Chapter Text
WHAT!?
Yuji’s brain felt like it was blue-screening.
Ichigo says he has a shinigami form? Okay, sure. Every cursed technique Yuji’s seen so far was either weird, creepy, or oddly specific. Channeling the respresentaion of divine beings isn’t too out there. Ichigo saying he didn’t know what a cursed technique was? Just… how?
“Huh? What do you mean ‘What’s a cursed technique?’ How did you do all of that if you don’t have one?” Yuji all but shouted.
“Like I said, I’m a shinigami, like the grim reaper but less glamorous. My powers come from the soul meaning most humans can’t see me. You can clearly see souls for some reason, so you probably have some spiritual awareness.” Ichigo began trying to sort out the whole… misunderstanding that’s clearly occurring.
Unbeknownst to Yuji, Ichigo’s working theory was that the soul society missed a strange sect of fullbringer-like humans.
“I mean, I know I can perceive the soul, but that’s only because I’m a vessel.” Yuji countered. “I don’t know know anything about ‘spiritual awareness.’ Don’t you mean cursed energy?”
Before Ichigo could respond to that statement, he was distracted by a commotion near where his body was. Inoue had gone to check on his body after healing Nanami, but she had jumped back in surprise. Settling into fighting stances, both Yuji and Ichigo were taken aback when he saw not an enemy, but the stuffed lion that a certain mod-soul resided in.
“Kon?” Ichigo shouted in disbelief.
“What? Did you think I was gonna sit around while you went out with everyone again? It’s been forever since I’ve seen Rukia.” Kon whined. “Besides, now that you’re in an unknown place, you’re gonna need me to take care of your body while you fight, so really you should be thanking me!”
The young jujutsu sorcerer sat sidelined in this conversation, staring in shock as Ichigo simply sighed at the stuffed animal. It didn’t help that it reminded him too closely of the principal’s cursed corpses.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Ichigo sighed heavily, “Orihime, can you put Kon in my body?”
“Yes, of course.” She nodded.
Yuji swore that every sentence Ichigo spoke was making him lose even more braincells. About to ask what the hell they were talking about, he turned to see Orihime pull a small white ball out of the stuffed animal. Watching her feed it to Ichigo’s limp body was weird. What was even weirder was that his body seemed to come alive afterwards, though it every motion was exaggerated compared to Ichigo’s movements in his soul form..
“See, aren’t you glad I’m here to help?” Out of Ichigo’s body came Kon’s voice?
“What the hell? Are you a vessel like I am?” Yuji’s panicked shout drew the attention of the three residents of Karakura.
They stared at him blankly.
“Like I said, I’m a shinigami,” Ichigo slowly explained. “Kon’s a mod-soul. He stays in the lion most of the time, but if I need him to watch my body, I let him take control.”
The explanation itself made sense. Except for the fact that none of it made sense at all. Before Yuji could express his confusion once more, Orihime cut in.
“What do you mean you’re a vessel?”
Her question was innocent yet it made Yuji freeze. Almost everyone to this point recognized him immediately as Sukuna’s vessel, so he forgot what it was like to have to tell someone about the being he held.
The being that had just killed thousands of people.
“I’m Sukuna’s vessel.” Yuji solemnly spoke. “I consumed one of his fingers and I’m supposed to collect them all before I’m executed in order to take him down. But I failed. He took over my body and slaughtered thousands of people tonight.”
Jaws dropped as he spoke, yet the disgust he was expecting never showed. There was horror, yes, but not towards Yuji. They didn’t look like they wanted to kill Yuji themselves, but they seemed sad that it had happened altogether.
“That does explain why your reiatsu looks like that.” Ichigo mused. “It’s almost like there’s a second source of spirit energy woven into yours. It’s almost completely restrained by your energy, like it’s what you were made to do.”
Yuji was taken aback. “As far as I’m aware I’m the only one who could constrain him, yeah. I don’t know what you mean about being ‘made’ for it?”
Ichigo hummed, “I don’t know either. Your reiryoku is hard to parse out.”
He swiped his hand as if wiping away his train of thought.
“Anyways, who’s Sukuna?”
…
Yuji didn’t have it in him to be surprised anymore.
“Sukuna? Heian era monster? King of Curses? Strongest sorcerer in history?” Yuji questioned.
“Never heard of him,” Ichigo replied. He turned to Orihime, “Have you heard of him?”
