[Quincy Archer Hates You Arc] Part 38: Princess & Dragon

# Karakura Town, Mashiba #

Rukia and I continued looking for Ichigo, or rather, we were trying to get to him while avoiding the Hollows in our path.

Detecting Ichigo's spiritual energy was quite easy, but precisely because of that, the situation was complicated since most of the Hollows ended up gathering in that area.

As I was holding Rukia, she was in charge of taking care of the Hollows that approached but since she hadn't recovered her powers, any Kidou she used against the Hollows had no effect.

I tried to use my powers to help against the Hollows, but I was having a hard time. I was getting so nervous that I couldn't visualize the correct movement of the threads and that made my attacks not as strong. I also didn't try to move my hands or fingers too much…since I was holding Rukia and didn't want to cause an awkward situation at that point.

Rukia: "This is getting nowhere!" -She said frustrated when she saw again her Kidou hadn't caused any scratch on the Hollow.

Suddenly I felt a great spiritual energy surging from a distance. I quickly glanced over there and after a few seconds the same spiritual energy surged once more.

Yato: 'That didn't come from school…so it must have been Chad awakening his powers…'

Rukia: "Look, Yato! Ichigo is coming over here!" - She pointed to the orange haired boy.

What I found strange is that even with this whole situation, that "Ichigo" was still wearing his school uniform and was running…relatively fast…

Yato: 'I don't think this one is Ichigo…'

# With Tatsuki and Inoue | Karakura High School, Gakuenchou#

Chizuru: "Geez– If I'd known I'd have to clean up this mess I wouldn't have even come here. And worst of all, it was just a stupid fight between the guys from the judo club." - She complained while sweeping the broken glass that was scattered on the floor.

Tatsuki was next to Chizuru, helping to remove those shards but she didn't seem to have heard a single word the girl had said.

Chizuru: "Hey, are you listening to me?"

Again Tatsuki didn't respond. All she did was sneak a glance at Inoue, who was standing back and staring at something.

Tatsuki: 'One of those things that Yato said were Hollows is right there at the top of the school, but he's not moving. What the hell, Orihime! Stop looking at that thing and get out of there!'

Tatsuki's thoughts were interrupted by Chizuru who had thrown the shovel away.

Chizuru: "I quit. This is ridiculous! Hi~me~~! Leave the cleaning to Tatsuki and let's go home together~!"

Tatsuki: "What's your problem!?"

Inoue was silent for a while, looking distracted until she suddenly turned around.

Orihime: "Tatsuki-chan…Chizuru-chan…uh…there's a show that's on TV and I really want to watch it, so I'm going home soon!!"

Chizuru: "Eh?"

Inoue started pushing the two girls, urging them to leave with her. Although the redhead was smiling and playful, Tatsuki could see how worried and scared Inoue was.

Tatsuki: "Well, I already missed a good part of my training, we better go anyway."

Chizuru: "Aren't you going to change those stinking clothes? Even a brute girl like you has your charm so I wouldn't bother if you wanted help to get rid of those clot—"

Tatsuki: "Shut up, you pervert!"

While Orihime looked like she was having fun, her thoughts were completely different.

Orihime: 'At first…I thought I was the only one who could see that…but I think Tatsuki-chan could see it too…'

The redhead kept pushing her friends to get them away from that place.

Orihime: 'The first thing I thought was that I wish I hadn't noticed that. The second thing I thought was that we needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I don't understand what's going on…but every cell in my body is screaming for me to run away.'

Chizuru: "Hime is so cute even when she's in a hurry~"

Tatsuki: "You're disgusting–"

When the tomboy looked back at her friend, who had taken a few hurried steps in front of her, she noticed that another Hollow was sneaking up behind the redhead.

Tatsuki: "Orihime!!!" -She screamed as she ran as fast as she could.

Orihime looked back and saw that there was a creature looking at her and despite having frozen due to fear, something else crossed the girl's mind.

Orihime: 'This…isn't the same monster I saw before…so…there's more than one monster here…!!'

It's not known for sure if it was luck or not, but the Hollow stayed a long time just looking at Orihime, and when he decided to attack her, the creature was removed thanks to a sudden kick.

Tatsuki: "Stay away from her!!" - She shouted, keeping in front of her friend.

