"Yay!"
The two were still thrilled, and seeing how eager they were to learn, Yoshio let out a relieved smile.
Look at them—willing to sacrifice their free time to better themselves.
They'd worked all day and were exhausted, yet instead of resting they came to him for tutoring.
"Excellent. You two are amazing."
"You've both achieved Shikai—meaning you've reached the state of 'synchronization' and 'release.' So, do you know what it takes to attain Bankai?"
Yoshio led them to the front yard and had them sit.
Standing before them with his hands clasped behind his back, he posed the question like an old scholar.
Both nodded; they didn't know how to actually realize Bankai.
"I'll tell you. To learn Bankai, you must force your Zanpakuto into 'materialization' and then 'subjugation.'"
"Materialize… then subjugate?" Both looked puzzled.
Yoshio then explained in detail.
With his ability Strict Teacher Produces Outstanding Students, Yoshio could talk endlessly. Even theories and knowledge he didn't know would automatically surface in his mind when needed.
Strict Teacher Produces Outstanding Students truly was powerful, and it even came with a subsidiary ability called "Teaching Benefits Both Sides."
Yoshio didn't have a Tenshintai, so he couldn't directly force their Zanpakuto to materialize. Generally, only the Onmitsukidō possessed such a device; most people had to train on their own.
What Yoshio could do was teach them what Bankai required and how to pursue it.
And so, Yoshio gradually became busy.
From Wednesday to Saturday nights, Yoshio would enter Las Noches, writing and chatting with Starrk and Lilynette. On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights, he taught Hinamori and Renji about Bankai.
A whole year passed like this.
Even with his Strict Teacher Produces Outstanding Students ability, it was impossible for Renji and Hinamori to master Bankai in so short a time.
Generally speaking, even for a genius Shinigami, going from Shikai to Bankai required ten years or even decades of training.
For an ordinary Shinigami, just forcing the Zanpakuto to materialize after Shikai could take ten years or decades.
Let alone what comes after.
Learning Bankai… how could it be that easy for a Shinigami?
Renji and Hinamori were both talented, but not exceptionally so.
Their strength was above average, so even with Yoshio's guidance he felt simply reaching materialization might take them seven or eight years.
After all, Yoshio couldn't teach them every day.
But achieving materialization in seven or eight years would already be an impressive feat for them.
After a year, of course the two still hadn't learned materialization, but Starrk's favorability toward Yoshio had successfully risen to eighty.
That meant Yoshio permanently obtained the "soul-splitting" ability.
This year, Szayelaporro successfully became the second Espada, and—as Yoshio expected—Nelliel chose to leave the Espada to become a Three-Digit.
In truth, with her strength she could have remained an Espada, even as the third, but she wasn't interested in power and stepped down to a Three-Digit.
In fact, compared to the other Arrancar, Nelliel and Halibel—these two female Arrancar—would develop differently from Starrk and Szayelaporro in their future evolution.
Their death aspect was "sacrifice," which was relatively positive, making them more proactive than other Arrancar.
But that created another problem.
If they wanted to continue evolving toward a Shinigami-like state like Starrk and Szayelaporro, they would have to betray their death aspect—betray sacrifice—which leaned toward a "maligned" attribute.
So Yoshio thought that if they were to reach Segunda Etapa in the future, it would be better to deepen their inherent nature—choose Hollow, rather than hybridizing Shinigami and Hollow power.
Notably, because Starrk had already demonstrated Segunda Etapa at this stage, the Arrancar now knew of this level.
So Arrancar began considering further evolution.
In the original story, Ulquiorra never used Segunda Etapa; according to him, even Aizen didn't know of it, and, per the lore, he only grasped that power during his battle with Kurosaki Ichigo.
But now it was different—other Arrancar had witnessed Starrk entering Segunda Etapa.
Would they pursue that power?
Of course!
It's just that, for now, probably no one—except perhaps Kisuke Urahara—could truly understand the principles of Segunda Etapa, not even Aizen.
For Aizen, whether Arrancar attained Segunda Etapa wasn't actually important.
So regarding this… Yoshio felt Szayelaporro should be the one to research and find a solution.
Szayelaporro had frequent contact with Starrk and was likely already researching it.
Yoshio, however, didn't care much; he had enough on his own plate.
In the Soul Society that year, his new book was successfully published, causing quite a stir.
After all, Stone Mask was bizarrely compelling and perfectly fit the current hot topics.
