Orihime: I feel so weak.
Orihime: I wish my powers were boundless.
Orihime: I wish they could envelop the whole world.
Orihime: Then maybe I could erase every battle, every pain, and every bit of suffering.
Orihime: The strange thing is that it doesn’t hurt anymore. It should.
Orihime: My arms are heavy. My legs barely feel like mine. Every breath catches beneath my ribs. There is blood on my clothes. Blood on my hands.
Orihime: Some of it is mine. Some of it is Kurosaki-kun’s. The world around us is red. And in the middle of all of it—
Orihime: He is still standing. The one hurting Kurosaki-kun. The one who hurt Kuchiki-san.
Orihime: Of course he is. Kurosaki-kun attacked him. Kuchiki-san attacked him. They fought with everything they had.
Orihime: I healed Kurosaki-kun. The Quincy King hurt him again. I healed him again. The Quincy King hurt him again.
Orihime: Again... And again... And again...
Orihime: Sōten Kisshun. I reject. His flesh returns. His blood retreats. His body remembers how it was before it broke.
Orihime: And then—again. Another wound. I can reject the injury. But the hand that causes it remains.
Orihime: I can put Kurosaki-kun back together a thousand times… but why should he have to be broken a thousand times?
Orihime: Why does someone as kind as him always have to bleed? Why does he always have to stand in front? Why did I let him?
Orihime: Healing him isn’t enough anymore. If that man remains—Kurosaki-kun will just keep suffering.
Orihime: And for the first time, I understand. Maybe I don’t have to reject the wound. Maybe I have to reject the one creating it.
Orihime: My vision blurs. And suddenly the battlefield disappears. There is sunlight. A summer afternoon. A little girl is crying. Me.
Orihime: I had forgotten how small I was. Sora Onii-chan’s blood looked enormous on my hands.
Orihime: I remember believing that if I held onto him tightly enough, he couldn’t leave. Children think things like that. Maybe adults do too.
Orihime: The doors of the Kurosaki Clinic opened. People shouted. Someone took my brother from me.
Orihime: And then I remember orange hair. A boy. He had eyes that looked angry even when he wasn’t angry. Kurosaki-kun.
Orihime: Neither of us knew what to say. So he sat beside me. That was all. For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Orihime: I cried. He looked down at his hands. And then, very quietly, he moved closer. Close enough that I wasn’t alone anymore.
Orihime: I didn’t know then that he already understood. I didn’t know that he had lost his mother. Maybe that’s why he never told me everything would be okay.
Orihime: Because it wasn’t. My brother died. Kurosaki-kun didn’t lie to me. He just stayed.
Orihime: Funny. Of all the things a person can do—sometimes staying is the biggest one.
Orihime: The memory changes. My apartment. A mask. A monster. My brother’s voice coming from something that shouldn’t have been my brother.
Orihime: Sora. My kind brother. Angry. Lonely. Broken. And Kurosaki-kun stood between us.
Orihime: He was frightened. I know that now. Back then, I thought he looked invincible.
Orihime: But he wasn’t. He was just a boy swinging a sword at something terrible because someone behind him needed help.
Orihime: That was always Kurosaki-kun. He never waited until he stopped being afraid. He simply moved first.
Orihime: He protected me. And he protected Sora too. That was something I understood much later.
Orihime: Kurosaki-kun didn’t simply defeat my brother. He gave him back to me. For one moment.
Orihime: Just long enough for us to say goodbye properly. Just long enough for me to say the words I hadn’t said the morning Sora left.
Orihime: Big brother? Have a nice day.
Orihime: Such a small thing. Sometimes the smallest words become the heaviest things you carry.
Orihime: Soul Society. White walls. Blue sky. Running. So much running. I was terrified.
Orihime: Sado-kun was there. Ishida-kun was there. Everyone had their reason for going.
Orihime: But when I close my eyes now, what I remember most clearly—is Kurosaki-kun’s back. Always ahead of us. Always moving.
Orihime: Kuchiki-san had been taken away. So Kurosaki-kun went after her. It was impossible. Soul Society itself stood against him.
Orihime: Captains. Lieutenants. Laws older than any of us. And Kurosaki-kun’s answer was simply to keep going.
Orihime: I think that was when I began to understand what kind of person he really was. Not someone who believes he can always win.
Orihime: Someone who believes that whether he can win has nothing to do with whether he must try.
Orihime: I loved that about him. No. That’s not right.
Orihime: I already loved him. I just hadn’t understood how much.
Orihime: The memory turns dark. A quiet room. Kurosaki-kun's room. Kurosaki-kun asleep. My hand hovering over his face.
Orihime: Ulquiorra had come for me. I thought I might never see Kurosaki-kun again.
Orihime: And somehow—I was still embarrassed. I almost kissed him. Almost. But I couldn’t.
