"Wake up, Tsuna. School's over."
Tatsuki's gentle voice roused Tsuna from his nap. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"School's over already?"
He looked around and realized the classroom was almost empty. Only Arisawa Tatsuki and Inoue Orihime remained.
"What kind of training are you doing lately? Why are you always this exhausted?" Tatsuki asked with concern. She already knew Tsuna was undergoing secret training, so she didn't scold him for sleeping through class.
Ever since Tsuna began cooperating with the Visored, he had been extremely busy. After school every day he would patrol Karakura Town and clear out any Hollows, then head straight to the Visored base for training. Most nights he didn't return home until midnight, and sometimes he even stayed up all night.
Because of that, daytime classes had basically become his time to recover his energy.
Fortunately, Sawada Nana had gone on a business trip with Sawada Iemitsu, which allowed Tsuna to train his abilities without restraint.
The three of them walked out of the school gate together. Only then did Tsuna realize that a certain noisy person had been missing for quite a while.
"Oh right—Inoue, where's Ichigo?" Tsuna asked.
Since Kurosaki Ichigo and Orihime were living together now, they should normally go home together. Yet today Orihime was alone.
"Kurosaki-kun ran off right after class," Orihime said worriedly. "He probably had something to do."
"That guy definitely ran off to play hero again," Tatsuki said bluntly. "Orihime, if you don't keep an eye on him, who knows where he's rescuing some beautiful girl right now!"
"Eh?! Th-that…"
Just imagining Ichigo holding some unfamiliar girl in his arms made Orihime's thoughts spiral into chaos.
Tatsuki understood Ichigo's personality very well. Once someone like him obtained power, even his naturally gentle nature would push him toward trying to save everyone he could.
So lately, whenever school ended, Ichigo would slip away to patrol Karakura Town.
As Tsuna's friend, he knew Tsuna had protected Karakura Town for years. Now that he possessed power himself, Ichigo wanted to do the same—hoping to share some of Tsuna's burden.
"With that Fullbring of his, he's seriously going out to hunt Hollows?" Tsuna complained.
"Don't worry," Tatsuki said. "Ishida-kun went with him. With Ishida there, Ichigo can learn a lot."
Tatsuki had planned things carefully. Once she noticed Ichigo's intentions, she asked Ishida Uryū to patrol Karakura Town with him—and protect him if necessary.
Uryū agreed immediately. For him, this was practically routine. In the past he hunted Hollows to compete with Tsuna, but now his reason was the same as Ichigo's: to ease the burden on their constantly exhausted friend.
Yes—Ichigo and Tatsuki had already obtained powers of their own. Their Fullbring abilities were now strong enough for real combat.
Orihime's Fullbring was also nearly complete. She only needed more practice before she could begin actual combat training. That was why Ichigo hadn't brought her along on patrol.
Orihime's Fullbring was exactly the same as in the original story—the power to reject phenomena.
Originally, that ability was born from her refusal to accept her brother's death.
Now Orihime already knew the truth—that her brother had turned himself into a monster just to remain by her side as she grew up. Determined to restore him, she rejected the monster's power and once again awakened the ability to reject all phenomena.
Ichigo's Fullbring, however, was rather strange.
After a period of training, the vague, bow-like shape he produced finally condensed into a black bone bow. With it, Ichigo could gather Reiatsu and fire arrows.
But there was one problem.
His Reiatsu only allowed him to fire three arrows per day.
The strength of his Reiatsu affected the power of the arrows—but not the number.
Tsuna guessed that the bow was the result of multiple factors: Ichigo being saved by Tsuna as a child, his mother being a Quincy, and Ichigo's own latent Quincy power. Even Ichigo himself couldn't explain what his Fullbring ability was called.
As for why he could only fire three arrows, Tsuna suspected Ichigo's inner power was deliberately limiting him.
Ichigo's power wanted to protect him—but didn't want him placing himself in excessive danger.
So it only responded with the ability to fire three arrows per day.
Under normal circumstances, a Hollow encounter involved only a single enemy. Even with poor aim, three arrows would be enough. And if Ichigo hit his target every time, his Reiatsu would easily allow him to destroy a Hollow with a single shot.
In other words, Ichigo's own power was restricting him.
Tsuna even suspected that Ichigo hadn't truly awakened his Fullbring yet. What he was using now was probably just a shell formed by his Quincy power, not the true manifestation of his Fullbring.
That was why Ichigo didn't even know the name of his ability.
Regardless, Ichigo still joined the patrols of Karakura Town with his three arrows per day. Since his ability was archery, fighting alongside Uryū also helped him improve his skills as a ranged fighter.
Tatsuki's Fullbring ability was called "Fighting Side by Side."
It was born from her desire to stand beside Sawada Tsunayoshi in battle.
Her Fullbring had four stages:
Side by Side – Replication – Manifestation – Companionship
Side by Side
Any person who harbors no hostility toward Tatsuki is considered an ally who can fight alongside her. Such individuals can become targets of her Fullbring.
