Are the Quincy fast?
Higashino Shuuichi didn't know. He did know he was fast.
Once he realized the Quincy in this fabricated future wouldn't follow the original plan to methodically annihilate Soul Society, he moved the instant Seireitei entered alert status—thick-skinned as ever—slipping to the World of the Living and, after a bit of maneuvering, becoming Kurosaki Ichigo's classmate and neighbor.
The logic was simple, tied to those three inexplicable deaths: Yamamoto Genryūsai, Zaraki Kenpachi, and Kisuke Urahara.
Two of the three were Special War Powers in the original timeline—pillars of the resistance against the Wandenreich.
So why weren't the other three—Ichibē Hyōsube, Aizen Sōsuke, Kurosaki Ichigo—killed as well?
It's all a fabricated future anyway.
Shuuichi's answer was that it wasn't that Akimi didn't want to—it's that he couldn't.
Fullbring, by nature, is power spun from shards of the Soul King's essence. However far it stretches, it can't escape the King's will.
So whether in the real future or a counterfeit one, certain fixed points won't change.
Which meant Akimi couldn't eliminate the key pieces destined to kill Yhwach.
Follow that thread and the game clarified: their clash wasn't about raw power—it was about time. Akimi had to kill Shuuichi before Soul Society killed him. Shuuichi only had to survive.
Given that, the optimal play was obvious: drag Kurosaki Ichigo into the water early and force Zero Division onto the field early.
Events unfolded just as Shuuichi expected. At his house in the World of the Living—reading a report from Mayuri Kurotsuchi about a new drug to trace the Quincies' shadow-cluster entry points—an encircling ring of Sternritter descended, led by one man.
"Higashino Shuuichi. Do you see it? This is your future."
Feeling the pressure outside, Shuuichi stepped through his door and looked up at the speaker: "Yhwach," with dull, fully gray eyes.
There was no doubt—in this counterfeit future, "Yhwach" was Akimi wearing the skin.
And now Shuuichi remembered where he'd seen those eyes.
The Soul King's eyes… looked like that, didn't they?
"Whether this is my future, I can't say. But I'm certain it's not yours."
Hands in his pockets, Shuuichi stood amid a near full muster of Sternritter without a flicker of fear.
"Hahaha. And if it isn't? You can't imagine the power I carry now, heights you could never reach, little Shinigami. Killing you would be easier than stepping on an ant!"
Akimi—borrowing Yhwach's face—brimmed with confidence.
"Mm. I believe you."
Shuuichi nodded, even smiled.
In a future Akimi authored, with Akimi occupying "Yhwach," the advantage was built-in. Any normal Shinigami would be crushed by that combination.
Unfortunately for Akimi, Shuuichi was a transmigrant. He knew what the future held—and how to answer it.
"Anyway, 'Yhwach'—no, Akimi.
All this talk? I'm stalling for Kurosaki Ichigo. What are you waiting for?"
As the boy tossed his schoolbag and charged with that huge cleaver of a Zanpakutō, Shuuichi knew the board had tipped.
"Kurosaki Ichigo?
Hahaha. Don't tell me—because he beat Aizen—you think he can beat me?
Miracles might happen once. Never twice."
If Shuuichi had noticed Ichigo, Akimi certainly had. In the fixed future, yes—this boy sent Yhwach to his end. But so what?
If Akimi killed Shuuichi here, the counterfeit future would collapse long before that point.
Shuuichi's "hope" was doomed.
Besides, how could Shuuichi know Ichigo could kill Yhwach?
Akimi ignored Ichigo's slash, flicked a glance to Haschwalth, then raised one finger toward Shuuichi.
Heilig Pfeil.
One arrow punched through Shuuichi's heart.
It did nothing.
His heart regrew at once—Soul King fingernail shard, infinite regeneration.
Shuuichi drew his Zanpakutō and spoke, calm and precise:
"Origin of War—Bankai: Kunikiri (Bitter Flesh)!"
With the gulf between him and "Yhwach," any resistance was useless. Better to be a sandbag.
He planted the blade at his feet and quietly watched Ichigo get smacked around too.
The behavior was so unlike him that Akimi blinked.
Had he accepted he couldn't win… and just given up?
"This doesn't suit you, Higashino Shuuichi. Back in Ōsaka you were all lightning and steel.
You even had the nerve to raid us with a single useless partner. And now you quit?"
He questioned Shuuichi—then peered into the near future with a not-yet-mastered Almighty.
His face changed.
Shuuichi's smile widened. The real help had arrived.
A seam split the sky. A gate opened. Five Shinigami in special garb stepped out.
Zero Division.
"Multiple Heilig Pfeil!"
Akimi stopped talking. He would erase Shuuichi now.
This time Shuuichi moved.
