Chapter 285: A letter from an old friend
(Ryoto's pov)
I was currently the only one in the Study Chamber. Besides the group of invaders and Yoruichi, of course. She and Ichigo were sparring at the moment, so I had some free time as all of my children went out to do something, and Rin and Isane had responsibilities in their respective Squad.
I, on the other hand, had Soi Fon for that.
Some would call me lazy, but I would argue that I was just smart with my work. I worked hard as a lieutenant of Squad 13, so now that I'm a captain, I deserve some break from all of the paperwork.
Am I wrong?
As I was sitting near some boulder, trying to relax as long as I could since soon everything would go crazy, I was approached by one of the young invaders.
Without opening my eyes, I started talking.
"So, how can I help you, Uryuu?" I asked.
While I was relaxed, the young Ishida seemed to be tense. Am I that scary? I don't bite... at least not guys. Isane seems to enjoy it, though.
I'm getting sidetracked.
In the meanwhile, Uryuu was trying to think what to say, so I let him. After a short while, he finally found either courage or the right words.
"Are you the Ryoto Yuuki that was friend with a Quincy called Isamu Ishida?"
I was honestly expecting him to ask this much earlier, but to be fair, we were all busy training.
"I don't know any other Ryoto Yuuki besides me, so I would bet my money that I was."
"So you must been aware that I'm a descendant of Isamu Ishida since you asked me about my name when we first met, and for the same reason, you gave me this." He took out the same Quincy cross that I left him back in the Human world. Isamu's Quincy cross.
"That seems to be right. I believe that this would be better used by someone in his family than just rotting underground." I answered truthfully.
"If that's what you believe, then I have a letter for you as well, and I'm giving back the cross. If you're still sure that the cross should be in my hands after you read this letter, then I'll accept it."
Consider me curious. Uryuu took out an old-looking paper that, if I needed to guess, was the latter he was talking about earlier. The paper looked to be at least 100 years old, but if I were to be more precise, I would say it was nearer to being 150 years old.
I took the latter out of his hand and opened it.
Seeing this handwriting didn't surprise me as much as it should. Knowing the age of it ruined the surprise.
Without waiting much longer, I started reading.
__________
Hey... I don't really know how to write it, but if it's you, Ryoto, then it must have been some time after my death.
I'm writing this letter because I know that my death affected you a lot. My entire life must have been relatively short for you. I would like to believe that in that short time, you've viewed me as a friend, and losing a friend is never easy.
That's why I left you a memorial of sorts, so at least part of me is always with you, but if this latter is delivered to you, then you did something stupid like giving my cross to my family or something like that.
I can't convince you to change your mind, but I ask you to rethink your decision. I gave you my Quincy cross for a reason. I wanted you to have it as a thanks for everything you did for me and my family and partially as a sorry for forcing you to do my dirty job.
Your friend, Isamu.
__________
...
...
...
God dammit Isamu. Even after your death, you must see right through me and give me a cheesy lecture.
I smiled.
"I changed my mind. I think I'll hold into this cross for a while longer if you don't mind." I said to the young Quincy as I put it around my neck.
"If that's what you choose, but if you don't mind... could you tell me some stories about my ancestors. You seem to be close to my family about two centuries ago... If you don't mind, of course." Uryuu was a bit embarrassed by his request, but his curiosity about his family's history was bigger. It was endearing.
"Sure, I don't mind. How about I tell you the story of how I helped Isamu get together with his future wife. It began with a simple question. 'How do you avoid tripping into her and grabbing her butt?' And let me tell you, it wasn't as easy as you may think."
And with that, I started destroying Uryuu's view of his family.
(3rd's pov)
A sleeping king slowly opened his eyes while sitting on his throne. Sensing the disturbance, he frowned. He knew that what he was feeling wasn't incorrect, but at the same time, it shouldn't be possible.
He could sense four Shinigami in his Schatten Bereich. How it was possible, he didn't know, but if they discovered his hidden empire, then his plans needed to change, but first, he would need to dispose of uninvited guests.
"Haschwalt." The king called his right-hand man as well as his successor. Soon after, a tall, young-looking man with a thin build and long blonde hair entered the throne room and kneeled before his king.
"Yes, your Majesty?
"Gather the Sternritter. We have guests."
Usually expressionless, Haschwalt widened his eyes, but after the initial shock, he bowed his head and complied with the order.
---
"Wow, I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't that." Yukima said as she looked around with a curious gaze.
"I must agree with you, Yukima. I would love to explore it a bit." Rangiku added.
"Please don't do that. We need to stick together." Akio tried to stop his free-spirited sisters.
"I'm with Akio on this one. I don't know why, but I feel danger from all around us." Masaru made his comment as he looked around cautiously. He could practically feel his skin crawl. He didn't feel safe at all, but he couldn't pinpoint what was causing him this feeling.
""Fine."" Both sisters listened to their older brother, ignoring the second oldest, but Akio didn't mind as long as they listened in the end.
"First, let's check our communication devices." And with that said, everyone tested their functionality, sending a short message to Gin, who answered them.
Everything worked so far, so Akio took out some machines and started working for a few minutes.
"Let's move. We can't see anything from here. I was expecting buildings since it's a shadow dimension, but it isn't a mirror of Sereitei since the buildings weren't the same, although similar in some ways, if not for ice covering all buildings. But that creates a question. Is this dimension mirroring Sereitei from the beginning, or... was this man-made." Akio narrowed his eyes as he observed the buildings.
"Does this make any difference to our plan?" Yukima asked as they started moving.
"It does, in fact. If it's man-made, it would mean that this place is populated, and as long as it's populated, there is a chance, as small as it is, that you know who can escape with their help. Don't underestimate him, ever."
Their talk was interrupted as Masaru tried to warn everyone of immediate danger, but he was too late.
"ROOOOOAAAAAAR!!!!!"
A deafening roar exploded through the air and rendered communication devices built by Akio useless, as the sound wave was enough to destroy them enough to destroy their primary function.
The first to notice it was Akio as he reached out to it at the first sign of attack, but he was too late to inform Gin about the enemy. The only good news in all of that was that Akio was prepared for something like that occurring, so now they would need to survive for 5 minutes. 5 long minutes.
At that moment, Akio wished that the emergency plans that he had prepared would go to waste, but, at the same time, he was happy that at least once, he was prepared for something, and it paid off.
---
END
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