Makoto Ito pulled out his wooden identification tag and followed its directions toward the residence assigned to him by the Soul Society.
He had only taken a few steps when a timid voice called out from behind him.
“Um, excuse me.
Are you heading to the residential area too?” Makoto turned around to find a short, painfully thin girl in a floral kimono.
Seeing her, he suddenly remembered catching a glimpse of her further up in his line earlier.
He hadn’t expected her to be assigned to District 57 just like him.
“Hello, my name is Eri Iwasaki.
I…
I can’t read this map.
Could I trouble you to let me tag along to the residence?” The more Eri spoke, the redder her face became, and her voice steadily dropped until it was barely a mosquito’s hum.
So she’s completely directionally challenged, Makoto thought, helplessly rubbing his forehead.
“Alright, just stick close to me.” And so, Makoto led Eri Iwasaki toward their new home.
Along the way, Eri chattered nervously, tossing out random conversation starters until the two fell into a comfortable rhythm.
“Makoto-kun, do you not remember anything from when you were alive either?” “Of course not,” Makoto lied smoothly.
“We can only reincarnate into the Soul Society by losing all our memories and letting go of our lingering earthly attachments.” Naturally, that was a lie.
Or rather, it wasn’t a complete lie.
When his Clone had first passed through the gate and taken human form in the Soul Society, his memory had genuinely blanked, plunging him into a brief state of confusion.
However, his main body, situated far away in Hueco Mundo, had instantly reawakened his consciousness through the unique spiritual connection linking their souls.
After walking and talking for a while, he realized this girl was exceptionally talkative.
Still, considering this was the first actual conversation he’d had with another human being since his transmigration, he didn’t find it annoying in the slightest.
Suddenly, the wooden tag in Makoto’s hand began to glow faintly, signaling that they had arrived at their assigned residence.
Looking ahead, they saw a row of connected wooden cabins.
Makoto and Eri walked up to the front entrance and knocked.
A moment later, an old woman standing less than four feet tall, wearing thick, traditional geisha makeup, opened the door.
“Two more newcomers today?
Those bastards in the Seireitei really love bothering this old lady day in and day out, and they never even bother paying me extra rent!” The old woman grumbled impatiently.
But the moment she looked up and caught sight of Makoto, a heavy blush actually crept across her heavily powdered cheeks.
“My, what a handsome young man…
Granny feels like her youth is coming back to her!
Come in, come in, please!” Her attitude taking a complete one-eighty, the old woman enthusiastically ushered Makoto inside.
Seeing the blatant double standard, Eri could only twitch her lips helplessly and follow the two of them in.
“This old lady is named Mihana.
You can just call me Granny Mihana.
The Seireitei arranges temporary housing for every new soul arriving in the Rukongai.
Your living expenses for the first three years are covered by the Seireitei, but after that, you’ll have to pay your own rent.” Having explained the rules, Granny Mihana turned her gaze back to Makoto’s handsome face.
“Of course,” she added with a coy, bashful look, “a handsome young man like you can stay here for free as long as you’d like!” Makoto looked at Granny Mihana’s heavily wrinkled face, which bunched up like a blooming chrysanthemum when she smiled.
He swallowed hard, struggling to maintain his composure.
Beside him, Eri stared deadpan, imaginary dark lines forming over her head.
Granny Mihana led them into a spacious guest room and pulled out two woven floor cushions, inviting them to sit.
Eri fluidly took a cushion and settled into a perfect traditional kneeling posture.
Makoto hesitated for a second before awkwardly mimicking her, placing the cushion under himself and kneeling.
He truly wasn’t used to this kind of traditional etiquette.
Taking a cup of hot tea poured by Granny Mihana, he downed it in one gulp.
“Haa!” Makoto let out a long, satisfied exhale.
That simple cup of hot tea was the very first piece of human sustenance he had consumed since his transmigration.
Feeling the warmth of the tea and its fragrant aroma spreading down his throat, Makoto was so moved he nearly wanted to cry.
In his past life, he hadn’t even liked tea.
