At Orihime Inoue’s home.
Since Ren Kurogami was treating everyone, they were enjoying a hot pot meal with great relish.
Orihime had initially wanted to treat everyone, since they were all there to help her.
But both Ichigo and Rukia had refused.
Ichigo roughly knew Orihime’s situation.
He knew she wasn’t well-off, one could even say she was poor, so he didn’t want her to spend money.
As for Rukia, over the past three days she had witnessed the terror of Ren’s Golden Rule passive skill.
Almost every day, Ren received a sizable amount of extra income.
So there was no need to worry about money where Ren was concerned.
Orihime had wanted to insist, but after personally experiencing Ren Kurogami’s financial luck, she conceded.
Even now, she still felt a bit dazed.
Looking at this huge table of food, who could imagine that not only had Ren not spent any money buying it, but because his purchase met the lottery threshold, he had drawn the grand prize and won 50,000 yen as a bonus?
It was truly unbelievable.
Knock Knock!
“Orihime, are you home?” A cheerful female voice accompanied the knocking.
Orihime snapped back to reality and hurriedly exclaimed, “Oh no, I forgot I invited Tatsuki over tonight.
What do I do?” Ichigo and Rukia, who were eating, instinctively looked at Ren Kurogami.
Over the past three days, along with the quiet leadership aura Ren exuded, they had unconsciously come to see him as the group’s anchor.
Ren smiled.
“Since she’s here, invite her to eat with us.
We have so much food we can’t finish it anyway.” Orihime hesitated.
“Won’t Tatsuki be in danger?” Rukia spoke up.
“Don’t worry.
With Ren Kurogami here, he won’t let anything happen to you.” “Orihime, are you in there?” Tatsuki Arisawa’s voice came again.
Orihime thought of Ren’s strength.
Her panicked heart quickly calmed down.
She went out to open the door and welcome Tatsuki.
Tatsuki hadn’t even entered before she spotted Ren Kurogami and the others.
Surprise crossed her face.
“What are you all doing here?” Ichigo waved her over.
“Never mind that.
Come eat with us.” Orihime also pushed Tatsuki to sit down at the table.
“Here, sit here and eat.” Tatsuki was bewildered, but she instinctively joined the meal.
Over dinner, she learned the gist of what had happened.
Of course, that was limited to who was treating everyone to tonight’s feast and the anecdote about buying the ingredients.
Everyone tactfully avoided mentioning Orihime’s brother.
There was no point.
Tatsuki was an ordinary person.
Telling her would only make her worry.
Time passed.
Finally, the Shinigami communicator (Denreishinki) rang.
Ren Kurogami and Ichigo, knowing what that meant, grew serious.
Orihime didn’t know about the Denreishinki, but she saw the change in Ren and Ichigo’s expressions and understood what was happening.
She immediately pulled Tatsuki behind Ren.
Tatsuki was confused.
She didn’t understand why Orihime wanted to change positions, and specifically to behind Ren.
Just as she was about to ask, Rukia’s cold voice rang out.
“Ichigo, it’s time!” With that, Rukia used the Soul Glove to help Ichigo become a Shinigami.
Tatsuki, already confused, was stunned by this scene.
She had no idea what was happening.
She only saw Rukia strike Ichigo, and Ichigo collapsed.
She gasped and demanded, “What did you do to Ichigo?” Rukia ignored Tatsuki.
She looked at Ichigo, who seemed tense, and reassured him.
“It’s okay.
Don’t worry.” “It’s just an ordinary Hollow.
With Ren here, nothing unexpected will happen.” “If you really can’t beat it, Ren Kurogami can beat it halfway to death first, then you can land the finishing blow.” Ichigo’s expression froze.
Rukia’s first two reassurances were very comforting.
They put him at ease.
But the last sentence left him completely speechless.
He hadn’t expected that was an option.
Then what was the point of all that Hell training he’d endured?
If he’d known earlier, he would have just had Ren beat the Hollow that was Orihime’s brother halfway to death first, then landed the finishing blow himself.
SHING!
An E-Rank Noble Phantasm sword streaked through the air, pinning the snake type Hollow, Orihime’s brother, to the wall.
“Ichigo, getting distracted in battle is a cardinal sin!” Ren Kurogami’s cold voice rang out.
Cold sweat trickled down Ichigo’s face.
Just now, the moment the snake type Hollow appeared, its clawed hand had swiped at Ichigo’s face.
Just a hair’s breadth away.
Ichigo knew that if Ren hadn’t acted in time, he would have been injured or worse.
“GRAAAH!” The snake type Hollow let out a piercing howl.
Tatsuki Arisawa, who was naturally gifted at sensing spirits, felt her pupils sharply constrict.
Not only did she hear the Hollow’s howl, she could also vaguely see the Hollow’s form flickering in and out of existence around the Noble Phantasm sword.
All of this completely shattered her worldview, sending her pupils into violent tremors.
She murmured, “What in the world…
is going on?” “So noisy.” Ren Kurogami frowned slightly, muttering to himself.
Then he summoned a few more golden ripples.
The next moment, several more E-Rank Noble Phantasms shot out, ripping through the snake type Hollow’s body and silencing its howl.
Ichigo snapped back to attention.
Without hesitation, he raised his Zanpakutō and charged at the Hollow pinned to the wall, cutting it down with a single strike.
Under the watchful eyes of Ren, Ichigo, and Rukia, the snake type Hollow’s body gradually dissolved into white particles.
Orihime’s brother’s soul slowly emerged from within.
Realizing he had nearly done something unforgivable, a look of shame, lingering fear, and gratitude crossed his face.
He bowed deeply to Ren and Ichigo, then vanished completely.
[Level EXP +20] A system notification rang out in Ren Kurogami’s mind.
He wasn’t surprised by this.
There were two ways to gain Level EXP: defeating an enemy, or killing an enemy.
If both conditions were met simultaneously, the system would evaluate the enemy’s state and take the higher of the two EXP values as the final result.
In simple terms, Ren Kurogami had both defeated and killed a Hollow.
Defeating the Hollow gave 20 Level EXP, while killing it gave 40 Level EXP.
So the system would take the higher value, 40 as the final result.
At the same time, Ren received a notification that the Myriad Worlds Paradise’s Side Quest was complete.
Just as he had thought.
Even though he didn’t have Shinigami power, as long as he contributed enough effort, he could complete it.