Rukia's day hadn't gone well from the very beginning. Since she and Renji didn't have enough money for a hotel or even a tiny room, they had to sleep outside, in a park. But they were used to it. The weather was warm, the night was quiet, and the grass was soft. Everything would have been fine, if not for the couple of hooligans who decided to grope her in her sleep. Furious that her beautiful dream had been interrupted, she punched both perverts in the face. Fools from District 1 had become far too fearless lately.
She couldn't fall asleep again, so she nudged Renji — who was sleeping peacefully and hadn't even woken up to help her. What a jerk. Lazy bum!
Then came the trouble of finding food. District 78 was quite far from District 1; they had spent all their money and provisions on the journey. They had expected to be accepted immediately, but instead were told to wait a day.
Still, it wasn't the first time Rukia and Renji had gone hungry. At least they managed to steal a couple of apples, and the failed rapists had carried a little money on them. Breakfast was modest, but Rukia didn't lose heart. She believed she would be accepted. She wasn't sure she'd reach even the 2nd Class — but that was fine. Renji, over there, was absolutely sure he'd be placed in the 3rd. But the main thing was to get in; afterward, they will do everything they can to become stronger.
When the time came, they went to check the results. On the way, they ran into their new friend, Kira Izuru. They had met him when Renji fell asleep on a tree branch and dropped directly onto the poor guy's head. Kira turned out to be a strange mix of funny, gloomy, and perpetually depressed. Despite coming from a noble family, he was sociable and kind. Rukia was surprised by such an unusual aristocrat.
After waiting in the long line, she finally took the sheet with trembling hands.
Kuroki Rukia.
1st Class.
"YES!!!" she cheered.
Her joy was so great she didn't even notice the inaccuracy right away. She was insanely happy — she had passed! And not just as any student, but straight into the first Class! That was a real achievement. Now everything would finally go well.
"I got into the first Class too!" Renji announced, beaming.
"Me as well," Kira added with a small smile.
"How did you get in?" Rukia asked, grinning at her friend. "You're as dumb as a tree."
"Well, you know…" Renji puffed out his cheeks. "Anyway, what's with your last name?"
"I'm not sure myself," Rukia admitted, thinking back. "Yesterday, I forgot to come up with a surname for myself when I was filling out the form. Well, it looks like they wrote one in for me. But 'Kuroki' doesn't sound right." She snorted. "They could've at least picked something intimidating."
"That's your own fault," Renji laughed. "If it was so hard, you could've taken my surname."
"No way," she huffed.
"I think it's a beautiful surname," Kira said gently.
Chattering happily, they made their way toward the warehouse where uniforms and supplies were being handed out.
Everything was fine — until a crowd of some blokes suddenly surrounded them. At first, Rukia assumed they were just applicants who had failed and were lashing out blindly, but these ones were angry. Very angry.
"You're caught, you freak!" their leader growled. "Now you won't get away! Get him!"
For some reason, they charged her specifically.
Rukia dodged easily and tossed them aside one by one, trying to remember when she could have offended this particular group. She had annoyed plenty of people in her life — growing up in a poor district, stealing, street gangs… you make enemies fast. But these guys didn't ring a bell. Although, she had shaved some idiot's head last week… but that was totally his fault.
While throwing and dodging, she pondered the meaning of life — or rather, the meaning of these fools' anger. Renji was beating them as hard as he could, and Kira helped too, though he clearly disliked fighting.
But when three of them nearly managed to jump her, unexpectedly help arrived. Only then did Rukia realize no one around had intervened or tried to help them — people were pretending nothing was happening.
But then someone decided to do it. And remarkably fast.
He knocked out three of them in a couple of seconds. He hit hard and turned out to be short and agile, and he fought barefoot.
"Cool," Rukia snorted.
He placed his foot on the leader's head, pressing it into the ground.
"You guys don't seem to learn anything," he said with a light smile.
"You…?" the big man croaked in surprise.
"Good night." A light chop — and the thug was unconscious. "How are you doing?" he asked the trio.
And when Rukia looked into his eyes, she nearly toppled over.
He was her exact copy.
Same face, same hairstyle, same height — only his eyes were blue. And he was clearly a guy. The differences became obvious only after the initial shock faded. But the resemblance was uncanny.
So they both froze, staring at each other.
"Rukia, is this your relative?" Renji asked, baffled.
"No…" she said slowly, not taking her eyes off him.
At that moment, the shinigami finally rushed over.
"Freeze!" barked a tall Shinigami in sunglasses. "Hey, you two!" He grabbed Rukia and her double by the collars. "What are you doing here?"
"Huh?" They looked at him in unison. "Um…"
"So! What's your last name?" he asked angrily.
"Kuroki," they answered together — then looked at each other again.
"Twins, then," the Shinigami concluded.
"We are not related!" they both protested.
"Yeah, sure! Off to the principal! Move it!" He dragged them toward the building like two naughty kittens. "We'll discuss your expulsion there!"
The others hurried after them under the escort of the shinigami, while the beaten troublemakers were dragged away somewhere else.
"He-he-he," someone chuckled.
The snake-like girl with the eerie smile stood nearby, amused.
"It's fun here…"