Nemu had been feeling a little lost lately.
She had defeated that powerful Arrancar, but her father was gone.
She wanted to return to Soul Society, but then she remembered—her father had secretly brought her to the Human World.
Under Soul Society's newest regulations, Shinigami were not allowed to leave Soul Society without authorization.
At best, you'd be stripped of your post. At worst, you'd be thrown into the Maggot's Nest for punishment.
Even the former Captain of the Tenth Division couldn't avoid that—so what chance did a small seated officer of the Twelfth Division like her have?
So the only thing she could do was find her father, and have him take her back.
But this was the first time, in any real sense, that she'd wandered around the Human World alone.
And Nemu discovered something very quickly.
The Human World was huge!
It didn't feel any smaller than Soul Society at all.
And the humans here were far more complicated than the people she encountered in Soul Society.
"Hey, gorgeous, wanna have some fun?
We guarantee you'll feel amazing!"
"No."
After rejecting yet another man who sidled up to flirt with her, Nemu continued walking down the street without a clear destination.
She didn't really understand.
If something as serious as what happened in Ginbu Town occurred in Soul Society—if a district in Rukongai suffered that kind of disaster—then for at least a month, the residents of the surrounding districts (including the one where it happened) would go every day to help rebuild.
And the overall atmosphere would be steeped in grief.
But here, in Karakura Town—so tightly connected to Ginbu Town—Nemu couldn't feel anything like that at all.
The people living here acted as if nothing had happened in Ginbu Town a few days ago.
Songs still played. Dancing still went on.
The same indulgence. The same drunken, dreamlike decay.
By all logic, humans were creatures with short lives—shouldn't they cherish life even more?
She couldn't understand it. Not at all.
Lost in thought, Nemu realized she'd wandered into a deserted alley.
Only the occasional car passed by on the road nearby.
She stopped.
Because she sensed three very faint spiritual pressures behind her.
"Hey, little girl, walking alone—aren't you bored?
How about your big brothers keep you company, huh?"
"Don't worry, we're experienced. We'll make you feel reaaal good~"
"Be a good girl. Just listen, okay~"
Nemu turned around and saw three human men.
She didn't understand what they were saying, but she didn't want them getting any closer.
Instinctively, she found them disgusting.
"Was this your arrangement too?"
Under the night sky in the distance, Higashino Shuuichi stood within a concealment Kekkai (Barrier) on a rooftop, staring down at the scene below and speaking coldly.
Forget Nemu—he, her "father," was about to lose it and step in himself.
What the hell were those three?
Half-human, half-ghoul, with ridiculous try-hard punk haircuts—and they thought they could harass his daughter in the street?!
Then again, that was on him. How had he gotten so caught up in linking up with Urahara Kisuke that he forgot about Nemu?
But the thought immediately followed—
Had he really forgotten of his own accord?
Or had something influenced him, making him "forget" passively?
"It wasn't. But it's a pretty good opportunity."
Urahara Kisuke shook his head.
He wasn't so omnipotent that he could orchestrate something like this.
As he spoke, Nemu moved.
A burst forward—then a snapping kick!
Inherited from Higashino Shuuichi, Nemu's excellent physical foundation gave her an innate talent for Hakuda (Hand-to-Hand Combat) and fighting technique.
A lot of it came to her without any teacher at all.
With a single strike, she sent the thug in front flying.
"Boss!"
The remaining two thugs yelled at the same time.
They exchanged a look—and in each other's eyes, they saw a flicker of anger.
"Damn it! You're finished, woman!"
They shouted again—still nearly in unison.
Then they both spun around and bolted in the opposite direction, sprinting away from Nemu as fast as they could.
Yes, there was a trace of anger in their eyes—
But the other ninety-nine parts were pure fear.
This pretty girl wasn't someone they could mess with.
Nemu simply watched them run.
She didn't chase.
Because in the textbooks Higashino Shuuichi once wrote for the Hirugetsu Class, he'd said: don't pursue a desperate enemy.
Nemu didn't know if these two counted as "desperate enemies," but not chasing them definitely wouldn't hurt.
But just because she didn't move didn't mean no one else would.