Replication
By touching a target with the wrist guard she wears, Tatsuki can copy a portion of that person's innate abilities.
The type of ability copied is random, and the strength varies as well.
She can replicate only one target per day, and the same person cannot be copied again.
Manifestation
The copied ability can then be manifested within her own body, allowing her to fully use it.
The karate combat outfit she wore was actually the manifestation of her own training talent.
So far, Tatsuki had copied abilities from four people:
Sawada Tsunayoshi
Kurosaki Ichigo
Inoue Orihime
Urahara Kisuke
From the first three, she felt a clear increase in strength.
From Urahara Kisuke, however, she gained only an extremely faint trace of Reiatsu, almost negligible.
Tsuna analyzed that the success rate of Tatsuki's ability was related to the target's trust.
Tsuna, Ichigo, and Orihime trusted Tatsuki completely, so she had a high chance of obtaining more complete abilities from them.
But Urahara Kisuke… with his cautious personality, perhaps no one in the world—except Yoruichi—could make him lower his guard completely.
Based on that theory, Tsuna told Tatsuki to temporarily stop using Replication until she became more familiar with people like Yoruichi before trying again.
From Tsuna, Tatsuki gained his Reishi control ability.
She had been slightly disappointed at first—she had hoped to replicate those colorful Dying Will Flames instead. But after Tsuna explained things to her, she felt better.
In truth, Tsuna's Reishi control was extremely strong. When he trained as a Quincy, he could master techniques immediately.
However, for some unknown reason, he was never able to create a proper Reishi Spirit Bow suitable for combat, which eventually led him down the path of becoming a Shinigami.
Excellent Reishi control was also extremely helpful for learning Kidō. Tsuna had learned several practical Bakudō, though he had no time to study Hadō.
With her improved Reishi control, Tatsuki could now infuse Reiatsu into her strikes, greatly increasing the power of her punches and kicks.
From Ichigo, however, she gained something she couldn't clearly describe.
She simply felt that her body had become more receptive to different kinds of powers—allowing her to master new abilities more quickly.
Finally, from Orihime, Tatsuki gained the Power of Rejection.
If she replicated an ability that was useless or had negative side effects, she could reject it.
The final stage was Companionship.
The target of Companionship was fixed:
Sawada Tsunayoshi.
It could never be changed.
Once Tatsuki's power reached the same level as Tsuna's, she would no longer be able to strengthen herself by copying other people.
Tsuna strolled casually along the street.
When they passed a convenience store, he suddenly stopped.
"Tatsuki, Inoue—you two head back first. I'm going to buy some bento, then go to training," Tsuna said.
He walked toward the convenience store.
Before training at the Visored base, he also had to bring food for that group. None of them liked cooking.
Fortunately, they lived in a country full of ready-made meals. As long as you had money, food wasn't a problem. Any convenience store could sell decent bento.
"Wait, Tsuna," Tatsuki asked. "Have you been eating convenience store meals lately?"
"Yeah," Tsuna scratched his head awkwardly. "I get home too late to cook."
Tatsuki remembered the Tsuna who once used Fullbring to cook effortlessly.
But with his current schedule, he probably didn't even have the strength to cook after returning home.
She quietly made a decision.
"Well… if you don't mind, I could make you bento," Tatsuki said, her face turning red. Avoiding his gaze, she quickly added, "I mean, my ability works better if I get to know more people. I could bring meals for everyone."
With her current Fullbring, controlling several pieces of kitchenware to cook for seven or eight people wasn't difficult.
"Sure, that'd be great. Thanks," Tsuna said cheerfully.
He pulled out a set of keys and handed them to her.
"This is my house key. My monthly living expenses are in the bedside drawer. You can use it to buy ingredients."
"K–Key…?" Tatsuki's already flushed face turned bright red.
What did this mean? He was even giving her his house key?
"You can't help me and still have to pay for the ingredients yourself, right?" Tsuna said, placing the keys in her hand. "I trust you. Please."
"If the key's with me… how will you get home?" Tatsuki blurted out before she could stop herself.
She immediately regretted it and hurriedly corrected herself.
"O–Or I could wait and go back with you?"
"Uh… my schedule isn't very predictable. Sometimes I get back really late," Tsuna replied.
In reality, the door couldn't stop him anyway. Whether through Shinigami Transformation or Fullbring, getting inside was easy.
"Then why don't you just move into Sawada-kun's house?" Orihime suddenly chimed in from the side, clearly enjoying the scene. "He lives alone now anyway!"
"Ah—?!"
Tatsuki's brain completely shut down. She didn't know what to say anymore—yet deep down, she felt a tiny bit excited.
"That's fine with me," Tsuna said casually. "As long as you don't mind. I'll clean up a room for you when I get home."
"Of course I don't mind!" Tatsuki waved her hands frantically, her mind completely out of control.
In the end, she could only push Tsuna away.
"O-Okay! Hurry up and go train! Send me the address of your base—I'll bring dinner later!"
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