Chapter 40 Summer Adventure 4

July 21, Tuesday

Ichigo Kurosaki once again became a god of death.

When she felt the spiritual power of the "warehouse" being mobilized, Kurosaki Utsuki was walking home from the Metropolitan Police Department with Hagiwara Kenji.

It might be a weekday, but for high school students, whose summer vacation has already begun, it's just another day to sleep in. Detective Mori, the head of "Hagiwara Kaki," calls Utaki Kurosaki to the Metropolitan Police Department to verify evidence from a previous case and to ask for her opinion on the latest case.

She did have an opinion, but the person who provided the information was not her, who was busy with final exams some time ago, but Geto Suguru, who was becoming more and more interested in humans and was a bit "unfocused" in a sense.

"Detective Mori seems to have gotten used to Kurosaki-chan's outrageous, baseless statements." The boy next to him suddenly said, "Isn't that a good thing?"

Last night, Utaki Kurosaki hesitated for a long time before making the decision to ask Kenji Hagiwara to go with her. She also mustered up a lot of courage when they met today. Fortunately, the boy did not mention what happened that night at all, and she decided to selectively forget it.

"Of course it's a good thing for me," Kurosaki Utsuki shrugged. "He won't meet another detective like me anyway."

The July sun was bright and warm. She ran forward a few steps, went to the shade of the tree, and turned around with her hands behind her back.

"I just told Detective Maori that he probably won't be able to contact me this summer. If there's anything urgent, he might choose to contact you. I'll leave you Gouyu's contact number. If you need any help, just call him."

"good."

Kurosaki Utsuki nodded, feeling the spiritual power surging in the "warehouse", and suddenly lowered her head to look at her toes.

As usual, she wore a white dress today, paired with a pair of white strappy sandals, which just revealed the sparkling pink toenails she had painted while hesitating and thinking last night.

...There are still some things she needs to explain in advance.

Kurosaki Utsuki stared at the nail polish, tugging at the corner of her clothes and speaking slowly, "My brother was also seriously injured that night, but he has recovered now."

The occasional sound of wind and the noisy chirping of cicadas were heard in her ears. Kenji Hagiwara stopped half a meter away from her, lowered his head slightly, and his eyes fell on the top of her hair that reflected the sunlight.

"So, at that time," he began to confirm, "Kurosaki-chan would have fought the Death Girl's brother?"

"Yeah, I was so angry at that time that I wanted to kill him directly." Kurosaki Utsuki said, "But Urahara-san suddenly appeared and stopped me. At that time, I did feel that if I really killed him, the consequences might implicate my sisters. Anyway, my brother was still alive, so in the end I let them go."

Then a situation arose that she couldn't understand.

"Then I thought, Urahara-san might have wanted my brother to experience firsthand the power of a Shinigami. That's why he allowed my brother, a recent Shinigami with no training, to fight a captain-level Shinigami. Since he was hiding at the scene, he should have been able to prevent my brother from being killed directly."

But when she got to this point, her emotions suddenly surged up, and she jumped in anger.

"That being said, but, but! What if the opponent is used to beheading or beheading the enemy? Even Urahara-san wouldn't be able to heal such a fatal wound! How could he let my brother take such a risk?"

This made Hagiwara Kenji feel uneasy: "Is that Mr. Urahara also a Shinigami?"

"Urahara-san... he should be considered a Shinigami, at least he used to be," Kurosaki Utsuki replied, her emotions calming down a bit. After all, the past couldn't be changed, so there was no point in being afraid. "But after such a tragic defeat, brother still decided to go to Soul Society to save people... Of course I would go with him."

As she spoke, she realized something else. She had subconsciously thought that Urahara Kisuke helped her brother this time because, like her brother, he did not want the innocent Shinigami girl to be executed, and for some reason he was unable to go to Soul Society in person.

But the option of going to Soul Society could have been avoided - if he only cared about Kuchiki Rukia, he could have just kept silent to stop Byakuya Kuchiki on the night she arrived, and then helped to fake the scene.

Since Urahara Kisuke was able to convince Soul Society that her father Shiba Isshin had died in the line of duty, he would surely be able to perfectly fabricate the scene of Kuchiki Byakuya's death in the line of duty.

The difficulty of deliberately giving up the home field where they have the advantage and then breaking into the opponent's home field to snatch players is increasing exponentially. Calculated based on the number of people, it has increased by thirteen times!

He must have other intentions, but what exactly is it...

"For the next ten days, my brother will be concentrating on special training. After that..." Kurosaki Utsuki sighed softly and didn't say anything else. Instead, she simply changed the subject. "By the way, Hagiwara-san, aren't you curious about what a Quincy is?"

She blurted out the word uncontrollably that early morning, but he never asked her further.

In fact, there are not only the "Quincy" but also various secrets that he might be interested in or curious about.