“Nope. Maybe Urahara would know?”
“Ehh, who knows. Besides, I’m annoyed at him right now. Maybe the Kyoraku would know. He’s been around since the Heian era, right?”
Never mind, Yuji found he could still be surprised.
As he was about to vocalize his very understandable confusion, the loud ringing of a phone interrupted the ongoing conversation. Ichigo pulled a flip phone-like thing out of his robe, putting it to his ear.
“Hat-n-clogs, where the hell are you?” Ichigo gritted out.
Despite the fact the phone was not on speaker mode, the chipper voice could be heard clearly as it replied.
“Maaa, relax Ichigo, we’re trying to get to you right now.”
Yuji had to do a double take as he heard this. This strange man spoke in the exact cadence as a certain blindfolded sorcerer, specifically when he tried to lighten up the mood with jokes that Fushiguro described as “shit.” This reminder of his missing teacher worried the boy all over again.
The conversation continued as the sorcerer shook himself out of his thoughts.
“What do you mean trying? We’re in-” Ichigo turned to Yuji.
“Shibuya.”
“We’re in Shibuya. I know Yoruichi could be here in a few seconds, so what the hell is taking you so long?” Ichigo’s frustration was visibly growing.
The man on the other end sighed. “Can you put me on speaker so Orihime can hear me too?” He asked.
Ichigo obliged, pulling the phone from his ear and putting it on speaker before directing it towards Orihime.
“Alright, she can hear you now.”
Orihime peered over, her positive attitude not quite diminished yet.
“Hi Urahara, do you know what went wrong?” She asked.
“Hi Orihime!” This “Urahara” person only had a small layer of cheer in his voice now. “The good news is that it looks like wherever you are is not going to collapse anytime soon. The readings I’m getting shows a remarkably small chance of a wider destabilizing event. In addition, any strange side effects you’re feeling are most likely temporary.”
“‘Most likely’ he says” Ichigo muttered to himself. “And the bad news?”
“Ah, about that…” Urahara sounded almost worried now. “You may be in Shibuya, but you’re not in our Shibuya.”
“I swear to the Soul King Kisuke, what does that mean?”
“It means that you got transported into an alternate universe, Ichigo.”
The conversation paused for a very long second.
“What!?” All four voices echoed together in Shibuya’s terminal.
“I can’t hold this connection for long, so you have to listen to me. Stay safe while I try to fix this. Rukia, Renji, Chad, and Uryu got sucked into the portal behind you. Find them, don’t die, and don’t cause the almost end of another plane of existence.” Urahara’s instructions ranged from obvious to insane, yet he was as serious as a funeral.
“Alright,” sighed Ichigo, “But I’m kicking your ass as soon as you get us back.”
“I’m honored for your faith in me.” Strangely, Urahara sounded genuinely touched by that statement. “Good luck Ichigo, Orihime.”
The phone beeped and turned off. Only then did the dimension travelers remember that Yuji was standing there alongside them.
“So...” Orihime started, “Do you know any place we could stay while we’re here?”
Before Yuji gave an answer, a nagging voice in his mind reminded him of something important.
“Wait a second. Ichigo, what did you say happened to Mahito earlier?”
“He touched me, got scared for a second, and then exploded into small pieces.” Ichigo replied uncertainly. “Why?”
Yuji’s heart sank. This entire time he’s been standing here talking, Mahito’s been on the loose, doing who knows what.
“Mahito can shape his own soul. He’s pulled that trick before to run away.” Yuji’s voice cracked in panic. “I didn’t realize because of everything else happening, but I’m sure now. He’s not dead, just hiding. We need to find him now!”
Ichigo and Orihime shared a look.
“I’ll be fine Ichigo,” assured Orihime. “Kon and I will take care of Nanami, go help Yuji stop Mahito. You know how dangerous his power could be.”
Ichigo winced, “Yeah, I do. I don’t like the idea leaving you though, so stay safe.”
He leaned over and gave Orihime a quick peck on the lips. After he pulled back Yuji could see the obvious blush dusting both of their cheeks.
‘Oh, so they’re like that.’ He thought to himself, slightly embarrassed.
He quickly shook himself out of it, he had to stay focused.
“There’s a medical station a few blocks from the exit. Look for the man with a lot of stuffed animals and a woman in a lab coat. She’s our nurse and can help heal Nanami.” Yuji told Orihime.
