapped his head in Rito's direction with a growl, "YUKKI‼ I will never forgive you!" His grip on the skirt tightened, "Not only have you stolen Lala's heart, but you also stole the heart of my alter ego!? Is there no end to your greed!?"

"MY GREED!?" Rito stomped over toward the other, "DID YOU FORGET WHO STARTED ALL THAT CRAZINESS YESTERDAY?!"

"Oh, so now you're shifting blame to me!?"

"It's not shifting blame if it was your fault!"

Over to the side, Lala had grabbed a pepper shaker off the shelf. "Ohhh Ren~chaaaan~❤"

The Quincy's head slowly turned back, a sense of dread visibly running through his entire body. Immediately, he would begin to run around the room as Lala followed after him while shaking it in the air.

"So you only change when you sneeze? Bring Run-chan oouuuut~!"

"UWAAAAHHHHHHH‼ I JUST CHANGED BAAAAAACK‼"

Behind them, Rito had been left in his own thoughts as he reflected on the situation.

So, that was Run, then... He hated to admit it, but...

She was kinda cute.

But what was more... He was too distracted before, but he was able to notice it now. The entirety of the both of Ren's hands were covered in bandages.

His expression softened.


"Ren-kun?" Ms. Ochi had blinked, holding up the book that she was using for her lecture, "Why are you injured like that...?"

A straight-faced Ren, now dressed in the proper male uniform, had averted his gaze for a brief second.

"I... Fell down the stairs."

The entire class had dulled in complete disbelief of the excuse that he had thrown out. Was he even trying to make an excuse...?

"Ah well." Ms. Ochi had turned around and jabbed her thumb toward the seats, "Nevermind then. Sit down so I can carry on with the lesson."

The students were almost more shocked that the teacher seemed to barely care. As Ren had taken his seat, Rito would be given him a hard stare from his own.

Rukia would make a little noise with the page of her book, looking lightly into the corner of her eye.

"Don't pay him any mind. It's not your fault." She spoke suddenly, which had nearly caused Rito to jump out of his chair, "He brought those injuries on himself."

"I— I know that!" He averted his gaze from her, resting his chin in his palm, "Those injuries ain't anything to worry about!"

His response had brought a snicker out of Rukia. The girl shot her glance in his direction with a impish grin attached to it.

"Oh~? Who said anything about worrying?" She teased, "What I said is 'don't pay it any mind'."

Rito grit his teeth as he heard her start laughing at him over it. She could try and hide it in her book all she wanted. He was still well aware of it, damnit!

When he averted his gaze, he had turned away just in time to miss the look on Rukia's face when she had stopped.

"Yo! Check this out! I saw Ren after school yesterday!" Keigo announced to Mizuiro, "He was talking to himself at a construction site! He's gotta be doing some kinda acting, right?"

"I dunno, that person is always playing pretend." Mizuiro shrugged, "Muttering stuff about 'being a man'."

Rito's eye twitched. So Keigo was around when the town was in pandemonium? He was far too carefree for his own good...

"It's gotta be some kinda acting thing!" Keigo hopped up from his chair, "I remember there being some uncle wearing strange clothes and a kid that was dancing! Later, something exploded, too-" He muttered the last part, throwing his arms into the air, "How else could you explain it besides some theatre troupe practicing together!?"

"You said Lala-san and Kotegawa-san were there, too, right?" Mizuiro inquired, "What would they be doing there if your story's true?"

"Well, I did try and ask but..." Keigo groaned, rubbing the back of his head, "When I tried asking, Lala laughed me away and Kotegawa almost kicked my ass!"

Rito blinked. He figured that Lala of all people would go along with whatever excuse Keigo made up in his head.

He wondered just how many times he would end up thanking all powers above that he was such an idiot.

"Well, I definitely agree that something happened yesterday." Mizuiro interjected, "Isn't it strange that Ren-san didn't show up until third period?"

"You thinkin' he got into a fight?"

"Ren-san? Impossible." Mizuiro quickly denied, "The only person I'd see him get into a fight with is Rito, and he showed up this morning just fine."

Tatsuki shot a brief glance toward them in the middle of her conversation with Haruna and the girls. Though it was too short for them to notice she had ever looked away.

"Well, go ask him what happened."

"I don't wanna do it!"

In the silence that followed, Haruna had briefly looked over toward Ren. She examined the bandages that were over his hands. Afterward, she looked to the pair of Rito and Rukia.

There was a feeling in the back of her mind that she could not shake...


「 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬. 」


Even in his unconscious state, he could feel it. That soothing sensation of soap brushing against his fur. The cool gush of water rinsing it off of his now cleanly body.

When it was finished, another warm breeze passed over him as he was dried of all the water.

This warmth... This was it! This was what he was truly searching for along... Who could have been the goddess who delivered him such a boon...?

Slowly opening his eyes, he came to find the answer...

⦗ BGM Cue ー ditty for daddy ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

"UWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH⁇⁈" Kon's body threw back and forth in their hold, "A-A SKELETON!?"

He screamed out as he flailed in either direction to try and escape from its hold. Loud cries echoed through the room as he made desperate pleas for help to no one at all.

"Kon-san, please! Calm down."

He stopped suddenly when he heard a female voice. While it was not familiar per se, he could recognize the pattern of speech. Leaning his head over the shoulder of the skeleton, he would see a spirit surrounded by flickers of blue flame.

"Wait, are you... Oshizu-chan?"

"Yes!" The spirit happily chirped, "It's nice to see you again, Kon-san. I didn't expect you to be like this, though..."

"Oh, I, uh..." Kon had climbed onto the shoulder of the skeleton, "Well, this is Prime Kon! I might be in a stuffed animal right now, but it's the real deal."

"I see..." She placed a hand over her lips, "I've never directly possessed an inanimate object before."

Kon rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't know that I could either until I was put in here."

"Put in...?"

"Mhm. Well, how about this?" Kon had crossed his arms with a smirk as the skeleton had set the blow dryer down, "Let me regale you on the tale of how this generation's most awesome Mod-Soul, me, came to meet Rito and his friends."

"Mod Soul..." Oshizu parroted, some curiosity tinged in her voice...

⦗ BGM End ⦘


The bell for lunch had rung. The first to step out of the classroom had been Ren, who had dug into his pocket to summon his phone. Dialing a number, he would raise the device to his ear as he made toward a window to be in private.

To his frustration, however, the person he was trying to reach had not picked up.

A sigh.

He supposed it made sense... He did bring shame to them after what he had done. He was surprised that he was even allowed to keep his cross.

"Hey... You're Ren-kun, right?"

Returning his phone to his pocket, Ren would turn his glance over to meet a pair of brown eyes.

If his memory served correctly, she was a friend of the Class Rep...

"And... Momioka Risa was your name, correct?" Ren surmised, turning to face her.

"Mhm~ I'm impressed you knew." Risa gave a wink, tapping her finger against the air to emphasize her words, "I figured we'd get introduced!"

Ren gave a brief look to the window. Well, there was nothing at first glance to be concerned about. No harm in making acquaintances.

"Well then, it's nice to meet you."

He gave a light bow of his head. Ren had learned in his studies that bowing was a message of respect in this region.

"Right, right. Say, Ren-kun..." Risa had stepped passed him to lean her back against the wall, making to take up as much of his vision as she could, "Since we're in private like this, I've got a question for you..."

Ren raised a brow at that. Of course, it became a bit difficult when he began to hear the gossip around him as other students passed by. His cheeks flushed slightly as he refocused his attention back to Risa.

"Say..." Risa pressed her finger against the windowsill, sliding it over next to Ren, "I happened to overhear your conversation after school yesterday..."

If she did not have his full attention before... She certainly did now.

"While you were going on and on about Lala... Something interesting came up..." Risa had leaned just slightly closer, ensuring now that her eyes were all that he could focus on, "You called yourself something... What was it again...~?"

Ren felt a cold sweat run down his cheek. Turning to face her, he let down his arm. When he did, his Quincy Cross had dangled with a bounce over his right wrist.

The jingle of the accessory had caught Risa's attention. The young woman examined it for a short time before she returned her gaze to Ren.

There was no way for him to have missed it. This girl...

How was she aware of the Quincy...? If it were not for the human current that were right beside him, he would have—

"Ren."

The young man turned back to the call of his name, where he would see Rito standing behind him with a blank expression on his face.

"Come eat lunch with us."

Way back behind them would be his little group of male friends. Most noticeable was Asano Keigo, who had looked flabbergasted at Rito's actions.

"W-W-W-W-W-WHYYYYYY THAT GUYYYYYYYYY?⁇⁈!‼" Keigo's jaw hung loose as he screamed to the ceiling, "WHAT IS RITO DOING TRYING TO INVITE THAT FREAKAZOID TO COME EAT LUNCH WITH US!? HE MUST BE COMPLETELY OUT OF HIS MIND TO DO SOMETHING SO STUPID‼" He then gasped, his head resembling a tiki statue as he turned toward a sweatdropping Kojima Mizuiro, "I CAN'T BE SEEN WITH THAT GEEK‼ WE'VE ALREADY GOT ONE CHICK MAGNET IN THE GROUP‼ ONE MORE AND I'LL BE LEFT COMPLETELY INADEQUATE!"

"...you're so noisy." Was all the other had left to same.

"No thanks." Ren was quick to answer.

"How rude!" Keigo's contradictory remark made him wonder whether or not he actually was against him going.

Rito took his arms out of his pockets and crossed them, "Oh come on, don't be like that. Asano's buying."

"ME!?"

Ren had turned toward Rito fully with a stern gaze, "Yeah, let's have lunch."

Keigo's soul threatened to leave from his body, "YOU GREEDY BASTARD‼"

"Thanks for the grub, Kei!" Saruyama threw his arm over the other's shoulder.

Thus, the five boys had taken their leave. This left Risa to only watch, dumbfounded at how things had turned out. She straightened her posture after they had left, pouting.

