Chapter 9: Chapter 9
"Ahh~ Nice, don't you think?" Urahara asked, placing a cup of tea down after sighing in satisfaction.
"...Can you get straight to the point? I'm already late to school as is" Mizuiro stated, getting more and more impatient the longer Urahara kept him in the shop and not getting to the point.
"Hmph! That bastard's rude and annoying as hell!" Jinta, a red-haired kid, muttered as he, Ururu and Tessai peeked their heads into the room Urahara and Mizuiro sat in.
"Sounds like you-" Ururu, a pig-tailed girl, replied. But not before Jinta put his knuckles on either side of Ururu's head and twisted it roughly, "Owowow!" She cried, trying to get the boy's hands off her.
"Enough, Jinta!" Tessai, the only adult currently, separated the two kids and scolded Jinta for his roughplay, "Now, back to Urahara and the boy".
The three turned their attentions back to the conversation of the two to see Mizuiro standing up and dusting off his trousers.
"Respectfully, I have no obligation to tell you anything. So I'll be going to school now, if you don't mind" He then stretched his legs a little after sitting down for quite a while, "Thanks for the tea, though"
"Haa..." Urahara let out a sigh before shutting his fan and putting it back in his pocket, "You're right, you don't have any obligations to tell me. And the tea's my pleasure" He then stood up himself, "Instead, since you're returning to school anyway, could you help us with solving an item defect?" He asked.
Mizuiro looked to see Ururu, Jinta and Tessai all come out and reveal themselves, with Ururu producing a feint, "Sorry..." As she looked down at the floor.
"Urahara's already told you it's okay, Ururu. Don't be sad" Tessai supported Ururu by patting her back gently with his big hands.
Looking back at Urahara, Mizuiro shrugged his shoulders before answering, "Sure. I'm guessing this has something to do with Ichigo and Rukia calling me so many times?" He asked with a raised brow.
"Most likely" Urahara replied, him and the others getting some weapons which resembled literal rocket launchers.
'I'll just ignore that' Mizuiro thought as he looked at the two kids casually carrying weapons way bigger than them, 'Then again, is this really that weird considering I fight in dungeons, have a system, and can see spirits...? Not really'
"Kisuke squad, rollout!" Urahara announced the team's departure dramatically, closing the shop behind them as they ran in the direction of Mizuiro's school.
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"Ah, there they are" Urahara's voice caused Mizuiro and the others to tilt their heads up to the school roof to see Ichigo's shinigami form holding onto... himself?
Urahara turned to the others and told them to run up to the roof as he jumped up high, landing directly on the roof's railing - which Mizuiro couldn't help but note his action as "Impressive" enviously.
Mizuiro, Tessai and the kids ran into the building and headed all the way up to the rooftop on their feet. Mizuiro, with his dash skill activated, was the first to arrive as he witnessed Urahara stab his cane through Ichigo's human body's forehead, causing a yellow ball to fall on the ground.
Not too far behind, Tessai, the kids and even Rukia arrived to see Ichigo's human body falling lifelessly on to the ground.
"Mission complete!" Urahara cheered, a smile on his face as he bent his body slightly to pick up the ball which had been knocked out of Ichigo's human body. Confused at the situation, Mizuiro asked Urahara what the ball was and why Ichigo had hold of his own body, "It's a mod soul... long explanation short, it's an artificial soul of sorts. I'll explain it another day over a nice cup of tea, for some information of your own" He answered with a wink, causing Mizuiro to roll his eyes.
"UGH! I thought we were gonna have some action for the first time in a while!" Jinta whined, throwing his weapon at Urahara's head.
"Y-You... what are you gonna do with it?!" Ichigo asked Urahara worriedly, referring to the mod soul in his hand.
Turning his head, Urahara bluntly replied, "Dispose of it. What else?" His answer caused Ichigo's heart to skip a beat, before asking how he was able to see his shinigami form, "Oh... how should I answer that?-" Urahara wondered, until Rukia's hand swiftly took the mod soul out of Urahara's.
