23 Chapter 23 - Railgun's Reward

Running through the basics of Hado that Tessai had explained to him earlier, Jin ambled back toward the Shinkansen in a contemplative state while absentmindedly spinning a small bottle full of strange pill capsules in his hand. Despite being a man of few words, Tessai's short and brief explanations somehow struck directly at key points. Thanks to that, Jin picked up everything quickly since it was quite similar to Fairy Tail's magic system aside from the different supernatural power source.

On a whim, he checked for pedestrians, then pointed his index finger toward a can sitting on the sidewalk. He channeled a small amount of energy to his fingertip and mumbled, "Hado Number One: Sho."

White light flashed from his finger, and a small amount of Reiryoku slammed against the can's aluminum exterior with a sharp kinetic force. The can crumpled and flew several meters past the recycling bin he was aiming for.

With a sigh, he walked over, picked up the can, and tossed it into the bin by hand. When he turned around again, he saw a young girl with straight shoulder-length black hair staring at him with both her large dark eyes and small mouth agape. Like other times with characters Jin knew, her facial features gave him a sense of familiarity. Noticing she was standing in front of an alleyway, Jin wondered if she came out from there after he had already checked for bystanders.

'Guess I should learn how to discern Reiatsu in my surroundings to avoid a similar mishap in the future… but she looks a bit like Ichigo. Is this his sister? Did she leave school early or something? It's not even 2pm yet.'

"Do you need something?" Jin calmly asked, pretending he didn't just practice Kido in front of her.

The girl blinked a few times as though waking from a dream. Then, she shook her head and said, "It's nothing."

When the girl tried to speed-walk away from the scene, Jin stopped her by asking, "Is your surname Kurosaki?"

"Eh? Uh, have we… met before?" The girl hesitantly asked in return.

"I recently met a guy named Ichigo. Just thought you looked like him, so figured I'd ask. If you're not related, then forget I said anything."

The girl furrowed her brows in thought as though not sure what to say in response.

'Yeah, it's probably Karin. Doubt she would've reacted like that otherwise.'

"Well, whatever. See you around, and stay safe out there, kid. Streets aren't as safe as they used to be," Jin said, waving farewell. He turned around and resumed his journey toward the Shinkansen.

Behind him, Karin stared at his back with a baffled expression. Once Jin turned a corner, she shook her head and grumbled, "What a weird person."

During the remainder of his trip home, Jin wondered if he should have bothered speaking more with the girl since he didn't know if she and Chad had already faced their struggle against a hollow or not. In the end, though, he decided there wasn't much point in involving himself.

'At best, I'll just make sure they don't die because of things that have changed from what I know. Don't got time to babysit them too much aside from that for now.'

With that issue out of mind, he glanced at his phone. Since he still had a few hours remaining before the start of the next tutorial mission, he got his mother to sign his permission form and brought it back to his school. While dropping it off, he ran into both Hiratsuka and Natsuki again and briefly exchanged pleasantries with both of them. He also ran into Fuutarou, but only exchanged greetings with him since the guy looked busy going through some homework with a girl who had long and slightly reddish hair.

During his second trip back home, he opened the group chat to see if he had missed any messages since seeking out the Urahara Shop. He quickly skimmed a few new messages and raised a brow.

Railgun: [You all used those tickets, right?]

Origami Master: [Yes.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [Jin and I both used ours already.]

Railgun: [What did you guys get? The thing I got is weird.]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [We received nothing of importance.]

Origami Master: [I received a stack papers with drawings on them. They don't seem to do anything.]

Directionless First-Mate: [I used it.]

Railgun: [Oh. Sounds boring. Oi, @Jin, where are you? I want to know if you know anything about this thing I got.]

Directionless First-Mate: [I got 50 of those RP things.]

Railgun: [That's also boring.]

"Last one was sent not too long ago, eh?" Jin mumbled while typing out a reply.

Jin: [@Railgun, you had a question?]

Railgun: [You finally showed up, old man. Do you know what a Power Fist is?]

Jin raised a brow at the girl's question. Rubbing his chin, he thought about every fictional universe hiding in the deep recesses of his mind. A few seconds later, he frowned and typed out an answer of sorts.

Jin: [There are a few universes I know of that have something with a similar title. What's it look like?]

Railgun: [It's a bit pixelated as an icon in my inventory screen, but it looks like a mostly blue mechanical arm with a skull thing on the back of the hand area.]

Sucking in a sharp breath of air, Jin pinched the bridge of his nose before typing again.

Jin: [Just based on that description, I'm not overly familiar with the universe it comes from, but I do know about it. It'll likely be quite dangerous for you to use, but I might be able to help you with it when I go there if you want. I've used something similar before, albeit with weaker tech.]

Railgun: [Uh, sure, I guess, but how dangerous are we talking?]

Jin: [Easily destroy buildings type of dangerous, I think.]

Railgun: [...]

Origami Master: [...]

Wizard of Regret and Redemption: [...]

Directionless First-Mate: [What do those dots mean?]

Jin: [I guess they are speechless. I'm honestly surprised you received something like that considering what everyone else got, Railgun.]

Railgun: [I swear one of us is going to get a nuke or something one day. I'm going to riot if that happens.]

Jin: [Please don't raise a flag like that…]

Railgun: [Ah, well… forget I said anything.]

Jin: [Sigh. Knock on wood. Anyway, I'll be teleporting over there within the hour, so prepare yourself.]

Railgun: [I'm ready. My roommate will be busy, so I don't think she'll cause trouble… maybe.]

Jin: [@Railgun… Please stop. You're raising more flags than the Spanish Inquisition.]

Railgun: [...Can I electrocute you once after you get here?]

Tearing his eyes away from his phone, Jin sighed and shook his head. He hoped this girl wouldn't cause too much trouble during his visit to her world.

'Let's also hope most of the crazy strong people there don't pay much attention to me. If Zoro was closer to their next destination, I would have wanted to go there first. Whatever. Hope this goes well.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to give a big thanks to the few of you who were kind enough to donate. I greatly appreciate you.