"Rito, you...!" She made a little attempt at growling, but had refrained into a sigh of relief, "...probably saved my life just now, and you don't even know it."


Rukia had been on her lonesome, sitting in a tree while staring off toward the distance. Her hand rested on the stump beside her as her eyes looked toward the grass below.

Her sights were set elsewhere, though, as her mind had been set on the last words Saido had told her.

"No matter what I report back, this whole incident is certainly going to be the more pressing news."

It was unfortunate, but she could not help but agree. After all, it was unprecedented for a Menos Grande to have ever been defeated by someone who was not a Seated Officer, much less entirely unregistered...

Aside from that, she could not forget the original purpose of Saido's presence during that event.

"...I've been under suspicion from the very beginning." She surmised, "And it won't be long before they finally come for me."

"Oh! I found her!" A familiar voice chirped from below, "There she is~❤"

Looking to where it came from, her search led to her spotting a group approaching the tree she had sat upon.

The group had consisted of Haruna, Yui, Tatsuki, Risa, Mio, Ogawa, Kunieda, and at the front Lala. She could not help but have a slight sense of amusement noticing the princess's tail wag as she waved toward her.

"Hey Kuchiki." Yui called, "Would you care to join us for lunch?"


「 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐬. 」


"I can't believe this..." Keigo's shoulders slumped, leaning back against the wall of stair house behind him.

"Oh, come on, Keigo." Mizuiro raised a hand with a smile, "At least you only had to buy three lunches instead of six."

"YEAH, CUZ TWO OF YOU HAD CHICKS LINED UP TO BUY LUNCHES FOR THEM‼" Keigo snapped, shooting his head in the direction of Mizuiro and Ren, "I knew inviting him was a bad idea! It's like somehow they make each other's popularities skyrocket when they're together...!"

"You wouldn't understand the pain my buddy Keigo feels at all, Mizuiro..." Saruyama held his sandwich up with a shaking hand, "After all, you've probably had babes on your hip since you came out the womb‼"

As Saruyama and Mizuiro both had a long-winded explanation to drill into Mizuiro the differences between them in life, the other three of the group would all be seated together around a pink bento box.

"Say, Yukki." Ren lifted his gaze toward his opposite, "What's the real reason you invited me out for lunch? If it's because of my injuries, then you can keep your pity to yourself. I certainly never asked for your friendship."

"Oh shut up, you don't gotta be a jerk about every little thing." Rito placed his hand over the bento box and slid it over in Ren's direction, "I wanted to give you this."

"...and this is?"

"A lunch. That Lala made."

"Lala made this!?" Ren's eyes had begun to sparkle as he lifted the bento box to inspect closer, "Y-you mean I can have it!?"

"Yep. Knock yourself out." Rito had nodded, lifting his own sandwich from Keigo to unwrap.

The third party of the conversation, Masaki, had looked between the two with a brow raised as he had been eating from a loaf of bread himself.

"Are you sure, Rito?" Masaki lowered the bread from his mouth. If one would look closely, it was apparent that it was becoming stale... "Lala probably worked hard to make it just for you."

"Nah, it's okay." Rito nodded, "Ren over there's probably the reason I'm still alive. So he can have this."

"Shut up, shut up!" Ren shouted at the both of them, "It's time to eat...!"

Rito had crossed his arms as he watched as Ren gleefully open the bento box. When he had, there was an ominous black aura protruding from the container.

The both of Rito and Masaki scooted away somewhat as it had grown stronger the further he opened the box. With a heavy anticipation, the both of them had watched as Ren picked up a pair of chopsticks.

Lowering them inside the box, he would draw out a small, circular object. One that neither Rito or even Masaki would consider food. Either way, they had to give Ren props for so readily shoving it into his mouth.

They had quietly watched as Ren had began with a quick pace in his chewing. After the first few cycles, his mouth would begin to slow down. His face slowly grew pale.

Even then, it may have been through sheer willpower that Ren carried on and had, after some hesitation, finally swallowed.

When he had, the boy had suddenly began to throttle around as though his body was being attacked from the inside. Quickly, he grabbed the water bottle he had sitting beside him and took to chug some of its contents. After a few gulps, he had closed the bottle and set it aside.

"AAHAHAHAHAHAHAH‼"

To his chagrin, he could now hear Rito's laughter at his perilous struggle.

"Oh man, you're definitely devoted to Lala alright!"

"Y-Yukki, what the hell did you feed me!?" Ren snapped, "There's no way an angel like Lala made something like this."

"Well, she did. Apparently some Deviluke recipe." Rito smirked at him, "What's wrong? Don't like what your angel had to offer?"

"Why you...!"

Picking up the chopsticks again, Ren would pick up another roll and shove into Rito's mouth mid-laugh. Instinctively, he had chewed and swallowed to avoid choking.

This had led to him having a near one-to-one recreation of Ren's own reaction to the bite he had taken.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL, MAN!?"

Rito swiped the chopsticks. A roll was shoved into Ren's mouth.

"You wanted to pass this off to me so you could poison me, didn't you!?"

The chopsticks were swiped. A roll into Rito's mouth.

"Poison!? Wow, that's a lot you gotta say about a lunch from the girl you love so much!"

Mizuiro had watched from the sidelines, ignoring the tale that Keigo had been telling to Saruyama about his Saturday night. It was amazing how they managed to eat lunch like that over an argument...

"Those two are pretty similar, huh...?"


"Ne, Rukia!"

The girl had been in the midst of enjoying a nice orange juice box. Eyes closed as she took the texture and flavor to mind. She seemed to be in complete bliss...

"Do you... Have a crush on Rito or something?"

At least, until that question was asked.

A real answer had not come from the raven girl, as instead the juice she was drinking had come spewing out in a waterfall that even had its own miniature rainbow.

"H-HUH!?"

"I'll take that reaction as a maybe." Mio noted to herself, "Well, I asked cuz we were just wondering what kind of relationship it is you have with him."

"Relationship?" Rukia raised a brow, taking a napkin to wipe the traces of orange juice from her cheeks, "But we're just friends."

"Mio-san!" Ogawa moved between the two with a frown, "How could you just ask so bluntly like that!?"

"What are you talking about?" Mio shrugged, "It was clear you were all curious about it, so I just went and asked!"

"I...I'm not curious at all!" Ogawa defended.

"You would say that."

"You seem pretty nonchalant about it, Risa." Tatsuki noted, "You've been ogling the guy since the first day..."

"I don't see why I should be worried." Risa shrugged, "If he's got a little thing going on with Rukia, then I've got no competition to be concerned abou—"

"What utter nonsense are you about to spout..." Yui shot a glare in Risa's direction, "In case you forgot, I am still here. I won't permit your obscenities to be spoken in broad daylight."

"On that, I can agree..." Tatsuki nodded.

Lala merely watched the group as they continued this whole conversation. While she did understand what was directly being said... Her mind had other machinations as to the actual subtext.

"Lala-sama. You have chosen quite the person to marry, it seems."

"Rito does seem pretty popular, huh...?"

Mio waved off the rest of the group's banter between one another and turned toward Rukia again, who had looked like a fish out of water.

"Well? Come on, tell us. What exactly is your relationship with Rito?" Mio leaned over, crossing her arms, "Ever since you came to this school, you two have been pretty much inseparable. More so than Lala!"

"Rito is..."

Rukia looked down, seeming to ponder her answer for a short while. When she made her decision, she looked up at the others with her usual sweet smile.

"Just a friend!"

Everyone had stared at her in disbelief, even Yui. Though, she seemed hesitant to press any further while the others had scooted closer.

"What? Really?"

"Yup."

"There's no love affairs at all!?"

"Yup."

"Not even a little bit?"

"Yup. Not even a little bit. I pinky swear!"

"Aw, really?"

Rukia's expression seemed to change when Lala had spoken up. Casting a glance in her direction, she would see the girl having crossed her arms as she lifted her head toward the sky.

⦗ BGM Cue ー comical world ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

"That's really disappointing."

From seemingly thin air, she had taken out Rukia's usual whiteboard. A notion that Rukia had made a noise at, but restrained herself. On there she had drawn little heads of herself, Rukia, and Rito in a diagram.

"If Rukia had ended up liking Rito too, then it would mean us girls would win two against one!"

Again, the group had been in complete disbelief.

"Lala-sama... Do you actually understand how this works...?"

"Um, Lala-san...?" Haruna had leaned over toward the pinkette, "I think the way you described it is, um, a little silly... Love isn't supposed to be something unequal..."

"But, if everybody involved likes each other, then what's the difference?" Lala tilted her head, a question mark appearing over her head.

"What utter nonsense..." Yui had cleared her throat, "In your ignorance, you don't even realize that you've spouted the worst depravities so far..."

"Y'know what? That could be an interesting idea..." Risa placed her fist against her palm, "Add me up in there and it'll go to 3! A total woman victory. Winners get to do whatever they want to the loser~"

The both of Tatsuki and Yui's heads snapped over in horror at Risa. Meanwhile Haruna had begun to visibly steam from her ears, understanding what was being implied.

"Are those the only types of thoughts that run through your mind!?"

"Augh! If that comes to pass, what am I to do?" Risa placed her hands against her now flushed cheeks, "I have to savor every moment! Ooh, I know, I'll show up with a camera set to immortalize the experien—"

Tatsuki soared across the grass with a dropkick that had thrown Risa down. Raising her leg, she had stomped her foot again and again on the defeated other, who had weakly reached for the heavens.

"SHUT UP‼"

"Wait...!" Risa gasped in delight in between stomps, "If Rukia doesn't wanna take part, and Lala's too innocent, then all that'll be left is—"

"SHUT UP ALREADY AND DIE‼" Tatsuki kept on, "DIE AND COME BACK A BETTER PERSON! PERVERTED WHORE‼"

Rukia had let out an exasperated sigh as Haruna passed out beside her. After a while, she softly exhaled as she leaned back to continue watching.

"Alright, you've done enough now, Tatsuki." Yui had begun pulling the other away.

