In the end, Tōshirō Hitsugaya was carried away by the Shinigami of the Thirteenth Division of Soul Society who arrived late.
"Are Soul Society's reinforcements always this slow now?
Something this serious happened, and even after I got here, you lot still took at least an hour to show up."
Higashino Shuuichi stood inside the concealment Kekkai (Barrier) that Urahara Kisuke had specially provided, watching the Shinigami who were scrambling to treat Tōshirō Hitsugaya.
"Normally it isn't like this. It's because—"
Shiba Isshin had been about to explain.
But the moment he realized the culprit seemed to be the very Urahara Kisuke standing right beside him… he stopped.
It was common knowledge in Soul Society.
With the small number of Shinigami they had, managing the Human World, Soul Society, and also dealing with the powerful Hollows in Hueco Mundo already left them stretched thin.
And then, decades ago, while Soul Society was still reeling—its vitality badly damaged after Higashino Shuuichi's rampage through Seireitei—Urahara Kisuke seized the moment.
He led a massive assault on Soul Society with those Reigai (Spirit Shell) that possessed the strength of the First Generation Captains, along with the Vizard Shinigami who had betrayed Soul Society back then.
Soul Society managed to withstand the attack, but they failed to kill or capture even a single Reigai.
Which allowed Urahara Kisuke to retreat with those Reigai and Vizard Shinigami back into the West Administration's territory.
And for the decades that followed, they continued harassing and attacking Shinigami on the East Administration side of Soul Society.
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni had no choice but to routinely deploy large numbers of Shinigami to patrol the border regions.
That was why their internal defenses were so hollow.
In Shiba Isshin's eyes, the speed at which the Thirteenth Division had arrived this time was already fast.
On a normal day, showing up in around two hours would count as them being diligent and responsible.
"Because what?" Higashino Shuuichi asked back.
"…It's nothing. It's true that Soul Society's Shinigami have gotten weaker," Shiba Isshin replied with a strained smile.
Even he didn't know what he was supposed to be anymore.
To Soul Society, he'd acted on his own and stayed away for far too long—he was barely different from a traitor.
And yet, facing someone like Urahara Kisuke—the "enemy" of all Shinigami—Shiba Isshin was torn.
He didn't know whether he should believe Urahara Kisuke.
But right now, he could only rely on him.
Otherwise, the mystery of those two seated officers from the Tenth Division vanishing would truly become a cold case.
Shiba Isshin refused to accept that.
He had come to the Human World in secret precisely to find out why the two seated officers from his division had suddenly disappeared.
If he didn't uncover the truth, everything he had done until now would be meaningless.
"Okay, okay! Kabuno-senpai, you've been fighting for so long—you must be tired. Shouldn't we go rest first~?
And Shiba-san, are you really okay?"
Thankfully, in that heavy atmosphere, Kurosaki Masaki stepped in at just the right time to ease things.
As a Quincy of the new generation, she couldn't truly grasp what kind of dark era the Quincies of the past had endured.
All she could see was that every Shinigami she had met—at least so far—had been good Shinigami in the truest sense.
So instinctively, she didn't want Higashino Shuuichi, her senior, to end up completely at odds with Shiba Isshin and the others.
"It's really fine, Kurosaki-san. Just a small wound~" Shiba Isshin said with a smile, shaking his head.
Just a left arm—no big deal!
And so the four of them quickly returned to Urahara Shōten in Karakura Town, Tokyo.
"This is one of you Shinigami's bases in the Human World?"
Standing at the entrance, Higashino Shuuichi lifted his head and looked at the shop sign.
He was getting addicted to the act now—so much so that he had fully slipped into the role of Kabuno Takuya.
"Strictly speaking, not exactly—but for you, it's close enough. Interpret it however you like~"
Urahara Kisuke smiled and greeted Tsukabishi Tessai—dressed like a laborer—who was inside arranging merchandise.
"From the start, I've been curious about you, Shinigami. Why do I get the feeling you aren't surprised at all by my appearance?"
Higashino Shuuichi turned to look at Urahara Kisuke.
He'd assumed that faced with such a blunt accusation, Urahara Kisuke would at least deny it with some excuse.
Instead, Urahara Kisuke answered with shocking ease.
"Yeah, it's not surprising at all~"
"Huh? Why?