Because of the war with the Visoreds, many Shinigami harbored hostility toward them; the masks on their faces were the most obvious symbol.
Thus, many villains in the Soul Society series now wore masks, and Yoshio's new work, "Stone mask," led the trend.
With Thousand-Year Blood War and Stone mask, Yoshio could attain financial freedom, and the pay from Lieutenant was nothing compared to the royalties from those two books.
So even when going drinking with Rangiku and others, Yoshio chose upscale restaurants.
Money's meant to be spent!
…
Tonight was Saturday. Having acquired Starrk's soul-division ability, Yoshio didn't go drinking with Rangiku; he clocked out early and went home.
Back home, he sat on the bed, preparing to split his soul again.
With his previous experience splitting off Angra Mainyu, this time went much smoother.
Previously he used his Hollow nature for the split; this time he used his Quincy portion.
Compared to the Hollow's soul, Yoshio's Quincy power was much weaker.
But as long as it existed, it was enough.
With a strange sensation, Yoshio slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the child before him, he felt a bit helpless.
Because the Quincy power was too weak, the clone appeared in a juvenile form—like an elementary schooler.
This Quincy clone had short black hair and a serious face; though he looked like an elementary schooler, his eyes were deep.
At that moment, a name surfaced in Yoshio's mind.
"Baelz."
The moment this Quincy clone appeared, he was also given a name—Baelz.
"Baelz…"
Yoshio softly murmured.
However, splitting off a Quincy clone was only the first step; what came next was crucial.
Yoshio activated his "Wish Fulfillment" ability and envisioned Baelz as a Quincy of the Wandenreich.
Turning himself into a Quincy would be extremely difficult—he had Captain-class spiritual pressure, many connections, and was already a Shinigami.
But arranging it for Baelz was doable. Baelz was a child with no social ties—a blank slate.
And his spiritual pressure was weak; changing his identity wasn't difficult.
Yoshio imagined Baelz as the child of a Quincy couple born after the Quincy withdrew into the Wandenreich in recent years.
Naturally, his parents died shortly after his birth.
After all, orphans are the default protagonists.
In short, though Baelz was young, in the Wandenreich—where everyone is a soldier, consumed by grand vengeance, always ready to strike Seireitei for the Thousand-Year Blood War—he was already a loyal Quincy soldier.
And he strove to become a Sternritter!
With the identity set, the ability's work was done.
Yoshio found that the mental energy spent on envisioning could recover, but the spiritual pressure lost seemed to be gone permanently.
"…"
So, was it feasible to exploit a loophole?
Spend 50 points of mental energy and 50 points of reishi to obtain 100 points of reishi, then wait for the 50 mental energy to recover—effectively trading 50 reishi for 100 reishi?
Feasible!
But there was also a problem: you had to wait for the mental energy to recover, meaning a considerable interval of time.
You could abuse the bug, but if you wanted to lift yourself by your bootstraps into the sky, you still had to accumulate slowly.
After using his abacus scheme, Yoshio felt a splitting headache, as if a power drill bored from his forehead inward!
His brain churned like it wanted to fly out of his skull—no, it actually did!
Yoshio took a deep breath. Clearly, he'd have to be cautious using this ability in the future.
For now, he only had one use left in him.
Yoshio lay down to rest and prepared to observe the Wandenreich's currents.
He shifted his main consciousness into Baelz.
The Wandenreich lay within Seireitei's shadow. After a thousand years of Quincy modification, its interior had become utterly different from the outside of Seireitei.
First, Wandenreich itself was built atop a massive, towering cliff, at whose edge a waterfall plunged.
But everything was frozen.
The cliffs were icebound, and even the waterfall that should have cascaded into the bottomless abyss had frozen solid.
Upon this frozen world stood immense palace complexes—the Wandenreich.
The Wandenreich was a world of white, with blue and silver as its accents.
In the architectural concepts of the Three Realms: Seireitei favored squares, Hueco Mundo favored circles, and the Wandenreich leaned toward pointed forms.
Baelz looked out and saw towering spires like cathedral steeples standing tall.
Some flat roofs even had spikes at the four corners, as if long-fallen droplets had frozen into ice.
This world was cold—ice everywhere.
Its people were cold as well, living under centuries of repression and pain. From birth, they were indoctrinated to hate the Shinigami and dedicate their lives to revenge.