"A greedy salesman" She answered on Urahara's behalf, "And you, Mizuiro! Where were you all this time?!" She asked, stomping up to him and looking up at him with her hands on her waist like an angry mother disciplining their child.
"I was... sleeping?" Mizuiro replied, his unconvincing tone giving away his lie. Fortunately, Urahara backed him up by saying Mizuiro had helped the shop as they knew he was a friend of Rukia's.
"Hmm..." Rukia's head switched between Urahara and Mizuiro, looking at them suspiciously before sighing, "Whatever. Anyway, this product's mine, so I'll be keeping it" She said with a smile to Urahara.
"Yeah yeah, I figured you would" Urahara groaned, grabbing the front of his hat and pulling it down slightly, "You sure you want to keep it? It could be dangerous" He said seriously.
"I'm sure" Rukia replied, throwing the mod soul to Ichigo who caught it successfully, "Let's go" She turned to Mizuiro, "You too".
"Aye ma'am" Mizuiro jokingly saluted, the three of them leaving the rooftop after Ichigo had returned to his human body.
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After the mod soul incident had passed, Kisuke and the other shop members returned to the store to see a black cat waiting for them outside.
"About time, Kisuke" The black cat spoke, revealing a deep voice, "You have some explaining to do" 'He' said, glaring at Urahara.
"Yoruichi~ Best buddy~" Urahara jumped over to the cat, pink sparkles coming out of his feet with every jump, "Where have you been~" He went for a hug, to which Yoruichi jumped over, landed on his head, before jumping away and landing a few metres behind Urahara.
"Tell me, why'd you let that black-haired boy go without explaining anything? What if he's working for HIM!?" Yoruichi scowled.
"..." Urahara's face turned serious as he replied, "I believe he's not, Yoruichi. After all, there's no way he could've come in contact with him"
"Then why didn't you get more information from him?! Even if he's not working with him, that doesn't explain those weird portals!" Yoruichi argued, causing Urahara to sigh before smirking
"Think about it, Yoruichi. He's best friends with Kurosaki, and friends with Lady Kuchiki. It's best to keep him as an ally then anger him and cause some unprecedented accidents" He said, pulling out his familiar fan and covering his mouth with it, "If you're so interested in him, why don't you find out more about him yourself?" He asked playfully, an underlying tone of teasing in his voice.
"Fine, I will" The cat huffed before jumping away, "I'll be back" He said before running and jumping away.
"Haa... Is this a perk of having been the captain of the 2nd squad?" Urahara groaned, "Let's head back inside, shall we?" He and the others then entered the shop and carried on with their day.
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"Uwahhhh...!" Mizuiro awoke with a loud yawn, stretching his body as he got out of bed and got changed into his school uniform.
Having gotten changed and ready, he headed downstairs to see Rukia sitting on the dining table in her uniform waiting patiently.
"Mornin'!" Mizuiro greeted, raising his hand as he walked over to Rukia, who replied with her own "Good morning"
"Have you made food?" He asked, to which Rukia shook her head, "Alright, I'll make a small breakfast for us then!" He said with a smile, to which she thanked him.
After making a small breakfast, the two sat down and ate it quietly before finishing and leaving the house. Their usual route consisted of walking to Ichigo's house before they all walking together to school, so they did so once more.
Arriving outside his house, Mizuiro looked up to see Ichigo's window being closed, so they went round to the front and knocked on the door.
"Hello...?- Oh, Mizuiro! Good morning!" Yuzu welcomed, before looking behind him to see Rukia peek her head, "Rukia! Good morning to you too!" She waved energetically, "I'll go get Ichigo!" She then ran up the stairs to Ichigo's room.
Stepping back, Mizuiro and Rukia looked up to see Ichigo open the window, "Mizuiro! Rukia! Sorry, I just woke up!" He apologised, in the process of getting changed, "You guys wanna come in and wait?" He offered.
