Not So Numb
Despite the lingering unease from her inability to convince Uryu to give up his grudge, Chiaki felt confident in being able to handle the situation, and so she waited patiently for the eruption of chaos from the hollows. Still… If things went as expected, it was pretty likely that things would proceed as they had in canon, with an overwhelming amount of hollows flooding the entire town.
"And there's no telling what sort of weird shit might happen now…"
Her short discussion with Urahara had taught her two things: That there were unseen factors at play that she didn't know about, and that her presence in the world could radically shift the balance. It was unlikely that she would encounter a situation like what had happened with the earthbound hollow's inflated power, but it was possible that some hollows might have some scraps of extra power now, and that could quickly result in someone dying if she wasn't careful.
What really frustrated her was the fact that there was absolutely nothing she could do in the meantime. Sitting here, with no way to work towards a solution or any opportunity to cull hollows before they came, made Chiaki incredibly restless, and her frustration caused her face to contort into a nasty frown.
"Oh, hi Chiaki! You seem a little worked up today, are the finals getting to you?"
Chiaki's eyes widened in surprise as a familiar voice took her out of her thoughts, and turning to see who it was: She couldn't help but smile at seeing Orihime's bright grin waving at her from the corner where she had been standing, and walked up to her, hand raised for a high five, which Orihime met with an enthusiastic hand of her own.
"Nah, I'm just a bit bored now that school is done. It's kind of wild to think about it, but school really is enjoyable in its own way. At least, it doesn't suck more than chores or part-time jobs, and I get to at least see cool people."
Orihime nodded, a thoughtful expression as she hummed to herself and wrung out her hand, probably due to having hit Chiaki's hand a little too hard. Chiaki felt a twinge of guilt, but before she could apologize, Orihime's face suddenly lit up in excitement.
"I know what you can do then! I was gonna head over to meet with Tatsuki so we could look at the placements together, but you could definitely come along! After that, we could go get donuts or something! Oooooo, or maybe we could go over to my house and talk more! It's been a while since we got to"
Chiaki's worries began to bubble even more, recalling the circumstances of the day, but despite that, she suppressed her desire to make a face and forced the most convincing smile she could.
"Yeah, sure, I would… totally love that."
"Really? That's great! Thanks a million!"
Orihime clasped her hands together in delight, before grabbing Chiaki's arm and starting to run towards the school; Chiaki knew better than to fight her on this, and so, a little reluctantly, followed her to the school.
It only took her a couple of minutes to get to the gates, since they were already close by, and Orihine walked on in without a second thought, completely unaware of the dark aura of foreboding that permeated the entire building. Chiaki knew better: Assuming things remained more or less the same, this would be when that perverted hollow showed up, and there was no guarantee he would be as weak as he had been in the source material. Chiaki had even considered trying to dissuade Orihime from showing up. However, that was unlikely to work, and besides, that would mean she would have to go save Tatsuki alone and leave Orihime to fend for herself, so that ruled out that. Sticking together was probably for the best.
"Hey you two! Where you been? Final score just came out and you're already slacking?"
Tatsuki's voice rang out from across the hallways, breaking Chiaki from her thoughts. Chiaki chuckled a bit as Orihime ran up and gave Tatsuki a greeting hug, as she returned the greeting with a wave as she walked up.
"Sorry, we just lost a little bit of time talking on the way here. I'm surprised everyone is gone already though! Were the results that disappointing?"
Tatsuki snorted.
"Hardly, the guys are just a little impatient. Your brother already ran off to who knows where. I guess I can't blame him though; You completely missed your big moment, genius!"
Tatsuki jabbed a thumb toward the sheet that held all the final exam rankings. Sure enough, there in the number one spot (and right in front of Uryu), was her own name. Chiaki gave an embarrassed look, rubbing her head sheepishly.
"What can I say, I studied a lot right before…"
["I hope you're grateful for that assist"]
[Not right now Ayane!]
"Well, nice to see you dethroned Uryu from the top spot. That cold attitude was starting to get on my nerves. Maybe this'll teach him a lesson?"
"Eh, I doubt it. I think he's just got some issues. I'm glad to see Orihime did great as always though!"
Orihime beamed and gave two thumbs up, causing Tatsuki to laugh, before giving Chiaki a playful punch on the shoulder.
"I fully expect you two to tutor me now though especially if you're not going to the dojo anymore. Would be nice to hang out a bit more, you know?
"Aw, don't be like that! You know I'm busy with things already…"
"Uhuh, like that Don Kannonji show deal you did, right?"
