"Hadō #11, Tsuzuri Raiden."
Keiji calmly touched the ground, and soon currents of lightning spread across the floor, running through every crack in the stone and surging in all directions. The electric crackle lit up the area for a brief moment, and the nearest hollows were struck head-on, their bodies fried and dissolved into Reishi (Spirit Particles).
The natural problem of conductivity, which often limited the technique, was solved by exerting more reiryoku, increasing not only the affected area but also the intensity of the discharge.
"I think I took down a few dozen of them."
Keiji thought, assessing the spiritual remnants dispersing into the air.
"But I can still feel much more hollow reiatsu around."
This was already beyond a simple Bait. Even in the early graduation exam he faced at the Academy, no Bait released had come close to something like this. The amount drawn here was simply absurd.
And, even though those two boys possessed reiatsu comparable to that of a Seated Officer, it was obvious they would not be able to handle such a large horde without casualties.
Hollows were not threatening because of their individual power level, but because of the relentless volume with which they appeared.
Victims would be inevitable.
'Megane-kun knew that and still used the Bait? What kind of twisted reasoning…'
Even stranger was the origin of the Bait. To begin with, how did a Quincy manage to get his hands on such a powerful Bait? That question added to the many others that were already starting to pile up in his mind.
{Will you use it?}
Sora's voice echoed, loaded with expectation. Knowing well what she meant, Keiji only shook his head.
"It seems a few others have joined the fight. And it is not my job to protect this entire city. Our objective is still to find Kuchiki Rukia."
He could feel that there were some other capable people in this city who seemed to be starting to fight the hollows. Even the rate at which the hollows were being eliminated was climbing, showing that more combatants had entered the fray beyond the two boys from before.
Among those presences, one of them could be Kuchiki Rukia herself.
Even so, Keiji did not understand how her reiatsu could be so weak. Compared to Kurosaki Ichigo and Ishida Uryū, her reiatsu seemed almost faded.
{You say that, but your actions do not match.}
"I also told the Captain I would put in a bit of effort~"
Keiji commented carelessly as he loosened the upper part of his shihakushō, revealing his torso with the refined lines of his muscles.
While he locked onto the position of another hollow reiatsu, Keiji moved with a Shunpo so refined it barely left a trace.
In the blink of an eye, he was already in front of a hollow, his zanpakutō cutting through the creature's mask before it could devour a soul that was wandering unprotected through the city.
Without sparing another glance at the hollow as it vanished, Keiji disappeared again, reappearing dozens of meters ahead, repeating the same simple yet fatal strike.
For any outside spectator who might have been keeping eyes on all of Karakura, all they would have seen of his figure was a blur of black clothes and orange hair flickering in and out for instants, while a trail of hollows being destroyed was marked by his steps.
A path of silent death, traced step by step, strike by strike.
Keiji kept that routine until he reached a specific point, where he noticed a sudden change in a reiatsu. The reiatsu, previously discreet, had increased considerably.
It still did not reach the level of a Seated Officer or even a Lieutenant, but it had grown enough to draw attention.
The place he arrived at resembled the buildings of the Shin'ō Academy. And, as if it were a confirmation of his intuition, the hollows that had previously infested the area began to disappear little by little, as if something or someone were already dealing with them.
Using Shunpo, Keiji silently reappeared by a window on the third floor. His eyes immediately fixed on the source of that reiatsu.
It was a girl with long orange-tinted hair, and her voluptuous body stood out even under clothes that resembled a school uniform, too tight to hide her curves.
The girl was kneeling, completely focused on applying a strange technique to another young woman, with spiky black hair, who remained unconscious on the floor.
An orange barrier surrounded the girl, pulsing like a living membrane.
'Another long-lost sister?'
Karakura Town was interesting. Although his hair color was rare in the Soul Society — he had only seen the Tenth Division's Lieutenant with a similar color — Keiji had found two similar people in a short time after coming to this city.
{This girl's ability…}
'Oh? Something that catches your attention?'
{It is different from the Kaidō you learned from that woman...}
'Different from Kaidō?'
From the reiatsu signature of the barrier, it seemed to be a special ability of that girl. The signature of the barrier really did not resemble the typical flow of a normal healing spell.
She did not seem to be a Shinigami, and she also did not have a zanpakutō. Now it was a matter of finding out whether she had always possessed this ability or had awakened it recently while facing the hollows.
Based on the sudden increase in her reiatsu, Keiji assumed it was the latter.
'This city really is interesting~'
Waiting patiently until the girl finished healing what Keiji assumed was her friend, he appeared in the hallway, taking a good look at all those unconscious people.
"Yo, little girl~ Is your name Kuchiki Rukia?"
Keiji's voice broke the hallway's silence.
