Demon Slayer: The Journey That Began When I Became Yoriichi's Sister

Chapter 701 Cultivation in the Deep Mountains and Forests

"Huh, what do you mean?" Kisuke Urahara looked over in confusion, and then saw Ikuko, who had shown a slightly gentle expression probably because of his apology. But the moment he looked at her, that gentle expression turned serious again.

Kisuke Urahara was so scared he almost peed his pants.

Has his secret been exposed?

Yuko was puzzled by his change in expression. She was about to ask him something.

“Very grateful…” Kisuke Urahara attempted another knee slide, but was interrupted once again.

"Ah! Ishida! The Ishida family lives around here, right?"

Orihime Inoue's sudden words interrupted Kisuke Urahara's sliding kneeling.

Ishida Uryu looked down and said, "It really is. Mr. Urahara, just leave me here."

Urahara Kisuke responded quickly: "Understood."

It's great that the topic was able to be changed.

Ichigo waved his hand: "Bye-bye, Ishida. I'll contact you again if I need anything."

"Are you kidding me? Don't you remember?" Ishida Uryu squatted on the edge, turning his head slightly. "Kurosaki."

"You are the Grim Reaper, and I am the Quincy."

"The next time we meet, we'll be enemies."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ishida Uryu pushed off with his feet and jumped halfway out when he suddenly heard a voice from behind him.

Yu Zi said calmly, "Really? Then I'll arrange for you two to sit together next semester."

Uryu Ishida staggered for a moment and fell downwards.

"Ah, Ishida seems to be upside down. Will he be alright?" Inoue Orihime crawled two steps outside and looked down.

Chadu said calmly, "That's really not honest at all."

"Who says it isn't?"

One by one, everyone got off the bus, with the last two being neighbors living on the same street, Yuuko and Ichigo.

Yuko lifted Yoruichi off her head and said, "Let's talk later if anything comes up."

Ye Yi nodded: "Yes, I'll contact you immediately if there's any new information."

"I'm not talking about that kind of thing."

Yoruichi glanced at Ichigo indifferently: "Is that so? But I think you can't avoid it."

Yuko was silent for a moment: "Let's talk about it later."

Ichigo looked confused: "Auntie, what kind of riddle are you talking about?"

"It's nothing, you can go now."

Yuko came up behind Ichigo and, seeing his confused expression, kicked him, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Ahhhh!"

Ichigo steadied himself in mid-air, landed on the ground, and looked up angrily at Ikuko as she fell.

"What's going on, Auntie!"

Yuko glanced over and said, "Ichigo, when did you dare to talk to me like that?"

Ichigo shuddered and immediately shut his mouth.

See you tonight.

Yu Zi left these words behind, jumped up to the second floor of her house, opened the window, and climbed inside.

"That scared me to death, I thought I was going to be killed." Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief.

Yuko entered the room and walked towards the bed. Suddenly, she paused and narrowed her eyes as she looked at the bed.

Someone has been in this room...

Yuko spread her senses outwards. The windows, the door, the downstairs—everything seemed untouched, without a trace of intrusion. But the bed sheet had accidentally gotten stuck in the interlayer.

She lifted the bedsheets with her hands, revealing the artificial body hidden in the lining.

The artifact remains exactly as it was when she left, unchanged.

Yuko took out the artifact and casually placed it on the bed before going to the window.

On the inner half of the room near the window, there was a faint footprint. On the other side, the footprint had been washed away by the rain, seemingly because it had been there for so long.

Due to the passage of time, all traces of scent or remnants have faded. Based solely on these footprints, it's impossible to determine who the intruder was.

Among those who know where I live, Urahara is one, Kurosaki... hmm, could it be Urahara?

No, he even missed the footprints. He doesn't seem like a professional, unless he deliberately let her find them.

Although Yuko was somewhat concerned, she didn't delve too deeply into it. She took out her phone, which had been sitting on the table and was already switched off, plugged it in, and returned it to the artificial body.

After putting on the Gikai, Yuuko stretched her shoulders and neck to make sure the Gikai hadn't been tampered with.

She smoothed out the messy red hair of the gikai and changed into a thin summer T-shirt and jeans.

The house hadn't been cleaned for quite some time, and the floor was covered with a layer of dust. Yuko picked up a broom and mop and did a thorough cleaning, cleaning inside and out.

Time flies when you're cleaning, and it's noon before you know it.

