Hong Ji

After that day, the boy with light flaxen hair often came to Hong Ji's small restaurant, sometimes to eat, but more often he came to drink tea.

From the boy's mouth, Hong Ji learned his name.

—— Kisuke Urahara.

Perhaps it was the first time she saw the young man, Hong Ji was sure that this young man would be her most important person in the future—may even surpass her best friends Xihua and Nifu.

In fact, at the beginning, Xihua felt a little strange that Hong Ji would care so much about a young man. If it was simply because he extended a helping hand that day, it would be impossible for Hong Ji to treat him so politely, and even her temper was so good that she almost surpassed him. This has been a friend for many years.

Not to mention that Hong Ji didn't need his help at all, even she wasn't the kind of Zanpakuto who could easily get acquainted with others.

But after a long time, Xihua, who has been with Hongji for so many years, naturally understands some of the reasons.

Because he did often see Hong Ji's shadow on that young man.

Even if he is just a young boy now, he can't conceal his aptitude—if such a person has Zanpakuto as his assistant in the future, maybe he will really become a very powerful person. characters.

Although the young man usually looks a little natural, he can be very handsome sometimes; and compared to the willful Hong Ji, Xi Hua only thinks that he is much better.

Of course, these are not the real reasons why Xihua thinks that this boy named Urahara Kisuke is similar to Honghime.

The most similar thing about them is the almost identical smile on their faces.

Different from Kyoka Suigetsu's gentle smile all the time, and also different from her own hearty smile that Honghie has always called, Urahara Kisuke and Honghime's smiles are always shallow, but somehow they can make people feel at ease.

——Although Xihua occasionally thinks that such a smile is actually very hate-inducing.

"I said, did you already know something?"

One day after their small restaurant closed, Xi Hua asked Hong Ji, who was arranging the abacus with one hand and keeping accounts with the other, while arranging the tables and chairs.

Perhaps except for the Zanpakuto who knew the two early in the morning, other souls in the corpse soul world—even the captain-level characters couldn't see that the two of them were not ordinary, but two Zanpakuto.

After all, the appearance of the two of them was originally similar to ordinary souls, and no one would have thought that Zanpakuto would come to Liuhun Street to open a shop.Even if you find something, you may eventually think it is your own illusion.

"what you mean?"

With these days of training, Hongji's speed of dialing the abacus has long been much faster than when she just got it. Many people who have witnessed her settlement said that the proprietress of Yijinran is good at dialing the abacus with her left hand. , The right hand writes well.

Yijinran, the name Urahara Kisuke gave to their restaurant.

As for why there is this name, we have to start talking about it in the afternoon of a certain day.

That afternoon, the business in Hongji's store became deserted as before, and Hongji also started chatting with the customers in the store, including Urahara, as usual, but happened to talk about the man who came to their store to kick the shop that day—that is, The owner of a certain restaurant called Haisong Court.

When talking about this, Hong Ji suddenly remembered that her restaurant didn't have a name yet.

"In this case, why don't you ask Urahara-kun to come up with a name for the store."

Carrying the freshly boiled hot water with the flowers, Hong Ji walked to Urahara's table, refilled his almost empty teapot with tea, and then smiled gently.

"After all, this store can also be said to be saved by you."

According to Hong Ji's order, he took two more snacks from the kitchen and heard Hong Ji's words as soon as he came out.If he hadn't been used to Hong Ji talking nonsense with her eyes open, maybe she really couldn't help but roll her eyes in front of everyone.

"Eh? This..." Urahara looked at Xihua standing at the door leading to the back kitchen with some embarrassment, for fear that the proprietress' younger brother would be unhappy.

"Since my sister said so, Urahara-kun will agree."

Xi Hua also understood what Urahara was worried about—after all, it wasn’t because those tea drinkers joked about herself and Hong Ji all day long, causing the people who didn’t know the truth to think that she and Hong Ji were really a couple.

"You must know that once my sister becomes stubborn, no one can stop her."

While talking, Xihua put the two plates of snacks in his hands on the other two tables, and then put away the empty plates. When he walked to the curtain leading to the back kitchen, he seemed to think of something again. Turning his head to Urahara, he added another sentence.

"The only solution is to follow her wishes."

Hongji's stubbornness is something that all Zanpakuto who are comfortable with her are aware of, but now she is willing to let Urahara name their shop, in a sense, it means that she has already admitted Urahara.

But there is no need for Urahara to know about this matter.

After struggling for a long time, Urahara finally agreed to Hongji's request and named her and Xihua's shop "Yiljinran" - which is also a kind of red.

Hongji suddenly discovered that even if she deliberately avoided the color she hated the most, people around her could always associate her with this color.Whether it's Dongyun or Yijinran, is it true that she can't avoid this color when she becomes a "red concubine"?

Of course, others don't know about her small thoughts. After all, when she got used to her name being Hong Ji, her red hair and red eyes, and her red clothes, she didn't care about this. The aversion to color is no longer as strong as it used to be.

