Skating on Thin Ice - Kyu (Meetings)
“I’ll see you after your class at your place. The flight’s at half past noon. Rukia’s driving us to the airport.”
The white haired skater glanced down briefly at the screen of his phone after sliding it out of his pocket. Turning his attention back to the lecturer and his notes, Toushirou thought nothing further of the matter.
He had already packed the night before and had just been waiting to put a time on their flight to the West Coast. He had left the exact details to Ichigo, guessing that the injured hockey player would appreciate having something to do in lieu of his missed practices and games.
After his class, he had stayed behind to inquire about a point the lecturer had brought up, before heading back to the house he shared with his coach, only to find a grumpy looking Ichigo, bag in hand, waiting at the door.
“What took you so long?”
Hearing the impatience in the sophomore’s voice, Toushirou replied in his usual cool tone as he took out his keys and opened the door. “Kurosaki, for one, I’ve already packed last night. Also, you know you didn’t have to come along, right? Now, do I even have to invite you in?”
“Thanks,” Ichigo replied, sounding more subdued, walking in while the skater held the door open. Toushirou watched from the corner of his eye, as the injured goalkeeper closed the door behind and shuffled into the house, while he transferred some reading materials from his backpack into the bag he was bringing.
Shuffling through his notes while he contemplated if he would read them over the weekend, the skater turned to Ichigo, now slouched on the sofa and asked, “How’s your arm?”
Things had returned back to how they had been previously after they returned from the skating championships. After settling into the spring semester, the orange haired goalkeeper turned up for his practices again and they met for lunch every week. The only thing different was the sophomore’s occasional listlessness, especially when they met his teammates for dinner - he knew how the goalkeeper felt away from the game and felt slightly guilty.
“Uh… It’s fine. I’m going back next week for a check up. Rukia’s supposed to be here now anyway,” came the reply, as Ichigo looked up at the clock. The doorbell chimed just then and the sophomore stood, headed for the door.
Having extracted the notes he wanted, Toushirou headed for his room, placing the rest of his notes and his backpack on his table before returning to the living room. Nodding to the black haired skater, he picked up his bag, following Ichigo and Rukia out of the door.
The ride to the airport was uneventful and without needing to check in any luggage, it took the pair no time to board the plane. Over the lunch, served once the plane began cruising, Toushirou recalled their few emails with Tia Harribel and began planning what they would do during their meeting.
The next time he looked at Ichigo, the orange haired goalkeeper was absorbed in yet another book, seemingly concentrated on a diagram with arrows all over, white headphones riding on his orange hair. As the music came to an end in his own earphones - Coach Soi Fon had corrected the routine slightly for his World Juniors attempt and he had been working to internalise the new routine along with the shortened music - another glance told him that the biology major was looking at some complicated pathway diagram.
On repeat mode, the familiar tune started yet again and Toushirou turned his attention back to the music and his routine. Deep in concentration, time passed and it was not long before he had to turn off his iPod as the plane prepared to land. Grabbing their bags after the plane landed, he followed Ichigo, making their way to the arrival hall. Waiting for him there was one person he had not expected to see though.
“Granny?”
“Toushirou, it’s good to see you again.” The short, white haired lady hugged the skater before turning to Ichigo. “You must be Ichigo then.” Embracing him briefly, she then asked, “Shall we make a move, boys? You must be hungry.”
Glancing at the taller sophomore, Toushirou could not help but notice the grin on his face. “Why are you grinning?”
“Well, you said I could make the arrangements and she did say she wanted to see you, so I thought it’ll be good to meet up.” Then, leaning slightly to whisper in his ear, the goalkeeper continued, “Anyway, you look cute when you pout.”
“Kurosaki, I do not pout.” With that, Toushirou widened his strides slightly, walking over to where his grandmother was, his orange haired partner following behind him.
~~~
The next afternoon, Granny drove them down to the mall they had arranged to meet Tia Harribel at. Even though Toushirou had initially objected to involving his grandmother in their plans, he could not deny that it sounded like a better alibi if they met a friend while they were shopping with their grandmother.
