Bleach Hereafter RPG

As it turns out, Milo did have someone who looked after her - it was a bit of a surprise, since, as she was a Hollow, Hibano expected her to actually be alone. But no, there was another Arrancar who has been taking care of her since her birth and whom she considered family.

"That's-" Hibano was about to affirm her, but was interrupted by Milo doing the same to him as he did to her - offering a kernel of popcorn to his face. After briefly hesitating, he opened his mouth and accepted the offering. It really was quite delicious, just like the Arrancar described. "That's great."

Milo was not entirely happy, however. The unnamed Arrancar who was taking care of her was strong, and she was anxious that she was not living up to expectations, even if she was certain that she could find a way to help him regardless. Hibano responded with a faint smile, and answered:

"There's more than fighting in this world, yeah - you don't have to be like one of us to make a change. Maybe he needs someone who could give him a word of support when times get tough - or, heck, teach him about popcorn and other food from our dimension that's better than eating people." He finished off his advice with a brief pat on Milo's head, to reassure her.

When the conversation turned towards his own family, however, Hibano's mood immediately turned more cloudy. He withdrew his arm and pushed both hands into the pockets of his jumper, eyes trailing through the floor for a few seconds before he finally mustered an answer:

"I'm... not as lucky as you."

He shifted his eyes towards Milo. "I've never known my father, and... my mother has been imprisoned by a horrific monster, who also knocked me out and wiped me of most of my memories. I've been trying to scramble my life back together since, but... since I don't know what my life was before that incident, there's no one I can come back to, and so I have to wander alone."

The lavender haired arrancar couldn't help but feel a small knot in her throat form as she listened to Hibano's response. Unlike her, he was alone and always on the move. She had everything he didn't and she was taking it for granted. Milo took the lingering silence as a momentary respite before she tried to form her words. She took her time eating popcorn from the bowl before reaching in and grabbing another one and pressing it to Hibano's lips.

"Well, you can consider me family then! You don't have to be alone now, and I'll try my best to be there for you! It's the least I can do for all that you've done for me to fit in while exploring the world of the living." Milo smiled brightly as she let her fingertip linger on Hibano's lips after the popcorn was ingested.

"Call it...a favor for favor? I also don't like the idea of you feeling lonely...and I know that feeling isn't the best to deal with. I don't think someone so kind like yourself deserves that sort of emotional turmoil. So, ah...don't feel shy in calling me for company even if there's no need for hollow hunting!" Milo stammered just a bit as she was beginning to realize just how much this sounded like a sort of awkward commitment.

Hibano stopped, staring at Milo. After hearing his tragic story, the Arrancar declared with excitement that she could serve as a replacement for the family he's lost - or, at least, as another family to fall back on and rely on. She didn't seem to realize that becoming family to someone was not something you could just... say, at least not in the World of the Living. And Hibano was definitely not interested in either marriage or adoption.

"That-that's not how it works here, I'm sorry," Hibano explained, his tone somewhat concerned. "Being family isn't like being just... a friend or a caretaker, in our society at least. It's a lifetime commitment that you can only hold with a few people - or to those you're related to by blood. I'm not... ready for that."

Hopefully, that made a little sense and didn't end up in him making out their society as something... alien. There was going to be some cultural barrier anyway, Milo's experience of family was entirely different.

"I appreciate your offer, though, and I'll certainly give you a call if I want company for something. Assuming you hold on to your phone, of course," Hibano continued, then punctuated his sentence with a warm smile. "I don't stay in one place at any given time and always move around, so that'd be the only way I can even find you."

Milo once again tilted her head and hummed in understanding, or somewhat understanding what Hibano meant. It made sense for the most part, but Milo knew better than to question someone's stance on their beliefs, so she kept a bright smile.

"No worries, I didn't mean it like a literal sort of commitment, if that's what has you worried, but I think you worded what I wanted to say better. Oh! I promise to keep the phone on me! I'll protect it with everything I have because how else will we be able to keep in touch, right?" Milo's easygoing smile remained as she continued to pop more of the buttery snack into her mouth. She reached over to hold Hibano's arm and offered up more of the snack to the male.

"Let's go over there!" The arrancar gently tugged at Hibano's arm as she tried to motion with her head towards a bookstore. "The best way to learn something is for me to read, right? I want to know if...if maybe I can look through some books and hopefully I can understand the lettering." Milo asked, almost seeming like an excited child that was eager to learn more about a certain subject. "I'll just take a quick peek and then I'll be on my merry way out of your hair!"

Of course she still felt like she was inconveniencing the other male, so she hoped that this would help him in cooperating once more with her childish antics. She would have to make sure to talk about her adventures with Cole.

Like a moth distracted by the nearest shiny lights, Milo suddenly tugged onto Hibano and pulled him towards her newest fascination - a book store. Since it was already getting quite late, the store was starting to get ready to close, but the shopkeeper was still behind the desk, waiting for the last handful of customers to trickle in and out before he calls it a day.