"A-ah….!!!"
The orange-haired girl was startled, almost stumbling. She raised her hand to the clips on her head as if trying to activate something, but nothing happened. Her face turned red with nervousness.
"W-Who are you?"
Even though she had raised a half-hearted guard, Keiji noticed how she looked at him curiously when she noticed his hair.
'Did you also think I am your long-lost brother?' he thought, amused.
"Ayano Keiji, Third Seat of the Fourth Division, nice to meet you."
"A-Ah… Inoue Orihime, nice to meet you."
She pulled herself together and gave a small bow, still nervous.
Since she did not look anything like a Shinigami, Keiji already expected she was not Kuchiki Rukia.
'Still, where is that girl?'
Was she not in Karakura? Or did something happen to her?
Keiji was not exactly eager to have to face Captain Kuchiki Byakuya and explain that he had failed to find his sweet imouto.
"Inoue-san, would you know where I can find Kuchiki Rukia?"
"Rukia-san…? Wasn't she with Kurosaki-kun earlier?"
'Kurosaki-kun? Where did I hear that name?'
{It is Pumpkin Head.}
'Ah, so it was him.'
That boy really knew something about Kuchiki Rukia. It truly became necessary for Keiji to find him again.
"Thank you~ Inoue-san helped me a lot~"
Orihime just nodded, her face slightly flushed, trying to keep calm while taking a deep breath.
"You did well saving these people, so you can rest now."
Keiji was at Orihime's side before she noticed and started giving a few gentle pats on her head, making Orihime's face turn even redder.
"… mhm~"
Orihime initially wanted to brush off Keiji's pats, but since Keiji was using Kaidō to help her recover, Orihime felt a lot of comfort in Keiji's actions, making her involuntarily close her eyes as a small, satisfied huff slipped from her lips.
Keiji, on the other hand, only watched the scene naturally, amused by her expression.
"And who might you be?"
He asked without looking back, taking his hand off Orihime's head. For an instant, the girl made a childish pout, as if she had lost something she did not know she wanted to keep.
Coming out of the shadows of the hallway, a man a few centimeters taller than Keiji appeared.
Pale blond hair with bangs falling between his eyes, wearing clothing similar to a Shinigami shihakushō, but green in color and a dark haori. He wore wooden sandals and a moss-green-and-white striped hat on his head.
"Do not mind me~ I am just a simple, yet absolutely handsome merchant~"
"Is that so?"
The reiatsu he emitted was not much different from that of an ordinary person, but the fact that he could see him and even slip past his spiritual sense for a few moments raised some serious flags.
"If Ayano-san does not mind me asking… what do you intend to do now~?"
"Finish the cleanup."
"And what about Inoue Orihime-san and Kuchiki Rukia-san?"
"My mission is to verify the condition of Kuchiki Rukia."
As for Orihime… her personal ability seemed interesting, but Keiji had no excessive interest in it.
The fanatics for those things belonged to the Twelfth Division, especially its Captain, and Keiji had made it the task of his afterlife not to get involved with them.
Captain Kurotsuchi was the kind of eccentric person who did not match Keiji at all.
"Is that so~? Then how about following me? I will take you to her, and Ayano-san can finish his cleanup along the way~!"
"How kind. Show me the way, very suspicious merchant."
"Huh? Where are we going?"
Orihime started asking curiously as she ran after the unknown man and Keiji with hurried steps.
"Does Inoue-san also want to follow us~? If you do that, you might find out more about what Kurosaki-kun has been up to all this time~"
"Kurosaki-kun?!"
That seemed to be enough to convince her, as Orihime diligently followed them after confirming the safety of her friend Arisawa Tatsuki.
{Keiji.}
'Yes, I noticed.'
Sora's warning was unnecessary. Despite the weak reiatsu that Keiji could feel coming from the man, his senses kept telling him the man was someone strong.
But even though he was suspicious, Keiji followed him just as he had said. It did not matter what the man might be planning. If he attacked, Keiji would defeat him.
It was as simple as that.
[——]
The suspicious merchant calmly led them to the square where the whole event had started earlier. That same scene of chaos now seemed even busier, as if the city had turned into the stage of a strange spectacle.
Beside Keiji and Orihime, new figures began to approach.
Among them, there stood out an excessively tall man, broad-shouldered and intimidating in presence, accompanied by another boy of similar height and a closed expression. With them, two smaller children came running with short steps, trying to keep up.
Finally, there was also a girl of small stature, similar in size to the children, but with more defined features of a teenager.
Her black hair was cut in a bowl shape, with a side fringe, and her large black eyes watched the surroundings with careful attention.
"Kurosaki-kun!"
