That Nostalgic Summer Rain (Bleach/Kara no Kyoukai)

[X] Leave it. It's not explicitly something needed right now, and maybe it would do Fujino some good to just wait here.

Stepping out of the small room, Fujino turned her head to the direction she remembered Kurosaki sitting in.

"You wanted to see Tatsuki next, Kurosaki?" Fujino asked.

"Yeah, hold on." Kurosaki replied. The sound of her feet hitting the ground echoed slightly, and she started walking in Fujino's direction. Asagami moved away from the door, briefly looking back to wave to Tatsuki again, and let Kurosaki pass. The door shut, and Fujino started walking to where Kurosaki had been sitting.

"It's a bit of distance to go, you're fine." Kon informed her. Fujino took a few steps forward, and then paused to feel around again. The two of them repeated their actions another three times, before Fujino found the seat.

Sitting down, Fujino took a slow breath, trying to relax.

"...So..." Kon muttered, awkwardly. "First name basis, huh?"

Fujino took a moment to realise what Kon was talking about. She had just referred to Tatsuki by her first name in front of everyone, hadn't she?

"Tatsuki thought it was appropriate." Fujino replied. "Even if we don't know each other well, we talked about a lot. At this point, it'd be strange not to, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose." Kon admitted. "I should probably get out of the habit of using first names myself. I got used to calling her Tatsuki because Ichigo did it and I needed to fit in but if Karin doesn't want me referring to her with her first name, I imagine that Arisawa wouldn't want me doing it either."

Fujino hummed, not really sure how to respond.

Well, the small talk was nice, she supposed. It was a little awkward, given how she and Kon were strangers who knew some of each others secrets, but some conversation to pass the time wasn't something Fujino was going to turn down.

Now if only she knew how to continue the conversation. Kon appeared to be having similar issues, given how he wasn't talking either.

"...So, how do you think of Karakura?" Kon asked. "I mean, you probably haven't seen much beyo- Well, you probably haven't seen an- I instantly regret this, I should start again."

"I understand what you mean." Fujino replied. A topic of conversation was in there and it was best to move onto that. "Karakura is okay, from what I've experienced. It hasn't been much, admittedly, but beyond the Hollows, it seems like a nice place. I'll admit that the Hollows would be a dealbreaker usually, but I imagine it must not usually be too big an issue if people are capable of living here."

"Yeah..." Kon replied. "I mean, Karakura's a big place, and from what I understand, Hollow's attacking random people isn't a common thing. Usually, ghosts have to linger for a while before going Hollow, and a lot of the time they get eaten by another Hollow first. Or they go after someone who has a lot of spirit power and they know how to deal with the problem."

"I see..." Fujino mused. "Still, Tatsuki was attacked on my first day here, and she didn't know anything about Hollows before. So they do target normal people, sometimes."

"Oh, yes, that happens." Kon acknowledged. "As I understand it, places like Karakura usually have a Shinigami on sight to rush in to kill Hollows, save people, cover up evidence so normal people don't realise, so on. I... Don't really know what's going on with all that with all the recent stuff going on, so I dunno if there was a Shinigami in the area. Wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't, but also wouldn't surprise me if they noticed you and decided it wasn't their business."

"So most normal people are reliant on some supernatural who aren't reliably around?" Fujino asked.

"...I admit, this sounds bad." Kon admitted. "But like, Ichigo had a bunch of spiritual power and didn't run into any Hollows for most of his life. Shinigami usually have it handled. Still a bit of a higher death rate than most places, yeah, that's not great. Like, car crashes cause as many deaths in other places."

"It's not nice to think about." Fujino mused.

"I suppose not." Kon admitted.

The two of them lapsed into silence again, and Fujino took a moment to silently regret the fact that, even when trying to not think about the various issues she'd faced since coming to Karakura town, she'd still ended up talking about Hollows.

Thankfully, before either of them were required to think of something new to say, a door opened.

"I'm done." Kurosaki said, as she shut the door behind her. She took a few steps towards Fujino before stopping.

Belatedly, Fujino realised she had taken Kurosaki's chair.

"I can move if you-"

"It's fine." Karin interrupted. "There's other chairs. Just lemme grab that."

She took some more steps forward, before picking something up.

"May as well keep reading." She said, before moving a few steps away and sitting down.

There were three people in the room now, and somehow, there was still no conversation. At least Kurosaki seemed satisfied with the arrangement, she had a book to read.

