A hundred years ago.
Back when Rukia had just graduated from the Shinō Spiritual Arts Academy, she was still a timid rookie, freshly assigned to Thirteenth Division.
At the time, the division's lieutenant was a member of the Shiba family.
His name was Shiba Kaien.
He was a warm, open-hearted man who always looked after the fresh graduates like her.
During one mission, Kaien's wife was killed—swallowed by a Hollow with fusion abilities, known as Metastacia.
To avenge his wife, Kaien had launched himself into a fierce battle against Metastacia.
He hadn't known that Hollow's ability allowed it to erase zanpakuto.
With his zanpakuto erased mid-fight, Kaien had been engulfed by the bizarre Hollow and devoured alive.
To preserve his sanity and the dignity of a noble,
At the very end, Kaien willingly hurled himself onto Rukia's blade and chose to die by her hand.
From then on, his death had left Rukia with endless longing, regret, guilt, and a pain she could never untangle.
Now—
In this moment—
She was thinking of Shiba Kaien.
And of Shiba Kukaku and Shiba Ganju.
For the first time, a sharp killing intent burned in Rukia's eyes. She clenched her fists and looked at Cole.
"Cole… are you sure?"
Of course I'm sure. It's literally part of the original plot… Cole thought silently, but his expression stayed serious.
"About eighty percent."
He said it flatly.
"During the fight, that Hollow looked completely like a Shinigami. Its zanpakuto was water-type…"
"I also made some inquiries. Its ability is devouring and fusion—a rare Gillian-class Arrancar."
"And most importantly… his face looks a lot like what you told me about Shiba Kaien."
Rukia nodded over and over.
With that many points in common, she'd almost completely accepted it already.
She had just never imagined—
That Hollow from back then might still be alive.
Thinking that, she couldn't help but squeeze her right hand around the hilt of her zanpakuto. Her entire posture straightened, reiatsu leaking from her in little bursts.
"I'm going to kill him. No matter what…"
A few minutes later—
A Garganta (black cavity) leading to Hueco Mundo tore open.
Cole and Rukia stepped into the darkness together.
…
On the way through, Rukia suddenly remembered something and looked at Cole with a frown.
"Cole, you said that Hollow looks a lot like Shiba Kukaku… but you don't think he looks like Shiba Ganju too?"
Walking in front, Cole kept his face straight and coughed lightly.
"As far as I know, Shiba Ganju is adopted. Haven't you noticed how ugly he is? He doesn't look like a Shiba at all."
Rukia pictured Ganju's face in her mind—
And immediately came to a realization.
"I thought so too. How could someone related to Captain Kaien look that ugly?"
…
Rukongai, inside Kukaku's cannon.
"Achoo!!!"
Ganju let out a huge sneeze, rubbing his nose and looking around nervously.
"Who's badmouthing me…?"
At that moment, Kukaku's roar echoed from inside the cannon barrel.
"Ganju!!!"
"Hurry up and finish cleaning the barrel! If you waste any more time, I'm gonna beat you to death today!"
A shiver ran down Ganju's back. He scrambled to work.
"Got it, got it! Big sis, I won't be late, I swear!"
"…"
"Achoo!!!"
In the World of the Living, Kurosaki Clinic.
Isshin also let out a heavy sneeze. He glanced suspiciously around, then fixed his gaze on the soul candy sitting nearby.
"Hey, brat, are you cursing me in your head?"
Kon nearly jumped out of his body. He shook his head frantically, waving his tiny paws.
"N-no way! I wouldn't dare! I'm just worried about Ichigo and Ishida Uryu. They went to Hueco Mundo—what if it's dangerous!?"
Isshin rubbed his nose, then reached down to pat the zanpakuto resting across his knees. His tone didn't match his usual goofy demeanor at all.
"Relax. They'll be fine. And they've got Captain Unohana with them. The ones really in danger are us, here."
According to Urahara Kisuke—
Right now, Aizen still wasn't a match for the Captain-Commander. So he'd definitely invade Karakura Town as fast as possible.
If he waited for the Gotei 13 to finish setting up their barrier there, he'd be a fish in a barrel.
Thinking that, Isshin ran a thumb along the scabbard.
"Old friend," he murmured in his heart, "I'm counting on you today."
