The sound of metal clanking echoed through the air as the sun hung low over a construction site in Karakura Town. The scent of steel and cement lingered, mixing with the faint breeze that rolled through.

Atop one of the unfinished buildings, Harutoki Ide sat on a stack of wooden planks, a small birdcage resting on his lap. Inside, a bright green parakeet fluttered nervously, its wings flapping every so often, letting out occasional high-pitched chirps.

"I swear, this thing is cursed." Harutoki muttered, staring at the bird.

"Cursed?" Gitano Shigeo, standing nearby, raised an eyebrow, arms crossed.

"Yeah," Harutoki continued. "Every owner who's had this bird? Dead. Always in some freak accident. One guy fell off his roof, another got hit by a truck. Last dude? House fire."

Gitano blinked, horrified. "And you're just carrying that thing around?!"

Harutoki shrugged. "What else am I supposed to do with it? It's cute."

Gitano took a large step back. "Yeah, no thanks, keep that bad luck charm away from me."

Harutoki sighed. "Man, what am I supposed to do then? I can't just abandon it."

"I'll take it."

Both boys turned, eyes landing on Yasutora Sado, or as most people called him, Chad, who stood towering over them.

"You serious?" Harutoki asked.

Sado nodded, eyes calm and steady as he looked at the frightened bird.

Gitano groaned. "Dude, he's using your weakness! You like cute things, don't you?"

Sado didn't deny it. He simply reached out, placing his large hand gently against the cage.

And just as he did—

The parakeet screeched.

Before anyone could process it, a loud metallic groan rang out.

"LOOK OUT!"

The boys looked up just in time to see a massive I-beam slide from the top of the structure—falling straight toward them.

Gitano and Harutoki froze in fear.

But before it could land—

Sado stepped forward.

With one fluid motion, he caught the massive beam on his back, his body hunched from the impact.

The weight was enormous, his muscles trembling under the force, but he didn't let it drop.

Gitano's jaw dropped. "H-How...?!"

Harutoki gasped, staring at the blood trickling down Sado's face.

And then—

"Thank you."

The boys stiffened.

The voice had come from inside the cage.

Their heads snapped toward the parakeet, whose tiny black eyes blinked at Sado.

"My name is Yūichi Shibata. Thank you for saving me."

Ichigo leaned against the railing, her arms crossed, eyes distant.

She exhaled through her nose.

"...I don't get it."

Across from her, Rukia sat calmly sipping juice from a box, not even looking up. "What don't you get?"

"The fact that my injuries from yesterday's fight healed overnight." Ichigo frowned, rolling her shoulder. "That's not normal."

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "You're surprised?"

Ichigo gave her a look. "Yeah?"

Rukia sighed, setting her juice down. "I was among the best in my Kidō healing class."

Ichigo blinked. "Wait. You guys go to school?"

"Of course." Rukia huffed. "You think Soul Reapers are just born knowing how to do this?"

Before Ichigo could respond—

"Oh, hey. You two are together again."

Ichigo's eye twitched as Mizuiro Kojima walked up to them, his usual lazy smile in place.

"You're pretty close, huh?" Mizuiro noted.

Ichigo groaned. "Don't start. We're not friends."

Mizuiro shrugged. "Could've fooled me."

"Ichigo doesn't have friends." Y/N walked up, stretching as he plopped down next to them. "Just people she tolerates."

Ichigo glared. "You're first on the 'not tolerated' list."

"Wow, that hurts," Y/N smirked. "I was gonna compliment your hair today."

Ichigo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure you were."

Mizuiro watched their back-and-forth, eyes glinting with amusement.

And then—

"ICHIGOOOOO!"

Before they could react, Keigo Asano appeared on the roof, pointing dramatically.

"You did it! You lured a girl to the rooftop!"

Ichigo's face twisted in horror. "The hell are you talking about?!"

Keigo clasped his hands together, tears in his eyes. "I'm so proud."

Rukia, still sipping her juice, finally muttered, "This is a school of idiots."

Before Ichigo could strangle Keigo, a shadow loomed behind them.

Sado.

Bandaged and carrying a parakeet.

Ichigo's brow furrowed.

"Chad? What the hell happened to you?"

Sado stood still, his expression unreadable.

The parakeet in his hand chirped once.

"His name is Yūichi."

Y/N's stomach dropped.

Because at that moment, he felt it.

Something wrong.

Something not human.

