6 - Fateful Encounter

After the emotional high that came with self-realization, Rumi decided to check her stats and see how much reiryoku she managed to store in her sleep.

[Name : Fujiwara Rumi.

Age : 1 day. (Soul Society)

Race : Newly crossed soul.

Relationships : None.

Reiryoku level : Moderate.

Stored reiryoku : 83/1000.

Skills : Sloth (Passive), Guradian's Vigil (Passive), Fire Resistance (Passive).

Tools : None.]

"So, I got like 53 units in sleep.." Rumi commented after looking at her stored reiryoku. Since she had 30 before sleeping this time, she got 53 more in her sleep this time.

'System, how long was I asleep for?'

[You were at least for almost 8 hours.]

'I see..'

Rumi nodded.

Even though the dream felt so short, she had actually been sleeping here for almost eight hours.

Rumi was starting to think what she should do from now, but she was suddenly alerted by the footsteps coming from the entrance of the cave.

She was about to hide as usual but the voice that came from the entrance made her froze in curiosity.

"Seriously, Rukia, if you think you can hide in this place-"

Rumi heard the voice of a young man, and judging from his voice, he seemed to be more annoyed about something than chasing someone to kill them.

Rumi was thinking whether she should go out and meet this guy. If he wasn't a murderer, she wanted to go and meet him. After all, Rumi knew that she had limited information about this world and how to travel to better districts. For this reason, it would be beneficial to have someone as a guide or source of information.

But, then, she heard him shouting in a way he sounded shocked and terrified of what he was seeing.

"What...what are these? Are they all dead bodies?!" He shouted.

"Should I go out to meet him or wait?" Rumi muttered to herself. Now that this guy had started shouting, it would be awkward to show up and casually say "Hi".

'Why did he have to shout? They were just a few dead bodies...Shouldn't he be used to this?' Rumi thought to herself.

"Who's there?! Come out!" The guy started, which startled her a bit.

Rumi took a look at him from her spot before making any move and saw that it was a young guy with long crimson hair, tied up into a ponytail. He was also wearing a japanese style robe but the robe only reached his knees, most likely he had outgrown them.

'Well, he doesn't look like a threat so I guess I should go out and meet him..' Rumi thought.

With that thought, she walked towards the guy, but to her surprise, he started screaming again as if he was shocked to see her.

"Come on, why're you shouting again? Didn't you ask me to come out because you know I was in here?" Rumi asked.

"I said that just in case!" His reply almost made Rumi hit her forehead, almost. She couldn't figure out if this guy was an idiot or she was an idiot for falling for it.

"...Okay.." Rumi said, not knowing what to say.

However, the guy seemed to have a lot to talk since he yelled, "Don't 'okay' me! What're you doing here? Are you the one who killed them?"

Rumi took a look at the pile of bodies and then looked at him again, blinking a few times. "you think I killed all these people..?"

"What else could it be?" He replied, crossing his arms. It seemed that he was only initially shocked to see dead bodies piling up in a cave.

Well, as for Rumi, she was speechless at this point as she had never expected to be suspected as a mass murderer.

"Dude, no! Do I look like a psychopath?" Rumi found herself asking. Even after sleeping almost the whole day in a dirty cave filled with dead bodies, Rumi thought she still had her perfect beauty. Why this guy would think her perfect self as a psychopath was beyond her.

"I mean you never know. You can look like a harmless fly but be a psycho killer inside. That's how it is around here.." He replied.

"That's why I'm saying it's not me!"

"Then, what're you doing here?" He asked, not impressed with her answer.

Out of all the questions he could've asked, this guy had to ask this! Rumi swore internally.

If this guy didn't think she was crazy after this, she would really think he wasn't right in his head.

Anyway, Rumi attempted to ease the situation with a laugh before addressing his question, "Okay, this is going to make you think I'm crazy..but I..uhh..I was sleeping here."

"....."

"Okay, so you killed them." The guy stated without hesitation.

"What? No!"

"How do you expect me to believe you slept in a cave full of dead bodies?!" He shouted. Well, he had a very valid point, Rumi thought.

"I didn't have a choice! I needed my beauty sleep so I just had to make do with the location!" Rumi said.

"And you say you're not a psychopath?" The guy asked.

"Obviously. Where do I look like a psychopath?"

"For starters, you look like you're not right in the head." He said, wounding Rumi's mental image of herself.

"....And you look like you forgot your brains at home." Rumi retorted.

Renji, caught off guard by her quick wit, paused for a moment. His initial suspicion began to waver as he took a closer look at Rumi. Despite her odd choice of sleeping quarters, she didn't seem like a threat – more confused than anything.

"Wait a second," he said, his voice losing its accusatory edge. "You really don't know about these bodies, do you?"

Rumi, noticing the shift in his demeanor, shook her head emphatically. "Absolutely not. I just needed a place to sleep... I had no idea about... this."

Renji's posture relaxed slightly. "Sorry for jumping to conclusions then. This place... it's not the safest. So, you're new around here?"

"Yeah." Rumi nodded in reply to his question. "I just wanted a place to sleep undisturbed and ended up here."

"And you actually stayed? and slept here?" Renji asked, still having a hard time to believe a newcomer like her had managed to fall asleep with a pile of dead bodies surrounding her.

"I mean it's not like I had anywhere else to go." Rumi said with a chuckle, "So, I made the best out of the situation."

