"Hey~ what did you do to Rukia? Why is she so distracted since she came back?"
Just as it was almost time for bed, Mi ran into Ichigo's room and stopped Ichigo while he was changing clothes. Ichigo looked exasperated.
"What do you mean, 'What did I do?' Mom, you're going out now~ I need to change my clothes."
"You don't need to hide from me when you're changing clothes. Just change yours. What happened between you two today?"
Ichigo scratched the back of his head impatiently. "My goodness, you've never cared about your own son like this before! Enough already! Nothing really happened!"
"If nothing happened, why would it be like that?"
"Tsk, we just talked about some things related to Sister Mingmo, and she seemed a bit upset about it."
"Mingmo?" Mei asked doubtfully, "Mingmo is very beautiful, but Mingmo's a thorn in our side. Otherwise, she'd be a really good daughter-in-law."
"Huh?" Ichigo looked completely bewildered. "What do you mean, Mom?"
"What do you mean? Anyway, I think Rukia a good girl, so you should try to win her over, okay? How can you be so dense? Is it because of your father's genes? After all, he was over seven hundred years old when he finally won me over. Ugh, I really have a headache for all the men in your family. Anyway~ go to sleep."
After Mi left, Ichigo was left completely bewildered, inwardly roaring in frustration.
"What do you mean I'm stupid?! I chased you when I was over 700 years old, I wouldn't wait until I'm over 700 years old to chase after a woman, no, why do I have to chase her? I Rukia, am pretty good too, huh? What the hell am I thinking about? Go to sleep!"
The next day, Ichigo and Rukia got up for school. Rukia seemed perfectly fine at breakfast, so Isshin and Mimi naturally didn't pay any attention to her. Ichigo also felt that Rukia seemed to have come to her senses.
However, during the very first class, Rukia suddenly seized an opportunity to swallow the Mod Soul. Ichigo, being Ichigo, could clearly see it. He quickly moved his pen to the floor and, under the guise of picking it up, shoved the Mod Soul into his mouth, then, in his Soul Reaper form, chased after her.
What are you going to do?
"Investigate!" Rukia said resolutely, "I must find out who they are, even if it means my death!"
"Hey~ Is this how you investigate? I've already told you, everything about you is under their control."
"But Captain Kurosaki also said they wouldn't hurt me. I don't know why, but I guess I have no choice but to believe him."
"That's what my dad said, and I also believe that Mingmo and the others wouldn't hurt you, so how are you going to investigate?"
"Since they won't hurt me, I'll just go over there!"
Ichigo was completely stunned. "Are you serious?"
"Certainly!"
Ichigo Shunpo get there, placed his hand on Rukia's forehead, and muttered to himself, "She doesn't have a fever, so why is she delirious?"
Rukia slapped Ichigo's hand away, "You're so rude! Besides, what are you doing coming with me?"
"Oh dear~, I'm going with you to protect you. I knew before that they treated me differently. I heard I'm some kind of Child of Destiny, anyway, that's what they say. So even if you have a falling out with them, they won't do anything to you for my sake."
"The Child of Destiny?" Rukia's face flushed like a cat's.
Two veins bulged on his forehead. "You're really infuriating, you know that?"
"We're in the same boat."
"Ah~ it's just a phantom."
"Kill him"
The two went down, and it was the same routine: Rukia drew attention, Ichigo single strike, and then Ichigo said, "Are you in a hurry?"
"Uh, I'm fine. What's wrong?"
"Running there will be tiring, let's take a car for a while."
"Alright"
The two jumped onto the roof of a bus, sat cross-legged, and Ichigo looked at the bustling traffic beside him, laughing, "This is the first time I've ever been on the street from this perspective, haha, it's really interesting."
Rukia looked around. "The World of the Living is quite noisy and busy. Everyone's busy with their own things."
"Huh? Isn't that how Soul Society is?"
"Hmm," Rukia nodded, "Soul Society is very laid-back, everyone has nothing much to do, so some people do things out of interest."
"Oh~ that sounds great!"
Hehe, yeah~
"Hey~, the Kuchiki Clan you belong to is a very large family, isn't it? A true noble family?"
"Yes, the Kuchiki Clan is the head of the four great families of Soul Society, but I'm just an adopted daughter of the Kuchiki Clan. My older sister is my brother-in-law's wife, so I was adopted as well, that's how it is."
"Hey~ I see, that sounds impressive. The head of the Four Great Noble Clans, must they have a lot of rules? Like not being allowed to do this or that?"
"Hmm~ there are some, but I'm Soul Reaper is the most honorable job in Soul Society, so they don't have many requirements for me. Besides, the Kuchiki Clan are all good people~. My brother-in-law seems very serious and unapproachable, but my sister suffers from a strange illness and has been in a coma for decades, and my brother-in-law has always been by her side. Ah~ sometimes I get moved by their love and cry~"
"Decades!? That's amazing!" Ichigo thought to himself that he was only fifteen years old. Was it really that bad to compare someone's lover being sick for decades? But oh well, he was still a child after all. "So, what do you do in Soul Society?"
"Me? I'm the seventeenth seat of the Thirteenth Division. Normally, I have tasks like contacting nobles, patrolling Rukongai, and hunting down Hollows. I came to the World of the Living this time because I was chasing the Hollow we encountered."
