"What a confusing day."
It was a simple mission to check on the condition of Kuchiki Rukia, who had not sent any report to the Gotei 13 for more than a week.
If she is injured, heal her. If she is missing, find her. If she is dead, report it.
But somehow, something that should have been so simple had turned into a hollow cleanup operation.
First it was small creatures appearing from every corner of the city, then a flood of spiritual presences showing up in sequence.
And now, a Menos Grande had appeared.
{It must be because of this "Dimensional Chat Group".}
Sora's voice echoed in his mind. As his Zanpakutō Spirit, she could see the same holographic screen he saw through his eyes, and therefore was just as aware as Keiji of the strange system that had recently appeared.
'That would explain a few things.'
Less than twenty-four hours had passed since his entry into the group, and he had already gone through situations that did not fit at all into the Soul Society's routine.
Too many coincidences to be just coincidences.
'The Gotei 13 must already have received an alert if the Twelfth Division is doing its job.'
After all, an invasion of hollows on such a scale would not go unnoticed. Even if it was something simple for qualified Shinigami to handle, it was a prelude to death for people in the Human World to be invaded by so many hollows at once.
If Keiji did not send any report in the next few hours, it was possible that other Shinigami would come to investigate.
{What are you going to do?}
'Enjoy it a little. It looks like something big is going to happen. It will be fun.'
{Kekeke~ correct answer~!}
"Ayano Keiji… please, help Ichigo! If you let him face this, he will die!"
"Kurosaki-kun will die?!!"
"… I will help him!"
Keiji shifted his gaze to the Shinigami Kuchiki Rukia, who was pleading with desperate eyes, before also looking at the other two who were nearby.
'Was Kuchiki-san not an Officer of the Thirteenth Division?'
As an officer, even if low-ranking, Rukia should be able to at least defend herself for a few moments against a Menos Grande, even if it was not possible to defeat it alone.
Keiji knew that Rukia had at least reached Shikai, since it was something the ailing Captain Ukitake Jūshirō had boasted to him about once.
So why was she acting like someone completely defenseless? Why was she clinging so much to this Gigai that restricted her reiatsu? And where was her zanpakutō?
{Disgusting.}
Sora grumbled in his mind, clearly annoyed by Rukia's apparent weakness.
"Relax. I am not going to let anyone die on my watch."
Keiji casually ignored the concern of the three. The tall boy, almost twenty centimeters taller than him, kept a hard, silent stare, while Orihime seemed eager to say something, but found no opening.
"And Pumpkin Head-san does not seem to want my help for now."
Keiji pointed with his chin toward Ichigo, who was charging at the Menos Grande with all the strength he had, only to take a kick and be sent flying back toward Ishida again.
While he let the others watch Ichigo's pathetic appearance, Keiji shifted his gaze to the suspicious merchant.
In this situation, the man who emitted a reiatsu indistinguishable from that of a normal human did not seem the slightest bit worried about the presence of the Menos Grande. Instead, his eyes were fixed on Keiji, as if silently asking him not to intervene and just watch.
Having already noticed that some hidden struggle was going on and that, in a way, they were trying to involve him in it, Keiji just raised his hand in a relaxed wave to the suspicious merchant.
For now, he also wanted to watch something interesting.
For that reason, he did not intervene, even when the Menos Grande began concentrating energy in its mouth. The red orb pulsed like an evil heart, growing in intensity until it lit up part of the square.
"I-Is that… what is that..?"
Cero, the signature technique that any hollow of the Gillian class could use.
Perhaps sensing the danger of that orb of energy, the three people started reacting with worry. Rukia, who recognized the attack, looked ready to beg for Keiji to act.
"A characteristic technique of Hollows who have evolved to the Gillian Class and above."
Keiji answered the possible rhetorical question, satisfied to teach a bit of knowledge to his possible long-lost sister, Inoue Orihime.
"If that hits Ichigo… he… we… everyone will die!"
"Only if he is not able to defend himself."
"Ichigo is barely a proper Shinigami, how can he defend himself from something like that?! It has not even been a month since he became a Shinigami!"
