"Are you going to eat that or just stare at it with hatred until it rots?"
Ichigo pointed at the plastic tray in front of Rukia as they sat on the roof floor, leaning against the wire fence and far from the groups of students having lunch near the door.
Rukia stabbed the sausage with unnecessary violence and replied "I am going to eat it, but it's insulting because it tastes like wet cardboard and isn't filling at all."
"Welcome to my world," said Ichigo, biting into his own yakisoba sandwich. "At least you can complain, whereas I have to deal with the sensation that I'm missing a piece of my neck."
He brought his hand to his right side, just where the neck meets the shoulder, and rubbed the skin above his school uniform. There was no visible wound because the blood pact and the bites healed quickly, but the phantom sensitivity persisted.
"Don't be a crybaby, as I barely touched you this morning before leaving," Rukia retorted, shoving the sausage into her mouth and chewing hard before grimacing. "Besides, the cramp has disappeared, hasn't it? You no longer double over in pain every time I breathe."
"The cramp is gone, yes, but now I feel drained in a different way, as if I ran a marathon while I was sleeping." Ichigo left the sandwich half-finished on his knees. "And Karin is the same, for she ate six eggs and half a loaf of bread this morning while looking at me as if I were dessert."
Rukia swallowed and sighed, lowering her shoulders, which made the school uniform look a bit too big in that posture.
"The system works, Ichigo, so Urahara was right. We are stable, which means no one has exploded and no one has turned into a monster in the middle of math class."
"It works, but it sucks because it keeps us on the edge. We are surviving, not living."
"It is better than being dead or executed." Rukia pointed to her wrist, where the black leather bracelet looked discreet under her shirt sleeve. "The suppressor is quiet and there is no vibration, which means my energy is contained and hidden."
"For now." Ichigo looked at the sky, although there was nothing interesting to see. "Hey, did you notice anything weird in the hallway? I felt... I don't know, a gaze."
"It's a school full of hormonal teenagers, so everyone looks at everyone," said Rukia, attacking her food again, this time going for the rice. "Why? Did you feel spiritual pressure?"
"No, it was more like someone was digging their eyes into the back of my neck, but when I turned around it was just Keigo acting like an idiot with Mizuiro."
"It's probably your paranoia or the hunger, which makes you imagine things."
"Speaking of Keigo..."
The roof door burst open and slammed against the concrete wall with a metallic crash.
"ICHIGOOO! My best friend of the soul! Why are you hiding in this desolate corner with the prettiest and most mysterious transfer student?"
Keigo ran toward them with open arms, with Mizuiro following at a leisurely pace while checking his phone.
"Shut up, Keigo, you're giving me a headache," said Ichigo without getting up, using one leg to block his friend's advance before he could hug him.
"Such coldness! Such rejection!" shouted Keigo, stopping to dramatize the pain, and then he crouched down, invading Rukia's personal space. "Kuchiki-san! How can you stand this guy? He's a delinquent with a permanently furrowed brow, so you should hang out with the class social elite, meaning me."
Rukia looked at him, stopping her chopsticks halfway to her mouth, and her violet eyes showed no amusement, only a cold and predatory assessment that lasted half a second before she remembered to blink and act like a human.
"I'm fine here, thanks," she said with a tone that was a little too formal. "Kurosaki-san is helping me understand the local culinary culture."
"Culinary culture?" Keigo looked at the plastic convenience store tray. "That? That is processed garbage, so if you want real food we should go to that new ramen place downtown. My treat! Well, Mizuiro's treat."
"I don't have any money," said Mizuiro without looking up from his phone. "And you owe me two thousand yen from last week."
"Details! The important thing is the company!" Keigo turned to Ichigo, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper that everyone could hear. "Hey, seriously, you are pale, more than usual. And you have dark circles under your eyes. Are you sure you aren't getting into gang fights again? Or worse... studying?"
Ichigo touched his face instinctively. "Do I look that bad?"
"You look like an extra in a zombie movie, buddy," confirmed Mizuiro, putting away his phone and approaching. "Seriously, Ichigo, if you're sick go home, since we don't want you to infect us."
"I'm not sick, I just haven't slept well because my little sister has had nightmares and there has been a lot of noise at home."
"The house with the giant hole in the wall? Yeah, I imagine it is noisy," said Mizuiro with a calm smile. "I heard your dad told the neighbors it was a 'monster truck', although no one believed him, by the way."
