บท 23: Chapter 23
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(General P.O.V)
Ash almost fell asleep in the bath tub. It had been long since his last shower and after getting some time to himself where he wasn't fighting for his life, he allowed himself to rest.
Feeling the sweat he had accumulated from fighting Lancer wash away was heavenly. He sighed after toweling himself dry, changing into a comfy Tshirt and shorts. What he wasn't sure of though was sleeping on the bedroll. Ash had gone camping before and was not a stranger to sleeping on the ground but still...
He sucked it up and sneaked in under the covers. The room he was in was next to Jinta and Ururu's and he could hear the loud snores from the young boy. Ash laughed a little before his thoughts naturally drifted to his predicament.
Ash sighed, placing his left hand behind his head and studying the ceiling over head. He allowed his thoughts to stray before bringing up the Ouroboros interface, to read up on the mission log. The whole thing was still very strange.
Especially the Temporal Units. He had used up a hundred of them to initiate a loop after dying a short time after the previous mission had been completed. This at least gave him a measure of control over the loops. Kinda.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
(Fulfill the terms of the contract offered to you by Urahara Kisuke.)
Rewards:
Quirk Evolution.
Vacation In A Chosen World.
Temporal Units: 140.
Time Loops remaining:- 5/5.
Commence Loop Mission?
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
He clicked on the Temporal Units column with his finger. The interface could be controlled using his mind as well but he preferred using his finger. It was almost like an assurance that he wasn't crazy everytime he felt the slight buzz under the pad of his digits.
The column opened up to one single line.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Next Initiated Loop will cost 200 Temporal Units.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Fuck.
The cost had doubled. And he only had 140 temporal units, not enough to revive him if he failed to escape this loop. Which meant, Ash only had 4 more chances left to live. He turned to his side and stared off into the dark.
"This sucks."
He said to himself.
There was nothing he could do to change the situation though. The only thing within his control was the effort he put into making sure he survived. That meant he had to begin his training and take his quirk usage to the next level.
Ash was now surrounded by soul reapers, powerful combatants who could go against Lancer and Rider and hold their own. Even Ururu was probably stronger than him. He might not possess Reiryoku like them but Ash had his legion ring which allowed him to fly, his hardening quirk and his small plasma knife.
There was surely something he could do with that. Right?
Ash drifted to sleep without knowing.
In another room of the house, a talk was happening.
"He could sense the left over spirit energy from the hollow."
Tessai told Urahara who was petting Yoruichi.
The cat opened up it's eyes and looked at Tessai, as if trying to see if he was joking. Urahara on the other hand, hummed.
"Mmmh. Just like I thought, our new friend is special."
He glanced towards the direction of Ash's room.
"And I have a feeling that Ash-kun has a lot more he hasn't shown us, hidden up his sleeve."
The next morning, Ash was woken up loudly by a vindictive Jinta. The kid had decided to make things tough for the teen. Ash did not like the boy either. Case in point, Jinta had been instructed by Tessai to help Ash move some unopened boxes containing new stock into the shop once the delivery truck had arrived.
Jinta had instead propped his feet on the bench next to the backdoor entrance to the shop, with a straw in his mouth and leaned back, watching as Ash worked. He had on a smirk on his face, as if daring the older teen to say something.
Ash sighed at his antics and tried his best to ignore him. At the same time he marvelled at how much strength he could now exert with his body. It felt almost endless. His muscles were hard and toned under the loose t-shirt he wore. This was another mystery of the Ouroboros interface.
Every loop he went through added to his increasing physical parameters. Though the effect was not linear, he was hopeful that after enough loops he would be strong enough to tank some of the blows that had killed him before.
"Hey, work faster will ya? Hats and Clogs expects us to be done by 1. So hurry up!"
Jinta commanded.
Ash turned to face the younger boy while fuming.
"Watch your mouth brat. I don't see you doing anything."
He only had a few more boxes then he could hopefully leave this heat and get something cold to refreshen his throat.
Jinta jumped to his feet, pulling Ash's attention to him.
"Ok! I've had enough, you weirdo!" The kid looked about ready to start swinging his fists.
"Not only did you take my room but now..."
"Oh so that's what you have been mad about."
Ash said to himself.
"Hey don't ignore me!"
The younger kid raged, only for him to fall silent as soon as Tessai's moustache peeked out of the back entrance. He saw Jinta spring to his feet from the bench and standing stiff.
