La Squadra Dei Due

"That girl in the photo, Gaikou Ryūsei…That reminds me, I've heard a bit about her background…Her real father disappeared soon after she was born—Her mother got remarried to an Italian man when she was six…Ever since then, she's been living here in Naples. Hmm, are these two really the same person? I can find that out easily enough; I have her address. All I can do now is go to the address of the girl in the picture…She took my money and even my passport…At this rate, I won't even be able to stay at a hotel tonight…!" Gunha was immediately fretting—sitting on a non-airconditioned bus was too much. This country was beginning to get on his nerves.

Wandering down the streets, Gunha sighed. Around him was an old-timey looking area which had two story tall buildings and cracked, practically broken pavement. It wasn't impressive in the slightest; Gunha wanted to get out of here as fast as he could. The scorching heat blazed down from the smoke-tainted skies, causing the humidity in the area to intensify. "…The address is around here, huh…"

Noticing a bag sitting solitarily by a streetlamp with two men conversing a few centimeters away from it, Gunha remarked, "…What? Those guys are so damn careless…Their stuff'll get stolen like mine…"

The man near the wine show which he waltzed past assured him, "No, sta bene. Lei non deve preoccuparsi di loro. Nessun idiota tenterebbe di rubare le borse di quegli uomini, specialmente non qui." Basically, "No, it's fine. You don't have to worry about them. No idiot would try to steal those men's bags, especially not around here."

"I guess it's pretty safe around here, then…" Gunha mused to himself. "…Even in Japan, those bags would be stolen."

The man asked again, "Ma volle una torta, signore? Forse un panino?" Even though he was extremely hungry to the point that he could eat a small child, Gunha didn't have enough Lire for a cake or sandwich. The extravagant looking food set out in front of him was too much for somebody was an empty stomach; it all smelled too good.

"…No thanks…" Gunha sighed, before beginning to walk off dejected, until…

"Ehi, posso sedere seguente a Lei?"

"No, io sederò seguente a lei!"

"Abbiamo insieme un po' di tè!"

"Io pagherò!"

…Basically, Gunha heard a bunch of guys calling out for somebody—he turned around to notice…

"Tch...che è abbastanza. È un piacere essere da solo, così va via." That woman who stole his passport and luggage was practically beating off suitors with a stick! Basically she was telling them to go away.

"Ciao!" all of those guys practically were fawning over her; Gunha seemed unimpressed. In a hurry, those men left, as Vittoria stashed several notes of Lire into her wallet.

"It's you…!" Gunha exclaimed; Vittoria's calm expression turned into a one where she had blank white eyes of shock.

"Kyaa! You're…" Vittoria could do naught but stutter. "How did you find me here!?"

"What is that?" Gunha noticed the Lire in Vittoria's hand. "Whose money is that!? …Did you use my money!? There's not much left of it anymore, y'know!" It was definitely the same person…Gaika was trying to find out who this 'Vittoria Giovanna' was! But now…Gunha was getting really pissed off. Here he was, hungry, while Vittoria sat at a café…it was only pissing him off further.

Vittoria put on a false smile and responded, "While my heart aches for you, I don't have it anymore. It pains me to say it, but I sold it…"

"I'm not letting you get away this time…!" As he attempted to utilize Shunpo to quickly grab her, she smirked.

"Hirenkyaku." Vittoria gathered spiritual particles under her feet and then declared, "Kokugenei!" She leapt forward with a *BOOM!* in fact; it wasn't regular movement, she in fact hopped up and down, dragging out the noise so that the sound of her feet tapping on the ground wasn't heard until after her feet had left the floor again. Once the sound lag is at its fullest, Vittoria leapt forward like a bullet, producing a sonic boom that destroyed everything in front of and behind herself, propelling herself away from Gunha at inconceivable speeds.

Gunha was just left in the dust, unable to believe his eyes. "The hell was that just now…!? Gai's Kōshinho technique…! Gaika said that I shouldn't meet her, but 'friends in the old universe are drawn to each other in the new universe', and that's why I found her at the airport…But what does Gaika exactly want to know about her? Is she a friend or foe? But all I can say for now is that I'm pissed off about her taking my luggage…!"

And so, he ran. He ran so far away—all for the sole purpose of catching Vittoria. "She better not have gotten away…There's no way she could have gotten out of Eshajōri's range…On top of that, she took my money with her…!" Suddenly, he noticed something; a solitary tree. And in that tree…Vittoria was sitting in the branches. "Wait, a tree…how did a tree appear out of nowhere?!"

Vittoria was eerily calm right now. "Lemme say it again…Don't even think of following me. I don't like having to repeat something that should only be said once. It's because…it's a waste of time to say the same thing twice. Lemme give you some advice for the future…you should avoid doing useless things."

Gunha clicked his tongue in exasperation. "…I'll knock you down!" He summoned Eshajōri, his Zanpakutō; a black and white nodachi. The blade was long and wide, the sword's handle ran through its guard, continuing on through a hollow space at the base of its blade. With a single swing, Gunha released a blast of spiritual energy at her, but…

Simply put, it was an unexplainable phenomenon that occurred when he struck the tree. Even Gunha who received the attack could not even slightly understand what had happened to him. Before he realized it, he had been blown away a great distance. Everything from the surface of his body to his very core received damage equally. He was not hit in one spot and then the shock spread from there; it was more like an unnatural damage had permeated his entire body like a cloth being dunked in water. This effect knocked him back, crushing him into the pavement. He…didn't really understand what just happened.

"The heck was that…!? That 'tree'…Eshajōri's attack was redirected towards me? Vittoria Giovanna…However, if she's an enemy…" Gunha spat, thoroughly surprised.

Vittoria corrected as she hopped down from the tree and began to approach him. "The same kind of ability…a Soul Cutting Sword, right? However…you're attack towards me…I stole your belongings, yet you didn't use your full power against me. I can tell, by the amount of damage you've received. You're a good person. Here." She offered him her hand with a smile. "Lemme help you up."