“Alright,” Ichigo said, “Let’s go.”
With that, Orihime and Kon carefully started moving Nanami to a safer location as Ichigo and Yuji began sprinting down the tunnel Mahito has disappeared down.
“Follow me, I can feel the residuals of his soul.” Ichigo didn’t slow down as he instructed Yuji.
“What? How?” replied Yuji, still very confused about the whole situation.
Ichigo looked back to the sorcerer following him.
“When he split his soul he must not have put it back together properly. He’s leaking traces of himself whenever he moves. All we have to do is follow that trail.”
Ichigo smirked, whatever this cursed spirit thing was, it was sloppy. Ichigo still couldn’t hide his reiryoku signature properly, but even he was taken aback by how easy it was to track Mahito. If he had pulled the splitting apart stunt in the past, he should already know how reform without hemorrhaging his soul.
Ichigo hummed to himself. Something wasn’t right. He already let this enemy escape once; if someone ended up getting hurt or dying because of something he missed? Ichigo didn’t want to be responsible for someone in another world dying, especially through negligence.
Yuji’s voice broke through his train of thought.
“Thank you for helping me,” He said.
“Don’t mention it,” Ichigo brushed it off. “I wasn’t just gonna let something like that run wild after I let is escape.”
Yuji’s expression darkened for a moment. Pausing to launch himself down a staircase, he spoke softly.
“I feel the same way.”
His expression cleared. “But still, you have no connection to any of us, or even this world. You could’ve stayed with Inoue and went off to find your other friends. I wouldn’t have blamed you.” Yuji smiled, “So I mean it when I say thank you.”
Ichigo smiled back. Rarely did he meet someone with powers as unashamedly kind as Yuji. He held a fire that reminded the shinigami hybrid of himself and his desire to protect others.
He hoped that the already haunted boy didn’t lose that flame.
“The hallway opens up ahead, I think I can see Mahito!” With his exclamation, Yuji picked up speed, sprinting at a pace almost every soul reaper not named Kenpachi would require shunpo to match.
Ichigo sped up in kind.
“Let’s kick his ass then.”
Nobara Kugisaki was getting really tired of this damn curse.
First, the smarmy bastard had taunted her none stop, but as soon as she landed a few good hits he decided to run like a coward. Of course she couldn’t just let him run off, so she chased Mahito down into the depths of Shibuya station, launching nails at him all the way.
Something strange happened though.
Partway through his mad dash, the patchwork spirit stopped acting so high and mighty. He winced as if struck, and as he turned a corner, Nobara was able to catch a glimpse of his face. His cocky demeanor was replaced by something she rarely sees on a cursed spirit.
Fear.
Someone or something had scared the sadistic spirit, and honestly, Nobara wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what it was.
Yuji warned her about this curse, and she knew it classified as a special grade. If something could scare him like that, something that wasn’t Gojo? The idea troubled her. There would no way to know if such a threat was friendly or hostile.
There would be no way to know if they could defeat it without her teacher.
The chase ended up leading her downstairs into what Nobara hoped wasn’t a trap. The look of fear wasn’t something he faked, but she wouldn’t put it past Mahito to still figure out how to lure her into danger.
Turned the corner into the lower level, she realized her mistake. When Nobara saw a second Mahito being followed by Itadori and running straight towards her, she knew it was over.
Maybe Mahito really was afraid. Perhaps something strong enough to scare him did exist, but it didn’t stop him from finding a way to ruin everything. The slimy curse still had a plan.
“Kugisaki!” Itadori’s yell was violent and unrestrained, grief and rage echoed in his word.
Seeing Mahito’s palm reach towards her eye, Nobara knew she was done for. Mahito was sadistic; there was no chance he didn’t try to make this as painful as possible. Maybe if she was lucky, she’d be able to say goodbye to Itadori. She could still have time to go out with a quotable line like the cheesy movies he watched.
Hopefully Gojo wouldn’t feel to bad after he was rescued, though of course he’d have to mourn properly of course, Nobara deserved that much at least. Would her family leave the small town hell to come to the funeral? Would Saori even know what happened?
The palm inched closer and closer. A certain finality moving in slow motion.
But it never reached her.
A moment before the hand reached her face, a blur of golden-yellow energy skimmed past her, slamming into Mahito's outstretched arm. Nobara didn’t even have time to think about the miracle that saved her before the impact and explosive release of energy left her ears ringing.
