How many does this make now?! [closed/Shitoke]

[Raphael Laurent]

There isn’t anything wrong with the day Raphae had to tell himself as the sun hit his face and woke him up. It was one of those things that he found himself doing more and more of, lately. He checked his schedule, and sighed to himself, knowing that he didn’t really do all that much that was very useful at Uzaki Enterprises. It made him question why Kazura had even thought about allowing him to employ himself there, even as an intern, for anything length of time. Though he also couldn’t help but wonder why he constantly found himself gravitating back there, as well as why Kazura hadn’t taken legal action. Sure he’d deleted the data from the UE database he’d taken, what little there was, but still the leniency made no sense. He’d thought the man to be a corporate giant and, while it was true, he wasn’t nearly as…ruthless as some stories made him out to be.

Still, he knew that he needed to get his day started, and there was a lot that he wanted to do. There was still more for him to do before he and Luca tried to invade the Soul Society, hell before they even went to get whatever Luca knew about that would help them get there. He knew that there was more that Soul Command could do… He knew that there had to be some way to do more stuff than what he’d seen so far. He just had to figure out some way to break through into that area. He’d seen Shizuka do it once before. With a bit of work, he could figure it out too!

The shower woke him up pretty fast, going from hot to cold when old lady Inoue upstairs, decided to flush her toilet and it only made him realize how badly he needed to get a new apartment. This one was starting to get more and more dated, especially with the fact that he no longer worked for the last company. He’d been fixing more and more computers and had done enough work on the Uzaki Enterprise facility that he didn’t need to worry about the mainframe as much. He still wanted to install his counterhack on it, just in case, but really wanted to wait until he could get in touch with Kazura again.

Nonetheless it was still a decent day and so off he was, in an area far enough removed so as to not be a threat to normal people while he practiced, but close enough to get home easily. As he moved, he would, at random, push a small pen into the ground. These things designed to look like a small cap when shoved in, were small emf receivers that would take in a certain amount of information and then send it to a receiver that he’d position nearest himself, so that he could receive it easily. A few of them would be picked up by someone, sure, but those would fry automatically if they went too far away. Thus, he positioned all of his stuff nearby in the large alleyway that he was in and began to manipulate some small stuff that he’d brought with him. He’d figure the rest of this out as he went along and hopefully, hopefully, a shinigami or two would pass by the receivers he’d set up so he could record the way that wavelengths that their energy emitted.

[Deleted]

Today was the day. Finally Shitoke would do it. The one thing that’d sparked his curiosity upon his first entrance to the human world. He’d go to a human library. And better yet he wouldn’t be alone! To his partners mild frustration Shitoke had all but begged him to join him and go to the library. To which initially he’d told him no and said to go by himself since it was just a human library. Eventually though a deal was struck and Anthony prepared himself to join Shitoke. The one caveat though was that they needed to be in gigai and Anthony would still have to be pushed given his lower half of his body didn’t work. To anyone else it would have been frustrating but to Shitoke it was a relief. Anthony may not have been as cheerful as about the endeavor but he was fair and he didn’t treat Shitoke any different than he would another.

Fast forward a few hours of preparation and setting up the squads very hidden and very personal senkaimon door and they were on their way with Shitoke smiling contently to himself while Anthony looked over some notes he’d brought with him. For all the trouble this could actually be useful. I might be able to find some books that hint at how humans view the soul. Not to mention the silly agriculture task Shitoke took upon himself. Really why did he want to figure out how to till the land when his soul was the problem child? You’d think he’d have different priorities. Still Jennessa did ask for his help since he’s a newbie and it isn’t exactly like I’ve hit a breakthrough yet. Anthony sighed to himself before looking at the other side of the senkaimon which was slowly coming into view. Well at least this’ll be done quickly. Then he can help me investigate some leads our vice captain got a hold of.

The next couple minutes were a bit of a circus show as Shitoke almost threw Anthony out of his wheelchair while they exited the Senkaimon. Worst yet the Senkaimon had decided that they needed to be on a roof which made getting Anthony down to the floor level even more of a chore. A few trips down some stairs, a bruised arm or two, and a very disgruntled Anthony later and the two were making their way to the local library. Shitoke didn’t even bother glancing at his squad mate and ironically roommate. He couldn’t sense energy well but he could feel Anthony’s energy and it was bubbling like a hot pot of water. Please let the library be close by. Anthony is actually a bit scary when he’s angry. Even more so considering his energy is nearly as potent as mine. Still. . . the human world is a bit confusing; they don’t tend to tell you where much is by signs alone. Not until you're practically on top of it. Perhaps I should ask someone for some directions?