Even though Urahara had explained the plan in detail,
Isshin still found it hard to stomach.
This was his own son they were talking about.
With Ichigo's talent, he could absolutely become a captain in Soul Society after he died.
He might even end up head of the Shiba family.
To strip a genius like that of his powers—
It was hardly any different from killing him.
…
At the same time—
In Urahara's shop, within the Visoreds' base.
Urahara, Hirako Shinji, and the rest wore grim expressions.
It looked as if they were waiting for something—
Or steeling themselves to make a choice.
…
"We're here. This is Hueco Mundo."
Cole stepped out of the Garganta, his foot landing on white sand.
Rukia followed close behind, touching down lightly. She looked around at the eternal night sky in surprise.
"So this is Hueco Mundo…?"
"You didn't know what it looked like?"
Cole gave her a strange look.
She had been the one to explain Hueco Mundo's layout to him before, even drawing him a "map."
He still felt a little traumatized whenever he thought about that drawing.
How could anyone's art be that abstract?
Rukia's face went red. Clearly, she'd thought of the same thing. She puffed up in embarrassment.
"My drawings are really good, aren't they?"
"Yeah, yeah, they're great."
Cole replied absent-mindedly.
Seeing how casual he was, Rukia was so annoyed she leaned over and bit his arm.
Cole finally laughed, reaching out to gently ruffle her hair.
"Relax. Your drawings are really abstract, but they're cute. Just a bunch of little rabbits clustered together. I like them."
Rukia's cheeks softened, but she still glared.
"They are not abstract."
Cole chuckled, then pointed up at the pale, whitish moon in the sky.
"This is Hueco Mundo. An eternal night world. That moon has been hanging there for hundreds of thousands of years, millions of years… maybe billions."
"Think about it—maybe the same moon you're looking at now… was being watched by someone billions of years ago. Doesn't it make you feel how vast everything is?"
"And billions of years from now, someone else might be standing here, looking at this same moon, just like we are."
Listening to Cole's murmured words, Rukia's eyes grew distant and hazy.
"An eternal moon…"
To gaze at the same moon as people from billions of years ago.
To share that same moon with people billions of years in the future.
For a moment, it felt like she was having a conversation with the past and future all at once.
That thought barely settled before she snapped back to herself.
She raised a tiny fist and banged it against Cole's chest.
"Idiot, we don't have time to waste. Did you forget about that Hollow—or about Hiyori and the others?"
She had come here for revenge.
She did not have time to sit around admiring the scenery.
Cole smiled, eyes narrowing as he glanced toward distant Las Noches.
"Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on it. Just give it a few minutes."
He'd deliberately opened the Garganta outside Las Noches for one main reason—
To avoid Aizen.
He'd already interrupted the guy's evolution once. Right now Aizen was just short of exploding in rage, probably racking his brains trying to evolve again.
If Cole walked straight into Las Noches right now…
It'd be like a rabbit delivering New Year's greetings to a lion.
There's no universe where that lion doesn't try to rip the rabbit apart.
Sure, Aizen couldn't kill him.
But killing Aizen would be difficult too—and Cole would only end up as another stepping stone for his evolution.
In that case,
it was better to wait until Aizen left.
They could settle things properly in Karakura Town.
Rukia didn't know what he was planning, but after a brief hesitation, she still nodded.
She trusted Cole.
So the two of them simply sat down on the white sand.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Five minutes…
At the seven-minute mark, both Cole and Rukia felt something and looked down at the sand in front of them.
The white sand was swelling up in a little mound.
From it, a small blue head popped out.
It was a little girl with blue hair and a skull fragment as a mask on her head, red markings on her face, wrapped in a dark green poncho.
She looked like she'd been buried for a long time.
The moment she wriggled free, she began gulping in air like she was starving for it.
Rukia tilted her head and glanced at Cole.
"Cole… Is that a small Hollow?"
She knew Hueco Mundo had small fry Hollows.
But that kind of thing didn't even require a Shinigami to deal with them—normal souls could beat them.
The girl in front of her, though—
If not for the Hollow-like aura on her, she'd be indistinguishable from a human child.
Nel…
Cole looked at the blue-haired girl, feeling oddly speechless.
