“Iｔ'ｓ ａｌｌ ｒｉｇｈｔ, ｎｏｗ!
“¡ʍou ʇɥƃᴉɹ llɐ s,ʇI”
★—The blond wasn’t privy to the detailed nuances of the ritual. But he did intuit that he was bearing witness to a farewell. He could have called it a funeral.
The taller specter’s gesture begged for his non-interference, and Toshinori complied only because the situation was quite beyond his ken. Protecting the living was one matter. Issuing peace to the lingering deceased? That was rather beyond the scope of his experience.
Somberly, he observed the otherworldly ceremony. His throat ached at the understanding of a tiny light, abbreviated in its glow. Who was the child? What sort of a life had the boy led? Was his a peaceful passing? And what was it in the experience of tasting ice cream that anchored his spirit? Perhaps it was the burden of the ignorant living, to wonder these things - and he hoped that it was the respite of the departed, to find contentment outside of explanation.
Toshinori bowed his head, pressed his palms together, and lifted a prayer to the glinting particles, ascending beyond the noise of the city, below. The bright-haired specter addressed him, and it was a few moments before the veteran hero could fold his emotions away neatly enough to speak. The psychological drawer was shut, and he raised a shadow-wreathed gaze to regard the fellow who spoke, without the assumption that they existed in the same reality, at all.
❝…there really wasn’t a need; I was simply a bystander.
I think your priorities were… exactly as they should have been.❞
Now that he was good and shaken, and reflective - he had heard of some remarkable events that had transpired in this very town… was the display he had just witnessed a catalyst or a consequence of those phenomena? There would be no news footage… no structural damage from what just occurred. Just how many spiritually potent interactions happened in this place? And. If this young fellow here was capable of sending a lingering spirit forth… didn’t that make him… a … reaper…?
THEN. WHY WAS HE SO READILY VISIBLE??
HAD HE, HIMSELF, IN FACT DIED ON THE TRAIN???
WAS ALL OF THIS LIVING HE’D BEEN DOING THE PAST THIRTY MINUTES A FARCE???
❝…a-ah, there is one thing I’d like to ask. I estimate you to be very busy, i-if you are in fact a Reaper. Which, the black seemed overtly somber before, but now I think it’s appropriate. S- so that being said… Do you… Could you theorize with me, as to why…
AS TO WHY I CAN SEE YOU PLAIN AS DAY?❞
“Have I died without realizing it? Something so outrageously impossible… but then what was it I just saw? Something in the water bottle? Did I even buy this water a minute ago? I shouldn’t complain, I had a good run. But. I still have so much to do. I factored in that I’ve been living on borrowed time as it is… I had taken it for granted, perhaps. I expected to have a little more time. Did I die of dehydration, on that sweltering train? Is that what the water symbolizes?”
—Ｗ ｈｙ?
¿ʎɥM—
— ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ ａｍ ｈｅｒｅ!!”
¡¡ǝɹǝɥ ɯɐ I ǝsnɐɔǝq —
| |And I’ll fight - and 💀 win - and fight| |
Amber solemnity focused on the particles until they were out of view, to assure that nothing would get within the child’s way as they departed from this reality -
Far too similar, to the boy he would argue with often even before he had any capabilities, the spirits within this town were more than familiar with the brightly-maned youth, years and years of his interference before he had become anything at all.
Finally - a glance askance, to take in any and all details - this was obviously a normal guy ... well, as normal as one could get around here, as he was still tethered to the living world just like any other wandering citizen...
But it was fairly abnormal for normal folks to be Spiritually aware like this, he had the arm up of being born this way, and others around him had been able to develop the sight as well, just by proximity and natural tolerance...
Maybe this guy was just strong for a human?
Those have happened - but, he wasn’t a scientist, or an expert of anything, really,
and there was no time to run by Hat N’ Clogs’ shop and spam him with question marks, so....
“Yeah, substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo,
not really at your service yet because you’re not a spirit, so calm down, Old Man.
You probably can’t see it yourself, but I can see somethin’ that tells me when you’re not.. say, suited for this place,
and whether I gotta send ya’ up or down...
- - but that thing, that ‘Chain of Fate’ is, well, it’s sparklin’ on ya’,
so you don’t gotta worry for a little while, at least.”
He was no picture of eloquence, and it was more or less a desperate attempt at soothing any anxieties in a really, really horrible and abbreviated fashion - he wasn’t the best at making speeches or the like - -
Wait - shit.
Without due warning, a hand shot out and up, and while he had to stretch a bit, a strong palm was sub sequentially shoved over the thin-lipped man’s... teeth, peering about to ascertain whether or not people had taken notice of some eldery skeleton-man talking to himself about ghosts.
“Just so ya’ know, NO ONE ELSE CAN SEE ME, so unless ya’ wanna
land yerself somewhere less entertaining than our little city, I’d be a little quieter about yer’ concerns.”
| |So in the end - they can 💀 be safe - to smile| |