Some time later, they reached the mall. After going round the shops with Granny for about half an hour, they parted temporarily with the white haired lady, who had some grocery shopping to do and promised to meet her in half an hour.
Ichigo and Toushirou then headed for the mall’s Starbucks, bought coffees and found a table conveniently located in a corner. The blonde skater was due to meet them in fifteen minutes and even though they had discussed their plans and gone over several possibilities of how they expected the skater to react their plan, they could not help but still feel unprepared.
Ten minutes later, Ichigo spotted the blonde skater, holding a drink, looking briefly around before she headed for their table. Nodding to her as she took her seat and removed her sunglasses, he glanced over at Toushirou and waited to see what the skater had planned.
Catching what seemed to be a flicker of recognition in her eyes as she glanced at him, the white haired skater inclined his head briefly before placing the brown envelope he had been carrying on the table.
Seemingly as calm as Toushirou, the blonde skater picked up the envelope and opened it. Ichigo almost thought he caught a glimpse of her hand trembling slightly when she reached into the envelope. He knew what was inside - they had printed out a photo of each of the victims from that thumbdrive, excluding Momo, and put it in a photo album.
A few minutes later, he heard a soft ‘thump’ as the album landed at the bottom of the envelope, then watched as she replaced the envelope on the table in a slow, deliberate motion. “What do you want?”
“We want to know if you are willing to testify against Aizen.”
Taking a sip of her coffee, the blonde skater raised her eyebrows before replying, “I guess you should know this. I’m been trying to get free of Aizen for some time. I will have no qualms testifying against that bastard.”
“In that case, we’d like you to continue acting normally. We’ll be raising charges against Aizen very soon, and we’d prefer if you only stepped forward then. If there’s anyone else you know in those photos, you could try to sound them out - the fewer who know, the better though. I think you should be more familiar with Aizen’s way of doing things than me.”
Nodding silently, the blonde skater then asked, “Is there a specific timeframe before you get things going?”
“It should be settled before or around Worlds. I hope you won’t be too affected by it. Just in case of anything, here’s a contact.” Pulling out a pen and a piece of paper from his pocket, Toushirou scribbled a number on it.
Passing it over on the small table, Ichigo watched as the blonde skater took out her cell phone and entered the number before crumpling the piece of paper in a ball.
“Harribel-sempai, in any case, if you haven’t remembered, Matsumoto and I went to the same high school as you.”
Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Ichigo watched as the blonde skater struggled to recall before a look of surprise appeared on her tanned features. “Hitsu-gaya, right? You were two grades below me.”
Nodding in response, also slightly surprised, the white haired skater then looked down at his phone. “It was good meeting you. I hope we get to meet under better circumstances the next time.”
Taking yet another sip of her coffee, the blonde stood as well, looking down at the slightly shorter Toushirou. “It was indeed. Thank you. I’m about to go as well.” Replacing her sunglasses, she nodded in the direction of the pair before dropping the ball of paper into the bin and leaving, still holding her cup of coffee
“That’s it then. Shall we go look for Granny now?” Ichigo asked, picking their cups of coffee and throwing them in the nearby bin.
“…Hn.”
~~~
The next morning, Ichigo woke early and dragged a grouchy Toushirou out of bed. Following a quick breakfast of cereal and milk, they pulled on their jackets and headed out. The weather was cool and refreshing, unlike the harsh winters back in Massachusetts.
“Kurosaki, I swear, if this is one of your stupid ideas, I’ll kill you.” Toushirou growled, upset at having to wake up that early when it was not necessary.
“Nope. It is a secret though.” Ichigo replied, expression a mixture of amusement and seriousness. After stopping by a florist on the way and paying for two white roses, the orange haired teenager continued walking; the white haired skater found the direction they were headed in rather familiar though.
