Chapter 37 Summer Adventure 1
Because he guessed what Kurosaki Utahara would do next, before hanging up the phone, Geto Suguru rarely did not urge her to go to work.
As for Kurosaki Utsuki, after hanging up the phone, she did directly dial Urahara Kisuke's number.
The call was connected for only a few seconds, but she felt a little impatient waiting. When the other party finally answered, she rarely skipped the greetings and pleasantries and asked directly, "Mr. Urahara, you should have heard about my brother's victory over the Hollow."
"Indeed," a man's slightly frivolous voice came from the receiver, "Although Mr. Ichigo's progress is not as good as Ms. Utahiki's, it is already--"
"My situation is completely different from my brother's. There's no need for Urahara-san to come up with excuses to deal with me."
Interrupting Urahara Kisuke was a rare occurrence for Kurosaki Utsuki, and the person on the other end was clearly aware of this. Then, her tone darkened slightly, "Miss Utsuki wants to know the reason behind the Hollow's appearance."
"Yes," she replied.
"Hyakubai, Miss Utahi should know about this kind of thing, right?"
Kurosaki Utsuki was stunned for a moment: "That's not——"
Isn't that a tool used by Quincies? "Hollowbait," similar to fish bait, is bait to lure Hollows. It's completely literal.
She had never seen the real thing, but she had seen it in the written records of the "Kurosaki family" in the past. She had the impression that it was usually used in well-prepared group hunting. But now, where was there such a Quincy team?
"Yes," Urahara Kisuke confirmed, "That's what attracted the Hollow."
The answer suddenly popped up in Kurosaki Utsuki's mind.
"...Ishida?"
Of course, this is not referring to her teacher, Ishida Ryugen, her teacher who inherited the orthodox pure-blooded Quincy. He is not that concerned about the existence of Hollows. Compared to the endless number of Hollows, he cares more about the culprit who caused his wife to become weak and die six years ago.
She was talking about Ishida Uryu, the only son of Ishida Ryugen and her brother's classmate, who knew nothing about what happened six years ago.
Urahara Kisuke once again confirmed: "It seems that he and Ichigo-san had some conflict, but they have probably reconciled now. It really is youth~"
At the end of the sentence, the tone of voice became as usual. Even if they were only connected by radio waves, Kurosaki Utsuki could imagine the other person smiling and waving a small fan at this moment - but that smile would never show in his eyes.
There was the sound of a door opening behind him, followed by footsteps. It was Hagiwara Kenji returning to the room. But noticing the person on the windowsill was on the phone, he remained silent.
"I understand." After putting an end to the first question, Kurosaki Utsuki straightened her back and her voice became completely serious. "So, what are Mr. Urahara's plans for the future?"
The person on the other side didn't speak.
...No way, is he going to just let it go?
"I know Urahara-san is not planning to show up, but at least, no, no matter what, I will repay Kuchiki Rukia's kindness on my brother's behalf."
After waiting for a while, she finally got a response from the other side.
"Tomorrow evening, please ask Ms. Kashi to come to the store after school."
"good."
After hanging up the phone, Kurosaki Utsuki let out a long sigh and her back relaxed.
This was accompanied by a sudden surge of intense fatigue, which made her twitch her lips in self-mockery. She thought to herself that she was already tired before the fight even started, even though she was clearly a fifteen-year-old full of energy.
"What happened?" the young man behind her asked. His voice was so similar to what she had just heard from the receiver, yet completely different.
The other side was hiding things, and the truth, both real and fake, was all hidden under a frivolous appearance. On many things, he went around in circles and spoke in clichés to deal with them, and never gave her a direct answer.
But the boy she was facing at the moment was sincere and straightforward, and his concern for her was almost written on his face.
"Yes," Kurosaki Utsuki jumped into the room and sat down cross-legged in the middle of the room without any courtesy, "I might have a tough fight soon."
She found it difficult mainly because Urahara Kisuke's attitude was too ambiguous. In fact, whether he said "hide Kuchiki Rukia" or "let Kuchiki Rukia return to Soul Society", she would follow his plan before asking for the specific reason. She trusted him that much.