Crouched down to avoid the flying rubble, Nobara tried to make sense of her surroundings. Whatever that yellow thing was had the effect of a bomb going off next to her. Even though it didn’t it her, the shock wave knocked both her equilibrium and hearing out of order. With her ears were out of commission, she tried to remember the last thing she heard before the impact. It was an incantation of some sort possibly a cursed technique’s attack. It sounded like...
“Getsuga Tenshou.”
Ichigo lowered Zangetsu, relieved he had made it in time.
Based on what Yuji told him, if Mahito able to lay a single layer on the girl, she would have been killed swiftly at best, horribly disfigured and tortured at worst. Knowing what could have happened if he was even a second later scared him. Normally he wouldn’t even break a sweat defeating an enemy of Mahito’s level, but now? Whatever the hell the portal did to him left him weaker than he felt in a long time. The Getsuga Tenshou he released was maybe the same level as it had been when he started training with the Visoreds almost half a decade ago. Urahara said it would be temporary, but something felt wrong about falling so far behind.
What was stranger was the feeling that crept over him as soon as he released his attack. Although Ichigo’s extrasensory abilities were…lackluster to say the least (blame his insane reiatsu), he could tell something was off in the energy of the world. The energy Yuji and Mahito wielded was different than spirit energy in a way he couldn’t fully describe.
After his attack landed, the feeling increased tenfold, almost like this ‘cursed energy’ gravitated to the dip in his energy Getsuga left behind.
Ichigo forced himself to focus. Dwelling on this while he was still in an active battlefield would only get others killed.
After slamming Mahito’s copy into the wall, Yuji ran past Ichigo to reach his comrade. Pulling her to her feet, he brought her towards Ichigo.
“Can you watch Kugisaki?” Yuji asked. “I doubt Mahito died from your attack and I don’t want her caught in the crossfire.”
“I can take care of myself Itadori!” Kugisaki’s indignantly shouted, still clearly suffering from hearing loss. However, she lowered her head and sighed.
“I’ll go,” she said. “Just don’t you dare die.”
Yuji smiled with determination. “I won’t.”
Ichigo took Kugisaki’s arm and carefully started leading her back down the corridor.
As soon as he took his first step however, he stumbled. His vision closed in, almost to the point it went fully black. Stars danced across what little he could see, a wave of exhaustion slamming into him all at once.
Whatever caused his spirit energy to be bound so low had a greater effect than he thought. Even a low powered Getsuga was enough to drain what little energy he had left, leaving him to deal with all the side effects of reiryoku exhaustion.
“Ichigo!” Yuji’s panicked yell echoed throughout the passageway. He made a move towards his weakened allies, but he was rudely interrupted by an almost giddy voice.
“So you do have limits.” Mahito emerged from the dust slowly. Ichigo could make out the last stages of his arm’s regeneration, the limb having been blown completely off by his attack. A large gash across his torso seemed like it struggled to heal, but it didn’t stop the curse.
He sprinted towards the distracted sorcerers, reaching Yuji in a second. Before he could defend himself, Mahito launched him into the side of the hallway, having hit a devastating black flash into the pink-haired boy’s abdomen.
The spiritual pressure surrounding the curse seemed to spike in response as he looked almost intoxicated. The wound on his body finally began to heal, closing up as Mahito stretched his arm towards the Yuji. He grabbed the boy by the collar before slamming him into the ground face first. As his body rolled past Ichigo, he could make out the bloody gashes the rubble had carved into Yuji’s face.
Kugisaki tried to raise her hammer to attack, but she couldn’t stay upright long enough to line up a shot.
Mahito laughed maniacally, vindictive pleasure obvious for all to see.
“You almost scared me,” the patchwork spirit sneered, “But now I understand! Not even the demon hidden in your soul could kill me now! You’re too weak! All the fragile ideals that you and Yuji Itadori hold will die with you both!”
With a deranged shout, Mahito reached for Kugisaki. His left hand prepares to transfigure her as energy into his right fist, preparing to strike Ichigo.
“I will be the one who is still standing a century from now!” The spirit screamed as he rushed towards the fallen shinigami.
The substitute soul reaper raised his zanpakuto in an attempt to block before another presence grabbed hold of his energy.
Clap, clap, clap.