Ten minutes later, Toushirou knew where Ichigo was headed. Less than five minutes later, they stepped into the town’s cemetery. Seeing the orange haired goalkeeper awkwardly retrieve a hand drawn map from a pocket, the skater instead turned onto one of the paths leading into the tranquil graveyard.
“Wait, Tosh’.”
“It’s this way.”
Silently, Ichigo followed behind, unable to help himself from noticing how resolute each stride the lone skater took seemed. Glancing down at the map, he noted that they were approaching the huge tree marked as a landmark on the map, which meant that her grave was near.
A few moments later, he watched as the skater came to a stop in front of a simple headstone. Stepping up beside the skater, he silently read the engraved words and bowed his head. Moments later, he passed a stalk of rose to the equally silent Toushirou, before bending down and placing his stalk gently in front of the white headstone.
‘I wonder what he’s thinking about.’
He had not visited the cemetery ever since the funeral. He had not cried when they interred her in the brown earth, but had instead promised to only visit when he had brought Aizen to justice. Despite that, he had let his feet guide the way, walking to the white headstone where her name was engraved.
‘You know, Momo, everything is going to be over soon. We are going to bring that bastard to justice; we have proof this time. No one else will be hurt ever again.’
Despite the conviction in his words, they felt hollow to him, somehow. For a moment, Toushirou allowed himself to imagine how Momo would have felt about it and an image of her smiling appeared in his mind’s eye. She seemed slightly sad though and he could imagine her asking, “Shirou-chan, what about you then?”
It was then that all the memories that he had shut away came flooding back, breaking through the dam in his mind.
Times he had spent together with her, at home teasing each other, helping Granny with chores, feasting on Granny’s handmade sweets. Times on the rink, where they had practiced the basics together, where he had watched her practice, where he had been too busy to notice her growing infatuation with their coach…
It had only been after her suicide, when he had gone through her belongings and came upon her diary that he actually knew how lonely she had felt at college, how Aizen had made use of her, and how wretched she had been at the end of it. At the end of it, he had felt her despair, how she had no other better choice, and that had been what spurred him to do what he did.
‘Momo… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I didn’t realise earlier. I’m sorry I was too busy. I’m sorry you didn’t have a chance to talk…’
Stepping forward, he placed a hand on the white stone, before bending down to place the stalk of white rose next to the one Ichigo had left there earlier. Standing again, with his hand still on the cool stone, he closed his eyes and made another promise.
‘I’m sorry… for not taking care of myself. I promise though, when this is all over, I’ll still be skating for you and myself. You won’t need to worry about me.’
The next moment, he felt a warm hand covering his and heard Ichigo’s voice.
“Hi Momo, I’m Ichigo, nice to meet you. Thanks for taking care of Tosh’ while he was in school. I hope he’ll let me stay around to protect him, just like how I hope he’ll do the same for me. Please also do look out for him up in heaven.”
Feeling his mouth curl upwards in response to the warm smile on the orange haired teenager’s face, Toushirou smiled for the first time since his adopted sister’s death. Hands together on the cool stone, they stayed there like that for some time.
~~~
On the flight back a few hours later, Toushirou recalled his grandmother’s words. They had chatted the morning Ichigo had slept in before they had gone to meet Tia Harribel. As he has expected, his grandmother still knew him the best, despite spending three years apart.
She knew why he had not come back, why he had not written to her, had said there was no need for him to apologise. She had also said something else, “That boy who came with you, you should treasure him.”
Absentmindedly fingering the cool crescent pendant that lay on his chest - he had not taken it off since - the white haired skater leaned back in his chair and not long later, drifted off to sleep.
Halfway through the page he was reading, Ichigo felt something heavy lying on his arm. Turning slightly and realising that it was Toushirou, he smiled and ruffled the skater’s white hair gently before returning to his reading. The skater only woke up just before they landed.
~~~
The following week, his father drove him to the hospital for his follow up. Dr Yamada, who was coincidentally in charge of his case, was surprised with how fast his fracture was healing. Ichigo had asked and was granted permission to return to light training.
