Bleach: New Generation

Chapter 11: The Humble Shopkeeper

Kazui's POV:

My head hurts from just wracking my head around what just happened this morning. Oh yeah, not to mention another accusation.

"I'm going on ahead! You stay here and think about what you just did"

"Ichika! It wasn't what it looked like!"

Yeah, not another word because she left.

Later at school, I arrived at my class with a band-aid on my face. If you couldn't tell already, Ichika basically punched my face when she saw me shirtless. I guess I have to explain the situation to her later.

Or maybe not. That dream, or whatever it was, is my concern and mine only. I don't need the help of other people because that dream came to me. I need to figure it out and solve that problem quickly.

People stared at me strangely as I walked past them to my seat. I don't see why I was being strangely stared at all the time; especially the girls for some reason. Maybe because injuries were uncommon at school. I wonder if my dad was stared at like this back when he was my age. He was some sort of a delinquent after all.

"Eh? Kazui? Did you get into a fight outside of school?", Hajime asked while hurriedly trying to finish his overdue homework. Seriously, I don't see how he's going to graduate at this point.

"Oh nah. I got into, well, a situation with Ichika", I glanced at the side where she was. She pointed two fingers to her eyes, and then to me. Ichika turned back to talking to her friends after threatening me.

"Ouch, that must hurt. But I would never know what that feels like", Hajime smirks smugly.

It was only until I saw the top of Hajime's head where I saw Kazuya leering on top of his head, with a fist up in the air. "Would you like to know what it feels like, Mr. Asano?"

"AAAAAAH"

He sprinted away while me and Kazuya laughed at him.

After school, I told Ichika to go on before me because I needed to buy some "candy". She nodded, not knowing what that really meant. I walked on a different route to find my destination. I could see the orange in the sky as the sun was setting. It was soothing, but not enough to erase the unnerving feeling of fear from my heart.

And there I was after a couple minutes' walk. I opened the sliding door into the shop and was greeted by a man wearing a dark green samue with a black haori with a white diamond pattern which, I just found out, was an inverted Captain's haori. He also wore a striped green bucket hat which covered his eyes, held a wooden cane, and was fanning himself with, well, a fan.

"Ah, Mr. Kurosaki, it's been a while since your training, hasn't it?", the man spoke with a humorous tone, but then lowered it to a serious one, "Or is it something else?"

"Well, I guess you read my mind, Urahara-sensei", I sighed, not surprised about how he knew that. Maybe the expression on my face was too obvious?

"Well, come and sit down. I'll have Ururu and Jinta serve us some food and drinks", Urahara gestured for me to come inside.

I followed Urahara-sensei and sat down on the floor behind a table. He sat across from me while he fanned his face. The air was tense. I suppose it was from my nervousness to share my experience, or even talk at all.

"Here is your food and drinks, Kurosaki-san", a small girl walked up to me and served Urahara and I a tray of food, while the red-haired boy brought 2 cups of tea.

Before we both ate, Urahara looked at me dead in the eye, a serious gaze into the depths of my soul.

"Say, Mr. Kurosaki. Do you want to perhaps speak about Hollows?"