The projection simply created a hologram of five children: an orange-haired boy with a scowl walking ahead, while an orange-haired girl, a black-haired girl, and a red-haired girl peeked from around the bend. The young orange-haired boy suddenly stopped and sneered. A boy with black hair came out of nowhere, delivering a flying kick to the boy's stomach.
"Yeah. I remember messing with this guy all the time..." Ren mumbled.
They continued to watch until the two boys stopped and stared into space. Then, at each other. Suddenly, the teams could hear young voices.
"It was right here, dude."
"I don't believe you saw a ghost, Ichigo," the black-haired boy snickered.
!!!
"That's!" Morgana suddenly exclaimed.
"Shut up and come with me, Ren. I'll prove it."
"Want to ask the girls to watch you look like an idiot?" young Ren asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder, spotting the girls spying from a distance.
Young Ichigo clicked his tongue and waved them over, and they all began to walk forward.
Suddenly, the projection rewound and played the same scene, only instead of Ren teasing Ichigo, it was Tatsuki.
"I remember this. I was spying!" Orihime said with a big blush. "I feel like someone was with me, but were Ren and Kotone really there?"
"I don't know..." Ren mumbled.
He looked up to watch the projection finish with young Orihime, young Ichigo, and young Tatsuki walking forward. Sometimes, projections of Ren and Kotone would phase in and out.
Then there was a burst of light, and a glowing film strip floated in midair before zipping toward Orihime's home.
At the same time, a light lit up farther down the road, presumably at the Kurosaki home.
Ren gave everyone a moment to compose themselves and began, "I think we should head down the road to the right before we go to Orihime's home."
"Your reasoning?" Yu asked with his hand slightly raised.
"I don't want to backtrack," Ren deadpanned.
But then he chuckled.
"Actually, it's because I'm curious about the Kurosaki home. I don't remember having friends besides you guys."
The teams were silent for a moment. They were very happy to know Ren treasured them the way he did, but if he really forgot his childhood...
"I say we do what Joker said," Ryuji said with a yawn.
"I'm okay with that too," Orihime said quickly. "I'm not ready to go to my home yet. I feel like we should wait."
The others agreed.
The team walked down the road.
Yosuke and Ryuji quickly determined that, since they found two film strips at the two locations, there would be another at the Kurosaki home and the last one at Orihime's home, guarded by a boss.
"It's like a meme at this point." Ann shook her head.
Rise giggled. "It doesn't stop. Yosuke and Yu do that most of the time. I think Yu is happy to have a chance to be the straight man."
Yu spun on the spot smoothly and aimed finger guns at Rise and Yukiko, then spun back.
"I think he's happy he has more time to flirt," Shiho chuckled.
They arrived at the Kurosaki home, and the atmosphere felt somber.
A barrier of light surrounded them, and the floor fell away to create a small viewing box.
The room filled with storm clouds and rain, and a projection played down the nearby street.
Young Ichigo was walking with a young woman with orange hair and a kind smile. Ichigo demanded to walk on the outside of the sidewalk so she wouldn't get splashed or hurt.
The team watched as the pair walked down the street. Sometimes, Ren and a tall woman with curly black hair were next to the two. Sometimes, it was a tall young man with blue hair walking Kotone and Ren together.
The scene changed once more. Ichigo ran down a hill.
"Mom, there's a ghost here! She needs help!"
As Ichigo approached the ghost, a giant Hollow appeared, swiping down at him. Just before the strike, the projection rewound, and it was the same scene, only Ichigo pushed his mother back, and Ren and Kotone missed a tackle on Ichigo.
There was a flash of light, and the team was once more in front of the Kurosaki house.
Rukia's heart had skipped a beat. What happened there?! These kids came across a Hollow?
Suddenly, there was a flicker, and a gurney rolled by slowly into an ambulance. As the gurney passed, the person lying in it phased between Ichigo, Ichigo's mother, Ren, a black-haired woman, and then Kotone before settling on Ichigo.
Ren doubled over. He felt like he wanted to throw up.
He didn't know that black-haired woman.
But he did?
But his mother had straight hair.
No, her hair was black?
"Ren!" Orihime's voice brought Ren back.
He blinked a few times and tried to calm his breathing.
"Yu," Ren addressed him calmly. "Was that woman my biological mother?"
The team gasped, and they all turned to Yu. His brow was deeply furrowed. His eyes filled with doubt and confusion.
"I never really noticed that you didn't resemble the woman who lived with you. Maybe your mother remarried?"
Orihime sniffled a few times. It was hard for her to watch this. She was breathing harder and harder. Growing more and more confused. Convinced what she remembered was a false memory.
Or maybe something someone had blocked out?
"Hime, it's okay," Shiho said gently as she rubbed Orihime's back.
A film strip gently floated down in front of the group, landing on the ground softly.