"Sir, I'm beginning to believe that after our last trip to the outskirts of Hokkaido that you may have become…uh, how do I put this…?"
"Insane? You would be correct except for the fact that I've always been insane. My question is how you even managed to get a shop open this late that would sell you ten straw dummies."
"Straw men, sir, and I do have my contacts in the more…obscure side of the world." Nakamura answered with a shrug and I simply hummed as I stood with both hands on my cane in front of me.
"That reminds me of something I've been wanting to ask you. Do you wish for me to give you the ability to see spirits like I did with the Mayor?" I asked, remembering how I had let the man see his father out of impulse.
A week later, I had to go and calm the man down as he was able to see Pluses and Hollows and unfortunately, not everyone has the crazy calm mentality that I do when it comes to such things.
Thankfully, he realizes that the Pluses just want people to talk to and that the Hollows won't bother him as long as he doesn't bother them so all was good.
"Sir, do you know why I still work for you despite the fact that you thought I would be the next out of fifteen assistants to quit early?" Nakamura asked and I shook my head while putting up one of the straw men and moving the others off to the side.
"Not at all. Why don't you enlighten me?"
"It's because I can't see what you see and I don't want to see what you see. Unlike you, sir, not everyone has that hero mentality that wants to jump in to save people at the cost of their life. Besides, I like sleeping at night without hearing spirits whispering into my ears."
"…Wait, do I actually just jump into battles without worry?" I know that I've gotten a lot more confident over the past few months when it comes to saving people, but was it really that bad?
In response, I blinked as Nakamura snorted with a smirk and nodded.
"Yep. You would rather jump into a battle nine out of ten times to save someone than you would just walk away like a rational person."
"That…makes sense. Remind me to not jump into that many fights anymore."
"Of course, sir. Now, why have you decided to come out here this early in the morning, sir? It's not even 5.00 am yet." He said and I responded by walking over to where he was standing, turning towards the straw men in front of me with my right index finger pointed at it while holding my cane out to push Nakamura back a bit.
"Hado #4: Byakurai." I chanted as I used the spell like I would any other time, except this time, I pulled from the Hollow Reiryoku of the orb around my neck and used that energy to fuel the spell.
However, my eyes widened and I flinched slightly as my finger was knocked back by the force from the spell, watching in shock as a small scarlet beam of corrosive energy flew through the air and exploded upon contact with the straw man.
I was thankful for the fact that I only used a small bit of Reiryoku as I stared at the lower half of the straw man falling over while its upper body was entirely erased from existence, pulling on the reishi in the air around the straw man before snuffing out the flames while still shocked at what I just did.
'Was that a fucking Cero? How the hell did I even make a Cero?! Wait, if I'm remembering correctly, a Cero is when a Hollow gathers and compresses spiritual energy into a single point and fire it out as a beam, which is the same process for Byakurai except I have to envision it transforming into a bolt of lightning as I fire it. Does that mean…I just made a Cero without realizing it? This requires further experimentation.'
"From your expression, I'm guessing you didn't mean to do that, sir."
"No…No, I did not." I muttered as I repeated what I just did, but kept it still this time instead of firing it out.
It was a lot harder than I expected to keep it concentrated without firing the orb, but I managed to achieve it and stared in shock at the orb of chaotic Hollow Reiryoku floating in front of my finger, letting it fly at the remnants of the straw man before smiling with glee as it too was vaporized with another beautiful explosion that I quickly snuffed out.
"Ohoho~ This might be something nice to try."
"Well, well~ I did not expect this to be what I would find when I came here." My guard was instantly on guard as I heard a joyful voice speaking behind us, spinning around before hiding my shock at the bucket hat-wearing man smiling and waving at me with a cane in his right hand and a fan in his left.
"Who are you?"
"Oh, there's no need to worry about who I am."
"Uh, sir. Who are you talking to?" Nakamura whispered and I frowned as I glanced at him before it deepened as I looked back to the amused Urahara.
"So, you're not using a Gigai, huh Shinigami?"
"You know a lot for someone who's new to our mystical world of wonder." The scientist spoke with a smile that he hid behind his fan, but I did not let my guard down as I saw a glint of something shimmering in his eyes that looked at me from below the brim of his hat.
"Nakamura, go back into the house. Leave the straw men out here."
"Spirit?" He asked and I nodded before he simply nodded and walked away, Urahara humming as his eyes flickered towards Nakamura leaving before snapping his fan shut with an easygoing smile on his face as his gaze returned back to me.
"So, why don't you tell how you've come to know about how to compress Hollow souls?"
