"Hinamori...?"
A cold rain of the plum-blossom season poured down.
Ichigo Kurosaki stood lost in a version of Karakura Town that looked exactly as it had six years ago—a ghost town without a single inhabitant. Guided by memories of that day, he had reached the fated riverbank, where he found a single girl waiting for him.
He called out the name of the woman who was deeply, mysteriously entwined with his past: Momo Hinamori. The girl, dressed in white Soul Reaper robes and looking identical to Momo, offered a troubled smile.
"Hehe... you forgot? Am I just 'Momo Hinamori' to you now, instead of the 'big sister who loved books'?"
"..."
Ichigo was silenced by her playful, slightly teasing tone.
How could he forget? This was where they had first met, on the rainy day his mother had died six years ago. The scenery, the atmosphere—everything was identical.
This wasn't the "Momo Hinamori" he had met in the Soul Society. This was a reunion with the mysterious girl in the kimono he had met as a nine-year-old child—the "book-loving big sister."
Ignoring Ichigo's confusion, the girl looked around slowly and whispered to herself.
"It's strange, isn't it?"
"What is?"
She reached out, gently stroking the air as if touching something invisible.
"This is a world of bubbles, where human memories intersect. It is a place born from the gathering of tragic souls who have fallen out of the cycle of reincarnation. It is separated from the World of the Living, the Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo. Even time is different here... it is a 'Forever Past.'"
"A Forever Past...?"
"The world changes its appearance based on the blurred but powerful memories of its visitors. This Karakura Town from six years ago was only born the moment you arrived."
Memories, reincarnation, tragic souls, guided by thoughts... It sounded like a story he had heard somewhere before. But that faint sense of déjà vu vanished with her next question.
"You've resolved to fight him, haven't you?"
Her face was a complex mask of joy and sorrow. Sensing who "he" was, Ichigo carefully shifted into a low combat stance with his blade.
"Are you... an ally?"
He still knew almost nothing about her. Not her connection to the Momo who served Aizen, nor her link to the masked girl inside his own soul. Yet, through her somber tone, he could tell she held a level of respect for the Demon King.
"Yes, I am."
Her answer was a direct confirmation, the opposite of her respect for Aizen. It wasn't a half-hearted conflict; it was something far deeper.
"Whatever you do to me... no matter how much you hate me... I will accept it."
"What...?"
"That is how much... I am on your side."
It was a deep resolve that felt like a sacred mission. Yet, in contrast to the weight of her words, her voice was thin and fragile.
"What do you mean by that...?"
As Ichigo faltered, the truth began to dawn on him. After a long hesitation and a deep breath, his mysterious benefactor finally revealed the greatest secret binding Ichigo Kurosaki.
"I am your first ally. I did what I had to do so that a child with a special destiny—a child named Ichigo Kurosaki—could be born into this world..."
I went so far as
to become the suspension bridge
that connected your parents.
The silence that followed was filled only by the sound of the falling rain.
Thanks to the long pause she gave him, Ichigo was able to replay her words in his head over and over.
The fact that his birth was orchestrated was something he had already accepted during the trial with Zangetsu. He felt a wave of relief that the cause wasn't the villainous Aizen who tormented his family, but rather this benefactor—this "big sister" from his childhood who was now speaking to him with such sincere guilt.
And yet.
"It was... you...?"
Confronted with the cold hard facts, his heart felt like it was being shredded. He felt a surge of "Why?" and a desire to blame her.
"Yes," the girl replied, facing the truth head-on without running. "I am the beginning of all your hardships—the start of everything."
Her large, peach-colored eyes shimmered with tears of confession. In those irises—so different from Momo Hinamori's amber ones—Ichigo saw his own stunned reflection. He forced out the obvious questions.
"Why...?"
Why didn't you just leave them alone? Would Dad and Mom have never met? Would I have really never been born without your meddling? A thousand questions flooded his mind.
Looking down, the girl answered them one by one.
"Twenty years ago, Sosuke Aizen planned an experiment using the Hogyoku. He sought the generational inheritance of Soul Reaper powers combined with Hollow powers. That experiment succeeded with your birth."
"Ah..."
"The moment the first stage of the experiment succeeded, Aizen realized you would be born. He timed his rebellion in the Soul Society to match your growth—specifically your mid-teens, when a human's mental sensitivity is at its peak. He did it because he knew it would be the most effective way to awaken your latent potential."
