BLEACH: The Dusk In Red

A particular Karaoke club inside Roku city was especially busy this night. All their rooms were filled with people screaming and ordering all kinds of drinks and food inside, satisfying their innate desires which they've contained all day.

Yet today of all days, they happened to be extremely busy.

Maybe it was because of the burnings? Hotels and places like these were never targeted, so perhaps it was because people felt safe in here that they were all full.

Some were filled with drunks with no end to their hunger, others were filled with foolish kids who didn't know any better, but one in particular.. oh that one was perhaps the worst of them all.

Despite there being only three people inside, they were partying just as loud and hard as all the rest. Despite all of them being underaged, they were drinking normal juice as if they were raging alcoholics with no end to their thirst. Despite them only being student's, all three of them sang like there was no tomorrow, all the way up until even their voices gave out.

In that small messy room, a coffee table lay in the centre, littered in dirty plates and left over snacks that the group had ordered. The room was sprinkled in bright flashy party lights, as the disco ball in the centre amplified them ten fold.

The Television against the wall was displaying lyrics to a song that the group was crudely singing too. If one could hear them, then they would probably rip their ear drums out from the sheer inconsistency in their voices.

As it finally came to an end, the score for their performance finally came on view.

Accuracy: [5/100]

[Would you like to retry? Y/N]

"What is this bullshit!?"

Arima swiped the last bottle of wine(non-alcoholic), and began to chug the rest of it in one go. He then threw the bottle onto the couch, next to a collecting pile of bottles just like it.

Picking up the remote he shouted,

"ONE MORE TRY!!"

"How about we sing something else? This is the seventh time—"

"I SAID ONE MORE TRY!"

Arima smashed the replay button as Hyoma steadily reached out for it. He simply sighed as he got ready for another attempt. Ai on the other hand, had already passed out on the couch from exhaustion.

And only 2 minutes later...

Accuracy [2/100]

[Would you like to—]

"FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

In a fit of rage, the young boy kicked the coffee table to which he began to jump up and down from the pain. And then... not that long after.. the TV turned off by itself, signalling the end of their time.

"Hyoma! One more hour!"

"..."

**

2 hours later, the group finally left the building. Arima had a look of exhaustion on his face however he was still seething in anger, while Hyoma was carrying the sleeping Ai on his back. Although it had been a long day of relentless fun, he was still surprised the girl feel asleep so peacefully. Even with all the singing going on,

"Stupid.. stupid.."

Hyoma sighed as the two boys continued to walk. Immediately they encountered a horde of homeless camping on a street while the two just passed by them peacefully

"They weren't there this morning were they?", Hyoma asked.

"No.. no they weren't."

After a bit of awkward silence, Arima dreadfully admitted.

"My mom and dad.. they're planning on moving out of town."

Hyoma froze suddenly as he looked at Arima with a shocked look.

"Because of the burnings?"

He quietly nodded. Of course, living on the streets wasn't the only option to avoiding the burning. You could also just move out of Roku entirely, but not a lot of people had the money to do that. Luckily, Arima's family was on the former.

An awkward silence then hung in-between the two. After hearing that, he didn't know what else to say. They've been friends since junior high school, so finding out he was leaving dealt a fatal blow.

Suddenly, Ai began to shake as she sluggishly lifted her head.

"Does it matter? That doesn't change anything does it?"

'She was awake the whole time?? She tricked me into carrying her!?'

Ai then let herself down from Hyoma's back, and walked in front of the two. She then declared,

"You may be moving, but that doesn't mean our friendship has to end. It doesn't matter how far apart we drift, we've forged a friendship that no distance can put a strain on. As long as we never forget the memories that we've made here today, then our bond is unbreakable."

Hyoma lightly smiled while looking away with slight embarrassment, while Arima looked like he was about to tear up. Suddenly, he grabbed the two and enveloped them in a tight hug.

"I'm gonna miss you guys!"

**

Deep into the night, Hyoma was making his way back home. Now that this has happened, a lot of things started to weigh down on his mind, and a worm of doubt started to make him waver.

'I thought things would be okay... I thought that if I kept living my life like normal, then nothing would change. But that simply isn't how life works at all, is it?'

For the longest time Hyoma denied the supernatural, but even if he were able to see it all those ages ago, then he probably would've hated it all anyway.

'It's because of them that my sister is dead. It's because of that stupid family birth right that she had to suffer so much.'

It was for that single reason alone that he detested anything that had to do with the world outside of the normal.

'I hate it all so much.. but I can't remain like this. The burning's, they know about it, they're the only ones that I can ask. It's because of the burning's that my friends have to run away. They shouldn't be living in fear from something they can't even defend against, that's not fair at all.'

In the past, he was too weak to save her, and right now he was still too weak to save his friends if they got caught in the fires too. There was only one thing that he could do now if he wanted to change it all.

'Throw it away.. I'll throw away my hatred. Even if I forget her, I'll throw it all away! I won't allow myself to remain ignorant in all of this no longer, I won't lose someone else because of something stupid like ill will.'

The power to change it all.. it all laid in his family lineage. Whatever history they had in the past with Spirits, he needed to learn it all. Even if he hated doing it, he simply had too, because that was the only way in which he could change anything.