He glanced down at Anthony who was writing down what looked to be a list of things to do later. He couldn’t help but notice one of the blocks had “Plot revenge for being dropped down a few stairs.” Shitoke felt his heart rate increase and knew he needed to look for someone or something to point him in the right direction quickly. He glanced around frantically not even realizing he’d passed a couple of the caps Raph had dropped. And accidentally stepping on/rolling over 2 others. For Raph he’d get two very distinct energies. One that was pretty typical for a shinigami. It’s potency is a small blip at worst and it fluctuates a bit due to Anthony’s current frustration and anger but otherwise was stable and pretty self contained. Shitoke’s on the other hand was something else completely he didn’t even give off an energy per say it was more like he was absorbing the nearby area. And what he did give off felt heavy and warped. It was merely a blip, albeit somewhat stronger than Anthony’s but twice as dense. If he had any sense of “sight” it’d look like Shitoke was a dense pile of sludge with a hole in it.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael felt them, even as they walked through the area, and his phone began to ping with notifications as they walked through the area. The first one, was like a normal shinigami, but both his feelings and the data coming in through the receiver weren’t making any sense. There was another that was almost like he was absorbing energy into himself and the EMF readings weren’t making any sense. It was almost as if there was a blackhole of spiritual energy wherever the other one went. Immediately, he stopped his training, picked up his equipment and headed in the direction of the last ping, all while keeping the final pen-sized emf reader on in his pocket. He had to find what in the world this was, at least for his own curiosity’s sake.

He was approaching them and felt them before he saw them. Two guys, one in a wheelchair, and the other one pushing him along. The one in the wheelchair felt normal but the guy pushing him, that was the blackhole that Raph wasn’t looking for. He smoothed out his hair and started across the street. Walking across it as walk signal popped up, he crossed it quite quickly, at least compared to the many other people and nearly ran into the two men.

“Oh! Geez, sorry there you two!” He stopped just before running into them, putting on the normal human act, including pulling himself off to the side just a bit, dodging the wheelchair. “I was trying to get across before the light changed!” He gestured back to the light, doing his best to look a bit out of breath, while at the same time, chuckling a bit. “I was just on my way to the library and had been lookin’ at my phone a bit too long. Stupid me, huh? But they make the damn things so addictive!” He had pulled out his phone and took a look at it again. Unlocking it and pretending to play with a few buttons, he chuckled, looking at the two.

He was a little concerned. Afterall what he needed was to gather data by being near these two, but he wanted to find out about the second one. “I haven’t seen you all around, before though… Lemme guess, just came in to visit from one of the villages, right?” Raphae smiled. He wanted to see how either of the two of them would react, especially the one that he wanted to know more about. Thankfully, the longer he spent in proximity with these two, the more information his receiver would collect. He just needed a bit of time to spend and then, he’d be good to go.

[Deleted]

Shitoke was still scrambling around mentally trying to find something that would point him in the right direction as far for the library. And for good reason, Anthony had double inked the check box for his imminent revenge which had Shitoke turn a shade paler. Anthony wasn’t terribly capable but when given the opportunity he was a very crafty and creative individual. Such as when he had to find out another squad member was talking about him behind his back. He said he’d used a single kido spell to figure it out but Shitoke wasn’t so certain that was the whole thing. But it did mean that he had to be careful for the next couple days. And thus was Shitoke’s train of thought until he nearly rammed Anthony into a nearby human. Anthony just glared daggers at Shitoke and then the human. He knew the former wasn’t paying attention as he had been freaking out over the library’s location and the latter. . .well he wasn’t certain what the other was doing. He’d been just shy of sprinting over towards them or at least in their general direction.

While Anthony was quiet Shitoke took on the face role between them. “Don’t worry about it! I wasn’t exactly paying attention either. Truth is I- well we’re lost. We’re just visiting and were trying to find the library but the signs haven’t exactly been helpful. Are you alright?” Shitoke took a full look over him mildly concerned for the other. He didn’t have any apparent injuries nor did they even slam into one another but you never knew. Maybe he’d stepped on something. Tokyo had trash littered around if you weren’t careful. Still. . . this wasn’t Tokyo so maybe he didn’t need to concern himself as much. All that aside though since this dude had bumped into them and they were already talking he might be able to give them directions. Win-win for everyone!

