An Arcanist in Karakura Town 21 (Patreon)

An Arcanist in Karakura Town
Chapter 21

-VB-

“Aw, hell no,” I snarled when I saw Urahara at my front door again.

I knew what he was for, and I was not going into that death trap. Hell, I wasn’t even going to respond to him. If I talked to him, then he would persuade me somehow to go and get involved in the rescue plan.

Because that’s somehow I got involved in kicking Ichigo’s ass.

So no!

Hell no!

I was not going to talk to hi-!

“Oh, hello, Urahara-san!”

I facepalmed as Orihime greeted him as he walked out.

“Hello, Inoue-hime! How have you been?”

I watched as the two shared a brief but inconsequential conversation about their days and what they were doing before Orihime closed the door and left for school.

Hat-and-clogs, on the other hand, slowly looked up towards where I was looking down at him and smirked at me.

I narrowed my eyes and left the second story window of the warehouse.

I was not going to talk with him.

Nope. Na da. Nein.

I walked down from the catwalk to the first floor and walked straight into the office/home, closed the door there, and went straight into the library where I explored the intricacies of the Weave.

With Qin Shi Huang’s Great Wall Noble Phantasm active, there was no way Urahara was going to get in, not without an invitation from me.

And for the next day, I sat meticulously perusing the discoveries and data I have collected for my arcane arts…

When Orihime returned, we had a very long and distracting sex.

That got me in a very happy mood.

Eventually, Urahara left. Hopefully, he got the message that I wasn’t interested.

-VB-

I sucked in a deep breath as the last of the Hollows I killed tonight siphoned into my mask that I had named the Mask of Avarice.

Shuddering as I felt whatever it was inside me delight in this offering of fresh meal, I sat down to take stock.

This particular mask was a combination of three new masks that I made in my hunt before tonight. Ichigo and his friends were off training.

Actually, I wasn’t far from where they were.

I jumped to the highest building in my immediate vicinity, and began rummaging through the trinkets and items I’ve made or enchanted. There were too many of these at this point, I just called them by what they did than the original names I’d given them in my whimsy.

So Farsight was just a pair of binoculars that let me also see into the building, kind of like an X-ray.

I looked into the building that exuded the spiritual residues of abilities being used with practice or lessons, and found Sado, Yoruichi-cat … and Tatsuki?

Huh.

I honestly did not expect her there. She shouldn’t be up for any kind of spiritual fighting, nevermind a major incursion like invading Soul Society.

…

I switched out the Farsight for Spiritual Radar.

I looked down at it, and narrowed my eyes.

Tatsuki had more power than she did when I last slept with her.

How?

I was now curious.

Humming in thought as I tried to figure out how she could have gotten that power boost (outside of the Shounen Protagonist Plot Hole), I sat down to watch their little training session.

Yoruichi-cat was doing her best to push the two. It was clear that both of them were close quarter combatants. Sado was a slow but heavy hitter. Tatsuki, on the other hand, was a fast-hitting and skillful fighter.

I knew that even without looking at Yoruichi’s directives that Tatsuki was a skillful fighter; one does not enter the national karate championship without being skillful.

Unfortunately, that was in no way enough for her for Soul Society. She may be faster than Sado, but she was way slower than the likes of Byakuya, nevermind Soi Fon.

“So why?” I asked myself quietly as I continued to watch.

“Interested?”

I gritted my teeth and sighed. I turned to glance over my shoulder and found the mastermind standing there on the same rooftop as me.

“You scared me.”

Urahara stood there with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“But I am only a candy shop owner! Who could be scared of me?”

“... Well? What do you want now that you got your chance to talk with me?”

He reached into his coat and pulled out his fan. With but a snap, he covered his face.

“I think you know what I want. You don’t seem to be at all surprised by what’s happening over there.”

I glanced again at the building where Sado and Tatsuki were training under Yoruichi-cat’s guidance.

“No. I’m not. It’s something Ichigo would have done, because Rukia got taken, right?” I asked, making myself sound only slightly unsure.

“Yes. Won’t you help Ichigo?”

“Hell no,” I rejected firmly. “Even if it turns out well, I am not the kind of person who injects himself into other people’s business until they make it my business.”

“Ho? Then you would fight for material possessions?”

“I have enough that you won’t be able to convince me to go.”

“What about all of the materials offered to shinigami-in-training at Soul Society’s academy?”

“Not enough.” But tempting.

“What about my personal library?”

“Not enough.” Very tempting, but I could seriously die fighting in Soul Society. Protagonist bullshit may cover Ichigo, but I was not the protagonist of this universe.

“Hmm. You make this very hard.”

“How about you simply understand that I am not interested?”

He snapped his fan close. “If that is truly what you want, then so be it. But would you offer your friend some help?”

Always out to get the littlest bit of advantage he could.

I reached into my pack and pulled out an amethyst pendant. I inspected the eight pointed star. This was supposed to be a very powerful artifact of my creation that would turn the table on one of my future enemies, those who would burn Karakura Town.

But I also couldn’t let my bleeding heart let Tatsuki leave without some help from me.

“Tell her that she’s always welcome in my home,” I grumbled as I tossed the pendent.

Urahara caught, inspected it quickly so that it wasn’t rude, and then pocketed it. “It’s powerful.”

“So it is,” I mumbled before teleported away to get away from the man as quickly as possible.

I knew that I’d given into Urahara’s trickery when the man didn’t return the next morning. After all, he did get my help.

I told Orihime what happened, and saw her get genuinely cold for the first time in our entire time together.

“If he hurts Tatsuki-chan, then will you help me get revenge?”

Oh. Ohhhh…..

Urahara, you dun fked up.

I grinned savagely. “It’s only right that I help my wife.”