Chương 30: Chapter 30 - Acidwire
Circular lights manifested in the center of Jin's room above a wooden box meant for practicing jump height. The lights split apart, revealing Jin himself. Before anything else, he looked down at the box. Singed wood greeted his gaze, but it did not catch fire like he thought it might when he first came up with the idea of using the box to avoid burning his bedroom floor.
Next, he finally paid attention to the dull throbbing pain in his injured shoulder and turned his eyes toward it. His shirt was ruined, and sticky globules of blood coated the area. To his surprise, it already scabbed over and showed initial signs of healing.
'Either using the arms helped it heal, or my vitality has improved a lot since learning supernatural abilities. I'll have to wait to see which one is the case until I get injured again without using the arms to know for sure.'
While mulling over it, he stepped down from the box and pulled his shirt off, revealing his taut muscular frame in all its bloody and sweaty glory. He ambled over to his desk, opened a small drawer, and pulled out antibiotic ointment and gauze. Before he could start wrapping the wound, however, he heard the distant bellow of a hollow.
Facing his window, he realized it was the middle of the night. If he didn't know the general course of Bleach's storyline, he might have deigned to ignore it in favor of recovering. Unfortunately, he worried things might go awry due to the butterfly effect.
Summoning his phone into his hand, he clicked off the rewards notification and checked his inventory. He then pulled out the small pill bottle Urahara gave him previously.
'I should at least make sure nothing goes awry yet.'
Thinking such, he quickly bandaged his wound, laid down on his bed, and then swallowed one of the pills. His body quickly fell unconscious, but his soul form garbed in a white haori sat up. He briefly glanced at his shoulder and nodded to himself since the injury did not appear in his soul form.
Getting up from the bed, he left his body behind and walked over to the window. Out of curiosity, he tried sticking his hand through the glass without opening it. At first, he felt resistance, but then he felt his energy veins pulse slightly, and his hand phased right through the glass. Since it worked, he stepped out onto the windowsill, making his body phased halfway through the glass.
'Perfect time to test the idea I've had…'
Clapping his hands, Jin channeled magic and chanted, "Barrier Make: Barrier Board."
Just beyond the windowsill, a long translucent barrier formed. It looked almost exactly like a surfboard, but without the fins. He stepped out onto the board, trusting it not to fall after using barriers as footholds earlier. Standing on a floating board in midair put a smile on his face, but he quickly recalled his purpose and wiped away the grin.
Based on some of the magic theory he learned from Irene, Jin stood sideways on the board and extended his hand toward the front. Channeling some magic into the barrier, he willed it to move forward. It lurched suddenly, causing him to briefly lose his balance. The footholds he made held him place. Trying a few more times, he steadily moved forward and quickly adjusted. Then, he tried controlling the board by channeling magic from both hands, which aided his balance. Only a few minutes later, a white streak flew over the city toward Karakura Prefecture, wholly invisible to the eyes of the few people strolling about in the middle of the night. Unbeknownst to him, a red-haired girl in gothic attire noticed the movement, but then rubbed her eyes as though wondering if she was seeing things.
Hair whipping about in the wind, Jin flew over Karakura Prefecture toward the direction the hollow's bellow came from. Eventually, he arrived in the air above the Kurosaki clinic, albeit several stories above the ground. Immediately, he noticed Ichigo and Rukia running away from the clinic.
Jin raised a brow and thought, 'If the hollow showed up around here… and considering the timing… is it Orihime's brother?'
While watching Ichigo run off in his Shinigami attire while carrying Rukia on his back, Jin noticed a small black cat perched on top of an electrical pole. At first, its eyes followed the duo, but then it turned its head toward Jin.
"Hmm. Interesting," Jin mumbled to himself before turning his barrier board and flying down toward the power pole. Stopping close to the black cat, Jin nodded in greeting and asked, "Are you keeping an eye on them?"
The cat stared back at him without responding at first. A few seconds passed, but then it sighed and replied in a deep masculine voice, "I suppose there's no point pretending to be a cat with you, so yes, I'm watching them. Why are you here?"
"Just making sure nothing goes wrong. I'm going to go ahead of them if you want to ride along with me."
The cat hummed and glanced down at his barrier board with curious eyes. She then hopped onto the board and patted it with her paw a few times as though testing its sturdiness.
"You have an interesting ability."
"Yeah. It's both useful and fun. Anyway, I doubt you need a warning, but I'll move now."
The cat nodded in response.