It was obvious that if he had just asked at that time, he would have gotten the real answer, but he chose to be a gentle and tolerant listener, just quietly listening to her illogical complaints and spontaneous expressions.

Are all humans like this? She doesn’t think so.

At least if it was Jinpei Matsuda, she felt he would definitely ask questions. Even if not right then and there, he would definitely try to satisfy his curiosity once she regained her composure.

"It should be a profession that uses those beautiful bows and arrows as weapons, right?" Hagiwara Kenji asked, "If I'm not mistaken, the core of the bow and arrow is the pendant on Kurosaki-chan's wrist, and Kurosaki-chan's mother is also a Quincy, right?"

"Yes." Kurosaki Utsuki nodded.

...No wonder he wasn't curious, it turned out he had already guessed it all.

But before she could express her thoughts, the young man next to her took the initiative to correct her: "It's not that I'm not curious."

He shook his head slightly: "I just guess that Kurosaki-chan is now worried about how to tell her brother everything. I don't want to add burden to Kurosaki-chan at this time."

……well.

He is right.

Kurosaki Utsuki pursed her lips, turned her head to look towards the scorching sun, and narrowed her eyes: "I wish my brother could figure out all the truths I've hidden from him just like you do."

Three days have passed since Kuchiki Rukia was taken away. Her brother has recovered from his injuries and, with the help of Urahara Kisuke, has regained his once-lost Shinigami powers. However, she should have explained her secret, but she simply ignored his emails and refused to answer his calls, continuing to avoid him to the end.

It's really difficult. It feels harder than going into Soul Society alone and wiping out Division 6.

…Of course, the reason I chose the Sixth Division was because Byakuya Kuchiki is the captain of the Sixth Division.

Kenji Hagiwara took a step forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with her.

"I think Kurosaki-chan must be very clear about this, and Kurosaki-chan's brother will definitely not blame Kurosaki-chan for this. But even so, with Kurosaki-chan's personality, it is still difficult for her to say something that she has concealed for many years." He smiled gently, and his smile was like a breeze brushing across his cheek. "In that case, like in many anime, how about using a knife to convey my feelings to him?"

Eh?

Kurosaki Utsuki subconsciously turned her head, her pupils dilated slightly.

This is really... a very childish suggestion.

But she likes it.

"I'll try, and hope it can be conveyed smoothly."

Kurosaki Utsuki nodded and thanked him sincerely. Before she continued walking, she suddenly remembered something.

"Don't forget about the empty fireworks festival this summer," she reminded him, her cheeks heating up for some reason, probably due to the temperature.

"Of course I did pay attention to the date," the boy replied expectantly. "It's ten days from now, right? I promise to be there on time."

July 31, Friday

It was already evening.

Kurosaki Utsuki held her phone in one hand and a freshly opened bottle of soda in the other, and drawled out her words silently, "I know. The train was delayed due to an accident on the line. After arriving, we helped a lost girl find her parents, but in the end, we got stuck in the crowd and couldn't find any landmark buildings at all—"

That's why I couldn't show up at the agreed place at the agreed time.

The voice coming from the receiver was a little aggrieved: "Kurosaki-chan..."

"I didn't say I didn't believe it." She looked up at the cheerful backs of her father and sisters, who were a little distance away. She held the glass bottle in front of her brother, whose face was full of the expression "Wait until you get off the phone, I have something to tell you." "I'm going to look for a friend who's lost, so I won't be joining you for a while."

Ichigo Kurosaki was stunned for a moment before taking the soda: "Didn't you just say you couldn't find the marker..."

"Don't worry." Kurosaki Utsuki waved her hand, then lifted the hem of her yukata and walked quickly. "I'm good at finding people."

Well... of course it's not good at finding people in the literal sense.

After running out of her family's sight, the orange-haired girl, who was rarely wearing casual clothes other than white, but more precisely a yukata with a cream-yellow base and large blue-purple hydrangeas printed on it, summoned her Zanpakutō.

"—Be full, Lian Yue."

She whispered the words of Shikai, and the blade instantly turned into a large number of crimson light spots, spreading in all directions. In just a moment, they almost disappeared from her sight.

After finishing her preparations, she spoke again into the phone, which had not yet been hung up: "Hagiwara-san, if you see a red light, reach out and grab it."

Hagiwara Kenji quickly saw the "light" that Kurosaki Utsuki had mentioned. Following her instructions, he reached out and easily grasped one, then his eyes widened in surprise.

It was clearly just "light", and Kurosaki Utsuki also called it light. He thought it would be a slightly hot existence like the sparks flying from a fairy wand, but he didn't expect that the touch of it in his palm would be warm and soft, and there was a slight tremor, as if... holding someone's hand.

But in just a moment, the girl whose hand he held passed through the crowd and came into his sight.