“Remember Ichigo, only light training for you. Don’t knock your arm into anything.” The kind orthopaedic surgeon reminded as the goalkeeper got to his feet.
“Yep. I’m only going to try some skating and I’ll try my best not to fall. Thank you.” Nodding to the young doctor who had been his mentor, Ichigo walked towards the door of the consultation room.
“I’ll see you in a month then,” the friendly doctor called out, waving as his patient left.
Not seeing his father anywhere outside, the goalkeeper decided to make a stop by Dr Retsu’s office, hoping that she was available. He had not been able to thank her for the opportunity to intern at the hospital when he had been discharged.
Knocking on her office door, he was not surprised to hear the calm tone call out, “Enter.” Stepping into the familiar office, he greeted the doctor. “Good afternoon, Dr Retsu.”
“Kurosaki, I see that you are recovering well.”
“Yep, thank you for asking. Erm… I also want to thank you, Dr Retsu, for the chance to intern here previously. I didn’t get to thank you the last time.”
“You’re welcome. It was unfortunate that it had to end like that. You’d be welcome if you want to return over summer.”
“Thank you, Dr Retsu. Could I also ask about Nelliel? How is she doing now?” The orange haired goalkeeper asked, wondering if the green haired girl he had been escorting back home while they had been attacked was recovering well.
“Miss Odelschwanck is also in the midst of recovering from her injuries. She also seems to have recovered most of her memories after the blows to her head. She seems to recall your assailant and other related matters and we have decided to refer the case to the police for further investigation.”
“Thank you. Please do give her my regards when you see her next.” Thanking the senior doctor, Ichigo then headed back to the consultation areas in search of his missing father.
Later that night, he received a message from Toushirou. “Urahara says they’re wrapping up the case and handing it over to the police soon. They apparently know some people in the police that could expedite the case.”
Ichigo grinned after reading the concise message from the skater. He was a step closer to being able to return to the ice, Nel was doing fine and a potential witness, the case was almost done - things were indeed looking up.
The white haired skater glanced down briefly at the screen of his phone after sliding it out of his pocket. Turning his attention back to the lecturer and his notes, Toushirou thought nothing further of the matter.
He had already packed the night before and had just been waiting to put a time on their flight to the West Coast. He had left the exact details to Ichigo, guessing that the injured hockey player would appreciate having something to do in lieu of his missed practices and games.
After his class, he had stayed behind to inquire about a point the lecturer had brought up, before heading back to the house he shared with his coach, only to find a grumpy looking Ichigo, bag in hand, waiting at the door.
“What took you so long?”
Hearing the impatience in the sophomore’s voice, Toushirou replied in his usual cool tone as he took out his keys and opened the door. “Kurosaki, for one, I’ve already packed last night. Also, you know you didn’t have to come along, right? Now, do I even have to invite you in?”
“Thanks,” Ichigo replied, sounding more subdued, walking in while the skater held the door open. Toushirou watched from the corner of his eye, as the injured goalkeeper closed the door behind and shuffled into the house, while he transferred some reading materials from his backpack into the bag he was bringing.
Shuffling through his notes while he contemplated if he would read them over the weekend, the skater turned to Ichigo, now slouched on the sofa and asked, “How’s your arm?”
Things had returned back to how they had been previously after they returned from the skating championships. After settling into the spring semester, the orange haired goalkeeper turned up for his practices again and they met for lunch every week. The only thing different was the sophomore’s occasional listlessness, especially when they met his teammates for dinner - he knew how the goalkeeper felt away from the game and felt slightly guilty.
“Uh… It’s fine. I’m going back next week for a check up. Rukia’s supposed to be here now anyway,” came the reply, as Ichigo looked up at the clock. The doorbell chimed just then and the sophomore stood, headed for the door.
Having extracted the notes he wanted, Toushirou headed for his room, placing the rest of his notes and his backpack on his table before returning to the living room. Nodding to the black haired skater, he picked up his bag, following Ichigo and Rukia out of the door.