Even children wore uniforms; at school, teachers taught hatred for the Shinigami and methods of war; the same went for church services.
The priests didn't teach you to lay down hatred and love all—they taught you to tear Shinigami flesh with your fangs even on your dying breath!
Though Baelz had only just appeared here, he already possessed all his past memories.
That was the power of Wish Fulfillment—he had changed reality, and his past was real as well.
At this time, Yhwach had not yet assembled the full roster of the Sternritter, or rather…
He hadn't assembled the future Sternritter as seen in the manga.
Although many ancient beings in the Wandenreich had followed Yhwach since the Thousand-Year Blood War began, most were newcomers.
So it was within the Wandenreich as well…
As Yhwach gradually awakened, more newcomers would replace the old Sternritter, becoming the Quincy's new top fighters.
Baelz also considered using this window to infiltrate the Sternritter and hitch a ride on Yhwach's Schrift.
As for the Auswählen problem, he wasn't too concerned.
He possessed Hollow power—how could Yhwach absorb his power with mere Auswählen?
That would be disrespectful to Hollow power…
Though Baelz was a clone split from the Quincy attribute of the soul, his soul inevitably still carried faint Shinigami and Hollow traits.
If he really couldn't avoid it, Yoshio could activate Spirit Merge and reabsorb Baelz.
Given Yoshio's original Hollow power, if Yhwach wanted to absorb his strength, he'd have to do it like with Kurosaki Ichigo—knock him out cold, render him defenseless, then absorb.
That kind of absorption—
With or without Yhwach's power, Yoshio could pull it off!
So it was absolutely necessary to milk Yhwach's enhancement tools; at least the Schrift had to be taken advantage of. As for Vollständig—avoid if possible; if not, use with caution.
The closer one was to Yhwach, the more painful it was under his Auswählen.
Most Quincy who survived Yhwach's Auswählen had their own agendas; it was like a loan shark—the more you used, the deeper in debt you became, and if you couldn't repay, you owed your life.
Understanding this, Yoshio certainly wouldn't repeat the mistake.
Baelz walked down the street, seeing everyone's faces set in heavy, deeply felt indignation as they hurried along, the entire society's efficiency on display.
He looked up—clouds heavy, the moon dim, the stars faint.
The Wandenreich lay within Seireitei's shadow; the outside world had fallen into night—how much darker within the shadow.
Even by day, Wandenreich remained dim, the sun scarcely visible.
Otherwise, how could this world of ice and snow endure?
Even if only to ensure future Quincy would not live forever in darkness, the Quincy of today had to struggle.
"The era where Shinigami divide up the continents and oceans while we Quincy make do with the shadows in the cracks is over. We, too, demand land under the sun!"
This line from the Quincy textbooks was also their current slogan.
"Baelz."
At that moment, a woman's voice rang out on the quiet street.
Everyone turned, faces solemn, and bowed. "Lady Liltotto!"
Baelz looked over. A petite girl with short yellow hair and bangs was walking toward him, wearing knee-high boots and a white buttoned dress, a white Wandenreich cap on her head.
She walked while eating a hot dog.
"Lady Liltotto."
Baelz adopted a respectful attitude.
"Kid, how dull." Liltotto looked at Baelz, a bit bored. "Go to Training Ground Three tomorrow. I've signed you up. Quilge will teach you Quincy combat skills."
Baelz looked delighted. "Thank you, Lady Liltotto!"
When Yoshio arranged Baelz's identity, it wasn't random.
Since he had Wish Fulfillment—and it was a one-time, temporary ability—he had to make the most of it.
Once he decided to split off a Quincy clone, he spent a full year devising the setup, coming up with a thorough, careful arrangement.
He was a novelist—best at crafting character settings.
Over the year, he organized several detailed character profiles and background sheets.
Because he wanted to approach Gremmy Thoumeaux—at least see if Gremmy's favorability toward him could reach sixty—his first idea was to become Gremmy's relative.
Impossible—it would consume a huge amount of reishi, far beyond his current capacity.
So Gremmy Thoumeaux was ruled out, and Yoshio expanded outward from those around him.
Gremmy and Liltotto were friends, so Yoshio thought to start with Liltotto.
First, Liltotto's boyfriend as the new identity?
No.
Liltotto's younger brother?
No.
Liltotto's cousin?
Seemed possible, but the cost was too great…
So Yoshio loosened the relationship further.
