You were always a hollow.

"Alright, students, you've worked hard. Now it's time for us to take a short break. "

Suddenly, like a torn bag spilling its contents, my classmates scattered everywhere. I try to follow Toshiro, but before I can get too far, I feel someone grab my shoulder.

"You're not seriously planning to just follow someone random and hope for the best, right?"

'...'

"Ha, you're a funny one alright." Follow me. I'll lead you to the canteen, and once you're done eating, I'll show you to your assigned room. "

Before I can even think of an argument, I am swiftly dragged along through the now full hallways. I notice that some of the students are pulling out bentos, but before I can get a good look at their contents, I am already standing in front of the canteen. It's incredibly busy, and rather than just the 20 or so students I had encountered in my class, there were at least a few hundred, all crowded around a few tables. I can't help but notice that I am by far the shortest one here.

I make my way to the other side of the room, and to my joy, I see a table almost completely covered in food. I say almost, as in the corner is a stack of plates and a container holding chopsticks. I grab myself a plate and I quickly pile on as much rice as I can carry. I try to make my way to the table, but suddenly I slam into someone and my food goes everywhere.

"Watch where you're going, pipsqueak."

'Pipsqueak?'

"You heard me."

"Seriously, bullying a literal child?"

'I'm not a chi-'

"You should be ashamed of yourself!"

-This girl... she was in my class, wasn't she?

"Alright jeez I'll let him off the hook for now. " Are you happy, Aiko? "

"You need to apologize. "With how thin that kid is, I bet he hasn't eaten in years."

-I'd refute that, but I have no clue whether or not it's true or not. Floating endlessly in the void messes up your sense of time, and while I'd like to believe that I just haven't hit my growth spurt, I have a feeling that I'm well past that stage.

"Sorry."

"Louder!"

"Sorry!"

"There, was that so hard?"

'This girl certainly has a way with words...'

"Banks, right?" You know the food is free here; you can eat as much as you want. "

'As much as I want?'

Suddenly, my stomach is rumbling, and I feel a fire deep in my soul. I try to control myself, and I manage to just barely dash to the food and pile on a mountain of plain white rice. I try to eat while standing, but my control of the chopsticks is amateurish, to say the least. I spill food all over myself and the floor, and without a second thought, I drop the chopsticks and instead use my hands to shovel the food into my soul. It's not nearly as filling as a good meal, but it's the best food that I've had since falling into this world.

"I guess I wasn't exaggerating nearly as much as I thought, huh?"

Suddenly, I snap back into awareness. I had just eaten like a pig in front of all of these people, but rather than being seen as a pig, I felt a sense of pity radiating from the people around me.

"My name's Aiko, Aiko Kotone."

"It's not official, but you can think of me as your class rep. "

"A man leans over to me and whispers"

"She's the scariest one in our class, you know."

"What was that?"

"I just said, uh, your hair looks nice today!"

She doesn't seem to have bought it, but she isn't pointing it out.

"Why thank you, Kobe."

The food fills me with energy, but I'm not really sure what to do with it. I feel sort of jittery, but I guess that's normal when your body is suddenly flooded with real nutrients rather than the raw flesh it was used to.

"Alright kid, you look like you've had enough to eat for now. Why don't you burn it off with a walk?"

'Sir!'

"You know, you don't have to call me that. Just Sensei would be fine. "

'Sensei!'

For the first time in what feels like forever, rather than being dragged around at the speed of sound, I'm actually able to walk on my own two feet. We make our way down various hallways, and as we pass, I can see the students jumping to alertness. I guess he's not just respected within our class, after all.

"We've arrived."

It's not much, but it's more than I've had since I died. A small room with two beds and a shared desk. There's a window to the outside, and as I glance up, I am surprised to see someone sitting in it. Toshiro is there meditating, but he is quickly disturbed by my and the teacher's presence and jumps down.

For a moment, I am tempted to try and pat his head, but I can't seem to quite reach.

"Did you seriously try to headpat me?"

'... No?'

"I'll show you a headpat alright."

'He noogies the top of my head, and to my dismay, he seems to be enjoying this.'

....

A few minutes pass and I am left passed out on the bed. Honestly, out of everything I've experienced, I think this day will hold a special place in my heart. Seeing new places and meeting new people is nice, but for the first time in my life, people seem to like me. Maybe it's just because I'm cute, but I'd like to think

"Kid."

-Oh not this again.

I try to ignore it, but I am once again nailed in the head by a

"KID"

'I have a name you know.'

"Did you? I didn't know. "

'You live inside of my soul. How could you possibly not know?'

"Okay, fine, I know, I just don't like it. It's hard to call someone so small anything other than a kid. "

'You're not going to stop, are you?'

"Nope."

'So what did you rudely interrupt my sleep for, anyway?'

"Just a bit of a warning."

A warning about what?

"Do not attempt to reseal your 'Zanpakuto'."

-I don't like how he said Zanpakuto...

'How would I even do that?'

"It doesn't really matter, now does it?"

'Can I get back to my dreams?'

"One last thing."

'What?'

"Don't look down."

Don't what? Oh no.

Suddenly, the sky I had been standing on reverts to its permeable state, and I fall down into the darkness. I grab for the chains connected to the mirror, but my hands simply slip through as if they were an illusion.

Down,

Down..

Down....