"C'mon, just a kick or two more!"

"As a Discipline Committee member, I've already let you do more than enough!"

"So, from what I hear, Risa thinks my plan is awesome!" Lala cheered.

"Yup, yup!" Risa cheered as well.

Ogawa had been having a mini panic as she tried to shake Haruna awake, to no avail. Mio on the other hand, had struggled to write her new notes.

"B-but if this many heroines seek interest in one of the leads... Then my ship..." She dropped the notebook and pen, falling to her knees dramatically, "I-it's sinking...!"

"Hm? What are you going on about, Sawada?" Yui had come closer, a brow raised.

A star in her eyes, she had lifted the notebook toward Mio, "Yes, that's right...! You're friends with both of them, aren't you!? Then your opinion should be excellent! Here, behold what I have so far...!"

Yui came to open the notebook with some hesitation. Hesitation that had quickly become fear as she begun flipping through the pages.

"OH MY GOD‼"

"Nyehehehehe...!"

"THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER! THIS NOTEBOOK IS BEING CONFISCATED—NO—BURNED‼"

"WHAAAT!?" Mio had reached for the book back, Kotegawa raising it overhead to keep it out of reach, "You can't burn it! That's the culmination of the work I've put all year into...!"

"If you've dedicated so much of your time to this depravity, then I should definitely burn it‼"

⦗ BGM Pause ⦘

Their voices slowly faded out in Rukia's mind. The girl's face slowly made into a smile...

...one that was bittersweet, at best.


There ended another school day for Yukki Rito. He had to admit, today was the most peaceful day he can recall in recent memory since this whole mess had begun.

He thought that things were bad enough when a Shinigami suddenly appeared in his house one day... But everything took a whole second turn when a princess suddenly dropped into his life.

He supposed that if it were anyone else, this kind of life would be something of wish fulfillment.

He let his bag hang over his shoulder with a soft frown. Ever since this all began, he always had this anxiety that every moment was just ticking toward the next catastrophic problem he would be dragged into solving.

⦗ BGM Change ー going home ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

"Rito!"

Oh, speak of the devil...

Rito looked over as Lala had skipped over to stand beside him. The princess giggled as she placed either hand behind her back.

"Zastin called and told me he'd be visiting today!" Lala informed him, "I wonder what the occasion is..."

"He probably just wants some of Mikan's cooking." Rito shrugged, "Hungriest swordsman I've ever seen."

"Oh, don't pick on him too much." Lala lightly slapped him on the shoulder, earning a small smile from the other.

"You guys!"

The pair had both paused to look over to an approaching Rukia, who had looked up to the both of them with a hesitant expression on her face.

Immediately, Rito's mind had raced through the possibilities as to why that could have been the case.

"I'll go see what's up with Zastin." Lala waved as she stepped back, a brief glance to Rukia that the boy did not catch, "See you at home!"

"O-oh, okay."

Rukia had hesitantly nodded. On that note, the pinkette sprouted her trusty wings and made to the skies above. Once she was out of view, Rito would slowly turn to face his partner in his Substitute Shinigami endeavors.

There was a few seconds of silence between the two as other leaving students had walked by. After a brief breeze, Rito had finally resolved to speak first.

"What's wrong, Rukia?" He leaned a bit closer, lowering his voice as to avoid any easedroppers, "A Hollow?"

Rukia blinked at first, lowering her head with a frown, "No, it's... Not that."

A small noise had escaped from Rito as he pulled his head back.

He had not known Rukia to be someone to hesitate like this. He wanted to figure out something to say that might have helped. Although, it was pretty difficult considering he did not even have the slightest clue what could be going through her mind at the time.

"Hey. Rito?" Rukia reforged eye contact, "Are you... Feeling alright?"

"Me?" Rito blinked, raising his arm. He flexed it briefly before rolling it back and forth a couple times, "Yeah. I'm feeling great. But... Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Rukia quickly replied, "I'm just... Glad you're okay."

"Is there gonna be another one like yesterday...?" Rito straightened his posture, a roll of sweat making itself apparent on his temple.

Rukia scoffed at the suggestion, "If a Menos Grande appeared every day, then we'd be in serious trouble..."

Another breeze passed by, Rito looking down with a slight frown. There she went making that expression again...

"Listen, Rukia." Rito exhaled, "You've been acting a bit strange today. Did something happen?"

Rukia hesitated. She made three attempts to speak but only noises came out of her mouth.

"It's... Just..."

"WAAAAAAHAAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!‼"

The two jumped. Both of them looked over in the direction the shout had come from. It was there that they would see a rapidly approaching Kon who had his arms outstretched. Wailing as tears ran out of either of his eye beads like rapids, he would jump forward and land straight into Rukia's bosom.

"RIIIITOOOOOOOOO‼" Kon nuzzled his head ferociously against her chest as he cried, "I'M SORRYYYYY‼ I NEVER SHOULD HAVE RUN AWAY‼ I ACTUALLY LOVE IT IN YOUR ROOOOOOOOM‼ I REALLY, REALLY, DOOOOOO!‼"

"Y'know... That's Rukia that you're rubbing your face in..." Rito deadpanned, "And whaddoya mean you ran away...?"

"In any case, it appears that he's grown very attached to you."

Rito looked at Rukia with a frown, "What he's grown is to be a pain..."

Rukia giggled in response to that.

"I suppose it's time for us to go home, then?"

"You take the lion and go on ahead." Rito jabbed a thumb toward Kon.

"Is something wrong?"

Rukia and Kon both looked toward Rito when he made his request. He supposed that made sense. He shook his head lightly, rolling his arm again with a smile.

"No. Nothing like that." Rito waved his hand gently, "Just wanted to do some shopping on the way home."

"Hmm... Well, alright then."

The both of them walked out from the school gate and made to go their separate ways.

While Rukia walked away, Kon had pointed a paw toward Rito, "Don't take too long! You'll make everybody worried."

"I won't. I won't."

"You better not. Otherwise I'll just have to keep Rukia and Lala all to myself for the night."

"What a terrifying threat..." Rito groaned.

⦗ BGM End ⦘


「 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐬. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧. 」


"Well, then, Lala-sama. Here is your allowance for the month. Please do not squander it."

Zastin and Lala were both seated on their legs in the living room of the Yukki Household. Zastin had placed in the pinkette's hands a pink envelope that had been inscribed with the Deviluke emblem on the seal.

"Okay~❤" She chirped.

Mikan had glanced over to the side. There, she would see all of their furniture leaned up against the wall.

Was it really necessary for them to rearrange her living room for this...?

She decided not to voice that frustration aloud. Walking over to sit between the two of them, she would set down the tray carrying tea for all three of them with a light huff.

"Here you go."

After setting it down, Mikan herself had made to sit down herself.

"Oh, thank you very much." Zastin had bowed his head in Mikan's direction.

In a quick succession, the three of Zastin, Lala, and Mikan had all grabbed their cups. Once raised closer to themselves, they would take their first, slow sips of the beverage.

After they had all pulled away to let out sighs of relief, Zastin had paused. Lowering his cup first, he glanced in either direction.

"I fear I had only just now noticed the lack of Rito-dono's presence." Zastin looked over to Lala, "Where might our groom-to-be have gone?"

"Oh, he had something to take care of on the way home." Lala smiled, "He should be back soon, though."

"I wish he told me whenever he goes out like this." Mikan sighed, setting her cup down.

"What's wrong, Mikan?"

"There's something that I would've wanted him to pick up."

She dug into the pocket of her apron, making for her phone. If she called, there was no reason that he would fail to pick up.

But before she could, Lala had stood up from her spot with a hop.

"Don't worry about it, Mikan. I'll go!"

"No, no, Princess." Zastin raised a hand, "I shall go and retrieve it."

"It's fine, I wanted to go shopping anyway."

Mikan had been glancing between the two the entire time. How did it always come to this? She may as well have been invisible whenever they had gotten worked up.

Zastin had crossed his arms. He sucked in his cheek somewhat as he curled a brow at the princess.

"Surely this is not another of your excessive excurcions..."

"What do you mean another!?"

Mikan let out a long, tired sigh as the two had begun arguing further. At this point, it would have just been faster if she went to go herself.


Sitting in the shopping plaza, Rito would be looking at his phone. Punching in a few numbers, he would patiently wait as it had begun to ring.

He could not believe he had found himself calling this number...

Part of him had been half hoping he was too busy at the moment to pick u—

"Hello there? Don Kanonji speaking."

Well, shit.

"Yes, hello-"

"That voice... Could it be?!" Rito had pulled the from away from his ear as the shouting of the star practically vibrated the device in his hand, "IS THAT MY NUMBER ONE PUPIL!‼?⁈"

"Y-yeah. It's me." Rito put the phone back to his ear when it finally quieted down, "I was calling to ask you about something."

"Oh? What might that be...?"

"Well... There was a lot that happened yesterday."

"Like what? Are you having girl troubles, Number One Pupil?"

Rito flinched at that. He was going to just ignore that fact for the moment.

"No. It's the spirit kind of problem."

"...oh. So you were also involved in that matter." Rito glanced over toward the phone on his ear, "Kirisaki had called me about it last night."

Rito made a low noise at that. The boy had vividly recalled the look on her face when she was finally made aware of what was going on.

The fear that riddled her face... It was palpable. So much so that he could most certainly tell that she had to still going through it.

"How's she holding up?" A question he felt was almost obligatory to ask.

"She went to school fine. But from what I've heard, they're taking a break from filming Magical Girl Kyoko for a little while."

It made sense. He doubted that she was able to act as though she were a dramatic superhero after what she was made to watch the day before.

"DON'T SAY IT‼" Pain lingered within the scream, Rito's face lowering while she began to clutch onto his kimono, "Don't say there was nothing I could do...! Please...!"

How was he supposed to feel after that...?

"Don't let it get to you, either, Number One Pupil." He was a bit surprised to hear that from the other, "Knowing you, I'm sure you did as best you could to avoid as many casualties as you could."