"It's the official version," grunted Ichigo. "If they don't like it, let them call the police again."
"Let's go, Keigo, and let them eat in peace because they are clearly in the middle of a... date." Mizuiro grabbed Keigo by the back of his shirt collar.
"But I want to know more about the culinary culture!" shouted Keigo while being dragged away. "Kuchiki-san! Call me!"
The door closed behind them and silence returned to the roof, but now it felt heavier.
"They are noisy," said Rukia, returning to her food. "And perceptive, especially that boy, Mizuiro, who notices too many things."
"Mizuiro is harmless and just likes gossip," said Ichigo, finishing his sandwich in one bite. "But he's right, for if they notice I look bad, others will too, so we have to be more careful."
"We can't do anything about your face, Ichigo, because it's the one you have."
"Ha, ha. Very funny."
In the second-floor hallway, near the vending machines, the atmosphere was different.
"Orihime, you're going to wear out the floor if you keep walking back and forth."
Tatsuki Arisawa was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and watching her friend, Orihime Inoue, who had a lunch bag pressed tight against her chest and an expression of total conflict on her face.
"It's just that I don't know if it's the right time, Tatsuki-chan, because maybe he already ate, or maybe he's busy, or maybe he won't like what I brought."
"It's Ichigo, so he eats anything that doesn't move and sometimes things that do move," said Tatsuki rolling her eyes. "Why are you so nervous today? You've been looking at him all morning like he owes you money."
Orihime stopped and looked toward the stairs that led to the roof.
"It's not that, it's just that he looks different."
"Different how? Did he dye his hair another ridiculous shade of orange?"
"No," said Orihime, shaking her head gently as her long hair moved with her. "He looks more intense and I don't know how to explain it. Before, he always seemed as if he was sad or worried about something we couldn't see."
She squeezed the lunch bag a little tighter.
"But today, and yesterday, that sadness feels different. And when he looks at someone... he really looks at them, he feels more present."
Tatsuki watched her with curiosity and said "Wow, and here I thought he just had a sleepy face and bad digestion. You like that change, huh?"
Orihime blushed furiously. "No! I mean... yes. I mean... it's just an observation! I worry that he's okay, that's all."
"Well, go and ask him, since he's on the roof with the new girl, Kuchiki."
The mention of Rukia made Orihime look down for a second.
"They are very close, aren't they? They are always together, they arrive together and leave together."
"They live in the same house, Orihime, so it's normal. Besides, Ichigo isn't the type of guy to have secret 'girlfriends' because he is too dense for that. Go, offer him your weird food and it will surely make his day."
Tatsuki gave her a little push on the back.
"Go! Before the bell rings."
Orihime took a breath, nodded with sudden determination, and went up the stairs almost running before her courage evaporated.
When she opened the roof door, the wind hit her face.
Ichigo and Rukia were packing up their things very close to each other; Ichigo was passing a water bottle to Rukia and their hands brushed with a familiarity that made Orihime's stomach do a little flip.
"Ah... Kurosaki-kun!"
Her voice came out a little higher pitched than she intended.
Ichigo and Rukia turned at the same time, but Rukia's reaction was instant and strange: she tensed up, her shoulders rose, and her eyes narrowed slightly, like a cat seeing a stranger in its territory.
Ichigo, on the other hand, simply blinked and smiled with a small but genuine grin.
"Inoue-san? Hi. What's up?"
Ichigo put a hand on Rukia's shoulder, a quick and casual gesture that made the girl's tension drop immediately, something Orihime noticed.
"I... um... Hi, Kuchiki-san!" Orihime bowed quickly. "I just wanted... well, I made too much lunch today, much more than I can eat. I was trying a new recipe for rice balls with sweet bean paste and mustard, and I thought that maybe you might be hungry."
She held out the bag as if it were a peace offering.
Rukia looked at the bag and then at Orihime.
"Sweet bean and mustard?" asked Rukia, genuinely confused. "Is that edible?"
"It's delicious!" said Orihime, regaining her enthusiasm. "The mustard gives it a spicy kick that contrasts with the sweet, it's an explosion of flavor!"
Ichigo laughed with a relaxed sound.
"It sounds dangerous, Inoue, but I have a hole in my stomach that nothing is filling today, so I accept the challenge."