Tatsuki's eyes had transformed again as the girl took a karate stance, preparing to face the monster.

Chizuru who was watching from afar didn't understand some things.

The first was seeing the tomboy seemingly kicking the air and standing in front of Orihime protectively.

The second was that something invisible seemed to fall crashing to the ground after Tatsuki's sudden attack, which means that the girl really hit something.

The third was the speed with which Tatsuki disappeared from her side to appear next to Orihime.

Chizuru: "...But what you–"

Orihime: "Tatsuki-chan, wait! You can't–"

Tatsuki: "Orihime, get Chizuru out of here. I'll get rid of that thing and I'll catch up with you."

Without waiting for the redhead's answer, Tatsuki advanced against the fallen Hollow.

Tatsuki: 'My first attack was just to get him away from Orihime, even then the monster didn't get up. He shouldn't be too strong and attacks stealthily…so he'll wait for me to get close and attack me…with the claws of his right hand…'

When she got close to the Hollow, the monster suddenly rose, trying to surprise the girl and then attacked her with its claws, however, Tatsuki took a Shuto Uke stance, defending the monster's attack and then counterattacked with a powerful punch, hurting the creature.

Tatsuki: 'Great…at least with that I can hurt that thing…' - She thought as she looked at her fists and saw something that looked like small blue scales disappearing from her knuckles.

She again ran towards the Hollow, not wanting to give him any chance to fight back.

Tatsuki: 'Since I started training these powers I could understand at least two things. The first is that my perception seems to improve a lot. I can understand small things very quickly, like the first Hollow attack. I knew it would be a right claw attack because I noticed that there was more energy in that region and his right arm tensed for a few seconds.'

The Hollow tried another surprise attack, but again the tomboy redirected its blow and counterattacked the creature, this time with a kick to the monster's mask, partially breaking it.

Tatsuki: 'The second thing I noticed was that every time I attack something while using my powers, these little blue scales appear on my hands or feet when the attack hits the target, but the scales disappear right away.'

The girl was doing very well facing a Hollow alone, but something caught the girl's attention.

When Tatsuki looked in the direction of her friends, she noticed that the other monster was heading towards them and in a moment of panic, Tatsuki turned her back on her enemy to warn her friend.

Tatsuki: "Orihi–!! Argh!!"

Tatsuki's screams were interrupted thanks to the Hollow, which attacked the girl from behind with its claws, leaving five cuts on Tatsuki's back, staining her white gi with the red of its blood.

Meanwhile, Orihime was torn on what to do. She wanted to help her friend but had no idea how, on the other hand, she also needed to get Chizuru out of that place.

Chizuru: "Hey, Hime! What's going on?"

Looking at her friend Chizuru, Inoue noticed that the other monster was floating right above the two of them.

Hollow: "You…can see me, can't you?"

Orihime: "Run, Chizuru-chan!! Hurry!!!"

Chizuru: "Eh?"

Hollow: "Run? What are you talking about?"

The octopus-shaped Hollow began to create several seeds from its skull and shot them like bullets throughout that area of the school, destroying several rooms and some other places while Inoue put her arms in front of her body in an attempt to defend herself from the attacks.

Orihime: "I…didn't get hurt… I didn't get hit by a single one..!?"

She wondered momentarily, but ignored it all when she saw that Chizuru had been hit.

Orihime: "Chizuru-chan!! Are you okay, Chizuru-chan!?"

Chizuru: "Ugh…yeah…I'm fine…I don't understand what's going on…I don't even know why I'm bleeding so much…but it doesn't hurt that much." - She replied as she stood up and made some movements with her left arm.

It wasn't a matter of feeling pain, but Chizuru didn't want to see Orihime worry about her.

Orihime: "Chizuru-chan…"

Chizuru: "Hey, don't look at me like that! I think your sad face is cute, but I'd rather see you smile, Hime~!"

Totally contradicting her words, what Chizuru did next was suddenly grab Inoue by the neck, choking the redhead little by little.

Chizuru: "...What…? Eh....?"

Orihime: "Chi…zuru…chan…??"

Chizuru: "Wait! It's not me!! I can't put it down!!!" - The two girls panicked and all they heard was the sound of the Hollow's laughter echoing through the entire school.