[X] On second thought, perhaps she should stay a while. Perhaps she'd be allowed to see if anyone found out anything about the fairy.
"Urahara?" Fujino asked, turning away from the door again to the general direction she had heard the man speaking in. "You said that someone was having a look at the fairy creature that the girl had stumbled across, didn't you?"
"I told her to pass it on to Tessai, yes." Urahara confirmed. "Curious?"
"I would like to know more about it, yes." Fujino admitted. "Mysteries are rather annoying, I find, and I'd rather know what it is than let it be a surprise later."
"Alright, then." Urahara replied. "I'll let Tessai know you're curious, and tell him to send Ururu to get you soon."
"Thank you." Fujino bowed, slightly. "I will remain here in the meantime."
"Feel free to browse the merchandise." Urahara suggested, in an offhand tone. Fujino took a moment to realise what he had said, but before she could remind him of her blindness, he had started talking again. "Arisawa, follow me."
There was footsteps, and a door opened. More footsteps, a door closed. Someone muttered something on the other side of the door that Fujino didn't catch.
"In case it wasn't obvious." A boyish voice from nearby spoke up suddenly. "He wasn't being serious. He doesn't forget things, he just thinks he's funnier than he is."
Oh?
"I see." Fujino noted. "Urahara called you Jinta, didn't he? Is that what everyone calls you, or would you prefer a stranger use something more formal?"
"I don't care." He brushed off. "Call me Hanakari if it bothers you to be informal, but it's just a name."
"Understood." Fujino noted. Being formal would be more comfortable for her, with a stranger, so given the choice... "While I'm here, what merchandise does Urahara sell, Hanakari?"
"Here? Candy." The boy replied. There was the sound of a broom hitting the floor, and some footsteps. "Break time. But anyway, the supernatural stock's in the back, but there's probably not anything there for you. 'Less your ESP lets you leave the flesh and walk around as a spiritual body or something."
"Can ESP do that?" Fujino asked. She had only ever encountered ESP that had something to do with sight, be it her clairvoyance, her bending, or Shiki's...
Well, the terrifying power to kill anything, according to Shiki, had been based on her eyes seeing the flaws in existence. That fit the pattern.
"I dunno." Hanakari replied. "You're the only one I've met. Wouldn't be surprised, though. I've heard it can be done by some people and I've given up trying to figure out what kind of supernatural person can do what kind of supernatural thing. It'll give you a headache if you try to pay attention."
That was a rather simple way of looking at things, Fujino thought. But at the end of the day, it wasn't too different from her own stance of things, was it? She never went out of her way to figure out how her powers worked, or how other ESPers worked. Partially because, until now, the only way Fujino could ask about the supernatural would be to approach Ryougi Shiki, and that was not an option. But she had no interest in it regardless, hasn't she?
There was silence for a long time in the room, before Hanakari talked again.
"So." He began. "How important is that person you're looking for?"
Oh? How did he-
Right, he was right there while Fujino had been talking with Urahara, he would have overheard.
"She's important." Asagami replied simply.
There was silence for another long moment, before Hanakari spoke with a suspicious tone. "Who is she to you, anyway?"
"The student council president at my school." Fujino replied. "She's a very important member of the community."
"And you know her well?" Hanakari replied. "It doesn't sound like she's a friend, or anything."
"Why does it matter to you?" Asagami asked. "It's not as if it effects you, does it?"
"I was curious as to what kind of person would inspire you to stick around in a town full of Hollows even after knowing you're like candy to them." He replied. "And from what I'm hearing, it's not about the person at all. You're just an idiot."
Fujino paused. "...Excuse me?"
"If she was someone you talked to a bunch, you would've called her a friend or something." Hanakari noted. "Instead you said she was important the community. The community ain't important, if you're the one risking your life. If she's not someone important to you, specifically, then you should just leave and be safe. Therefore, idiot."
"I suspect that this conversation isn't going to benefit either of us." Asagami declared. "Please stop talking."
The rude boy huffed, but didn't try to argue with her.
He was right, on some level, but he didn't need to be so rude about it. It was true that Fujino didn't know Misaya that well. Technically speaking, it was likely that the girl would think Fujino herself was being overly familiar if she referred to her as Misaya in conversation. But it wasn't entirely about Misaya, Fujino had to admit.
Ouji Misaya was a girl who had lost two people close to her in so short a time frame, when just one death was enough to weigh heavily on a person. If Fujino could make a difference by interfering, then that was the right thing to do. Just because the two girls didn't know each other that well didn't change anything. Going out of her way to help someone through a difficult time, even with the amount of effort it was taking Asagami just to find her, that was just something that a good person would do.