In Yoshio's setup, Baelz's family and Liltotto's family used to be neighbors. After Baelz was born and his parents died, Liltotto's family gave him some care.
Don't be fooled by Baelz's current elementary school appearance; in Soul Society and among Quincy, even children are beings of reishi—elementary schoolers who've lived for decades, like Tōshirō Hitsugaya.
When the fantasy turned real, Baelz even truly possessed past experiences, including some involving Liltotto.
Liltotto was a newcomer herself, having only joined the Sternritter in recent years.
But in the Wandenreich, once you became a Sternritter, your status changed dramatically.
There were no nobles in the Wandenreich—only Sternritter were the empire's greats, respected and revered by all Quincy!
As her neighbor, she would still look out for him after becoming Sternritter.
After all, Yoshio couldn't let his clone suffer in the Wandenreich. If he could arrange some benefits, he would.
A mere neighborly tie was enough. Anything closer might cost too much reishi.
That reishi would be lost forever, and Yoshio couldn't bear it.
Besides, Liltotto's initial favorability didn't need to be high; he could build it himself—no cheating required.
He just needed a stepping stone.
Liltotto's voice sounded a bit lazy. She looked at Baelz and reminded him, "I hear there's a weirdo in your combat class this term. If you make the cut, don't cross her."
A weirdo?
Baelz paused, pondering who in the Sternritter fit that description.
Well, they all seemed odd.
In an environment this oppressive, finding a "normal" person wasn't easy.
Still, he said, "Don't worry. I won't embarrass you."
Liltotto yawned, bored, and turned away. They'd once been neighbors; as Sternritter, she had her own residence now.
Baelz watched her go, even more curious about this "weirdo."
He returned to his building—a collective apartment coated in thin ice. His unit was on the fourth floor.
The building was like a honeycomb; everyone worked like drones, and he was merely "consumable" hoping to be upgraded into "combat personnel."
In a world where everyone's a soldier, formal combat personnel were respected professionals.
Baelz lay on his bed. Compared to Las Noches, this was awful—even sleeping felt cold. Now he was forced to support Quincy expansion.
At this moment, both Baelz and Yoshio's main body fell asleep.
…
The next morning, Baelz went early to the so-called Training Ground Three.
The Wandenreich had dozens of training grounds, each staffed by elite Quincy teaching their combat methods.
In the Human World, some Quincy might struggle for decades and never learn Hirenkyaku. In the Wandenreich, such people were essentially hopeless trash.
Likewise, decades in the real world weren't the same as decades in the Wandenreich.
The Wandenreich was in Soul Society—the world of reishi. Growth was slower but lifespans longer.
Roughly a tenfold difference.
Since Baelz was a clone formed from the Quincy portion of the soul, augmented by Wish Fulfillment with Quincy power and identity, he could fully handle Quincy training.
But his talent as a clone… was uncertain.
Angra Mainyu's rapid growth to Vasto Lorde owed to the Soul King fragments as a cheat; without that, who knew how long it would take.
Yoshio wasn't sure about Baelz's talent.
He'd wanted to use Wish Fulfillment to directly grant Baelz high talent, but that was impossible—modifying a person's most fundamental aspects would cost an enormous amount of reishi.
Talent…
Yoshio had grown less fixated on it.
There was no metaphysical way to rewrite talent, but there were scientific ways to modify it.
Shinigami had their science, Hollows had theirs, and Quincy had theirs.
Three races, different domains, but all studied reishi science—the principles crossed over.
Yoshio had researched Shinigami and Hollow science for a long time; with minor tweaks it could apply to Quincy.
Especially last year, when he obtained Szayelaporro's "Perfect Life" technology; he'd just been looking for a test subject.
Yoshio planned for Baelz to become a Wandenreich scientist—the Wandenreich had research institutions too. Sternritter, Vollständig—though leveraging Yhwach's power—were themselves embodiments of technology.
Yhwach couldn't have conjured those things out of nowhere.
Like Mayuri Kurotsuchi, both a Gotei 13 captain and director of the Research and Development Institute.
Baelz could be a Sternritter and also head a research institute.
Thinking as he walked, Baelz arrived at Training Ground Three.
It seemed the new training cycle had already begun. Baelz was a "transfer student" admitted through Liltotto's connections.
Everywhere was a networked society.
Baelz presented his ID and entered a vast white plaza.
The plaza was roughly ten kilometers in diameter, encircled by massive white walls, many sections frozen over.
