Chapter 7

After shaking away the spider and running away in a random direction, Errol is now lost on where he is right now.

There are a lot of rooms that he didn't dare to open for fear of being surprised to death by something inside.

He just walked around until he saw some light in this very shadowy hallway so he decided to go there thinking it was the exit.

What appears as the backyard of the house or the garden, he can't tell which is which as it was filled with weeds.

He walked out and looked around before he hears the chain-clinking sound again in some corner around here.

Errol was surprised and was immediately vigilant, who knows it might not actually be a ghost but a hollow who just bumped into some chain or even some suspicious people.

Errol was slowly looking around while pondering. 'Why am I here again? ah right I got bored from swinging alone on the swing and was annoyed by the stupid kids at the park, so I decided to try to talk to spirit for the first time'

He was looking around until he heard footsteps, and it was getting closer as seconds passed. He looks around the place but he didn't see anything until he heard some breathing on his side that made him freeze on the spot.

He stiffly looks behind his back and what he saw was a tall girl with very long hair and bangs covering her eyes, with very pale skin like she was a ghost, there was also a very long chain connected to her chest and some parts around her body.

"YAAAHHHHH!!!!!"

Errol immediately backed down and look scared at the newly arrived person who was silently staring at him.

"Don't get closer! Just so you know I have powers that can blast you out of this earth!!"

He shouted like a kid making up a lie to act tough, although what he said didn't scare the girl in front of him. Errol was prepared to fight for his life when suddenly he heard a gentle giggle before it turn into a full-blown laugh.

"Hahahahaha"

The laugh didn't sound creepy or anything, it was actually pleasant to the ears. Errol was just standing there staring at her until she finally stop laughing.

"Hahaha sorry, it's just that, your reaction towards me was quite funny and it was the first time someone can see me," The girl said after her laugh with amusement clearly painted on her face.

Errol stared at her closely and was relieved that she was not a ghost like in those horror movies. Although he knows he could deal with those ghosts, it didn't mean he wasn't scared.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down before turning around to see the soul in front of him. Now that he looks at the spirit she was actually quite beautiful around 18 or 20 of age, too beautiful actually that he felt that it was of kind pity she died young.

(Image)

Now that he knows that she was really like a normal human, Errol got his bearings and apologize "Sorry also for screaming"

"It's fine, I am quite happy to finally meet someone who can see and actually talk to me, this is the first time this happened," The spirit said while smiling gently toward him.

After saying all those things the two suddenly kept quiet not knowing how to continue this conversation, after a minute, one of the two couldn't finally hold it anymore and break the silence which was the spirit.

"B-by the way I am Izumi Abiko, nice to meet you," The spirit or Izumi said while bowing.

"I-I am Errol Bella-dona, nice to meet you also," Errol said while stuttering from talking to a beautiful girl.

After they introduced their selves they once again fall into an awkward silence, due to one of them being a complete loner and the other being the spirit that never talks to someone for a long time.

The silence was broken again by the same person " So... what are you doing here, Belladona-kun?"

Errol was glad that she broke the silence so he answered somehow nervously. "Errol is fine, I am not really used to Japan's formalities"

Izumi smile " Errol-kun then, so?"

Errol organized his words first in his head before he answered " I was actually just bored and come here after hearing some sounds of chain."

Izumi look at him like an idiot "Who would come into a very scary-looking house with a very suspicious sound? What if there are some bad guys here doing something bad? You shouldn't do that again ok?" She said with her hands pointing like lecturing him like a kid who did a wrong thing.

Errol didn't find anything she said wrong so he just nodded his head. She smiled at him when she saw that.

Errol didn't know what to say as this was the first time he talks to someone other than his grandpa and the maids in his house, the kids outside didn't count. His previous life communication skills still followed him to this world, making the situation feels awkward.

Izumi also doesn't know what to talk about, especially with a child not knowing that it was grown up inside that child's body.

They tried to make small talk trying to think of some topic to talk about, albeit very awkward they slowly got comfortable with each other and were no longer nervous.

"So how long have you been here Izumi-sa-, ah I mean Abiko-san?" Errol manage to ask first this time.

"Izumi is fine, since I am already using your first name, then you might as well do also too or you can call me Izumi-ne or Izumi-nechan..." She said with a smile full of expectation while looking at Errol.

