Chapter 24 Persimmons and Strawberries 1
After staring at the black cat for a full minute, Hagiwara Kenji finally remembered that he hadn't put on his pajama top yet.
While he was hurriedly putting on his clothes, the black cat on the windowsill let out a chuckle that seemed to be teasing.
Before he had time to wonder if he was hallucinating and why he heard the cat's laughter, he suddenly found that the girl on the bed opened her eyes.
At this moment, or it should be said that from the moment he reached out to grab the girl's belt, her figure became clear in his eyes, just like he had subscribed to a membership on a video website, so now he could see all the subtle changes of the girl.
"Kurosaki-chan...?"
Kurosaki Utsuki did open her eyes, but she did not regain consciousness. Unlike her usual peaceful "corpse" state of sleeping, her eyelashes and pupils were trembling, her face was pale and covered in cold sweat, as if she had a sudden illness.
Even the black kimono on her body became dimly visible, revealing the close-fitting white lingerie underneath.
Hagiwara Kenji's breathing stagnated, and he reached out his hand to touch her forehead: "Kurosaki——"
How could this happen? What happened to her?
"Don't panic, she's fine." A deep male voice came from the direction of the window.
Kenji Hagiwara was stunned for a moment and turned his head to look. His first reaction was that someone had climbed onto his windowsill again, but he didn't expect that what he saw was a pair of golden cat eyes.
“……?”
Who is speaking?
"What are you looking for?" Under his shocked gaze, the black cat spoke again in an uncle's voice, "Here, look here."
Eh? The cat spoke...
It's really the cat talking.
Kenji Hagiwara's pupils continued to tremble.
Can cats actually talk?
Or is he actually dreaming?
"But, is it really okay, Kurosaki-chan?"
Although he was extremely shocked, he still tried to calm himself down and continued the action just now. He gently covered the girl's forehead with his hands, and felt a cold feeling: "She looks very painful-"
Don’t worry about the fact that ordinary cats can’t talk for now. Of course, Kurosaki Utsuki is more important now.
By the way, can the god of death also get sick?
"She's not the one who's abnormal." In the moonlight that was gradually obscured by clouds, the black cat's golden pupils were surprisingly bright.
"Eh? But..."
But before he could finish the word "but", the black cat in front of him suddenly disappeared, as if it had melted into the night.
Kenji Hagiwara blinked, and after a brief moment of daze, he turned his gaze back to the girl who was trembling all over.
Although her eyes were open, she seemed unconscious, which made him doubt whether the black cat was trustworthy. But just as he was about to raise his hand, he suddenly noticed that the corners of the girl's lips trembled, then curled up a little, revealing a weak but relieved smile that he had never seen before.
Friday, May 29th
Kenji Hagiwara was awakened by his own hand which had been pressed until it became numb.
He couldn't quite remember when he fell asleep last night. Since he gave his bed to Kurosaki Utsuki, he chose to sit on a chair and observe her situation. As a result, he gradually fell on the desk driven by sleepiness... and then he opened his eyes and it was now.
The morning light filtered through the half-closed curtains. He rubbed his left arm, which was so sore that he could hardly feel it, and glanced at the alarm clock. It was not yet seven o'clock, so it was still very early.
After a brief reaction time, he suddenly remembered the reason why he fell asleep in the chair, then stood up suddenly and stepped to the bedside to check on Kurosaki Utsuki's condition.
"Kurosaki-chan..."
On his bed, beneath the thin blanket, the man who had been trembling late last night as if he might stop breathing at any moment had completely calmed down. His eyes, once wide open, fluttered shut, the trembling stopped, his breathing slowed, as if he had fallen asleep.
“…This should be a good sign, right?”
Kenji Hagiwara swallowed carefully and tiptoed out of the room to wash up, bringing back a wet towel and bottled water. Upon returning to the room, he carefully closed the door behind him. He had just taken two steps inside when he suddenly met the girl's hazy eyes.
His eyes suddenly brightened, and he almost rushed to the bedside: "Kurosaki-chan! You're awake! Are you okay?"
That gaze was so scorching that Kurosaki Utsuki, who hadn't fully woken up yet, blinked briefly, but soon felt uncomfortable being stared at, and looked away: "I'm fine..."
Wait, what reason could there be for her to wake up and see Kenji Hagiwara?
Looking around again, this bed is not her bed, the quilt is not her quilt, the ceiling is not her ceiling, and the room is not her room... Could she be sleeping in Kenji Hagiwara's room?
Why? How? What happened?
The orange-haired girl suddenly felt difficulty breathing and did a sit-up. It was not until the thin blanket slipped off her shoulders that she suddenly realized that she was only wearing a white inner garment.
"ah……"
Now she remembered.
Seeing her expression change, Hagiwara Kenji became nervous again: "Kurosaki-chan? Are you still feeling unwell? You were in a terrible condition last night, but I don't know who to ask for help."
That being said, after Kuroneko left, he actually called her brother, Kurosaki Ichigo, but unfortunately the other party didn't answer, probably because he was already asleep at that time.