"I don't suppose anyone has seen anything in braille around here?" Fujino asked.

"Nope." Kurosaki replied.

"Sorry." Kon added.

Well, so much for that idea.

There was nothing else for it, then. Resting back in her seat, Fujino simply focused on her breathing for a while. Conversation wasn't going to happen and she had nothing better to do, so that just left resting.

Time passed. Kurosaki read her book. Kon didn't really do anything. Neither did Fujino. Tsukabishi popped in to check on Tatsuki a few times. Fujino wasn't keeping track, but she thinks it was the fourth check, where he finally declared that Tatsuki was fit to move about as she pleased.

Grabbing the cane that she had left resting against the wall, Fujino stood up.

What time was it, now? It must have been sometime in the afternoon now. It occurred to Fujino that she hadn't eaten lunch yet, and Tatsuki wouldn't have had the time to eat either.

"Hey, everyone." Tatsuki said, as she stepped into the room.

"Hello, Tatsuki." Fujino repeated.

"Hey, T-Arisawa." Kon mentioned. "Glad to see you're okay."

"Ich-" Tatsuki began, before cutting herself off. "Kon, I mean. Kon. Why are you here?"

"Just wanted to confirm you were okay." Kon replied. "Also because I don't know if Ka- Kurosaki's done interrogating me so I have to stay where she is."

"It's good to see you okay, Tatsuki." Karin noted. "I know I said that earlier, but it's worth repeating."

"Thanks." Tatsuki replied.

"Well, now that I know for sure, is there any reason anyone wants me to stick around?" Kurosaki asked. "Otherwise, I'm going to head home. Today's been a few revelations and I want to just go lie down and think for a while."

"Am I off the hook, then?" Kon asked.

"For now, I guess." Karin grumbled. "You still need to give me more details on the thing you mentioned earlier with the Grand Fisher thing."

"That's really Ichigo's story to tell, I think." Kon replied.

"And he's not exactly here now, is he?" Karin pointed out, as she stood up. "Anyway, see you later."

"Bye." Tatsuki said. Fujino waved her farewell, and the girl moved to leave. A moment later, Kon stood up as well.

"I should go too." He said. "I, uh, don't really have anything to do, but I imagine you don't want me around much more, Arisawa."

"Not particularly, no."

"That's fair." Kon accepted. "I'll just, uh, leave."

His footsteps rushed away and faded into the distance before too long.

"I imagine the two of you will want to leave as well?" Tsukabishi asked. "Or do you have any other business here?"

"I don't think so." Tatsuki replied, before pausing. "Or, wait. Do you know why I can suddenly see ghosts really well? Like before they were a vague outline, but earlier today, I saw one that was completely solid. Or, well, solid looking."

Tsukabishi hummed, thinking it over.

"Being able to see ghosts is a mark of spiritual power." He explained. "And the method Urahara had prescribed to prevent the familiars from consuming your memories was, essentially, flushing your body with trace amounts of spiritual energy to replicate the protective effect that people can channel naturally. Perhaps, between that energy, previous experiences with the supernatural that you forgot, and simply being around the likes of Asagami, your soul has adapted to develop that level of supernatural power naturally."

"Huh." Tatsuki replied. "I have no idea what that means, but basically taking magic pills and sticking with Fujino gave me the power to see ghosts, I guess?"

"I'd imagine that would be the cause." Tsukabishi replied.

"So are there any side effects of that?" Tatsuki asked. "If I keep eating the anti-fairy pills, will I end up making my soul explode or something?"

"No, no." Tsukabishi assured her. "They shouldn't have any effect at all. The only other effect I could imagine is that your body would adapt to having spiritual energy and allow you to actually fight Hollows to defend yourself against them."

"Well, that's neat." Tatsuki replied. "At least I'll be able to punch a ghost in the face if they try to eat me in the future. Anyway, let's go, Fujino."

The purple haired girl paused. "That seemed like a bit of an underreaction." She noted.

"I'll think about it later." Tatsuki replied. "It's like we said earlier, we should really relax, talking about punching Hollows isn't going to help with that. I can think about it after the movie."

"I see." Fujino noted. "Farewell, Tsukabishi."

"Goodbye." The man replied.

Tatsuki said her goodbyes as well, and the two girls made their way out of the store. Fujino didn't notice Urahara on the way out, or the two small children, but they presumably had things to do.