Inside, on the broad icy expanse, many sturdy spruces had been planted.
Though he'd arrived early, scattered Quincy were already gathering, and among them Baelz immediately spotted the "weirdo" Liltotto had mentioned.
Not someone familiar from the original manga—but someone too special, too familiar.
From afar, she looked like an oversized Suì-Fēng, only in Quincy military garb.
She sat alone on a slab of ice, gaze vacant, staring at the sky.
Who was she?
Baelz was puzzled—was such a Quincy in the original?
He looked up at the Souls Ability above her head.
"Patchwork Personality: Able to assemble parts from different individuals into one person."
??
Was there such a person among the Quincy?
A patchwork of people?
And she looked especially like Suì-Fēng?
Baelz's gaze must have drawn her attention; slowly, she turned her eyes toward him.
Baelz smiled and nodded.
The woman didn't react, merely lifting her eyes back to the sky.
From her demeanor, Yoshio knew she must be strong. In this story, those with a melancholic, poet-like aura were never ordinary.
At the very least Captain-class—like Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi?
"You're Baelz, right?"
As Baelz pondered her identity, an excited voice came from behind, startling him. He turned quickly, saluted, and shouted, "Yes!"
"Good—spirited."
The newcomer wore Sternritter military uniform, a gaunt face, drooping brows, and round sunglasses.
"You're the one the newcomer Liltotto recommended?"
The man barked, "But don't think I'll treat you specially! As my student, you must be excellent—or get lost!"
"I am Quilge, Sternritter 'J.' Here, I am your god! Any order of mine is a rule you must obey!"
Oh, you're the Sternritter who dies early, huh?
Baelz thought, but he also knew that apart from the difficulty of fighting Quincy abilities, Quilge's fundamentals were honed to the extreme.
Having him as a teacher would be very helpful.
"Yes, sir!" Baelz responded loudly.
Training began.
He had no opportunity to approach the woman who looked like a larger Suì-Fēng—not at this stage.
Training Ground Three's cycle was six years, but as a transfer, he only needed to undergo five.
After five years, if Quilge didn't expel him early, he could serve in some important Wandenreich departments.
During this period, Yoshio likely wouldn't fuss over Baelz—he'd let him grow slowly within the Wandenreich.
He couldn't help it—his Quincy power was too weak, and the split clone was a bit too frail.
…
It was Sunday. By evening, it was class time again.
That night, he returned with Hinamori; both were in Fifth Division. But when he got home, there was someone else inside.
"What are you doing here?" Yoshio looked speechlessly at Tōshirō Hitsugaya waiting at the door like Renji, and couldn't help placing his hand on Hitsugaya's head.
"I want a quiet place to train," Hitsugaya said flatly. "Hinamori said you're helping her learn Bankai, so I came."
"What do you mean 'so I came'!" Yoshio yelped. "Don't make it sound so natural!"
"We talked about it when we went back home," Hinamori said, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't expect Tōshirō to show up directly."
"You should call me Lieutenant Hitsugaya, right?" Hitsugaya deadpanned at Hinamori.
"I don't wanna," Hinamori stuck out her tongue.
"All right, all right, I can't stand you two. Get in." Yoshio opened the door and led the three inside.
"Great, you've already learned Bankai—you can be my assistant," Yoshio said to Hitsugaya.
"I'm here to better master Bankai," Hitsugaya replied.
"Whatever, I'm the boss here," Yoshio puffed out his chest. "Just do as you're told!"
Renji said shyly, "Um… can I call Kira over?"
"Hm?" Yoshio was surprised. "I thought you hadn't spoken to Kira in a while?"
"Not being in the same Squad makes communication harder." Hitsugaya glanced at Yoshio. "Not everyone's as idle as you."
"Ahaha," Yoshio laughed, shameless and even proud. "Yeah, so you should all learn from me."
"If everyone learned from you, the Gotei 13's future would be terrifying. Hinamori, you spoil Yoshio-san too much."
"What 'Yoshio-san'…" A dangerous glint flashed in Yoshio's eyes. He suddenly grabbed Hitsugaya's cheeks and tugged sideways, twisting his face.
"You brat, getting more and more disrespectful. At least call me Yoshio-senpai."
"Lieutenant… Yoshio.?"
At that moment, another voice came from outside. Yoshio let go, a bit surprised. "Kira?"