With that, Jin controlled his energy and sped off ahead of Ichigo and Rukia without them noticing. He thought about trying to sense Orihime's brother on his own, but having a captain-level character with him could save him the trouble.
"Since I'm still not used to sensing Reishi, do you know where the hollow is?"
"A little bit further. I'll tell you when to stop."
"Thanks."
Less than a minute later, they hovered above a small house. An eerie aura rippled around the nearby atmosphere. Through one of the windows, he saw the hollow that almost looked like a naga. Within, he saw Orihime backed against the wall in her soul form. The chain of fate attached to her chest clinked with movement due to another girl with a tomboyish appearance shaking her unconscious physical body.
Jin arrived near the window just in time to see the hollow's claws slash at the tomboyish girl's shoulder. Then, the hollow slapped her into the floor with its tail. Struggling, she sat up against the wall. Blood dripped from her wounded shoulder. Unlike Jin remembered, the hollow that used to be Orihime's brother tried to stab her in the stomach instead of choking her.
Not wanting to see a young girl injured right in front of his eyes, Jin cast a quick barrier in front of her, halting the clawed hand in its tracks.
"You're going to interfere?" The cat asked in a deep and curious voice.
"Only enough to prevent accidental deaths. I'll let Ichigo take care of most of it, though."
"...I see."
To Jin's surprise, the hollow didn't notice him despite the barrier. Instead, it smacked the barrier with its tail and claws. Briefly, he made eye contact with the girl. Despite her fear of the situation, she raised her brows upon looking at the window. Her lips moved, but Jin didn't know what she was saying. Either way, it didn't matter. Orihime tackled her brother's arm to stop him from attacking her friend.
'I guess it's still going to script for the most part. It seemed like Tatsuki recognized I was over here, though. Does she already have some level of spiritual awareness?'
Instead of concerning himself with something unimportant, he looked down the road and saw Ichigo running toward the house from nearby rooftops. Since the orange-haired guy was running from the opposite side of the house, Jin didn't worry about being seen.
From outside the house, the voices of Orihime and her hollowed brother sounded like muffled noise. Since Jin already knew the gist of the conversation, he didn't bother trying to listen to it. Instead, he simply waited for Ichigo to show up and finish things. Of course, Ichigo showed up and stopped the hollow from attacking Orihime, though the claws stabbed him in the process.
Off to the side, Tatsuki tried to crawl toward Orihime's body, but the barrier stopped her. She touched it in multiple places with a puzzled and anxious expression. The movement briefly distracted Ichigo. The hollow didn't miss the opening and tried to claw at his stomach. A small barrier stopped the claws, though, surprising both Ichigo and the hollow. However, Ichigo quickly refocused, but then he saw Orihime's body and freaked out. The hollow's tail slapped him, which he barely blocked with his massive sword. Jin didn't bother stopping that attack, though.
Smashing through the wall, Ichigo tumbled through the air before sliding to a halt on a nearby roof. He stood up just in time to block acid spit from the hollow, but the attack knocked him off the roof. When he sat up in the yard by a fence, Rukia walked over to him and started talking to him. Meanwhile, the hollow grabbed Orihime and started talking to her.
While everyone else was distracted, Jin jumped off his board and into the living room through the wall. The hollow and Orihime had their backs turned to him, so he moved quietly. He walked toward Tatsuki and lit up his memory-replacing lighter in front of her face. When she fell over unconscious, he cast another defensive barrier around just in case before jumping back through the wall and onto his board.
"You didn't really need to do that," Yoruichi commented when he returned.
"I know, but it's the easiest way to knock her out and prevent unforeseen casualties at the moment."
"Fair enough."
From there, it mostly played out as Jin remembered, though Ichigo seemed to have a little more trouble cutting the hollow's tail than he remembered. When it retaliated, Orihime stepped in to stop him. They talked a little, and eventually, the hollow willingly let itself be cut by Ichigo's sword. Afterward, Rukia used her lighter on Orihime. She also moved toward Tatsuki, but then noticed she was already unconscious despite being fully conscious earlier. Suddenly, small barriers formed some written characters in front of her face, spelling out, 'Already got this one. You're welcome. Lol.'
Rukia whipped her head up and dashed toward the hole in the wall, ignoring Ichigo who was yelling at her in confusion about what she did to Orihime. Rukia looked around briefly, but eventually spotted a young man in a white haori looking down at her with a small smile on his face. He waved briefly, but then flew off into the distance like a bullet before she could say anything.
"What was he doing here?" Rukia wondered aloud. "I should mail him later to ask."
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