"So, movies." Tatsuki said. "You said there was an American horror movie you wanted to see the sequel to?"

"If it's there." Fujino mused. "Do you have any preferences?"

"Not really." Tatsuki replied, with a shrug. "It's just that I don't usually watch horror, so like, am I going to need to know anything from the movie before to get any idea what's going on?"

"I don't think so." Fujino replied. "Perhaps it's just the ones I'm familiar with, but don't horror movies rarely have recurring casts? Beyond the antagonists, they usually either leave the last movie's survivors away from the plot or kill them off early."

"Yeah but, is this one of those horror movies where there's some elaborate rules to the scary thing, or..."

"There's a man with a knife who won't die." Fujino summarised.

"Got it." Tatsuki replied. "Nothing complicated."

As the two went outside, Tatsuki's footsteps slowed, and she sighed.

"What is it?" Fujino asked, turning back to her.

"It's getting cloudy." Tatsuki noted. "Might rain later, or tomorrow."

"Should we go find a few umbrellas before we continue, then?" Fujino asked. The rain was hardly unpleasant, but if she got soaked before she got to the hotel, it would take time to dry herself off before going to sleep.

"Shouldn't be an issue, probably won't rain until after the sun sets, I'd guess." Tatsuki replied. "And if not, there's a bus route near the cinema, so we can get around without getting caught in the rain."

"That's alright, then." Fujino noted. Tatsuki started walking again, and as she overtook Fujino, the girl with purple hair followed her.

Time passed. The two girls spent some time together, and enjoyed the movie. The sequel wasn't as good as the original, which was a rather disappointing constant, but it was a good movie. Afterwards, the two girls got some lunch, and spent some time simply talking.

"You said you practice Karate, Tatsuki?" Fujino asked, as the two of them simply wandered around. "What's it like?"

"Not really much to say about it." Tatsuki replied. "Most of the time it's just going through the motions. Doing tournaments is pretty fun, though. It's pretty cool to test myself against some other people who know what they're doing. And I mean, it's a good feeling when you win."

"I suppose." Fujino mused. She wasn't much of a competitive person herself, so it wasn't something she related to that much. The closest comparison she had was that rush she got when killing someone, and that was hardly the same thing. Fujino felt like she would have heard if martial arts tournaments involved fights to the death.

"So, what about you?" Tatsuki asked. "You said you went to Reien, right? That's one of those really fancy academies, isn't it? The uniform you and Ouji have certainly looks like it."

"I don't really have anything to compare it to." Fujino replied. "But calling it fancy would be one way of putting it, I think."

"So, that whole thing where you had issues with the idea of hiding in a bush because it was undignified, was that something you picked up Reien, or were you just always like that?"

"What do you mean by that?" Fujino asked.

"Well, it's like..." Tatsuki trailed off, trying to think of how to put it into words. "If you're hiding in a bush to listen in on someone, being undignified or getting dirty, those aren't exactly things that most poeple think about. Usually they just need to listen in on something and don't care beyond that."

"But what would people think if they found out?" Fujino asked. "People would think less of you if they found out you were listening in on other people's conversations, wouldn't they?"

"Well, the idea is that people wouldn't find out." Tatsuki pointed out.

"Why take that risk, though?" Fujino asked. "Besides, if someone say dirt on your clothes, they'd think you were doing something suspicious."

"Or just tripped over or something." Tatsuki replied. "And most people wouldn't look close enough to notice, or care."

"People at Reien would." Fujino retorted.

"Ah, I see." Tatsuki concluded. "It's the difference between someone who goes to a normal high school and someone like you who goes to a fancy one."

"I suppose so." Fujino sighed.

Tatsuki didn't reply for a moment, and when she did speak, she changed the topic again.

"It's getting kinda late." Tatsuki noted. "Didn't realise how late it was when we ate. Should probably head home before it starts raining."

"Alright, then." Fujino replied. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Back to business soon." Tatsuki replied. "What's the plan for later, then? Get Ouji's stuff? Look for her somewhere?"

Fujino thought on it for a moment.

[X] "We can meet by the abandoned hospital again tomorrow, and see if Ouji's belongings are still there."
[X] "The graveyard sounds like it would be involved with the dead, so she might be there."
[X] "I might be able to find the Ley Lines Misaya knew about. They were in town, so we could meet around here tomorrow and start from here?"