Ding-a-ling-a-ling,

The bell rang, and the idle chatter died down. Everyone returned to their seats and class resumed.

"Hey." Ichigo bumped the desk behind him and whispered, "Something up?"

"No." Rukia said flatly. "We're in class, so pay attention, Kuro-sa-ki-kun."

"You... when we're working, you never treat me like a student."

...

"How strange!"

After the last class of the afternoon, students were packing up, heading home or off to club activities, when the teacher at the front suddenly muttered to himself.

"Hm? What's wrong, sensei?" Orihime, sitting up front, caught his muttering. "What's strange?"

"That Kurosaki kid."

"For the past month, Kurosaki's been excusing himself to the bathroom during class all the time. Sometimes Kuchiki, Ishida, Sado, and you go along too." The teacher sounded puzzled. "But today, not even once."

"..."

"If you all didn't seem so clearly not like a bunch of couples, I'd have had to file a report by now."

"Um... it's really just bathroom breaks. We've been eating together a lot lately, so we all got upset stomachs at the same time..."

"Well, that's not my concern." The teacher waved it off. "As long as you're not up to anything bad and your grades haven't dropped, that's fine."

"Hehe..."

Night fell, and even thick-headed Ichigo sensed something was off. Ever since they'd dealt with the long-nosed Gillian the night before, the Denreishinki from the Soul Society hadn't rung once. Compared to before, it was a cliff-edge drop.

"Hey—Rukia!" Ichigo shoved open Rukia's door without knocking. "Is that Denreishinki of yours broken?"

The room was empty. The girl who'd lived there for a month wasn't inside. The room had been cleaned spotless, as if no one had ever stayed there at all.

"Yuzu, " Ichigo went to the top of the stairs and called down to his sister. "Have you seen Rukia?"

"Rukia-nee didn't come back at all today!" From the living room below, Yuzu, who'd started learning to cook the moment she got home from school, shouted back. "Maybe she went to hang out at Orihime-nee's place?"

"Strange..." Ichigo returned to Rukia's room. "She just ran off on her own after school... Hm?"

Scanning the room, he spotted a note on the desk. He picked it up. Written on it: [Ichigo! I'm going back to the Soul Society! Goodbye!] And at the end, a little drawing of a rabbit.

"What the heck is this?"

Muttering, Ichigo flipped the note over. More writing on the back: [Don't come looking for me! Remember!]

"...What?" Ichigo scratched his head. "She specifically said don't come looking. So am I supposed to look or not? I hate riddles."

He crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash. His spiritual pressure shifted, and a black Shihakusho settled over his body as his twin blades materialized.

"Don't wait for me for dinner! I've got something to do!"

"Okaaay, "

...

"This should be far enough..."

Rukia estimated the distance in her head. She was already well away from the Kurosaki Clinic, but she still felt uneasy and quickened her pace.

Whoosh,

A faint sound on the wind. As if sensing something, Rukia glanced back. A black butterfly swayed through the air, blending into the night, beautiful, almost haunting.

"They're here." Her expression darkened. "That was too fast..."

Swoosh,

A classical gate materialized in midair. The doors slid slowly open to either side, and a man in a black kimono stepped out, a blade resting over his shoulder.

"Criminal Rukia Kuchiki!" The man had striking red hair, black goggles, and broad blue tattoos above his brows, his face twisted with menace. "For colluding with the former Captain of Squad 12—the great criminal Kisuke Urahara, responsible for the deaths of multiple Captains and Lieutenants a century ago—you are hereby ordered to be seized and returned to the Soul Society!"

"Renji!" Rukia couldn't stop herself from crying out. "Are you Renji Abarai?!"

"Confess, Rukia!" Renji Abarai leapt down, the tip of his blade pointed straight at her. "Your contact with Kisuke Urahara... what exactly have you done?!"

"I..."

"Have you spent too long among humans?"

"What humans... Even in a Gigai, I, "

"Then why do you wear such a human expression?!" Renji Abarai roared, then shifted tone. "Wouldn't you agree, Captain Kuchiki?"

"Captain... Big Brother?"

From behind the gate, another figure emerged slowly. The newcomer wore the same black kimono, a blade at his waist, black hair, a cold expression, a strange ornament atop his head, and a white scarf wrapped around his neck. Unlike Renji Abarai, this man wore a white Captain's Haori over his shoulders. From behind, one would see a large [Six] printed across the back.

"Rukia..." The black-haired Soul Reaper looked down at her, his voice unreadable.

"Byakuya... Big Brother..." As if struck, Rukia's face went deathly pale. "Why you... when it's only someone like me..."

"...You bear the name Kuchiki." The black-haired Soul Reaper, Byakuya Kuchiki, said calmly. "By right and by reason, I should be the one to bring you back to the Soul Society with my own hands."

"...That's true..."

"Speak! Rukia!"

The blade's tip cut mercilessly across her face. The snow-white steel reflected her image as threads of blood slid down her cheek.

"Stop resisting!" Renji Abarai shouted. "Confess! What exactly are you and Kisuke Urahara plotting together!"

"Nothing... at all."

"Nonsense!" Renji Abarai pulled several photographs from his chest. "These were taken by Squad 12, your meetings with Kisuke Urahara over the past few days!"

"..."

The photos were real. Rukia knew it. The facts were what they were. This former friend of hers had said nothing wrong, and he hadn't wronged her either.

"You...!" Renji Abarai ground his teeth. "Don't push it too far!"

He swung the blade. Rukia stepped back just in time, narrowly avoiding the strike, but the tip still widened the wound on her face.

"You know very well I let you dodge that." Renji Abarai said coldly. "Next time, I won't?!"

Whoosh!

A blue light-arrow tore toward him. Renji Abarai's pupils contracted, and he whipped his blade across his chest, staggering back several steps.

"I don't know what exactly you two are trying to do." A blue bow in his right hand, the Quincy Uryu Ishida said calmly. "But Kuchiki-san is, more or less, my friend. I can't let the two of you bully her as you please."

➤ Next: My Rules Are the Rules