MEOW!
Inside Urahara Shop, the black cat on the shelf puffed up, bristling at the surge of spiritual pressure.
MEOW MEOW MEOW! MEOW MEOW MEOW!
"Huh?"
Tessai Tsukabishi paused mid-lift, arms full of crates.
"This reiatsu... why does it feel familiar?" Urahara Kisuke narrowed his eyes, trying to place the sensation.
Tachibana Yu opened his eyes with a smile and could not resist testing the other abilities, starting with Reiatsu Burst.
With a sound no one quite heard, BOOM, his raging spiritual power flared at once, like blue fire blazing in the air.
The classmates could not see it, but they felt the pressure. Breath caught in throats around the room.
Inoue Orihime whispered, "My chest feels tight..."
Arisawa Tatsuki said, "It's because your chest is too big, right? But why am I suffocating too..."
Asano Keigo groaned, "My head's spinning. Why does my body feel so heavy..."
Only Kurosaki Ichigo saw it, the blue flames licking off Yu like burning air. Yu lifted a finger to his lips for silence, drew the pressure back, and tried Soul Control.
With a thought, his soul slipped free of his body. In the next instant he stood in a shihakushō, a Soul Reaper once more.
He glanced back. His physical body lay face-down on the desk, vacant.
"My soul separated that easily?"
Excitement stirred. In the original timeline Ichigo had faced eighty-one tribulations just to step out of his body, and now Yu did it with a thought.
He licked his lips and set a hand to his heart, ready to draw out that eighty-meter blade for a look.
Ichigo could not hold it in. He coughed hard.
COUGH COUGH, COUGH COUGH COUGH...
Yu gave him a flat look. "You dying?"
Ichigo nearly exploded. He was trying to stop Yu from pulling the sword and slicing the school in half.
The interruption worked. Yu let the plan drop and instead tried actively absorbing ambient spirit energy.
In Soul Reaper form, it was far faster than as a human. Normally he earned two hundred points a day. Like this, he could reach three hundred at least.
Just then, a black-haired girl entered the classroom. Polite and poised, she smiled and greeted everyone.
"Hello."
"Hello, I'm the new transfer student."
"Hello."
Mid-greeting, her eyes went wide. She gaped at the Soul Reaper boy sitting on the windowsill.
Yu noticed Kuchiki Rukia too and grinned. "Yo, Rukia. Morning."
"Morning my foot..." Rukia snapped back to herself and rushed him, seizing his shihakushō to inspect it. "It's real, a shihakushō. But how did your soul separate? You're human. You can't do that under your own power..."
AHEM!
Ichigo coughed loudly, derailing them.
"What?" Rukia scowled at him.
Ichigo flicked his eyes toward their stunned classmates.
Only then did Rukia realize it. Yu was in Soul Reaper form, unseen by the class, but she was wearing a gigai and fully visible.
Which meant to everyone else, she looked like she was grabbing at thin air.
Her face went scarlet. She wanted to sink through the floor.
Humiliating. Completely humiliating. Centuries old and she had forgotten something that basic.
"Rukia..."
"Shut up."
Teeth clenched, she showed Yu a few words written on her palm: Obediently come with me, or I will kill you.
...
Arisawa Tatsuki watched the three leave and frowned. "Didn't they say the transfer student just arrived in Karakura today? Why does it feel like she already knows Yu and Ichigo?"
Asano Keigo jogged over, excited. "Maybe Yu ditched Miss Kuchiki in the past, so she came to hunt him down..."
"No," Inoue Orihime cut him off, cheeks pink. "I don't believe Yu would do that."
"Why not?" Keigo blinked.
Head down, Orihime murmured, "Yu is really kind. Gentle and good-hearted. He would never abandon anyone."
She remembered her brother's death, how she had sobbed in the rain. Helpless, until Yu braved the storm to help her, working through the night and going home at dawn.
He caught a fever after and could not get out of bed for days.
In the years since, Yu had visited often to help the girl living alone, as he jokingly put it, "assisting a cute maiden."
The more she remembered, the redder Orihime's face grew.
Keigo slunk off to nurse his wounded heart.
Tatsuki eyed her friend. "Orihime, don't tell me you like that womanizer."
Orihime glanced at her, still blushing.
Her best friend scowled. "Don't let that player fool you. He's nice to every pretty girl."
She remembered, too. Back when she practiced karate, her strength kept injuring partners by accident, and no one wanted to spar with her.
When she was at her lowest, Yu showed up with a bright grin. "Tatsuki, I'll train with you."
He became her dedicated partner, working through forms together. Inevitably there was contact. Over time, he would ruffle her hair or pinch her cheek...
Dragging her thoughts back, Tatsuki's face flushed. "Anyway, Orihime, Yu is a big bad guy. He likes any pretty girl he sees. Keep your distance."
Orihime stared at her in dazed wonder. It was the first time she had ever seen her best friend blush.
A thought popped into her head. She said blankly, "Tatsuki, do you... like Yu-kun too?"
THUD!
Tatsuki's face turned crimson. She flailed. "As if I'd like that womanizer. Absolutely not. He only likes those voluptuous, big-chested women."
...