As soon as she turned on her phone, a barrage of call notifications rang out like a bombardment.

Although Yuko had expected this, she still couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine.

She checked the message notifications and found that she was contacting Ochi Miyu the most, as well as the school office, and then a few Ryuki's phone numbers. Fortunately, her social circle was not large.

Just as Yuko was about to call Kisuke Urahara to inquire about the progress of his handling of the matter, Miyu Ochi's phone rang.

Yuko hesitated for a moment, then accepted...

ding dong~

"Good morning, Yuko." Ochi Miyu stood at Yuko's door, carrying a plastic bag.

Good morning, Miyu.

She glanced down at the plastic bag that Meiyu was carrying and realized it seemed to contain some food ingredients.

"Well, let's come in anyway." Yuko paused for a moment. Judging from the situation, Urahara Kisuke must have used amnesia spray to deal with her social circle. She just didn't know what kind of memories were being replaced.

After reaching the second floor, Ochi Miyu took off her shoes, turned around and looked Yuko up and down, then breathed a sigh of relief and a hint of joy appeared on her face.

"Your health is recovering well; it seems like our plan to go to the beach is going to work out."

"...You're recovering well? Did I...have some serious illness?"

Although she was also curious about going to the beach, Yuko was more curious about what was wrong with her.

She had given up all hope for Kisuke Urahara's integrity, but seeing Miyu's expression of "thank God you're finally alive," she couldn't help but feel an extremely ominous premonition.

Ochi Miyu placed the plastic bag containing tofu and beef on the entryway cabinet, and said irritably while changing her shoes, "Still trying to be tough? I know you're skilled and have practiced kendo, but that's real nature, Yuuko!"

"Nature?" Yuko kept repeating this phrase in her mind.

Is there any necessary connection between this and being good at swordsmanship?

Did she practice her sword-wielding technique under the waterfall, honing her sword-drawing skills and cutting the waterfall in half?

“Yes, I understand.” Meiyu walked into the house and headed familiarly towards the kitchen. “The training is very stressful. I understand your desire to relax in the mountains before the teacher training, and also your desire to challenge yourself, but…”

Miyu suddenly turned around, waving a large green onion in her hand, and pointed it at Yuko's nose:

"You ventured into the remote mountain area alone without any communication equipment, and even fought a two-meter-tall adult brown bear with your bare hands to protect a family of three who had wandered in."

"This is too reckless!"

"……what?"

Yuko froze on the spot.

Although she was confident that she always had excellent control over her facial expressions, at this moment, she was certain that the corners of her mouth were twitching uncontrollably.

A restricted area deep in the mountains?

Fighting a brown bear bare-handed?

Is that amnesia spray really not the result of human intervention?

She was starting to wonder if Kisuke Urahara had deliberately played a trick on her. Would such an absurd memory filling happen under normal circumstances?

"What's wrong? Judging from your expression, did the bear hit you on the head and you've lost your memory?" Meiyu leaned over worriedly and reached out to feel Yuzi's forehead. "The kind shopkeeper who carried you down the mountain said that although you were covered in blood, you were incredibly powerful. You threw the bear off the cliff with an over-the-shoulder throw, and you almost rolled down yourself because you were exhausted. Luckily, you didn't have any scars, otherwise it would have been difficult for you to get married in the future."

Yuko ignored Miyu's last sentence: "If I may ask, the kind shopkeeper you mentioned, is he wearing a green and white fisherman's hat...?"

"Yes! You really need to thank them properly!"

Over-the-shoulder throw... brown bear...

And the kind-hearted shop manager... That bastard not only wrote the script, but also added scenes for himself!

No wonder his reaction was so strange just now!

"Ah...yes, yes." Yu Zi took a deep breath, forced a stiff smile, and continued acting out this absurd script. "The situation was urgent at the time, and I didn't think too much about it. After all...as a teacher, it's normal to protect others."

When she said those words, Yuko felt a pang of guilt.

No, it's a stomachache.

"I knew it!" Miyu's eyes were red as she hugged Yuko tightly. "You, you usually have such a sharp tongue, but you're always so reliable when it matters."

"But don't do that again next time, it's too dangerous."

"At the school, the principal was so moved by your story that he almost hung your picture in the corridor, making you one of the ten most touching figures in the history of our Karakura-cho First High School."

"No! Please don't!" Yu Zi cried out in terror, her expression distorted.