Ichigo found himself and the two sorcerers over a hundred feet from where they originally laid. Mahito still stood with his arms outstretched, confused at what just happened. In the new silence that had fallen over the tunnel, Ichigo could hear footsteps echo off of the walls.
“The bells of the Gion monastery in India echo with the warning that all things are impermanent.” A burly sorcerer wearing a similar uniform to Yuji and Kugisaki stepped towards them. “The blossoms of the sala trees teach us through their hues that what flourishes must fade.”
He stopped in front of the three bodies on the ground with a flourish of his own.
“However!” He yelled. “Sorcerers like us are the exception.”
Aoi Todo wandered the battlefield that was platform B5F.
Comatose civilians stood upright, dotting the platform along with the corpses of their less fortunate companions.
“These people,” the uncertain voice of Arata Nitta began, “They are alive, aren’t they?”
Todo ignored his question, examining the ground instead. A small crater in the floor held the greatest concentration of Gojo’s residuals, but the object being used to seal him had clearly been taken already.
“It looks like Suguru Geto has already left with Gojo trapped inside the prison realm.”
“You’re kidding me.” Nitta said, slightly panicked.
Todo snapped his fingers, cutting off any statement he might make. Nitta winced.
“Time for us to switch gears.” Todo declared. “Our goal has changed from fighting to reclaim Satoru Gojo-” He stood to full height, determination in his eyes, “-to fighting to save our allies and shave away as much of the enemy force as possible.”
“Our mission,” his eyes narrowed, “starts right now.”
Turning towards the exit, he motioned for Nitta to follow.
“Let’s go. My brother should already be nearby.”
‘He has a brother?’ Nitta thought to himself. ‘I could have sworn he was an only child.’
Exiting the east building of Shibuya station, the two Kyoto students could hear the sound of voices over the eerie silence curses had wrought over Shibuya. Searching for the source of the disturbance, Todo spotted what looked to be two bright haired teenagers carrying the shirtless, unconscious body of Kento Nanami. Cursed energy flowed throughout both, betraying their status as abnormal. Both of the teens had an unfamiliar tinge to their energy however, the boy’s in particular feeling empty in a way most didn’t.
‘There’s a new unknown on the battlefield now,’ Todo thought to himself.
Before they dragged his fellow sorcerer any further, he made his presence known.
“Halt,” his booming voice drew both of the potential curse user’s attention. “Who are you, and where are you two taking him?”
The girl started to say something, but the boy sneered as he set Nanami down.
“What’s it to you?” His voice was nasally, something that contrasted heavily with the rest of his appearance.
Todo prepared to fight against the unidentified curse users. The boy started towards him, only to walk headfirst into an orange barrier that had materialized in front of him, knocking him flat on his ass.
“Stop it Kon!” The other curse user chastised. “You have to be careful while you’re in Ichigo’s body. Besides, look at his uniform.”
Todo filed away this information. The strange feeling the orange haired boy’s cursed energy was because something else was inhabiting his body. This Kon creature was likely a summon, similar to Takuma’s technique perhaps? The barrier must therefore be part of the girl’s technique. It would be difficult if they still chose to fight, an offensive and defensive specialist working together was one of the oldest tactics in the book, yet it was so because of its ease and effectiveness. Boogie-woogie would disorient the two of them, but he would have to be careful not to draw Nanami into the crossfire.
The orange-haired boy looked closer at the uniform Todo was wearing. “Hey, you’re right! It looks like what Yuji was wearing. This must be one of his allies!”
‘Yuji? What did my brother get into now?’
“So I see you’ve met my brother. Mind explaining to me how you know him?” Todo asked.
“Ah, okay! My name is Inoue Orihime!” The girl spoke very animatedly. “So me and my boyfriend were helping our friend with an experiment but it backfired, and we ended up in a weird subway station. We noticed Nanami was standing there with a weird patch-face guy that Yuji called Mahito behind him, but we could tell this Mahito guy was bad news.”
Todo’s eyes widened. The girl’s rambles were troubling. If Nanami was just standing there with Mahito in his blind spot… Jujutsu society could have lost another good sorcerer today.
Inoue continued, unaware of Todo’s internal monologue. “Ichigo, my boyfriend, attacked Mahito and scared him off while I healed Nanami.” Her facial expressions turned somber. “His burns were really bad. If I hadn’t gotten to him, I’m not sure he would’ve survived another hour.”
Todo heard Nitta gasp behind him. So the situation really was dire.