Before he could even get out another word though Raph had already mentioned he too was heading towards the library. SUCCESS! However the comment about being distracted on his phone didn’t faze Anthony. Still quiet he was listening in on the conversation finding it very curious how he too was heading to the same destination. I know his phone wasn’t distracting him. However he doesn’t seem to look beyond the typical so perhaps I’m looking too deeply into this. No one likes to admit their faults afterall. I’m going to keep an eye on him however. Meanwhile Shitoke just looked at the phone Raph held with not so subtle curiosity. He’d never seen a phone before, let alone a cell phone. The Kasumi’Oji just simply didn’t allow it or have any on the manor. If anything hell butterflies were what they had. Shitoke wanted to look over the phone immensely but had to focus himself. He’d made a deal with Anthony and he couldn’t keep him away from his research forever. Especially when he said it’d be “quick”. With an internal sigh Shitoke let his curiosity of the phone go.


A short delay after Raph’s question Shitoke nodded. “Yes actually, that obvious huh? If you don’t mind could you lead the way to the library for us? The town may not be massive but it’s still got me a bit confused. Even pointing us in the right direction would be incredibly helpful.” Shitoke then glanced down at Anthony who was back to working on his list of topics he’d be looking into while at the library. Certain that the other wouldn’t notice him he leaned over towards Raph. “Also the sooner we get there the better. Anthony may or may not be plotting revenge for some uhh mishaps on the way over.” Shitoke gestured to his companions arm which had a bruise on it forming from the last couple stairs he’d fallen down. Shitoke looked incredibly guilty over it and sincerely so. He really hadn’t meant it but shit had indeed happened.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael nodded a bit, as he listened to the man pushing the one in the wheelchair, who seemed more than a little annoyed. What the hell was his problem? He just kept glaring at everyone. Raph cocked his head a bit, looking a little confused, as if he didn’t understand what exactly the man’s problem was, but still willing to help them find the library. In the end, it didn’t really matter why the guy was in a pissy mood. Long as Raph could accomplish his objective then that was fine by him. The guy in the wheelchair, though, did seem oddly perceptive and that was something that worried Raph. He would have to be careful to give off as little power, or at least knowledge as possible.

The other one though, the guy pushing the wheelchair, seemed more or less ecstatic by the appearance of Raphael and his sudden offer of help. “Eh, I’m fine. Nothing that I haven’t suffered before, ya know? Nearly got ran over by a car once. Jackass that wasn’t paying attention… Gotta be careful about that kind of shit, especially in the city.” He chuckled and shrugged, casting a glance over his shoulder and to the cars now zooming by in the street. “But, anyways, I promised you I’d show you where the library was, right? C’mon!” Raphael waved them forward, gesturing to follow him.

“I mean, hell, if you all just come in from one of the smaller towns then there’s a lot more to see and ya don’t wanna waste your day JUST seeing the library. So, let’s get going, see where the library is, spend a minute or two there then you two can figure out what you wanna do from there.” He stretched a bit, before shoving his phone back into his pocket. “The library isn’t too far away from where we are right now, thankfully. Just up ahead a ways.”

[Deleted]

Shitoke nodded at Raph as he let him lead the way to the library. He counted himself lucky today given how things went. Anthony was humoring him, he’d found someone to help him out in going to his destination, and currently the worst he had to worry about was whatever Anthony was planning for revenge. Which if he was honest would be less painful and more doing a task that wasn’t terribly enjoyable. Like dissecting something. Thankfully the last time that had happened the creature in question had been dead already so he didn’t have to worry too much over it. And he still gave it a proper burial to Anthony’s dismay.

But less focusing on the past and more focusing on the future. Shihtoke was considering Raph’s idea. Though they weren’t coming from a small village it wasn’t like Shitoke always got time to just go do whatever in the human world. And since he was still super new to even dealing with the human world whatever time he got within it, assuming he wasn’t being hounded by a hollow or something else, would be pretty enjoyable. Maybe even be something he could learn from. So the idea of having a guide throughout the city was actually something that appealed to him deeply. Still though he had to consider his promise to Anthony which only entailed they’d visit the library.

He glanced down at Anthony who was still currently jotting something down in his notebook. “What do you think Anthony? It’s not every day we have a willing guide to the city and you never know we might find some other “interesting” places. Like I remember reading about an Uzaki Enterprises that has its roots here. Even you seemed interested in that given you had a paper with it’s name highlighted.” Anthony immediately turned his head towards Shitoke with an expression that wasn’t sure what it wanted to be. Embarrassed or concerned for one reason or another. Whatever it was he eventually closed his book and sighed. “So long as we go to Uzaki Enterprises then I don’t really care what we do. If we do not though realize that I will capitalize on your promise since we were only planning to visit the library. We do have to go back eventually though so just keep that in mind.”