Tatsuki suddenly gave her a harsh glare, startling Chiaki a little. Her gaze seemed accusatory, and Chiaki felt a twinge of guilt go through her about continuing to mislead her. Still, she could only raise her hands in protest, even if she couldn't quite meet Tatsuki's gaze.
"Hey, that was a one-time thing! I just meant that all that studying takes a bit, I do still have to memorize things you know! Besides, I do still have a lot of games on my backlog too, and I do want to get through them eventually."
"…I'll take your word for it then."
Tatsuki seemed to accept that explanation, though she grew a little quiet afterward, her expression hard to read. Orihime though, seemed to be entirely unfazed, and instead, her eyes grew wide at the mention of video games.
"You have that many video games? That's incredible Chiaki! You'll have to show me sometime. Maybe we could actually head over to your house later today so we can see how they work. I've never played on a home console before!"
"Heh. Alright then, it's a deal. I'll see what I can pull up for you, I don't want it to be too hard if it's your first game."
Outwardly, Chiaki seemed to be in a pretty good mood, and, to be fair, she totally was, though not just because of the conversation: Chiaki noted that they had already been talking for quite a while, past the point she had expected their hollow enemy to appear. It might be that he wasn't going to show up at all, which was good news for Chiaki. However, it would probably be a good idea to go and check to see what had happened with Uryu and Ichigo, and for her to take out some hollows on the way.
"Let's meet back at my house in an hour then. I have to check on Ichigo, but I'll meet back up with you two as soon as I do that. Maybe I'll bring some lunch too, anything specific you want?"
Chiaki was then struck head-on by a black blur, driving her straight through the school wall. Landing hard on the ground outside, Chiaki saw the skull mask of a hollow inches away from her face, it's rotten breath choking the life from her as the smell of death burned her lungs. Chiaki moved on instinct, striking its skull with a brutal headbutt before tossing the beast aside with superhuman strength, its body dissipating on impact.
[Guess it ended up being a different hollow drawn by Uryu's bait… Right, that's fine, this is much less of an issue for me to deal with than Numb Chandelier.]
"Chiaki! What was that thing?"
Tatsuki and Orihime would come running out, the arguments of the last few moments entirely forgotten under the threat of immediate danger, and Chiaki would give an uncertain thumbs up to try and reassure them a little
"I'm alright, I'm alright. I have no idea what happened though… Should we report it to the police or something?"
"Don't play dumb with me!"
Tatsuki suddenly grabbed Chiaki by the collar, shocking the other two. Tatsuki almost seemed to shake with rage, and Orihime ran up to try and snap her out of it, getting between her friends and trying to shield Chiaki.
"Tatsuki, she said she doesn't know! Leave her alone!"
"Yeah, calm down Tatsuki! Please, we shouldn't be fighting right now!"
Chiaki didn't want to hurt Tatsuki, but it seemed even Orihime's plea fell on deaf ears. Instead, Tatsuki only grew more frustrated, her glare never wavering as she stared down Chiaki with a look of disappointment and fury.
"Orihime, I know you want to be nice, but you know she's been hiding stuff! That stuff we've been seeing for the last couple of weeks, that damage to your house, she's known about all of it. All I want is a clear explanation! I don't want you or her to be in danger anymore!"
Orihime quickly became quiet, and Chiaki could see the uncertainty and fear on her face. After a moment, Chiaki sighed and raised her hands in defeat.
"Ok, ok, I admit it. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for things to reach this point with you two, but I promise I'll tell you everything later. Now is not a good time, you have to let me go and-"
"Ooooooooo… 3 pretty girls here? It must be my lucky day, I only sensed the really big one! That's really just too rich."
Hearing the evil croaking, Chiaki looked up to find the tentacled beast she'd been worrying about had arrived. Not wasting a moment, Chiaki jumped towards the hollow with the full force of her reiatsu behind her, hoping to strike an immediate death blow, only to be met with a swift strike to the face from a blind spot, knocking her back to the ground and leaving her groaning
"You're a feisty one! I knew it was a good idea to prepare some friends before I got here. You'll make a good meal, and I can use the bodies of your friends to make garnish. Mmm, the possibilities…"
As the hollow began to grin with the absolute delight it felt in scoring such a "jackpot", Chiaki saw the friends in question begin to make their way into the light. The students who had been puppeteered by the controlling powers of Numb Chandelier were still there, but now, as a vanguard, were numerous hollows that eyed the group with blank stares, waking towards them with the jerkish motions of flesh contorted against its will. Seeing the crowd of hollows, Chiaki felt a spike of fear go through her heart, and she heard the sadistic beast laugh with glee.
"You should just give up and let me kill you. I promise if you do, I'll only torture your corpses!"