The Alchemist in Bleach

"Arisawa-kun, do you really not remember Rukia-kun?" At this moment, Chad Yasutora, who was standing next to him, also stood up and looked at Arisawa Tatsuki with a serious expression.

"Huh? Did I remember wrong?" Now Ryuki was also losing confidence and asked Yamada, who was passing by, with a puzzled look, "Yamada, is there a transfer student in our class named Rukia? Ichigo's cousin."

"Huh? No, besides, you should know better than me if Kurosaki's cousin is transferring schools, right? Aren't you childhood friends?"

"I'm not mistaken. You guys aren't trying to play a trick on me, are you?" Ryuki looked at Inoue with a suspicious gaze.

Unfortunately, Inoue wasn't in the mood for that at the moment. He just looked worriedly at Ichigo, whose expression was clearly more somber. This made Tatsuki, who had wanted to comfort Inoue, sigh and sit back down in his seat.

Midday - School rooftop.

Inoue and Ichigo silently leaned against the wall, sitting on the ground eating.

After a long silence, Inoue asked, "How come Tatsuki and the others have lost their memories of Rukia? Was it done by them?"

"Yes, Rukia said that the Shinigami have a special team to handle these kinds of things, which is one of the reasons why humans know so little about the Shinigami."

Is that so?

"Ah."

After they finished speaking, the two people on the rooftop fell silent again, with only the sound of them chewing echoing in the air.

After a while, Inoue suddenly put down the lunchbox in his hand, turned his head and looked at Ichigo seriously.

"Inoue?"

"Kurosaki-san!"

"Hi!" Upon hearing Inoue's voice, Ichigo suddenly sat up straight and responded loudly, feeling a little nervous but also somewhat expectant. Could it be... that?

"Let's go save Rukia!"

"Huh?" Ichigo was taken aback.

"Let's go save her! Bring her back! If we're not strong enough, we'll cultivate, cultivate, and cultivate some more! No matter what, we must save her!"

Ichigo stared blankly at Inoue, then suddenly smiled gently: "You're right, let's go and rescue her! I just can't seem to trust his teacher."

"Me too."

The two looked at each other and laughed.

Count me in.

"Ishida? You..."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to help you, it's just that I happen to have a grudge against Death."

Ichigo smiled and nodded, deciding to go along with Ishida's idea. He didn't refuse him because they were still quite lacking in combat power.

“Count me in, Ichigo.” Chad also came out at this moment.

"Chadu? What are you doing here? When did the stairwell get so big? It can hold so many people."

"Smack~" Inoue patted Ichigo on the shoulder, rolled her eyes at him, and then looked at Chad. "Chad, you seem to remember Rukia, right?"

"Hmm, what happened? It seems like a lot of people have suddenly forgotten about her."

"You don't even know what's going on, yet you're being counted as one of them?" Ishida pushed up his glasses and said speechlessly.

"Because it's a very simple matter, I will join."

"He's a true buddy, just as good as ever..."

In response to Ishida's sarcastic remarks, Chad simply nodded calmly without saying anything.

"Chad, um... how should I put it, are you a Shinigami or a Quincy? You suddenly seem quite mysterious." After making the decision, Inoue and Ichigo visibly relaxed a lot. Inoue gently pressed his chopsticks against Ichigo's pale chin and asked curiously.

"A Shinigami and a Quincy? I don't know, but I don't think so. If I had to say, I'd probably lean more towards Shinigami. I suddenly gained this ability a few days ago when I was attacked by a masked monster."

As he spoke, he clenched his right fist, and black spiritual pressure gathered and wrapped around Chad's right arm. When the spiritual pressure dissipated, an arm with black background and red patterns and slightly broad shoulders appeared in front of everyone.

"Uh... what does this have to do with the Grim Reaper?" Ishida asked, pointing to Chad's right arm.

"It looks rather evil, and seems more suited to the Grim Reaper."

"This Grim Reaper is different from that Grim Reaper..."

“Is that so?” Chad glanced at Ishida.

"If you want to express surprise, can you at least show some surprise? Saying things like that with a blank expression is terrifying!"

"Really? I'm paying attention."

"..."

"Haha, don't mind him, Chad is just like that. Let me give you a brief overview of the situation." Ichigo straightened his expression, put down his lunchbox, and began to explain the situation to Chad, while also sorting out his own thoughts.

"That's roughly it. Rukia isn't human; she's a Shinigami. She suddenly appeared in my house a few weeks ago and gave me the powers of a Shinigami, allowing me to fight off the Hollows that appeared in my house at that time. Chad, the one you encountered was probably a Hollow as well."

Chad nodded without saying anything.

"The house that was supposedly damaged was actually the result of memory correction. The house wasn't damaged by the crash, but by the Hollow. Rukia saved my sister and me. Similarly, she was captured this time because she gave me the power of a Shinigami, which violated the rules of the Seireitei. They wanted to execute her, so Inoue and I decided to go and rescue her!"

"To be honest, this operation is very dangerous, basically a matter of life and death. So, I really hope you can think it over carefully before making a decision!"

Chad smiled, a rare occurrence for him, and said, "We made a promise, didn't we?"

