Bleach: Spirits Are Forever With You

Part 1

Chapter 1

Present day | Karakura Town, Tokyo Metropolitan Area

The night air in Karakura Town was crisp, carrying with it the faint scent of winter. Christmas lights twinkled along the bustling shopping streets, casting a warm, festive glow over the town. Asano Keigo and Kojima Mizuiro were making their way home after a lively Christmas party. The streets were still busy with last-minute shoppers and groups of friends enjoying the holiday spirit. Keigo, however, was far from enjoying himself.

Keigo ran a hand through his hair—or rather, what was left of it. His fingers grazed the prickly edges of his new mohawk, and he winced, still not used to the drastic change. The punishment for losing a game at the party had been severe, but he supposed it could have been worse. Orihime Inoue had tried to cheer him up by reminding him that Robert De Niro had sported a mohawk in Taxi Driver and looked cool doing it. Keigo wasn't sure he could pull it off quite like De Niro, though.

Mizuiro walked beside him, his hands tucked casually into his coat pockets. His face held its usual calm, almost aloof expression, though there was a hint of a smirk playing on his lips as he glanced at Keigo.

"You know, Keigo," Mizuiro began, his tone dripping with sarcasm, "I think you really nailed the look. Very 'Taxi Driver.' But, you know, with a touch more desperation."

"Shut up, Mizuiro," Keigo shot back, his voice tinged with frustration. "It's not like I had a choice! Besides, you should've seen the alternatives. I got off easy!"

Mizuiro chuckled, shaking his head. "Yeah, sure. But now you look like you're trying to join a biker gang or something. You do realize people are going to think you're some kind of delinquent, right?"

Keigo groaned, the thought of being mistaken for a troublemaker only adding to his growing list of worries. "Great, just what I needed. As if my life wasn't complicated enough..."

As they continued walking, Keigo noticed a woman up ahead, standing near the entrance of a small, dimly lit alleyway. Her black, shoulder-length hair framed a somber, almost haunted expression. Something about her drew his attention, though he couldn't quite place what it was.

Feeling the need to reassure her—and perhaps himself—Keigo called out, "Ah! It's not what it looks like, miss! I'm De Niro!"

He plastered on his best smile, hoping to lighten the mood. But as he looked more closely at the woman, his smile froze. His heart skipped a beat, and a cold sweat began to form on the back of his neck. The right side of the woman's face was obscured, covered by a stark white skull.

For a moment, time seemed to slow, and all the festive noise around them faded into the background. Keigo's mind raced, memories of what Sado and Inoue had told him about the creatures that roamed the town—Hollows, they had called them—flashing through his thoughts. Those monsters that Mister Afro, Kurumadani, was always chasing... Could this woman be one of them?

Mizuiro, ever the calm one, had also noticed the woman's eerie appearance. He tugged at Keigo's sleeve, his voice low and serious. "Keigo, don't go near her. Something's not right."

Keigo nodded slowly, though he couldn't help but think, in the back of his mind, that if the woman had been more, well, endowed, he might have ignored Mizuiro's warning altogether. But any thoughts of bravado vanished as the woman's expression shifted to one of distress. Before either of them could react, her form began to waver, and then, as if dissolving into the very air around her, she disappeared.

Keigo's breath caught in his throat, and he took a shaky step backward. "Did... did you see that?" he stammered, his voice barely above a whisper.

Mizuiro remained calm, though his brow furrowed in concern. "Yeah, I saw it."

They weren't alone. Around them, the bustling crowd had come to a halt, all eyes fixed on the spot where the woman had just been. Murmurs spread through the onlookers like wildfire, the disbelief clear in their voices.

"Did you see that!? She disappeared!?"

Keigo's mind raced, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He knew he had developed the ability to see spirits—reikan, they called it—but it didn't make sense for everyone else to have seen her too. Why could everyone see her? He felt a growing unease, as if the ground beneath him had suddenly become unstable.

Before he could ponder it further, a familiar presence made itself known. Kurumadani Zennosuke, the Shinigami who patrolled Karakura Town, arrived on the scene. His arrival was marked by a sudden shift in the air, a pressure that only those attuned to the spiritual world could sense. But to Keigo's surprise, the other people in the crowd seemed oblivious to Kurumadani's presence.

Keigo watched as Kurumadani scanned the area, his expression one of frustration. It was clear he had sensed the woman's reiatsu, her spiritual pressure, but he was too late—she was already gone. The realization hit Keigo like a punch to the gut. If the people couldn't see Kurumadani, it meant they didn't share his ability to see spirits. So why had they been able to see the woman earlier?

Kurumadani's gaze eventually fell on Keigo and Mizuiro. There was a brief moment of silent communication between them—a recognition of the shared knowledge that something far beyond the ordinary had just occurred. Without another word, Kurumadani vanished, leaving the two boys standing amidst the confused crowd.

Keigo and Mizuiro exchanged a glance, both unsettled by what they had just witnessed. The festive atmosphere of Karakura Town had been shattered, replaced by a lingering sense of dread. As they continued on their way home, the sounds of the bustling street slowly returned, but the weight of what they had seen remained heavy on their minds.

Neither of them knew that this was just the beginning.

***

Over the next year, reports of a masked woman appearing in Karakura Town and the surrounding areas became a disturbing trend. Witness accounts varied, but one detail remained consistent—the woman's face was always partially obscured by a pure white skull. She would appear suddenly, only to vanish just as quickly, leaving behind a trail of confusion and fear.

Kurumadani and other Shinigami patrolling nearby towns, along with the Quincy Ishida Uryuu, frequently sensed her presence. But each time, they arrived too late, finding nothing but the faintest traces of her reiatsu. The mystery deepened as the sightings grew more frequent, and the woman became a subject of local legend.

It wasn't long before someone managed to capture her image on film. The grainy footage showed the woman appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye, her skull-like mask stark against the night sky. The video quickly spread across the internet, turning the masked woman into a nationwide sensation. Speculation ran wild—was it a hoax? Was she a ghost? An intruder from another dimension?

Amidst the growing frenzy, one figure stood out—a producer for a popular spirit-themed television program. The producer, always on the lookout for the next big story, saw an opportunity in the masked woman's mysterious appearances. He suggested a special episode dedicated to uncovering the truth behind the legend, a spectacle that would draw in viewers from across the country.

And who better to take on the challenge than the charismatic spirit medium known as Don Kanonji?

As the rumors and sightings continued to spread, the stage was set for a confrontation unlike any other. The people of Karakura Town were unaware of the forces at play, forces that would soon collide in ways they could never have imagined. The masked woman, the Shinigami, and the spiritual forces gathering in the shadows—everything was building to a climactic moment that would change the town forever.

But for now, all Keigo and Mizuiro could do was walk home, their minds buzzing with questions and an unshakable sense of foreboding. Christmas lights twinkled overhead, casting a warm glow over the town, but to them, the night felt colder than ever.

Chapter End