But the way he was responding now seemed to be shutting her out, as if it involved some "truth" that he didn't want her to know... Could this matter be related to "that person" in Soul Society?
It was also her fault that she hadn't thought of confirming with him for so long. She had paid too much for a final exam.
Wait a minute, could it be that the reason she and Kuchiki Rukia are attracted to each other is also related to the "truth" he wants to hide?
...I feel complicated.
Hagiwara Kenji sat down on the bed and looked down at her: "Do you want to take a day off tomorrow?"
"No, wait until school is over before going back."
After she finished speaking, she leaned back and lay on the floor as if giving up struggling. She raised her left arm, and the Quench Cross on her wrist hung in front of her eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm very strong... I can't really say that, but actually, my brother has unlimited potential, and I borrowed all of it. So, I'm as strong as my brother will be in the future."
Besides, it's impossible for Soul Society to send out a captain-level Shinigami just to capture Kuchiki Rukia - I heard that she doesn't have a seat on the team, right?
Because of her lying down action, Hagiwara Kenji, who originally had a slightly higher perspective, now felt a little condescending. He didn't like this perspective very much, so he moved to the floor and sat down, his eyes also falling on her wrist.
"I remember Kurosaki-chan said before that the bracelet was 'mass-produced'."
His words had no particular tone, and seemed to have no particular meaning; he was simply recalling the incident and speaking it out loud. The orange-haired girl, lying on the ground, curled her lips and muttered, "Did I say that?" Then she did a sit-up and sat up again.
The empty space on the floor was not very large to begin with. She had been lying there just now, with some distance between her and the boy. Now she suddenly stood up and almost bumped into his forehead - but only almost. She moved to the side a little as if by reflex, thus avoiding an accident.
But after sitting down, she did not move and did not try to distance herself from the other person.
"If you want to talk about mass production, it should be considered mass-produced." Kurosaki Utsuki spread the dangling, star-shaped pendant in the palm of her hand and showed it to the boy whose shoulders were almost touching. "This is my mother's legacy."
"Ah, sorry..."
"Mentioning my mother isn't something I should apologize for," she shook her head. She felt like sighing again, but the corners of her lips curled up a little unconsciously. "When I think of her, it's not just the pain of losing her that I feel. She left me with even more memories that make me look forward to tomorrow. Do you understand?"
The boy beside him nodded and smiled gently: "I understand."
so……
Let’s not talk about Rukia Kuchiki, but she will definitely protect her family.
July 17, Friday
It was a full moon night.
On the quiet and deserted streets, Kuchiki Rukia, who had already prepared herself for the punishment of Soul Society, suddenly caught sight of someone who shouldn't be there.
"Kurosaki…Utaki?"
The girl with short orange hair appeared at some point. She was wearing a school uniform, breathing slightly, and her face was slightly red. She looked like she had run for a long distance, and her bag was thrown at her feet.
But she didn't see clearly how the girl ran over. It was impossible for a human to have such speed. It was so fast that her eyes couldn't catch it at all. It was like... a flash of step.
The girl's face was not pretty, of course - after seeing her brother lying in a pool of blood with his own eyes, no one could remain calm.
Just a few minutes ago, she left the Kurosaki residence alone and was finally found on the street by a messenger sent by Soul Society.
To her great surprise, the visitors turned out to be her adopted brother Byakuya Kuchiki and her childhood sweetheart Renji Abarai, with whom she had almost lost contact over the years.
What she didn't expect was that Ishida Uryu and Kurosaki Ichigo actually came one after another and tried to stop her from being taken away, but were defeated one after another and fell to the ground seriously injured.
Really... they shouldn't have come.
She violated the rules of the God of Death and should go back to be punished. Even though she loved everything she experienced in the human world during this time, she didn't want anyone to be hurt or even die because of her.
...and Kurosaki Utsuki, who had nothing to do with it, witnessed it all.
However, Kurosaki Utsuki's reaction seemed different from what she imagined -
"How dare you...how dare you..."