“Then Yuji ran over because he thought I was hurting Mr. Nanami. Luckily we were able to sort out everything and he told us about what was happening here.” She slowed for a moment, almost as if trying to think out her next words.
“Our friend called Ichigo and I and told us that more of our friends are stranded here with us in Shibuya. Sometime during that conversation, Yuji realized Mahito wasn’t dead so he and Ichigo went to chase after him.” Inoue paused to catch her breath. “Nanami still needs medical attention so Yuji told me to bring him to a medical station above ground. Kon took over Ichigo’s body since he was helping Yuji, and he was helping me carry Mr. Nanami.”
Her expression shifted to something more sheepish. “Unfortunately I don’t exactly know where the medical station is. Could you point me towards it?”
The long winded story stunned both of the jujutsu users into a temporary silence. For as far fetched as it seemed, they believed the bubbly curse user. Her story didn’t have any glaring contradictions, and her claims about Yuji were entirely plausible.
Nitta was the first one to speak. “The station is set up on the expressway. I should go with you so the Principal knows you’re friendly.”
Todo nodded. “It would have been best if I could rely on you to aid any allies we came across, but we can’t risk a friendly fire incident right now.”
“Now,” he turned to the allies his brother had made, “Where did my brother leave off t-”
A wave of energy fell over the five of them.
Orihime gasped, “That’s Ichigo’s spiritual pressure! It felt really weakened though… I wonder what happened?”
“So that was your boyfriend’s doing?” Nitta asked.
“Hmm,” Todo began to smile, “He just gave me directions for exactly where to find them.”
He fell into a sprint, moving towards the epicenter of the pressure that passed over them.
“Hahaha,” Nitta laughed nervously. “There he goes...”
He faced Inoue. “Let me help with Nanami, with my technique I can stop any leftover wounds from getting worse. We’ll bring him to Ms. Ieiri afterwards.”
“Right!”
The newcomer stepped forward past Ichigo and Kugisaki.
“Glad to see I arrived just in time, brother.” His gruff words were directed towards the slowly standing Yuji.
“Todo?”
“Why of course, I couldn’t leave you to fight by yourself. We are jujutsu sorcerers. Every burden we bear, we bear together. If I failed to support you in your moment of need, I wouldn’t deserve to call myself a jujutsu sorcerer, nor your brother.” His declaration surprised Ichigo, it was rare to see someone his age with such strong convictions.
Next to him, Kugisaki groaned. “Is he still going on with the whole ‘Itadori is my brother’ shtick?”
“Is he not?” Ichigo inquired.
“Nope, dude’s just straight up crazy, and not even in the way most sorcerers are.” Kugisaki slumped. “I can’t say I’m not happy he’s here though. Todo and Itadori are monsters when they fight together, I almost feel bad for the damned curse.”
Todo turned to look at the soul reaper, recognition apparent in his eyes.
“You must be Ichigo, right?” He questioned. “Inoue and Kon said you helped my brother and his mentor. For that, I thank you.”
“You saw Orihime?”
“She’s alright.” Todo assured him quickly. “My comrade is bringing her and the one taking care of your body to our triage point.”
His face turned deathly serious. “Thanks to her, I don’t need to ask what your type is, I know you’re an interesting man enough already. I believe we will get along well.”
Exacerbating Ichigo’s confusion, Kugisaki chimed in as well.
“And somehow I thought he learned proper social skills. Why did I even bother?” She sighed.
Mahito extracted himself from the rubble Todo had teleported him into. The spirit looked like a wild animal, ready to slash and tear at a moments notice.
Yuji and Todo (who also tore off his shirt for some reason?) settled into fighting stances.
“Ichigo,” Yuji pleaded, “Can you get Kugisaki out of here? Leave Mahito to us.”
“Will do,” Ichigo nodded firmly. “Good luck.”
“Alright then!” Todo yelled towards Mahito. “Bring it on cursed spirit!”
As the fight started in earnest, Ichigo finally regained enough strength to pull both himself and Kugisaki to their feet. Lifting the girl he’d been entrusted with saving over his shoulder, Ichigo used a weak shunpo to escape before the battle roped him into it.
Even as Kugisaki protested at being treated like a sack of flour, only one thought existed in Ichigo’s mind. In the heat of the moment, he didn’t realize the oddity, but now that he was out of danger? He could only ask one question.
‘How the hell can Todo and Kugisaki see me too?’