Asagami Fujino was not a good person. She was a murderer who killed several people and enjoyed every second of it. At least one had done nothing to deserve it. Perhaps a second. Someone who took pleasure in the act of killing, to the point where a knife to her throat put a smile on her face, someone like them could not be a good person. But by acting as one, it would at least be proof that it was alright for Fujino to live, that she was capable of good.
The boy had been insulting, but his argument had merit. A normal person would not consider going this far for someone who they barely knew. Someone who would do such a thing could be accurately described as an idiot, perhaps, but accepting that was not going to change Fujino's outlook.
There was the sound of a door opening nearby, and Fujino stopped her train of thought to pay attention to whoever was walking through.
"Asagami?" Asked the voice of Tsumugiya, the small girl. "Tessai is looking at the familiar, and is ready to see you. Do you need assistance?"
"Just let me know when to turn to a door." Fujino replied, walking in the girl's direction. Her cane hit something solid in front of her somewhat, and feeling around, Fujino determined that there was a shelf of some sort there. Quickly finding a route around it, Fujino heard Tsumugiya move out of the way as she reached the door.
"He's in the basement." Tsumugiya advised her. "Not the training room, before that. There's stairs to your left, and it's through the door beneath them."
"Thank you." Fujino replied, as she started making her way towards said location.
Getting there took some difficulty, but not any more than stairs usually gave her. The door's handle was placed oddly high, but that only took a second to resolve.
"Excuse me?" Fujino asked as she stepped into the room.
"Ah, Asagami." A man's voice responded. "Tsukabishi Tessai, at your service. Kisuke tells me that you wanted to know about the familiar."
Kisuke must be Urahara's first name, Fujino noted to herself, as she nodded.
"It did come after me." She confirmed. "And I'm not entirely sure what a familiar is, anyway."
Tsukabishi paused, for a moment. "This might be something of a lecture, Asagami." He warned. "You may want to take a seat. There's one to your left."
Taking a step forward and closing the door behind her, Fujino took a moment to find the seat, and sit down.
"I'll try to keep this simple." Tsukabishi continued. "I've been on the receiving end of these lectures before. They can be painful."
"I don't mind." Asagami replied. "I'm planning to stay here until Urahara finishes fixing Arisawa's arm anyway. Take your time."
There was a moment of silence, followed by the sound of Tsukabishi clearing his throat.
"As ground work." He began. "I should discuss what Fairies are. Technically, there are a few beings in this world that would fall under that label, but I am sure you'll find the relevant description familiar. Small, flighty, possessing the ability to escape the perception of a normal human's eye, with a faint glow to them?"
Fujino nodded. There wasn't much to say, since it was obvious that this was a description of the being that Tsumugiya had caught and taken to this place.
"Moving on, and to be brief, we have familiars. Those with the right blend of supernatural ability can create a pact with a living being, or replicate one with their abilities for this purpose, to link their mind to it, control it, and give it orders."
"So this is what the fairy is?" Fujino asked. "Something that made a pact?"
"Not quiet." Tsukabishi continued. "I had thought so at first, but the creature began to degrade as I observed it. As far as I can tell, it is an apparition, formed from spirit energy to match a memory of one who had encountered a spirit."
"I'm not sure if I fully understand that." Fujino admitted. "Matching a memory? As in, someone is recreating something they had seen before?"
"It's complicated." The man warned. "Think of it as... Did your parents ever own a set of cookie cutters? That wouldn't be an inaccurate comparison. It's like you took the outline of a dog, or a small man, and put it in cookie dough to shape it, before baking it."
"I see." Fujino noted.
"This might not have been all too important." Tsukabishi admitted. "So to keep this focused somewhat, think of it like a puppet. Someone carved a fairy-shaped familiar, with enough skill in the tools to replicate the abilities of a fairy, while with enough sloppy craftsmanship that it was degrading at my examination. If that was an intentional feature or a triggered failsafe, and decent magician could have dissolved it well before I got any useful information out of it."
"So you did get some information out of it?" Fujino asked.
"I've determined it's purpose, at least." He confirmed. "It appears to be some form of memory eater."
"What?" Fujino asked. "I mean, memory eater? As in, it consumes memories? What effect would that even have on a person?"
"Removal of memories." He explained. "And the storage of them, it would seem. Perhaps more, but that would require another look to confirm. As far as I can tell, the fairies exist as a method of suppressing information. I'd put money on some kind of link, between whatever you were doing when you first encountered one, and the fact that it came for you."