Her words, spoken by someone who had clearly seen everything from the sidelines, laid bare the full extent of the Demon King's bottomless scheme. To realize he had been caught in the center of it since before he was even born filled Ichigo with an indescribable disgust.
"And... you were part of that...!"
Ichigo reflexively gripped his sword. He wanted to scream at her—if she was an ally, why didn't she stop it? But because that would have meant he never existed, and because he could see the pain in her eyes as she bit her lip, Ichigo remained silent.
After a long silence, the girl spoke again. "Originally..." she began in a small mumble, "I was never supposed to be involved."
"What...?"
"You were supposed to be born, grow, and meet your end exactly as Captain Aizen desired."
Her face was dark and deadly serious. Ichigo grew more confused.
"I decided to interfere in that plan... because I found out that Ichigo Kurosaki was going to be born."
And then, the mysterious figure from his childhood—the "book-loving big sister"—revealed the source of her divinity.
"I..."
"—I knew your life story before you were even born."
As Ichigo stood stunned, she continued.
"It's not like what Captain Aizen said—not just that you were intentionally created or that you were given power. In a much more fundamental sense... in terms of 'Destiny'... I knew the life you would lead."
"Wait, hold on! What the hell does that even mean!?"
Ichigo's head was on the verge of exploding. This was "Foresight." Even for a special human like him, who had grown up with spiritual awareness and recently learned of Soul Reapers and Hollows, this kind of supernatural power was hard to believe. Her statement was an admission that she possessed an ability that defied the logic of the world.
"I don't know why I was born as such a strange existence—one that could know these things. Even Captain Aizen didn't understand it."
"Even him...?"
"But because I was a special existence that stood outside the cycle of causality, he kept me by his side... and he did... so many things..."
She gripped her white robes, as if trying to hide a slight tremor in her body. Remembering the truth behind the Hogyoku Aizen had given Momo, Ichigo felt a fresh wave of grief for her and the girls who had been sacrificed—and a renewed rage toward the Great Evil.
Exhaling her heavy emotions, the girl in white continued.
"So, I decided to take Captain Aizen's plan and turn it against him."
She explained that at the core of Aizen's "Plan for Spiritual Inheritance," he needed a "Powerful Hollow" specimen to trigger the opposing powers within a Soul Reaper. Using her position as his subordinate, she secretly imbued that modified Hollow with potential that far exceeded Aizen's expectations.
"That specimen was named White."
—The blade of atonement that bleaches all colors.
She had provided that contradictory Hollow for Aizen's experiment with that single hope in her heart.
"So that's why... you called him 'White'..."
"Hehe. Since Captain Aizen's name means 'dyed in indigo,' I thought there was no better metaphor for the blade that would defeat him."
The girl shrank back in embarrassment for a moment before clearing her throat to settle the atmosphere.
"The one who defeats Sosuke Aizen and protects the order of the world. That is the destiny of Ichigo Kurosaki as I know it."
"—And you are the only one who can do it."
Looking Ichigo straight in the eye, the red-eyed Momo Hinamori finished her story with a voice full of resolve.
***
The grass on the riverbank repelled the drizzling rain.
The sky was dark and the ground was soaked, looking like the mental landscape of a child who refused to stop crying.
His life had been decided by someone else before he was even born. Did the Great Noble Byakuya Kuchiki feel this way when he fought while allowing Rukia's execution? Did Grimmjow and Ulquiorra fight so recklessly because they accepted their destinies as lost souls?
Did they grip their swords while killing the part of themselves that wanted to scream against the injustice?
Compared to them, was he lucky or unlucky?
He was an experimental animal, born because someone pushed his parents together like livestock. His inner Hollow had even had its fate twisted, modified from the ground up by spiritual technology. And now, he was being forced to fight in the palm of these transcendent beings' hands.
That was his destiny.
"Hah..."
Suddenly, a laugh broke the silence between them.
"What is that?"
"Ichigo...?"
The girl in white looked at him in confusion, but his face was filled with... relief.
"I was thinking 'don't screw with me' because of all this talk about destiny and stepping stones. But the destiny I'm carrying... is it really that..."
"—...commonplace?"
The boy of misfortune was laughing.
