BOOM!
The powerful arrow of spirit particles instantly shattered most of White's head. Half of the horned mask cracked apart as well, revealing the young and handsome face of Noda Tasuke beneath.
With the Hollow power inside his body temporarily purged, Noda Tasuke regained a sliver of consciousness. Looking at the short-haired girl before him, he sighed weakly:
"So in the end… I was released by a Quincy, huh? How… pitiful."
"What?" The short-haired girl froze for a moment, utterly confused as to why this "humanoid Hollow" was suddenly able to speak.
"But still… thank you, Quincy. Now… run!"
Unable to suppress the Hollow power surging back inside him, Noda Tasuke muttered those few words in a low voice before decisively choosing to self-destruct.
"Huh?!"
The girl stared in shock as the Hollow hole in his chest suddenly expanded violently, black and blue energies intertwining and spilling out without restraint—
"Idiot! Get out of the way!!" Shiba Isshin shouted in alarm. Ignoring his own injuries, he leapt toward the girl and forcibly deployed a spiritual pressure barrier around her.
BOOM!!
The Hollow and Shinigami powers inside Noda Tasuke finally swelled beyond their limit and detonated. A deafening explosion erupted as a massive, visible shockwave blasted outward in all directions!
"Self-destruction…? That's impossible…" Tōsen Kaname murmured to himself.
"This is becoming more and more interesting." Aizen smiled faintly, then said to Gin and Tōsen:
"After causing this much commotion, Soul Society should start making its move soon. Let's go—Gin, Kaname."
"Yes, yes! This night was well worth it, Captain Aizen." Gin Ichimaru followed Aizen into the Senkaimon with a grin and vanished.
Hmph. An eyesore. Tōsen snorted darkly, casting a hateful glance at the blood-soaked Shiba Isshin lying on the ground before disappearing into the Senkaimon as well.
Amid the ruins below, Shiba Isshin lay sprawled on the ground, his body covered in blood. A pool of crimson flowed steadily beneath him.
"Um… are you okay?" The short-haired girl asked worriedly.
She had seen from afar how Isshin had single-handedly blocked most of the Hollow's self-destruction before collapsing on the spot, barely alive. Her heart was filled with both gratitude and concern.
"Well now… how embarrassing. A dignified captain being saved by a girl." The gravely injured Isshin lifted his head slightly and grinned crookedly.
"That's not true at all! If you hadn't protected me just now, you wouldn't have been hurt this badly!"
The girl rushed over and began treating Isshin with Quincy healing techniques.
"Ah! Then we're even, right?" Isshin said with a shameless grin.
"Don't move—I'm healing you!"
"Ahhh… thanks a lot!" Isshin obediently lay still, letting her bandage his wounds. After a while, he asked:
"By the way, miss… who are you? To take down something like that all by yourself!"
"I am…"
The girl hesitated briefly, then said solemnly:
"My name is Kurosaki Masaki. I'm a Quincy."
After saying that, Masaki nervously watched Isshin, afraid that once he realized she was a Quincy—an age-old enemy of the Shinigami—he might react violently.
But to her surprise, Isshin burst out laughing like an idiot.
"Oh! A Quincy, huh? This is my first time meeting one! Somehow it feels like I got lucky!"
"Huh? That's… what you think?"
Since childhood, Masaki had been taught by pure-blood Quincies that Shinigami were far more detestable than Hollows, so she had always kept her distance from them.
If she hadn't suddenly sensed three powerful, unfamiliar spiritual pressures erupting in Karakura Town tonight, she probably wouldn't have rushed over to help a Shinigami at all.
"Huh? Then how should I think?" Isshin scratched his head and looked at her.
"It's… it's nothing."
After carefully tending to Isshin's wounds and cleaning away the blood, Masaki let out a long sigh of relief. She then looked around curiously.
"Earlier… there should've been another injured Shinigami, right?"
"Ah!"
Isshin struggled to sit up and looked around. Suddenly remembering something, he chuckled awkwardly.