What were the odds that they'd drop right next to her?
She might look like a child right now—
But in reality, she'd lived for hundreds of years and was a powerful Vasto Lorde-class Hollow.
And among the Espada,
she'd once been ranked fourth.
Only, long ago, she'd been ambushed and gravely injured by Nnoitra, who hated women.
That injury was what had left her trapped in this child form.
"She's probably not a small Hollow. Feels a bit like an Arrancar—not quite, but close. Way too weak, though…"
As the two stared at her, little Nel blinked, then scooted backward a couple of steps, speaking in a tiny voice.
"You win this round. Next time we play hide-and-seek, you definitely won't find Nel. Let's race instead, okay?"
"Game…?"
Rukia stared at her, completely lost.
Just then, two more sand mounds swelled up in the distance. A fat and a skinny Hollow burst out and came running, wailing loudly.
"Nel-sama! How could you go and provoke Shinigami? I heard Shinigami are demons who kill Hollows without blinking…"
"Please don't kill our little Nel… If you're going to kill someone, kill me instead…"
Listening to their howling, Rukia's temples throbbed. Lines practically appeared on her forehead.
"What… exactly are you three doing?"
She'd seen plenty of Hollows before.
But this was the first time she'd met ones like these.
Two big Hollows acting like comedy duo mascots.
On the surface, they felt like ordinary small-fry Hollows.
But something about them was off—small fry didn't have spiritual pressures that fluctuated like this.
One moment they felt like random trash.
The next, like Gillian.
Another second later, Adjuchas.
The weirdest of all was the little girl. She seemed weaker than a small Hollow… yet the mask fragment on her face was clearly cracked.
Only an Arrancar could have that.
The three Hollows just kept crying.
Rukia sighed.
"All right, all right, don't cry. If you've never eaten humans, I can consider letting you go."
The three Hollows froze, looked at Rukia…
…and then turned as one to peek nervously at Cole.
They knew very well.
He was the real boss here.
Rukia's mouth twitched. She glared at them.
"Why are you looking at him!?"
Nel aside, Pesche and Dondochakka both shuddered.
How could they not?
That black-haired boy, who looked so harmless,
Two hours ago…
Had been wielding a golden pillar hundreds of times bigger than the surrounding dunes, flattening dozens of Adjuchas-level Arrancar.
Not just any Hollows, either—quite a few were Espada.
Even one they knew very well: Nnoitra.
After beating them all into the ground, that madman had gone on to fight Aizen.
And they'd nearly been evenly matched.
If they pissed him off, not even a fully restored Nel would be able to protect them.
Cole could more or less guess what they were thinking.
"Relax," he said with a gentle smile. "As long as you haven't harmed humans, I won't do anything to you."
As he spoke, he flipped his right hand over and produced a handful of golden candies.
The sweet smell drifted out at once.
Nel swallowed hard, reaching out to snatch one of the little golden sugar stars.
Just as she was about to pop it into her mouth,
Cole sighed and pulled out a tissue, carefully wiping her face and snot.
"Wash your face before you eat. Otherwise you're just a little snotty cat."
Nel nodded hard, then happily shoved the candy into her mouth. Her whole expression melted into bliss.
"Nel thinks this candy is super tasty!"
She looked up at Cole, eyes shining.
"You gave Nel something so yummy. Nel thinks you're a good Shinigami."
Cole rubbed her head and sighed.
"Your standards for 'good' and 'evil' are way too simple."
He was a human, but he was a Shinigami too.
And Shinigami and Hollows were natural enemies.
Under those conditions, he could slaughter Hollows without a shred of guilt. It was nothing more than instinct in a fight to the death.
This time, however, Nel didn't respond.
She just stuffed more sugar stars into her mouth.
"This is the best thing Nel's ever eaten…"
Cole couldn't help laughing.
"If I'd known I'd run into you, I would've brought Orihime along. Her power might actually help."
Nel's current state was because of her injuries.
And Orihime's ability could reject and overwrite events themselves.
Hearing Cole mutter under his breath, Nel lifted her head, looking puzzled.
"Little Cole, are you talking about another girl? But her name… wasn't it Unohana?"
Cole: "???"
Rukia: "???"
…
(End of Chapter)
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