The ride to the airport was uneventful and without needing to check in any luggage, it took the pair no time to board the plane. Over the lunch, served once the plane began cruising, Toushirou recalled their few emails with Tia Harribel and began planning what they would do during their meeting.
The next time he looked at Ichigo, the orange haired goalkeeper was absorbed in yet another book, seemingly concentrated on a diagram with arrows all over, white headphones riding on his orange hair. As the music came to an end in his own earphones - Coach Soi Fon had corrected the routine slightly for his World Juniors attempt and he had been working to internalise the new routine along with the shortened music - another glance told him that the biology major was looking at some complicated pathway diagram.
On repeat mode, the familiar tune started yet again and Toushirou turned his attention back to the music and his routine. Deep in concentration, time passed and it was not long before he had to turn off his iPod as the plane prepared to land. Grabbing their bags after the plane landed, he followed Ichigo, making their way to the arrival hall. Waiting for him there was one person he had not expected to see though.
“Granny?”
“Toushirou, it’s good to see you again.” The short, white haired lady hugged the skater before turning to Ichigo. “You must be Ichigo then.” Embracing him briefly, she then asked, “Shall we make a move, boys? You must be hungry.”
Glancing at the taller sophomore, Toushirou could not help but notice the grin on his face. “Why are you grinning?”
“Well, you said I could make the arrangements and she did say she wanted to see you, so I thought it’ll be good to meet up.” Then, leaning slightly to whisper in his ear, the goalkeeper continued, “Anyway, you look cute when you pout.”
“Kurosaki, I do not pout.” With that, Toushirou widened his strides slightly, walking over to where his grandmother was, his orange haired partner following behind him.
~~~
The next afternoon, Granny drove them down to the mall they had arranged to meet Tia Harribel at. Even though Toushirou had initially objected to involving his grandmother in their plans, he could not deny that it sounded like a better alibi if they met a friend while they were shopping with their grandmother.
Some time later, they reached the mall. After going round the shops with Granny for about half an hour, they parted temporarily with the white haired lady, who had some grocery shopping to do and promised to meet her in half an hour.
Ichigo and Toushirou then headed for the mall’s Starbucks, bought coffees and found a table conveniently located in a corner. The blonde skater was due to meet them in fifteen minutes and even though they had discussed their plans and gone over several possibilities of how they expected the skater to react their plan, they could not help but still feel unprepared.
Ten minutes later, Ichigo spotted the blonde skater, holding a drink, looking briefly around before she headed for their table. Nodding to her as she took her seat and removed her sunglasses, he glanced over at Toushirou and waited to see what the skater had planned.
Catching what seemed to be a flicker of recognition in her eyes as she glanced at him, the white haired skater inclined his head briefly before placing the brown envelope he had been carrying on the table.
Seemingly as calm as Toushirou, the blonde skater picked up the envelope and opened it. Ichigo almost thought he caught a glimpse of her hand trembling slightly when she reached into the envelope. He knew what was inside - they had printed out a photo of each of the victims from that thumbdrive, excluding Momo, and put it in a photo album.
A few minutes later, he heard a soft ‘thump’ as the album landed at the bottom of the envelope, then watched as she replaced the envelope on the table in a slow, deliberate motion. “What do you want?”
“We want to know if you are willing to testify against Aizen.”
Taking a sip of her coffee, the blonde skater raised her eyebrows before replying, “I guess you should know this. I’m been trying to get free of Aizen for some time. I will have no qualms testifying against that bastard.”
“In that case, we’d like you to continue acting normally. We’ll be raising charges against Aizen very soon, and we’d prefer if you only stepped forward then. If there’s anyone else you know in those photos, you could try to sound them out - the fewer who know, the better though. I think you should be more familiar with Aizen’s way of doing things than me.”
Nodding silently, the blonde skater then asked, “Is there a specific timeframe before you get things going?”
