[X] Perhaps Karin could help Arisawa get answers from Ichigo? If Karin kept him occupied until Arisawa got to their home and cornered him, perhaps they could all get some answers.
Fujino took a moment to look at Kurosaki, thinking it over, before she spoke.
"Do you know what time your brother usually gets home in the afternoon?" She asked.
There was a pause, before Karin replied. "Ever since school went on break, he's been staying out late at night most of the time. Inconsistent on when he gets back, but usually late enough that he just eats dinner and goes to bed. And then he leaves early in the morning as well, and I have no idea what he does all day."
"Hey, Karin." Arisawa said softly, as if trying not to be heard. "She can't see when you shake your head."
"O-Oh, um, my bad."
Asagami didn't comment on the exchange, instead thinking things over for a bit.
"So, if you were going to make him talk on your own, what would you try?" She asked.
Kurosaki took a moment to reply again. "Well, I don't want to cause a scene late at night and wake up Yuzu and goatface, so I suppose I'd try to catch him in the morning before he leaves and hope I can make him talk."
Fujino considered the answer for a moment before she continued. "Wouldn't the rest of your family overhear it if you had a conversation in the house? It might be harder to get answers out of him regarding the supernatural if people who don't know are around."
"I suppose." Kurosaki noted. "Maybe I could get him out of the house for it. He's been distant, but if I make something up about some delinquents chasing kids out of parks, I could talk him into following me there to give them a beating over it."
"This could work." Fujino mused. "Assuming he didn't just leave once he knew it was a trick, and you aren't overheard. Arisawa, do you think you could make him talk if you found him?"
"Probably." Arisawa replied. "If he's trying to keep me in the dark on the supernatural, I know enough to make that pointless, and he shouldn't have any other reason not to talk."
"It might be best if you were there, then." Asagami noted. "Kurosaki, I assume, doesn't know anything direct about the secrets her brother has been keeping? But Arisawa has an example to use for the memory loss, one she was there for first-hand, so she may have better luck in that regard."
"That could work." Kurosaki mused. "I'd need to make sure Yuzu didn't overhear and contradict the story, though. Maybe fill her in in advance that I'm getting Tatsuki to help yell at him for avoiding everyone."
"I'm assuming you'd be dragging him to the usual park, then?" Arisawa asked. "I could probably be there... About seven or so in the morning, if that's what you're doing."
"That should be early enough to stop Ichigo from leaving." Kurosaki noted.
"Should I be there?" Asagami asked. "I don't know him so I wouldn't be of any help in the conversation, but if he does know anything relevant, I would like to know."
"Sure, tag along." Arisawa replied. "You have ESP, so maybe if you're on hand, it'll be easier to get him to talk about supernatural stuff."
"I would prefer not to give a demonstration." Asagami interrupted. "Or let many more people know that I have supernatural powers, unless it was necessary."
"We could just lie and say you've had experience with the stuff happening right now." Arisawa pointed out.
Asagami took a moment to stifle the kneejerk reaction to decline that, and thought it through, for a moment. If Kurosaki Ichigo did know anything relevant to the fairies, memory consumption, or Misaya, then Fujino wanted to be there for the conversation. Actually being able to ask questions was too important to have Fujino just hide.
Besides, there was two possibilities here. That Kurosaki Ichigo was hiding something about the supernatural, or that he didn't know anything. Assuming the former, someone who was trying to keep their secret from spreading wouldn't spread more secrets. And in the case of the latter, then they wouldn't even get that far in the conversation in the first place.
"So, that's the plan then?" Kurosaki Karin asked. "Get Ichigo to the park and get him to talk? What's the plan for that?"
"Start by bringing up how he's avoiding everyone." Tatsuki began. "Move in to how he's been acting weird for a while. Then bring in the supernatural stuff somehow, then the memory eating fairies, then how he seemed to be remembering that one thing differently."
"I'll bring up the whole seeing ghosts thing." Karin offered. "And-"
"The what now thing?" Arisawa interrupted.
There was a moment of silence before Kurosaki continued. "...Ichigo and I have been able to see ghosts since forever. Didn't you hear?"
"I thought that was just a rumour." Arisawa replied. "I'd asked him about it before, when we were kids. After- What, did he just lie to my face about it? Why didn't you mention this before?"
"It's easier to pretend they don't exist." Kurosaki replied. "There's probably nothing good to come from paying attention to the dead."
"Well, it looks like he's been keeping that secret for a while." Grumbled Arisawa. "...Or he did tell me and some memory thing happened so I remember that differently."
"Or I remember it differently." Karin pointed out.
"It's probably simpler to assume the least complicated possibility." Asagami pointed out. "I don't see why someone would alter your memories to make you think someone was involved in the supernatural, and I don't think we have seen any memory changes that would change enough years of memory to be 'Since forever'."
"Yeah, sure, why not." Kurosaki replied. "Probably easier to think that."
"And besides, I think we have enough to work off of now." Asagami replied. "Kurosaki talks her brother into coming to the park with her, Arisawa and I find the two of you, and Arisawa questions him why he's been avoiding everyone. Kurosaki brings up the ghosts and Hollows, Arisawa can mention the difference in memory regarding that one classmate, and if it looks like he knows something after those two points but doesn't say anything, I can bring up the fairies and say that anything he does know about the memory loss may be of help resolving this situation."
"If we need to do anything else, then I suppose we'll figure it out when we get to it." Arisawa commented.
"Alright, then." Kurosaki sighed. "Drag Ichigo to the park, get him to spill, then you guys deal with it while I go and forget any of this ever happened."
"Oh, hold on a moment Karin." Arisawa interrupted. "The fairies' memory eating thing, they won't be able to do that to you if you take these."
