Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 67 - The Amnesiac Soul Reaper

"Wh... what's going on?"

Eyes wide, Ichigo stared at the empty street ahead and couldn't help but question his own senses. Sure, his spiritual awareness wasn't exactly sharp in his normal state, but for a living person to just vanish right in front of him without him noticing at all...

"No, wait... is there something special about her specifically...?" Ichigo rubbed his chin, thinking it over. "And she gave me this really weird feeling... that girl."

"Whatever. I should go check out that strange spiritual pressure first."

He channeled his spiritual power. His school uniform shifted into a black Shihakusho, the white haori bearing the character for "Special" draping across his back. Ichigo tuned his senses and headed toward the source of the unusual spiritual pressure.

"What... is that?"

The park was normally full of people. Right now it was completely deserted. In their place drifted countless white things, pink hat-like objects perched on their heads, their entire bodies like white curtains billowing in still air. They didn't appear dangerous in the slightest. They were simply wandering there, nothing more.

"What on earth are those?" Ichigo hovered in the air a short distance away, brow furrowed, watching the bizarre scene below. "Hollows? No, that's not right—the spiritual pressure is off. No aggression at all. Not even the faintest trace of spiritual intelligence."

"More like... shells with no souls?"

The longer he watched them drift aimlessly in place, the more they reminded him of walking corpses. No other movement. No purpose. Just that hollow, directionless wandering, and it sent a chill crawling down his spine.

"Fall into the darkness of the twilight!"

A figure appeared above the strange creatures without warning. Cryptic words rang out, and golden light swirled around them.

"Mirokumaru!"

"Is that her?"

The purple-haired girl he'd just crossed paths with was now dressed in a Shihakusho, a golden scepter in her hand, its bottom end tapering into a sharp spike, the unmistakable look of a Soul Reaper mid-Shikai. He reached out with his senses. Her spiritual pressure was there, solid, but still a step short of the lieutenant level.

Golden spiritual pressure gathered at the tip of the scepter. The purple-haired girl swung it, and a tornado erupted from the top, sweeping toward the white creatures.

SWISH SWISH,

The small tornado tore through them with effortless, overwhelming force. They vanished into the air without a single scream, emitting only faint, indistinct sounds in the instant before they disappeared.

As if sensing danger closing in, the remaining ones scrambled to flee. They weren't fast enough. The tornado swept over every last one of them in moments.

"Done!"

The girl landed with easy grace. The scepter in her hand reverted to a Zanpakuto, which she sheathed at her hip.

"Who are you?"

"Uwah?!"

A voice, unfamiliar, yet carrying the faint edge of familiarity, rang out from behind her. The purple-haired girl startled so hard she leaped into the air, spinning around while stepping back, eyes sharp and wary on the person behind her.

"I... I'm the one who should be asking that!" She yanked the Zanpakuto back out. "Who... who are you?!"

"No, I'm asking you—who are you." Ichigo crossed his arms, the picture of lofty authority. "You're standing before a captain. Why haven't you bowed?"

"...Hah?"

"So in other words, you don't even know which squad you belong to?" Ichigo studied the girl with open suspicion. "Wait, doesn't your uniform have any markings on the inside?"

"Come to think of it, can Soul Reapers even get amnesia? What kind of soap opera is this?"

"I... I really can't remember..." the purple-haired girl said quietly. "All I know is that I woke up by the riverside yesterday. Everything before that is just... gone."

"The only thing I know is that my name is Senna. That's it."

"Technically, Karakura Town falls under Squad 13's jurisdiction," Ichigo said, thinking it through. "So if you were assigned here, you'd be Squad 13. I'll swing by Urahara later and have him look into it."

"By the way, you Soul Reapers are supposed to use the proper safe passage, right? So how did you end up... hiss..."

He stopped mid-sentence.

He'd just remembered the little stunt he pulled in the Dangai. Nobody had come after him for it yet, but there was no telling what kind of unforeseen effects it might have caused.

Like, say, accidentally dragging some poor innocent Soul Reaper girl into it. Causing an accident during dimensional transit. Which led to her losing her memories... The more he thought about it, the more plausible it sounded...

'No way... I absolutely cannot tell them about this. They'll call me an idiot again. Absolutely not!'

Decision made. Ichigo turned to the purple-haired girl, to Senna, and flashed her a wide smile.

"It's fine. As the guardian of Karakura Town and captain of the World of the Living Special Operations Squad, it's my duty to look after junior Soul Reapers. Until you remember something, you can stay at my place for a while."

"Oh!" Senna looked like she'd just been pulled back from the edge of a cliff. "Thank you so much! Guar, "

"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. Guardian of Karakura Town, captain of the World of the Living Special Operations Squad." He said it again, slow and deliberate. "Remember that, okay?"

"Got it! Ichi-goo!"

"Ugh... whatever." He let his spiritual pressure recede, and his appearance shifted back to that of an ordinary high schooler. "By the way, where's your Gigai? I don't see one anywhere nea, huh?!"

The sudden change cut him off. Senna, too, had quietly reverted to the high schooler appearance he'd seen before.

"You... don't use a Gigai?"

He looked her up and down. If not for the fact that she was a girl and he'd probably get smacked for it, Ichigo would have wanted to examine her hands-on.

"Wh... what is it." Senna looked a little rattled, her face faintly flushed. She drew herself in. "This is just how I am."

"How can it just be how you are?" Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "Soul Reapers are pure spirit bodies. You are definitely not that."

"Your Soul Reaper form just now was genuinely a spirit body, no question. But what you are right now is unmistakably a human physical body. That is absolutely not normal."

"Y-you're the same way, aren't you. Don't go pointing fingers at me."

"I... I'm a special case. It's different."

"Maybe I was a special case too!" Senna fired back, completely unintimidated. "Only you get to be special?"

"...That's fair. I'm just a little surprised."

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. He had nothing to come back with. And then a thought struck him, maybe this particular strangeness was something he himself had caused. Amnesia. Existing as both a Soul Reaper spirit body and a human physical body at the same time. Yet her spiritual pressure seemed perfectly intact.

And all of it had happened after the dimensional transit. The most likely explanation was that something had gone wrong during the crossing. Ichigo was certain of it.

"Anyway, let's head to my place. By the way, you haven't done anything too out of the ordinary these past two days, have you?"

"Out of the ordinary?"

"Like stealing food because you were hungry, or taking someone's clothes without asking."

"Mm..."

"Wait. That actually happened?"

"I... I only bought a hairband. That's all."

"Hand it over."

"Huh?! You're going to take stolen goods?!"

"I'm going to go pay for it!"

"Oh! I wouldn't have guessed—Ichi-goo, you really are an upstanding, law-abiding citizen."

"Of course, as the boss, I have to lead by ex... wait, who are you calling fierce and terrifying?!"

"Well, you showed up looking just like a villain..."

"I..."

➤ Next: Think I've Forgotten How to Hold a Blade?