"Not even a month?"
Still so inexperienced, and already displaying reiatsu comparable to that of a Seated Officer?
When he himself arrived in the Soul Society, he naturally possessed a high level of reiryoku and reiatsu, but that was rare. Precisely because of that, Keiji was considered a prodigy.
But unless Ichigo already possessed a large amount of reiryoku before becoming a Shinigami… he reached a Seated Officer's reiatsu in less than a month?
It is ridiculous even to Keiji.
'Is that why the suspicious merchant does not want me to interfere? To let Kurosaki Ichigo face the Menos Grande and grow even more?'
{If he grows even more and so fast, it may not take long for him to become a worthy opponent kekekeke~}
More than ever, Sora's thoughts were perfectly aligned with Keiji's.
"Bakudō #4, Hainawa."
Quickly, Keiji released the Kidō spell and restrained the three people who wanted to step in. The spiritual ropes coiled around their bodies, keeping them from running toward Ichigo.
He cast a brief look at the tall man who had remained free, but the man did not move a muscle; he only analyzed the spell with attentive eyes before turning back to face the Menos Grande in silence.
For an instant, Keiji felt as if his performance were being evaluated, like at the Academy.
"Ayano Keiji…! What does this mean?!"
Rukia screamed, struggling against the spiritual binding.
"Let the young be young, Kuchiki-san."
Keiji spoke without giving a glance to the Shinigami who had not freed herself from her Gigai. His eyes kept watching Ichigo charge forward bravely to receive the Cero fired by the Menos Grande.
"If you want Kurosaki Ichigo to become strong, you cannot deny him the opportunity to grow stronger."
And that is exactly what happened.
With a fierce roar, Ichigo let his reiatsu explode. The reiatsu emanating from his body rose in waves, growing more and more until it became palpable. His sword, heavy and without technique, was raised by the brute force of his determination alone.
In the next instant, he let everything go.
A gigantic streak of energy cut through the air and struck the Menos Grande's body. The white mask received a vertical scar that ran from the top of the head down to the chest.
'Impressive. Even if only for a moment… he reached a Lieutenant's reiatsu.'
That clearly showed that Ichigo still had untapped potential within him. With some training, he would be on the same level as a Lieutenant.
{Kekekekeke~}
Sora's satisfied laughter echoed inside Keiji.
The Menos, for its part, seemed to assess its own wound for a few seconds. Then, without making another sound, it began to retreat slowly into the Garganta it had opened.
Ichigo, who seemed to have given everything he had in that strike, collapsed to the ground. The Quincy, standing at a distance, simply lowered his bow. The suspicious merchant, for his part, did nothing to stop the Menos from fleeing.
At the moment the Garganta closed after the Menos Grande passed through it completely, the children who had finished dealing with smaller hollows and the silent tall man began destroying small strange objects and even some spiritual birds that were nearby.
Keiji watched them in silence as he dispelled his spell and released Orihime, Sado, and Rukia.
"Your friend won and became stronger. You can go see him now."
But even though Keiji had released them and allowed them to move, none of the three left their place, immersed in a state of shock at what had happened.
[——]
---
[1/2]
『Group Chat』
[Members]: Grayfia Lucifuge; Boa Hancock; Aizawa Shota; Zen'in Maki; Ayano Keiji.
『New Messages』
[Ayano Keiji: Yo, everyone~]
[Grayfia Lucifuge: …]
[Boa Hancock: Hmph.]
[Aizawa Shota: …]
[Zen'in Maki: … seriously?]
[Ayano Keiji: Looks like I wasn't very well received~]
[Grayfia Lucifuge: …]
[Boa Hancock: Hmph.]
[Aizawa Shota: …]
[Zen'in Maki: … seriously, though?]
[Ayano Keiji: Kekekekeke~ I took a look at the features, but the missions seem to be the only fun thing. Does anyone know when they start?]
[Aizawa Shota: Hard to say. No one explained how we ended up here or what's going to happen.]
[Grayfia Lucifuge: ... I still haven't managed to figure anything out. Apparently, we're just connected for no reason.]
