Chapter 1: Getting Hit by a Dump Truck Is Protagonist Treatment
Modern day, Karakura Town, Tokyo.
"I am dead?"
Ichigo Kurosaki watched as his own body was loaded into an ambulance, a messy trail of blood staining the concrete beneath the overpass. His pupils trembled and he stood frozen for a long time.
None of the onlookers spared him a second glance.
Because he was already a newly minted plus, a soul that had left its body.
Ordinary people could no longer see him.
Only other souls could respond to him.
"Yes, a pretty awful death. Hit by a dump truck, sent flying dozens of meters, then run over again and turned into a carpet."
The speaker was sitting on the curb.
He did not look very old, maybe seventeen or eighteen.
His figure was slender and well proportioned. A calm aura surrounded him.
If he put on black rimmed glasses, he would look like the harmless bookworm in class. If he adopted a serious expression and started lecturing, he would probably annoy a lot of girls.
Yet right now his words were straight out of hell, laced with pitch black humor that made his sharper side completely obvious.
His eyes were exceptionally bright and penetrating. They carried a strange air, as if he knew far too much, yet did not give off the feel of a simple scholar.
"Damn it, where did that dump truck even come from? And stop making me think about how I died, I am going to puke!"
The orange haired boy, who was about to start his first year of high school and actually had decent grades, racked his brains but still could not figure out how he had ended up in a traffic accident in front of a convenience store.
Even if someone wanted to murder him on purpose, it would not be easy to get a dump truck into that position ahead of time.
And it was even less likely for it to hit him without making any noise.
It was as if it had appeared out of thin air.
There had been no driver in the truck either.
It was practically a supernatural phenomenon.
"Since you do not want to talk about how you died, let us change the subject. My name is Shimiya Takeru, first year university student. We are in the same boat now, so please take care of me from here on."
Shimiya Takeru stood up and casually brushed the dust from his clothes.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, first year high school student. You said 'same boat' so you mean..."
Ichigo hesitated, the rest of his words stuck in his throat.
"Yeah, you are not the only one who got hit and died."
Shimiya Takeru admitted it without the slightest hesitation.
Transmigration had gotten more and more technological these days.
In the past it came from lightning strikes. Now it came from traffic accidents.
And he had been hit twice.
The first time, he had been eating hotpot and singing a birthday song. It seemed that the gods in the dark had gotten excited along with the party and sent him a very generous gift.
That gift smashed into him and sent him to Tokyo, into a world that was a mashup of slice of life anime.
He had become the young master of a great conglomerate.
As a transmigrator, he had been living in the center of everyone's attention since childhood. Life had been smooth and he was admired wherever he went.
During summer vacation he had suddenly decided to visit Chiba.
However, it seemed the gods had seen through his longing for a certain person and so they sent another dump truck, forcibly changing his itinerary.
At the same time, that truck had also changed Ichigo's fate.
Any cheat like bloodline became meaningless in front of this kind of unreasonable, higher level narrative supernatural phenomenon.
"Speaking of which, if it were not for this thing, I would have thought I was not actually dead. It feels completely different from the last time I died."
Shimiya Takeru looked down at the padlock on his chest and the half severed Chain of Fate, poking it with his hand. A clear metallic sound rang out.
The sound and the odd sensation made his skin crawl and gave him the uncontrollable urge to dig the padlock out of his chest.
"You keep saying things I do not understand. Shouldn't people be sad at a time like this?"
Ichigo took a deep breath.
"Given the situation, there is nothing to be sad about. Look at us, we are doing fine. We just do not have physical bodies anymore, that is all. It might not even be a bad thing."
Shimiya Takeru waved his hand. "Getting hit by a dump truck is protagonist treatment. Next, we might even meet a goddess who guides us into another world."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a strange Japanese style lattice door appeared in midair on the sidewalk about ten meters away.
The door slowly opened and a small figure stepped out, accompanied by a flurry of luminous blue butterflies.
It was a young girl.
