The bell was going to ring soon and Monica still wasn't back, so Alicia began to worry a little. Kurosaki had returned a few minutes earlier, so where the hell could she be?
It seems Monica had timed her entrance perfectly, as the second the lunch bell rang, she sauntered into the classroom, a little wobbly, which was understandable and raced over to Alicia.
"Guess what I did~" She sang out, a little too excited for lunch.
Alicia's face fell, the momentary relief she felt for seeing her friend disappearing in the blink of an eye, "I'm not guessing, but I will hit you if it's stupid," She ground out, already stressed from classes.
Monica dropped a little, her excitement wearing off, "I got Ichigo to invite us to lunch!" She paused for a second, "Which I guess isn't that special, since he invited Uryu and the guy tried to kill him, but..." She trailed off.
Zee walked up to Alicia's desk as well, giving a small pat on Monica's back, "Why would he invite us?" He questioned, having not given up on Monica just yet.
The girl in question averted her gaze, "Well, there's technically a condition, but it barely counts," She said the last part as to avoid the wrath of her friends, "We just have to explain to everybody that we're not here to kill them," She smiled brightly.
Alicia's shoulders dropped, she still really didn't feel like doing anything.
Lunch earned them suspicious glares and hushed questions from Ichigo's friend group, but luckily they were able to get away from the side cast and have a relatively private meeting with the main characters.
At one point, Uryu pulled Ichigo off to the side to whisper something harshly to him, probably 'I told you so' or something, although Monica would like to think of it as exchanging sweet nothings under the pretense of arguing. That theory could easily be set aside when you saw the annoyed expressions of the two, though.
So Monica was kicked out of the conversation, if only to avoid awkward silence at the thought of the two dating when she inevitably spits it out.
Orihime had stayed silent, not really understanding what was going on, but wanted to know what she could do, "How do you know all of this?" She asked in a sweet tone.
Alicia fidgeted for a second, she could tell the truth but they would probably think she's crazy, Alicia definitely thought she was crazy, she was one more character away from curling herself into a ball and hiding in a corner.
Zee decided to jump in at this point, he was a quick thinker and rarely acted on impulse, so he usually only speaks up when his friends really don't know what to do, "We've seen your lives play out in our world..." He was definitely a little unsure of himself, but the way he said it didn't really make it sound like they were from a shitty anime in real life, so job well done.
That's when Monica seemed to snap out of her daydreaming, "But we can't tell you what happens in the future, because of like the safety of your future or something," She still seemed a little dazed, but it at least it got rid of the chances they'd ask about it.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group for a while. Uryu looked up from his lunch, "How will you get back?"
The silence came back, they barely knew how they got there but getting back is another problem, Monica hesitated for a moment, "I watched a movie the other day," She said, a little unsure of herself.
Uryu's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, "What does that-" Monica cut him off.
"The main characters had something happen to them because they weren't happy, and to get back, they had to find happiness," Monica stated, not only the group's eyes on her, but her friends' as well.
Alicia and Zee remained silent, although Ichigo was looking increasingly more angry by the second, "Where the hell are you gonna find happiness here?" The edge to his voice clearly conveying his mood.
Monica closed her eyes in thought, "It might not be the same thing," She shrugged when she opened her eyes again, "Maybe we just have to achieve something that's only possible in this world."
Alicia frowned, Monica's idea was starting to sound a little too much like the beginnings of a plan. Zee, on the the hand, had already realized what she was doing, all too familiar with the heart of a fellow overexcited fan.
Uryu looked to the three friends with a blank expression, "And?" He said, "What do you want here?"
Monica's eyes glowed, all seriousness forgotten, "Well," She got up, motioning for her friends to follow her, "If I tell you, then my wish won't be granted," She accompanied her statement with an out of place wink.
They ended up skipping school, both Alicia and Zee were beyond reluctant at first but with what Monica calls convincing (Alicia calls it forcing), they caved. Some questions of where they were going was directed at Monica but she ignored them, opting to explain some of her plan on the way instead.
"Okay, think about it, in a world where the supernatural is common, what would you do?" Monica started, it seemed like a decent question but Alicia knew her better than that.
Zee was the first to respond, "I'd definitely want some sort of power," He didn't specify what kind exactly but Monica could guess he meant every kind of power, "And bat wings too!" Zee added, almost as an afterthought.
Alicia hummed in thought, "I guess I'd want a power too," She said, "Probably fire or something," Although it was kind of a given with Alicia.
Monica waved her hands around in frustration, "No, no, that's not how that works," She turned around, walking with a bounce in her step backwards, "I mean realistically! Like getting your OTP to actually start dating!" At this, Zee let out a laugh.
"Realistically?" He said, smile evident in his voice, "Let me guess, it's that glasses kid and the orange haired boy, right?"
Alicia nodded solemnly, "Bingo, but they hate each other," She stated matter-of-factly.
Zee rolled her eyes with another chuckle, "I mean, I wouldn't expect anything less from her," He paused for a second, "Wait, is that glasses kid the one you keep sending us genderbent pictures of?"
Monica nodded enthusiastically, "But he wouldn't be all that special as a girl, because he's a boy that likes sewing and- wait! We're getting off topic here," Another wave of her arms and she ended up on the floor, since she was walking backwards, she bumped into something, "Y'know, you could've warned me!"
"Oh, I didn't even see it," Alicia said sincerely. Zee didn't see it either but she was too busy poorly concealing a laugh to say so.
Monica got up off her butt, stumbling a bit and turned around, "Oh look, we're here," She exclaimed, although she didn't look too surprised.