It is even said that these disgusts have long since been wiped out by time.

Hong Ji, who found that a store name associated too many past events, shook her head lightly, and realized that she really liked recalling the past more and more recently.

——Is this a precursor to entering menopause?

"Who else could it be."

Xi Hua looked at Hong Ji who suddenly shook her head, with a helpless expression on her face, if Hong Ji was not pretending to be crazy, or she was just perfunctory him, otherwise how could she know who he was asking and still ask Who is he referring to.

"Of course it's Kisuke Urahara."

"Urahara? Why did you suddenly mention him?"

As if she had calculated a relatively large number, Hong Ji frowned with some annoyance, "Wait a minute, let me finish the calculation."

Xi Hua saw that Hong Ji didn't look like she was trying to change the topic, so she could only keep her mouth shut and continue tidying up the tables and chairs silently, so that Hong Ji could settle the accounts with peace of mind—it's purely to disturb Hong Ji at this time. It's an act of courting death.

Let’s take an example of something that happened when the store was just opened. At that time, there was a man who could only be described as "wretched" from inside to outside, from top to bottom. It disturbed her thoughts, and even flirted with Hong Ji to death—after all, young and beautiful proprietresses are rare in Liuhun Street, and some people thought Hong Ji was easy to bully when they saw Hong Ji's weak-looking appearance.

Although the man was kicked out by Xihua who appeared in time, it is said that one night later, he was put in a sack and beaten severely, and he still can't get out of bed.

It was dark that night and the perpetrator was fast, so the man was beaten like this and he didn't know who the murderer was, so he could only grit his teeth and swallow it in his stomach.

It is precisely because Hong Ji looks weak and weak, and usually leaves a gentle image on people, so no one associates the murderer with her, only saying that the man usually has too many bad criminal records, and it was him who came back after being retaliated retribution.

And Xihua, the only one who knows the truth, just wants to sigh to those who don't know the truth that you are really deceived by Hongji's appearance.

But seeing Hongji's obsession with the accounts, Xihua has to wonder if her future master will also become a profiteer.

——Just looking at the appearance of the young man named Kisuke Urahara who had already been tacitly regarded by him as Hong Ji's future master, Xi Hua silently overturned this seemingly absurd assumption in her heart.

It should be... can't it?

perhaps.

"Okay," Hong Ji finally settled all the accounts in her hands when Xihua had already swept the floor.

She put down the pen, closed the ledger, then stretched her waist and flexed her muscles, with a look of "finally finishing all the work in hand", which made Xi Hua laugh for a while, but she still helped her get it. Had a cup of tea.

"Thank you, Xihua."

Holding the steaming teacup in both hands, Hong Ji smiled at Xihua, "By the way, what did you want to ask me earlier?"

She still remembered the inexplicable question she asked when she was trying to settle the accounts.

Seeing Hongji's appearance, Xihua originally wanted to forget about it, but in the end she couldn't help asking the question—he had been holding back this question for a long time, "I said, did you already know that? Kisuke Urahara may be..."

your master.

Although he didn't say the last few words, Xi Hua believed that Hong Ji knew what he was talking about.

"Actually, I didn't know it very early."

Hongji walked out of the counter, opened a bench and sat down, and Xihua immediately sat on the stool next to her when she saw this, with an expression of "I'm very curious", which made Hongji a little dumbfounded.

"On that day, when he appeared in front of me, I felt that this person gave me a different feeling from other people."

As if recalling something, Hong Ji narrowed her red almond eyes slightly.

However, what she didn't realize was that when she mentioned the person in her mouth, her expression was unprecedentedly gentle.

"Although he is just standing there, I can't help but want to get close to him and know him. Even though I don't have a heart, I feel like my chest is filled with something and I can't control it. "

It's just that she, as Zanpakuto, may not understand what it is.

But as a human being, she knew very well that this might be the legendary arrhythmia... No, it was the legendary rapid heartbeat.

"Although I don't know how it feels..."

Xi Hua scratched her hair, he who has no heart, or Zanpakuto who has no heart may not know what kind of feeling it is, "But from your description, I probably understand that the boy is very important to you. It's so special."

"Yes, very special..."

Hong Ji murmured softly, but the expression on her face became more gentle.

"Although it may be exaggerated to say so, his appearance also made me feel that I have found the meaning of existence."

It means Zanpakutō.

Perhaps, there is also the meaning of being alive for the first time in so many years in this world.

"Then, one last question."

"Have you been able to confirm?"

Xi Hua's expression became a little serious, "Are you sure that boy is really the one you are looking for?"

He will think that Urahara Kisuke is Honghime's future master because Honghime treats him with a different, even unprecedented attitude, but this does not mean that he is really Honghime's master.

Now Hongji has a different feeling for him, but in case Hongji admits to the wrong person, then when the time comes...

"No, I'm pretty sure."

Her tone was firm, just like when she decided to go to the back area of ​​Liuhun Street.

"He's the one I'm looking for."

her future master.

No, it was her master.