“It should be settled before or around Worlds. I hope you won’t be too affected by it. Just in case of anything, here’s a contact.” Pulling out a pen and a piece of paper from his pocket, Toushirou scribbled a number on it.
Passing it over on the small table, Ichigo watched as the blonde skater took out her cell phone and entered the number before crumpling the piece of paper in a ball.
“Harribel-sempai, in any case, if you haven’t remembered, Matsumoto and I went to the same high school as you.”
Raising an eyebrow in surprise, Ichigo watched as the blonde skater struggled to recall before a look of surprise appeared on her tanned features. “Hitsu-gaya, right? You were two grades below me.”
Nodding in response, also slightly surprised, the white haired skater then looked down at his phone. “It was good meeting you. I hope we get to meet under better circumstances the next time.”
Taking yet another sip of her coffee, the blonde stood as well, looking down at the slightly shorter Toushirou. “It was indeed. Thank you. I’m about to go as well.” Replacing her sunglasses, she nodded in the direction of the pair before dropping the ball of paper into the bin and leaving, still holding her cup of coffee
“That’s it then. Shall we go look for Granny now?” Ichigo asked, picking their cups of coffee and throwing them in the nearby bin.
“…Hn.”
~~~
The next morning, Ichigo woke early and dragged a grouchy Toushirou out of bed. Following a quick breakfast of cereal and milk, they pulled on their jackets and headed out. The weather was cool and refreshing, unlike the harsh winters back in Massachusetts.
“Kurosaki, I swear, if this is one of your stupid ideas, I’ll kill you.” Toushirou growled, upset at having to wake up that early when it was not necessary.
“Nope. It is a secret though.” Ichigo replied, expression a mixture of amusement and seriousness. After stopping by a florist on the way and paying for two white roses, the orange haired teenager continued walking; the white haired skater found the direction they were headed in rather familiar though.
Ten minutes later, Toushirou knew where Ichigo was headed. Less than five minutes later, they stepped into the town’s cemetery. Seeing the orange haired goalkeeper awkwardly retrieve a hand drawn map from a pocket, the skater instead turned onto one of the paths leading into the tranquil graveyard.
“Wait, Tosh’.”
“It’s this way.”
Silently, Ichigo followed behind, unable to help himself from noticing how resolute each stride the lone skater took seemed. Glancing down at the map, he noted that they were approaching the huge tree marked as a landmark on the map, which meant that her grave was near.
A few moments later, he watched as the skater came to a stop in front of a simple headstone. Stepping up beside the skater, he silently read the engraved words and bowed his head. Moments later, he passed a stalk of rose to the equally silent Toushirou, before bending down and placing his stalk gently in front of the white headstone.
‘I wonder what he’s thinking about.’
He had not visited the cemetery ever since the funeral. He had not cried when they interred her in the brown earth, but had instead promised to only visit when he had brought Aizen to justice. Despite that, he had let his feet guide the way, walking to the white headstone where her name was engraved.
‘You know, Momo, everything is going to be over soon. We are going to bring that bastard to justice; we have proof this time. No one else will be hurt ever again.’
Despite the conviction in his words, they felt hollow to him, somehow. For a moment, Toushirou allowed himself to imagine how Momo would have felt about it and an image of her smiling appeared in his mind’s eye. She seemed slightly sad though and he could imagine her asking, “Shirou-chan, what about you then?”
It was then that all the memories that he had shut away came flooding back, breaking through the dam in his mind.
Times he had spent together with her, at home teasing each other, helping Granny with chores, feasting on Granny’s handmade sweets. Times on the rink, where they had practiced the basics together, where he had watched her practice, where he had been too busy to notice her growing infatuation with their coach…
It had only been after her suicide, when he had gone through her belongings and came upon her diary that he actually knew how lonely she had felt at college, how Aizen had made use of her, and how wretched she had been at the end of it. At the end of it, he had felt her despair, how she had no other better choice, and that had been what spurred him to do what he did.
