"What are you so afraid of!"
"Were you ever someone who could be brought down so easily!"
"Are you afraid of failing!"
"Are you afraid of not being able to protect your friends!"
"Or else..."
"Are you afraid of the Hollow inside you!"
"If you're afraid of failing, then make yourself stronger!"
"If you're worried about not being able to protect your friends, then become stronger! Become even stronger!!"
"If you're afraid of the Hollow inside you, then become strong enough to destroy it!!"
"No matter how great the difficulty, you would always muster the courage to move forward, never giving up! That's the person I always knew you to be! Ichigo!!"
Rukia shouted, beating her chest.
Earlier, after taking Ichigo away from the classroom, Rukia had found a Hollow and had Ichigo fight it.
However, Ichigo was weighed down by many concerns, worried about the Hollow inside him causing trouble again, so he was restrained and cautious when facing the Hollow.
Consequently, this supposed Captain-level powerhouse, facing a particularly strong Hollow, not only failed to kill it with a single slash but was instead forced into a difficult position.
Seeing his lack of fighting spirit, Rukia launched into a tirade, unleashing a storm of words at Ichigo.
As it turned out, Ichigo responded well to this approach. After being yelled at by Rukia, his previously dejected and confused state gave way to a sudden 'great awakening', looking like someone who had seen the error of his ways.
"Hmph! Rukia, you really are a busybody, aren't you?"
Ichigo smiled knowingly, his wavering heart steadying once more. His right hand, gripping his sword, stabilized again. Then, he reversed his slash and struck it towards the powerful Hollow.
"Swish!"
A flash of bright sword light passed by. The poor, powerful Hollow, having fulfilled its purpose, was cleaved in two by Ichigo's slash, then dissolved into Reishi and dispersed into the world.
"Inoue..."
"K-Kuchiki-san?"
Orihime, walking down the school hallway, suddenly heard someone call her name. Turning around, she saw Rukia pulling Ichigo along as they ran towards her.
"Inoue, long time no see."
Rukia, dragging Ichigo, approached and greeted her.
After the Rukia-style comfort, Ichigo had finally emerged from his dejected confusion over his defeat. Then, the two had returned to the school.
"Kuchiki-san, you've come to the Human World again. How long will you be staying this time?"
Orihime Inoue asked.
"I'll talk about that later."
Rukia didn't answer Orihime's question. Instead, she tugged on Ichigo again: "Hey, Ichigo, come on!"
"Kurosaki-kun?"
Orihime looked puzzled.
Urged on by Rukia, Ichigo, under Orihime's puzzled gaze, suddenly bowed his head deeply and said, "I'm sorry! Inoue, I was really pathetic! To become so dejected over a small setback and make you worry so much, I was really pathetic. But..."
"I... I will become stronger! I will protect everyone! I will never let what happened yesterday happen again!!"
'Great. This is the Kurosaki-kun I know.' Seeing Ichigo recover from the blow of his defeat, Orihime was so moved she felt like crying.
"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun."
"Thank you, Kuchiki-san."
Orihime smiled and thanked Ichigo and Rukia. But somehow, there was an inexplicable bitterness mixed into her smile.
'I'm glad Kurosaki-kun has pulled himself together. But why... why wasn't it me who helped him do it?'
A feeling of jealousy involuntarily rose in Orihime Inoue's heart.
Bang bang bang, crackle crackle.
Sounds of a commotion came from Ichigo's classroom.
Swish!
Toshiro opened the classroom door and walked out with Rangiku and the others.
"Phew."
Toshiro let out a long breath, feeling refreshed. "Hmm, Renji, you did well. Those foolish humans needed a good lesson. We bleed and sweat, protecting them silently, and they repay our kindness with enmity, slandering us as bad people. Seriously, the quality of this generation of humans is lacking."
Upon hearing Toshiro's words, Rangiku and the others twitched their mouths, looking utterly speechless.
At first, he had told Renji not to bother with ordinary humans. But the moment those people provoked Toshiro, he completely changed his attitude, telling Renji to 'teach those foolish humans a lesson'.
"Hey, you're in our way."
As they walked, Renji suddenly shouted at two students blocking their path.
"Ah... s-sorry..."
Renji, with his red hair and tattoos, looked intimidating, so the other party immediately backed down.
"Hmm?"
Looking at the two students blocking their way, Toshiro inexplicably felt they looked somewhat familiar.
'These two guys are Ichigo's friends, I think. I recall their names are something like 'Mizuiro' and 'Keigo'...'
Toshiro's guess was correct. The two in front were indeed Ichigo's good friends, Asano Keigo and Kojima Mizuiro.
"Hey, Abarai, don't bother with them. We should leave now."
Rangiku patted Renji's shoulder, telling him to stop stirring up trouble.
Rangiku, who had spoken, also caught the attention of Keigo and Mizuiro, especially Keigo.
"Big sister! You look so sexy in that uniform!!"
Keigo Asano's eyes were glued to the beautiful woman, and he even boldly lunged towards Rangiku's half-exposed breasts.
Bang!
Rangiku simply threw a punch, knocking Keigo to the ground.
Although Rangiku usually dressed sexily and provocatively, looking like a 'gyaru', it would be a big mistake to think she was an easy woman.
"Alright, let's go."
Rangiku said.
The group walked away, ignoring Keigo entirely.
"Hey, is that guy okay? He seems to be Ichigo's friend. You didn't break anything, did you?"
"Don't worry, ignore him. I know my own strength. He won't die."
Toshiro and Rangiku's voices drifted back, making Keigo, lying on the ground, so frustrated he wanted to vomit blood.
…
Ichigo's house.
After Toshiro and the others left the school, Ichigo also left with Rukia and returned to his home.
Ichigo's room.
"Nee-san—!"
As soon as Ichigo and Rukia entered, a golden lion plushie lunged at Rukia.
"Pfft!"
Before the lion plushie could get close, Rukia kicked it away.
"Yo, long time no see, Kon."
Rukia greeted Kon while vigorously trampling on his golden lion plushie body with her stockinged feet.
"Even though we haven't seen each other for a while, you still kick me without hesitation... That's Nee-san's style alright. But to have Nee-san trample my body after so long... I'm so happy..."
Even as Rukia stomped on his body, Kon looked like a masochist enjoying the torture.
While Ichigo, Rukia, and Kon were reunited and making a ruckus inside the room, Isshin and Yuzu were outside the door, pressing their ears against it, excitedly trying to eavesdrop.