"I think I left him somewhere in Naruki City… and now I can't even remember where! Hahaha…"
"Idiot." Masaki lightly rolled her eyes at him, then stood and looked toward Naruki City, saying worriedly:
"I really… hope he'll be okay too."
"Don't worry!" Isshin said confidently.
"That guy's the only Shinigami who's guarded Naruki City for ten straight years. He won't be taken down that easily!"
"Is that so…?"
Kurosaki Masaki pondered silently.
But I can't sense his spiritual pressure at all anymore… Is he really going to be okay?
…
At the same time, thirty miles away, atop the Uzuhara Landmark Building in Naruki City, the heavily injured Fūjin Taichi lay motionless on the ground. Even his breathing was faint, as though his life were about to slip away at any moment.
Tap, tap, tap.
A series of light wooden-sandal footsteps sounded. A middle-aged man wearing a dark green short jacket and a white-and-green fisherman's hat appeared out of nowhere.
Dragging his geta while yawning, he strolled over at a leisurely pace as if taking a casual walk, followed closely by an extremely tall man.
Tap, tap, tap.
Tap—squish!
The middle-aged man seemed startled and quickly lifted his right foot.
"Oh my, oh my! Looks like I stepped on something!"
"That's not 'something,' Shopkeeper," the tall man said seriously, adjusting his reflective glasses.
"More precisely, it's a Shinigami."
"Oh?"
The middle-aged man slowly lowered his foot, then pulled out a small folding fan and snap! opened it, covering his stubbly chin.
"You're saying this is a Shinigami?"
"Yes!"
The tall man nodded firmly.
"But… why does he look more like a dog to me?"
As he spoke, the middle-aged man tapped Fūjin Taichi with his cane, feigning surprise.
"Oh ho! It really is a Shinigami—gave me quite a scare!"
"Shopkeeper, stop playing dumb!" the tall man said in a low voice.
"Didn't we come all the way from Karakura Town specifically to save him? Hurry up and do something! If Soul Society notices our presence here, it'll be troublesome!"
"Oh…"
The middle-aged man closed his fan and stared intently at Fūjin Taichi on the ground.
"But I think… it's no longer necessary."
"Why?"
"Because… if we had arrived any later—"
He fixed his gaze on Taichi and said meaningfully:
"—this Shinigami's wounds would have already completely healed."
"How is that possible?!"
The tall man stared at Taichi in shock. The wounds on his back were still bloody and raw—nothing like the "healed" state the man described.
"Ahahaha…"
The middle-aged man crouched down and lightly tapped Taichi's head with the fan.
"Wake up, Mr. Playing-Dead-Shinigami."
"..."
Fūjin Taichi didn't respond at all, lying there as if truly deceased. Even the faint breathing he had moments ago suddenly stopped.
"Oh ho ho… looks like he really is dead!"
The middle-aged man shrugged and said to the tall man:
"Well then, let's take him back and bury him."
"Hm!"
The tall man stepped forward, glanced at Taichi, then asked:
"Shopkeeper—same as usual?"
"Mm. Same as usual."
"OK!!"
The tall man cracked his knuckles and walked over, rummaging through the apron at his waist as if searching for something.
"Wait—what do you mean 'same as usual'?!"
Fūjin Taichi suddenly opened his eyes and shouted.
"Ahahaha…"
The middle-aged man gave a fake laugh, then said solemnly:
"'Same as usual' means popping open your skull with a 'chu', Shinigami!"
"Cut it out, old man!"
Fūjin Taichi already knew who this middle-aged man was—
Urahara Kisuke, former Captain of the 12th Division and the first Director of the Research & Development Institute—a so-called "good guy" who, in theory, had no good intentions.
And that towering man beside him was Tessai Tsukabishi, former Chief Kidō Master of Soul Society, who had been wanted by the Seireitei for "assisting several major criminals in defecting from Soul Society" many years ago.
Of course, he was also a "bad guy" without a bad heart.
So Fūjin Taichi slowly pushed himself up from the ground and looked at Urahara Kisuke seriously.
"And another thing—I'm not called 'Shinigami.'
My name is Fūjin Taichi!!"