Rito hesitated to answer that. Every time he thought on it, he questioned whether or not he truly did try everything. After all, Kyoko was never supposed to be involved to begin with.

The whole damn town was dragged into it because he was careless...

"Yeah, I'll try." Rito had closed his eyes, "Thanks, Kanonji."

Shutting the phone, he had lifted his gaze toward a food truck just in the corner of his eye.

He was out for a while longer than usual. He probably should buy something for everyone...

. . .

"Thanks for coming!"

As he walked away from the plaza, he had taken a bite out of one of the Taiyaki he had bought. Definitely worth the wait in line. Best stuff in the business.

He noticed something odd. But he decided to just ignore it, at first.

He decided to turn down the road and take a detour from his usual route... That oddity was still there...

What was the oddity?

It was a blonde girl in an entirely black getup. It was gothic in nature, a star cutout to her chest with a silver outlining. The thing that stood out to Rito, though... Was that she wore several belts. A lot of belts.

He can ignore her fashion statements. Who was she?

That blonde hair of hers was certainly long. Full pigtails and there was still enough hair to barely pass over that cloak of hers. Was it longer than Lala's...?

Wait, was she looking at him?

He glanced over in her direction. One view of those blood red irises was enough to know his answer.

She was not just looking at him. She was staring at him.

What reason could that be...? Hunger, perhaps? Did the Taiyaki attract her attention?

Must not have had the money to buy some. Either that or she lacked the patience to wait in the line.

He gave a quick look into his bag.

It took a short amount of time for him to finally approach the girl, gesturing the bag toward her.

"Would you like one?" Rito asked, a soft smile on her face, "I've bought more than enough for me."

She made a light noise, seemingly surprised at the offer. Nonetheless, she would quietly accept. Grabbing a Taiyaki for herself, she would quickly take a bite for herself.

A few quiet seconds had passed as she took the moment to savor the flavor. At least, that was Rito's impression of her mannerisms.

"Hmm..." The girl lowered the treat slowly, "Earth's food is really strange..."

"Haha, yeah!" Rito scratched the back of his head, initially laughing off her remark, "Earth's food really is—"

He then choked back his own rebuttal.

"Wait. Did you say Earth?"

It was then that the girl had pushed off of the railing she leaned against. Coming closer, she had placed her hands on either of Rito's shoulders. Her grip was a little too firm for Rito's liking.

"Hold on, could you be, uh—"

"You're Yukki Rito, correct?"

Oh hell no. He had gulped while trying to lean away from her, "And why might you know my name...?"

"You're just who I've been looking for..."

As she trailed off, Rito's eyes moved down toward her right hand that had lowered. When he did, his skin paled when he had noticed that her hand had morphed into a curved blade.

Through either luck or instinct, he swayed his torso backward just in time to avoid being slashed straight through. The same could not be said for his bag, the strap being cleaved as it dropped to the ground beside him.

"So you are an alie-"

A tear sounded. Looking down, his eyes bulged when he saw his button up had a hole straight through his undershirt to show that she had almost cut into his skin despite having missed.

"You would be correct in that assessment." She rotated her blade, allowing Rito's reflection to be seen in its sheen, "An anonymous individual has hired me to eliminate you."

Anonymous...? Was this dealing with the arms race for Lala's hand in marriage again? That was clearly the source of all his problems when it came to outer space.

Raising the both of her arms, the blonde had calmly took position for her next attack.

"I bear no personal grudges against you, but you must die."

Talking was no option. In the midst of her second swing, he had rolled to the side to again narrowly avoid it. He could hear the wall tear at the force of her slash, but he had paid it no mind.

He grit his teeth as he made a swift turn into the crowd of people in the walkway of the business district.

The one time he elected not to bring Kon along...!

He had short time to muse on that, she was coming in fast. He picked up his pace somewhat to just barely avoid being close enough to slash again when she had landed behind him.

He could hear the ground quake slightly when she took to jump in the air again. Turning his attention back to his front, he would notice that a vegetable stand had been directly in his way.

With a swing of his body, he would jump to the side just as the blonde had dropped down from the air. Her blade cut clean through the wooden stand as tomatoes and wood chucks would fly past her head.

"He dodged it..." She mused.

He had no time to listen to whatever she was on about, though. If he did not find somewhere to run, he would end up just like that stand did!

As he took to pick himself up off of the ground, he would notice a massive shadow begin to overtake his form. Noting how much closer it was getting, he followed his instincts and dived forward again.

Rito rolled onto his feet with a bounce to face the girl. To his horror, he could see that she was standing on top of a comically large mace. No, more accurately, she had turned her right foot into that mace.

What the hell was this girl!?

"You are far faster than what I've observed of Earthlings." The girl praised, "I suppose I'll have to adjust somewhat."

Rito had zero interest in discovering what she was meaning to imply. Rito turned heel and headed for the exit to the crossroads.


Motemitsu stepped out from the arcade with his hands in his pockets.

He was still frustrated about his failure earlier in the day. How could it be possible that not a single pass he had made succeeded? They were all first years. None of them should be able to even recognize when their hearts beat irregularly!

How the hell were they not attracted to the Motemitsu Taizo!? He was hot, gifted, and physically built to top shape from head to toe!

Why the hell was he still stuck like this, after having spent his entire first year building himself up to this point, without a single babe on his hip to validate his efforts!?

Not to mention...

"Hahahaha‼"

Those chumps behind him, laughing it all the way up. They claimed to be his posse, but he was aware of the reality of the situation. They followed him specifically to see him fail. In every hilarious way that fate could possibly lay out for him.

Looking ahead, he would see a blonde girl in the middle of the crowd. No, he saw more than just that.

This was an opportunity!

Wiping his hand over his face, he straightened himself up with that trusty bravado he practiced!

"Hmph!" Sparkles popped off of his smirking face, "I'll show you my flirting skills today!"

"AS EXPECTED OF MOTEMITSU-SENPAI‼" His posse had all cheered, "HE'S GONNA GO GUNNIN' RIGHT FOR THE FIRST CHICK HE SEES‼"

Showtime.

"HEY‼ YOU THERE‼"

He called out, his hand waving back and forth. As the crowd seemed to back away from the girl, he took his opportunity to approach. The girl stared up at him with what looked to be crimson eyes.

Ooh. How fancy.

"AS EXPECTED OF SENPAI‼ NO HESITATION‼"

Leaning closer, he would raise a hand toward the blonde and shoot her a wink. He decided to pass off her initial skeptic brow as charming innocence.

"How about you and I get away from here?" Motemitsu leaned close to the girl, making sure some of the sparkles that ran off his smile hit the blonde's cheek. "Just say the word and I'll get us to a paradise just for you and I~"

"No thanks."

Woah, that was quick—

Agh, dammit! Just when he thought that he would get a stroke of good luck this time around. Dammit a—

SHIING!

...huh?

He felt pieces of something falling into his hands... Something soft. The texture was almost like the fur on a kitten's back.

"S-SENPAI!‼?⁈"

He slowly raised his hand toward his... head...

It was missing. The epicenter of his hair... The hair he had been working so hard to make perfectly akin to those models from the magazines that all the girls raved about...

It... was...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH‼"

Motemitsu screamed to the heavens, falling to his knees.

The culprit for his despair had taken off swiftly afterward without a care for what she had done.


「 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬.ᐟ 」


Rito ran into a parking lot, slamming his back against a stone fence as he made to catch his breath.

"What's up with her—" He said in the midst of pants, "There's no way she's actually trying to kill me, is she!?"

That was definitely a real blade and mace that she almost hit him with before. One hand to his stomach and the whole in his shirts was definitely a clean cut.

That girl was fast. He was sure he covered a good amount of distance. Took everything he had, though. Even with all of the training that Rukia had given him. Even an alien should take some time to cover 2 whole blocks of distance.

Even then, he wished he had some way of knowing for certain, though...

Wait—

A wash of blue light circled the ground around Ren as a plethora of white ribbons would shoot out of the ground and surround him.

Upon their appearance, Rito had been stunned.

"Those are—!"

That was right! There was a way. Now, he just had to think back and recall what it was that Ren did to make that happen...

He needed to focus on detecting that girl...

That girl...

After a short while of focus, he could see a stream of flickering blue lights appear in his mind. There were too many for him to narrow down. He needed to focus more...

A breath escaped from his nose.

Soon enough, one of the streams would flash. Solidified into a more physical state.

A few steps were taken forward. He raised his hand and snatched onto what he saw in his mind with a clutch of his fingers. When he could feel it in his hands, he had opened his eyes.

When he had, he had gotten a hold of one of that girl's Reikaku. He knew that for certain.

But there was a particular detail about it that sent a cold sweat down his spine.

Ren raised a finger to gesture toward the white ribbons that surrounded his body.

"I'm sure that Kuchiki has already explained to you what it takes to be even capable of seeing them. Only those of the upper ranks of Shinigami are capable, and only those of even higher rank can touch them." Ren smirked, "But what she failed to tell you..."

When he pulled his hand back, it would be revealed he was holding a snippet of a ribbon. This ribbon, in contrast to all the rest, was a crimson color.

She was an alien, right...? So then, why was it that a red ribbon had been fading from his hand...?

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

"An assassin sent after your life."

He had no more time to ponder on it as the wall behind him had smashed open. His head raised slightly with wide eyes, his skin growing pale as the realization of the cause set in.

"I'd appreciate it if you would stop running around..."

The predator was closing in...


"Lala-sama? Lala-sama!" Zastin called out in either direction, a full grocery bag filling up either arm.

Behind him, Mikan had been looking around silently with a raised brow. She could have sworn that Lala was just with them. If not for Zastin, she would have almost failed to notice her leave.

Then again, that had to have been the difference between a recent friend and someone who had been her caretaker since she was a child. She could hardly imagine how hard a time he must have had back then.

She supposed it would be safe to assume that she had gone after Rito.

"Hey, Zastin."

When she had gotten the attention of the knight, she raised her hands toward the bags.