He walked over, took one of the rice balls Orihime pulled from the bag, and said "Thanks, really, I'm starving."
He took a big bite, chewed, and stopped while Rukia and Orihime watched him expectantly.
"Wow," said Ichigo with his mouth full. "It's weird and spicy, but it's not bad. Actually, it's pretty good."
Orihime beamed and asked "I knew it! Do you want one, Kuchiki-san?"
Rukia hesitated and looked at Ichigo, who nodded slightly.
"Okay," said Rukia, taking one cautiously. "Thank you, Inoue-san, you are very kind."
"You're welcome! I'm glad you like them."
Orihime stood there for a moment watching them eat and feeling good about being included, even if just for a moment, in that little bubble that seemed to surround them.
"Hey, Inoue," said Ichigo, swallowing. "Are you going straight home after school?"
"Huh? Yes. Well, I have to go to the market first, but yes. Why?"
"Nothing, just be careful because the streets are weird lately, you know, the 'monster truck' and all that."
"I'll keep it in mind, Kurosaki-kun. Thanks."
The bell rang, breaking the moment.
"Let's go," said Rukia, picking up the trash quickly. "We have modern literature class and I don't want the teacher to ask me again why I don't understand metaphors about death."
Ichigo brushed crumbs off his uniform and said "See you, Inoue. Thanks for the food, it saved my life."
They walked past her toward the door and, as Ichigo passed, Orihime felt something similar to being near an open oven, a sensation of intense heat.
She turned to watch them go down the stairs and whispered "You be careful too, Kurosaki-kun."
Three hundred meters from the school, on the roof of a gray and boring office building, two figures were crouched behind an industrial air conditioning unit.
They didn't wear school uniforms, but dark, functional, and tight clothing designed to make no noise and reflect no light.
The man, Abe, held a rectangular device that looked like a cross between a compass and a Geiger counter whose screen flickered with green lines.
"The meter is showing unstable spikes in the target Kuchiki," said Abe with a voice devoid of any emotional inflection. "It is erratic, rising and falling, which indicates it is not a normal refueling pattern."
Beside him, the woman, Sato, had digital binoculars pressed to her eyes.
"Visually confirmed," said Sato. "She is interacting with the Secondary Target, Kurosaki Ichigo, and with a civilian. Her spiritual signature is altered and dirty."
"Dirty?" Abe adjusted a dial on his device.
"There are traces of Hollow energy mixed with her Reiatsu; it is weak and masked, but my sensors detect it when agitated. It appears she is using an unregistered Gigai, probably contraband, and although the insulation is high quality, it has leaks."
"A Gigai with Hollow leaks?" Abe frowned, the first sign of emotion he showed. "That confirms the preliminary report, for Kuchiki not only lost her powers, but she has compromised herself."
"Interception order?" asked Sato, lowering the binoculars.
Abe looked toward the school courtyard, where students were beginning to move toward their classrooms.
"Negative, there are too many witnesses and the Secondary Target is always less than two meters from her. His readings are also anomalous, so if we attack now we will cause a massive incident."
"Protocol dictates discretion," nodded Sato.
"We will wait for nightfall," decided Abe, putting the device in his vest. "We will intercept them on the way to their residence or at the house itself, for we need to isolate Kuchiki to interrogate her before purification."
"And the boy?"
Abe looked at her coldly.
"He is a human with illegally borrowed powers, so if he interferes he is to be treated like a Hollow. Immediate elimination."
Sato nodded without hesitation: "Understood. We will maintain surveillance in shifts and they won't escape us."
Dinner at the Kurosaki house was unusually quiet that night, as Ichigo's father was on duty at the clinic, leaving the three siblings and Rukia alone at the table.
Yuzu broke the silence by serving more tea and said with her soft voice "I wish Dad didn't have so much work today, although I suppose it's better that he's busy than being here telling stories about operations while we eat."
Ichigo chewed mechanically after managing to eat two full plates of curry, but the feeling of satisfaction was superficial.
"Yeah, sure," murmured Ichigo. "Pass me the water, please."
"Do you like the curry, Rukia-chan?" asked Yuzu turning to Rukia, who was sitting next to Ichigo and eating with military precision. "It's my special recipe, as I add chocolate and honey to give it more energy."
