Kurosaki Ichigo stood with his back to her, his voice so low it sounded as if it were being squeezed from the depths of his throat.
He didn't turn around, so Rukia couldn't see the expression on his face.
"My Soul Reaper duties... can I take tomorrow off?"
"Huh?"
Kuchiki Rukia's playful expression froze.
She detected an unusual sense of loneliness in Kurosaki Ichigo's tone, though she didn't know why.
"What are you talking about? Of course not!"
Whenever a Hollow appears on the Soul Pager, a Soul Reaper must respond immediately, regardless of the circumstances. Otherwise, innocent souls or humans might suffer.
A Soul Reaper stationed in the World of the Living has no such thing as a day off.
"What's wrong with you, Ichigo?" she asked, frowning.
"You've been acting strange ever since we got back..."
Asakura Yoh raised a hand, stopping Kuchiki Rukia from continuing.
Under her puzzled gaze, he spoke slowly.
"Tomorrow isn't some family picnic, Kuchiki."
"Eh?"
"Tomorrow is the anniversary of their deaths."
"The anniversary of... their deaths?"
"It's the day my mom... and Yoh's parents died."
Kurosaki Ichigo spoke again after a long silence, but the weight of his words was something an outsider could never truly feel.
"No... that's not right," he muttered as if talking to himself. "Strictly speaking, it wasn't just the day they 'died'..."
He paused.
"It would be more accurate to say it's the day they were murdered."
Kurosaki Ichigo finally turned around and looked at Kuchiki Rukia.
Meanwhile, Asakura Yoh leaned against the wall, silently gazing at the night sky outside, the moonlight outlining his quiet profile.
...
"Let me think... when did it start..."
In Inoue Orihime's apartment, Arisawa Tatsuki and Inoue Orihime sat opposite each other at a low table.
Inside the home he was now familiar with again, Inoue Sora sat cross-legged by his own memorial tablet, flipping through an album filled with memories of him and Orihime, a gentle smile on his face.
"They both changed at the same time..." Tatsuki said.
Inoue Orihime listened quietly.
"I first met Ichigo when I was four, at the dojo I used to go to."
Arisawa Tatsuki rested her chin on her hand, her gaze drifting out the window as if looking back through time.
"My first impression was definitely his ridiculously bright hair. And then there was his beautiful mother holding his hand—she was a truly stunning person, I still remember her clearly."
The corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
"And then there was Ichigo's goofy smile back then. He was wobbly when he walked, looking like he might fall at any moment. He seemed totally useless..."
"And he really was!" Tatsuki slapped her fist, a hint of laughter in her voice.
"He was incredibly weak and would cry the moment he lost. Let me tell you, I was the first one to take him down, and it took less than ten seconds!"
It seemed this memory brought her a great deal of joy.
"But no matter how hard he cried, the second he saw his mom, his tears would turn into a smile. I hated that about him back then." Arisawa Tatsuki pursed her lips.
"If a boy loses, he should just accept it. Why act tough? And he only put on that act in front of his mom—I really couldn't stand that part of him..."
Inoue Orihime listened, but she didn't smile along.
She could hear that while Tatsuki spoke lightly, something deep in her tone was trembling.
"Then, a year later—that guy Yoh showed up!" Tatsuki changed the subject, even shifting her posture.
"Then the person I hated most in the dojo immediately switched from Ichigo to him!"
She spoke through gritted teeth; it was clearly the truth.
"You know that lazy, spacing-out expression he usually has? He's been like that since the first time I met him!" Tatsuki gestured with her hands.
"And he always had those headphones around his neck—even back then! Can you imagine? Who wears those in a dojo? And while wearing a gi, too! Unbelievable!"
"So I challenged him directly, wanting to teach him a lesson—but as a result..."
Arisawa Tatsuki looked frustrated.
Thinking about it now still made her feel a bit embarrassed; it was one of the stains on her fifteen years of life.
"I lost... or rather, it was a total defeat..." Her voice trailed off.
"The time it took for him to beat me for the first time was even shorter than the time it took me to beat Ichigo..."
"I was so frustrated back then that I actually cried in the dojo for the first time. Even though I hated it when others cried, I just couldn't help it..."
She took a deep breath.
"I refused to give up and kept challenging him over and over, but I never won once. Don't let his look fool you; he's actually incredibly competitive and holds a serious grudge..."
"One time, I called him a 'headphone freak,' so he made a bet with me before our match. He said if I lost, I had to wear his headphones all day and couldn't take them off—then he stuck a note on my back that said, 'The Headphone Freak, Arisawa Tatsuki, is here!'"
Arisawa Tatsuki wasn't just gritting her teeth anymore; her fingers were twitching, making a series of sharp cracking sounds.
Inoue Orihime couldn't help but burst into laughter, quickly covering her mouth.
"Yoh's mother was the complete opposite of Ichigo's mother's gentleness," Tatsuki continued, her expression gradually softening.
"She was beautiful too, but her personality was very eccentric and short-tempered. Nobody could control Yoh back then, except for his mother; he was terrified of her."
"By the way, despite that, I really liked Yoh's mom. Whenever I complained to her about him, Yoh would have to hold his sore backside the next day. Haha!"
"But those two mothers, polar opposites as they were, somehow became best friends. Consequently, Yoh's father and Ichigo's father got closer, too."
"And of course, it was the same for Yoh and Ichigo..."
She paused.
"Back then, both their families looked so happy... I actually felt a bit jealous in secret, but you must never tell them that..."
Inoue Orihime nodded.
Gradually, the smile faded from Arisawa Tatsuki's face, replaced by a somber look of heartache.
"Then... in the year we turned nine..."
Her voice lowered.
"Ichigo's mother and Yoh's parents—they all passed away together."
Inoue Orihime's eyes slowly widened. An endless sorrow seeped into her heart through Tatsuki's words.
"From that day on..."
Arisawa Tatsuki lowered her head, her hands clutching the fabric of her pants at her knees.
"Ichigo stopped smiling."
She paused for a long time.
"From that day on..."
"Yoh would always go missing."
The room became so quiet that only the sound of breathing remained.
Inoue Sora closed the photo album in his hands and gazed quietly at his sister and her friend, whose eyes had turned red.
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