Anthony managed to say that without being angry or even losing his calm tone. However he hadn’t enjoyed that his partner in crime had just spilled the beans on his studying one of a few organizations that had spiritually aware within. And a surprising amount of spiritually aware. Anthony didn’t exactly have any details on who only that there were spiritually aware there. And where there were spiritually aware there were others who could have knowledge on the soul that the Soul society and by extension Squad 12 didn’t have locked up. And he wanted to know if they had any given it could help his own research. And surprisingly Shitoke’s the more he thought about it. Regardless he wasn’t exactly capable of forcing anything to happen so he’d have to hope their guide and his partner would help him get there to at least see it if the opportunity arose. In the meantime Anthony would simply look around and occasionally glance at Raph curious about their intentions.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael kept walking, chuckling as he did so, he glanced back at Shitoke and Anthony as they went. The one in the wheelchair seemed to either be in charge, or the other one was simply a bit of a wimp and was too concerned with what the other one thought. He knew that the two were Shinigami, but didn’t exactly want to let on that he knew they were Shinigami. They looked like they were trying so hard to blend in and he didn’t want to let slip that he knew their little secret. But still…he couldn’t let such a prime chance pass him up.

He turned around, hands on his head, as they headed towards the library. “Uzaki Enterprises? Why do you all wanna go there? I mean, it’s just a bit past the library, if you wanna go. You can’t really go past the main lobby without an ID card.” He held up the one that he had on the lanyard around his neck. “I kinda work for ‘em.” He gave a rather unknowing smile. “What’s got you all interested in UE anyways? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good place to work, but it’s not interesting unless you’re in to marketing and business research. I’m just the computer guy for there, of course.”

He turned away from them, so that he could focus on where he was walking; he wasn’t all that concerned on whether or not they suspected him. On the contrary, he was having quite a bit of fun and the longer that he kept with these two, the more data that he could collect. “You two should definitely stop at the ramen place near the library, if you get hungry! They make some pretty good food for this far from the big city.” And he scratched the back of his neck. “Or there’s a sushi place a few blocks down from Uzaki Enterprises. Ya know, whatever you’re into.”

[Deleted]

Shitoke shrugged as they kept moving towards the library. In all honesty he didn't really care. He didn't even know their was an "Uzaki Enterprises" until yesterday. Without glancing back at Raph he'd tell him just that. "Honestly it's less about us and more about my bud here. He seemed to be curious about it. If I'm honest he probably just wants a tour or something if he can get one haha! He's not exactly able to get around easily and usually needs me to help him if he does leave the facility."

Anthony was actually impressed by how ignorant his companion could be. Still it was half true if nothing else. He didn't get out much and he did in fact want to walk around the place. But his ulterior motives were known to his companion. For now if they could convince Raph to at least let them look around it maybe he could learn something. With that he did look up at Raph and nod at Shitoke's statement. "He's not wrong. It's just a fairly "new" company compared to a lot of other more well known organizations. So it's piqued my interest some just due to that. If a tour is out of the question then I think just the library will be fine. This one needs to look up stuff for plants anyway. His greenhouse is coming along well enough but he needs some variety in it."

"Hey! My flowers and Venus fly trap are in GREAT condition! Don't you dare mock my beginners green thumb. At least my projects are generally speaking alive. You like to work with dead or nearly dead animals. Which by the way, I'm sure it helps the others but it's still kinda messed up man. I don't know how dissecting them really helps the others see how their drugs worked." Shitoke was very clearly not thrilled at the prospect of Anthony's experiments or aid in other experiments. If Raph was attentive he'd recognize that he even went so far as to go a couple of shades paler. Even his spiritual "signature" went a bit weaker given the area where he had no reiatsu around him got just a bit smaller.

The two continued their little bickering for a bit longer until they'd finally reached the library. It was surprisingly big, at least as far as Shitoke was concerned. He'd only ever seen nobles have a base of knowledge so large and they were usually tucked away! Humans really were a strange bunch but ultimately a much more open group. Something that Shitoke smiled widely about. And without a second thought immediately left Anthony and Raph outside as he ran inside and quickly began looking at the place and asking people how he could get books. Or where the books about plants, farming, greenhouses, and anything else botany related were.

Anthony simply chuckled to himself, for once actuually incredibly amused by Shitoke's antics. It made sense considering he'd never been allowed to just go into a library. Nobles were very hesitant to allow lessers to be "learned". Afterall it made them harder to impress their will upon. With a glance at Raph he chuckled before speaking. "So if you don't mind my asking, could you perhaps help me up? And also. . . are you one of "Them"? The spiritual ones I mean. Your kind dubbed them "fullbringers" if I recall. Which is ultimately what I'm curious about with regards to Uzaki Enterprises. I've yet to encounter a "fullbringer" and want to get an idea of how they work. Uzaki I found out recently happens to have several of them in their ranks. Hence my curiosity."