Decision

The second half of the classes carried on without any disturbances. The ones who wanted to study gave their full attention while the ones who didn't want to, converted the teacher's voice into a pleasant lullaby to enjoy a sweet afternoon nap.

With the sound of the bell, the last class of the day was finally over as students slowly got up from their seats to wish the teacher out before eventually stretching and relaxing their bodies. The chitter chatter in the room without a teacher slowly increased as everyone started packing their belongings.

While Ichigo was picking his notebook out of the desk he found a note that was stuck on it. On the note, the following words were written: "Meet me behind the school building after the classes."

Ichigo looked around the classroom to find out who could it be but he wasn't able to pinpoint the source of this note. "Is everything okay Ichigo?" Chad asked when he saw him looking here and there in the classroom. He thought that the ghost from earlier had come again and became vigilant as he looked at his surroundings on full alert.

"It's nothing. How are your injuries recovering?" Ichigo asked wanting to shift the topic.

"They'll be good as new in a week," Chad said as he gave him his signature thumbs up.

"That's good. I'll have something to take care of today so I'll be hurrying up." Ichigo said to Chad to which he gave an understanding nod. Little did Ichigo know that Chad had clearly seen the note when he was putting it away and he had also seen the culprit when he was coming to the class after lunch.

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"So what's the matter Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked. As instructed in the notes he was now currently behind the school building to meet the person who had written that note for him. Initially, he had some doubts about the origin of this note but after seeing the back of the woman who had been waiting for him his questions were answered.

Hearing Ichigo's voice Tatsuki quickly turned around no longer looking at the bird's nest she was earlier focusing on. "You came…I wanted to talk with you. I-I think I've made my decision." Tatsuki said with a serious expression.

Seeing the seriousness on her face Ichigo didn't feel like joking around as he asked "…and that is?"

Getting the prompt from him to continue speaking Tatsuki took a deep breath as she said "I-It can't work out between the two of us…I'm sorry,"

Hearing Tatsuki's words and the way she was acting as she constantly tried to avoid his eye contact made him link some things together in his mind but he didn't say them out loud instead he just decided to go with the flow for now.

"It's ok, no need to be sorry. If that's what you want then alright." Ichigo said as he turned around and started leaving.

"W-Wait." Tatsuki called out to him as he didn't expect him to accept her decision so readily.

"Is there anything else Tatsuki?" Ichigo asked normally.

Hearing his unperturbed voice Tatsuki couldn't help but feel confused as from how usually things should have been, the person who gets rejected should show some signs of sadness. This led to her asking her next question. "Do you hate me now?"

"What are you talking about? I'll never hate you Tatsuki," Ichigo said with a smile as he turned around after bidding her goodbye.

Seeing Ichigo's back slowly distancing away from her Tatsuki bit her lips to suppress her emotions. She had slowly started developing feelings for Ichigo after that encounter with him on the school's rooftop but this feeling of happiness was short-lived.

She was very familiar with Orihime and knew that she had a huge crush on Ichigo. If things were only that then she wouldn't have minded accepting Ichigo's feelings but during these few days she saw the two get closer and closer to each other after her accident. Orihime was also much happier than usual nowadays.

She just couldn't make herself do something like stealing away the source of Orihime's happiness from her. Not after seeing her smile like a flower for the first time after her brother's demise. That's why she refused to further her relationship with Ichigo.

"I'll never hate you Tatsuki…" She repeated the words that Ichigo had told her just now. Even though it was a decision she had herself decided on, distancing herself from him became even more difficult for her thanks to his words that kept on repeating in her mind.

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On the way back to his home Ichigo didn't mull over the matter with Tatsuki for long. From how she was behaving he knew that she had conflicting emotions regarding their relationship so instead of forcing it on her he would rather let time do its thing.

Maybe one day in the future Tatsuki would retract back on her words but even if that day didn't come Ichigo wasn't worried about it. He had no plan to conquer every beauty that was in this bleach world but he sure did plan to conquer the hearts of everyone who wanted him to do so.

He soon got ready after arriving back home and after having his lunch he went to Orihime's place to pick her up. Orihime was all ready to go by the time he knocked on her door which left him a bit surprised as he thought that he would be waiting for her to get ready before finally moving to Urahara's shop.

Since Orihime was already ready, no time was wasted and soon after the two of them reached Urahara's shop.

"You're here Ichigo and who might this young lady be?" Kisuke asked when he saw the arrival of the two of them.

"Nice to meet you, sir, I'm Orihime Inoue," Orihime responded with a courteous bow.

"So, it's Orihime Chan, come inside please," Kisuke said as he guided them to the living room. Yoruichi was out to complete a certain task along with Rukia so they were told to wait for some time as Tessai served them some tea.

Not long after Yoruichi who was in her cat form was back along with Rukia who seemed to be a bit exhausted. Sensing the presence of the two guests Yoruichi made her way to the living room while Rukia went to her room to recover a bit.

"How are your injuries, girl?" Yoruichi asked as she looked at Orihime who was sitting beside Ichigo.

"They've recovered thanks to you," Orihime said as she got up and bowed towards her for saving her life earlier. Seeing this Yoruichi nodded and said, "Alright then, let's go to the training ground."

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