Orihime: Because if he woke up—if he looked at me—I wouldn’t have been able to leave.
Orihime: So I whispered everything instead. Everything I had never been brave enough to tell him while he was awake.
Orihime: If I could live many different lives… if I could be born in different places… have different dreams… do completely different things…
Orihime: I would still—every time—fall in love with the same person.
Orihime: You. Kurosaki-kun.
Orihime: Five lives. One love.
Orihime: Back then, five seemed like such a huge number.
Orihime: Now—standing at the end of one—it doesn’t seem like enough.
Orihime: I’d like ten. A hundred. A thousand. I’d like to meet you in all of them.
Orihime: Five lives. I was greedy. I wanted all five. I wanted this one too.
Orihime: Hueco Mundo. Sand beneath a black sky. Grimmjow. Kurosaki-kun fighting. For me.
Orihime: I remember shouting. I remember being afraid of his mask. No. Not of him. Never him. I was afraid of what fighting was doing to him.
Orihime: Then Ulquiorra. That memory doesn’t arrive gently. It tears through me.
Orihime: Kurosaki-kun falling. The hole in his chest. His eyes empty. My voice breaking.
Orihime: Please. Help me. Kurosaki-kun.
Orihime: He heard me. Somewhere inside death—he heard me. And something answered.
Orihime: Something terrible. Something wearing Kurosaki-kun’s body.
Orihime: Afterward, when he became himself again, I remember thinking: I never want him to have to do that again.
Orihime: I never want my helplessness to drag him somewhere he can’t return from.
Orihime: But Kurosaki-kun always came when I called. Even when I didn’t call. Even when I tried to keep him away. Even when saving me hurt him.
Orihime: He came anyway.
Orihime: Seventeen months later. That terrible emptiness after Kurosaki-kun lost his powers.
Orihime: He smiled sometimes. He went to school. He worked. He complained.
Orihime: He tried so hard to pretend he was fine. But something inside him had gone quiet.
Orihime: Kurosaki-kun had spent so long becoming someone who could protect people that losing that ability was like losing a part of himself.
Orihime: And then—his power returned. Black robes. That sword. That reiatsu. Kurosaki-kun looked like Kurosaki-kun again.
Orihime: I remember the happiness rushing through me so quickly I almost felt dizzy.
Orihime: Not because I wanted him to fight. Never that. I was happy because he had gotten back something that belonged to him.
Orihime: Something he needed. Something that made him feel whole. He looked alive again. And all I could think was—
Orihime: Thank goodness... Thank goodness... Thank goodness...
Orihime: The battlefield returns. I'm with Kurosaki-kun. I see his back. Again. Always his back. But—this time is different.
Orihime: I finally reached it. That's what I wanted, wasn't it? Not to watch him from somewhere far behind. Not to wait for him to return. Not to be protected.
Orihime: To stand next to him. When we came here together… when the King of Quincies stood before us…
Orihime: I was scared. My knees wanted to shake. And somehow—
Orihime: I was happy. Because Kurosaki-kun looked at me and trusted me to be there. Beside him. Not behind him. Beside him.
Orihime: I protected him. He attacked. I blocked. He moved forward. I followed.
Orihime: For those moments, I wasn't someone waiting to be saved. We were fighting together.
Orihime: Kurosaki-kun… you have no idea how happy you made me. Even here. Even now.
Orihime: There are so many things I haven’t told him. I want to tell him that his scowl has never frightened me.
Orihime: I want to tell him I know when he’s forcing a smile. I want to tell him I love the way he says my name.
Orihime: And—I want to tell him I sometimes imagine waking up beside him.
Orihime: Oh. That’s embarrassing. Even now. I’m about to die and I’m still embarrassed.
Orihime: I imagine a kitchen. Morning sunlight. There are dishes everywhere. I’m making something I thought was a good idea at the time.
Orihime: Kurosaki-kun is staring at it like I’ve committed a crime. I tell him it’s nutritious. He asks according to whom. I say according to me.
Orihime: He sighs. But he eats it. Of course he does.
Orihime: And there is a ring on my hand. My husband. Kurosaki-kun. No. Ichigo. My Ichigo. My husband.
Orihime: Then I hear small footsteps. A child runs through the hallway. Orange hair. Maybe mine. Maybe his.
Orihime: A little hand grabs Ichigo’s sleeve. Our child.
Orihime: Oh. I want that. I want that so badly.
Orihime: I want to marry you. I want to wake up next to you.
Orihime: I want to argue about groceries. I want you to complain about my cooking.
Orihime: I want to watch you grow older. I want to hold our baby.
Orihime: I want ordinary mornings. Boring afternoons. Rainy evenings.
Orihime: I want to hear you come through the door. I want to say—Welcome home.
Orihime: I want tomorrow. I want every tomorrow. Most of all—I want tomorrow with you.
