"Stop talking nonsense, Ichigo!"
Rukia's words didn't spur Ichigo into action; instead, Sora Inoue launched the first attack, roaring as he snapped his jaws at Ichigo. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought *his* name was Ichigo!
Friendly forces disobeying orders while the enemy acted with absolute decisiveness—this was something Rukia had never anticipated. If this had happened at the Shin'ō Academy, the idiot responsible for such a blunder would probably be bedridden in Squad 4 for at least half a month.
Fortunately, Ichigo wasn't so dense that he needed her reminder to counterattack, otherwise she would have definitely coughed up blood from sheer anger.
Right now, the Hollow's arms were severed, and it had clearly lost its mind. As long as this strike connected with its head, the enemy would definitely die. Rukia didn't think Ichigo could miss under these circumstances.
Ichigo thought the same. From the moment the monster declared it was going to kill Inoue, he had no intention of letting it go. As for why he had just given it a verbal lecture? It was out of habit. He still wasn't quite used to the 'directness' of a Shinigami.
Unfortunately, they both misjudged the situation. Although Sora Inoue was extremely furious at this moment, he hadn't completely lost his reason. Seeing the blade chopping toward his face, he suddenly twisted his head and clamped his teeth down on the steel, pressing his body weight forward as he continued to close in on Ichigo.
It felt as if an invisible hand was suddenly arm-wrestling him. Ichigo's hand was nearly twisted off along with his out-of-control blade. Fortunately, he steadied himself in time; otherwise, his only option right now would be to abandon his sword.
This type of Hollow with combat intelligence was the most troublesome. Rukia couldn't help but frown. Ichigo, who only knew how to use brute force, didn't seem to be its match. If he had some assistance right now, the situation would be much better. But the problem was, how could she assist Ichigo?
She was currently little more than an ordinary human. It would be very difficult to directly affect the Hollow to create an opening for Ichigo, but if her goal was simply to distract it, there seemed to be a way.
"Inoue!"
Orihime Inoue was currently agonizing over Ichigo. Suddenly hearing someone call her name, she realized there was actually another person in the room. "Kuchiki?"
"Come to me. Don't be afraid, I'll get you out of here first."
"But..."
"No buts!" Rukia interrupted, crawling forward to grab Inoue's hand and pulling her toward the door. "Don't let Ichigo be distracted anymore."
"No one can take Orihime away! No one!"
Seeing someone trying to take Orihime away, Sora Inoue thrashed his head wildly from side to side. Caught off guard, Ichigo was suddenly thrown aside, watching helplessly as the monster rapidly closed the distance to Rukia and Orihime.
"Running away before the fight is decided, you bastard!"
Ichigo's provocation had no effect. At this moment, Sora Inoue only had eyes for the girl trying to take his sister away. The corners of Rukia's mouth curled up; things were playing out exactly as she had planned.
This Hollow's target had been Orihime Inoue from the very beginning. To draw its attention away, she could only rely on this girl. After that, as long as she shoved Inoue aside, she could buy Ichigo an excellent opportunity—a chance for a fatal strike from behind.
However, before she could act, the hand she was holding suddenly exerted force, and Rukia was consequently pulled behind Orihime.
Even though Rukia grabbed Inoue's clothes in time, wanting to pull her away, it was still too late. That massive maw, now terrifyingly close, had already engulfed the left half of Inoue's body.
Bone-white teeth instantly pierced her shoulder, and blood blossomed before Rukia's eyes. In the next second, this person would turn into a mangled corpse and slowly collapse. Rukia was all too familiar with this scene.
But a miracle happened just like that. The Hollow actually didn't bite down any further, and the blood-red hue in its eyes began to gradually fade.
"It's my fault, Sora. I just wanted to tell you about the happy things that happened to me at school..." Inoue's voice trembled slightly, but her tone was exceptionally gentle, causing the Hollow's gaze to gradually soften as well.
*Don't anger it, please don't...* Rukia silently prayed in her heart. This was all she dared to do—pray that the most sincere emotion possible in humanity would temporarily halt this Hollow.
"At first, I really did pray every day, but I felt like I couldn't go on like that. You would be sad seeing me sad, always worrying about me..." Orihime said, her voice growing weaker and weaker. Her legs gave out, and she slowly sank to her knees. "I wanted to show you that I'm doing well, so you wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. Because... you are my favorite brother. I'm... I'm sorry..."
"Ori... Orihime." Sora Inoue's eyes completely regained their clarity. Looking at his unconscious sister, tears flowed uncontrollably, and the mask on his face was peeling off bit by bit. "I actually knew very well. I remember now. I knew it clearly back then, but I still couldn't control myself. I wanted you to pray for me. I wanted... your heart to belong only to me..."
Rukia swore she had never seen a Hollow like this. Its mask was peeling off bit by bit to reveal a human face, and the emotion it displayed was an even rarer, sincere familial love. It was so profound that she even forgot to remind Ichigo to launch a sneak attack.
"Didn't you look closely? That hairpin on her head." Ichigo walked forward with his sword resting on his shoulder, reminding the repentant Sora Inoue. "That was the first and last gift you gave her, right? You should know better."
He didn't know much about this hairpin either. He only remembered that when Inoue came to the clinic three years ago, she was clutching this hairpin in her hand, constantly muttering apologies.
Later, when they met again in high school, some classmates mentioned that the hairpin looked very old, but Inoue's answer at that time was...
"This was the first gift her brother gave her, so she wanted to wear it every day. Inoue said this herself." Ichigo sighed and continued, "I can probably guess a bit. Inoue might have done something very selfish in the past, but repentance doesn't have to be spoken every day. Rather than keeping you on her lips, isn't it braver to keep you in her heart and live a good life together?"
"Getting to know more friends together, living happily... you were actually never lonely. Not only is Inoue by your side, but her friends have always been there too, haven't they?"
*I spent so long picking out this pair of light blue, six-petaled hairpins, thinking they would look beautiful on Orihime's head.* Sora Inoue looked at the hairpins on his sister's head. It was just that Orihime really disliked them back then and even threw a huge tantrum over it, so he never got to see them on his sister's head.
*So, she had been wearing them for me to see all along. I was the one who forgot my original intention...*
"I thought... she had thrown them away long ago," Sora Inoue muttered to himself in a low voice. The mask on his face had almost completely peeled off; at this moment, he was human.
But he knew very well that he had only temporarily regained his human emotions. He had to take this opportunity to put an end to this.
"Kill me, Kurosaki."
"Let me do one last thing for Orihime."