“What were you doing just now?” Suì-Fēng asked, her face impassive.
“Practicing Kidō.” Ichiryu replied, his expression suggesting the answer was obvious.
Suì-Fēng stared at him, then scanned the room.
Nothing was out of place.
The same bed, the same low table, the same futon.
Her gaze swept toward the washbasin.
“Captain, please don’t stare at a man’s room like that.” Ichiryu feigned embarrassment.
She glared at him.
Finding nothing, she said, “I’m going out today.
Don’t cause trouble.”
“Of course.
I never do that kind of thing, right?” He watched her glare intensify.
“Today, I… genuinely plan to rest.
Just like this.”
Suì-Fēng heard him, turned, and left.
Ichiryu lay back down.
“It should be too late now,” he murmured.
Beneath Urahara Shōten, the underground space hummed with energy.
“Hm?”
Urahara Kisuke paused his work on the Senkaimon.
“Is something wrong, Urahara-sama?” Tessai asked, assisting him.
“There seemed to be something… Never mind.
It’s nothing.” Urahara shook his head.
Within the Dangai behind the gate, Ichigo and his companions fled headlong, the Kōtotsu sweeping through the passage at their heels.
No one noticed the pendant in Ichigo’s pocket flicker faintly.
Something far more terrifying manifested.
“Not the Kōtotsu — a Hollow!
Run faster!
If it catches you, it’s over!” Yoruichi, a streak of black fur, yowled urgently.
Simultaneously, she cursed inwardly.
Is Urahara actually reliable?
The odds of encountering a Hollow here aren’t high, and we still get caught.
Didn’t he check the pathway?
The group fled, bursting out the other end—the exit into Soul Society—just before Yoruichi was forced to intervene.
Ichigo’s companion, Inoue Orihime, used her unique ability to block the creature’s attack for a single, straining moment. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Yoruichi was surprised.
It can be blocked?
Huh.
Should I call today lucky… or unlucky?
In any case, they arrived in Soul Society more or less intact.
Ichigo landed face-first.
Only…
“Huh?” Yoruichi immediately sensed the distortion in the timeline node.
The Hollow’s interference had still had an effect.
The relationship between Soul Society and the living world wasn’t merely one of separate spaces, but of different dimensions.
While time usually flowed in sync, temporal anomalies during border crossings were exceedingly rare.
They had left Urahara’s shop on August 8th.
Now it was August 1st.
Time in the precipice world was always confusing.
If they tried to return to the living world now, would they see their past selves?
According to the rules, an immediate return would mean encountering the Hollow again, and they could not possibly arrive earlier than August 8th.
While there were now versions of Ichigo, Uryū, and even Yoruichi in both Soul Society and the living world, as long as they didn’t traverse the Dangai and actually move between the worlds, it held no practical consequence.
It wasn’t a true paradox.
This situation was also incredibly rare.
Generally, if the timeline shifted too drastically, they’d be lost in the void forever.
Yoruichi grew increasingly suspicious.
What a coincidence.
Noticing the black cat’s solemn expression, Uryū Ishida adjusted his Quincy attire.
“What’s wrong?
This is Soul Society, isn’t it?”
Everyone looked around.
The buildings were antiquated, like a film set.
“That’s right.
This is the Rukongai, on the outskirts of Soul Society.” Yoruichi gazed toward a cluster of distant buildings painted in a completely different style.
“Not far from the Seireitei, where the Shinigami reside.”
Ichigo wasn’t listening.
He was bent over, searching the ground.
“Kurosaki-kun, what’s wrong?
Did you lose something?” Orihime asked.
“Ah!
If I couldn’t bring this back, my leg would definitely get broken.” Ichigo sighed in relief and picked up a pendant.
“Huh?
This is…” Chad was puzzled, then said in surprise, “Could it be… from some girl…”
“Of course not!
This is a pendant my dad gave to my mom.” Ichigo said bluntly.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t heard Kurosaki-kun mention his father… Ah!
Sorry.” Orihime, who was herself effectively parentless, had spoken faster than she thought.
“No, no, it’s fine.
My dad’s alive.
But my mom told my sisters and me since we were little that he works far away and is too busy, so he can only come back for two days every year on August 15th.” Ichigo tried to sound nonchalant.
“When we grew up, we naturally figured it out.
He’s probably a prisoner who gets a few days of release for good behavior.”
Compared to being “too busy working far away,” being a “prisoner” allowed home for two fixed days a year was clearly more plausible.
“August 15th… Then we have to work hard.
We still have seven days.” Chad said it plainly, but the implication was clear: break into the Seireitei early, finish the job early, so Ichigo wouldn’t miss his father.
“No.
You have fourteen days.” Yoruichi corrected.
“Eh?” Ichigo and the others were stunned.
“The Hollow just now distorted the time axis of our crossing.
It’s currently August 1st.” Yoruichi, acutely sensitive to time, immediately grasped the correct date.
“Half a month?
That seems like more than enough!” Ichigo said confidently.
“Idiot!
Don’t get complacent, you lot!” Yoruichi snapped.
Newborn calves had no fear of tigers.
If Rukia’s situation weren’t as simple as it seemed, Yoruichi wouldn’t have thought they had any chance of causing a stir in the Seireitei.
They had to create opportunities where none existed.
However…
Even as Yoruichi warned them, Ichigo was already charging toward the Seireitei, his body moving faster than his brain.
The boundary between the Seireitei and the Rukongai was stark, marked by the completely different architectural styles.
“Wait!
You idiot—”
Before Yoruichi could finish, the massive Seireimon gate slammed down, blocking Ichigo outside.