Muten Natsu avoided Tatsuki Arisawa's gaze, rubbed his earlobe, and let his eyes drift down to her white knee-high socks. "Nice socks."
"Don't change the subject!" Tatsuki Arisawa swung a punch at Muten Natsu. "You worked so hard at the beginning. I thought you were really diligent. I even used you as a role model. And then you just…"
Muten Natsu sidestepped smoothly. "Well… you can treat me as a cautionary example now."
"If you'd actually trained badly, sure, I could do that." Tatsuki Arisawa pressed the attack, throwing punch after punch, all of them narrowly avoided as Muten Natsu swayed out of the way by the slimmest margins. "You're clearly this good, so why did you stop?!"
"I worked hard so I could skip a couple of days," Muten Natsu replied without a hint of guilt. "If I kept training after that, wouldn't all that effort be for nothing?"
Tatsuki Arisawa ground her teeth. "So all that effort was just for the sake of slacking off?!"
"Just tell me whether I worked hard or not." Muten Natsu's back hit the windowsill, leaving him nowhere to retreat. "Also… shouldn't you maybe pay attention to something?"
"Pay attention to what?"
Muten Natsu pointed at the classmates who had been watching for quite a while. "First impressions and all that."
Tatsuki Arisawa turned her head stiffly, like rusted gears grinding into motion. Under the shocked stares of their classmates, her face flushed bright red.
"That's amazing!"
"Is that karate?"
Several students crowded over.
"Can you teach me?"
"That's the Furin Hall style, right? I've studied there before."
After the brief commotion, more students streamed into the classroom. Homeroom teacher Misato Ochi held a class meeting, followed by the opening ceremony, student speeches, and the usual sequence of formalities.
Starting high school for the second time, Muten Natsu had planned to make an effort. Unfortunately, after Misato Ochi spoke for just three minutes, drowsiness crept in.
"The Comprehensive Japanese course includes both modern and classical texts, and both are required. You need to clearly distinguish between—"
Muten Natsu's eyelids drooped, and the bespectacled female teacher gradually blurred.
"Different fundamental particles. The soul is composed of Reishi, which contains Reiryoku. The movement of Reiryoku is known as soul vibration. Reiryoku depletion can be restored by absorbing Reishi… Natsu, come answer this question."
Muten Natsu stood up and looked at the blackboard.
"The original expression equals (x+8)(x−5)."
Wasn't this supposed to be a Japanese class?
"Very good. You may continue resting." The math teacher nodded. "Everyone, don't sleep in class. Learn from Natsu here. Even when he's asleep, he's still keeping up."
Muten Natsu leaned back in his chair and yawned.
It spread through the room instantly.
The teacher's glare toward him was full of resentment.
Especially after the teacher couldn't help yawning as well.
School. Sleep. Going home.
What a fulfilling day.
"You've always been kind of lazy," Orihime Inoue said doubtfully as she walked home beside Muten Natsu, "but this constant sleepiness feels like a recent thing. Are you not feeling well?"
Muten Natsu shifted his gaze. "Socks…"
Orihime Inoue crouched slightly and hooked her thumb under the edge of her white knee-highs. "Do you want me to take them off for you right now?"
"…I went to the hospital." Having failed to change the subject, Muten Natsu could only answer honestly. "The doctor said there's nothing physically wrong with me. I'm actually healthier than most people. He thinks it's psychological, that frequent vivid dreams are affecting my sleep quality and making me drowsy. He suggested I see a psychologist."
"A psychologist? That sounds amazing!" Orihime Inoue's eyes sparkled. "I've never seen one before. Can we go together?"
"What would you go for?"
"Well," Orihime Inoue said seriously, "I've been seeing a lot of strange things lately."
"Like what?"
"Maybe ghosts."
"Seriously?"
"Of course it's real!" Orihime Inoue pointed in a direction. "Look, it just zipped past."
"Wow, that was fast. Aren't ghosts supposed to float?"
"Oh? Then it must have floated by, swish swish swish."
"Judging by the sound, it was probably a brush ghost…"
Their walk home was filled with pointless chatter, stretching out beneath their feet all the way to their neighboring houses.
Orihime Inoue waved goodbye to Muten Natsu, opened the door, and called out,
"I'm home~"
She changed into her slippers and went over to her brother Inoue Sora's memorial altar.
"Nii-san, Natsu's been sleeping more and more lately. I told him I can see strange things, but he didn't believe me. Tatsuki-chan and I are in the same class now. In the classroom today…"
Looking at her brother's portrait, Orihime Inoue carefully recounted all the fun little moments.
"…Today was another happy day!"
She hummed to herself while making dinner. Steaming soy-sauce ramen paired with cold vanilla ice cream. Turning on the TV, she tuned in right on time for her favorite ghost-hunting show.
"Let's eat~"
She lifted the noodles, sweet and savory scents mingling, but before she could take a bite, a quiet whisper reached her ears.
"It's getting closer."
That voice definitely didn't come from the TV.
Orihime Inoue chewed her noodles, cheeks puffing slightly as her big eyes blinked and shifted toward the window.
A blurry figure slipped in through the window and landed soundlessly on the living room floor.
"Wow~"
Orihime Inoue picked up another bite. "I can see it."
She blinked, and the vague silhouette gradually sharpened. It was a short-haired girl with a flicked-up tail of hair, dressed in a black kimono with a sword at her waist. Her expression was serious, and her deep purple eyes carefully scanned Orihime Inoue's home.
Their eyes met by accident.
The girl looked away.
Then she looked back again.
She turned her head to check behind her, then looked back at Orihime Inoue and held her gaze for a moment before cautiously stepping to the left.
Orihime Inoue's eyes followed her, studying her with open curiosity.
The girl stepped to the right.
Orihime Inoue kept eating her noodles, her gaze shifting along with her.
The girl crept closer and waved a hand in front of Orihime Inoue's eyes.
Orihime Inoue lifted her noodles again.
"Do you want some?"
The girl jumped back half a step.
"You can see me?"
Orihime Inoue blinked.
"Um… should I pretend I can't?"
"Ordinary people shouldn't be able to see me…"
The girl leaned in to observe her more closely. "Hmm. If I focus carefully, I can sense traces of awakened Reiryoku. Did you only start seeing things like this recently?"
"Yeah! But this clearly is a first."
Orihime Inoue set down her chopsticks and greeted her cheerfully. "Hi! I'm Orihime Inoue. Are you a ghost?"
"My name is Rukia Kuchiki," the girl corrected her. "I'm not a ghost. I'm a Shinigami."
"A Shinigami?"
Orihime Inoue froze. "Am I going to die?"
"I'm not here to take you away."
Rukia Kuchiki glanced around the room. "I'm here to eliminate an evil ghost."
"Evil ghost?"
Orihime Inoue looked at the ghost-hunting show on the TV. "There's an evil ghost here?!"
"The proper term is Hollow."
Rukia Kuchiki frowned slightly. "But for some reason, I haven't been able to sense it at all since just now…"
Boom!