Bleach: Brave New World - BNW: Chapter 3 The Scouter

Soul Society.

While referred to as simply Soul Society by its residents, this is also where Shinigami live and where most Souls dwell until they are reincarnated into the Human World.

Before sending a Plus to Soul Society, the Shinigami usually tout it as a place akin to paradise. “Nine out of ten who go there should have a better life than their previous.”; “You’ll never feel hunger again!” They all say.

Growl!

No, no, this isn’t a growling hollow, this was Jan’s stomach, making grumbling as he lay on the floor.

“Aaaaah… What?! Where am I?! Is it morning… Ouch!” Jan rubbed his forehead, then placed one hand over his hand and the other on his stomach, “I’m so damn hungry, and I have a… hangover?! My head is about to split!”

Little did he know that this was Zaraki’s first attempt at purification.

Jan finally woke up from his long slumber and looked around dizzily at the long dark hall he found himself in.

This was the Soul Building, one of the rare high buildings outside of Soul Society, and it was built here on this field where it stood alone, simply because it’s the place where new reincarnated souls happened to appear. Its purpose was to allow Shinigami to keep the new souls from getting lost, and then later they moved the registration office and a few other departments here and assigned a few Shinigami to keep the new coming souls in order.

“Welcome to Soul Society!” A sound came from behind.

“Ah yes, I’m in the Bleach World… wait I’m dead?!”

“No, no no~ You’re not in Bleach, you’re in Soul Society! And yes, of course, you’re dead, but don’t you worry, all bad things end now, from now on, you’re living in paradise, where no one feels hunger~” The kid in black said with a lovely tone, then reached out with his hand to help Jan stand up, “I’m Hantaro Yamada by the way, I will be the one to show you around before getting you registered and all fixed to have a great long life in Soul Society!”

Growl!

“What’s that? A hollow? HELP! HEELP!” Yamada was startled.

“Calm down, it’s my stomach, I’m hungry!” Jan said while holding his stomach.

“No way! Stop joking around, you freaked me out for a moment!” Yamada chuckled nervously, “Wait a moment, you shouldn’t feel so hungry… you shouldn’t feel hungry at all! Unless…”

“Unless he has a high spiritual power, but even then he shouldn’t feel hungry this early.” A sound came from the back.

“Isane-San!” Yamada exclaimed, “What are you doing here?”

“I thought that I sensed a… Hollow,” Isane giggled, “But that’s impossible I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“So it wasn’t just me.” Yamada thought but kept it to himself.

“Who is this guy? A new soul?”

“Yes, he’s…”

“I think I can speak for myself!” Jan, who was lying on the ground the entire time, groaning from the pain he felt in his stomach, stood up hurriedly and then charmingly said, “The name is Jan, Jan Iruki!”

“G-good,” Isane said nervously, “You remember your name… it seems that w-we won’t have to give you a new one.” She then thought to herself, “I feel like I should be offended that a mere soul is hitting on me, but I guess he’s kinda handsome…”

“This is why they only make men take this job…” Yamada sighed after mumbling these words, and then felt sorry for himself; this has never happened to him with a female soul…

“J-Jan-San, you seem to be fine now, let’s carry on, we have a long journey to the register office.” He continued to say, then tried to drag Jan away but couldn’t, because the latter was lost in his fantasies looking at Isane that he was completely glued in place.

Isane noticed his unwavering gaze, and couldn’t stop her cheeks from reddening; she could only hide it by turning around.

“JAN-SAN!”

“Oh! You said something?!” Jan finally came back to his senses.

“Come on, lover boy, we’re going!” Yamada started to feel irritated.

“Wait a minute.” Said Isane, “I’m coming too! I’m somewhat interested in seeing how strong his spiritual spirit is.”

Yamada started walking forward, while dragging Jan with him and Isane quickly tried to catch up to them.

“Anyway, Jan-San, since you seem to have some spiritual power, we will need to run a few tests first. But don’t worry, it’s just regular procedures, you will probably end up living in the same place as everyone else. Then if you’re lucky enough, you might get accepted into the Shinigami Academy, and become a Shinigami like us, isn’t that great?”

Yamada tried to explain a few things on the way to Jan, but the latter was so hungry; that he couldn’t get his hands off his stomach!

Growl!

“Man, you’re really hungry aren’t you?!” Yamada was a bit surprised.

“K-Kind of, and it’s getting worse by the minute…” Jan wanted to scream in pain but he felt he should keep his composure in front of such a beauty.

“Can’t we do anything to help him out?” She said.