‘Momo… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I didn’t realise earlier. I’m sorry I was too busy. I’m sorry you didn’t have a chance to talk…’
Stepping forward, he placed a hand on the white stone, before bending down to place the stalk of white rose next to the one Ichigo had left there earlier. Standing again, with his hand still on the cool stone, he closed his eyes and made another promise.
‘I’m sorry… for not taking care of myself. I promise though, when this is all over, I’ll still be skating for you and myself. You won’t need to worry about me.’
The next moment, he felt a warm hand covering his and heard Ichigo’s voice.
“Hi Momo, I’m Ichigo, nice to meet you. Thanks for taking care of Tosh’ while he was in school. I hope he’ll let me stay around to protect him, just like how I hope he’ll do the same for me. Please also do look out for him up in heaven.”
Feeling his mouth curl upwards in response to the warm smile on the orange haired teenager’s face, Toushirou smiled for the first time since his adopted sister’s death. Hands together on the cool stone, they stayed there like that for some time.
~~~
On the flight back a few hours later, Toushirou recalled his grandmother’s words. They had chatted the morning Ichigo had slept in before they had gone to meet Tia Harribel. As he has expected, his grandmother still knew him the best, despite spending three years apart.
She knew why he had not come back, why he had not written to her, had said there was no need for him to apologise. She had also said something else, “That boy who came with you, you should treasure him.”
Absentmindedly fingering the cool crescent pendant that lay on his chest - he had not taken it off since - the white haired skater leaned back in his chair and not long later, drifted off to sleep.
Halfway through the page he was reading, Ichigo felt something heavy lying on his arm. Turning slightly and realising that it was Toushirou, he smiled and ruffled the skater’s white hair gently before returning to his reading. The skater only woke up just before they landed.
~~~
The following week, his father drove him to the hospital for his follow up. Dr Yamada, who was coincidentally in charge of his case, was surprised with how fast his fracture was healing. Ichigo had asked and was granted permission to return to light training.
“Remember Ichigo, only light training for you. Don’t knock your arm into anything.” The kind orthopaedic surgeon reminded as the goalkeeper got to his feet.
“Yep. I’m only going to try some skating and I’ll try my best not to fall. Thank you.” Nodding to the young doctor who had been his mentor, Ichigo walked towards the door of the consultation room.
“I’ll see you in a month then,” the friendly doctor called out, waving as his patient left.
Not seeing his father anywhere outside, the goalkeeper decided to make a stop by Dr Retsu’s office, hoping that she was available. He had not been able to thank her for the opportunity to intern at the hospital when he had been discharged.
Knocking on her office door, he was not surprised to hear the calm tone call out, “Enter.” Stepping into the familiar office, he greeted the doctor. “Good afternoon, Dr Retsu.”
“Kurosaki, I see that you are recovering well.”
“Yep, thank you for asking. Erm… I also want to thank you, Dr Retsu, for the chance to intern here previously. I didn’t get to thank you the last time.”
“You’re welcome. It was unfortunate that it had to end like that. You’d be welcome if you want to return over summer.”
“Thank you, Dr Retsu. Could I also ask about Nelliel? How is she doing now?” The orange haired goalkeeper asked, wondering if the green haired girl he had been escorting back home while they had been attacked was recovering well.
“Miss Odelschwanck is also in the midst of recovering from her injuries. She also seems to have recovered most of her memories after the blows to her head. She seems to recall your assailant and other related matters and we have decided to refer the case to the police for further investigation.”
“Thank you. Please do give her my regards when you see her next.” Thanking the senior doctor, Ichigo then headed back to the consultation areas in search of his missing father.
Later that night, he received a message from Toushirou. “Urahara says they’re wrapping up the case and handing it over to the police soon. They apparently know some people in the police that could expedite the case.”
Ichigo grinned after reading the concise message from the skater. He was a step closer to being able to return to the ice, Nel was doing fine and a potential witness, the case was almost done - things were indeed looking up.