The girl murmured softly, and the spiritual pressure around her gradually increased. Her spiritual pressure level easily surpassed Ishida Uryu and then Kurosaki Ichigo.
Abarai Renji nervously grasped the sword that had been sheathed and raised his voice: "Hey, Rukia, who is she?"
But before Kuchiki Rukia could answer, the orange-haired girl had already leaped high into the air, and with a flick of her hand, a Zanpakutō with a crimson hilt and a golden blade appeared out of thin air in her hand. Many crimson spots of light emanated from around the blade, giving it a faint appearance of a Shikai.
"To my most important brother——"
A full moon was reflected behind the girl in the air, and the next second, the blade heavily hit the "Senbonzakura" of Kuchiki Byakuya, who had instantly stepped in front of Abarai Renji, making a very powerful metal collision sound.
Her attack has just begun.
The spiritual pressure gathered.
"Crescent Moon—"
The crimson light spots around it gradually increased, colliding with each other next to the blade that was gathering spiritual pressure.
Not only the blade, but the girl's spiritual pressure itself continued to rise. For a few seconds, the faint shadow of a Hollow mask appeared on her face, and the original crimson light was mixed with a few subtle black spots.
"——Tian Chong!"
The vigorous spiritual pressure flowed along the blade and rushed towards the person opposite.
A few seconds later, when the bricks and stones that were shattered by the attack and bounced off the road fell, the smoke and dust that confused her vision dissipated, and the unbearable pressure brought by the collision of spiritual power decreased, Kuchiki Rukia finally saw the two people who had just output spiritual pressure one-on-one again, and then she covered her mouth in surprise.
She had never seen her brother in such a miserable state. He had clearly used his Zanpakutō when the attack came, but he was unable to completely block the blow. The priceless silver-white wind flower veil on his neck was cut off, his Shinigami suit was torn into a long tear, and there was even a blood mark on his face.
On the other hand, Kurosaki Utsuki on the opposite side had her skirt blown up by the sudden wind, and her face was stained with splattered blood, but she successfully blocked all the sharp cherry blossom petals that tried to pass through the "Crescent Moon Sky Strike".
But that’s not all.
The attack just now seemed like a simple test of her opponent's strength, but now the orange-haired girl had confirmed that not fully unleashing her sword was not an option. Even though her opponent, the captain of the 13th Gotoku Squad, had eighty percent of his spiritual power sealed upon his arrival in the human world, she would continue to increase her output to achieve a swift and decisive victory.
"卍——solution——"
The accident happened at this moment.
Before the girl could even finish the word "jie" (decipher), someone suddenly appeared next to her and grabbed her wrist. The man, dressed in green stripes and leaning on a cane, lowered his head slightly, his hat brim obscuring his expression.
"If Ichigo-san uses his Bankai here, he will definitely be affected. Miss Utahiro doesn't want Ichigo-san to get hurt any more, so it's better to treat him first."
His light words diverted the attention of the orange-haired girl who was full of murderous intent just now. As she turned her head, a large amount of crimson spirit particles rushed towards Kurosaki Ichigo, and as they got close to him, they turned into green representing Kaido.
She sheathed her blade and, with a sullen expression, she instantly moved towards her nearly unconscious brother. A small ball of green light surged towards the equally severely injured Ishida Uryuu nearby. She crouched down beside Kurosaki Ichigo, her hands also energizing the Dao.
It was a very serious injury. Both the lock knot and the soul sleep were pierced. Even if he survived, he would probably not be able to use spiritual power anymore.
...In that case, she would be the only one left in the "warehouse" that had just been opened, entering and exiting through the back door.
but……
"You've tried very hard."
She whispered, her voice incredibly gentle.
Behind her, Urahara Kisuke moved slightly and stood between Kuchiki Byakuya and her.
"Ms. Utahiki becomes a little mentally unstable every time she uses her Bankai. Looks like she'll be busy tonight."
He raised his eyes, and an ambiguous light flashed in his eyes, which were mostly hidden by the brim of his hat.
"Captain Kuchiki's mission should only be to bring your sister back. You'd better return quickly and report back."
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