Shinigami.
A death god?
Not quite.
"It means Soul Reaper," Rukia revealed as she sat neatly in her seat.
"Our job is to go to the World of the Living and hunt Hollows. Hollows are the monsters that you've fought before," Rukia said.
The team was angry.
She had been following them?!
Ren exhaled, having expected it.
"What are Hollows? Where do they come from? And what are ghosts? I think I met one."
Rukia winced upon seeing their glares. She didn't like that the group was looking at her with such suspicion.
"Think of a Plus and a Minus. A normal ghost, the spirit of one who has passed on, is the Plus. It's a normal human soul."
The team nodded.
Yu and Ren listened carefully.
"A Hollow is the opposite. A Minus. When desire and sin manifest within a ghost in the World of the Living, it turns into a Hollow."
Everyone's eyes briefly widened, and their breathing picked up.
"How do you prevent that?! Is the person's ghost okay?!"
"Shhhh. Chariot. Please," Elizabeth said gently.
Rukia looked at the group and noticed they weren't scared at all. Instead, they were filled with righteous indignation.
"Is someone forcing this to happen?" Ren said through gritted teeth.
"I don't think so. That's not the belief in Soul Society."
"Huh? Wha—"
CLAP CLAP.
Elizabeth drew everyone's attention.
"Now then," she said brightly, "knowing too much too soon can be overwhelming, so let us reveal the secrets of the Metaverse to Miss Kuchiki."
---
Yu and Ren were sitting there in frustration. They had tried. They had tried so hard to ignore it. They listened to Elizabeth's whole explanation.
But—
"Can we please address why a seventeen-year-old Kotone is here?" Yu and Ren snapped together.
"Oh, but, Seeker, don't you wish to know why you're in your younger bodies?"
"Because we'd destroy whatever stupid bullshit this is," Yu said flatly.
"Bingo!"
"I have reached the limit on the amount of bullshit I can take," Ren monologued. "I can accept the Metaverse. I can accept ghosts, to an extent. But time-travel bullshit is where I draw the line."
"Well, if it helps, it's not really time travel. That would screw up too much," Elizabeth said, wrinkling her nose. "Also, this is the last of the most confusing stuff. You'll figure it out."
Yu and Ren sighed.
---
"Okay. Let's shelve this whole thing. I don't care anymore," Yosuke said in defeat.
Nearly everyone else listening agreed.
"So she's from a parallel timeline that didn't happen. But the possibility was there, and... you know what? Fuck it. Did you take her without consent?" Ren said.
"Of course I didn't!" Elizabeth said cheerfully, ignoring that Ren and Yu were at their absolute limit.
"This woman is infuriating."
"Elizabeth, just tell us what we have to do, please. I can't take it anymore."
Well, as long as she chose to come and it didn't fuck anything up.
"I don't know if it did. The older Kotone knew what was happening too and accepted that she would vanish."
"I see."
The teams were downcast.
Kotone was humming and thinking about what she had heard before she shrugged.
"Eh. At least I'm alive."
Elizabeth smiled.
"This cinema has two lost film rolls. You all need to find them. You will encounter familiar and unfamiliar things. It will be a time to treasure and a time to hate. Find the two film rolls and help Kotone remember who she is," Elizabeth said gently.
"I will take your hatred and blame," she added gently, leaving the group in silence.
---
Ren suddenly looked at Yu.
"The Moon."
Yu nodded.
"Makes sense."
Ren wasn't sure why he said that. He heard no bond announcement like he had in the past. He just felt a cold wind blow through and remove something from him. It was unnerving because it was relieving, yet terrifying.
Whatever it was, it wasn't malicious.
But he was not happy to have forgotten something. He felt it was important and that he had to grasp it. But at the same time, his heart was telling him to let it go, and that it would come back when and if he needed it.
He completely forgot what he had been thinking about.
"Ren. Don't examine it too deeply," Yu suddenly said, snapping Ren out of his daze.
Ren exhaled.
"Thanks, Yu."
"Alright, everyone. Let's get to it!" Yu called out as he and Ren knocked fists together.
"We got a clear objective, thieves."
"Let's help Kotone."
"I really hope we have time dilation here," Morgana muttered.
"Where have you been?!" everyone exclaimed.
"I was confused, so I didn't talk! I've been here the whole time!"
Rukia was staring at Morgana in shock.
"I know someone who can turn into a cat too, but it's nothing like this."
Morgana snapped his head toward her and dashed over, kicking up dust.
"Please tell me!"
"I don't know how she does it. I'm sorry," she said quickly.
Morgana's ears lowered.
Kotone came over and gave Morgana a hug.
"It's okay. Don't think about all the things that you don't know. Just be glad to be here," she said strongly.
---