"Only if you tell me just who you are."
"A question for a question?" He asked and I hummed at the thought before nodding, the man simply humming in response as I pulled on the reishi of the dirt below us to form two solid earth chairs with thick grass as the cushion seat, both of us sitting down and placing our canes across our laps.
"So, who's going first?"
"Nose goes." I answered instantly in response while placing a finger on my nose, to which he cursed before grumbling as he nodded.
"Fair. Ask your first question, then, Mr. Misao Kanonji." His usage of my legal name must have been to try and throw me off, but I simply smirked at the slight disappointed look in his eyes as I nodded before speaking.
"Who are you?"
"A shopkeeper. How did you make that soul orb?"
"With reishi." I responded to his cryptic answer with one of my own, both of us smirking as we nodded and sat up straight.
"No more obscure answers. Who are you?"
"Kisuke Urahara, shinigami and former captain of the Gotei 13. How did you make that soul orb?"
"By using the ambient Reiryoku of Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryu Ishida to create a double-layered cage that would contain the impure souls of the hundreds of Hollow souls released by the death of the Menos Grande. How did you find me?"
"I found traces of your ambient Reiatsu at the site of the battle and then just simply used my spiritual sensing to track you down. How were you able to use that Cero when you're a human?"
"By emulating the Kido spells I would normally use as well as replacing my own Reiryoku and Reishi with that of the Reiryoku in the soul orb."
"Impossible." He answered instantly and I raised an eyebrow before speaking.
"And why would that be?"
"You're not a Fullbringer so there is no Hollow Reiatsu in your body that would allow you to manipulate the Reishi in the air or the Reiryoku inside that orb and you're a Human, so using Kido spells that were designed to only be used by the Shinigami race would be impossible."
"Hado #1: Sho." In response, I simply used the weakest of my Kido spells and fired it at the ground besides us, frowning a bit as the man had no shock while looking at the small crater besides me before smirking as he looked up at me with an eerie glint in his eyes.
"I see. Well, I can tell you that what you just used is most definitely not a Kido spell."
"And why would you say that?"
"Because if it was, you would be utterly exhausted even if you used the Reishi in the surrounding area. What you are doing is conducting and fuelling your abilities through manipulating the Reimyaku of the Human World, which has had time to read through the memories of the Shinigami that patrol the realm and memorize the different spells."
'…I have no fucking clue what the hell that is.' I thought in shock as I maintained a perfectly calm face on the outside, but internally, I ran through every memory I have on the series in order to find out just what he was talking about.
"You know, you don't have a very good poker face, right? Your face is calm, but your eyes show panic." Urahara spoke up and I looked at him before rolling my eyes as I nodded.
"I'll take that into consideration. So, what's your question?" I asked before I felt surprise hit as the man simply smirked and stood up, chuckling at my quick flash of surprise while dusting off the back of his coat.
"No need. This little meeting with you has been very insightful to me."
"Before you go, a final question." I said as I stood up and he looked at me before smirking and nodding.
"You've helped me discover something new so ask away."
"May I ask what Reimyaku is and how I'm able to use it?" I made sure to add that 'may' at the start since I don't know if it's forbidden to know about it and I was right as Urahara's smile flickered slightly before returning to its normal state and shrugged.
"To the latter part of your question, it's a surprise to me as well to find a human that can naturally manipulate the Reimyaku of the world while even the most talented Shinigami struggle for centuries before they can do so. As for the first part, I'm afraid the best I can say is that the Reimyaku is also known as the leylines of the world. Apologies."
"No, that…that was plenty." I said and he smiled and tipped his hat before vanishing from my sight and out of my twenty meter radius of Reishi sensing within a split second before letting out a sigh as I looked up at the sky.
It appears that some research needs to be done.
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Ley Lines are straight alignments drawn between various historic structures, prehistoric sites and prominent landmarks, with some believing in the theory that ancient civilizations deliberately erected and established structures along these lines to strengthen them and make sure they withstand the decay of time.
These ley lines are also known as Dragon Veins in Feng Shui or chinese geomancy and they are believed to be underground channels flowing through mountain ranges that conduct the mystical energy known as Qi.
There are some of the scientific and factual mindset that do believe somewhat in leylines as the structures built upon them have survived the passage of time for centuries and even millennia while the structures built around them have been destroyed and replaced numerous times.
It has been hypothesized that the purity and power of leylines grows potent and stronger the more significant the history of that landmark is and weaker depending on how little history that landmark has.
I frowned as I continued to read the book of leylines from my seat in the library, humming softly to myself as I turned a page while a stack of books on the mystical energy Qi and others like it stood on the table next to me.
