"I... think I'm starting to understand Yoruichi-san's choice more and more." Rukia Kuchiki clasped her hands behind her back and looked at the setting sun, watching the fiery clouds on the horizon shift lazily from one shape to another. "The World of the Living really is very different from the Soul Society."
Of course, there were many differences between the World of the Living and the Soul Society.
But what Rukia Kuchiki meant was the difference in how it felt.
Back when she had first come to the World of the Living, Rukia Kuchiki had already felt a kind of ease she never felt in the Soul Society.
At the time, she had mostly attributed that feeling to reuniting with Muten Natsu.
But now, after everything that had happened in Seireitei and returning to the World of the Living once again, seeing her classmates still as noisy as ever and the scenery still almost unchanged, Rukia Kuchiki felt something closer to detachment.
It was like coming home after a full day of work and throwing yourself onto the bed.
There was still unfinished work today, and there would be new work waiting tomorrow, but at this moment, she could simply sink into the softness of the blankets and let herself enjoy it, even if only for a little while.
"Most people here don't know much anyway, so there's less to worry about." Muten Natsu sat on the grass and casually leaned back. "If we'd started out in the World of the Living, maybe we could be like them now, just enjoying the ordinary days of youth."
"I don't think so." Rukia Kuchiki was a little envious of how relaxed Muten Natsu looked, but after glancing at the cute little dress she was wearing, she hesitated and chose not to lie down beside him. "Even if we'd started in the World of the Living, we'd still have the troubles of the World of the Living. And if we ever got the chance to learn about everything in the Soul Society, we'd probably still yearn for it and want a Zanpakutō of our own."
Muten Natsu thought about it and found that she was probably right. "And then, just like now, we'd be sitting by a river in the Soul Society, thinking it would've been better if we'd started there instead."
"So either way, we wouldn't be satisfied." Rukia Kuchiki came up with a clever solution. She lifted Muten Natsu's legs a little, sat on his feet, and used his calves as a backrest. "No matter what, we're bound to have regrets, so... it's better to just do what we like."
Leaning against Muten Natsu, her slender figure was brushed with a golden sheen by the evening sun, glowing brilliantly.
Muten Natsu murmured, "There are some things I won't regret."
Rukia Kuchiki didn't catch it. "Hm?"
"My feet are numb."
"I just sat down!" Rukia Kuchiki's face turned bright red. "How could it happen that fast... mm! Stop moving!"
Like she'd been burned, she sprang up at once and kicked his foot in embarrassed irritation.
…
"Orihime?" Tatsuki Arisawa's eyes settled on Orihime Inoue's face. "Your hair... it's parted differently from before."
Orihime Inoue's bangs used to be parted in the middle, but now they were swept to one side.
The change was small, but Tatsuki Arisawa noticed it anyway.
"Huh?" Orihime Inoue glanced upward with her pretty eyes. "Yeah. I just felt like changing things up a little."
Tatsuki Arisawa looked away. "Changing things up..."
"Oh, come on, Tatsuki-chan, what's with that look?"
"Orihime..." Tatsuki Arisawa forced a slight smile, but the corners of her brows still drooped faintly. "Just don't... go too far..."
"You... what are you talking about, Tatsuki-chan?" Orihime Inoue smiled and shifted her gaze aside. "Ah, a red dragonfly! Tatsuki-chan, do you remember back when we were in our second year of middle school?"
Following Orihime Inoue's gaze, Tatsuki Arisawa saw the vividly colored dragonfly lazily vibrating its transparent wings. "That autumn, you spotted a red dragonfly here and got so excited you ran all over the place chasing it. I looked for you forever. In the end, it was only with Muten's help that I found you eating sushi in Yokohama. I still have no idea where you got the nerve to run that far..."
Tatsuki Arisawa let out a quiet sigh. That time had really scared her badly.
"Because I know Tatsuki-chan will come looking for me." Orihime Inoue swiveled slightly and answered Tatsuki Arisawa earnestly, "Since I know you'll search for me for a very, very long time, I won't be afraid no matter where I go."
"Orihime…"
"If one day I go to a place Tatsuki-chan can't reach, please don't worry." Orihime Inoue beamed. "Wait for me here. I'll definitely come back, back to you."
"I know." The unease weighing on her heart seemed to be carried away by the breeze. Tatsuki Arisawa pointed at the red dragonfly and encouraged, "Aren't you going to chase it?"
"The thing Nii-san is best at is making a red dragonfly land on his fingertip. As long as he holds his finger to the sky, the red dragonfly will land. That's my favorite thing—it's just like magic." Orihime Inoue held up her finger, her eyes following the dragonfly, and noticed Muten Natsu and Rukia Kuchiki playing nearby. "I wanted to do it too, but I just couldn't, which is why I chased it so far that day…"
She murmured softly, "I guess… some things just can't be done, like catching a red dragonfly. So isn't it nice to just watch quietly like this?"
Tatsuki Arisawa parted her lips, vaguely understanding why Orihime Inoue wanted a change of mood, yet she didn't know how to comfort her.
Averting her gaze from Muten Natsu and Rukia Kuchiki, Tatsuki Arisawa searched for the beautiful red dragonfly, only to realize it had, at some point, landed on Orihime Inoue's delicate fingertip.
"Orihime…" she whispered, lowering her voice to avoid startling the dragonfly. "Your finger."
"Huh?" Orihime Inoue let out a small gasp, quickly stifling it. She looked at the dragonfly perched on her fingertip in delight, and only then did she remember…
The Nii-san who had done this before had been watching her at the time.
As if sensing Orihime Inoue's gaze, the red dragonfly fluttered its transparent wings and rose into the sky.
"Orihime, Tatsuki!" Rukia Kuchiki tugged Muten Natsu closer, her face flushed with excitement. "I just thought of a great idea!"
"A great idea?" Orihime Inoue composed herself and asked, curious, "What kind of idea?"
Rukia Kuchiki gave her a mysterious smile. "Do you want to see the fireworks from a different angle?"
Tatsuki Arisawa froze. "A different angle?"
"I just thought of this method myself." Muten Natsu drew his Zanpakutō. "Roam—Bokukō."
The Zanpakutō shifted its shape, and viscous spiritual ink seeped from the blood grooves along its broad blade. As Muten Natsu infused it with his Reiatsu, the ink pooled on the ground into a pitch-black puddle.
Tatsuki Arisawa had never seen anything like it before. "What is this…?"
"Step on it," Muten Natsu said, thrusting Bokukō into the spiritual ink with a backhand motion. "We're taking off."