[The Substitute Shinigami Arc] Part 12: The day I met the soul reaper

# May 18 - Karakura Town, Minamikawase - 08:00 a.m. #

I ended up being late for school thanks to my lack of sleep. The feeling of having forgotten something kept me up late and I ended up sleeping on the couch in the living room. If I disregard my first day of school as my Fullbring helped me with the schedule, today is the first day I will be late.

Before I always took a bus to go to school, but since I started training my Fullbring, I preferred to go to school by bike, to get some exercise. So I decided to save some money and bought a bike a few days ago.

On the way to school, close to where I live, I passed a street where there was a lane to keep distance and some police officers were also present.

I ended up getting carried away by curiosity and stopped to see what had happened.

Yato: "I wonder what happened here?" - I said more to myself since I didn't have many people close, or at least that's what I thought until I saw Ichigo coming towards me, apparently listening to what I had said.

Ichigo: "From what I saw in the newspaper, it looks like there was an incident near the station."

Yato: "Is anyone hurt?"

Ichigo: "I don't know. They just said they felt an impact and the ground shook under people's feet. It happened at 7:30 today."

While we were talking I noticed the flowers that Ichigo was carrying. He was probably going to visit the ghost girl again so I decided to accompany him.

Halfway through, as Ichigo was looking for the ghost girl, we heard what seemed to be a distant roar and Ichigo wasted no time running in that direction.

Yato: 'That's what I had forgotten about! A Hollow is going to attack today and that means Rukia is already here!'

After remembering that I jumped on my bike and went in the same direction as Ichigo.

It didn't take long for electrical wires to snap and the walls of buildings to be destroyed, sending smoke in all directions. The ghost girl came running towards us, catching the attention of Ichigo, who, like me, was facing the creature that appeared in the middle of the smoke.

I momentarily froze, after all, it was the first time I saw a Hollow.

Ichigo: "Hey!! Get out of there, Yato!!"

I looked towards Ichigo and noticed that the ghost girl was running towards him. She must have passed me while I was looking at the Hollow.

Ghost Girl "What's that!?"

Ichigo: "I don't know!"

I tried to disguise the fact that I had seen the Hollow or that I had heard the girl since Ichigo still didn't know that I could see spirits too.

I got on my bike and yelled for Ichigo to get on too, but the ghost girl had fallen while running, making Ichigo come back to help her. I stopped the bike and looked towards the Hollow that was getting closer and closer, but this time someone stops him.

Yato: 'I'll keep watching from this distance…If I get closer I'm sure I won't be able to hide it being so close to Rukia.'

In one swift movement, Rukia leaps towards the Hollow and slices through the creature's mask with her zanpakutō, causing the Hollow to disappear.

Only when the Hollow disappeared completely that I decided to approach Ichigo and at that time Rukia turned her face slightly towards us.

Ichigo was still confused by the situation and as I had seen this scene several times in the anime, the only thing that really shook me was being face to face with Rukia.

The shinigami wasted no time there and withdrew and the ghost girl seems to have taken the opportunity to disappear.

Yato: "Are you okay, Ichigo?" - I asked surreptitiously.

Ichigo: "Oh? Yeah…"

# hours later #

I was at home making some notes in my notebook. As I missed the first period of class, I took Tatsuki's notebook to write down the missing material.

Yato: 'It's still hard to believe that Rukia was in front of me…and I couldn't even say "Hi" to her.'

I suddenly had the feeling that someone was watching me. For a moment I thought it was the red cat but it had reverted to a ring so it couldn't be him. I turned my face slowly just to make sure there was someone there and to my surprise, the one who was watching me was the shinigami herself.

She was still quiet and looked me up and down and in this uncomfortable situation, I completely forgot that I was pretending not to see spirits and said:

Yato: "Can I... help you?" - It was all I could ask since mentally I was screaming

Yato: 'You're in the wrong room!!!'

My question startled the shinigami a little, causing her to answer my question with another question.

Rukia: "Can you…see me?"

Yato: "Well…yes…"

Rukia: "That's weird. Normally I couldn't be seen by normal humans."

Yato: "I...I can see spirits for a while...so you're a spirit too? But you look different, like, you wear a kimono and...you have a sword." - I said trying to sound surprised.

Rukia: "You're right about that. I'm not an ordinary spirit. I'm a Shinigami."

# Minutes later #

Yato: "So you're a shinigami who came from a spirit world called Soul Society and your job is to fight evil spirits like the one that appears earlier?"

Rukia just silently confirmed what I had said.

Yato: "I see…is there anything else I need to know?"

Rukia: "I'll give you an easy and quick explanation so that you understand a little bit of the work of a shinigami."

As Rukia reached for her sketchbook, I tried to control myself to act as neutrally as possible.

Rukia: "There are two types of spirits in this world. One of them, the Plus, are common spirits. The spirits you see are of this type. The others are called Hollows. They attack and devour the souls of the dead and the living. They are evil spirits, similar to the one you saw me defeat earlier."

My biggest challenge now was controlling my laughter and avoiding making jokes about the drawings, but Rukia took my silence differently.

Rukia: "Do you have any questions?"

Yato: "So…you would be like the bunny but with powers?" - I said pointing to the drawing.

Rukia: "In a way...yes..."

Yato: "But I have a question…If you're here, does that mean there's a Hollow somewhere in the house…?"

Rukia: "To be honest, I don't know how I got here either. I was following a Hollow's trail to a house near here, but when I realized it…I was facing this house."

I just stayed silent during Rukia's explanation until something came to mind.

Yato: 'If Rukia is here, it means that Ichigo and his sisters can be attacked at any time since everyone in that house has high spiritual energy. Not to mention that if Rukia doesn't go there, Ichigo might not get his powers and someone might end up dying. I have to do something for Rukia to go there.'

I quickly got to my feet, pretending to be startled by something. I had to look convincing.

Rukia: "What is it?"

Yato: "Didn't you hear that roar!?" - I said trying to look amazed and ran towards the window to look outside. This seemed to alert Rukia as she followed me.

Rukia: "Where did you hear that?"

Yato: "From that direction! It looks like it came from that clinic!" - I said while pointing in the direction of Ichigo's house.

Rukia: "I'll check it out. You stay here. If your spirit energy is strong enough to be able to see me that means you might as well be a target for the Hollow." - And with that the shinigami jumped out the window heading towards the clinic.

For a few minutes everything seemed to be silent, until I began to hear noises of destruction, followed by the Hollow's roar.

I was apprehensive as at the moment I couldn't do much to help, until a voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

???: "Tonight looks like it's going to be quite eventful, don't you think?"

As I was still looking out the window, I directed my eyes downward to see who was addressing me and to my surprise, it was one of the people I least wanted to meet at the moment.

Urahara: "Good evening, boy."