The team headed back to reality after fighting in Mementos for a while. They were a bit worried they might have stayed a little too long, however.
"It's only 7:30?" Ryuji frowned. "We were definitely in there for longer."
Ren sighed. "Push it aside for now. I'll force an explanation out of the silver-haired shithead."
"Pfft." Orihime snorted out a laugh. "You sound so done."
"Hahaha, but Ren, your 'big sisters' may be with him," Ann laughed.
"Son of a bitch," Ren cursed.
"Ren, I do not believe he has a harem. You are completely full of shit," Ryuji said. He refused to admit it was possible!
"You'll see," Ren said with a laugh. Then he blinked and laughed even harder.
Wiping a tear from his eyes, he added, "Completely forgot that one of my 'sisters,'" he used air quotes, "is someone you all know of."
"Hmm?" The team frowned. They didn't recall meeting anyone related to Ren other than Yu.
Ren just had a wide smile.
---
Orihime opened the door to her apartment.
"I'm back," she whispered to the small shrine to her brother. She kneeled in front of it, lit incense, and began to pray.
She always felt like he could hear her. Which was strange to her, but not really. The boy from childhood claimed to see ghosts. And now the Metaverse business was occurring, so who knew?
Unseen to her, a man was watching over her as she prayed silently. In his chest was a chain that was slowly losing links. They would rot and fall off. The man knew that something horrible would happen if every link in the chain vanished, but he couldn't bring himself not to watch over her.
"I'm glad you're enjoying your new life... my beautiful sister," he whispered with a smile, glancing at her hairpin.
Raising her body and bowing, Orihime smiled and began making herself food. Bread, curry bread, melon bread, and an orange.
'You need protein,' she remembered Ryuji saying to her.
'Maybe I'll ask Ren. Leblanc's curry was really good!'
Ren. One of her new friends. She didn't believe in love at first sight, so she didn't think she was in love with him, but as soon as she saw him, she had an intense desire to be friends with him. She could feel the pain he was hiding and wanted to help. But she didn't know how. He seemed to appreciate her behavior, calling her a "sun," but Arsène referred to her as "the Faith" with a grand gesture. She liked Arsène a lot. He was funny!
"I want to fight too."
---
"Kisuke, those kids reappeared in the same spot they vanished, only hours later."
"Hmmm." Urahara thought. "A hidden dimension?"
His brow furrowed deeper.
"I can't figure it out yet. I don't have enough information."
"Kisuke, pay attention for a second before returning to brooding."
A cat walked out of the shadows and transformed into a beautiful dark-skinned woman with a sensual aura. She had a smirk that said she was free-spirited.
"I'm not brooding," the man sighed. "Confusion is such an interesting emotion. I'd almost forgotten what it was like."
"Kisuke. When they reappeared, their spiritual pressure was noticeably stronger. The black-haired kid's completely changed. If it weren't for the underlying gentleness of the aura, I wouldn't have thought it was the same person."
"Huh?"
---