And from the way Ichigo and Rukia both tensed—

They felt it too.

The rooftop fell silent, save for the occasional chirp from the small green parakeet resting in Sado's palm.

Ichigo's gaze narrowed, her arms crossing over her chest. "So, let me get this straight—you got hit by an I-beam yesterday, a motorcycle this morning, and now you're carrying around a parakeet that talks?"

Sado nodded. "Yes."

"...And you don't think that's weird?" Ichigo deadpanned.

Sado tilted his head. "He says his name is Yūichi Shibata."

At that moment, the parakeet turned its small head toward them, its black eyes blinking.

"Hello! Thank you for saving me, Sado."

The voice was young, innocent—too human to come from a bird.

Keigo jumped back so hard he nearly fell off the roof. "WHAT THE HELL?! IT TALKS?!"

Mizuiro, far calmer, adjusted his tie. "I mean, that's kind of cool."

Ichigo and Y/N weren't listening to either of them.

Because the second the parakeet spoke—a chill ran down their spines.

Rukia's eyes darkened, and she immediately stepped forward, voice low.

"Where did you get that bird?"

Sado, unbothered by the reaction, simply answered, "Someone gave him to me at the construction site yesterday."

Keigo, still freaked out, pointed aggressively. "AND YOU JUST TOOK IT? AFTER ALMOST GETTING CRUSHED BY A BEAM?!"

Sado merely nodded.

Keigo looked ready to burst into tears.

Ichigo exhaled, then turned to Rukia, already guessing what she was going to say. "It's a Plus, isn't it?"

Rukia nodded grimly. "Yes. A lonely one."

Y/N ran a hand through his hair. "Great. So, what, we're dealing with another ghost that refuses to move on?"

Rukia shook her head. "It's not that simple. A Plus can't possess an object like this on their own. They need to be forced into one."

Ichigo's face hardened. "Then who put him in there?"

For a moment, no one spoke.

And then—

A cold wind passed through the rooftop, making the hair on the back of their necks stand on end.

Rukia's expression became serious, her fingers twitching toward her sword.

"Something's coming."

Ichigo and Y/N felt it too—an unsettling spiritual pressure creeping into the air, slow and deliberate.

Sado's brows furrowed slightly, his grip on Yūichi's cage tightening.

The parakeet, sensing the shift, suddenly flapped its wings in panic.

"He's coming back!"

Yūichi's voice was shaken, frantic—afraid.

Ichigo's stomach dropped.

Y/N, instincts kicking in, immediately turned to Sado. "You need to give us that bird. Now."

Sado, who rarely ever questioned his friends, still hesitated. "Why?"

Y/N didn't blink.

"Because whatever's coming isn't human."

The rest of the school day passed in a blur.

For Ichigo, Y/N, and Rukia, their minds were too preoccupied to care about classes.

Sado didn't seem bothered by the tension in the air, but he was attentive, noting the way his friends were acting differently.

By the time school ended, the sky was already starting to turn orange.

Ichigo, Y/N, and Rukia walked alongside Sado as they headed toward his place.

They hadn't forced him to hand over the bird.

Because they knew he wouldn't.

Sado wasn't the type to just abandon something helpless.

And maybe, just maybe, that's what worried them the most.

"Y'know..." Y/N eventually spoke up, running a hand through his hair. "We could just end this now. Do the soul burial, send the kid off, and move on."

Sado shook his head. "No."

Ichigo sighed. "You're too stubborn for your own good."

"I made a promise," Sado replied simply.

Y/N opened his mouth to argue—but stopped.

Chad's a weird guy," she muttered, stabbing the straw into the juice box before taking a sip.

Rukia glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. "You only just realized that?"

Ichigo smirked slightly. "No. But I was thinking about when I first met him."

Rukia didn't push for details, waiting as Ichigo took another sip of her juice before exhaling, tilting her head back slightly as she reminisced.

It was the eighth grade.

Ichigo had been fighting again.

Not because she wanted to—but because she didn't know how else to deal with it.

Her hair had always been a problem, drawing in the type of people who thought she was an easy target.

That day was no different.

In the narrow alley behind a convenience store, a group of older thugs had cornered her.

She had already taken down two of them, but the rest weren't playing fair anymore.

She grunted as two of them pinned her arms, locking them behind her back while their leader—a guy with brass knuckles—grinned at her, blood staining his teeth.

"You talk big, girly, but you're nothing when you can't swing, huh?"