"Let me take the bags." Mikan offered with a smile, "I know you wanna go search for Lala, so it'll be easier if I just went ahead and headed home."

"Right... Well, then. I wish you well in your travels, Mikan-dono."

And just like that, he was off rushing toward the horizon.

Everyone seemed to be so busy these days, it almost made her envious. All she ever had to do was go home and cook whenever her friends went home...

She puffed a cheek. That was especially true for her brother. After all, here he was having a future marriage lined up. Being king of the galaxy in the near future must have been something anyone would jump at the chance for.

It made her curious how he was the only one on Earth who thought of it differently.

Oh well. She supposed it was time to go home.

While Mikan had begun to retrace her steps, she would be unaware of her pursuer. That was, particularly, in the form of the black cat that had paid Urahara a visit earlier in the day.


❲ 5:09 p.m. ❳

Again, he dodged the strike she had thrown. The ground crackled under the force of her blade, stone breaking apart and flickering around her.

That was odd. No. It would be more accurate to say this entire situation has been nothing short of odd.

"Why don't you counterattack, Yukki Rito?"

Golden Darkness touched upon the ground. She approached the bridge he stood upon with a low frown.

"I was informed that you weren't the type to go easy on female opponents." She tilted her head slightly, "Your performance from yesterday gives me the impression you are capable of fighting back. So why do you choose not to?"

"Huh!?" Rito's eyes snapped wide, "What kind of impression of me do you have!? I don't have any reason to fight you, okay? How about we put the sword away and talk?"

Was he stalling? If so, that would conflict with the observations she made of him the day before. It was already difficult enough that he had conflicted with the information that was provided by her client...

Did he not regard her as an enemy?

...how naive.

Even so, she recalled the time he had offered her food. She supposed one request was not out of the question. A sigh escaped from her lips as she restored her blade hand back into its original form.

"—OOOOOOO‼"

Her eye slowly moved to follow the sound of a voice rapidly approaching from the distance. When they tracked the source, it would be the first princess of Deviluke.

"Lala‼" Rito's voice had a clear sound of relief in it.

The pinkette dropped directly onto the boy, wrapping her arms around his head. Unfortunately for him, her trajectory had made it so his face had made directly impact with her bosom.

"Thank goodness I found you‼" Lala beamed, "Are you okay, Rito?!"

"I'm about okay as I can be right now-" Rito responded once he found some breathing room, "I spent the last hour running away from this girl. I don't really get at all what's going on."

Lala had pulled away from him, "She's an assassin from outer space. I think one of my fiancee candidates hired her to kill you."

"HEH!?"

He made a surprised noise, yet the look she saw on his face showed that it was merely surface level.

"Lala Satalin Deviluke." Golden Darkness had finally spoken up, "As the first Princess of Deviluke, conqueror of the known universe: I must ask that you stand aside. My business only involves Yukki Rito, only he is my target."

"I can't let you do that!" Lala interjected, "Rito is someone important to me!"

She supposed it was typical of someone of her upbringing.

"Is that so..." The blonde's eyes narrowed, "Then it seems I'll have to force you out of my way."

⦗ BGM Cue ー BL_73 ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

"So you didn't come alone."

She needed not to look as another interloper had dropped from the sky to slash down at her. Her hand was thrown upward, it shifting into a silver blade.

Sparks flickered through the air as the green energy blade of the warrior clashed with her own. An upward swing of her arm would result in the two warriors breaking apart.

After the two of them had separated, she lowered her arm to look upon the skeletal armored knight standing in front of the princess and his target with his sword brandished.

She could only assume he was a knight of Deviluke.

"I will be your opponent, Golden Darkness‼"

"...and you are?"

"Hmph. Is it not obvious?" The warrior had straightened himself, lowering his sword to his side, "I am an officer dispatched to Earth by the Deviluke Kingdom!" He raised his fist into the air, "It is my sworn duty to care for and defend Princess Lala!"

His head slowly moved back toward Rito with a deadpan expression, "...that sometimes includes defending this one, as well."

"Nice, man. Thanks a lot." Rito sweatdropped.

He certainly looked the part. The only part of his body that lacked any armor was his head. Even his tail was kept secured within his armor somehow. That was assuming he was a member of the Deviluke people, of course.

He then pointed his energy sword toward her with a glare, "I am the Commander of the Deviluke Royal Guard! I am Zastin!"

"...I don't fully understand what any of that means, but I do understand you're intent on getting in my way." She took in a soft breath, "You leave me with no choice."

With no more words to express, Golden Darkness charged forward in the direction of her opposition. Zastin would return her approach with a charge of his own, pulling his sword at his side as they rapidly closed in on one another.

"Now... LET US BATTLE‼"

As the both of them had swung forward, their blades had clashed. The force alone had been enough to throw shockwaves across the bridge that had nearly thrown Rito off balance.

The two had slashed at one another various times. Their speed matched too well for either to slip past the defense of the other. Several bangs rang through the skies as they leapt back and forth.

Leaping forward again, the girl this time made to use her shorter stature to her advantage. Crouching to slip past her waist, she swung her silver blade up toward his lower back.

Clang!

Her eyes snapped wide. He had managed to catch the attack with such ease...?

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH‼"

With a powerful swing of his arm, the sword would be used to fling the smaller girl off of the bridge.

With a somersault, she would readjust herself to catch herself just as she hit the ground. The velocity had made her skid backward, the blonde using her hands to halt the movement.

An adjustment would be enough to close the gap. Though... She would rather not exert herself in such a manner. Transformation would be the better move anyhow.

Her hair took to raise outward, rapidly coiling together to form six dragon heads that would open their maws as they were launched toward Zastin. The knight's eyes had snapped wide as he was ensnared by all of them and thrown down to be on the same ground level.

"As expected of the Golden Darkness—" She could hear his voice from the smoke, "The claims of your entire body being a weapon are clearly not without their bases..."

"...thanks."

"...but I'm sorry." Zastin's smirk became clear through the smoke, "You don't have a chance."

When the smoke had cleared, it became apparent that the heads that would take his torso were caught by his blade. The swordsman had thrown a hand into the air.

"The reason? This is a planet you are not familiar with: EARTH‼" He confidently declared, "I KNOW THEM ALL‼ THE SECRETS TO THE LOCAL TERRAIN‼"

From the edge of the bridge above her, Golden Darkness could hear Rito's voice shout from above. At the same time, though, she could hear the blaring of a loud horn in her immediate vicinity.

If that were enough to catch her off guard... Then she truly would have no chance.

With an upward leap, the hair behind her had swayed in either direction to form into white wings. Loud flaps resounded in unison with the rustling of the massive machine that flew by.

So they were standing on some kind of railway system. She was not under the impression that this planet was advanced enough to have such innovations.

"ZASTIN, WATCH OUT‼"

One look to the side and she would see that her opponent's claims were foolhardy. Another train had rushed in and struck the knight to fling him away.

...that was vastly underwhelming.

"That strategy turned out to be rather... Weak." She surmised.

There was only a short time before she would touch down upon the bridge across from her target, his eyes bulging at the sight of her.

"All right..."

To her surprise, Golden Darkness moved her attention to the side. To her chagrin, it was the princess who had stepped up with a fist raised.

"Looks like it's my turn to be your opponent!"

⦗ BGM End ⦘


「 𝐀𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭: 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧.ᐟ 」


"W-wha!?"

Leaning over the railing of the bridge, the pair of Rito and Lala would see Zastin look in shock as the assassin after him had taken flight. He was left like a deer under headlights, almost literally, as he failed to notice the rapidly approaching train headed for him.

"ZASTIN, WATCH OUT‼"

The knight had noticed far too late. Like a bowling pin, he was flung through the air in a spinning motion.

That turn of events had left Rito's jaw hanging loose. For the commander of a royal guard... Zastin was what anyone would define as an idiot. That was the only comment that he could put on the matter.

"That strategy turned out to be rather... Weak."

Right on to the next with this assassin, huh...

Rito gulped when the girl touched down on the ground just ahead of him. She fought Zastin evenly in a fight just now. That was the definitive proof that he stood no chance without changing into a Shinigami.

He clicked his teeth in annoyance. Both methods to that end? He sent straight toward home...

What was he supposed to do now?

"All right..."

Rito looked on with wide eyes as the princess who lived in his house stepped forward. He could not help the bad feeling that ran through his mind the moment he realized it was her.

"Looks like it's my turn to be your opponent!" She raised a fist, confident smile stretching across her features. "I am going to step up, and avenge Zastin! ...something like that!"

"Y'know this isn't gonna be easy, Lala." Rito stepped closer, "Her body in and of itself is an arsenal, and—"

"Yes, I am very much aware of that."

The assassin was left unimpressed, "The sheltered princess is going to fight me...?"

"You might not be able to tell from just my appearance," She then pressed her fist against her chest, "But I'm pretty strong‼"

He could hear the other sigh as she raised her hand to begin shifting back into a blade, "You're going to get your fingers burned, Princess..."

What the hell was going on...?

Taking turns to fight like this... He thought that Lala and Zastin were Devilukes, not Saiyans. Well, actually, now that he thought about the weird mishaps that she put him through regularly, they may as well be...

His shoulders slumped. He half wished there was a magic way to wish his problems away...

"Let me say this now." The blonde began, "I have no intention of going easy on you."

"That's fine," Lala shook her head lightly, "Just come at me‼"

"Careful, Lala!" Rito advised, "One wrong move and you're gonna end up like Zastin!"

"It's fine, it's fine~" Lala waved off his concerns with her usual cheeky smile.

Rito threw a finger toward her opponent, directing Lala's attention her way as the assassin jumped toward her.

"Here I come."

The both of Rito and Lala made audible noises as the transfigured blade slashed toward them.


Dr. Mikado was on her way home after locking up for the day. She was a bit disappointed she could not catch Kuchiki Rukia before she had left school for the day.

After all, she believed she had begun to get a grasp around that faux body of hers. At this point... She would have to pay the Urahara Shop a visit.

