— — — — — —
"...."
"No."
Nemu's reply was short and firm, her expression unchanged.
No wait—there was a slight change. A hint of confusion flickered across her face.
"I see."
The moment Ryo questioned her, he actually became certain she wasn't the culprit.
"Kisuke Urahara noticed the trap Mayuri planted on you, didn't he?"
If that was the case, the sense of being watched he'd felt from her earlier suddenly made sense.
Thinking about that, Ryo couldn't help sighing. "Looks like I underestimated your father again…"
Even after he'd purged Nemu's body with divine power, some of Mayuri's tricks had survived.
As expected of the mad scientist of the Soul Society—no matter how overwhelming the force crushing down on him, the man still managed to leave behind something nasty. Annoying, but impressive.
Too bad Mayuri was far too twisted for Ryo's taste. Otherwise, he really wouldn't have minded poaching him as a technical subordinate.
Ryo lifted his hand, golden light forming at his fingertips.
"Nemu. Take off your clothes."
"Yes." Nemu responded as she always did: quick and calm.
---
Soul Society – 12th Division, S.R.D.I.
A man with messy hair and a bald spot... stared at the reishi computer and let out a helpless smile.
"Even with delayed sensory relays and four layers of shielding, he still noticed… What a waste. It got exposed so fast I barely collected anything worthwhile."
"Aizen must've realized I'd hijacked the trap on Nemu too. That's why he and Nemu never even made contact. But at least I got a bit of intel on the Arrancar."
"The real problem is Yagami. The moment I extended the line, he picked up on it. Did Aizen warn him…? No, never mind. Pointless to overthink. Knowing Ryo Yagami has appeared is enough—it'll keep us from getting blindsided early on. Can't ask for more."
"Still… troublesome."
Kisuke Urahara rubbed his hair, fingers brushing the bald spot again. His bitter smile deepened.
"That damn Kuchiki Byakuya… shaving off my scalp with Senbonzakura? Seriously? Should I set time aside to study hair-regrowth tech? But I've already got my hands full. Need to prepare the scans for the Wandenreich too…"
For just a moment, Urahara considered quitting and leaving the mess to someone else.
But then—
His gaze drifted toward the scorching-hot room next door. His mouth twitched.
The First Division Captain… the strongest shinigami in a thousand years… sleeping in the room next to his office just to keep an eye on him. What had he done to deserve this?
He grabbed a chunk of his hair in frustration, sighing.
"I need to warn the team monitoring Orihime Inoue. If they run into Ryo, we might take casualties way too early. That'd be disastrous."
Just thinking of Orihime made Urahara grimace again.
She and her friends used to be so easy to deal with—set up a few traps, slip a tracker here and there, no problem.
But ever since Rukia Kuchiki had said, "be careful of Urahara," everything had changed.
They didn't say it outright, but Ichigo, Chad, Ishida, and especially Orihime were all extremely wary of him now.
And Orihime—her Shun Shun Rikka could reject anything. As a self-cleaning anti-surveillance tool, it was perfect.
He never imagined a healing-type ability could annihilate more than ten monitoring methods so easily. Truly terrifying.
"But… the girl's still a bit naive. If spiritual-tech surveillance doesn't work, I still have this."
Urahara's eyes narrowed mischievously as he looked at the dozens of screens on the reishi console.
Reishi techniques failing didn't matter—invading the modern surveillance grid worked just fine on Orihime.
And after coating all of Karakura Town's cameras with reishi membranes, even shinigami and hollows showed up perfectly. The monitoring level was top-tier.
Sure, it made him look like a part-time security guard… but intel was everything.
The Soul Society couldn't afford even minor losses right now. Not with Ryo and Aizen both in play.
And then there was the man who claimed to be all-knowing and all-powerful—Yhwach. Letting him join forces with Aizen was unacceptable.
Urahara narrowed his eyes, calculating possible futures.
His thoughts sped up. He scratched his head again… and found another tuft of hair in his palm.
"…Alright, I really do need to develop a hair-growth method."
"And the Hōgyoku… I hope I'll never have to deal with that thing again."
His eyes darkened.
— — —
Human World – Karakura High School
"You need another two weeks off…? Taking this much leave right at the start of the term—is that really okay?"
The teacher stared at Orihime's pleading expression, sighed, and said, "But if it's because of family matters, there's no helping it."
"Just keep your grades up. And borrow notes from Arisawa and the others when you can."
"Yes, sensei."
Orihime nodded quickly, her cheeks tinged pink from guilt over the lie.
"I'll approve it. Consider it a perk of being top three in your year." The teacher smiled and signed the leave slip.
Orihime let out a big breath of relief.
She folded the slip and slipped it into her bag. After bowing politely, she left the staff office.
The moment she stepped outside, she spotted someone leaning against the hallway windowsill.
Uryū Ishida.
Orihime blinked in surprise. "Ishida-kun? What are you doing here?"
Uryū stared at her for a long moment before speaking.
"Orihime… back in the Soul Society, what exactly happened between you and that man named Ryo Yagami?"
"Huh? Didn't I already explain all that? It's embarrassing to go over it again… you know, mistaking identities and all…"
She scratched the back of her head awkwardly.
"You're going to die."
Uryū's voice dropped to a whisper.
He could sense at least five shinigami nearby, quietly watching.
And there were likely stronger ones he couldn't sense at all.
They were clearly here to monitor Inoue. If she did anything dangerous, the consequences…
"Ishida-kun is very kind," Orihime said softly. "Maybe that's why Ryo chose you."
Uryū's mouth twitched violently.
Being one-shot, having your techniques copied, and then being locked in a room to eat nothing but air for days—how did that translate to "chosen because you're very kind"?
He would've preferred not being kind at all!
He pushed up his glasses and spoke expressionlessly. "If this is your own choice, Orihime, I won't interfere."
"Thank you for understanding." Orihime bowed, then straightened with a gentle smile.
Uryū adjusted his glasses again but didn't reply.
Seeing that, Orihime gave him a little smile and turned to leave.
And the moment she turned—
Two figures stood silently at the end of the hall.
One man, one woman. The man was shorter, the woman half a head taller. Both had the pale, hardened hollow carapace on their bodies and wore immaculate white uniforms.
The Tres Espada—Tier Harribel.
The Cuatro Espada—Ulquiorra Cifer.
Harribel stepped forward and bowed slightly.
"Lady Orihime. By Lord Yagami's command, we have come to escort you to Hueco Mundo."
.
.
.