Climbing up the insides of a building without falling or kicking your foot through thin cheap walls was actually a lot harder than it seemed. I strained up the tiny shaft to the next floor as I crawled through webs so old that their spidery owners had left it to their grandchildren.

Grasping what I thought was a secure ledge turned out to be rotten through and I nearly slid all the way to the bottom. My rough feet managed to retain enough grip as I pushed my back into the other side. I waited as the wood clattered all the way down to the bottom. The shaking in my legs to hold myself up wasn’t looking great.

I reached for the next solid thing and prayed it would hold as I dragged myself up. My hands felt like they would never be clean again.

I could not wait to do that anime thing where I stand three buildings away and can see perfectly to someone and look smug. That sure as hell beat angry spiders and splinters.

By the effort of climbing a dangerous shaft with no equipment, you have earned the ‘Climbing’ skill.

Climbing lv 1: Scale surfaces or people with better speed and accuracy. Physical skill.

I nearly fell again as the System gave a little fanfare with this announcement. I glared at the box but didn’t offer a response. If I argued with it now I would be heard from the other side of the building. I tested myself and maybe... if I wanted to be kind, my fingertips took a nanosecond to get a grip than before the skill.

And people? What kind of people did the System think I would be climbing?

I trudged up and finally saw the next crawlspace. I judged myself to be on the third floor if I counted right. I pulled myself in.

Climbing is now level 2! Fingers now gripper a nanosecond faster!

My look could have withered hollows.

System is designed to cheer user up. Jokes are good for this. Skills will show bigger differences the higher it goes. Don’t die user!

I carefully moved along the pink insides of the space and risked lifting a tile to peek below. Random hallways with students. I decided that I needed to head inwards where I could and start stalking children from my dark space above.

It wasn’t creepy, it was important.

---

Which lead to my staring at Ichigo Kurosaki. I didn’t want to breathe, I didn’t want to think... the person who killed god people and was the scariest child around.

The issue was that I had no idea what looking at Ichigo told me. I tried to examine his form, looking for marks or unnatural muscle definition. I couldn’t see anything but a bored teen. I guess that was the problem with trying to look at the physical shell that Ichigo spent hardly any time in once shit went down.

Fine, there were other telling signs!

I carefully looked around at the sea of heads. I saw the stand-alone giant of the class. He looked... well... normal as Sado did. Orihime was talking quietly and cheerfully with a tomboy girl with short hair.

Rukia... Rukia... were you around?

I saw a flash of glasses as an elegant looking teen seemed to look out the window. His dark hair and glasses actually hid his eyes. Woah... how did he do that? Well, there was no Rukia but that didn’t say much. Pre-canon or anywhere between arcs that girl was elsewhere.

I could really use that Observe skill for being so observant!

I didn’t even get a box to taunt me. I was let down for a moment but knew that moping was getting me nowhere. Okay, maybe just looking for faces and headcounts didn’t exactly mean I should be given information tabs.

Let me try this again...

I focused and saw Ichigo, while bored, was also taking quick notes at times. His head turned to the board occasionally and his textbook was open to the chapter ahead of the rest of the class. Orihime was showing Tatsuki a magazine of food. The black-haired girl had trained and grew with Ichigo. Right now her expression looked more exasperated as if trying to tell Orihime off for something.

Uyru was still sort of staring out the window, frowning deeply. Not much else to say besides his work was perfect and his notes were exact. Sado was a stone pillar that could either be plotting the world’s demise or fast asleep.

The guy was rather stoic...

...The System admits the User has sharply focused on minute details. Observe lv 1 has been gained.

Observe lv 1: See information about targets. Right now, the only information the user knows already can be summed up

I could feel my smugness rising before the system spoke up again.

User has learned how to gain information by spying on underage people without their consent. The system is unsure if it wants such a user...

I scowled but focused on Ichigo. I thought hard and clear.

Observe!