Urahara-san, don't tell me you already knew, a long time ago, that I'd be able to summon Kabuno-senpai?"
Kurosaki Masaki had been about to keep smoothing things over, but her curiosity got hooked first.
Urahara Kisuke didn't rush to answer her. He looked at Higashino Shuuichi first.
When he saw the other man's questioning gaze, he pushed open the door leading into the back room and gestured politely.
"Hmph! Trying to play mysterious!
Fine—because you're my junior, I'll give you a chance!"
After snorting coldly, Higashino Shuuichi decisively walked in first.
Kurosaki Masaki followed right behind.
Unlike Higashino Shuuichi, she believed Urahara Kisuke would never harm her.
So when she passed him, she even bowed.
"I'm sorry, Urahara-san. Kabuno-senpai's personality is just like that—please understand!"
(Kurosaki Masaki: For the sake of this harmonious big family, I've really worked myself to the bone!)
"It's fine. I understand~" Urahara Kisuke replied with his usual smile.
He didn't care at all what kind of attitude Higashino Shuuichi had toward him.
All he wanted was for a being like Higashino Shuuichi to appear—so he could confirm certain suspicions.
After Kurosaki Masaki went in, Shiba Isshin intended to follow as well—
But Urahara Kisuke stopped him, unusually firm.
"Sorry, Isshin. What comes next… I don't think you're suited to know."
Urahara Kisuke stood in front of Shiba Isshin and spoke calmly.
Shiba Isshin's lips moved slightly.
No one knew what he was thinking.
But in the end, he stared deeply into the darkness beyond the doorway, let out a long sigh, and turned away.
Urahara Kisuke really was hiding a lot.
Shiba Isshin no longer knew whether he should still trust him.
Maybe he should return to Soul Society immediately, report everything to the Captain-Commander, and then accept punishment from Central 46?
But what about the two missing seated officers?
What could he possibly say to their families and friends?
"…Tsukabishi-senpai, could I trouble you to take me to that place from last time again, just for one more look?"
When he reached the shop entrance, Shiba Isshin still turned back and looked sincerely at Tsukabishi Tessai, who was working.
Tsukabishi Tessai didn't look back—he simply sped up his hands a little.
"Sure. After I finish putting these items away."
Tsukabishi Tessai was still Tsukabishi Tessai—unchanged in the slightest.
Meanwhile, inside the back room—
Higashino Shuuichi and Kurosaki Masaki sat facing each other, while Urahara Kisuke, who entered afterward, sat slightly deeper in between them.
"Kabuno-senpai, you really don't have to be that wary.
I've known Urahara-san for a long time—I guarantee he's not the kind of Shinigami you met back then!"
Ever since entering, the reishi at Higashino Shuuichi's side had remained half-condensed, ready at any moment—like he could shape it into a powerful Seinaru Metsuya (Sacred Destruction Arrow) and throw it out.
So Kurosaki Masaki tried to persuade him again.
But Higashino Shuuichi didn't budge at all.
Higashino Shuuichi wasn't a "standard" Quincy himself.
But having once possessed a Quincy avatar like Kabuno Takuya, he could perfectly understand what kind of dark age the Quincies of the past had lived through.
It was an abyss Kurosaki Masaki—living in this comparatively peaceful era—could never truly experience.
A life of displacement, where only when Kurosaki Mai became pregnant and simply couldn't keep moving anymore did the Kurosaki couple have no choice but to settle somewhere briefly.
Aside from the Ishida family, that outsider pureblood Quincy lineage—
It could be said that pureblood Quincies in the Human World didn't just fail to live out peaceful old age; very few even made it past middle age.
True darkness was always hidden beneath the surface of apparent calm.
Kurosaki Masaki didn't have to understand that.
But Higashino Shuuichi, playing Kabuno Takuya, couldn't afford not to.
Otherwise, how would Kabuno Takuya have survived until now?
So Higashino Shuuichi had to act this way.
And he also believed Urahara Kisuke wasn't the kind of person who would hold a grudge over it.
That proved true.
Faced with the reishi wrapped around Higashino Shuuichi's hand, Urahara Kisuke chose to ignore it completely.
Unhurried, he took a black box from a nearby cabinet, opened it, and removed a rustic-looking key.
"I wonder, Kabuno-san—do you recognize this?"
Urahara Kisuke stared into Higashino Shuuichi's eyes as he asked.