They looked up, it was a wooden store of some sort, the door held wide open. Almost immediately upon seeing it, Alicia recognized it, "Really, Monica? Why are we here?"
Monica chose once again to ignore the question to Alicia's dismay. Monica had brought them to Urahara's shop. There really wasn't anything there for them, Alicia's thoughts were cut off by Monica, "Either of you have any money on you?"
Both Jazmine and Alicia were overcome with confusion for a moment. The question 'why?' didn't have to be spoken, as it was obvious enough on their faces.
"This is the only store I know and I needed to get something," She didn't specify what it was exactly that she needed, and Alicia didn't bother asking, knowing it'll fall on deaf ears. Monica whined at the nods for 'no' she got in reply before brightening up again, "I forgot I keep money in my phone case," She rummaged through her pockets and pulled out her phone.
Zee smiled a bit, the amount of convenience in this world was really something she wouldn't mind getting used to.
Alicia wasn't too surprised when they hadn't run into Urahara, for the most part, the guy slept or just was out. Maybe he had a good reason and was in the Soul Society or something, although she knew that was wishful thinking. They ended up leaving the store after a brief chat with Tessai and a bag full of sweets.
This time, Zee was actually able to question Monica, knowing full well that it was her that bought them, "You do realize it's only been a day since we went through the candy Alicia bought, right?"
Monica waved her off, "It's not for me," She raised the bag in the air, gazing at it like she was looking into her future, "It's for the plan," That last part sounded a little too menacing for Alicia's liking.
Zee beat her to it though, "Are you ever going to tell us about this plan you keep raving about?" He said, bumping Monica in the side.
"Oh yeah," Monica might've said it like she had forgotten, but it was a little too obvious that she had just been putting it off until now, "Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a 'plan'," She added air-quotes, trying to emphasize her point, "More like an idea that's going to blossom as we go along," She smiled brightly.
"So what you're saying is," Alicia butt in, "You don't have a plan and you're just going with the flow," She deadpanned, "And if there is no plan, then what's the candy for?"
Monica looked at the bag questioningly, "Well I'm gonna play 'secret admirer' with Ichigo and Uryu and I guess I'll see how it goes from there," She paused for a second before continuing, "Too bad it's not close to Valentine's day."
Zee scoffed, "I mean I guess that kind of thing would only happen in an anime, but I really don't think this will work," He took the bag from Monica's hands to go through it, "What are these anyways, I don't recognize any of the brands," He pulled out some sort of candy dispenser with 'Soul Candy' printed onto it.
Monica swiped it from his hands, ripping the plastic off, she offered one of the hard candies to Zee, "I got this for me, you want one?" Monica said, holding a hand out to her.
Zee gladly accepted and popped it in his mouth before Alicia was able to stop him, the only reason her reaction had been so slow was because she couldn't remember the use of soul candies in the show, they stopped using them passed the first season.
The effect was nearly immediate, Zee's body fell limp to the ground while his soul stood there stunned, he would've definitely been more so if Monica wasn't cheering and proclaiming that it had worked.
Monica offered one to Alicia and when met with a stern 'no', she ate one herself. Alicia really wasn't sure how this would look to an outsider, two collapsed teenagers and herself being the one on the edge of yelling at them both, even though Zee really didn't have anything to do with this.
Zee shook his head, seemingly coming back from his shock, "W-what just happened?" A reasonable question at a time such as this. Monica definitely wouldn't answer, not with her soul form jumping around and yelling about how light she feels.
So Alicia, being a good friend, took pity and answered in her stead, "Soul candies happened, they separate your soul from your body," Alicia looked down to where the once limp bodies were getting up, "And temporarily replace it with an artificial soul..."
Zee stared at Alicia for a moment, "You're glowing," He shook his head again, "No, I mean it's like I can see your soul or something," He corrected himself.
Alicia called Monica back after telling Zee she didn't know what she was talking about, hoping Monica could shed some light. Monica bounced back, "What's up?" She said with a carefree voice.
Zee tried to carefully explain what was happening, but having trouble finding the words, "It's like there's something coming off of you guys, it's not really a light but I know it's you, I really don't know but it's like I can see-"
"Like an aura?" Monica cut him off, with a small nod of affirmation, Monica continued, "Have you guys realized there's someone following us yet?" She said casually, trying to pass it off as everyday conversation.
A sprout of uneasiness went through Zee, "You're not joking, are you?" He didn't want to overreact for nothing, but at the same time, he really doubted Monica would joke about that kind of stuff.
Monica shook her head, "Don't worry, it's just Uryu, he won't hurt us, but I bet he thinks we don't know he's there," With a glance at Alicia's glaring eyes, she backed up, "Sorry, sorry, I thought you knew, he's really not trying to conceal his spirit energy," She laughed nervously.
Alicia sighed, "You guys should really get back to your bodies, you don't know what will happen if you stay like that," She reasoned.
"What? We haven't even started yet! Look," Monica looked at both her and Zee's bodies standing politely to the side, "Our bodies are taken care of, plus," She motioned to Zee, staring at his physical body, "Zee just unlocked a cool new ability, so we should deal with that first," Monica stood tall and proud, feeling that she's made a good point.
With next to no hesitation, Alicia grabbed Monica's soul and shoved it towards her body, "We should probably deal with the problem at hand," She glared at Zee, which seemed to prompt him to get back to his body as well, with Monica's confused grunt, Alicia elaborated, "Y'know, the guy that's following us?"