19 [The Substitute Shinigami Arc] Part 19: Enemy Unseen

It was still late. Ichigo had returned home while I decided to take a walk.

Now that I was finally able to learn to feel the spiritual energy of others, I wanted to take time to focus on my own energy. Rukia was accompanying me but was more focused on the horror manga from before, which according to her, was helping to understand modern vocabulary.

Yato: "You won't learn much from reading this, Rukia." - I sighed

Rukia: "How do you expect me to learn then?"

???: "Can she start with a dictionary maybe?"

That voice again. I looked at Rukia but she was waiting for an answer from me. Just like before with Tatsuki, she doesn't seem to have heard.

???: "But of course she didn't hear me…I don't want her to hear my magnificent voice."

When I realized it, everything around me was in black and white, including Rukia herself, who was frozen in the same position looking at me.

Yato: "Hey! What's going on?"

???: "Blame yourself for that…you wanted to understand your spiritual energy so badly that now I feel like talking."

Several red threads began to move in front of me. All these strands blended together and began to take shape. It was the red cat…my fullbring.

Cat: "Hello!" - He said lifting one of his paws as if waving.

Yato: "Hello…so can you talk? Why didn't you say anything before?"

Cat: "I wasn't in the mood. And treat me with more respect… for starters you can call me "Boss" - he replied posing.

Yato: "You're my fullbring… shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Cat: "Hahahaaaa…no, you'll have to deal with it. If you don't control anything, I make the rules. Lucky for you, I'm feeling pretty generous today, so I'll do you the honor of choosing a name for me. ! Ehehehe"

Yato: "......Wait, what? Something wrong isn't right... If you act independently I figured you already had your own name. Why should I give you one?

Cat: "You're right about that. But my name is long and you addressing me as "Boss Red Threads of Fate" would probably put me to sleep because it would take so long. So I'm allowing you to give me a name ehehehe."

Yato: "...Chunchunmaru?"

Cat: "Never!!!"

The feline screamed very annoyed and making an ugly face trying to intimidate me, but as his voice was very childish… the situation just seemed cute even though he didn't intend to.

Yato: "Chunchunmaru is also a name…" - I mocked

Cat: "Grrrr…Let's make a deal…you pick a decent name for me and whatever I can show you about your powers, I will."

Yato: "Now that's what I'm talking about." I laughed and stopped to think of a name.

Yato: "Um…how about Cheshire?"

Cat: "Oh, the cat in Alice's story? Hmm...you do have a certain Alice face. An idiot tumbling down the rabbit hole...the difference is you never made it to wonderland...until now." - despite having a cute voice… the way he suddenly became serious was a little uncomfortable.

Everything started to darken. I couldn't see anything but the cat. Gradually, large beams of light were forming above me. The floor seemed to mirror what was above.

Cheshire: "Welcome. This is our little private world. hihihihi."

Yato: "Would that be my inner world? But I'm not even a shinigami... And what are the lights?"

Cheshire: "It's not exactly your inner world and those aren't lights over there… and I wouldn't be looking at them for long if I were you…"

As soon as the cat had spoken, I started to feel a tremendous headache from looking at those lights.

Cheshire: "Those lights are countless threads. Countless destinies, countless possibilities. Something that with your current spiritual energy, is not within your reach."

Yato: "And yet you thought it was a great idea to make a lot of changes in this world?" - I said a little annoyed.

Chishire: "The changes I made were light things. Nothing to put you in danger, not to mention that these changes came unconsciously from your inner desires. You should be thanking me, you stinky otaku!! Hahaha!"

Yato: 'Annoying little creature..'

Cheshire: "You dare call Boss Cheshire an annoying little creature?" - He spoke in a superior manner.

Yato: "I didn't say anything, I just thought" - I mocked again.

Cheshire: "If I hear your thoughts then it's all the same! You know what, you can go now! Good luck explaining to Rukia that Ichigo is going to be attacked and she's not there to turn him into a shinigami!

And almost at the same time, that whole scenario fell apart. I was back in town and Rukia was still standing there looking at me.

Rukia: "Say something." She said a little annoyed.

Yato: "Huh?"

# Time-skip #

It was nightfall and I was at home watching TV while Rukia was checking something on her cell phone. I knew that at any moment Orihime's brother would attack Ichigo and to make matters worse… Rukia wasn't living in Ichigo's closet anymore, which means that until she gets there… something bad could happen. I'll have to improvise...

Yato: "Rukia?" - I caught her attention as I stared at the door.

Rukia: "What is it?"

Yato: "A Hollow will appear…" - I said that out of nowhere and ran to the door and left the house without waiting for an answer from Rukia.

Rukia: "Hey! Wait!"

I stopped in front of Kurosaki clinic and stared at Ichigo's bedroom window.

Rukia: "What's your problem, you fool!? You can't run like that just because you think there's a Hollow around! If there was one I would-."

Before Rukia could finish what she was going to say, her cell phone started to ring.

Rukia: "How…?"

Yato: "We have to find a way to get up in that room. What do you suggest? It's not like we can jump up there." I spoke ironically.

I even jumped up to show how useless the idea was, but when I realized it I was pretty high. My heart skipped a beat when I looked down and saw that I was well off the ground and a trail of green light coming out of my feet.

Yato: "....eh?"