After my meeting with Urahara last night, I have been stuck in the library doing nothing but reading up on every book of leylines that I could find in order to figure out just what the hell I am.
I know that I woke up in a void. I know that I read a letter to me from the Devil himself to place myself in this world and I know that I had a photo of Don Kanonji along with a letter to tell me that I was being reincarnated along with a soul ticket that lets me being reincarnated as Don Kanonji.
'Wait, is it because of the fact that my soul wasn't birthed by this world that I'm able to easily manipulate something that most people can't since the world doesn't recognize me as its child?' I thought with a frown as I continued to read, letting out a soft sigh and rubbing the bridge of my nose as I felt a headache coming.
"U-Um, excuse me." I blinked as I heard a young voice near my side, turning before smiling at the young boy with dark hair dressed in a white shirt, blue shorts and a pair of blue sneakers, standing on the opposite side of the chair next to him with a Don Kanonji figurine still in its sealed box in his hands.
"Hello, young man. How can I help you?" I asked and smiled as he looked slightly embarrassed and happy while holding out his figurine towards me.
"U-Uh, w-would you mind signing t-this, sir?"
"A fan?" I asked as I took out my permanent marker, chuckling at his shy nod before writing down my signature on it as well as my stage name.
"Who am I making it out to?"
"K-Kaoru, Mr. Kanonji. Kaoru Unagiya."
"No need for the mister, part. You can simply call me Don." I spoke with a smile as I wrote his name as well as my signature message of 'Spirits Are Forever With You', making sure to blow on the marker ink a few times to make it dry before softly handing it back over to the excited boy.
"Kaoru." A female voice spoke from behind us and Kaoru smiled as he stood up while I turned around before blinking at the sight of the beautiful, tall and rather curvaceous woman walking up to us with a smile.
Dressed in a simple pair of tight black pants, a white t-shirt with long purple sleeves that had the logo 'Unagi'printed on the front and black rubber boots, her long raven hair was styled into a ponytail with a purple scrunchy over her right shoulder and her brown eyes shone with a maternal love as she leaned down slightly while Kaoru lifted his figurine box up to her.
'Holy shit, she is hot.'
"Mom! I got Don Kanonji to sign my Don Kanonji figurine."
"Wait, the guy from that exorcism show?" I heard her ask and quickly removed any lust in my gaze as I stood up and walked over, Ikumi looking up only to look surprised as I took off my glasses and put them in my left breastpocket while bowing with a flourish and a smile.
"Good evening, madam. Don Kanonji, pleased to meet you."
"Ikumi Unagiya, pleased to meet you as well. Thank you for signing Kaoru's figurine. He's a big fan of yours."
"Mom~!" I chuckled at his embarrassed whine while Ikumi giggled as I nodded while resting my cane against my leg.
"It's of no concern, Mrs. Unagiya. It's I who is happy to have met a fan of mine."
"Oh, no need for the Mrs. I'm not married."
"Truly? That's quite a shame for a woman of your beauty if I may be truthful." I said with a wink and she rolled her eyes with a smirk before I blinked as Kaoru stood in between us.
"I like your show, but no flirting with Mom, okay?" I looked at him and up at the amused smile and shrug Kaoru gave me before nodding as I stood back up.
"My apologies for being so forward. How about this, then? Tomorrow, I am having an exorcism in person at Karakura's cemetery. Would you two do me the honour of being my special guest stars?" I asked and Kaoru's eyes widened with an excited smile while Ikumi looked a bit concerned.
"Um, I don't know about that~"
"Come on, Mom. Please~! I won't ask for anything else again!"
"If it helps, my assistant and bodyguards will be there to make sure any civilians are not caught in between myself and the spirits." I added and she bit her lip before letting out a soft sigh at Kaoru's pleading stare.
"Fine, but! We're only going to watch and nothing else." She said while giving both of us a pointed stare, to which he nodded while I gave a nod and a salute.
"I shall endeavour to act accordingly, Ms. Unagiya." I said and I smirked as Kaoru giggled while she just rolled her eyes again, but I gave a mental cheer as I heard the soft giggle while she turned and they began walking away.
Looks like Don Kanonji just scored himself a date.
A/N: Yes, MILFs are my weak point and it was a choice between her and Jackie, which I'm still struggling between because Jackie is such a good option that I could help.
Anyway, we'll leave that for later as we head out to our first…serious battle, I guess you can call it as I have a character planned for this part.
But we'll leave for next chapter~.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next chapter,
Ba-Bye~!