“Well, I guess we can skip the introduction, and go directly to the elevator.”

Growl!!!

The rumbling noises in his stomach and the pain Jan was feeling were getting worse and worse to the point that he almost fainted again. But before he fell to the side, Isane hurriedly reached and supported his shoulder with her body.

It wasn’t the hunger, it wasn’t the headache, it was what was supposed to hold him up that actually broke him!

Whoosh!!!

Blood rushed out of Jan’s nose like a stream, and steam came out of his head, then he passed out in Isane’s arms.

“How is this possible?!” Yamada was startled.

“Jan-San! Jan-San!” Isane exclaimed while shaking him hard in her hands.

….

15 minutes later.

“W-Where am I?” Jan opened his eyes again and tried to get up, but the sight of Isane’s worried face against his own made him pass out again…

“Jan-San! Jan…”

“How long are you two gonna keep doing this?!” Yamada shouted interrupting her, then rushed toward Jan, “Isane-San, get away from this perv!” Then he turned his attention to Jan, “I know exactly how to wake you up, you bastard!” Yamada said with visible veins throbbing on his forehead, cracking his knuckles.

Growl!!!!

Just when Yamada was about to hit him on the head with what looked like a Karate Chop, Jan’s stomach growled again and his upper body raised up robotically, head-butting Yamada on the face…

Isane: “…”

Yamada rolled on the ground in pain while covering his face and screaming, “Oh my god! How hard is this guy’s head?!”

“Maa~ I’m so hungry?! Huh?! Where am I? Oh… I’m in Bleach World… Huh? I’m dea…”

“NO! We’re not doing this again!” Yamada got up quickly and shouted, “Isane, don’t you have anything for this idiot to eat?!”

“Unfortunately, I don’t,” Isane said.

“But I’m so hungry, Isane-San!” Jan felt like crying.

Yamada sighed, then walked toward Jan and reached out to help him get up with a smile on his face, “Come on, we will help you.”

“You’re a really good guy.” Jan felt like crying more, and then leaned on Yamada’s shoulder and the two walked forward.

“You know? You should really consider yourself lucky, Jan-San.”

“Why is that?” Jan asked weakly.

“Well, it has been a while since we had a new soul here; you’re the first in a month!”

“Well, it’s probably because of that bas…” Jan was about to mention Zaraki, but he suddenly noticed that the two were no longer advancing.

“My god, you’re really heavy!” Yamada was struggling, “Isane-San, please help me out!”

Yamada turned around, to find that Isane was still standing there pondering.

“ISANE-SAN!”

“Oh! I’m sorry… I’m thinking maybe we can accelerate this process.” Isane said.

“What do you mean?” Yamada asked.

“Well I have this thing that Urahara-San gave me, but it’s not tested. He asked me to use it and see if it works properly.” Isane said then took something out of her pocket, “He calls it: the spiritual power detector.”

Jan looked at it, and then suddenly shouted, “A Scouter!? What sort of crossover-techno-multiversal bullshit is Urahara trying to pull off!?”

“Hey! Don’t talk about a captain like that!” Yamada scolded Jan and this time, his Karate Chop connected.

“OUCH!”

This was Yamada screaming in pain while holding his hand, “Dude, how hard is your head!”

“Hey! That hurt me too! You know what? I take it back; you’re not a good person!”

“Hey, I’m the victim here!” Yamada shouted

“Would you two just stop!?” Isane scolded both of them.

Isane’s tone startled them both, bringing them to their knees, groveling and saying, “We’re sorry.”

“For such a cute girl, she really has a strong scolding voice,” Jan whispered to Yamada.

“I know, right?!” Yamada whispered back.

“HEY! I can hear you two!” Isane yelled at them again, then said, “Jan-San, if this thing works, maybe we could get you out of here faster, and we can grab something for you to eat, alright?”

“O-Okay,” Jan replied.

“Well, judging by how hungry you are, I guess that your spiritual power should be at 100 or higher, which would honestly be amazing. According to Captain Urahara, that should be enough to get you straight into the Shinigami Academy!”

Isane gently put the Scouter on her ear as Jan looked at her with confusion on his face. She then clicked a button on the side of the Scouter, and numbers started to appear on the screen, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000…

Isane froze in place. As she stared at Jan, her jaw dropped.

Yamada looked at her and couldn’t help but ask, “What does it say?”

“IT’S OVER 9000!”

Yamada freaked out, “9000? That’s impossible!”

“Okay, now you’re just making jokes!”