[Ayano Keiji: Since we're here, how about introductions? I'll start~ I'm Ayano Keiji, Third Seat of the Fourth Division of the Gotei 13.]
[Zen'in Maki: Just Maki. I'm not good with introductions.]
[Grayfia Lucifuge: Grayfia Lucifuge, I'm a servant of Gremory Clan, nice to meet you.]
[Boa Hancock: I am Boa Hancock, the most beautiful woman in the world. Everyone forgives what I do, do you know why? Because I am beautiful!]
[Zen'in Maki: …]
[Aizawa Shota: Aizawa Shota, Pro-Hero and a teacher. Don't expect much from me in long conversations.]
[Ayano Keiji: Sounds like a good party.]
[Zen'in Maki: … that's what you took from these introductions?]
[Ayano Keiji: Only the important part~ So… since we're stuck here together, how about we talk a bit about our worlds?]
[Boa Hancock: My world already has everything I need: the sea, the Amazons, and me, the most beautiful woman.]
[Grayfia Lucifuge: Even so, sharing information can be useful. If we're really connected by something dimensional, knowing each person's environment may help us understand this group's purpose.]
[Aizawa Shota: Basic info is enough.]
[Ayano Keiji: I'll go first~ I live in the Soul Society, a world where the spirits of the dead coexist, and we serve as guardians to maintain the balance between life and death. I fight monsters called hollows, and… let's say my job mixes healing and combat. Easy enough to understand, right?]
[Zen'in Maki: Hollows? Sounds like something familiar. My world is full of curses, creatures born from human negative energy. I grew up in a clan of sorcerers, but I'm not very welcome there. So I decided to fight in my own way.]
[Ayano Keiji: Oh? Maybe our monsters would get along, don't you think?]
[Zen'in Maki: Don't joke about that.]
[Boa Hancock: In my world, the World Government controls everything with an iron hand, but pirates challenge that order. I'm one of the Shichibukai, recognized and feared. There's no beauty greater than mine, and everyone ends up kneeling before me, enemies or allies.]
[Ayano Keiji: So confident~]
[Boa Hancock: Hmph! It's natural.]
[Grayfia Lucifuge: I serve one of the most powerful Clan of the Underworld, Gremory Clan. At the moment, we're in the middle of a cold war between the other biblical factions.]
[Aizawa Shota: … compared to that, my world seems simple. Heroes with powers we call Quirks. My job is to train the new generation of heroes to keep society in order.]
[Ayano Keiji: Quite a diverse situation, isn't it?]
[Zen'in Maki: I wanted to say it was hard to believe we're from different worlds… but one person lives in the underworld, another in a hero society, another in one with the dead fighting monsters…]
[Aizawa Shota: Believe me, it was hard for me too.]
[Grayfia Lucifuge: At least now we have a sense of how different our worlds are. And yet, we were brought together here.]
---
It really was a broad and chaotic set of worlds the other group members came from. But at the very least, it didn't seem like Keiji would be lacking opponents.
Pirates who crossed oceans, heroes who defended society against villains, jujutsu sorcerers who fought curses, and even a devil in the flesh. And now, along with all that, a shinigami in the same group. Just thinking about that mix, Keiji could already feel excitement running through his body.
All those new things, all those different settings, were truly exciting.
Sitting and watching Karakura's sky grow dark after sending his report to the Gotei 13, Keiji kept learning more information about the other worlds.
Grayfia, for example, was a devil who had lived for centuries. The closest to her in terms of age would be Aizawa, but he was only thirty. Even Keiji, the only other one who seemed to have a high life expectancy as a Shinigami, would barely be hitting twenty-seven if he added his time as a "human" and his time as a "soul."
Grayfia's world also seemed the most interesting, with devils, angels, fallen angels, and even Gods existing and competing for space.
Keiji wondered how the Captains of the Gotei 13 would compare to those great figures.
"Stronger? Weaker?"
Either way, it looked like a banquet of powerful opponents.
Keiji and Sora couldn't have been happier.