[The Substitute Shinigami Arc] Part 17: No One At Home.

The way back home was…curious. I had to stop by some stores to shop, after all, now I have a guest. As I'm not very talkative, most of the way was in silence. What I thought about most was Tatsuki's situation. Because of an oversight, my fullbring ended up affecting her and now she is even more spiritually aware than Orihime and Chad at the beginning of the anime.

Yato: 'What if she turns into some kind of Fullbring? What would this Fullbring be? Maybe something related to dragons?'

Rukia: "Can I ask you another question?"

I was so focused imagining possible powers for Tatsuki that I didn't even hear Rukia properly. I looked at her, hoping she would repeat what she'd said, but she took my silence as confirmation for her to continue.

Rukia: "When that man…Urahara… asked you to find a place for me to stay…you agreed very quickly to help me and without questioning him. Why did you do that?"

...Total silence…

Yato: '.....What the hell do I answer…!?'

Rukia kept looking at me waiting for an answer while I just put my hand on my chin and looked straight ahead.

Yato: 'Rukia, the truth is that I'm a guy from another world who happens to be a big fan of yours and because I like you a lot, I accepted the request without thinking that you would ask this in the future.... As if!! There's no way I can answer shit like that!!'

Rukia: "Don't you think that before that you shouldn't consult your family?"

That's a question…that I've been avoiding a lot since I started to fit in with the people at school. Not because the subject bothers me, but because…I feel weird talking about it.

# Flashback #

I was on the school terrace with Ichigo, Chad, Keigo and Mizuiro. As Chad ate in silence, I was laughing a lot at the things Keigo was saying. At one point, Mizuiro changed the focus of the conversation.

Mizuiro: "Yato, can you even imagine what she looks like? Things like if she's older or younger than you are?"

Yato: "What are you talking about? My supposed fiancée?" - I replied making a mocking face.

Keigo: "It must be a nightmare knowing you're getting married so soon…I wonder what your parents have in mind to put you in this mess."

Keigo's words surprised me more than they should have because I just stopped eating.

Yato: "What did you say?"

Keigo was surprised at my question at first. Maybe my tone of voice changed because I was surprised but if it did…I didn't notice.

Keigo: "I said…what are your parents thinking to put you in this mess."

I spent a long time just looking at my soda and all I responded at the time was

Yato: "I live alone."

Ichigo stared at me for a long time but didn't say anything. I wasn't lying. I really live alone, but thinking more about this situation… answering that didn't seem normal and the lack of detail in my answer totally changed the mood of the conversation.

# Flashback - end #

Since then I've only avoided that kind of conversation. In my world I still had my parents. They had their fights, they got divorced, but they were both still alive and I loved them very much. If I had to include my brothers and cousins, I would even say my family was pretty big. I had my grandparents, I had friends I played a lot of video games with and others I only talked to on the internet. I even had cats. Suddenly I'm in the world of my favorite anime and the only familiar I have is a spiritual being created from my power. Come to think of it, my situation here is a little similar to Orihime's. My relatives in this world are already dead, but I was lucky enough that they left enough money for me to try to make do for a while.

Rukia: "Yato?"

Yato: "Oh…sorry. As for that matter, you don't have to worry. Actually, there's no one waiting for me at home."