Deeper and

Deeper

I fall.

With a splat, I land on something soft and... white?

Suddenly, my head is filled with incomprehensible nonsense, and in a twisted jerking motion, I try to jump off.

However, to my dismay, the white seems to continue on for as far as my eyes can see. I push through the intrusive thoughts and as I look up, I see the darkness... boiling?

I feel like I'm suspended in a thick translucent tar. I see bubbles far above trying to break through, but the chains glow and push them away. Other than bubbles, I see something hazier and less corporeal, but I think they're... jaws? They seem to be focused on the white stuff, consuming them bite by bite, and as I look at them I feel a deep sense of hunger. Suddenly, the jaws notice me, but before they can reach me, Zentai no Ana stands before me and flicks his fingers.

Suddenly, the jaws fly back, and like a kicked dog, the darkness begins to scamper away.

"I told you not to look down, kid. Are you really that bad at listening? "

'What exactly is this?'

"This is your hole."

'I thought'

"Come on, kid, it should be instinctual to know that a hollow can't escape its hole."

'So that's what you wanted to show me? That I'll have to devour souls if I don't want to turn back into a hollow?'

"That's not quite what's happening here."

'What do you mean?'

"Kid, you're already a hollow. You were born a hollow. "

"The only thing that allowed you to pretend to be a human was that fragment lodged deep within you. It was keeping you satiated, and now that it's gone, it's just me left.

'What are you?'

Suddenly, the darkness begins to pull together. Where before it was a translucent tar covering everything, it is now a thick black mass of pure darkness. It all coalesces into a single, small hole. However, just as soon as it forms, the mirror pulses with a bright light and the darkness is scattered once again.

Suddenly, Zentai no Ana staggers, and for a moment I think I see... blood?

"The answer to that question doesn't really matter, does it?"

"You just need to get stronger."

Suddenly, I am awake. For a moment, the shadows seem deeper than usual, but to my relief, the sun soon rises and comes in through the window. That dream....

'I wonder how much time I have left.'

I pull my shirt up and look at the wound, and while it's no longer bleeding, it seems to be unnaturally dark.

"That wound... that's no normal wound, is it?"

'I honestly would have preferred it if you didn't see that.'

"My grandma was dying because of me."

What?

"I couldn't control my spiritual pressure, and it was slowly freezing her to death."

'How did you learn to control it?'

"I got stronger."

'Do you really think that just getting stronger will fix this?'

"No, but it's worth a shot, right?"

'How about we spar?'

"Right here?"

'Is there somewhere else to spar?'

"There is. Let me show you. "

We walk through a series of hallways until, eventually, we reach a door. We head out to the outside and follow a dirt path until we get to a clearing.

"It's not the official sparring ground, but I figured you'd appreciate the privacy."

I pull out my mirror and Toshiro pulls out his sword.

"You aren't going to reseal your Shikai?"

'You can release yours if you'd like.'

"How did you know I had one?"

'I figured every soul reaper had one.'

"Maybe if they did, we wouldn't have to worry so much."

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyrinmaru! "

The temperature of the air starts to drop, and as far as my nose can tell, the humidity drops sharply as well. A mass of ice erupts from the sword and begins to form a massive dragon spiraling around Toshiro's body.

Suddenly, the sky begins to darken, but before I can appreciate the view, he is upon me. Rather than rushing forward, Hitsugaya steps back, and a pillar of ice shoots out. I lift my mirror and allow it to swallow the attack, and Hitsugaya steps back once more and severs the pillar. The rest of the ice falls to the ground as I cut the connection, but to my dismay, the ice begins to spread along the ground. I jump into the air and force it into a platform underneath my feet, and as I force the air to condense more and more, a thin green light flashes for a brief moment before flickering out.

Hitsugaya steps upon the air and floats above me.

'Yeah, I guess it figures that you could do-'

I interrupt myself by darting forward out of the air and slashing out with my arm. I quickly cross the distance, but to my disappointment, a barrier of ice appears to block my hand.

Did you really think I would fall for that? "

'It was worth a shot.'

Another pillar of ice shoots out, but this time rather than heading in a straight line, it splits into two, and at the front is a small half-formed dragon's head. I push on my mirror and it expands, easily gobbling up the first attack, but the second attack swerves around and strikes my back.

'Argh'

"Are you able to continue?"

I push on the air behind me and pull on the air in front of me as I accelerate, and suddenly a green light flashes through the air. I appear behind Toshiro and punch him as hard as I can on the back.

'That's a point for me.'

"That's not Shunpo, is it?"

'I'm not sure what that is, but I guess you could call this pasos rápidos.'

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

Suddenly, I felt faint and I rapidly began to fall to the ground.

Toshiro catches me, and as I lie panting on the ground, I swear I can hear him breathing hard.

"Do you have any ranged attacks?"

'I do not.'

"Honestly, I'm just a little scared of what you'd be able to do if you weren't held back by your small size. "

'I'm not that-'

'Okay, fine, but how am I supposed to attack at a distance? It's not like I have a gun.'

"A gun? I'm not familiar with that term, but what I'm thinking of is Kido. "

'Kido?'

"Kido is the art of spell-craft, and while the strength pales in comparison to an awakened Zanpakuto, it's certainly useful for those who are erh... vertically challenged."

'You're enjoying calling me short, aren't you?'

"Maybe."