Days had passed and I was healed up enough to move properly. I considered the fact that I was special with such healing speed, but Yumi and her father's lack of reaction told me that either it was something quite common over here or they had aided in my healing speed.
I still hadn't gotten a proper explanation about how exactly I had healed so quickly, but I wasn't complaining about it either since being stuck in bed for longer would have gotten annoying.
Walking out of the door of the house for the first time, I noticed how the surroundings looked. Almost normal if one didn't look too closely. The houses were mostly wooden and some of them looked like they could fall apart if someone leaned against them too hard, while the roads weren't exactly what I would call proper roads either. There were people moving around, children running between the houses and adults doing whatever they needed to do.
I had never been one for details, so I stood up from where I crouched and prepared to head out for some exploring when the sound reached me.
"Eek!"
And then the impact came.
I was knocked down by a running figure. I barely had enough time to realize what was happening before my back met the ground. The figure got up almost immediately and looked back at me.
"Sorry."
Apologizing, they hurried away again, and soon enough four other boys ran past me in the same direction as the other. I stood up grumbling and turned to meet another adult running as he was shouting, and I quickly got out of the way.
I watched the man continue after them before looking down at myself.
Ugh, I've barely been conscious for a week and I'm already getting assaulted.
At least I wasn't injured this time, although that would have been pretty embarrassing considering I had only just recovered. I brushed myself off and decided that whatever was happening wasn't really my problem. I didn't know these people and I definitely wasn't interested in getting involved with whatever trouble they had managed to find.
I left that place and headed elsewhere, where I came to a wooden structure that had seen better days. It was probably someone's abandoned building or maybe it was still being used, but there wasn't anyone around so I decided it was good enough for me. The wood creaked slightly when I leaned against it, making me wonder how long the place had been standing like this. The whole area felt rough, but there was still something strangely familiar about it.
People seemed used to living like this, and judging by the children running around, none of them seemed particularly bothered by their surroundings. I couldn't help but wonder how different this place would look compared to the rest of wherever I had ended up. For now, though, I had more important things to figure out than the quality of the buildings. Sitting there to gather my thoughts, I was about to close my eyes when a figure approached me with fiery red hair.
Not that such hair was something rare, with how diverse the hair colors were around here, although I already knew where I had ended up, it still made it obvious. I had ended up in an anime world after all. Only anime or manga had as much diverse hair colors.
I looked at the boy as he approached me. He looked young, probably around my age, and his red hair immediately made him stand out despite the fact that I had already gotten used to seeing unusual hair colors since arriving here.
He walked up to me with a stoic look on his face. Not sure how a child could look stoic, but somehow he managed it. There was something strange about the way he carried himself too, almost like he was trying to act older than he actually was.
"I passed you by earlier. Sorry for running into you."
I was confused. After all, I was sure he wasn't the one that had run me over, so I asked.
"You didn't run me over, so why are you apologizing?"
His face showed hardship, as if he was having an internal discussion about whether or not to tell me why. His eyes moved away for a moment before returning to me, and I could tell that whatever he was thinking about wasn't something he wanted to explain.
"Well, she helped us escape from the person chasing us when she ran into you."
My expression hardened. I was very lenient, if I could say so myself, but this form of apology didn't move me one bit. After all, to take his word for it, the culprit never bothered to return, and I was about to speak when his voice pulled me back from my thoughts.
"I apologize for our behaviour."
To my surprise, he was bowing in apology. Not a servant's bow, but more like a subordinate at a company having to bow in apology to their superior. I couldn't help but be suspicious. After all, in a place like District 78 there was no way someone would just apologize for running me over.
There had to be an underlying reason.
"We don't want you causing trouble for us because of what happened."
They were more worried about me snitching, not sure if that word even applied here. I stretched my stiff bones as I got up and looked at him properly.
"Okay, okay. I've forgiven you, I guess. But why were they after you?"
"We... we were out to get some water for our group."
I ignored the rest of his explanation and then spoke.
"I'm Jinsei Yoshinobu. And you?"
He looked at me with a strange expression, and I couldn't help but clarify.
"I just want to know your name, kid. No other reason."
He looked at me in confusion.
"But you're a kid too, aren't you?"
I ignored the fact that he was right.
"Renji. My name is Renji Abarai."