He wasn't screaming or wallowing in despair. Ichigo Kurosaki wore a smile of exasperation, as if a weight had been lifted.
"In the end, it doesn't matter what Aizen or the world thinks. I have to protect the things that are important to me, right? And to do that, I have to beat him and save the world. That's all there is to it."
Ichigo looked at the stunned girl with a defiant expression.
That was it. Saving the world, carrying destiny—he'd leave that kind of stuff to the Supermen on TV.
"Sorry, but I'm not the noble person you want me to be. 'Protect everyone in the world,' 'Protect the future of the world'... I can't follow orders like that."
"I'm going to disappoint you, but..." he paused.
"I'm just going to protect my friends and the people suffering right in front of me."
He felt like he'd said that to someone once before.
It was the same as the beginning. He had taken power from Rukia because he wanted to protect people. It didn't matter who gave him the power. To obtain this power and control it, he had gone through hellish pain and suffering. That was the price he paid. Whether it was given to him or not, he had the right to use it however he pleased.
"I'm going to protect what I want to protect. And no one's going to tell me otherwise."
With those words in his eyes, Ichigo stared back at his mysterious benefactor.
The silence lasted for a while.
The girl looked down, her expression hidden by her bangs.
"Hehe..."
Suddenly, she laughed. It started as a small, muffled giggle that eventually grew until she was clutching her mouth, her shoulders shaking.
"Heh... hehehe..."
"Hey, what's so funny!? I know it was a cheesy line, but still...!"
"Heh... no, I'm sorry."
She gripped her collar, looking a bit pained, and took a breath to steady herself. She wiped her eyes and looked up at him.
"—I knew it. You really are you."
Her face was like a flower in full bloom. She wore a radiant, lovely smile that made Ichigo's eyes widen.
"You're right, Ichigo. You can just throw those big things like 'the world' or 'destiny' away!"
"!"
"You protect your loved ones. And if the world gets saved as a side effect, then so be it! For you, that's all the world needs to be!"
Her sparkling eyes showed that this was her sincere belief. It was as if she had been waiting to hear those exact words.
"Well..." Ichigo scratched his head, embarrassed. He wasn't trying to act like the world didn't matter. He didn't think he was that cool.
The girl leaned in teasingly. "Oh? But if a boy saves the world and says 'it was just a side effect of protecting you,' a girl won't be able to look at anyone else for the rest of her life, you know?"
"Wha—!? Hey, I didn't mean it like—!"
"My, my. You've become such a wonderful man, but you're still the same shy boy. It makes me so nostalgic."
She stood on her tiptoes to pat Ichigo on the head.
Damn it... she's treating me like a total kid. Even though she looked younger than him now.
Ever since he lost his mother, he had tried to act like the "cool big brother," so being treated like this was new and uncomfortable—yet it felt strangely good. Ichigo could do nothing but look down, his face turning bright red.
"..."
Suddenly, she stopped patting his head. Ichigo looked at her out of the corner of his eye and saw her clutching her chest, looking down. Her brows were furrowed, and her lips were pressed tight as if she were enduring pain.
"Hey, what's wrong? You were doing that earlier too...!"
Remembering that she had looked pained while laughing, Ichigo grew concerned.
"I'm sorry. It looks like... I'm out of time..."
"Time...?"
Sweat beaded on her forehead as she gave a pained smile.
"Before I go... I have to do the most important thing..."
She stumbled toward him and placed a hand on his chest.
"Ah..."
Suddenly, Ichigo felt a sensation like something was being unleashed—and the world was swallowed by the night sky.
The "night darkness" was actually his own spiritual pressure—shimmering blue and pitch-black. It spread throughout the town and rose to the very heavens. It was his true spiritual power, which had been sleeping inside him all this time. It wasn't the violent, unstable red-and-black energy from before; it was perfect and beautiful.
"It's... incredible..."
Ichigo stood stunned by the sheer power. The "Seal" that Zangetsu had mentioned in the inner world had finally been broken.
"This is... the end of my protection for now..."
"This is my power..."
"Yes. With this... you can definitely..."
But as Ichigo basked in his new strength, the girl reached her limit. Perhaps triggered by the release of his spiritual pressure, her trembling body began to glow with a pink light.
"Ah..."
Suddenly, a massive spiritual pressure—one he hadn't been able to sense until now—enveloped him and the entire world.
