[The Substitute Shinigami Arc] Part 16: The Soul Reaper's Offer

I thought becoming an isekai character would be a lot more exciting but so far all I do is spend half my school time in the infirmary.

The nurse did some tests but apparently the results always indicated that I had nothing and although she thought it was strange, she just asked me to rest for a while.

Yato: 'I can't blame her for finding it weird. What is probably happening is that depending on what my Fullbring changes, it ends up using a lot of spiritual energy and as I have no control over it, this drastic drop in spiritual energy ends up affecting my body.'

I lay in the infirmary bed for a long time and ended up missing the last period of class. I needed to get my things but when I looked to the door I saw Rukia standing there.

Rukia: "How are you feeling?"

Yato: "I'm fine. It was just a headache." - I said as I got up.

Rukia: "When I finished my affairs with Ichigo I noticed that you hadn't come back to class so I brought your stuff." - She said while handing me my belongings.

Yato: "Thanks, sorry for making you wait."

On the way home, Rukia was strangely quiet, but sometimes she kept looking in my direction as if she wanted to start a conversation.

Yato: "If you want to ask me something…you can ask…"

This seemed to surprise her a little but soon she became serious again.

Rukia: "Earlier…when you said you had a headache…"

She paused still staring at me

Rukia: "It was for a brief moment, but I felt your spiritual energy rising drastically and then…it was like it wasn't there anymore… what really happened?"

Yato: "Well…I don't know the answer to that question. To be honest, I only recently discovered this whole story about souls, hollows and shinigami so I can't say that I understand about spiritual energy."

Rukia: "So you don't control your spirit energy?"

Yato: "No. In fact, I don't even know how to tell the difference between the spiritual energy of others. For me it's all just a…strange feeling…"

Rukia: "That can be very dangerous. If you can't tell a spirit energy from an ordinary soul, you could end up falling into a Hollow's trap just because you confused its energy with that of any other soul."

Yato: "I know, but what can I do? It's not like this spiritual energy thing comes with a manual."

# Rukia POV #

Rukia: 'This is strange…Ichigo is impossible not to be noticed because he has great spiritual energy and has no control over it…but…what about Yato? He can see spirits clearly and even interact with them…but even though he's so close to me it's like his spirit energy…doesn't exist…'

Some things didn't fit Yato's situation.

Rukia: 'Come to think of it, when I saw him for the first time I didn't feel spiritual energy coming from him either but if he doesn't know how to control or feel energy…how is his energy still so imperceptible? And what was it that I felt coming from him at school?'

Yato: "Rukia…?"

Rukia: 'Even for a Shinigami with hundreds of years of training it would be a difficult task to completely hide his spiritual energy… and yet it seems that Yato manages to do that even without knowing what spiritual energy itself is… But what's going on with the humans of this city?'

# Rukia POV (end) #

I kept looking at Rukia waiting for her to continue the conversation, but it seemed like she was too lost in her own thoughts.

Yato: 'Well…what I told her isn't entirely a lie…I don't know if this boy…who is now me…could see spirits before I arrived. And although I know exactly what spiritual energy is from watching the anime and reading the manga…seeing and feeling are completely different things…'

Rukia: "Yato, I was thinking..."

Yato: "Yes?"

Rukia: "If you really don't have control of your spiritual energy, something similar to hours ago can happen again."

Yato: "Are you talking about being able to feel my spirit energy?"

Rukia: "Yes, for a moment I felt a great spiritual energy coming from you. And from what you felt afterwards it could have been a result of that sudden increase. I don't know exactly what happened to cause this but if the result is always the same... in addition to making you vulnerable, you can end up attracting hollows to you."

Yato: "I agree, but how do I learn this?"

Rukia: "I will teach you how to control your spirit energy."