Ichigo spat blood at his feet, scowling. "You're so weak you gotta hold me down to win?"

The leader's smile twitched.

"Hold her tight."

Ichigo braced herself as he cocked his fist back—

Only for the guy to suddenly fly backward, hitting the pavement with a painful grunt.

A massive shadow loomed behind him.

The thugs turned just in time to see a tall, broad-shouldered figure standing at the alley's entrance.

Sado.

His face was blank, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

One of the guys shouted, "Who the hell—?!"

Sado grabbed the nearest thug and hurled him down the alley like he weighed nothing.

The rest of the gang surrounded him immediately, throwing punches, trying to take him down.

The leader, regaining his footing, grinned viciously and slammed a brass-knuckled fist into Sado's gut.

But Sado didn't move.

He didn't even flinch.

The leader's grin vanished.

Ichigo, still held back, could only stare.

What the hell is this guy made of?

"After that," Ichigo muttered, still staring at the sky, "I found out Chad never fights back."

Rukia frowned slightly. "Even when people go after him?"

Ichigo nodded. "He never throws the first punch. Not even the second. He just... takes it."

Rukia tapped a finger against her juice box. "That's pretty odd."

"Yeah." Ichigo took another sip. "But I don't think it's because he can't fight."

Rukia tilted her head. "Then why?"

Ichigo smirked slightly.

"Because he doesn't fight for himself. He fights for others."

Later that evening, Ichigo walked into her house, tossing her bag onto the couch.

She was about to head to the kitchen when—

"Move!"

Karin rushed past her, still in her nurse uniform, her expression tense.

Ichigo blinked. "What's going on?"

Before she could ask, Yuzu appeared, carrying a box of medical supplies.

"There was a bad car accident at the intersection."

Ichigo's brows furrowed. "That bad?"

"Yeah," Yuzu said, shifting the box in her arms. "Dad's taking care of the worst ones now."

From the living room, Isshin's voice rang out, clearly frustrated.

"What do you mean you can't take more patients?! Tell your director this is a request from Isshin Kurosaki!"

Ichigo sighed, watching as her father slammed the phone down.

"Anything I can do?" she asked.

Isshin turned, then promptly waved her off.

"Nope! Just sit in the corner and look pretty."

"I hate you."

"You love me."

Before Ichigo could leave in annoyance, her father straightened up, his tone shifting.

"Actually, Ichigo—come help me."

Ichigo frowned. "With what?"

Isshin gestured toward the hallway, where two figures were approaching.

One of them made her freeze.

It was Chad.

And he was carrying a parakeet in a cage.

His clothes were stained with blood, his steps heavy, but his face was still as blank as ever.

"Big one," Isshin muttered to himself.

Ichigo barely processed his words as she stared at Sado's back, her stomach twisting at what she saw.

A claw-shaped wound—deep, red, and unnatural—spread across his skin.

Yuzu gasped. "What... what happened to him?"

Isshin swabbed the wound, eyes narrowing. "This doesn't look like a normal injury... almost like a burn."

Ichigo's eyes darkened.

Because she could feel it now.

That faint, suffocating energy.

The stench of a Hollow.

That night, Ichigo sat cross-legged in her room, her arms resting on her knees.

"You felt it too, right?"

Rukia, leaning against the doorframe, nodded. "Even from the other room."

Her gaze flickered toward the window. "Sado's wound... it reeks of Hollow."

Ichigo's fingers tensed.

Across the hall, Sado lay in bed, staring at the ceiling while the parakeet chirped softly beside him.

Somewhere else in the house, Karin tossed and turned in her sleep, her forehead damp with sweat.

Her breathing was uneven, her dreams filled with a parakeet's cage.

A feeling of dread settled over the house that night.

And by morning—

"Sado's missing!"

Ichigo turned sharply at her father's panicked voice.

In an instant, she was out the door, running down the street.

She didn't know why she was running—

But she had a bad feeling.

A really bad feeling.

She turned a corner and nearly collided with Rukia, who had been running toward her.

"Did you find him?" Ichigo demanded.

Rukia shook her head, her expression grim.

"No."

Ichigo swore under her breath.

Rukia's eyes narrowed. "Soul Society hasn't reported any Hollow sightings nearby."

Ichigo frowned. "Then where the hell did he go?"

Rukia exhaled, looking up at the sky.

"We won't find the Hollow until it appears."

Her hands clenched at her sides.