Errol didn't know what to do with that looks of hers so he could only do so. "Izumi...nechan"

As if an arrow hit her heart she couldn't stop herself from grinning" Yes, yes I am now your Izumi-nee-chan hehe..."

Errol couldn't help but look at her warily, which she noticed, and cough " Anyway as for how long I have been here?... Hmmm, I have been here since I remember after my death, so I don't know also" Izumi said after thinking for a moment mentioning her death like it was nothing.

"Then...how did you die?" Errol asks out of curiosity but he immediately regretted asking and tries to apologize " Sor-"

"How I died? Well, it is kinda embarrassing, I remember it was because some thief tried to steal some valuables in our house while eating a banana..."

"Banana?"

Errol was full of questions about why a thief had time for eating a banana in the house he is stealing. Anyway, he continued to listen to Izumi.

"Then he saw me and try to silence me.."

"So you died because he killed you?" Errol asks with a bit of anger.

Izumi shook her head. " No, he tried to catch and kill me but the moment he saw my face, he suddenly decided to try to have his way with me..."

"So you were raped?" Errol ask feeling emotional, but Izumi shook her head again.

"Nope, he tried but I learned some self-defense since I was a kid and smack him to the ground and kick his groin as a bonus"

Errol suddenly felt pity for the thief but also thought that he deserves it, before asking. "So how did you die?"

"That's what I am about to talk about, after I apprehended the thief and was about to call for the police, I accidentally step on the banana peel that the thief threw earlier and suddenly fall down the stairs as everything that happens was on the second floor..."

Errol couldn't help but give her a stare, which she didn't notice as she continued. " Well, that's how I died, isn't it embarrassing, I died from a banana!"

Izumi said while covering her face, while her visible ears were very deep red. As for Errol, he didn't know what to say about her death so just kept quiet.

The awkward silence disappeared after they started speaking again, they made some small talk which is made done Izumi as she notices that Errol is very shy.

She show him around the house although the person doesn't really want to, he bumped into another spider and made a mess again while Izumi just laughed at him.

It was 12 in the afternoon when Errol entered the haunted-looking house and met Izumi and he left at exactly 4 pm. Errol was already outside the house where Izumi is bounded.

Errol was walking forward towards back to the park, he stop and turn to look at the house and remember the looks of Izumi when he left, it was full of reluctance and loneliness to let him go.

He decided that he will come here again after all this is the first time he met someone he didn't feel hard to connect with and maybe he could become friends with.

Errol then left to meet with his maid who was already panicked after she didn't find him after searching for hours and apologized for making her worried.

Bleach Trivia:

Pluses (Purasu; Viz: Wholes) are the benign ghosts in the Human World. They are the spirit of a person who has died.[4]A chain, known as the Chain of Fate, protrudes from the chest and connects the soul to its living body.[5] When this chain is severed, the soul can no longer return to its body and live.[6] The soul can move about freely if the chain is broken, but this also causes the chain to slowly corrode. Normally, pluses are sent to Soul Society by Shinigami in a ritual called Konsō before this corrosion becomes significant.[4] If the Chain of Fate is corroded entirely, the Plus will become a Hollow.[7]

Jibakurei

A Jibakurei that has become a Demi-Hollow.

A Jibakurei (Earth-bound Spirit) is a spirit who is not able to leave the Human World that easily because he or she regrets leaving something behind. For example, if the Soul is bound to a place, he or she will stay at this place and refuse to pass on to Soul Society. A Jibakurei is more vulnerable to a Hollow, as being bound to a certain area prevents them from fleeing as far as a normal Plus. This means that the Hollow would only need to search in a small area to find them.[7] It can take months or even years for a Jibakurei to become a Hollow.[9]

Tsukirei

A Tsukirei (Possessive Spirit) is a spirit very similar to a Jibakurei as it is also unable to leave the Human World because of something he or she regrets leaving behind. The difference is that a Tsukirei, instead of being bound to a place, is bound to a person, with the Chain of Fate being wrapped around said person.

By the way Izumi is a Jibakurei or Earth-Bounded spirit, although I might have made some things as bleach didn't really explain full well about how they turn into a hollow. Not enough to change the logic of the world.