"Sure!" The two accepted his offer, entering the house and closing the door behind them as they headed over to the couch to see Yuzu and Karin sat there in their uniform.
"Mornin', Karin!" Mizuiro greeted, to which she moved over to allow for more space on the couch, "G'morning, Mizuiro! Rukia!" She replied.
"Good morning to you all" Rukia said with a bow, sitting beside Mizuiro who sat beside Karin who was seated beside Yuzu as they watched a random show that was on the TV screen currently.
A few minutes later of chatting due to being bored of TV, Ichigo finally walked down the stairs in his uniform.
"Hm?" Mizuiro, looking at Ichigo's solemn figure, asked "You alright, Ichigo?" Worriedly. As soon as Ichigo arrived, he felt there was something different about Ichigo, something... sad?
At this, Yuzu and Karin's own moods lowered, which Mizuiro and Rukia took notice of. They looked at each other and exchanged a quick nod.
"Say, why don't we go to school now? We'll be late if we don't hurry up" Mizuiro said, standing up from the couch as he waved goodbye to Yuzu and Karin.
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The walk to school this morning was odd, to say the least. Rukia and Mizuiro both felt quite awkward when talking to Ichigo as it felt like all his replies were forced and stern - not what they were used to.
'Now that I think about it...' Mizuiro looked at his phone to see the data today was the 16th of June, 'He was like this last year as well... if my memory's right, and the pattern follows, he probably won't be in tomorrow' He then looked at Ichigo out of the corner in his eye and was quite interested in why this was the case, 'Oh well, I shouldn't intrude in his privacy'
Mizuiro then remembered he still had to do his daily quest today. Yesterday's mod soul incident and dungeon took quiet a lot out of him than he expected, causing him to wake up later than usual so he couldn't do it in the morning. He decided he'll do it after school today.
The school day went by quite fast, with nothing interesting happening. After school, Mizuiro, Rukia and Ichigo simply walked home together like usual. He then did his daily quest and received his 3 stat points for completing it.
When it was around 7pm, Rukia and Mizuiro were sat at the dinner table eating some food when her food started to ring.
"Ichigo? What's up?" She asked. Her phone wasn't on speaker, but Mizuiro was still able to hear it due to his sense stat and how close he was to Rukia.
"Sorry, Rukia. But can I take a day off shinigami duties tomorrow?" He asked in a sad tone, which Mizuiro took notice of quite quickly.
"Huh!? Why?! Of course it's not possible! What's wrong with you?! Since the morning-" Rukia's mouth was silenced by Mizuiro who shook his head and told her to quieten down.
Confused, Rukia waited patiently for Ichigo's response when he said, after a few seconds of silence, "Sorry... it's just... tomorrow's... the anniversary" He then released a forced chuckle, "The anniversary for the day my mom died" His voice started to go hoarse and quiet, "No... in fact, It's the day she got killed" He said angrily before ending the call.
Rukia and Mizuiro were both stunned, but were snapped out of it when Ichigo sent a few messages apologising and thanking Rukia for the day off.
"Wait, when'd I say he can take a day off-" She questioned, but not before being smacked round the head by Mizuiro, "Ow!"
"Don't be so insensitive, idiot!" He stated, ignoring Rukia's pouting face and teary eyes as she looked at him angrily for hitting her so hard.
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CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Darkened007
Darkened007 Name: Mizuiro Kojima
Level: 24
Job: None
Title: Wolf Slayer (+1)
HP: 2565
MP: 306
Strength: 93
Vitality: 33
Agility: 46
Intelligence: 33
Sense: 41
Available Stat Points: 3]
[Physical Damaged Reduction: 20%]
[Skills]
Active Skills:
- Dash Lv.1
- Bakudo Nullification Lv. MAX
- Bloodlust Lv.1
Passive Skills:
- Spiritual Sense Lv. MAX
- Tenacity Lv. 1
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