But after being deprived of anything resembling human food for so long, the simple fragrance was practically divine.
After all, his entire existence in Hueco Mundo had been nothing but raw, bloody carnage and devouring raw flesh.
“Roar!” Right as Makoto was savoring his tea, an all-too-familiar, bloodcurdling howl reached his ears.
Boom!
Suddenly, a massive, bone-white claw smashed through the ceiling, grabbing blindly at the three people inside.
Just as the giant hand was about to crush them, Makoto grabbed the two women and vanished in a blur.
Drawing strictly from Umi Ito’s memories, he flawlessly executed Shunpo.
He successfully carried them out of the collapsing house, setting them down in a safe, hidden corner down the street.
Afterward, he leapt onto the rooftops, deliberately slowing his pace to draw the Hollow’s aggro.
He didn’t stop until he had lured the monster a safe distance away from the neighborhood.
Though he had taken human form, his Adjuchas-class Reiatsu was perfectly intact.
Seeing that the area was entirely deserted, he finally let loose.
With a burst of Shunpo, he reappeared directly in front of the skeletal Giant Hollow and slammed his fist dead center into its mask!
As a human, Makoto had lost his Menos physique and could no longer use Hollow-specific abilities like Cero or Sonido.
However, heavily reinforced by his Adjuchas-class Reiatsu, his bare fists were more than enough to obliterate a mere Giant Hollow.
That single punch shattered the Hollow’s mask on impact, sending its massive body flying backward to crash and roll over a dozen meters away.
Swish!
Pressing his advantage, Makoto blurred forward to close the distance instantly.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
He unleashed a lightning-fast flurry of straight punches, mercilessly battering the Giant Hollow’s ruined face.
In just a few seconds, Makoto had thrown no less than forty or fifty devastating blows.
“Roar!” With one final, resentful screech, the Giant Hollow bizarrely dissolved into scattering spiritual dust.
A tiny, dust-like particle radiating a faint blue glow remained behind, which Makoto swiftly snatched out of the air.
“What’s this?” Before he could inspect it, his sharp spiritual senses picked up several more abnormal Reiatsu signatures nearby.
“Hm?
There are more of them!” Stashing the mysterious glowing particle away, Makoto activated Shunpo again.
Kicking off the air itself in rapid succession, he sprinted toward the new signatures.
Not long after, he arrived at a grassy outskirt of the district.
Looking into the distance, he saw several Giant Hollows rampaging wildly, casually scooping up and devouring numerous Rukongai residents.
Makoto watched the Giant Hollows, falling into deep thought.
If a group of Giant Hollows had invaded through a Garganta, someone like him who was essentially a Menos Grande himself would have instantly detected the spatial fluctuations.
Yet, he hadn’t sensed the slightest disturbance indicative of a Garganta opening.
These Hollows had practically appeared out of thin air.
There was only one logical explanation: these Hollows had been birthed right here in the Soul Society, artificially catalyzed by someone using highly specialized means.
Realizing this, a single name instantly surfaced in Makoto’s mind.
Sosuke Aizen!
The thought stopped him dead in his tracks.
He absolutely refused to wade into those muddy waters.
He hadn’t fully matured yet; it was far too early for him to enter Sosuke Aizen’s field of vision.
Thus, he refrained from stepping forward to stop the Giant Hollows from feeding on souls.
If these Hollows truly were part of Aizen’s twisted projects, then the man himself was undoubtedly hiding somewhere nearby, closely observing and recording his experimental data!
Besides, a Hollow outbreak in the Rukongai was the Gotei 13’s problem.
As long as it didn’t threaten his own life, why should a newly arrived Rukongai resident like him care?
It didn’t take long for a squad of Shinigami in black Shihakusho to arrive via Shunpo and begin purging the soul-devouring Giant Hollows.
However, these Shinigami were just ordinary rank-and-file unseated members.
Clashing with Giant Hollows, they quickly found themselves locked in a desperate, uphill battle.
Right at that moment, a dark-skinned, curly-haired Shinigami wearing a Shihakusho and a pair of goggles Shunpo’d into the center of the battlefield.