"Jinta..."
Tessai asked lowly.
"I was just taking a break before carrying some more boxes! It's true!"
Ash raised his eyebrows at the shift in the younger boy's behavior. Tessai looked to him in question only for Ash to nod in confirmation.
"Yeah, he was only taking a short break." Jinta looked at him with a confused frown.
"We're almost done actually."
Ash pointed to his back where the truck was opened.
"Good." Tessai said.
"Why don't you go have a glass of water while Jinta and I finish up here?"
Tessai offered. Ash blinked and shrugged,
"Cool. Thanks."
He left the two to deal with unloading and entered the shop. A few minutes later he realized that Tessai had only traded chores with him. He was supposed to brew some tea for Urahara and a few guests that had come over. Carrying out the tea set, he stopped in place for a few seconds, eyes wide with surprise that he quickly hid.
Seated on the other side of Urahara were who could have only been Uryu, Rukia and Chad (Sado). Without the animated style, they looked so human. There were no exaggerated features like huge eyes in the case of Rukia. Just normal albeit attractive teens. They also looked to have been in a serious talk before Ash had crashed the party.
"Oh Ash Kun, come let me introduce you to a few people. This is Uryu, he's from a race of skilled Spirit energy manipulators called a Quincy."
"Hey why did you tell him that?!"
Uryu demanded.
"It's fine." Urahara waved away his concerns.
"The girl staring daggers at me is called Rukia, she's a soul reaper and last but certainly not least, the giant hovering behind the other two is Sado."
Ash nodded and waved.
"Hi, I'm Ash."
"They are Ichigo's friends."
Urahara added in a subdued tone.
"Oh."
Ash tried to act sorry, having already known that.
"You have still not given us a straight answer Urahara." Uryu said adjusting his glasses.
"I'm starting to think that this was a waste of time."
Urahara propped his elbow on the thigh of his leg,
"I am not saying it's impossible." And just like that, Ash was ignored. He shrugged inwardly and decided to do his job, pouring out tea for them.
"What you are saying is that we should not do it? Even after you yourself stated that apart from Hueco Mundo the only other place he could have been stranded in is Hell?"
Rukia's words made Ash stiffen.
What?
There was a possibility Ichigo was stuck in hell?
Sado noticed it but chose to say nothing.
"Rukia it's not as simple as you try to make it seem. You're assuming that you can just waltz in there and take whoever you want. I wish it was that easy but it is not."
Urahara replied reasonably. They could not dispute the logic so they simply kept quiet.
"If there's a way...if there's any chance at all, we should take it."
Chad gave his opinion.
Ash could not help but be moved by the silent confidence in his tone.
"Chad is right." Uryu added.
"It was my fault that this happened in the first place."
He looked down, tightening his fingers into fists.
"I have to make it right."
"Uryu..."
Rukia said, trailing off.
A few hours later they left after Urahara promised that he 'would look into it and start preparations.'
Right then, as the evening sun set, Ash was seated infront of Urahara. He needed to start being more proactive and seeing the main cast only intensified the fire lit under him. Things were happening and he needed to begin his own preparations.
After a good sushi meal, Ash was full and rested enough to tackle the first step of his preparations.
"You look like you have something to tell me Ash-Kun."
Urahara broke the silence.
Ash lifted his arm to the air.
"Not tell." He suddenly activated his Quirk, causing his hand to become jagged and rough, increasing in size and strength. Urahara's face showed a little surprise.
"Oh my, that is certainly impressive."
Ash lifted his other hand and activated the quirk as well.
"It's called hardening. A special ability I possess."
Urahara trailed his fan over the rough ridges and contours of the hardened limb.
"What an interesting ability."
He finally said, his mind running at high speeds, already coming up with theories and speculations on the functionality and limitations of such an ability.
Ash deactivated the quirk and lowered his hand.
"Do you know why I decided to reveal to you this ability to you?"
Urahara simply stayed silent, knowing he would get the answer soon enough.
"Because I sense a war coming. Something tells me that this will be a very eventful 6 months." He smiled, hardened his hand before clutching it into a fist.
"And I want to make sure that no matter what kind of shit you have pulled me into Urahara Kisuke, I will survive."
He stared deep into Urahara's eyes.
"And you're going to help me."
Urahara's smile spread across his face.
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