It was rough, but she had already decided to be bold and move forward in this life. As distasteful as it was to sleep in this kind of place, she had fulfilled the requirement for Sloth today, and that was what mattered to her.

Renji seemed to be a bit taken aback by her attitude. It was rare to see a new soul adjusting to the life here this quickly.

Intrigued, he said, "I'm Abarai Renji. Nice to meet you."

"Fujiwara Rumi." Rumi introduced herself, "Nice to meet you too."

"So..what're you doing in here, Abarai kun?"

"Just call me Renji." Renji said. Now that he was more at ease, he looked around the cave.

"I'm actually here looking for my friend, Rukia. We've been training together."

"Training?" Rumi's interest piqued.

"Yeah, we're planning to join the Shinigami Academy. It's a school for those who want to become Shinigami. Ever heard of it?"

Rumi, intrigued, leaned in. "Shinigami? Like Soul Reapers?"

At first, she thought simply moving to better district was enough but now, this guy, Renji, had mentioned the existence of something more than just fancy places.

Naturally, Rumi felt compelled to find that out.

Stepping outside the cave with Renji, it felt a little surreal. The sky had already turned dark and the hot air in the afternoon was replaced by a light cool breeze. Breathing in a fresher air than the suffocating one from the cave, Rumi followed Renji.

"So, you guys're planning to go to a Shinigami school. Can you tell me more about it?" She asked.

"Well, it's a school you go to if you want to become a Shinigami." Renji answered. "We heard that you can live in the Seireitei if you become a Shinigami. Heard that it's a real fancy place. Rukia and I decided to become Shinigamis because honestly, life here is..too dirty.." His voice turned a little sad and bitter at the end, remembering his friends' deaths and the ugliness of this district.

On the other hand, Rumi was amazed at the newfound information. To think that there was actually a school that train Shinigami, and Shinigami was a very real profession, Rumi felt that was too amazing. In animes she watched, Shinigami (Soul Reapers) were always so cool that she wanted to become one when she watched them.

"So..do you just go to the school or are there any specific requirements?" Rumi asked carefully.

Since she had now realized the existence of Shinigami, she had to become one.

Otherwise, she would be wondering how her life as a Shinigami could have been.

She thought of how many opportunities she had missed due to her fear in her past life and now, she felt inclined to take action, do what she wanted and become what she wanted to be.

She didn't want to regret for not even trying.

"Of course, there are requirements." At her question, Renji replied in a tone of voice that said 'are you an idiot?', "First of all, you need to have reiryoku. Then, you need to be able to control it and exert it as reiatsu."

"Really?" Rumi found herself asking. Until now, she had thought increasing her reiryoku amount was the key but it turned out that having reiryoku was merely the starting point. Even to join the school, one had to be capable of controlling and exert it to a degree.

"Reiatsu..is like the one you exert it while reiryoku is the one you have in your body?" Rumi asked, guessing.

"Exactly." Renji continued proudly, "Of course, I'm capable of reiatsu so there's no way I can't join the academy."

"Good for you." Rumi said, "I'd love to see how it works but.."

Rumi paused as she felt a bit weaker, not in a literal sense but it was as if she had not enough energy.

It shouldn't be this way since she already had around eleven hours of sleep. Yet, she felt like she needed to replenish her energy.

Rumi thought of the possible causes before she gradually realized.

She hadn't eaten since she crossed over to this soul society place.

She was hungry.

In fact, she couldn't believe how she didn't realize it until now.

At that moment, Renji watched as she was lost in her own thoughts.

"But?" Renji raised his eyebrows, expecting her to continue quickly. He was about to show off his superiority by showing her his reiatsu but she had to say something and froze at that prefect moment.

"Well, I need to find something to eat before I get hangry. It's been like a whole day I haven't eaten." Rumi said with a sigh. "Do you have any food?"

This time, Renji was the one to be surprised.

"You're hungry?"

"Obviously." Rumi rolled her eyes. Why was this guy acting all surprised at her comment? Was it because he didn't understand what "hangry" meant?

"So, 'hangry' means you get angry because you're hungry." Rumi started to explain.

"I wasn't surprised about it." Renji scoffed, "I thought you're a new soul."

"I am." Rumi replied, "I just got here today."

"And you're hungry already?" Renji raised his eyebrows. He found it hard to believe since it took him and Rukia years to even realize they were hungry.

"Isn't it normal if you're not eating the whole day-"

"Obviously not! Only souls with reiryoku can get hungry and even in that case, they don't get that hungry in a short period of time. It's more..like a gradual process." He said, recalling how Rukia fell in the presence of a Shinigami and how they found out they could get hungry because they had reiryoku. At that moment, it didn't matter much , whether he had reiryoku or not, because Rukia said she wanted to be with everyone regardless. He had shared the sentiment. They were all a family.

"I see, that must mean I'm pretty amazing!" Rumi exclaimed, shaking Renji off his own thoughts.

Renji tried to object her narcissistic comment with his whole being, of course, but, in his mind, there was only one thought.

'If what she's saying is true..she's a monster..'

-------------

A/N :

Renji's here and yes, this is before he and Rukia goes to the academy.

This is also going to be the last chapter before going back to the update schedule I posted in auxiliary vol.

Please check if you haven't yet and if you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Sometimes, the reply might be late but I try to reply to all of the comments.