"Waaah—!"
On the seemingly endless long slope, Kurosaki Yuzu leaned over with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath as she struggled forward.
"This slope is so exhausting..." she complained softly, sweat trickling down her cheeks.
"Really? I don't feel much of anything."
Walking beside her, Kurosaki Karin moved with a light step and steady breath, looking completely at ease.
She had been active since she was little, making her the polar opposite of the homebody Yuzu.
"Keep it up, Yuzu! You can't lose to Karin, Yuzu! Dad is right behind you, supporting you all the way, Yuzu—!"
A booming shout erupted from behind them.
The two girls looked back—Kurosaki Isshin was climbing the slope step by step in a handstand. His flashy shirt hung down, exposing a lean stomach and a thick patch of hair. From any angle, he looked incredibly suspicious.
"Look, Dad can even do this! Even a handstand is no problem!"
"Just ignore him... Yuzu," Kurosaki Karin said, turning back with a deadpan expression.
"If you acknowledge him even once, he'll immediately start getting full of himself..."
"How naive..."
Kurosaki Isshin's eyes suddenly grew sharp, burning with some inexplicable fighting spirit.
"Even if you don't acknowledge me... your Dad will still find a way to get full of himself regardless—!"
As he spoke, just as he was about to speed up his handstand to catch up with his daughters, a disdainful chuckle reached his ears.
He whipped his head around—
Asakura Yoh was climbing the slope in the exact same handstand position.
No, wait... not his whole hands.
He was only using three fingers on each hand.
"You're getting full of yourself over just this level... Uncle Isshin?" A smug curve played on Asakura Yoh's lips, his tone laced with just the right amount of provocation.
"It looks like I've already surpassed you by quite a bit..."
Crescent-shaped flames instantly ignited in Kurosaki Isshin's eyes.
"Ooooh—! I won't lose to a kid!" His face flushed red as he pulled back three fingers on each hand, supporting his weight with only two as he gritted his teeth and accelerated past Asakura Yoh.
"Let me show you the true grit of an adult, Yoh!"
"I'm still far from my limit, Uncle Isshin!" Asakura Yoh followed closely, pulling back another finger.
"One finger!"
"What?! You're pretty good..." Veins bulged on Kurosaki Isshin's forehead.
"In that case, it seems I can't hold back anymore—then I'll just use my head!!"
He actually prepared to pull his hands away and balance his entire body weight on the crown of his head—
"Stop fooling around! You stupid old man—!"
Unable to bear the strange looks from passersby any longer, Kurosaki Karin turned around and delivered a precise kick to her father's stomach.
Kurosaki Isshin crashed to the ground, clutching his stomach and twitching, yet a bizarrely gratified expression surfaced on his face.
"B-Beautiful strike... Karin... D-Dad is so proud..."
Kurosaki Karin couldn't be bothered with him and turned to look at Asakura Yoh.
He had already returned to a normal walking posture, hands in his pockets and strolling leisurely as if the person who was just doing a one-fingered handstand up the hill wasn't him at all.
"Is something wrong, Karin?" Asakura Yoh asked solemnly, his expression the picture of innocence.
Kurosaki Karin was speechless...
Kurosaki Yuzu couldn't help but let out a little snort of laughter.
"Yoh, you should really stop hanging out with that old man so much," Kurosaki Karin sighed.
"If you're influenced by him too much, you'll end up just like him when you're middle-aged."
"Uncle Isshin is pretty fun, though," Asakura Yoh shrugged.
"I'd prefer it if he weren't so 'fun'...!"
"There, there," Kurosaki Yuzu said, pulling a water bottle from her bag.
"Do you want some water, Karin?"
"It's because you're always coddling him, Yuzu, that he gets more and more carried away."
Walking at the very back, Kurosaki Ichigo watched this scene with an utterly exasperated expression.
Sometimes he really felt that habit was a terrifying thing...
"But..." He looked up at the sky. The blazing sun shone brightly, forcing him to squint against the glare.
"It really is hot..."
The sunlight poured down without mercy, making his scalp tingle.
He withdrew his gaze and muttered under his breath,
"Even though they're both June 17th... the difference is massive..."
*'On this day that year, it had been raining... heavily...'*
"Huh...? Is that person waiting for someone...?"
Kurosaki Yuzu's voice broke through Kurosaki Ichigo's memories. He followed his younger sister's gaze toward the top of the slope.
A girl wearing a sun hat, a light-colored dress, and a small backpack stood at the entrance to the cemetery, peering in their direction.
"She's probably here to visit a grave too, right?" Kurosaki Karin replied casually.
"Ah, she's looking this way!"
Kurosaki Ichigo focused his eyes—
In the next second, his jaw nearly hit his collarbone.
It was Kuchiki Rukia.
Right now, she was sporting a bright smile so fake it felt surreal, waving her arm vigorously toward the group with exaggerated motions like she was greeting long-lost relatives.
"She's waving?" Kurosaki Yuzu blinked and turned to her older brother and Asakura Yoh.
"Big brother, Yoh, do you know her?"
Since the girl looked to be around the same age as her two brothers, Yuzu naturally asked them first.
"I don't know her!" Kurosaki Ichigo's voice suddenly spiked in volume, his words coming out as fast as a machine gun.
"I have no idea who that person is! Who is she... Hahaha! What a weirdo, hahaha!"
He was incoherent, likely not even aware of what he was saying. The stiff smile on his face looked worse than a sob.
"Isn't that Kuchiki?" Just as Asakura Yoh started to speak, Kurosaki Ichigo clamped a hand over his mouth, pulling him with such force that he almost toppled over.
"Mmph—!"
Kurosaki Ichigo dragged Asakura Yoh as he sprinted up the slope, throwing back a sloppy explanation to his two sisters as he ran:
"Ah!! I remember now! Isn't she a middle school classmate of Yoh's and mine?! She's changed so much! What a coincidence to run into her here! Ahahaha! I missed her so much, I have to go over with Yoh and chat with her first...!"
"Yuzu, Karin, you guys go with Dad to see Mom first! I'll catch up soon!"
Before his voice even faded, he had already rushed to Kuchiki Rukia's side, grabbing both her and Yoh, and quickly vanished behind the shade of the trees at the corner of the cemetery.
Kurosaki Yuzu stared blankly at the direction where the three had disappeared. After a long moment, she said,
"...Big brother's reaction was really weird."
"Yeah..." Kurosaki Karin nodded with a deadpan face. "Extremely suspicious..."
Kurosaki Isshin climbed up from the ground, brushed the dust off himself, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"To be young again—"
"Shut up, you stupid old man!"