"All right, that covers all the important notes." The homeroom teacher, Misato Ochi, tapped her lesson plan. "Summer break starts tomorrow. Make sure you seriously complete all your homework except Modern Japanese. It's fine to go a little wild when you're having fun. Those moments are what turn into precious memories."
The students stared at her, speechless. Since when did a Japanese teacher talk like that?
"Okay, everyone!" The homeroom teacher looked even more excited than the class. "I hope I'll see you all again in September. That's all. Class dismissed!"
"Ooooooh!!!"
After the cheers, the students began packing up their things.
"Let's stop by Jonathan's on the way."
"But I like Royal Host better. I want their desserts."
"Which one?"
"Come on, hurry up."
"Have you heard COLDPLAY's new single?"
"Yeah, I did. It's really good."
"..."
The classroom buzzed with overlapping voices. Muten Natsu glanced toward the seat where Rukia Kuchiki used to sit.
She had said she'd be back in two or three days, but now summer vacation had already begun, and she still hadn't returned.
He had asked Kisuke Urahara to keep an eye out, but there had been no news at all.
"Watermelons! Parasols! Sunscreen! Swim rings! Beach balls! Surfboards! And swimsuits!" Keigo Asano said dreamily. "When you think of summer, you think of the beach. When you think of the beach, you think of summer! Therefore, I, Keigo Asano, propose that starting tomorrow, we go on a ten-day seaside vacation!"
"Fireworks, courage tests, open-air mixed baths. Every heart-pounding activity you could want!" He waved his arms excitedly. "This trip will be led by yours truly. Welcome to the Asano Travel Group. I—"
Ichigo Kurosaki raised his hand. "Sorry, I already have other plans."
Keigo Asano exploded. "What?!"
"I…" Yasutora Sado spoke up. "I'm not going either."
Keigo Asano pressed on. "Reason!"
"I…" Yasutora Sado paused. "I can't."
"That's not a reason at all!"
Tatsuki Arisawa gave a proper explanation. "I still have to compete in the high school interschool tournament."
Muten Natsu noticed Keigo Asano looking at him. "Do I look like the kind of person who wastes energy during breaks?"
Orihime Inoue glanced at Muten Natsu. "I don't really want to go either."
"If Orihime isn't going…" Chizuru Honjō said without hiding her intentions. "Then I'm not going either. I'll stay home with you~"
"I'm going to read." Ryō Kunieda didn't even lift her head. "I don't have time."
"If Ryō-chan isn't going," Michiru Ogawa shook her head, "then I won't go either."
Mahana Natsui smiled. "I'm traveling with my family."
"…" Keigo Asano placed all his remaining hopes on Mizuiro Kojima.
"Ah," Mizuiro Kojima said apologetically, "I'm leaving for Phuket tomorrow."
"You little brat!" Keigo Asano grabbed his collar, tears streaming down his face.
"Hey, hey," Mizuiro Kojima looked completely innocent. "Why are you picking on me specifically?"
"Who are you going with? Those two older sisters you met on that ghost-hunting show last time, right? It has to be them!"
"No… no, you're wrong," Mizuiro Kojima explained. "I'm going with Marie and her nine close friends. Eleven people in total."
"Why would you assemble such a perfect lineup?! Is this some kind of all-star team?!" Jealousy twisted Keigo Asano's face beyond recognition. "Living like a Hollywood star! Unforgivable! Unbearable! Waaahhhh!!!"
No matter how noisy it got, in the end, everyone still had to go their separate ways.
On the way home, Orihime Inoue tilted her head to look at Muten Natsu.
"Muten?"
"Hm?"
"Are you worried about Rukia?"
"…Yeah." Muten Natsu lowered his gaze slightly. "No matter how you look at it, it's been way too long."
"Could it be that things aren't going well with Sode no Shirayuki, so that's why she hasn't come back yet?"
"Maybe." Muten Natsu tugged faintly at the corner of his mouth. "If that's the case, then…"
That would be the best possible outcome.
Before Muten Natsu could finish, a small ball flew toward them, marked with Kisuke Urahara's face and the Kanji for [Ura].
Muten Natsu grabbed Orihime Inoue and pulled her aside. The ball burst with a soft pop as it hit the road, splashing a large amount of red liquid across the pavement.
The sticky liquid wriggled on its own, reshaping itself into a line of characters:
[Please come to Urahara Shop]
"Is that the shop owner's message?!" Orihime Inoue stared at the blood-red words. "It looks just like a dying message left at a murder scene."
The red liquid shifted again, forming new characters:
[P.S. Anyone who sees this and thinks 'this looks like a dying message' has absolutely no sense of humor.]
Orihime Inoue's mood visibly sank.
Muten Natsu rubbed her head gently. "The one with no sense of humor is the person who did this. You go home first. I'll take care of it."
"Muten…"
"I'll be right back."
"Then I'll head home and start making dinner~" Orihime Inoue waved goodbye to Muten Natsu. "Come back quickly, okay?"
"Mm." Muten Natsu turned and headed in the opposite direction, toward Urahara Shop.
"Welcome." Kisuke Urahara had clearly been waiting. "Natsu-san."
Muten Natsu went straight to the point. "What happened to Rukia?"
Kisuke Urahara pressed down on the brim of his fisherman's hat. "First-degree capital offense. Rukia Kuchiki will be imprisoned as a condemned prisoner and executed at the Central Execution Grounds in twenty-five days."
Boom!
Violent Reiatsu burst uncontrollably from Muten Natsu's body. An invisible gale whipped through the shop, snapping Kisuke Urahara's sleeves loudly.
The veins on Muten Natsu's forehead throbbed. "The charges?"
"At first, it was contact with a major fugitive, leading to her arrest and imprisonment." A black cat stepped out from behind Kisuke Urahara, speaking in a slightly hoarse, low male voice. "Since imprisonment itself wasn't a big deal, I didn't inform Urahara."
Imprisonment really wasn't a big deal. Muten Natsu himself had been in and out often enough that it felt like going home.
Kisuke Urahara added, "This is Yoruichi. All of Soul Society's intelligence comes from Yoruichi."
"Later on, she refused to reveal any information about the fugitive and erased all traces," the black cat Yoruichi continued. "Failure to report despite knowing the truth, harboring a fugitive, and displaying an extremely uncooperative attitude. Central 46 ruled that she be sentenced to execution, as a warning to others."
As for which major fugitive it was…
Who else could it be but Muten Natsu?
"When it comes to disappointing people, Central 46 never fails," Muten Natsu said. His raging Reiatsu gradually settled, and he suddenly let out a soft laugh. "Urahara, you have a way to get to Soul Society, right?"
"It'll take some time to prepare," Kisuke Urahara replied, hiding his face behind a folding fan. "What do you plan to do?"
"Nothing much." Muten Natsu smiled gently, revealing teeth white as bone, his pitch-black eyes flooding with a blood-red gleam. "Just… going to visit an old friend."