[Bleachitp:Reborn] Mortal World IV

[Terry576]

Sora groans and answers, hesitantly holding the phone to his ear.

"...Hello?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"Hello. It's Õta Yui here. It's Namikaze-kun in the phone, right?", a voice chimes through the speaker. "Just checking you noticed the note we left you. We left so early, we didn't catch you to talk about it."

[Terry576]

Sora's breath caught. Yui was calling him. He was dead. Doomed. No way out. Oh god oh god oh god.

"I...I can't say that I have Yui-san. I haven't been to the apartment in a while. I've been caught up with some... acquaintances and school. Where are you, if you're not at the apartment?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"Oh, I took Silva with me for a little vacation in the city, that's all. We'll be gone for a couple of days", comes a cheerful reply. "Is something wrong? You sound a bit tense."

[Terry576]

"Oh no, no I'm fine Yui-san. No trouble at all. Just have a lot on my mind right now."

He seems like he's trying to distract her from something. God knows what.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Well, do you want to talk about it? Maybe that'd ease your mind a bit. I could help..."

[Terry576]

Sora breathes deeply. Maybe... maybe Yui was different from Elder. She was too nice. She couldn't be that... thing he'd seen, she just couldn't.

"A classmate of mine had his parents kidnapped by Hollows. I went to help him get them back, and ended up fighting two Hollows. But at one point I... I lost it. I couldn't control myself Yui-san. And it hurt, realizing that I had lost control of myself. I walked a friend home and... I lost control again. Even if it was a different kind of control..."

His voice cracked. "Th-then... the next day... I heard my sister again. I haven't heard her voice in years, but it just popped into my head. The day she vanished. And I couldn't do anything that day either. And when I went to school, everybody kept saying they were going to fight. But I realized something. They had no right. They shouldn't get involved, it would just ruin their lives Yui-san. Only three, four of them couldn't escape it. But Hasunaga-sensei encouraged them to train. I don't understand it anymore Yui-san. I don't understand anything."

Tears began to fall, and Sora slowly slid down the wall. "When did life get so complicated...?"

[Frozen_Feet]

Yui stays silent for a moment, absorbing his story. First half she knew already, more or less, but she didn't expect Sora to be so down about it. She expected him to be coy, secretive, nervous, not... heart-broken?

"Just like you to go and do something foolish the moment we adults turn our backs, eh?", she remarks dryly, then coughs and tries to muster a softer, more compassionate tone. "Listen, it's allright... just go home and calm down. You don't need to try and talk sense to them when you're so rattled yourself... you'd fail anyway if you tried... I'll see about talking to that Hasunaga-sensei when I g-.."

Yui trails of mid-sentence, and there's an awkard pause. "Wait, you didn't hurt your friends, did you?"

[Terry576]

"N-n-no! Well... I..."

An image flashed through his mind. Valeria, running away, after giving him an unreadable look.

"I might have. But I didn't mean to! She just kept pushing and pushing and I didn't... I couldn't..."

His voice trails off again. He can't think of how to describe it. There just was no way he could describe it.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Who she? Izumi?" There's a pause as Yui bites her lip on the other end.

"... okay, let me rephrase this: did you physically or spiritually injure, or otherwise cause mortal danger to your friends?"

[Terry576]

Sora flushes. "No! I would never hurt Izumi!" His voice takes on a suspicious, curious tone as he asks, "...Why is she the first person that comes to mind?"

He retorts shortly to her next question. Asking him about Izumi seems to have gotten him to pull himself back together, and he answers in his usual tone, "No. The only person I have injured is less physical, and more emotional."

A pause.

"And no, it is not Izumi Yui-san."

[Frozen_Feet]

Seems like I struck the right chord, Yui thinks smugly to herself as the question kicks Sora out of his fit of angst. He can hear a sigh of relief over the phone when he makes clear he didn't actually harm anyone.

"Who else would I ask about? Can't be me or Silva, and you gave the impression you didn't actually have many friends. Who was it then, if not her?"

[Terry576]

Sora hesitates before answering, carefully this time. "...A girl from school. She is sort of... similar to me. My abilities that is. She initiated a sort of contact, and we have become... I am unsure of words to describe what we are."

He's being unrealistically stiff with her now, perhaps just remembering that she had told him, quite explicitly that she would kill him if he lost control of himself again.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Similar?" Yui definitely sounds alarmed by such claim. "Hmmm... well, what are you and her going to do? You don't sound like you're too keen on training with... Hasunaga-sensei, wasn't it?"

[Terry576]

Sora nods, then realizes she can't see him nodding. "Indeed. She has a mask that allows her access to abilities that are supposedly similar to that of mine." He sighs at her next question, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We were given an offer to train with her mentor that takes the guise of a bird, and two of his guests from Hecuo... Heqo... Mondo, I believe it was called?"

