LIGHTNOVELONLINE 70 – It’s In The Air
-Still on Earth-
The punishment/training had been going on for a while with Masaki casually sending showers of arrows down and the two boys dodging them, mostly training their movement techniques. If you were being more sadistic you could consider it training their endurance and resilience too. She was happy to punish them while improving their ability to dodge and run away from danger. She would much rather have her son running away from danger rather than running into it like he had been doing so recklessly ever since he became a Shinigami.
They had already been training for a while when the hatch way up in the ceiling of Kisuke's basement was opened up by a tall and muscular tan man with cornrows and a handlebar moustache.
It was Tessai Tsukabishi, one of Kisuke's shop employees.
He lead in another tan mountain of a man, or rather boy, sporting wavy brown hair that comes down over his left eye. It was Ichigo's friend and ally Sado Yasutora, but was often just called Chad instead.
Following them was finally someone of normal height. A cute teenage girl with long burnt orange hair. She might not have been a mountain like the two men, but she had two mountains of her own. Her name was Inoue Orihime another friend and ally of Ichigo's. Also ostensibly Ichigo's love interest, but it required a few more life and death situations for that to fully bloom.
Speaking of those mountains, there was an oddly happy looking lion plushy wedged between them held in her arms. It almost looked like it was rubbing its face into them lewdly.
Following after them a small shy black haired girl and a short brash red haired boy simply jumped down from the hatch despite the huge drop. Ururu and Jinta. Kisuke's two other employees that helped run the Urahara Shop along with Tessai.
'Waah! Ichigo is so amazing," Orihime mumbled watching the punishment they two boys were enduring at the hands of Masaki.
Chad in the meantime nodded in approval. On the surface he looked quite neutral, but there was a spark of excitement in his eye. Deep down he was fired up and really wanted to join in on the training.
Most of them were chatting amongst themselves as they watched Ichigo and Ishida's "training". The only exception was Tessai who was his usual stoic self.
At this point Masaki even started cackling like a villain as she continued to pelt Ichigo and Ishida. She seemed to be enjoying it all just a little too much.
"T-t-time out!" Ichigo yelled out in panic as multiple arrows were hitting him all over. He was exhausted and it was starting to catch up with him.
After getting in a few more shots Masaki finally came down from the air landing beside them gently while dismissing her transformation.
Both Ichigo and Ishida were left splayed on the ground covered in bruises and dirt gasping for a breath. Masaki hadn't gone easy on them which was evident by the fact that even their faces had bruises on them. We could only hope that was the most sensitive spot she didn't hesitate to target for both of them.
"That was great!" Orihime told them excitedly.
"Such a good girl, my son is so lucky to have you as a friend," Masaki told her.
The plush lion tried to jump in Masaki's bosom to greet her, but was nonchalantly slapped aside by her sending him hurtling across the rocky ground.
Orihime blushed, her eyes darting to Ichigo shyly.
"I'm the lucky one," she mutters.
Masaki hugged the shy girl. "Kyaa! She is just the cutest!" Masaki exclaimed excitedly, fawning over the heavily blushing Orihime.
"Mom, quit it! You're bothering her," Ichigo said.
"What? No I'm not," Masaki said indignantly.
"I-it's fine," Orihime said.
"See!" Masaki exclaimed with a bright smile.
"So much better than my delinquent son. Want to be my daughter-in-law? You'd be a good influence on him," Masaki said.
It seemed this had broken the usually energetic Orihime. "I-I-I...." she managed to get out.
"Stop embarrassing her," Ichigo said, now sporting a light blush himself.
"Oh, whatever happened to that other girl... Tatsuki-chan? You were so cute together," Masaki suddenly asked.
"Mom, I was 5!" Ichigo answered in embarrassment.
"That doesn't answer my question," she responded.
Ichigo massaged his brow in frustration.
"Tatsuki-chan is actually still in our class, she is my best friend," Orihime said happily finally finding a topic she would much rather talk about, much to Ichigo's frustration.
"So... so... which one of you is going to be my daughter-in-law?" Masaki asked curiously stepping over way too many boundaries.
"Eh? I... uhm..." Orihime couldn't form an answer.
"Stop teasing her mom!" Ichigo said once again trying to correct his mom.
"I feel like you haven't had enough... training..." she told him with a serious look causing him to sweat.
"No... I... wasn't saying anything," he said giving up and abandoning Orihime to his mom.
"Eh... Ichigo?" Orihime questioned in a panic.
"Oh my... should I plan the wedding?" Kisuke joined in on the teasing hiding his smile behind his fan.
"S-stop..." Orihime muttered shyly.
Ichigo trying not to be involved anymore walked over to Chad instead giving him a fist bump.
"What's up?" he asked Chad.
"Good..." Chad simply said. Ever the man with a way with words.
"What about you two?" Ichigo asked Jinta and Ururu.
Ururu simply blushed without saying anything.
Jinta on the other hand aggressively told him to mind his own business.
Ichigo thought he had finally escaped when he heard his mom.
"Don't think we won't be here again tomorrow," she warned him. She might have acted like it was all fun and she was just punishing him, but she trusted Hisashi's words. Hisashi had warned her that things were going to get a lot more troublesome after all and so she was actually working hard to whip her son in the best shape possible in preparation. No amount of complaints was going to stop her.