Before Ichigo's eyes, the girl's back split open like a blooming flower.
—Two pairs of wings grew from her delicate shoulders.
"Ah... haha... sorry. It's a bit creepy, isn't it?"
"You... what are those...?"
The girl looked at her wings apologetically. Ichigo was overwhelmed by her presence, unable to do anything but stare in awe.
The wings were pale and shimmering, as if they contained entire nebulas within them. They looked like the wings of a butterfly that had just emerged from its chrysalis, trailing dew-like droplets of spiritual energy that floated in the air. They were organic, yet they possessed a divinity that set them apart from Hollows.
Along with the wings, her appearance had changed. Her white Soul Reaper robes had vanished, leaving only a tattered under-robe. Her hair and clothes seemed to be part of her spiritual body now, with the tips of her hair and her collar flickering with spiritual pressure like crimson flames.
She looked familiar, yet her spiritual pressure was neither Soul Reaper nor Hollow. Ichigo couldn't quite place who she reminded him of, but he understood the cause of her transformation.
"It was... because of that... wasn't it?"
"Yes."
Ichigo gritted his teeth at her faint reply.
As she had implied at the beginning, she wasn't "Momo Hinamori." She was either another personality that had been sleeping inside her, or the part of her that was "outside the cycle of causality" had been separated during her transformation into a monster by the Hogyoku.
He felt he should be sorry for her. If it were him, he'd be devastated. But if he were to be honest...
—She looked like a celestial maiden or a fairy from a fairy tale. She was beautiful.
"Um... Ichigo, you aren't a child anymore... so... don't stare so much..."
"Oh! Sorry!"
Ichigo quickly looked away as she tried to hide her bare thighs with the hem of her robe. Her outfit was quite revealing, but given how she had ended up this way, staring was definitely disrespectful.
After an awkward silence as they both let their faces cool down...
The girl called his name.
"Ichigo."
He turned back to her.
"Since I've become like this... I probably won't be able to see you again for a while..."
Her body began to float, and particles of light filled the air. The girl of his memories reached out and gently touched the cheek of the young man.
"But I'll be... watching over you..."
It was a final farewell. A parting from the benefactor of his life that might last forever.
"No matter how hard or painful things get... I know you can overcome them. Please, live the way you want to live..."
"Wait! Don't—"
He reached out for her, but she was already out of reach.
The change was abrupt.
The scenery warped. The riverbank, the river, the town—everything in his vision was sucked into the girl's floating body. Her massive spiritual pressure converged into a single point.
She was becoming a metaphysical being—something that transcended the laws of the world.
"Live, Ichigo. Because that..."
"—is the right answer for this world."
With those final words, the "book-loving big sister" vanished along with the world of bubbles.
She disappeared from Ichigo's reality.
***
The brilliant light blinded him.
When Ichigo finally came to and looked around, he saw a familiar, unchanging sight.
The riverbank. The river. The town.
Above him was the clear, autumn sky of a bright November day.
He was at the exact spot where he had just said goodbye to the girl. He stood on the banks of the real Karakura Town, staring blankly.
"This is—"
But then, Ichigo's soul let out a scream.
"!!?"
A massive pressure slammed into his body. His limbs creaked, his legs shook, and the world seemed to warp. An astronomical power was trying to crush him into the earth.
"This... spiritual pressure...!"
He would never forget it. His body remembered it. It was etched into his soul—the terrifying sensation of having every ounce of strength stripped away.
It's him. The Demon King.
—It was Sosuke Aizen's spiritual pressure.
"..."
He trembled. What is this? Is it fear? Am I terrified?
"..."
Yes, he was afraid. The presence was as overwhelming as ever. Aizen's power might have even increased since they last met.
But.
But!
BUT!!
"I CAN SEE IT!!"
He could see the path. He could see himself fighting that monster.
He could see the chance for victory.
Something that he had never been able to see before, no matter how much he trained or how hard he steeled his heart.
"—I can see the win."
The corners of his mouth curled into a grin. He wiped the sweat from his brow, gripped Tensa Zangetsu in his right hand, and embraced the reliable spiritual pressure in his chest.
"Just you wait... Yuzu, Karin... I'm coming!"
I'm going now!!
The hero, Ichigo Kurosaki, shook off the memory of the riverbank and the weak version of himself.
And so, he raced toward the battlefield of glory.