Orihime: My throat tightens. So this is fear. Not fear of pain. Fear of everything I won’t get to have.
Orihime: I don’t want to die. There. I said it.
Orihime: I love this life. I love Tatsuki-chan. Sado-kun. Ishida-kun. Kuchiki-san. Everyone.
Orihime: I love stupid foods and sunny afternoons and flowers and bread. I love being alive. I want every tomorrow.
Orihime: But the King of Quincies moves. Kurosaki-kun falls to one knee. No. There isn’t another way.
Orihime: And suddenly I think of Sora onii-chan. Is this how you felt, big brother?
Orihime: You were eighteen. You carried a little girl away from everything because you thought she might die if you stayed.
Orihime: You didn’t know whether you could do it. But you chose me. Kurosaki-kun would do the same.
Orihime: If our positions were reversed—he wouldn’t hesitate. That’s why I have to.
Orihime: Because if I leave this choice to him—he’ll choose me. He always chooses someone else.
Orihime: Just once—I want to choose him first.
Orihime: That is why... I will...
Orihime: Shun Shun Rikka. You were born from my heart. From something inside me that wanted to protect. I always thought rejection meant putting things back.
Orihime: A wound exists. I reject it. Something breaks. I say no. Return. Restore. Heal. But why did I decide that was the limit?
Orihime: Why can I only reject what happens after somebody gets hurt? Why can’t I reject the thing that makes the hurt inevitable?
Orihime: Why can’t I reject a future where Kurosaki-kun dies? Why can’t I reject—him? The King of Quincies. The man who would erase everything.
Orihime: Maybe loving someone makes you weak. Kurosaki-kun is my weakness. Everyone I love is. I have so many weaknesses.
Orihime: Maybe that’s why my heart feels this full.
Orihime: I rise. My legs almost collapse beneath me. One step. Another. The air begins to scream. Every memory I have ever treasured becomes light.
Orihime: Tatsuki-chan’s hand. Sora onii-chan’s smile. Kuchiki-san. Sado-kun. Ishida-kun. And—
Orihime: Kurosaki-kun. No. Ichigo. Every path inside me leads back to that name.
Orihime: Oh Ichigo... My Ichigo... I love you... I love you... I love you...
Orihime: I loved the boy who sat beside a crying girl. I loved the man who saved her brother.
Orihime: I loved the man who invaded Soul Society for his friend. I loved the boy sleeping beneath my hand.
Orihime: I loved the man who stood beside me today and trusted me to protect him.
Orihime: Five lives? No. One would have been enough. Because this one had you in it.
Orihime: I reach for the King of Quincies. The light consumes us.
Orihime: No. You don't belong in this future. No. You don't get to take him. No. You don’t get to take anyone else.
Orihime: For once—my answer to the world is simply: No.
Orihime: Pieces of me begin to disappear. My fingers. My hands. My arms. My memories flutter around me like pages torn from a book.
Orihime: Soul Society. Hueco Mundo. School. The clinic. Rain. Summer. Bread. Laughter. Ichigo.
Orihime: Will you remember me? Of course you will. Silly.
Orihime: Then another thought arrives... Please don’t blame yourself.
Orihime: Oh, Ichigo. You will. You’ll think you failed. You’ll think you should have protected me.
Orihime: Please don’t. You didn’t fail to protect me. You gave me something worth protecting.
Orihime: You gave me friends. You gave me courage. You gave me a world bigger than the apartment where I once sat alone.
Orihime: You gave me years in which I laughed more than I cried. You let me stand beside you.
Orihime: So please—live. Be happy. Grow older. Let people help you.
Orihime: And if someday—there’s someone else—
Orihime: Ah. That hurts. I'm not that selfless after all. I don’t want there to be someone else.
Orihime: I wanted it to be me. I wanted your hand. Your home. Your name.
Orihime: I wanted our child. I wanted to become your wife.
Orihime: I wanted to love you until we were both old enough to laugh at how young we once looked.
Orihime: I wanted one lifetime with you—and I know now that even that would never have felt like enough.
Orihime: My body is almost entirely light. There is only one thing left to do. I turn. Slowly.
Orihime: Because I know exactly where he is without looking. I always have. Kurosaki-kun is staring at me.
Orihime: His eyes are wide. For one heartbeat, everything stops. The King of Quincies. The war. The collapsing worlds. All of it.
Orihime: There is only an orange-haired boy—and a girl who has loved him for what feels like her entire life.
Orihime: I want to cry. Instead—I smile.
Orihime: Because the last thing I want Kurosaki-kun to remember when he thinks of me—is that I was happy. I really was.
Orihime: Kurosaki-kun. No. Ichigo. Thank you. For this life. For letting me love you.
Orihime: And I look at him—one last time. And I say these words...
Orihime: Bye-bye, Kurosaki-kun! I'll bear everything, for you!
