"Looking for a new place?"
Muten Natsu had been sprawled across the couch. When he heard Orihime Inoue's plan, he immediately shifted to a different lounging position. "Did you talk to the landlord?"
"Yeah." Orihime Inoue nodded. "The landlord said the place is unsafe right now, and the repairs will take a long time."
As she spoke, she took the milk and straw from a troubled-looking Rukia Kuchiki, inserted the straw for her, and handed it back.
"Even though insurance will cover it and I don't have to pay anything, I can't keep living there."
Rukia Kuchiki tried taking a sip. Her large, deep purple eyes instantly lit up.
"So this is how you use it."
"In that case," Muten Natsu suggested, "why not just stay here?"
Orihime Inoue shook her head. "I can't let you keep sleeping on the couch forever."
"There are still two bedrooms," Muten Natsu said, pointing in their direction. "I've just been too lazy to clean them. I'll tidy them up later."
"But..." Orihime Inoue hesitated.
"Is it because of me?" Rukia Kuchiki froze mid-sip, then said awkwardly, "Last night was an accident. I won't crawl into your arms tonight."
Muten Natsu paused. "Hm?"
"No, no, no!" Orihime waved her hands in a panic. "That's not it. I just... don't want to keep troubling Muten Natsu."
Muten Natsu put on a look of mock indignation. "When I first came to the World of the Living, Brother Sora took me in for a long time. Did that bother you?"
"Of course not."
"Then it's the same for me," Muten Natsu said. "Besides, the house ended up like that partly because of me. Are you really trying to take all the credit?"
Orihime Inoue's rented apartment had been damaged because of a Hollow attack.
And the reason the Hollow targeted Orihime Inoue was because the Reishi Muten Natsu absorbed during his recovery had affected her, awakening her Reiryoku.
Orihime Inoue sighed helplessly. "Does half the house being destroyed really count as a contribution?"
"Isn't the other half still intact?" Muten Natsu replied matter-of-factly.
Rukia Kuchiki lowered her eyes slightly and kicked him.
"What was that for?" Muten Natsu looked utterly wronged.
"What do you mean 'later'? Go clean it up now," Rukia Kuchiki said with clear disdain. "If you keep dragging your feet, who knows when you'll actually do it."
"I'm not a procrastinator," Muten Natsu muttered as he got up and opened the bedroom door. "It won't take long..."
All three of them stared at the massive pile of boxes inside.
Rukia Kuchiki poked him. "Then explain these boxes."
"Ah..." Muten Natsu searched his memory. "These are the lazy sofa, lazy desk, lazy office chair, pillows, mattress, blankets..."
He matched each box to something he had bought earlier.
"Perfect. No need to buy anything else. This is what you call planning ahead."
Rukia Kuchiki shot him a sideways glance. "That's not planning ahead. That's just being lazy. You were too lazy to even unpack them."
"Actually, they work fine without being unpacked," Muten Natsu said as he sat on the lazy sofa box and patted the lazy desk box. "See? The height is just right."
Rukia Kuchiki finally lost her patience. "Hurry up and clean!"
There were so many boxes that it looked overwhelming, but once they actually started, the work wasn't as exhausting as expected, especially with all three of them helping.
After they finished tidying the room and were about to start preparing dinner, Rukia Kuchiki's phone rang.
"The Soul Society's orders are in!" Rukia Kuchiki glanced at the message on her phone. "Kasasaki District, Kanpaku Supermarket?"
Muten Natsu slapped his chest and slipped free of his Gigai. "That's not far north."
"I'm coming too!" Orihime Inoue said quickly. When she noticed both of them looking at her, she averted her gaze and touched her cheek. "Um... I can pick up some groceries on the way back."
Rukia Kuchiki finished changing her shoes. "We don't have much time. Let's go."
The three of them set off immediately, though to passersby, it looked like only two people were leaving.
Why did I come along...?
Watching Muten Natsu and Rukia Kuchiki walking side by side, Orihime Inoue couldn't even explain to herself why she had followed them.
She couldn't help at all anyway.
"Orihime?"
The voice made her stop in her tracks. "Tatsuki?"
Orihime Inoue waved toward Rukia Kuchiki and Muten Natsu. "You two go on ahead."
Muten Natsu nodded, and he and Rukia Kuchiki picked up their pace toward the location indicated in the orders.
"Isn't that the transfer student?" Tatsuki Arisawa walked over to Orihime Inoue, watching Rukia Kuchiki's hurried figure. "So you know her."
"Ah... yeah..." Orihime Inoue watched them disappear and pressed down the vague feeling in her chest. "Rukia is Muten's friend, so that's how we met. Did you just come back from the dojo?"
"Yeah. Then I saw you all rushing off. Where were you going?"
"We were... grocery shopping!" Orihime Inoue said on impulse. "I just thought of an amazing recipe and couldn't wait!"
"A recipe..." Tatsuki Arisawa froze. "You live with Kuchiki-san?"
Then her eyes widened. "Wait, all three of you live together?!"
Orihime Inoue hurriedly explained, "We're not sleeping together tonight."
"That's good... or not!" Tatsuki Arisawa stared at her. "You already slept together?!"
"No, no... I slept with Rukia," Orihime Inoue said, quickly clarifying. "Rukia just moved in yesterday and hasn't found a place yet, so she's staying at Muten's place for now. And the apartment I rented collapsed, so I'm staying there too. It was late and there wasn't time to clean up, so Rukia and I shared a bed, and Muten slept on the couch."
"You scared me. I thought things had already gone that far."
Orihime Inoue smiled weakly. "There's no way..."
Tatsuki Arisawa frowned slightly. "Something bothering you?"
"Huh?"
"It's written all over your face. That smile looks forced." Tatsuki jerked her thumb to the side. "Want to take a walk by the river?"
Orihime Inoue glanced in the direction where Rukia Kuchiki and Muten Natsu had disappeared.
"...Yeah."
The disordered flow of the river reflected a shattered, crimson sunset. Tatsuki Arisawa sat down on the grass by the riverbank and asked bluntly, "It's because of Kuchiki-san, right?"
"Huh?"
"I guessed it the moment you mentioned her. A childhood friend coming back is way stronger than someone who just shows up out of nowhere."
"Ah?" Orihime Inoue looked completely lost.
"You've been with him every day for three years, but then someone else appears, and suddenly he shows a side you never knew existed. Right?"
"...Yeah." Orihime Inoue nodded.
She really didn't know what Muten Natsu was like as a Shinigami.
"So much has happened between the two of them, and yet they both avoid talking about it. You're curious, but you don't feel like you can ask."