Kira pushed the door open. Seeing the three there, he was mildly surprised, yet as if he'd expected it.
He said, "Um… Lieutenant Yoshio, I heard from Renji that you're teaching him Bankai, so I was wondering… could I join?"
"…Fine. You four were my students anyway," Yoshio sighed. "I taught you at the Shin'ō Academy; now that you've graduated, I can't just abandon you."
"Since you're all here, give it your best. If any of you manage to achieve Bankai, I'll consider myself honored."
Hope and gratitude flashed in Kira's eyes. He nodded quickly. "Lieutenant Yoshio, I'll work hard!"
Yoshio nodded in satisfaction and began the day's lesson.
Generally, lessons ran from 7 PM until 10 or 11. But this time, since it was still early, Yoshio glanced at the sky and said to Hitsugaya, "You watch these three. I'm going out to grab food—I'm hungry!"
Then to Renji and the others: "If you have questions, ask White first. If you still don't get it after he explains, then ask me."
In truth, there wasn't much to ask; when Strict Teacher Produces Outstanding Students activated, as long as he taught, the students' growth accelerated.
So even if the training content itself was the same as training at home, the effect was vastly different when done with Yoshio.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have come to Yoshio's place so early.
And Yoshio's leaving this time wasn't because he was hungry, but because he'd sensed a familiar spiritual pressure.
Rukia was looking for him.
"What are you doing outside?"
Yoshio looked at the Rukia before him in surprise.
The current Rukia looked no different from the original thanks to her hood. If she took it off, though, you'd see her slightly darkened hair.
This was Dark Rukia. Although disguised to pass as the real one, the subtle changes in her aura and spiritual pressure couldn't escape Yoshio's eyes.
Sure enough, it was Dark Rukia who'd come.
Dark Rukia walked up beside Yoshio, eyes forward. "Sode no Shirayuki seems to be discovering me."
Yoshio asked, puzzled. "What do you mean? Sode no Shirayuki is discovering you?"
"Sode no Shirayuki is, after all, the materialization of the pure soul essence. Rukia's soul has changed; as her Zanpakuto, she can sense it."
Dark Rukia said softly, "Over time, Sode no Shirayuki is gradually noticing my existence. She seems to be looking for me."
Yoshio thought—it was like Zangetsu and Hollow White, wasn't it?
He answered, "Is that a bad thing?"
Dark Rukia frowned. "I don't want Rukia to know I exist."
"Let me think…" Yoshio mused, then said, "All right, stop hiding from Sode no Shirayuki. Talk to her. Ask her to conceal your existence."
"In any case, you mean no harm to Rukia. Conversely, she is Rukia—she shouldn't be hostile to you either."
Dark Rukia's brow furrowed deeper. "Will Rukia allow my existence?"
Yoshio knew what she was worried about.
Dark Rukia wasn't the original Hollow White, but she was closely connected to it.
The original Hollow White transferred to Rukia and, under the influence of the Hōgyoku within her, fused more deeply with Rukia.
Dark Rukia was born from merging with the dark, "evil" side of Rukia's subconscious.
That "evil" aspect was only relative to Rukia's original self; Yoshio didn't think Dark Rukia was especially malicious.
But regardless, her birth was tied to Hollow White, who could be said to have killed Shiba Kaien. Given Rukia's reverence for Kaien, would she accept Dark Rukia?
"She will," Yoshio said softly. "Because she's Rukia—and you are, too. She'll accept you, just as you'll accept her."
"…" Dark Rukia fell silent for a moment, and Yoshio continued:
"Anyway, your existence will be discovered by Sode no Shirayuki sooner or later. It's better to explain to her first. Given Rukia's density—if Sode no Shirayuki says nothing and hides you—she probably won't notice."
"As for what to do later, we'll deal with it later. I believe time heals all wounds."
Dark Rukia sighed. "Then that's the only way. Thank you, but…"
She stopped, looked at Yoshio's back, and said in a low voice, "You…"
"You won't hurt Rukia, will you?"
Yoshio stopped as well. He didn't turn around, just kept looking ahead. "How could I?"
"You and who you originally are… we're friends, right?"
Yoshio often visited the Thirteenth Division, and they had previously "dealt with" the original Hollow White together, so they were quite familiar.
He then whispered, "By the way, if you're not busy… could I ask a favor?"
"What is it?"
"I want to… test…"
Yoshio said softly:
"My Bankai."