There was a moment without any speech as Arisawa, presumably, passed Kurosaki some of the pills she had gotten from Urahara.
"The guy I mentioned earlier, who actually knows about magic stuff? Says if you take one of those every twenty-four hours, they can't get you."
"Thanks." Kurosaki noted. "Just to be clear, though, you said they only chase people who're looking into that girl from out of town?"
"Or to cover up any information about her." Asagami added in. "How many did you give her, Arisawa?"
"About a weeks worth." Arisawa replied. "The old man with the hat said it's safe to take more than on every twenty-four hours and it might be risky to not double up, so just let me know if you need more, I'll take you to the storekeeper to go get more."
"Thanks." Kurosaki replied. "I should be getting home now, then. Need to talk to Yuzu so she knows not to tip Ichigo off."
"See you tomorrow, then." Arisawa said.
"Bye." Kurosaki replied in turn. Asagami waved her hand, until she heard footsteps running off into the distance.
"Well, tomorrow it is, then." Arisawa noted. "Do you have any ideas for finding your friend in the meantime?"
"Not particularly." Asagami replied. "If the fairies are keeping everything about her covered up, then I don't expect just anyone on the street to be able to say much. Unless she bought food at a supermarket at some point and got caught on camera, but I doubt we'd be allowed to look into that."
"She's got to be staying somewhere, though." Arisawa mused to herself. "Maybe it would be worth it to look into all the hotels and motels, and see if she's there. Or if the receptionists have any records of her."
Asagami took a moment to think about that. "When I go back to the hotel tonight, I'll ask again if they've seen her. Maybe if I ask whoever is at the front desk if they have a record to make sure, it'll lead to somewhere. But I doubt it. If Misaya is running away from the fairies, then I don't think she'd want to put people at risk of them, and if she was running with the fairies, I don't think she would be increasing how much work they need to do to hide her."
There was silence for a moment, as Asagami tried to think of what else she could do.
Perhaps she could try to find where there was a lot of fairies, and assume Misaya was around there? But that assumed the fairies weren't just patrolling with instructions. It could work, but there was ways in which it could go wrong, as well.
"Oh, uh, Asagami? Sorry for letting Karin know about you. I know you said not to mention you, I just didn't think it through."
Oh, yes, that had happened. Fujino had been distracted, but now that she remembered it, perhaps she should speak on that matter.
"I would appreciate it if you put more effort into not mentioning me, in the future." Asagami told her. "I've gone through a lot of effort to keep my ESP hidden. I made the mistake of letting you know when I first arrived here and saved you from that Hollow, but this trip in general has already involved too many people finding out. When I go home, I don't want to have to worry about more and more people finding out here."
"Hey, it's fine." Arisawa replied. "Anyone who doesn't already know about the supernatural won't believe it anyway, so-"
That was not the kind of answer that Fujino was looking for.
"Arisawa." She interrupted, with a more stern tone. "Perhaps I was too lenient when I told you about it. Perhaps it has given you the wrong impression of how much I would prefer this stayed a secret. I want to live my life as a normal person, as much as I can under these circumstances. The more people who know about my ESP, the more chance there is that something could happen to ruin that for me."
"...Is it that much of a sore spot for you?" Arisawa asked.
Fujino nodded. "Before I came to Karakua, only one other person knew about this. Between you, Kurosaki, and everyone at the candy shop, that number has risen far more than I am comfortable with."
Fujino hoped that the stern tone she had taken would conceal that one white lie hidden in her words. One person before this adventure, if you discard Ryougi Shiki, Araya Souren, and Keita. But the core point of Fujino's argument remained the same. She had only shown her power to Risu before this, and now it was known to six other people.
"Alright, then." Arisawa replied. "I don't get it, but I understand. I'll try harder not to slip up again. Promise."
Asagami let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. "Apologies for being snappy, Arisawa. This trip has been a little stressful. I hope I didn't come across as too rude."
"It's fine, it's fine." Arisawa replied. "...You know, if you really don't want to take that risk, you could sit out the conversation with Ichigo tomorrow if you want. We could probably get answers out of him without you."
"That would be nice." Asagami mused. "But if he does know anything that could be relevant to the fairies, I would prefer to be able to question him on it."
"I could try to make sure for you first." Arisawa replied. "Like, at this point I'll be surprised if Ichigo isn't involved in something supernatural, but you could hide in a bush nearby and I'll talk to Ichigo to make sure he does know anything about memory consumption or anything."
Asagami frowned. "In a bush?"
"Is there a problem with hiding in a bush?" Arisawa asked.
"Wouldn't that be somewhat..." Fujino took a moment to try to fumble for the words. "Undignified?"
Arisawa barely stifled a chuckle, at that.
"If you find something amusing about the situation, I don't see it." Asagami frowned.
"Ah, nothing, don't worry about it." Arisawa replied.
Fujino decided to worry about it. "I feel like it'd draw too much attention if I got some leaves stuck to me, or dirt on my clothes, and didn't notice."
"Hide behind a tree or a rock, then." Arisawa replied. "Or hell, just stay in the distance and I'll come and get you if it turns out Ichigo knows something. If you're overly worried about too much about you coming out without a good reason, we could find some way to let that happened. What do you want?"
Well, thinking about it rationally, it would be more concerning if more people knew about her ESP without reason, then if she looked a little dirty. So it was a possibility, even if it complicated things. Perhaps it was worth considering?
It didn't take much to reach a conclusion, though.
[X] There wasn't much purpose to it. It'd be easier to be part of the conversation while the information is being explained firsthand.
[X] It was better to be safe than sorry. Asagami could wander around away from the conversation and wait for Arisawa to call her.