His mouth stumbles over the unfamiliar syllables, and Yui can almost hear his blush.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Uh..." Yui's grip of her phone tightens and she has to put it further from her mouth so Sora doesn't hear her teeth grinding together.

"Okay, where should I even start? You've met a girl who is a Hollow, a bird who sounds like it's also a Hollow, and two other Hollows. Does this not make any alarm bells ring in your head?"

[Terry576]

Sora grins wickedly, and once more Yui can catch a glimpse of the usual Sora, the one she'd met before. The one with more arrogance and confidence then common sense. "Considering that everyone surrounding the first two has some way of killing us, and the latter duo claims to have the ability to teach me how to control myself, no, not a single alarm bell went off."

A short pause, before he speaks again, more quietly this time. "...I apologize Yui-san, that was most uncalled for. But it didn't at the time, considering I was still sort of in a haze from other... events that had happened."

A flash of what had happened that night at Valeria's house went through his head.

[Frozen_Feet]

She can't see him, but tone of his voice is enough to make her rub her temples as if she'd just developed a headache. "... how long you've even known these people? What have they done to earn your trust?"

"I'm not telling you to be suspicious of everyone, all the time - do that, and you'll just end up like Hasunaga-san. But there's no such thing as a good Hollow - especially not among those who come from outside this world. They have some sinister ulterior motives, don't doubt that for a second."

"If you have to train, I'd rather you go with whoever Izumi goes with. Or even Hasunaga - he's at least your teacher, right, not some random stranger?"

[Terry576]

"They were the first Hollows who haven't tried to, or threaten to kill me? That's always a pretty good indicator of trustworthiness in my book. I don't want to be constantly on my guard, trying to be another human is hard enough as it is."

A snort.

"Hasunaga-sensei has taught me more about blackmail then anything else - I don't trust him at all, Yui-san."

[Frozen_Feet]

"Don't be a fool. The threat is implicit in their very being. You think drug dealers act nasty when giving out 'free samples'? Wake up. Not everyone who is bad for you will come after you all guns blazing. Hollows have a habit of being unstable and eating souls. You should know."

"... wait, who's been blackmailing who? With what?"

[Terry576]

Sora blushed a vivid red. "Just some pictures of me."

In a bunny suit.

And as a child.

[Frozen_Feet]

" . . . "

There's a heavy pause, accompanied by palpable sense of someone plotting violent and messy murder. Where ever Hasunaga is at the moment, he might suddenly feel like someone is glaring daggers at his back.

"... okay, so stay away from him as well. But don't go around with strange Hollows! And keep your friend away from them too if you can. I'll see about having Silva teach you a couple of tricks to stay undetected if you really feel you need them."

"I suggest you stick to Izumi for now. Is there anything else you'd like to share?"

[Kuroimaken]

Hasunaga sneezes, still in his cute little cosplay.

[Steilos]

As Henry lies in THE HEALING RAYS OF THE SUN, he makes a noise along the lines of "Wstfuglg." The photosythetic powers DO seem to be working, however. In fact, as the ambulance arrives, he might just be beginning to stir.

[strawberryman]

Valeria shows some concern at the nonsensical utterance, and as the ambulance arrives she climbs in with only slight reluctance. However, en route, she quickly dials her mother's cell phone.

[Sucrose]

Valeria shows some concern at the nonsensical utterance, and as the ambulance arrives she climbs in with only slight reluctance. However, en route, she quickly dials her mother's cell phone.

Claudia answers almost instantaneously.

"Vally?"

[strawberryman]

"Hi mom, I'm on the way to Fushichou General, there was a man I ran across, he was really badly burnt and I couldn't just leave him, so if you can pick me up there..."

Valeria winces a bit. Claudia's training would have to wait.

[Sucrose]

Claudia is silent for a moment. Then,

"Will do, Vally. I suppose I should be glad that my little girl is such a good samaritan! You didn't have to do anything dangerous to help the poor man out, did you?"

[strawberryman]

"No, mom... I really did just sort of come by him while I was walking." Walking. Not running away in tears. "I was wary but I just called the ambulance, it was the least I could do, and I figured they might want to ask me some questions..." She doesn't mention that she healed him a little either, that'd be silly. And a little alarming to the paramedics.

"...See you there, then?"

[Steilos]

Henry stirs slightly and mumbles something utterly incoherent. It would seem that Henry is tougher than he looks. Or he's very good at being a plant. He makes another movement, a bit more sudden this time. The paramedics (and Valeria) would notice that he seemed to have quite a bit of residual electrical charge in him - as if he had been very thoroughly electrocuted.