Shouldering the rain of holy arrows, he flash-stepped to Ichigo's side, already mauled by Haschwalth. "Bakudō 81: Dankū!"
A clear reishi wall rose before them.
Would a chantless Dankū hold against Akimi's volley as counterfeit Yhwach?
Of course not.
A single arrow shattered it.
But Shuuichi hadn't planned to be the shield.
He only needed to show intent. Others would handle the hail.
"Bakudō 81: Dankū!"
The same wall—cast by different hands—was absolute.
Every Heilig Pfeil halted outside the barrier.
Shuuichi glanced at the woman who'd landed in front of them—the caster of the second wall. The Great Weaver, Senjumaru Shutara.
"Right on time."
"Don't misunderstand. I did not come to save you."
Her voice was cool; she didn't even glance back.
Clearly, the Royal Guard knew something of this interloper.
"I know. But look at 'Yhwach' now. If you want your plan to work, I'm a key piece. Take me back with you. I'll brief you… thoroughly."
Shuuichi didn't mind her chill.
Only one person in Zero Division mattered—Ichibē Hyōsube. As long as his purpose didn't cross Ichibē's, the others' attitudes were noise.
Besides, this was a fabricated future. This Royal Guard couldn't touch reality.
Senjumaru didn't like it, but Ichibē had instructed them before departure: bring that odd Shinigami, Higashino Shuuichi, back as well. So she agreed.
Meanwhile Akimi and the Sternritter found no quick purchase against the other four Royal Guards—and could only watch as Senjumaru carried Shuuichi and the gravely injured, unconscious Ichigo back to Soul Society.
The twist spiked Akimi's unease.
He knew the script: what would happen once Ichigo reached the Royal Palace.
"I can't let Higashino Shuuichi flip the board."
As the Royal Guard returned, Akimi made his decision.
A counterfeit Yhwach only had so many uses of the Almighty. He couldn't peer everywhere. So he'd act on what he did know—erasing every cause of Yhwach's death from the true future he remembered.
Only then could he stand unassailable.
He saw four lethal reasons:
First, Kurosaki Ichigo—currently out of reach.
Second, Aizen Sōsuke—imprisoned in Soul Society's Muken; he would have to be "handled" before storming the Palace.
Third, Ishida Uryū—his arrow briefly robbed Yhwach of power; he had to be removed.
Fourth, his "half," Jugram Haschwalth. Whether Haschwalth ultimately betrayed Yhwach or not, his part in the Emperor's downfall was undeniable. Akimi would not repeat that fate—Haschwalth must die.
Before those three remaining threats were cleared, Akimi wouldn't blunder into the Palace again.
Who knew what out-of-bounds tricks that strange Shinigami was preparing?
One reckless mistake was enough. There wouldn't be a second.
Shuuichi, of course, had no idea what new misery he'd brought to Soul Society in this fabricated future.
Carried to the Royal Palace with Zero Division, he faced their questions in Ichibē Hyōsube's palace.
"First question—who are you?"
" Higashino Shuuichi. A Shinigami from the future."
"The future?" Kirio Hikifune asked.
"Yes. As you can see, the current Yhwach is not the original. His soul has been taken over by our future enemy—Akimi. I came back to help you deal with him."
He didn't blink.
"So that's why he's so intent on you?" Ōetsu Nimaiya said, lounging with a shallow-asauchi stuck sidewise in a pillar.
"Yes." Shuuichi lifted his chin and nodded. "And I'm certain it won't be long before this new Yhwach storms the Palace. More than devouring the Soul King, his first priority will be killing me."
"But if you're both time-walkers, the gap between you is… large," Tenjirō Kirinji—Hot Spring Demon—folded his arms, eyeing Shuuichi up and down.
He'd been the one to refill Shuuichi's tank after Kunikiri had hollowed him out.
Shuuichi grimaced. "That's because my job is to guide the Royal Guard into killing that time-walker Yhwach—not to personally finish him. So I came with my body. If I'd hijacked someone, like he did, I'd have replaced one of you."
He smiled. "But I imagine none of you would like that result."
"Then say it. How do we deal with this Yhwach?" Ichibē Hyōsube asked—not committing, not dismissing—only pressing for something usable.
Shuuichi's grin bloomed. This was his home field.
"Easy. Lure him in… and wait in perfect ambush."
"You mean using you as bait—drawing him into our prepared ground?
Hmph. Nice in theory. But are you forgetting the key point—are you strong enough to be that bait?
If you just sit there, he won't bite. If you fight him while leading him, you won't last."
Senjumaru Shutara voiced the obvious problem.
Shuuichi bowed slightly.
"Right. So… I'll need to trouble you.
About Kurosaki Ichigo's special training—could you add me to it?"
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