The Arrancar was certain that she could learn a little about the world by reading the books in the bookstore - even though she clearly was not confident in being able to actually read them. "Understand the lettering", she says. Does she mean...

"Do you mean... you can't read?" Hibano asked, then aimed to snatch any book Milo may have tried to grab from the shelves in her excitement after stepping into the bookstore. "Reading won't help you that much, then, unless you have someone to sit by your side and help you."

Hibano immediately realized that he came off a little mean, so, he tried to salvage the situation by offering something else. "A picture book would work better for you, then. Or a comic book. Those still have text, but the visuals would help you understand what's going on. Hopefully." Hibano, shockingly, did not have experience in being a teacher.

"They're also a bit more fun to read than the textbooks or history books."

"Ah, it's not that I can't read...um, there are just some lettering I don't understand. What was it called again? Ah! Language! There are some languages I don't understand but there are some I can read. Perhaps that part of my brain wasn't affected entirely by my amnesia, I just can't remember which languages I know." Milo sighed as she let go of Hibano's arm, fidgetting with her hands as she walked around and immediately perked as a look of recognition sparked over her smiling face.

"I think I can read this!" The arrancar carefully took the large brick of historical text in her hands, opening it to examine its contents. With a furrowed brow in concentration and then her creases easing themself as she sighed in relief.

"This I can definitely understand. However, I'll come back for this next time. I'll make sure to keep your recommendations in mind though, Hibby~" Milo nodded eagerly as she placed the large book back in its proper place. She had a vague notion that there was perhaps an establishment with books that were available for the public, but that information seemed muddied in the back of her mind. There were just a lot of missing pieces of knowledge that her amnesia took out. If she wasn't recovering the memories fast enough, then she would make sure to learn what she's missed.

"Thank you for being kind to someone like myself, Hibby. I don't think I would have gotten this far on my own. Remember that I owe you many favors, so I you need anything from me or think I can be of some use, don't be shy about contacting me!" Milo ran up to quickly hug Hibano as it was the first thing that came to mind. She didn't have any money in order to repay him for what he's bought for her, so she may have to find a way in earning the monetary pieces in order to pay him back. She was, however, going to make sure the other man felt like he was appreciated by her. That's what friends did, right?

Ah, she was trying to say that she couldn't speak some languages in a roundabout way. That was reassuring, though it did raise the question of where Milo, and the Arrancars in general, could have learned human languages from. The last thing he would have guessed was that Milo had any schooling at all.

After shifting through the books and commenting on whether she could read their content - thankfully, she did not pick up the 900 page long History of Japan even after proclaiming that she would be able to understand what is written, that was the worst possible place for someone to start learning about the mortal world - Milo suddenly ran up to Hibano. Before the teen could ask what was going on and step aside, thinking that she may have been rushing for a book in the shelves behind him, he suddenly got hugged.

The embrace was tight, and Milo's declaration that she will available for him to make up for the debt anytime was heartwarming. Briefly taken aback at first, Hibano smiled and wrapped his arms around her much like she did around him.

"Absolutely. And you can call me if you need anything," he answered, then gently pulled back from the hug. "So I take it you'll be going now? You have a house to return to, or something like that?" He, on the other hand, will have to return to his journey instead. The Hogyoku isn't going to collect itself, after all.

Milo slowly pulled herself away from the hug while keeping a gentle hold of her arms around Hibano. Smiling up at the kind male, her golden eyes seeming to shine just as bright as the smile on her face. Her expressions and actions could be compared to that of an energetic pup who finally had a new friend to play with. In this instance, it was somewhat comparable but in a different sense. The arrancar finally pulled completely away from the taller male and kept that gentle smile.

"I'll make sure to message you whenever I can. Maybe I'll try to take pictures with the phone and see if I can even figure out how to send them to you. Maybe even take pictures of my home in Hueco Mundo!" Milo playfully exclaimed as she then tilted her head at Hibano's question.

She had a home to return to, but something in her chest tightened when her thoughts came back to the information of Hibano having to wander around on his own. Did it get lonely for him like it did for her when she had neither Gran or Nezuel around? Or did he have friends of his own to reach out to just like she had gained? Perhaps she could be the friend he can openly speak with and reach out to when he just needed someone to listen to his ramblings or troubles.

"Mhm, I'm sure Nezuel is worried sick if he can't sense my reiatsu close to our home. Um, don't feel shy about sending me a greeting anytime! I don't sleep much and if I'm going to wander around the world of the living, I will have the found with me at all times to take pictures of things I find interesting. I'll try to make sure to send you as many pictures as I can too!"

If the phone was just like the ones she had seen some humans use in the park during the daytime, perhaps she can observe their techniques to take appealing pictures of the objects she will come to find in her little adventures.

"Thank you! See ya, Hibby!" Milo gave the taller male another quick hug before running off towards the direction of the entrance of the mall. Her figure blends into the small crowd of people shuffling themselves out of the stores. She hoped that they could spend time together once again in the near future, if it was permissible.