She lightly shook her head at that. The last conversation she had with that man was nothing short of frustrating in every sense of the word. Even so, he was her introduction to a brand new world of medicines that she had never previously thought existed.

Look at that. She was thankful for something involving that schemer.

BOOOM‼

She heard crackling in the distance. It was there that she saw a figure leaping out from the rubble that kicked up. Upon close inspection, she could see that it was...

"The Golden Darkness!?" A cold sweat ran down the back of her head, "Why would she be on Earth..."

Analyzing the situation further, she would see that there were two figures flying through the air away from the assassin. One Yukki Rito and Lala Satalin Deviluke.

Ah. So that was what was going on...

After a few minutes of contemplation, she began to turn away from the ongoing panic.

"...I think I'd better stay out of this one."


⦗ BGM Cue ー BL_75 ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

Lala was absolutely having the time of her life as she and Rito had been running away from Golden Darkness.

Jumping through the window of a café, they were meaning to take the opportunity to slip through while their pursuer was catching up. Unfortunately for them, a mass of golden fists would shoot forward to combust the wall beside them.

"So fascinating~❤" Lala's eyes began to sparkle, "She can freely transform her body into other shapes!"

"Lala-sama, I don't believe now's the time to be impressed‼"

"I can't help but agree with Peke!" Rito shouted as he picked up his pace.

She looked again to see that the assassin was rapidly closing in on them with her arm blade ready to strike the both of them down. She jumped to the side quickly to evade the attack.

Using the torn up wall, she made to take for the skies outside. Looking down, she smiled to see that Golden Darkness had chosen to follow her up.

"A~ll right then." Lala cheered as she drew out her D-Dial, "It's my turn now!"

Dialing up a number in the device, a blue light would project from its screen. Inside of the blue light, particles would collect together and make into the shape of a primarily cream-colored handgun.

Pointing it toward the blonde, she would press her finger against the grey trigger. The end of the barrel popped open, a massive ovular round firing out in the direction of her opponent.

As the assassin made to swing around the shot, she would be staggered when it had popped out to become a large net that would shoot around Golden Darkness. Once it had formed a closed circle around her body, it rapidly enclosed itself over her skin directly.

"Gotcha!"

With her wings binded, the Golden Darkness would immediately take a nose dive toward the ground below.

Lala pumped a fist. She could always count on her trusty inventions!

Even with that turn in her favor, she made to call forth another invention through her D-Dial. After all, if it truly were that easy, then Zastin would have fared better than a standstill with her. Now, what to choose...

The princess would seem to have little time to make her pick. Down below, the captured assassin made to pass by an alleyway. Before she would pass the rooftop, her wings would transfigure under her bindings. Sprouting out into several silver spikes, they would break apart the net while simultaneously catching onto the building's wall.

When the net dropped down toward the ground, she would retract the spikes save for the one that had stabbed into the wall. Grasping on it, she would swing her body around to throw herself onto the rooftop.

When she made to dart back up to where Lala was, she would instead find herself faced with a massive creature. A white bodied dragonfly with a mask.

Golden Darkness widened her stance some as the monster drew in rapidly. Letting her hair flow upward, it would shift again into the six dragon heads before launching out toward the beast.

To her chagrin, it had managed to dodge every attack. The monster continued closing in without any hesitation, the assassin preparing her hand blade to attack when it finally came close enough for an attack.

As she slashed forward, though, she would be caught off guard when she phased through it. No. It would be more accurate to say that the monster had easily phased through her.

As she came to realize what the diversion Lala had set up was, she was too late!

The pinkette had skid to a halt next to her as she had her arms prepared for a swing. In her hands was a crimson tennis racket that had a silver pin connected to the bottom of the frame that possessed the Deviluke symbol.

Her trusty QQ-Service Ace-kun!

On the edges of the circle, several silver flaps would pop open to reveal miniature thrusters. Throwing all of her weight into the swing, she made to smack the racket against her opponent.

Caught off guard by the attack, the girl's crimson eyes shot wide as the racket propelled her through the air with a sudden burst of force.

Once she had vanished from her sight, the princess had lowered the racket to her side.

"I doubt that was enough to take her down, Lala-sama."

"Yeah... You're probably right." Lala once again drew her D-Dial, punching in a new number, "It's a good thing, then, that I went and made this!"

Transmit Confirmed: BOW BOW DOGGIE, DEPLOYED!

What appeared from the printing of the phone was a variation of the Sniff Sniff Trace-kun, though with darker colorations. Purple over its body, with a spiked red color and much more aggressive facial structure.

She went ahead and made it after Zastin nagged her about how careless she was during her time at school. She never got an excuse to use it before, but she figured a super assassin was the perfect first target!

"O~kay! Now go get her, Bow Bow Doggie-kun! She's blonde and super cute!"

It popped its head to the side, sniffing around. After a short few seconds, it dove down toward the ground below.

Lala blinked when it dove downward. She was pretty sure it would have been faster to go by the rooftops. Oh well, she was sure it would do its job just fine.

"Peke!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Her wings deployed from the back of her vest. With a leap, she was up in the sky again to pursue Golden Darkness herself.


「 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝.ᐣ.ᐟ 」


"Ouuuch...!"

Rito rubbed the side of his head. He definitely dodged the slash, but he never expected the whole wall to come down from it!

Then again... What he sensed about her before, that was real. Her strength being so extraordinary was only to be expected. He had to be sure to ask Rukia about it later. After a cold shower and a good night's rest, of course.

Pushing himself up off of the ground, he made to look around the room where he was in. At first, his view was obscured by what looked to be steam...

The soils of his shoes had also... felt... wet.

He was very hesitant to lift his head now. After all, as soon as he did...

"Uhh..."

"Ah..."

Before him would be a plethora of woman. All of various body sizes and ages. The common factor between all of them? They were naked, and covered from the shoulders down in soap.

...oh shit, he knew where he was now.

"Ah... No, erm—"

"K..."

Rito had gulped.

"KYAAAAAAH, PERVERRRRRRT—‼"

"UWAAAAAHHHH, THAT'S NOT IIIIIIIIIIT—‼"

⦗ BGM End ⦘

Rito placed a hand over his face. A groan escaped him as he stepped away from the bathhouse he was thrown into, covered from head to toe in light bruises.

If that assassin failed to kill him, then a couple more mishaps like that surely would. Speaking of which, he had better hurry up and figure out where those two had went off to.

It was then that a boom had sounded in the distance.

That certainly had to be a clue if anything. Rito made to take off in that direction.

"NOOOOO—‼"

A scream right as he was on his way. Did someone get caught up in the commotion? He would just have to apologize later. After all, he needed to find the pair of Lala and that assassin before they made a mess of the town in their fight.

He could have sworn that the voice was familiar, though...

...

AGH! He could not help it, he made a sharp turn for the direction of the scream.

After a stone's throw, he would find himself standing in front of clothes shop. There, he would see there a trio of young women surrounded what was the ruins of a red dress.

"Oh, Saki-sama..."

"I had just bought that dress, too...!" The one at the center cried dramatically, "What am I, the Queen of Beauty, to do, in a situation like this...!?"

"Where did this dog even come from?"

Saki...? Oh, hell no. Rito had almost immediately regretted coming as fast as he had come.

Just as he had feared, what he was looking at was the trio of Konishi Saki and her two subordinates. Down below was a dog that was tearing through a mess of red fabric, which he had assumed used to be a dress. One that he recognized as one of Lala's inventions.

"Oh, what the hell..."

Speaking up immediately proved to be a mistake as the three's attention had all landed on him. He flinched when Rin fixed him with a hard glare.

"Yukki Rito..." She said his name with a chilling aggression, "I should have known that you were the one behind this."

"Why do you automatically assume I'm behind this!?"

"If you showing up shortly after this machine is anything short of suspicious, I don't know what would be."

Rito's eye twitched. Why was he always under suspicion when it came to this girl?

"Look, just lemme take that thing away before things get any wor-"

"How do we know you didn't sick this on us yourself?" Rin stepped to block Rito's view, "I doubt something like that is too low for you."

"Did you...!?" Saki looked up toward him with accusing eyes.

"Obviously not!" Rito shot back, "Look, if I know Lala's inventions, then that thing's gonna move on to the next best thing once it's done with that dress!"

"You're saying Lala made this!?" Saki growled, "I should have known she would take her chance to sabotage me the moment I let my guard down...!"

"You're not listening to m-"

"You've told us enough." Rin narrowed her eyes, "You can leave now, Yukki Ri-"

"KYAAAAAH!"

"Saki-sama!"

Rin stopped, returning her focus to her master to see that she was now under assault herself by the mechanical dog. Quickly, she joined Ayako in making to pull the machine off of Saki before it threatened to tear her current clothes apart.

Rito, struggling with his words, had stepped toward the three, "Uh... Do you need any—"

"GO AWAY, YUKKI RITO‼" All three of them had shouted in unison.

Rito flinched, a cold sweat running down the back of his head. After that, he clicked his teeth and turned back toward the way he came.

Dammit all to hell, he should have ignored them to begin with‼


Golden Darkness found herself flinging through the air.

That blow was far stronger than she expected it to be. The wings she protruded to try and regain her balance had only made to lower her velocity. While she had spun wildly in the air, she would throw her hand toward the ground to catch onto the building she was about to make impact with.

Transfiguring it into a blade, it would drag through the rooftop. Reaching the end of it quickly, she would fall off of the structure when the edge had given out under the force of her launch.

As she again fell, she would somersault in the air until she had finally landed atop of a street pole. She held onto the post as the debris had fallen to the ground around her.

She realized too late that there was someone who enjoyed the wind that had picked up around her.

"OOH~❤!" A voice had managed to be heard through all of the chaos, "I... I ALMOST SAW THEEEEMMMM‼"

When she looked over, she had looked down to see a small, plump man ogling up at her. More specifically, at her lower body. Her cheeks had flared up as she quickly made to push down on her cloak from either end.