The two thugs had only made it halfway when—whoosh—
They exploded into two clouds of blood mist in midair.
Nemu frowned.
Because behind those two clouds stood a woman with purple twin-tails, a black eyepatch covering her left eye, and an arrogantly wild expression. In her right hand, she dragged a long sword nearly as tall as she was.
Over her body, she wore a sleeveless white captain's haori with a red lining—while beneath it, she had another layer of black captain's attire.
That kind of unmistakable outfit could only mean one thing:
A Captain of the Gotei 13.
But among the current thirteen Captains, Nemu was absolutely certain there was no such person.
Not even among the vice-captains—impossible.
So there was only one explanation.
An original Captain.
Once the pride of Soul Society—now an enemy of Soul Society.
"Hehehe!
Little girl, letting enemies who mean you harm run away isn't a very good habit, you know~?
But it's fine—I'm a nice person. I helped you out and dealt with them for you!"
The purple twin-tailed woman laughed loudly as she strolled toward Nemu.
"No need. You're an enemy," Nemu replied coldly.
She knew she wasn't a match for this woman—someone who felt like an original Captain.
But fear was not an emotion that could exist in Nemu's heart.
After a split-second analysis, she arrived at a simple conclusion.
She couldn't escape—so she could only fight.
Simple logic.
So Nemu didn't hesitate at all.
Hadō #31: Shakkahō (Red Fire Cannon)!
But just as she expected, her Shakkahō didn't even warrant a drawn blade from Saitō Furōfushi.
This Reigai had been specially reinforced by Miyazaki Sakai Masato, with a physical durability far beyond that of ordinary Shinigami bodies.
Saitō Furōfushi simply reached out with her right hand and grasped at the air—
And snuffed out the Shakkahō Nemu had released, as easily as crushing a candle flame.
"You're too weak."
Saitō Furōfushi shook her head in dissatisfaction.
This wasn't the battle she wanted.
This was the second-most crushing pressure Nemu had ever faced.
Compared to her father, Saitō Furōfushi was a little weaker.
Hadō #32: Ōkasen (Yellow Fire Flash)!
Nemu retreated, condensing an invisible lump of spiritual pressure in her hand and flinging it toward Saitō Furōfushi.
She intended to repeat the same trick she'd used in Soul Society—back when she'd faced her father.
From experience, it might not work well, but it should at least cause some trouble.
But experience could be a poison, too.
Nemu didn't know how much her father had been holding back.
And Saitō Furōfushi wouldn't be as "polite" as Higashino Shuuichi.
Ōkasen was hard to see?
Saitō Furōfushi didn't care.
With Nemu's level of spiritual pressure, even a fully-incanted Ōkasen wouldn't amount to much damage anyway.
She tanked Nemu's attack head-on and rushed right up in front of her.
"Stop struggling in vain!"
Saitō Furōfushi's voice seemed to echo from all directions at once.
In Nemu's eyes, there was only a flash of purple blade-light.
One swing.
One fall.
…I'm still too far behind.
Nemu recalled her father's abilities.
She had inherited many things—but without a Zanpakutō, she could never use the powerful sword techniques her father, Higashino Shuuichi, had mastered.
"If I had a Zanpakutō… I could probably hold out a little longer."
Nemu felt no fear of death.
Only regret.
But what arrived before the death she imagined—
Was a powerful shockwave.
A sudden blast of air that launched Nemu high off the ground.
"What…?"
Nemu frowned.
As she fell, she saw a human.
A male human.
His outfit looked familiar.
…A Quincy?
"You Shinigami really think you can fight here without asking my opinion?"
That human was none other than Higashino Shuuichi, wearing the appearance of Kabuno Takuya's Reigai.
One hand was in his pocket. In the other, reishi swirled and flowed.
This was the script Urahara Kisuke had arranged for him.
As another key actor in the script, Saitō Furōfushi naturally knew it as well.
Her true purpose was to cooperate with Higashino Shuuichi—to put on a performance where a Quincy "saved" a Shinigami.
But watching how mercilessly Saitō Furōfushi had struck at Nemu…
Higashino Shuuichi could guess that Urahara Kisuke's words didn't bind Saitō Furōfushi very much at all.
