Under the black of night, points of fire flickered.
Staring at the ring of red-helmed samurai surrounding the shop, Kisuke Urahara narrowed his eyes.
"Looks like you brought back quite the headache, Shuuichi."
"It's fine. I tested these guys. They're not people, and not Shinigami either—just puppets under someone's control. Tap them and they shatter."
Higashino Shuuichi paid no mind to the sheer number of red-helmed troops. The only thing that interested him was the single figure in the middle who actually looked human.
"So you rōnin are sheltering that woman?"
The man with a samurai topknot—paunchy, fluttering a small folding fan—looked up with contempt at Shuuichi and Urahara on the second-floor balcony.
Because Shuuichi hadn't removed the zanpakutō from his waist, the man had casually filed him under "samurai."
"You're that Zuobu-sama?"
Shuuichi asked.
"Oh? So you know me? In that case, hand over the woman named Nagasawa Satomi at once!"
The topknotted man preened.
"You say 'hand her over' and we're just supposed to do it? That's a bit face-less, isn't it?"
Kisuke's gaze flashed. Unlike Shuuichi, he'd spotted the oddities in the red-helmed crowd at a glance.
All around them, the hidden reinforcing barrier—his own revision of the Kasumiooji family's reiatsu-masking devices—unfurled at speed.
Kisuke knew tonight wouldn't end cleanly.
Shuuichi appreciated that. The reason he hadn't parked Satomi in some random spot to wait for Zuobu to show was the worry that Zuobu might be a Fullbringer. If they were forced to release reiatsu during a fight, that would be a mess.
The Kasumiooji devices Shuuichi had taken in Soul Society didn't behave well in the World of the Living. In Soul Society, you only needed to stop the ripple of reiatsu from spreading; here, you also had to curb how reiatsu affected the environment itself.
Even so, Shuuichi was doomed to be disappointed.
He merely brushed open Bankai—and the red-helmed samurai crumbled en masse, without Shuuichi lifting a finger.
Even Zuobu-sama collapsed under the weight of Shuuichi's pressure, nearly forcing Shuuichi to perform Konsō (Soul Burial) on him out of pity.
It felt like punching cotton.
All that bluster—and this was all Zuobu-sama was?
There was at least one useful discovery from Kisuke: those red helms' outer shells were modified from genuine reigai (Spirit Bodies).
Unlike the counterfeit "lingai" Shuuichi's group wore—Kisuke liked to call them "spirit bodies," but strictly speaking his current tech only borrowed from reigai to develop a lower-grade product: gigai (Artificial Bodies). In the future, when mass use was authorized, they'd keep that formal name.
Gigai are temporary containers that store and release a Shinigami's power, isolate external reishi, block reiatsu leakage, and grant a humanlike body so a Shinigami can live like a normal person in the World of the Living.
True reigai, by contrast, are permanent containers for Shinigami souls—the sort used by Gikongan (Mod Soul) in certain applications.
At the first whiff of that conclusion, one phrase filled Shuuichi's mind:
"Mass-production weapons."
He'd suspected as much the first time he saw the red-helmed soldiers; now it was confirmed.
"This has to be Aizen's doing!"
Kensei Muguruma jumped in first. For him these days, when in doubt, blame the big schemer Aizen—safe bet.
Down in the underground space of the Urahara Shop, Shuuichi's Bankai had jolted most of the Shinigami awake. Leaving Kisaragi Shūsuke, Nagasawa Satomi, and the dead-to-the-world Matsumoto Rangiku upstairs to watch the place, everyone else gathered below.
"It shouldn't be," Yoruichi Shihōin said, glancing at Kisuke and reading the nod in his eyes. "Before we left Soul Society, I asked 8th Division's taichō Kyōraku Shunsui to see that Kurotsuchi Mayuri succeeded the 12th Division. If it's Mayuri, he wouldn't let Sōsuke Aizen lay hands on Twelfth's tech."
That's only because you don't know the true nature of Kyōka Suigetsu, Shuuichi remarked inwardly.
But from his side, it didn't feel like Aizen either.
There was no motive.
As a long-time subordinate, Shuuichi knew Aizen's next step after forcing Kisuke out of Soul Society:
Consolidate Soul Society from the shadows, then use its full weight to pressure Kisuke, forcing him to expose the half Hōgyoku himself.
Along the way, Aizen might weave in more research into Shinigami and Hollows. But proud as he was—even if he had ideas about reigai—he'd never shatter them into mass-produced fodder. Pointless.
"Then who? Who else could—mmph!"
Kuna Mashiro clapped a hand over Kensei's mouth and shoved him down.
"Ahem."
Yadōmaru Lisa coughed twice to paper over the awkwardness.
With Aizen ruled out, three choices remained.
First, Kurotsuchi Mayuri himself was unlikely. He's a research maniac; everything else is outside his interest. Anyone who's dealt with him can see that.
Second, Sōtaichō Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni could do it—but there'd be no need. If you want grunts, Soul Society's lifetime enlisted Shinigami are an endless well.
Last, that left the nobles.
Only the nobles had both motive and means for this sort of thing.
The room, however, contained two members of Soul Society's Five Great Noble Houses—both nominal heads. Never mind their personal power; two of their close allies here were Kisuke Urahara and Higashino Shuuichi, the most formidable figures present.
Naming that answer outright in this setting was a quick way to die.
After a brief silence, Shuuichi spoke. "How about I go back for a bit?
Check the lay of the land in Soul Society?
We can't hole up here forever. Since Aizen didn't catch us all in one sweep, it's possible he's plotting the next strike back in Soul Society. We're among the few who know his face and are firmly on the other side.
Going back to feel out Aizen's bottom line—I'd say it's necessary."
"I'm with Shuuichi! Brother, I'll go back with you!"
Kensei had just pried free of Mashiro and, who knew whether he'd registered a word Shuuichi said, but he declared his support at once.
"Yeah, no. Look at you: you haven't even mastered Hollowfication, and you're planning to march back wearing a mask? You'll be spotted instantly."
Mashiro dumped a bucket of ice water on him.
"Right… haha."
Kensei scratched the back of his head, chagrined.
"I agree with Shuuichi-kun as well," Kisuke said, smiling helplessly at the Kensei sideshow. "One more question: are you planning to take Satomi-san with you?"
"Not this first time. Better to be cautious. Once safety's confirmed, it won't be too late."
Shuuichi shook his head.
The others looked between Kisuke and Shuuichi, wondering how much those two had discussed behind the scenes. But aside from a certain someone, they were all half-savvy and tactful enough not to pry.
"In that case, Shuuichi-kun—please take Seyabasa with you."
Kabuma Sayako, ever Shuuichi's ally, slipped her zanpakutō—Seyabasa—free and held it out.
"Mm."
He agreed without fuss, but didn't take Seyabasa from her hand yet.
Plans were one thing; setting foot back in Soul Society was another. He wasn't about to charge in without prep.
Preparation… took a year.
A year is long for humans, but for Shinigami who live centuries or millennia, it passes in a blink.
In that time, beyond training with Kensei and the others to harness Hollow power and extend his Hollowfication, Shuuichi kept an eye out to see if anyone else would move against Nagasawa Satomi.
He wanted to know how that "Zuobu" had learned of Satomi, and why they wanted her.
But Zuobu was a tool who knew nothing. Everything he'd done had been assigned by letters from someone behind the scenes; the red-helmed samurai had been gifts from elsewhere.
After they captured Zuobu, no successor appeared.
So, when Shuuichi could maintain Hollowfication for eighteen hours at a stretch and had basically mastered all the Menos (Great Hollow) baseline abilities, he decided it was time to go back.
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