"AAAAAW, DON'T HIDE IT~‼" The man threw out his arms in reverence, "FLASH ME YOUR PANTIEEEEEES~❤"

She had the perfect solution for someone like him. Several strands of her hair molded into fists that rained down upon the old man. In rapid succession, the fists would all pummel the little man with such impact that the ground cratered in the shape of knuckles.

"GYAAAAAAAA‼" Even though he was beaten down, he still had that disgusting smile on his face...

Golden Darkness pouted with a glare toward the old man, "I have no patience for perverts!"

"Perfect!"

From her front, she had only a brief amount of time to see that Lala had prepared a comically large water gun. Unable to dodge in the time that she pulled the trigger, the assassin found herself consumed by a cascade of surging, cold water.

The typhoon swirled down towards the street level to burst in a miniature geyser.

"Woohoo~" Lala pumped her fist, "I got her good!"

With three swift slashes, the geyser would burst apart in either direction. This would reveal that Golden Darkness had coated herself in her hair to keep the water from striking her clothes. Her hair had then whipped out to flick the excess water completely from her body.

Straightening her stance as she rose up from the ground, she stared up at the princess with a frown.

"...you said you were going to fight..." She began, "So please stop playing around with those toys, Princess."

"I'm not playing around!" The sheltered girl retorted as she floated down to meet ground level with her, "I just want to save Rito!"

"You desire to protect Yukki Rito?" A brow raised on the assassin's face, "I must ask you why."

The princess's eyes had widened at her question. The blonde frowned at the silent response. It appeared she would have to elaborate the reasonings behind her question.

"From my client's information, Yukki Rito is supposed to be an atrocious fiend who threatened you and planned to take over Deviluke."

"Rito!? Are we talking about the same guy here?" Lala had placed a hand on her chest while lowering the cannon, "That can't be true! He's nothing like that!"

That response had almost instinctively forced the assassin's mind to dig through her memories. She found herself thinking back to recall the observations she made of him.

"One of my friends... I got him and his dad killed by a Hollow without even knowing it. So... Because of that, I want to do everything to ensure that aren't any more of my kind." Rito's face grew stern, "Nobody to go through what I did."

"Because of that? I can get why you're so desperate to prove yourself." Slowly, he turned his head back toward Ren, "But the way you went about it was completely irresponsible. I'll never forgive you for it."

"Would you like one?" Rito asked, a soft smile on her face, "I've bought more than enough for me."

She made a light noise, seemingly surprised at the offer. Nonetheless, she would quietly accept. Grabbing a Taiyaki for herself, she would quickly take a bite for herself.

A slow breath had escaped from her lips.

"...maybe he isn't." Her expression had straightened, "But I will deal with anyone I'm asked to."

This was her way of life. The information she was given, it may have been inaccurate. To a far greater degree than she could have expected. Even so, there was no room in her line of work for biases. After all...

"That is the duty of the Golden Darkness." She calmly declared.

"EEEEEEEEEHHHHHH!?" Lala had dramatically squealed, "THAT DOESN'T SOUND RIGHT‼"

...typical.

"It's probably hard for someone who was raised in a loving environment to understand the hardships which I have endured..." Various memories of battles, ambushes, escapes, and skirmishes flooded through her mind as the light briefly faded from her eyes, "Living in a universe as cruel as this one..."

Her crimson eyes bore into those of the princess's for the length of the chilling silence between them while Rito had emerged from the horizon with shaky breaths.

"...you're right. I really do get what you're saying." Lala then beamed, "That's why I left the palace! There are looots of things that I don't know yet!"

...what?

Golden Darkness could feel the colors drain from her in the sheer shock that her rebuttal had given her. What kind of response was that?

How was she supposed to respond—?

Her line of thought was cut short when the wind had suddenly picked up around her. A beam of light shot down from above, commanding her attention.

In the air above them, she would see a massive circular spacecraft that had four lights on its bottom.

"What are you doing, Golden Darkness!?" A voice echoed from the ship, "Your opponent isn't Lala-tan‼"

Before anyone could make a move, a golden beam would rain down from the spacecraft. Within its radiance was a very small man who was dressed from head to toe in lavish garments.

His arms thrown out, the impish figure laughed uproariously as he came close to their ground level.

"LACOSPO HAS ARRIVED~‼ JYAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA~!"

"Lacospo!?" Lala gasped at the new arrival, clearly recognizing who they were.

"Uhhh..." Rito, the unaware one, would look over to Lala, "Who's the little green dude?"

"GYAAAAAHHHHHH‼" Upon sight of him, Lacospo would begin to spin his arms around in a rage, "BE SILEEEEENT, PRIMITIVE EARTHLIIIING‼ HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY PRECIOUS LALA-TAN AWAY FROM ME⁇⁈"

"Huh?" Rito quipped a brow at the imp.

He swung his little body around to point toward the blonde, whose face curled in displeasure at the gesture, "And you, Golden Darkness! You were hired to kill someone, not my precious time!"

"Lacospo...!" Lala balled up both her hands into fists, "So you're the one who paid Yami to off my Rito...!"

She had nearly jumped at that. Yami? Was that... In reference to her?

"Yes~❤! That's right, that's right!" Lacospo looked over to Lala, hearts spewing out of his figure as he made grabby hands toward her, "I did it all for you, my darling Lala-tan~❤!" He would then smile as brightly as his face could make it, "Now, marry me! You can thank me later~"

"Not a chance!" Lala instantly refused, "I can never forgive you for putting a hit out on my fiancé! You're SCUM‼" To add insult to injury, she had pulled at the corner of her eyelid while sticking her tongue out at the alien.

Lacospo had dramatically gasped at the act of defiance. His body thrashed in either direction as though he had been mortally wounded by the rejection alone.

"I-I'M SCUM!?"

"You heard me!" Lala pointed toward him, "I would never marry someone who is as cruel and manipulative as you!"

"M-my heart... It can't take it...!" Lacospo had staggered backward with his hand over his chest. Tightly clutching it, he would turn his head over in the direction of the assassin, "Listen, Golden Darkness! I'm going to hold you accountable for not eliminating your target as contracted!"

...oh, so now it was her turn? Perfect. As she put all of her attention on the noble, the wind had begun to pick up around her. An invisible aura flickered through her body as she had parted her lips to speak.

"Actually, Lacospo, I'm glad you have such good timing..." If one would look closely, there would be a faint glow in her now slightly brighter eyes, "I have something I was wanting to discuss with you, as well..."

Lacospo gulped, as though he could sense the intent that she had hidden behind her gaze.

"You see, it's regarding the data on Yukki Rito that you had provided me with..." She took a step closer, the smaller man flinching, "It just so happens that my own personal observations don't quite line up with that information..." Another step, "You were supposed to give me information on the target, not lies and fabrications..."

Lacospo made awkward noises as he began to sweat bullets under her hawk-like gaze on him.

"Surely, you weren't trying to deceive me..."

"Sh..." Lacospo's lips trembled as he struggled to form his words, "Sh-shut up! Yukki Rito is the deceitful one! He's taking advantage of Lala-tan‼" He suddenly threw a finger in the direction of the discussed target, "I've got no reason to lie to you—"

"Yami-chan! You can't believe what Lacospo is telling you‼"

Again with that moniker...

Nonetheless, there was some truth to her warnings. After all, it was clear that her client had no interest in clearing up the discrepancies that exist between her sources.

"W-what's that look for!?" Lacospo spat at her, "I-I'm the one who's your client here!"

Yami's gaze remained sharply focused on the tiny man. When he realized that she was not going to budge, he swiftly turned away with an audible grumble.

"Tch... If that's the case..." He would throw a hand up toward the vessel he arrived on, "COME ON OUT‼ GAMA-TAN‼"

Yami clicked her teeth as another beam had shot down from the vessel. Smoke erupted from the bottom of the beam, encompassing their view of Lacospo.

When the smoke had cleared, it would be clear to see that Lacospo was now standing atop the back of a massive frog which had antennae sticking out from either eyebrow. Its body was covered in moss green skin with black scales over its back and arms.

"Nyaaahh..." Cried out the summoned beast.

"Is that supposed to be a frog!?" Rito shouted.

Yami had silently lowered a hand. As she did, it would transfigure into a silver blade. She was well aware that this was going to be a fight. One she had no intention of allowing Lacospo to escape unharmed.


⦗ BGM Cue ー catch-22 ⦅ Shiro Sagisu ⦆ ⦘

"COME ON OUT‼ GAMA-TAN‼"

From his space vessel, another beam would fire down atop of Lacospo. Before any of them could react, smoke would burst out from the bottom of the beam.

The both of Lala and Rito braced themselves as it passed over them with several flashes of light. When the light show had concluded, Lacospo would be atop of his frog minion.

"Nyaaahh..."

"Is that supposed to be a frog!?" Rito blinked, "I don't think nyah is the right sound..."

"That thing! It's the rare Irogaama!?"

Lala's attention moved up toward her hairpin, "You know about it, Peke?"

"Yes. I've seen it before in an astrobiology reference book." Peke begun explaining, their face contorting with panic, "If that's the real thing, then it's my natural enemy!"

As if the cosmos desired to prove Peke's point, that would be the exact moment that Lacospo had thrown a hand toward the group.

"NOW, GAMA-TAN‼ SHOW THEM WHAT THEY HAVE TO FEAR!‼"

Opening its mouth, the massive frog would project his tongue forth in the direction of Yami. The assassin had quickly jumped out of the direct path of the tongue. However, when its tip had whipped into the ground, its saliva had sprouted in either direction.

When a sample of the spread had touched upon her clothing, it would seem to begin tearing rapidly. More accurately, they were melting from the exact spots the saliva touched.

"My... Clothes...!"

"JYAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! Gama-tan's mucus is quite convenient! It only melts clothing~❤" Lacospo cheered, "THAT'S WHY GAMA-TAN IS MY FAVORITE PET‼"

Yami made to clutch a hand over her damaged clothes as she glared up at the noble. With the assistance of his summoned beast, he no longer flinched to the glare. Instead, he had a wide grin as he pointed toward her again.