Chad laughed and presented his massive right fist to Ichigo. Ichigo laughed back and extended his right hand to bump fists with Chad: "Yeah, we made a promise, ha~ You're becoming more and more like a demon."

"I think so too."

After saying that, the two exchanged a knowing smile, and then, together with Inoue, the three of them put pressure on Ishida.

Ishida calmly pushed up his glasses and said, "Saving her is your goal. I'm just going for revenge. I'm different from you. It's just something I was doing on the way."

Ichigo and the other two exchanged smiles and nodded, but did not expose him.

Seeing the three smiling faces, Ishida poured cold water on their enthusiasm.

"Don't be too happy yet. The power of the Grim Reaper is very strong. With our current strength, we might not even be able to enter the main gate before we are killed. Not to mention the Gotei 13, almost every one of their daily patrol GD series mechs has combat power of at least Seat Officer level. Among us, only Ichigo and I currently have that strength."

"This is just the basic model. The GD-2, which is above this, has combat capabilities at the vice-captain level. What's most terrifying is that both of these mechs are mass-produced! Only the Seireitei itself knows their exact numbers!"

"Wait, mecha? What about Soul Society having mecha? That kind of futuristic stuff."

"Yes, and the inventor was Rukia's teacher, Tenshin Ichiro. Don't underestimate the Seireitei. Although their way of life seems rather ancient, their level of technology is not low, or rather, their potential is not low."

"As for the mecha, we probably don't need to worry. Last night I learned from the shopkeeper that 80% of the mecha in Soul Society have stopped operating. It's said that Rukia's teacher, Tenshin Ichiro, did it. So we probably won't encounter any mecha this time."

"It's been stopped? Has he gone mad? Is he going to declare war on those nobles?" Ishida was somewhat shocked. Even he knew what would happen if one person completely controlled such a massive fighting force as mechs.

"Never mind, this is probably irrelevant to our goal. We just need to rescue Rukia."

"Didn't you say your goal wasn't to save Rukia?" Chad looked calmly at Ishida.

"...Never mind, this is probably irrelevant to your goal. You just need to rescue Rukia."

Are you planning to ignore it?

"What do you want?! Are you looking for trouble?!" Ishida drew his spirit bow, looking at Chad with a face full of anger.

Unfortunately, Chad remained completely calm, so calm that Ishida's anger subsided as well...

Those who spit on others will always be spit on in return...

Forget it... I'll just not criticize him next time. Is this guy really that vengeful?

"Even so, with our current strength, it will be very difficult to succeed!"

Ichigo nodded and said seriously, "I know, but we still have ten days. Well, it's nine days now."

"What can the Nine Heavens do? I've cultivated for over a decade to gain my current power."

"I'll be here in two or three weeks."

"Three minutes? Probably, or maybe just a moment."

"I'll be here in a second."

Ishida:......

I'm done playing!

"...My clan has a secret technique that, when used, grants a fighter with barely the strength of a captain. Nine Heavens? That's enough. What about you?"

"I don't know. I have nine days. I plan to ask Manager Urahara for help."

"Alright, then let's ask for leave from the school. Let's not delay, let's just ask for leave now, we'll start this afternoon." With that, Ishida walked off the rooftop first; he didn't want to stay with these people for even a second longer!

"Then let's go. After asking for leave, we'll go directly to ask Manager Urahara for help." After saying that, Ichigo didn't hesitate, he closed the lunchbox, and then stood up.

Inoue hesitated before standing up, then thought for a moment and said, "I won't go with you to Manager Urahara's place. Um... Tsubaki said she has some techniques to teach me, and she can help me train."

Ichigo gave Inoue a deep look and said, "Well, be careful then, and don't push yourself too hard."

"Don't worry, but if we go together to ask the teacher for leave, will we be able to get it?"

"Leave it to me!" Ichigo patted his chest and said confidently.

.......

Class Teacher's Office

"What? Your father was in a car accident?"

"Yes, so I'd like to take a few days off to go back and take care of him. My sister and the others still have to go to school, and the hospital at home needs someone. Chad and Inoue are going to help me."

In the office, Ichigo spoke with a sorrowful expression, while Inoue and Chad turned their faces away. So that's what they meant by handing it over to him... Uncle Isshin, I'm sorry!

......

"Ahh~"

In front of a cemetery in Karakura Town, Isshin, who was smoking, suddenly sneezed. He looked around curiously, but finding nothing amiss, he put on a gentle smile and continued chatting with Masaki.

"You know what? Ever since Ichigo became a Shinigami and started interacting with Rukia, he's become so much more filial. He doesn't talk back to me like he used to, and he's taken on a lot more responsibility..."

.......

Class Teacher's Office

"Oh, I see. Then you should go back now. If you need anything else, just tell me and I'll do my best to help you. But you also need to pay attention to your studies and make sure you don't fall behind!" the homeroom teacher said, deeply moved.

"Okay, teacher, we'll study hard. We'll head back now." With that, the three bowed to their homeroom teacher and turned to leave the office.

"What a filial son!" The homeroom teacher exclaimed sincerely as he watched the three figures disappear into the distance.