Orihime shouted as soon as she saw Ichigo and Ishida fighting a horde of hollows. Ishida displayed a blue bow made of reishi, firing arrows in a continuous sequence, each shot accompanied by a sharp whistle that cut through the air, while Ichigo wore a shihakushō identical to Keiji's and swung a large sword tirelessly, possibly his zanpakutō.
"Now that Inoue-san and Yasutora-san have gained their powers… it is good that you know. This is the kind of life Kurosaki-san is living… do you have enough resolve to keep following him?"
The suspicious man asked while hiding his face with the fan he was waving, everything except his eyes.
"Kurosaki-kun…"
Whatever kind of feeling they felt when they gained their powers and whatever they imagined they would be capable of doing, Orihime and Yasutora Sado felt a reality check when they saw the unrestrained chaos that was facing hollows.
'He wants to scare the kids?'
{It seems so.}
"For now, how about you just watch while you decide? I will give some help to Kurosaki-san~"
With a relaxed smile, the suspicious merchant exited the scene, taking the two children with him, leaving behind the huge man and the small black-haired girl.
The girl would normally want to go along with them, but she was far too busy staring at Keiji with a frozen face.
"You are… Kuchiki Rukia, right~?"
Keiji asked with a light smile. For some reason, he felt an extremely weak reiatsu coming from her, but it was obvious that she could recognize him.
Even if he did not remember seeing her, Keiji had already made occasional visits to the ailing Captain of the Thirteenth Division, the division where Rukia served, and it would not be strange for her to know him.
He himself would admit with all his humility that he was a bit famous inside the Soul Society.
"Ayano Keiji? W-What are you doing here…?"
Rukia asked, trying to keep her composure, but her voice trembled. Her racing heart betrayed her surprise.
With the event involving the invasion of hollows that was happening, she already expected that the Gotei 13 might send someone. But she did not imagine it would be so fast. And, much less, that it would be him.
"A mission. Your disappearance worried your sweet older brother, so I was sent to verify your current condition."
"Onii-sama… was worried about me…?"
Rukia murmured almost to herself, as if she could not believe what she was hearing.
Keiji did not bother to prolong the subject. He just lifted his shoulders slightly again, not caring about the girl's skepticism.
"As far as I know, that is it."
Obviously, the mission came from Central 46 and did not seem to have any involvement from the Captain of the Sixth Division, Kuchiki Byakuya, but that did not stop him from handing out a few free brownie points to the man in front of his little sister.
Whether it was true or not was an irrelevant detail.
"More importantly…" Keiji said, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. "Your reiatsu is very weak. Why?"
The question was not rhetorical. He was genuinely curious. Rukia's reiatsu seemed restrained to absurd levels, almost as if she were an ordinary person. But that did not make sense.
Could the Gigai she was using be responsible? Was it possible for someone to develop an artificial body with the ability to restrict a Shinigami's reiatsu that much?
Lieutenant- or Captain-class Shinigami needed to apply limiter seals when traveling to the Human World precisely so they would not affect the environment with excess power. But for someone to provide a Gigai that suppressed it to this level… it was strange at the very least.
Especially because he had never seen another one of those anywhere.
{Or perhaps we have?}
"Ah… that… you do not know…?"
"Huh?"
Before he could think about the meaning of Rukia's question, Keiji was drawn to the above-average reiatsu that began to appear.
A large crack opened in Karakura's sky, then expanded until it split fully, revealing the characteristic darkness of a Garganta. From within, a monstrous presence began to emerge.
A hollow of colossal proportions was crossing the rift.
It was a Menos Grande, a Gillian.
{This is staged~}
'I figured.'
Keiji closed his eyes for a moment. No matter how strong a Bait was… none of them could attract something of that level.
The presence of a Menos Grande was practically an invitation to disaster.
There was no kind of test at such a magnitude.
"I-Impossible… why is something like this here?"
Rukia's voice faltered. Her knees almost gave out when she saw the creature dragging itself out of the Garganta, but she managed to pull herself together, taking a deep breath, forcing herself to stay on her feet. Her eyes, still full of despair, immediately sought Keiji's face.
"Ayano Keiji… please, help Ichigo! If you let him face this, he will die!"
A Menos Grande was a complete disaster for any human or beginner who dared to face it. For the Human World, it was a calamity in physical form. But for a Lieutenant-ranked Shinigami and above, it was an easy task.
And Rukia knew Keiji's reputation.
He might be the Third Seat of the Fourth Division — a division aimed almost exclusively at healing, support, and logistics and not having combat members… but Ayano Keiji was a talent who had been compared to Ichimaru Gin and Hitsugaya Tōshirō, who now bore the insignia of Captains of the Third and Tenth Divisions.
She was sure someone like that should not be weaker than a Lieutenant.