"It's very good, Yuzu," said Rukia. "Very... delicious."
Karin was sitting across from Ichigo and hadn't touched her food in the last two minutes, keeping still with her fork suspended in the air while staring intently toward the kitchen window that faced the street.
"Karin, eat," insisted Yuzu. "It's going to get cold."
Karin didn't answer, but put the fork on the table with a dry clink and said "They are here."
Her voice wasn't a shout or a whisper, it was a flat statement spoken with absolute certainty that made Ichigo stop chewing and the atmosphere at the table change instantly.
"Who?" asked Ichigo, tensing up.
"The guys the hat man talked about," answered Karin, locking her dark eyes on Ichigo. "I feel the pressure on the back of my neck and they are watching us from the street right now."
Ichigo stood up abruptly, dragging the chair with an unpleasant screech against the wooden floor, and Rukia imitated him a second later, her hand instinctively going to her left wrist, where the suppressor was.
"Are you sure?" asked Rukia with a tense voice.
"I feel like I have ants walking down my back," said Karin rubbing her neck. "There are two of them, they are standing still, and they don't feel like the monsters."
"It is vibrating," whispered Rukia showing the black leather. "Slightly, which is a reaction to a focused external spiritual pressure."
"Damn it," said Ichigo. "Urahara said they would come, but I didn't think it would be so soon."
"What are you talking about?" asked Yuzu looking scared from one to the other. "Who is outside? Is it the monster truck again?"
"Yuzu, stay here," ordered Ichigo walking toward the hallway door. "Lock the door. Karin, don't go out."
"Don't even dream of it!" Karin jumped up. "If they are coming for us, I'm not going to sit here waiting."
"Karin!"
"Enough!" shouted Rukia. "If it's them, they are from the Soul Society and they are professionals, Ichigo. If they enter here they will destroy the house and anyone inside, so we have to lure them away now."
Ichigo grit his teeth, for he knew she was right.
"Fine. We go out and lead them away, to the park or the river, far from the houses."
Ichigo ran toward the entrance grabbing his school bag where he kept the glove and the Substitute badge Urahara had given him "just in case", and both Rukia and Karin followed him.
But before they could reach the front door, the world shook.
BOOM.
It was a physical impact, a shockwave that hit the house like a giant fist, causing the living room windows to burst inward and fill the floor with glittering shards.
The power went out, leaving the house in gloom.
Ichigo staggered, grabbing the wall so as not to fall, feeling the blow in his chest like an impact of compressed air that knocked the wind out of him.
"Yuzu!" shouted Ichigo turning toward the kitchen, but saw that his sister had already taken refuge under the table, trembling.
"What the hell was that?!" shouted Karin covering her face with her arms.
Ichigo shook off the daze and ran toward the broken living room window to look out at the street.
Two blocks away, a column of black smoke and flames rose into the night sky, illuminating the neighborhood with a sickly orange glow. The explosion came from a specific place and Ichigo felt his blood run cold in his veins, for he recognized that direction as he had walked down that street a thousand times.
"No..." he whispered. "It can't be."
"What is it?" asked Rukia appearing at his side with her pale face lit by the distant fire. "Is it an attack by the spies?"
"No," said Ichigo with a voice trembling with rage and panic. "That isn't a discreet spiritual attack, that is a bomb."
He turned to Rukia with wide eyes.
"It's the apartment building on 3rd Street, the third one on the left."
Rukia looked at him without understanding at first, until the realization hit her.
"3rd Street? That's where..."
"Inoue," finished Ichigo. "It's Orihime's apartment."
Karin appeared behind them and pointed into the darkness of the street opposite the explosion: "The... the ones watching us aren't there anymore, they moved toward the fire."
"It's a trap," said Rukia quickly. "They want us to go there to draw us out of the house."
"I don't give a shit if it's a trap," roared Ichigo grabbing the strap of his bag so hard his knuckles cracked.
He turned toward the interior of the house and shouted "Yuzu! Stay there and don't go out! Call the fire department!"
Ichigo didn't wait for an answer, opened the front door, and shot out into the night running toward the fire.
"Damn it!" shouted Karin and ran out after him.
"Karin! Wait!" Rukia cursed in a language no one understood and ran after the siblings.
The street was deserted, lit only by the glow of the fire, and Ichigo ran with a speed that bordered on the inhuman even in his physical body, for panic gave him energy, although it also clouded his judgment.