"Hey~ Hollows appear in Soul Society too?"
Rukia's face hardened. "The Soul Society is the real hotbed of Hollows. I've said it before, the Soul Society is the final resting place for the Dead Souls. It's home to all the Dead Souls who have been Soul Burial by the Soul Society. These Dead Souls are all tangible objects to the Hollows, so they frequently invade the Soul Society."
"Oh, what's wrong? Why doesn't the Soul Reaper just kill all the Hollows?"
"Are you an idiot!? The place where Hollows live is called Hueco Mundo, do you even know how many Hollows there are!?"
"How many?"
"I don't know either. Just the few I know of are hundreds of thousands, even millions, Soul Reaper only has a few thousand members."
Ichigo scratched his head again. "Hey~ I'm not trying to be mean, but is the Soul Society really that weak? You Soul Reaper only have a few thousand, and you, as the 17th Seat, can't even beat a Hollow. Wouldn't you exhaust the Soul Society to death with hundreds of thousands or even millions of Hollows?"
"Uh," Rukia wanted to refute, but she didn't know how to refute it. But thinking about it carefully, if hundreds of thousands or millions of Hollows really flooded into Soul Society, Soul Society might really be destroyed. So, no, no, what nonsense are we thinking!
Rukia quickly shook her head to clear her mind of those thoughts and retorted, "Hollows are just a bunch of wild beasts! They'll only be hunted by us Soul Reaper, they won't all flood into Soul Society. Besides, our Soul Reaper captains are all incredibly powerful, more powerful than you can imagine!"
"Real?"
"Real!"
"Is it really true?"
"It really is true!"
"Wow, I never imagined that! I've never felt my dad was particularly impressive before."
Rukia instantly felt the hardships of life. Why is Ichigo so hard to fool? But there's nothing she can do. Ichigo's father is a captain, his mother Quincy, he has a sister who can Zanpakuto Aijima, a Mingmo who is a scientist in Soul Society, and several older siblings who are Arrancar. What could possibly surprise him?
Seeing that they were close enough, the two used Shunpo to travel and soon arrived at the Research Institute, where Mingmo was already waiting at the main gate.
"You're here~, come in," Mingmo led the two inside, "What brings you here to visit your sister?"
Ichigo pointed at Rukia, "She has some questions she wants to ask."
"Ask questions? Sure, here you go."
"What's this?" The two took the thing Mingmo handed them and saw that it was something like a SIM card.
"This is Spiritual Power Card. Just insert it into your SIM card slot, and you can use the Radar function. It will help you find Dead Souls and Hollows, saving you from patrolling all day and getting too tired."
"Mingmo, Sister Mingmo!"
Rukia didn't know what else to say at that moment, so she nodded, "Mingmo, Sister Mingmo."
"Hmm~, what a cute little girl. I love cute little girls the most~ Hehehe," Mingmo hugged Rukia and patted her all over. "Ask me anything you want, the price is that I'll hold you for a while."
Who exactly are you?
"My full name is Silence Mingmo, the humanoid manifestation of a Zanpakuto. Next question."
"Untie!?"
"Hey~yo~, get it done!"
"How is that possible? Kai is the strongest power of Soul Reaper! How could Kai's Zanpakuto be manifested and remain in the World of the Living?"
"Ara ara~ You don't believe me? Well then," Mingmo's eyes flashed, and a surge of Reiatsu pressed down on Rukia and Ichigo. This genuine Reiatsu was unmistakable. Then Mingmo said, "You two, try using your Spiritual Power."
Rukia tried to chant Hadō, but no sound came out. She then discovered that she couldn't mobilize her Spiritual Power at all, and couldn't even release her Reiatsu. Mingmo smiled and canceled the power.
"Alright, I've proven myself. Now you can continue asking questions."
Rukia calmed herself down and then asked, "I heard that you have people here who are even more powerful than Captain Shiba Kurosaki. Who are they?"
"Emmm, I can't tell you that, for your own safety," Mingmo tapped Rukia's little nose. "You need to understand, it's not us who want you dead, it's another group of people who want you dead after you find out about this."
"Right now, there are three forces fighting over the ownership of Soul Society: us, Soul Society, and another force."
"Our ultimate goal is the Soul Society, and that force's goal is also the Soul Society. However, we believe that the Soul Society is currently less dangerous than that force. Therefore, we need to first unite with the Soul Society to eliminate that force, and then we will fight the Soul Society head-on. Do you understand now?"
Rukia and Ichigo were both completely bewildered. Mingmo pinched Rukia's cheek and chuckled, "I'm warning you now, your strength is still too weak. Once the three forces go to war, without Captain-level strength, you'll just be high-level cannon fodder. You're both in the same boat now, so hurry up and train. Strength is the only thing you can rely on. When the entire Soul Society is struggling to survive, I wonder who will be there for you?"
"Hehe, little ones, hurry up and cultivate. You don't have much time left, especially you," Mingmo pinched Rukia's cheek hard, "You're already at the point where you can't improve anymore, yet you're still gathering information. Don't you think about yourself? Your Reishi core is about to have problems! You silly girl!"