5-1 Mute Friendship

Orihime! What happened? You okay?!

Orihime!

............

(I'm not cut or bleeding...)

(That can't be. I definitely felt that blade cutting deep into my body.)

Orihime!

Ichigo?! And Chad, too? Why are you guys here?

We were worried. Chad thought there was something wrong with your Spiritual Pressure.

Yeah, you okay?

There was a dip in your Spiritual Pressure. Can you tell us exactly what happened to you?

Me? Nothing much, really. Just school and some homework. I did have this tummy ache. That's why I was bent over. That must've been it.

That couldn't have been it. There was another Spiritual Pressure here until a minute ago. Whose was it?

Oh, you're right. My friend was here. I forgot I met this friend of mine here.

(That's right... Tsukishima...)

After my friend left, my stomach began aching for some reason. That's all it was.

Sorry if I had you two worried!

(That can't be. He said he's the one who attacked Uryu.)

Well, I'll be sure to tell you if anything happens. And you guys be sure to let me know if anything happens to you, okay?

(I can't let Ichigo know the truth. I'll talk to Chad about it later.)

Uh, sure. Well, then. We'll see ya later.

Okay, see you tomorrow!

(That was strange. For a moment there, I thought he was my friend. Why did I think that?)

So, what do you think of her story?

Well, I'm not sure.

(Orihime has no idea that Ichigo's getting his powers back.)

(She's probably worried about him getting dragged into a fight because of her. One thing's for sure. She doesn't want Ichigo to know the danger she's in.)

She said there was nothing wrong. So I guess we should believe her, right?

(I do agree with her that having Ichigo get into a fight in his present condition would be way too risky.)

(I need to get in touch with her again later. If she insists that nothing's wrong, then it really was just my misunderstanding.)

I must've just perceived her Spiritual Pressure wrong. Sorry about that.

Sure, no worries.