"No, I'm fine."
Kurosaki Utsuki lowered her head and rubbed her eyes. She waited until the tiredness in her mind completely dissipated before looking at Hagiwara Kenji again.
Perhaps worried that the girl might feel uneasy being alone with a man in such a situation, the boy had already sat down on a chair a full meter away from her and was holding out a towel. She took it, but didn't use it, just holding it in her hand.
Although as a Shinigami, she could decide whether to penetrate solid objects at will—she could pass through walls, and smaller objects were easier to penetrate than larger ones—the situation was reversed now. Her lepton density was no longer under her control, and being able to hold the towel without it penetrating her body was already her limit.
…She is no longer the god of death.
"What on earth happened?"
The boy in front of him asked worriedly. He turned on the water again, but Kurosaki Utsuki shook his head and didn't answer it.
Although she looks calm, in fact, Kurosaki Utsuki now wants to find a place to calm down alone.
"Nothing special. It's just something I borrowed a long time ago, and the original owner finally remembered and asked me for it back."
For years, she had been comparing herself to someone who had the backdoor key to her brother's "reiki warehouse." But at some point last night, she had the distinct feeling that the main door to the "warehouse" she managed had been forced open. It was the reiatsu belonging to an unfamiliar Shinigami that opened the door, causing her to experience a reaction similar to immune rejection.
But soon, after realizing that the spiritual pressure was not meant to be taken away but to be integrated into the warehouse, and that the person who began to draw power from the main gate was indeed the owner of the warehouse, she relaxed her resistance and even closed the back door under her control.
In reality, it was speculated that the strange Shinigami had imbued her brother with spiritual energy, awakening his ability to use it. To put it in a similar way, it was like adding a handle to a slippery, difficult-to-lift box.
However, she believed that it would not be long before he would no longer need any assistance and would be able to use his power at will.
That was her brother, the true master of those powerful forces. He would surely be able to easily master all of that power. Gain the Zanpakutō's recognition, learn Shikai, and then gain the Zanpakutō's submission and learn Bankai.
If he wanted, he could become a Quincy, and even... use the power of Hollows.
Just like she had been all these years—of course, he would be stronger than her.
Hagiwara Kenji was stunned: "Huh?"
Would returning the borrowed items cause her to have such a big reaction?
But Kurosaki Utahi stopped talking, with no intention of explaining to him: "Nothing special, just a private matter of my family."
It was something that made her feel extremely relieved, yet also slightly lost.
"I see... Then Kurosaki-chan—"
The boy's words were suddenly interrupted by her: "I'm leaving first."
As expected, she still wanted to be alone and quiet, and she would save her explanation and thanks to Hagiwara Kenji until she calmed down.
Kurosaki Utsuki almost subconsciously chose the option of jumping out the window and leaving, with a sense of escaping from reality.
The distance from the bed to the windowsill was only three steps, and the height difference was only two steps. However, after taking a step from the edge of the windowsill, she suddenly realized that she had lost her spiritual power and the ability to manipulate and use the spiritual particles in the air.
Unable to land instantly with instant step, nor hovering in the air, there is only one result -
Lose balance and fall.
Kenji Hagiwara, feeling something was wrong, rushed to the window, but he only had time to grab the girl's sleeve. He could only watch her fall from the windowsill, and then... she stepped on something to cushion her fall, which slightly slowed her down, before she fell miserably to the ground again.
Feeling frustrated about herself now and how everything happened so quickly, Kurosaki Utsuki scratched her messy hair in frustration, then covered her ankle which seemed to be sprained.
She is indeed different from ordinary souls. Apart from being scratched and eaten by the void, it is impossible for her to suffer such an outrageous injury as a sprain!
When the pain in her ankle eased a little, she raised her head to see what obstacle she had stepped on. However, a second later, she lowered her head with a twitch of her mouth.
...It's too bad.
The obstacle turned out to be Jinpei Matsuda! She had just stepped on his shoulder!
And she suddenly realized that if Hagiwara Kenji, who couldn't see spirits before, could see her clearly now, then Matsuda Jinpei, whose spiritual power base was higher than his, would definitely not be so easy to fool -
"Kurosaki? Why are you...?"
Look! I recognized her right away!
As a result, the people upstairs even made things worse for her: "It's just in time, Xiao Zhenping! Kurosaki-chan, are you okay? Kurosaki-chan——"
Ouch! Although Matsuda's stepping on her feet did help a little, compared to this little help, she hoped that he would not appear at the wrong foot at the wrong time!
Jinpei Matsuda blinked blankly.
He touched his shoulder, which had just been stepped on but hadn't affected his balance much because the person stepping on it was too light. His eyes shifted between Kurosaki Utsuki, who was sitting sideways on the ground, wearing only a thin inner garment and even barefoot as she jumped out the window, and his friend Hagiwara Kenji, whose face was filled with anxiety and nervousness, at the window. He finally took a sharp breath and uttered a single syllable expressing confusion: "Huh?!"
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