Ichigo Kurosaki

Human(Quincy/FullBringer)

Age 15

Yup, sounded about right. Until Rukia and Urahara kicked in, Ichigo’s Shinigami and Hollow side would be pretty damn buried. I noticed it lacked a bio about Ichigo but I chalked that up with the skill being level 1 for now. I looked at Orihime.

Orihime Inoue

Human(Spiritual Infected)

15

Looked pretty on the mark. Ichigo would be leaking his untrained soul powers everywhere. How on earth he didn’t attract hordes of hollows every day I could only chalk up to Urahara or Aizen. In the end... it usually ended up being traced back to those two in some way.

Tatsuki Arisawa

Human(Spiritually Infected)

15

I was pre-canon.

Was that good? I don’t think it was good but it was better than day one before Aizen invaded I guess. Now I wonder how long until Rukia came and everything ever known is changed.

Because Aizen and Urahara exist.

Oh, something something Quincies and Soul King. I deal with that after I lived to tell the tale.

It was time to go and develop superpowers before a bug hollow eat me by accident. I would choose if I wanted to fringe this all anime and hide in a basement once I wasn’t going to be arrested for trespassing and being a creep.

I went the way I came and climbing down was a lot harder. Go figure.

Climbing is now level 3!

“Any reason Climbing is levelling like no tomorrow and Observe didn’t even twinge when I was using it?” I grunted.

Skills are levelled by effort. You exert more effort to climb than you did to observe. System would suggest Observing things you have no knowledge of or trying to gather information to build a profile for Observe.

I actually did slide a little in surprise this time.

“That was... actually helpful!” I gasped. The System dinged.

System has no idea what you mean.

Then it was gone.

I grumbled and slid out the bathroom after I pushed the ceiling tile back place. I grimaced at my blackened hands from the dust and web. I did a quick soap and dry before just leaving the school front as casually as I could.

Nothing wrong here... nope. Just a slightly older guy leaving the school.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t break your arm and call the police on you?” came a snide voice from the outside of the gate. I turned ever so slowly to see those glinting glasses.

You know? Face on and having his undivided attention? Uryu Ishida was a little intimidating for a highschooler. He glared at me and I caught the dangling cross on his wrist.

I should be wondering how he found me but I’m going to go with... Spirit sensing bullshit or maybe my Observe had a little telltale of power? I wonder why he even came outside to confront me?

The way he slowly put himself between me and the school was kinda telling after a few seconds. He was protecting his classmates.

“I was wondering why the monsters don’t come here. I thought I would be safe but I didn’t understand anything. It’s just a school,” I said slowly.

I decided to go with honesty, a bit of misdirection, and oversharing.

Look an idiot, get treated like an idiot and hopefully don’t get my arm broken. Uryu’s glare narrowed harder. Hopefully, my features would be added to the lost tourist who lost everything angle if I needed to play it.

“You’re insane and stalking my classmates,” he said coldly and took a step forward.

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration because I really didn’t want to have to try and run away from a guy who could anime flash step.

“Please, I don’t know what’s going on. I got attacked by something that no one could see and I can’t stop feeling them. They’re not here and I was hoping to figure out why,” I explained slowly. I was pretty sure I knew exactly why they didn’t hang around here.

A certain pissed of Quincy with an attitude to Shinigami.

Uryu flicked his eyes once around as if looking for something then turned on his heel

“I’m calling the police. Do not come back here. I will know,” he warned and walked back inside with his tie fluttering dramatically.

That was as good as offer as I was gonna get. No broken arm and time to run away. I stared at his back.

Observe.

Uryu Ishida

Quincy

15

Observe has levelled up!

The window before me twitched.

Uyru Ishida

Quincy

15

A student at Karakura High.

I took off into the city.

Russel Rivers knew when to cut his losses. Uryu was kinda a dick this early and I had no doubt the police would be called.

The sun was high and the world was open before me.

Quest completed! 1 stat point gained! System is so proud you finished your first quest!

And my survival chance just went up. What more could a guy ask for? My stomach grumbled and a dark cloud approaching promised rain.

Right, basic human needs...