A probe—this was definitely a probe!
Higashino Shuuichi was certain.
The question was: how should he answer?
As Higashino Shuuichi, he obviously knew that key.
Because it was spoils Urahara Kisuke had snatched from him back then.
An item the Ishida family had brought out from the Quincy Wandenreich that hid within Seireitei's shadow.
If Higashino Shuuichi wasn't wrong, that key was meant to be a way out the Quincies had left behind.
A door that could connect the Wandenreich and the Human World.
But as Kabuno Takuya, Higashino Shuuichi didn't know whether he was supposed to know it.
His mind raced.
The right answer depended on whether Urahara Kisuke knew what the key did.
Or more than that—whether Urahara Kisuke had personally been to the Wandenreich.
Higashino Shuuichi gently closed his eyes, leaned back slightly, and let the corner of his mouth lift in a faint curve.
"Of course I know it. But as far as I know, only Quincies of the Ishida family possess this key.
And they would never give it to an outsider.
So can I assume this, Shinigami—Urahara Kisuke—you killed someone from the Ishida family and stole this key from them?!"
He didn't have much time to think. In front of Urahara Kisuke, even half a second of hesitation would become a flaw.
So in that brief moment he bought himself by closing his eyes and leaning back, Higashino Shuuichi made a bold guess.
He gambled that Urahara Kisuke had already found where the door was—and had already been to the Wandenreich!
In his long Shinigami life, it was one of the few true gambles Higashino Shuuichi had ever made.
Fortunately…
He gambled right again.
Watching the Seinaru Metsuya (Sacred Destruction Arrow) poised in Higashino Shuuichi's hand, feeling that presence fully locking onto him—
As if one wrong sentence would get him shot without mercy—
Urahara Kisuke smiled.
Now this was the kind of Quincy he imagined—one left behind from that era.
"That's not it!
Kabuno-senpai, the Ishida family and Urahara-san are very close. Even I only met Urahara-san because Ishida Sōgen-san introduced us!"
Urahara Kisuke didn't need to explain himself at all.
Because he knew that with something like this, as the prime suspect in the "standard" sense—
Any explanation from his own mouth would never earn Higashino Shuuichi's trust.
Only testimony from a truly unrelated third party—and, in a sense, someone standing on the same side as Higashino Shuuichi—
Kurosaki Masaki stepping forward to vouch for him was the strongest proof.
That was why Urahara Kisuke had allowed Kurosaki Masaki in.
And yet, it was also because he'd planned things too perfectly—
To the point that Higashino Shuuichi didn't even need to find himself a "reasonable step down" anymore.
"…Really?" Higashino Shuuichi let a doubtful tone slip out.
"If you don't believe it, go ask the Ishida family yourself.
But there's one thing I should explain: at the very beginning, I didn't get this key from the Ishida family.
I took it from another Shinigami!
That's precisely why the Ishida family agreed to let me safeguard this special key."
Urahara Kisuke added.
Higashino Shuuichi wanted nothing more than to roll his eyes.
So who exactly are you implying here?
Sure, in a sense it wasn't wrong—Higashino Shuuichi had gotten crooked ideas first.
But you're not some saint either, Urahara Kisuke!
Why are you acting like the good guy?
Black-on-black robbery, and you make it sound so righteous?
"So I misunderstood you, huh?
A 'good' Shinigami?"
Higashino Shuuichi sneered.
But the Seinaru Metsuya (Sacred Destruction Arrow) in his hand showed no sign of dispersing.
"Kabuno-senpai!" Kurosaki Masaki was so nervous she could barely breathe.
She tried to stand and put herself between Higashino Shuuichi and Urahara Kisuke—
But a single look from Urahara Kisuke stopped her.
"I really like something an old friend of mine used to say: don't look at what someone says—look at what they do.
And it just so happens that, right now in the Human World, there's a very suitable target.
Kabuno-kun, are you interested in watching a little longer?"
Higashino Shuuichi was numb.
He hadn't been in Soul Society for years, but somehow his shadow was everywhere.
That "old friend" Urahara Kisuke mentioned—wasn't he talking about him?
Since when were the two of them friends?!
"Fine. Then I'll see exactly what you plan to do!"
Even so, Higashino Shuuichi's mouth moved fast, smoothly accepting Urahara Kisuke's offered step down without missing a beat.
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