Hold on, Inoue. Please, hold on.
"Ichigo!" shouted Rukia catching up to him with difficulty thanks to the limitations of the Gigai. "Stop and think! If we go there and they are the Onmitsukidō, we will be at a disadvantage because there are civilians and fire."
"She's alone!" shouted Ichigo without stopping. "She lives alone! If that building explodes, she has no one!"
They turned the corner and the heat hit their faces.
The three-story apartment building was partially collapsed and the second floor, where Orihime lived, was an inferno of flames. Part of the facade had fallen into the street crushing a parked car and people were starting to come out of neighboring houses screaming.
"There!" pointed Karin, who had taken a shortcut and arrived almost at the same time.
In the middle of the street and in front of the burning building were two figures; they were the same ones Karin had sensed, dressed in black and standing with unnatural calm amidst the chaos, watching the fire as if it were a boring show.
Abe and Sato turned slowly when they saw Ichigo, Rukia, and Karin arrive.
Abe was holding something in his hand: it was Orihime, who was unconscious and hanging from Abe's arm like a rag doll, with a cut on her forehead and singed clothes.
"Secondary Target located," said Abe with a voice perfectly audible despite the roar of the fire.
Sato stepped forward drawing a short sword that shone with the reflection of the flames.
"And the Primary Target has come to us," she said looking at Rukia.
Ichigo stopped ten meters away from them panting as he saw Orihime, the blood on her face, and how the guy held her like garbage.
The "hunger" in his stomach, that empty sensation he had managed to calm during the day, exploded suddenly turning into a hunger for violence.
"Let her go," said Ichigo with a low, guttural voice that for a second sounded duplicated.
Abe tilted his head without flinching.
"Kurosaki Ichigo. Human. Illegal substitute. Interference confirmed."
Abe dropped Orihime onto the asphalt ground without any care and said "You have two options: hand over the criminal Kuchiki Rukia and submit to voluntary purification... or die right here along with this human."
Ichigo took a step forward and said without looking back "Karin, get Inoue out of there."
"What?" Karin blinked.
"When I move... get Inoue out. Rukia... cover her."
"Ichigo, you don't have your sword," hissed Rukia. "You are in your body, they are Soul Reapers and you can't touch them."
Ichigo reached into his bag and pulled out the glove with the skull symbol Urahara had forced him to carry.
"Watch," said Ichigo putting on the glove.
"Hey, morons!" he shouted raising his gloved fist.
Abe and Sato looked at him with disdain.
"Pathetic," said Sato preparing to use Shunpo and slit his throat.
But Ichigo didn't attack them, instead he stamped the glove against his own face with a brutal movement, pushing his soul out of his body with explosive force.
His physical body fell backward and was caught by Karin before it hit the ground, while Ichigo's soul, dressed in the black kimono with tattered edges and holding the massive butcher knife sword, emerged from the smoke.
Spiritual pressure exploded in the street and the leather bracelet on his wrist released a blue spark starting to smoke as it fought to contain the surge of power.
Abe opened his eyes slightly, surprised for the first time, and took a step back murmuring "That pressure... isn't from a Shinigami."
Ichigo looked up with eyes glowing with dangerous light and the great sword resting on his shoulder.
"You said I had two options," said Ichigo, and this time the double voice of the Hollow was unmistakable.
He smiled, a smile that wasn't entirely his own.
"I choose the third: I'm going to crush you."
Ichigo vanished and the asphalt where he had been standing cracked violently.
He reappeared in front of Sato with the sword coming down like a guillotine, and Sato barely had time to raise her short sword to block.
CLANG.
The impact launched the woman backward like a toy, sending her crashing into a burning car.
"Sato!" shouted Abe dropping his calm stance.
"Karin! NOW!" roared Ichigo.
Karin didn't hesitate, left Ichigo's body on the sidewalk and ran toward Orihime crouching to avoid the heat, while Rukia interposed herself between Abe and Karin in a combat stance, even though she was unarmed and in a Gigai.
"Don't touch her!" shouted Rukia.
Abe looked at Rukia and then at Ichigo, who was standing in front of him with the sword vibrating with red and black energy.
"Report revised," said Abe drawing his own sword. "The threat is critical level."
Ichigo cracked his neck and said "Good, I'm hungry."