"Now~ Let's strip the rest of those clothes, Golden Darkness‼"

Yami had raised her blade as she had leapt up toward the frog, "I disapprove... Of this perverted creature‼"

When her blade came down to strike at the frog's side, it would seem like the blade would merely bounce off. This came as a clear shock to the assassin as she fell backward from the monstrosity.

Before she could outwardly voice the shock, though, the tongue would whip out again to strike at Yami once more. The assassin flung backward in the air helplessly as her sleeves continued to melt away.

"EH!?"

Rito, realizing that he was directly in the trajectory of the girl, had opened his arms in attempt to catch her.

Fate had other plans, though. Instead of landing in his arms, she would make direct impact with his face. The boy slammed straight into the ground as Yami found herself seated atop of his face.

When Yami had come to, she looked down to realize where she was. Her face immediately flared up as she cried out in horror. Pushing herself off of him, she had manifested a fist to uppercut Rito the moment he tried getting up.

"Owwwwowowowow‼"

Rito rubbed his face as he sat up from the floor. When he lowered his hands, he saw that Yami had prepared two swords out of her hair to stab at him with. With a yelp, he quickly threw out his hands in protest.

"W-wait wait wait! Hold on! It was an accident, I swear!"

"I CAUGHT YOU OFF GUARD‼"

Lala's eyes shot up toward Gama as its maul opened once more. A blast of mucus had fired like a massive bullet in the direction of Yami. There was only a precious short few seconds before it would make its mark.

She had to act!

In a blur, the princess would vanish from the spot that she was standing in. She would make it just in time to take the brunt of the blast that nearly struck Yami.

A light grunt escaped from the princess as it had splattered over her uniform. The clothes swiftly melted down to where her clothes began from her leggings.

"OOHOOHOOOOO‼ WONDERFUL SHOT, GAMA-TAN!" Lacospo had done a small victory dance from his comfortable spot, "Get me a little closer~❤"

"How dare you‼" Peke roared out, "I'll just reconstruct them!"

True to their word, Lala's uniform had almost instantaneously repaired itself to its previous state. When he saw, Lacospo had immediately growled in frustration.

"DAMMIT ALL‼" He threw another hand down toward the group, "IN THAT CASE, HAVE SOME MORE!‼"

Various bullets had fired down toward her. Even so, Lala was more then prepared for such a thing. Keeping her speed at the level she showed before, she effortlessly dodged the incoming bullets to strike through the ground below.

"W-wha!?"

As Lala rapidly moved around the frog, she would pick up such speed that she had left afterimages in her wake. In Lacospo's view, it would come to appear as though twelve Lalas had surrounded the frog.

"Which one is the real Lala-tan?!"

The real Lala, had grit her teeth. Pulling back her arm, she would finally have reached her limit with this whole debacle. She has had it with this little freak!

"LACOSPO‼" She cried out his name as she leapt toward the noble atop of the frog, "PLEASE... BEHAVE YOURSEEEELLLFFFF!‼"

And so, in the same manner as Tatsuki had so many times before, Lala would throw forth her fists in a volley that would completely overtake the bodies of both Lacospo and Gama. The both of their bodies jolted in either direction as her punches landed dents into their skins. Her punches had been thrown at such a speed that the mucus had not even touched her before the next would fly in.

With a final roar, she pulled back her fist and slammed it against the jaw of the frog. The force of the blow had thrown of them hurtling into their ship to be sent flying toward the skies. After a short while, they would disperse in a pair of white sparkles.

⦗ BGM End ⦘

Behind her, the both of Golden Darkness and Rito were stunned to silence... From their facial expressions, there may be different reasons for the both of them.

"That guy was terrible!" She placed her hands on her hips.

"He was certainly weak, wasn't he, Princess?" Yami had stepped forward with a tilted head, "But why were you protecting me? We were enemies..."

"Eh? Well, of course I did. Lacospo was making you do bad things." Lala raised a finger, "Besides, I couldn't let someone do such cruel things to a cute girl like you, Yami-chan."

The assassin's eyes had widened.

"C...cute?" A blush had spread over her cheeks, "You...mean me?"

"Eh? I hope I didn't offend you, Yami-chan."

"Ah...no." The blonde lowered her head slightly, "It's just... This is the first time someone has ever said that to me..."

Lala tilted her head. She was suddenly acting all shy for some reason. It made it honestly hard to tell if she was happy or sad about it. She still felt that she did a good job punching that dirty Lacospo away!

"Hey, Lala." Rito approached the princess, "What's the deal with you calling her Yami-chan this whole time?"

"Why? Well, her name is Golden Darkness, right?" Lala began, "Well, if you shorten it in your language, it comes down to Yami. Plus, it's cute that way!"

"...I doubt Golden Darkness is her real name, though..." Rito muttered.

"It doesn't matter." Yami had spoken up from beside the both of them, "It doesn't matter to me what I'm called, anyhow."

When Rito turned her way, he had soon snapped her fingers with a bright smile.

"Oh yeah! So, Yami. Since Lacospo's gone..." Rito gestured a hand toward her, "So, you can stop targeting me and return to space, right?"

"Return... To space...?"

Upon muttering those words, the assassin had casted a glance toward Lala.

The pinkette had tilted her head the slightest bit at that. Was there something on her face, or...?

"...no." Yami lowered her gaze again, "Once I have accepted a job, abandoning it midway through is against my principles."

Rito had slowly nodded. After a few seconds, he began to rapidly blink at her words.

"Yukki Rito." Her gaze moved up toward the boy, "Until I have settled things with you, I will remain here on Earth."

"...eh?"

While Rito had looked dumbfounded by the response, Lala had her usual look of curiosity on her. If Yami was going to stay on Earth, that meant they could be friends, right?


「 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.ᐣ.ᐟ 」


There, just past a bus stop, Zastin lay defeated.

The world spun. Spun in various ways. In every way. Thinking of those ways alone were enough to make him more sick than it happening in real time had!

Not to mention, he had only the continuous rhythm of a stray dog biting against his shoulder pad to keep him sane at that very moment.

What an utterly humiliating defeat! The advantage he had worked for so long in this world to gain, lost just as quickly as it were obtained...

How could he call himself a commander when he was defeated in his expertise of tactical warfare...!

Piiii~rurururururu...

His eyes snapped open from their swirls at the sound of his communicator. His secondary cellular device that he carried specifically for urgent matters. There were very, very few who had access to his information on this line.

When he saw who it was on the line, he had immediately picked up the call.

"Y-yes, your Majesty...!"

Zastin had sat up straight after some time was given for the other to respond. It was his King. The ruler of Deviluke, conqueror of the Milky Way.

"No, sir. I'm not nervous of anything. I just had a recent skirmish." Zastin felt a sweat run down the back of his head at that, "N-no, sir! Nothing involving battle! Just caring for the Princess, ahahaha! You know how she can be!"

He was going to go on, but he was stunned into silence by what His Highness had to declare next. His jaw hung loose as he received the royal decree...

...to prepare for his arrival.

When the call had ended, Zastin was left paralyzed by a confusion as to how to proceed. His eyes darted in either direction as he had slowly pulled himself up from the ground.

"...Groom-to-be... I'm unsure if you could ever be prepared for this meeting..."


It had been well into the night for Urahara Shop, Urahara quietly staring out the window to admire the blue moon that shone just out of view. After a short while, he would hear the door open and shut behind him.

Turning with a smile, he would see that his visitor had been Ms. Yoruichi. The girl was dressed in a kunoichi-like outfit with an orange top.

"Oh? In your human form this time?" Urahara teased, "Then I take it you're back from the Soul Society, then?"

"Yes, though, the trip had to be shorter than normal this time." She responded as she had taken a seat in the corner of the room, "After all, my only goal was to make sure Saido Eikichiro had not given away any unnecessary information."

"Right... Them finding out about Rito is unfortunately inevitable at this point." Urahara gently grasped onto his hat, "But if I can postpone their discovery of Lala for a short while longer, I'd like to keep that card close to our chests."

"She's a wild card, though." Yoruichi retorted, "We can only keep that to ourselves for so long."

"That may be true..." Urahara frowned at that.

"More importantly, don't you think it's weird?" Yoruichi crossed her arms, "I don't believe this. Frankly, it's astonishing. They're sending in the Sixth Division's Captain and Lieutenant to capture one agent who isn't even a Seat Officer."

"That's the one thing I have absolutely no doubt about." Urahara turned to look toward the ceiling, shuffling his arms into his sleeves, "I'm sure he already knows where it is..."

Outside, some of the clouds would begin to slowly close in. When they had, they had begun to obscure that blue moon that shone light from the lone window...

"...he knows that it's inside Rukia."


⦓ THS #16 ⦔
❱ END ❰


⦏ After arduous keyboard work, the proper introduction of Yami is complete. Congrats! You've gotten through Issue 16! Just two more left to go before Chapter 1 is completed! ⦐
⦏ As for the Bleach side of things, I wanted there to be a little longer of a period for Rukia to be thinking over her place in the Living Realm some more. Not only because of that, but because there were a couple loose ends that needed to be tied up before we can officially bring the first arc to a close. Since we saw Yoruichi as a human already, I wanted to make it clear by the end here that I had no intention of making the audience be rode along for a surprise they already know. Character reactions will be shown as they come, though, no need to worry. ⦐
⦏ I took a mixture of inspiration from Episode 11 of the anime alongside the manga chapters for the adaptation side of things for To Love-Ru. As well as brought in some anime original inventions of hers so that it would have some spice to it. (Not to mention, she already used the inventions she used in the original fight to battle the Dragonfly Hollow.) ⦐
⦏ There's just one more major event that needs to be covered for the first arc when it comes to To Love-Ru, and then we're gearing straight toward the climactic battle that I know some of you have been waiting this whole fic for. Stay tuned, loyal readers‼ ⦐
—Red