"Huh? Why? Doesn't Yuko want to?"

Yuko shook her head frantically, already having planned out 8864 different funerals for Kisuke Urahara.

"Alright then, I'll pass on your message to the principal." Ochi Miyu nodded somewhat dejectedly, then turned to look at the ingredients she had bought, and said with a smile, "I bought sukiyaki, would you like to try some?"

"...Yes, thank you for your help."

Watching Miyu's busy figure in the kitchen, Yuko let out a long sigh and slumped onto the sofa.

This is nothing.

A delicious aroma soon filled the kitchen, and before long, a beautifully presented hot pot was ready.

While eating hot pot, Ochi Miyu suddenly asked, "By the way, how's your plan to go to the beach going? Is your recovery going well?"

Yuko paused for a moment, probably referring to the trip she had promised the students before summer vacation.

It seems she had Ishida gather the students' opinions, but that was delayed because of Rukia's situation.

"Yes, there's nothing wrong with my body, but how did Miyu know?" She remembered that she hadn't invited Miyu at the time.

After all, summer vacation has just begun, and there hasn't been any training yet.

“It was Ryuki who told me,” Ochi Miyu said with a smile. “During the training, I found out that you had lost contact, so I asked Ryuki to help me contact you. She visited you at your home, but she couldn’t reach you either.”

"I later found out that you had gone to the deep mountains and forests all by yourself."

"This, this is it."

Yuko smiled awkwardly, lost in thought.

Could it be that the person who broke into my home was Long Gui?

She carefully inspected the house. There was a thin layer of dust on the floor, but no footprints. The intruder must have come at the beginning of summer vacation.

Since nothing was missing from the house, the probability of it being a thief was greatly reduced.

Ochi Miyu smiled and said, "Then it's settled. I'll tell the others later; they're all very anxious."

"Either is fine." Yuko rubbed her forehead wearily; she hadn't felt this tired even when fighting with Grandpa Yamamoto.

No, that's not right.

It's all that bastard's fault.

Someone at Urahara Store suddenly shivered.

Ochi Miyu looked at Ikuko with fervor: "It's decided! I'll go to the shopping arcade to buy a swimsuit tomorrow!"

"Pfft!" Yuko almost spat her soda all over Miyu's face. After coughing several times, she looked at her with a puzzled expression, "Swimsuit?"

"Going to the beach?"

"Huh? Oh oh."

I was so mentally exhausted just now that I didn't think much and almost didn't react.

Miyu said with envy, "Yuko's figure seems to suit any swimsuit."

Yuko pinched the bridge of her nose: "By the way, who said they wanted to go to the beach?"

"...I think it was a class vote?" Ochi Miyu recalled, "But the ones who egged us on seemed to be Keigo and Ichigo."

Ichigo?

Ah, it's a soul.

Yuko's expression gradually calmed down; she could already guess what these people were up to.

"It's a deal then. See you at the shopping street at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

Yuko saw Miyu off after they had agreed to go to the shopping street the next day.

After seeing Miyu off, Yuko picked up her phone and tapped on Ryuki's number, hesitated for a moment, and then didn't dial.

night.

"How lucky, Yuko, someone happened to be passing by."

"Pfft~"

At the Kurosaki family's dinner table, Ichigo heard his parents talking about Ikuko's experiences during summer vacation, and he spat out a mouthful of soda.

Running off to the deep mountains and forests to fight bears? This amnesia spray is just too outrageous!

Yu Zi said with a forced smile, "Yes, we're really lucky."

Looking at Kurosaki Isshin and Masaki smirking in front of her, she knew with her toes that it was Masaki's idea!

But the real culprit is still that bastard.

She couldn't take it anymore and was going to cause trouble for Urahara tonight!

After having dinner at the Kurosaki family's house, Ikuko arrived at Urahara Store with a gloomy expression.

Urahara Store still looked dilapidated and deserted. In front of the store, Tessai was carrying goods from the warehouse into the store.

"Good evening, Mr. Tessai." Ikuko stopped in her tracks, her expression so gloomy it seemed like it could drip water, but she still maintained basic politeness. "Is Urahara here?"

Tetsuzai remained silent for a moment, seemingly weighing whether to betray the shopkeeper. When he clearly saw the black resentment that seemed to materialize behind Yuko, he decisively stepped aside to make way and pointed to the inner room.