Act in a play with a Quincy?
Heh. Then it depended on whether the Quincy had the skills to be worth it!
Saitō Furōfushi hunched her body, an ecstatic expression spreading across her face.
She even stuck out a long tongue in an embarrassingly canine way.
Her passion—moments ago—had been completely ignited by the one devastating Seinaru Metsuya (Sacred Destruction Arrow) Higashino Shuuichi had fired.
This was the kind of opponent she wanted!
Nemu had been so unimpressive she didn't even qualify as something to chew on.
"I haven't seen this thing in a loooong, loooong time…"
Saitō Furōfushi lightly placed one hand atop the Seinaru Metsuya (Sacred Destruction Arrow) embedded in the ground, with only half of it still visible.
Her voice was breathless. Her body trembled.
And her left hand—pressed to the arrow—was being burned.
That was it!
That was the feeling!
That kind of attack!
It dragged her mind back to the great war of a thousand years ago.
"Don't worry. Soon enough, you won't want to see it again~"
Higashino Shuuichi said calmly.
Then he lightly swept his right hand—wrapped in countless threads of reishi—toward Saitō Furōfushi.
Multiple Seinaru Metsuya (Sacred Destruction Arrows)!
In an instant, hundreds—thousands—of small Seinaru Metsuya (Sacred Destruction Arrows) formed before him.
They fell like a rain of swords, striking down at Saitō Furōfushi with lethal force.
"This is…?!"
The moment Saitō Furōfushi saw that technique, her thoughts were yanked back into the past.
A thousand years ago, she had witnessed something like this.
The man who called himself the Quincy King stood before countless Shinigami like a god descending to the earth—
He spread his hands, and the entire sky filled with dense, overwhelming Seinaru Metsuya (Sacred Destruction Arrows).
The light of those reishi arrows had even eclipsed the sun.
She never imagined that after the Quincy King was killed, another Quincy could still wield a similar power.
Saitō Furōfushi grew even more excited!
"Quincy—then let you take a look at my true power too!
Ogen Chōen!
Come forth!
Bankai: Konka Jashōjō!"
In that instant, a heavy bell toll reverberated across the sky.
Then came an even heavier roar—one that struck directly into the hearts of everyone present.
A colossal monk-shaped apparition manifested.
Feet planted on the earth, head pressing against the heavens.
A strand of gray prayer beads hung around its neck—but its head was not human.
It wore a demon face, beast ears, and fangs that jutted out beside its lips.
In its left hand, the giant monk held a massive skull.
In its right, it gripped a full-length khakkhara staff.
One glance was enough for anyone to sense the ominousness radiating from that immense figure.
Higashino Shuuichi's brows knit together.
Because Saitō Furōfushi's Zanpakutō ability was one of the very few that had never been recorded.
Among all the original Captains of the First Generation Gotei 13, there were only two whose abilities did not exist in any records at all.
One was the head of the Shihōin clan, Shihōin Chika.
The other… was Saitō Furōfushi.
That Shihōin Chika had no records was simple—he was the Shihōin clan's head.
As for Saitō Furōfushi, Higashino Shuuichi could only say this: there were rumors she had a murky, tangled connection to the Kuchiki clan.
The specifics, even Higashino Shuuichi didn't know yet.
But it definitely had something to do with the Five Great Noble Clans.
So this was the first time Higashino Shuuichi had ever seen Saitō Furōfushi's Bankai.
And the pressure that colossal monk apparition brought down on him was immense.
If he were in his Shinigami state, Higashino Shuuichi was confident he wouldn't lose.
But right now, he was in a purely Quincy state.
In other words—
Saitō Furōfushi, weren't you going a little too hard on your own side?
It was just acting.
And you're popping Bankai like you're about to kill me—what is this?!
Unfortunately, Saitō Furōfushi couldn't hear Higashino Shuuichi's thoughts.
And even if she could, with how excited she was, she probably wouldn't listen to Urahara Kisuke—let alone Higashino Shuuichi.
At this moment, Saitō Furōfushi only wanted to savor this battle—
And if possible… kill the Quincy in front of her!
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