What she was first doing? Fujino was looking for Misaya at a train station, at that time.
Which confirmed the theory that Fujino had, then. The rumour of fairy-like creatures in Reien before Misaya disappears, and then fairy-like creatures attempt to consume memories that belonged to people looking for Misaya.
And as a matter of fact, hadn't that girl in the doctor's clinic have a problem trying to remember passing by the train station around the time Misaya was likely to have passed by?
One thing was chance, and two was coincidence. Three different potentially connected links to these creatures and Misaya?
It could still very much be a coincidence, but at this point, it was for the best to assume that the link was there.
So, from there, the question was raised. What did that mean?
Was Misaya somehow the one making the creatures? Did she not want to be found, for whatever reason?
Or, as an alternative, were the creatures the work of someone trying to keep Misaya from being found?
That second possibility was a frightening one, Fujino thought to herself. There weren't many implications to the idea that invisible creatures had worked to keep Misaya away from anyone who would look for her, right after two people she cared about died within such a short time period.
She needed to look into this further, for Misaya's sake.
But before she could do that...
"If they can eat memories, then what's stopping it from finding me while I sleep?" Fujino asked. "I mean, it isn't as if I have any abilities that would keep me safe at night. Or any way to tell when they're coming when I'm not using my ESP, for that matter."
Tsukabichi was silent for a long time, before he gave his reply.
"Perhaps you don't have any outright powers that would defend you automatically." He began. "But people who possess supernatural abilities also have a habit of resisting supernatural abilities. Not complete immunity, but resistance. And any sort of memory effect has to overpower the target's spirit to work. It may come down to how powerful your ESP is. If you have enough potential, it could be that you would resist long enough for the disturbed energy within you to make you wake up. Otherwise, I could look into alternate solutions."
A matter of how powerful her ESP was?
If only Fujino had a benchmark to compare herself to, so she would know what powerful looked like for an ESPer. She could ask Tsukabichi, but information regarding her supernatural powers wasn't exactly something she wanted to give out easily. Especially one so closely linked to her murders.
Well, perhaps she was overly defensive there. She had tried to look into the murders herself, after the rumour spread that she might be connected to them, so she could hear the official statement. The bus driver's death was written off as a freak accident, with no information being shared that could link it to telekinesis if you knew it was a possibility, and while Fujino's kills were rather distinctive, the public were only told that the limbs were mangled.
As weird as it was to think, Fujino was hardly the only killed to leave mangled limbs in Mifune City. Which, now that she did think about it, was actually rather worrisome. What was going on behind the scenes there?
Well, that hardly mattered for now. What did matter was, as far as Fujino could tell, there wasn't a distinction in the public statements on her murders and the other murders, ones she had alibi's for, that any could be proven to be hers. The only thing that Fujino was giving away with this answer was that she had been somewhere on a certain night, and anyone could look into her recent records to find that out.
"I might have destroyed a bridge once." Fujino admitted, suddenly feeling embarrassed at the confession. "Nobody got hurt except me. It was, um, thirteen kilometres long. I'm not sure how that compares to most ESPers, but if you know anything, that might help determine how much power I have."
Tsukabichi didn't reply at first. As time passed, Fujino started to get worried.
"I hadn't planned on destroying the bridge." She commented.
"I am not judging." Tsukabichi answered a moment later. "I don't know the circumstances. I just... Don't think you have anything to worry about, Asagami."
"That is a relief." Fujino replied, trying not to think about how that was confirmation that she was stronger than most. Which, looking back, would probably explain Tsukabichi's silence. "Though, what about Arisawa? She had noticed and stopped the creature, and was there when a second one came for me. Would she be at risk?"
"That is fairly likely." Tsukabichi replied, his voice sounding distracted still. "I'll have to talk to Kisuke, after he is done with her. Maybe the two of you should wait until we find some kind of solution for that before you leave. Apologies for keeping you here for so long, as a side note."
"It's not a problem." Fujino replied.
"Speaking of which, Kisuke should be done soon. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, or would you rather wait for them upstairs?"
"Perhaps we should go upstairs." Fujino answered, as she stood up again. Reaching around with her cane, she took a moment to identify where the door and door handle were, and moved towards it.
In the time in which Urahara and Tsukabishi are talking amongst themselves, Tatsuki and Fujino have a moment to talk as well. What do they focus on?
[X] The memory consuming fairies, and if Arisawa has noticed anyone around her forgetting things recently.
[X] Hollows, dead souls, and the fact that Karakura Town has more ghosts than most places, apparently.