She wore a black kimono and her hair was gathered in a bun that made her head look a little like an onion. Her delicate features and large eyes made her very cute, but the long sword at her waist and the dignified air surrounding her gave her an indescribable majesty.
"...?"
"..."
There was no way someone this conspicuous could go unnoticed.
That was true for both sides.
If Shimiya Takeru and Ichigo were simply drawn in by her strange appearance and powerful presence, then Kuchiki Rukia was completely stunned by the aura radiating from the two of them.
When coming from the Soul Society into the World of the Living, which was poor in spiritual particles, even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual pressure should stand out like a rare creature.
Yet standing in front of these two,
For a moment, she felt as if she had never left the Soul Society at all.
"The spiritual pressure they are unconsciously emitting is naturally blending into the spiritual particles in the air and changing the atmosphere of this entire area..."
In a situation like this, even if a Hollow appeared, it might unconsciously overlook them.
Rukia's expression became more and more solemn.
She landed lightly on the ground, one hand resting on her sword hilt, and walked toward them step by step. She showed no sense of distance at this first meeting, like a cold, decisive law enforcer carrying out her regular duties.
"Hey, who are you?"
Ichigo tensed up, took a step back, and shouted.
He completely failed to notice the look on Shimiya Takeru's face beside him, which clearly said, See, what did I tell you, the goddess is here.
Rukia was already used to this kind of reaction.
"Do not be nervous. I am a Shinigami stationed in Karakura Town. I am responsible for sending the souls of the dead to the Soul Society, which is the resting place of souls."
She paused, then continued in a matter of fact tone.
"That said, I did not expect to encounter two souls with such high spiritual power as soon as I arrived. You two should be grateful that I came in time. If I had been even a little slower, powerful Hollows would definitely have been attracted here, and you would be facing something far more terrifying than death."
"Shinigami? Soul Society?"
Ichigo's mind went blank. He had met two strange people in rapid succession and his ability to think was starting to shut down.
"Do Shinigami also have something like territorial protection?" Shimiya Takeru cut in lazily. "No scythes but katanas, no cloaks but kimonos. Wouldn't religious foreigners have a problem with that image?"
The tense atmosphere shattered the moment he opened his mouth.
"Of course not, because I will take coercive measures without any hesitation and make them get lost before they can say a word."
Rukia was briefly taken aback, then straightened her back with righteous pride.
She clearly carried a hint of noble arrogance, yet her tone was smooth and roguish, like a veteran thug. The contrast was almost disarming.
"Wait, by 'get lost' you do not mean 'go to hell,' right? We have no idea if what you are saying is true or not, and you are telling me a Shinigami is actually a kid who looks like she is still in grade school? That sounds really unreliable."
Ichigo frowned, his face full of suspicion.
"Shut up. I am ten times your age. You human brats have no right to question my abilities. Still, since you two have potential and might become comrades in the future, I will introduce myself properly for now."
She lifted her chin slightly.
"My name is Kuchiki Rukia. In the Soul Society you will slowly come to understand how great this name is."
"Hey, I have not even said goodbye to my family yet...!"
Before Ichigo could finish, Rukia stepped forward with a half smile.
She drew her sword with a soft hiss of steel and struck him on the forehead with the hilt.
Ichigo toppled backward and was swallowed by the white light rising from the ground.
Then it was Shimiya Takeru's turn.
He did not resist at all. He simply stood there, calm, as if he were letting a flight attendant buckle his seat belt before takeoff.
After sending the two of them away, Rukia let out a soft sigh of relief and leaped onto the overpass, looking out over the modern streets of Karakura Town.
Although there was a hint that she had come here mainly to pad her record, she would prove herself with flawless achievements and complete her posting perfectly, shattering any doubt.
"Come to think of it, I forgot to ask their names... but that is fine. If they manage to graduate from the Spirit Arts Academy and join the Gotei Thirteen, we will meet again sooner or later. By then I should already be a vice captain, or at least a high ranking seated officer."
She narrowed her eyes, already picturing that future.
"It will be a good chance to let that blond kid experience the majesty of a senior. Hmph. How dare he call me a grade schooler."