"And by then... it might be too late."

Y/N followed the small black cat, its paws silent against the dirt path, leading him further from town and toward a hidden lake.

The journey had been oddly quiet.

Even the wind, which usually carried the distant hum of city life, had gone still.

Eventually, they reached the edge of the water, the lake stretching out calmly before them.

Y/N exhaled, rolling his shoulders before taking a seat on a rock near the shore.

"Alright, old man," he muttered. "I know you're about to say something. Spit it out."

Poseidon's voice rumbled in his mind, as amused as ever.

"You've grown perceptive, boy. A pity you aren't as quick when it comes to dodging attacks."

Y/N scoffed. "Thanks for the critique. What, you want me to start practicing ballet next?"

"If it means you stop getting stabbed, then yes."

Y/N chuckled, shaking his head before gazing at the reflection of the moon rippling across the lake's surface.

Then—

The water shifted.

Not from the wind.

Not from a fish breaking the surface.

But from something beneath.

The small black cat, previously relaxed, suddenly tensed, its fur bristling as it pressed itself behind Y/N's back.

Y/N felt it too.

A presence—deep, ancient, watching.

Poseidon's tone hardened, the amusement gone.

"Be on guard, boy."

Y/N's fingers twitched, his body instinctively straightening. "What now?"

"A beast from olden times... one that should have stayed buried. It has awakened."

The water churned violently, spirals of unnatural ripples spreading outward.

Y/N sighed through his nose, standing up.

"Alright," he muttered. "Guess I'll deal with this first."

With a flick of his wrist, his sword materialized, its azure glow illuminating the area.

His outfit shifted, his attire transforming in a flash of energy, the weight of his power settling over him.

Despite the unease in the air, he turned slightly, glancing down at the black cat still hiding behind him.

"Stay put, yeah?" he said with a small smile.

The cat let out a soft huff, its golden eyes watching him.

Y/N stepped forward, his blade lowering toward the water's edge.

And just as he did—

"Are you serious, Rukia?"

Ichigo's orange hair swayed in the night breeze, her arms crossed as she stared at Rukia incredulously.

They had stopped in the middle of the street, her frustration clear on her face.

"We can't just sit here waiting for Sado to get attacked!"

Rukia sighed. "Then what do you suggest? We can't track a Hollow until it—"

"We don't need to track the Hollow."

Rukia blinked.

Ichigo smirked.

"We follow Yūichi instead."

Rukia let out a short, almost amused scoff. "That's not possible."

But Ichigo wasn't listening anymore.

Instead, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The air around her shifted.

Tiny specks of white light flickered into existence, drifting lazily like dust particles in the moonlight.

Rukia's amusement vanished instantly.

Ichigo's brow furrowed in concentration, and the specks elongated, forming into long, glowing white ribbons.

Her fingers reached out, gripping one firmly.

Her eyes snapped open.

"Got him."

Rukia stood there, stunned, her breath caught in her throat.

Ichigo didn't know what she had just done.

But Rukia did.

Reiraku.

Visible ribbons of Reiryoku, something only high-level Soul Reapers were supposed to see.

Ichigo—a complete novice—had just grasped one like it was second nature.

Before Rukia could even process it, Ichigo took off running.

"Oi—wait!"

Rukia snapped out of it, quickly chasing after her.

Sado walked through the abandoned factory, his heavy footsteps echoing against the hollowed-out steel beams.

The small parakeet chirped softly, shifting inside its cage.

"You're nice," Yūichi said after a while.

Sado glanced down, his expression unreadable.

"Sorry," the bird continued. "For bringing bad luck to everyone around me."

Sado was silent.

Then—

"I know."

Yūichi hesitated before muttering, "You should just leave me somewhere and go."

Sado stopped walking.

He looked down at the parakeet, his grip tightening slightly on the handle.

"I can't do that."

The bird's head tilted. "Why?"

Sado exhaled, shaking his head.

"Because..."

Then—

A shifting presence.

The air inside the factory grew heavy, and Sado's instincts flared.

Above them, something moved.

A shadow detached from the ceiling, its presence twisting unnaturally in the rafters.

The Hollow dropped.

Sado didn't hesitate.

He grabbed Yūichi's cage and ran.

Ichigo and Rukia sprinted down the streets, following the glowing ribbon in Ichigo's grasp.

"Almost there!" Ichigo called.

Then—

Sado's massive frame suddenly appeared, running across their