Just as Tsunayoshi and Ichigo stopped fighting, four people came rattling down into the underground space.
Or rather, two married couples.
The Kurosaki couple and the Ishida couple had both arrived.
Uryū had only called his father over. This involved Quincy secrets, but Ryūken Ishida had indeed notified Masaki and Kanae. As for Isshin, that wife-obsessed man had naturally followed along to watch the show.
"Well, well, little Uryū. You didn't even tell me about something as important as a Schrift? Do you still have your Auntie Masaki in your heart or not?"
The moment they met, the more lively and outgoing Masaki instantly became the center of attention. First, she gave Uryū a small scolding, then rubbed her chin and looked at Ichigo's new form.
"As expected of my son. This outfit really has the bearing of us Quincy!"
Masaki was quite satisfied with Ichigo's Quincy attire. She herself had been born a Quincy, so she was more or less dissatisfied that Ichigo usually relied on his Shinigami form. She also wanted to see her son inherit her power.
"Hm? Little Tsunayoshi, is your Quincy power really that simple?"
Masaki noticed that Tsunayoshi was merely holding a lone sword, so she kindly suggested, "Why don't you ask A-Ryū's family to get you a couple of white uniforms? That would make you look more like a Quincy."
Tsunayoshi knew Masaki meant no harm, so he smiled and refused. "No need, Auntie Masaki. I'm already used to wearing my usual clothes."
Tsunayoshi had no particular demands when it came to battle attire. Quincy uniforms did not increase defense the way a Shihakushō did, and even a Shihakushō could not compare to Blut Vene. So to Tsunayoshi, changing clothes was meaningless.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi, is that a Seele Schneider in your hand?" Ryūken Ishida asked, adjusting his glasses.
Although the Forest Blade had already become vastly different from a Seele Schneider, he still noticed a few similarities.
"Yes, Uncle Ryūken. It's the Seele Schneider you gave me back then," Tsunayoshi said, raising the Forest Blade horizontally.
"It contains a very powerful force. It looks quite suitable as a surgical knife."
A glint flashed across Ryūken's glasses as he spoke.
"Enough. Let's talk business."
Isshin Kurosaki stepped forward and put an arm around Ichigo's shoulders. "Ichigo, I heard you can help your Uncle Ryūken awaken a Schrift. How do we do it?"
Ichigo scratched his head and stammered, "Basically, Uncle Ryūken just needs me to shoot him with an arrow."
Because Ryūken Ishida's stern expression had left too deep an impression on Ichigo, the more casually he had talked before, the more cowardly he became now that he was truly facing Ryūken.
Isshin, on the other hand, did not share Ichigo's timid attitude. He lightly rubbed his hands together and asked with some embarrassment, "Well, about that… Ichigo, can I do the shooting for you?"
Ryūken Ishida's forehead was covered in black lines. He grabbed Isshin by the back of the collar and flung him into a corner.
How could he not know what Isshin was thinking? He merely wanted to use official business for private revenge over those old issues surrounding Masaki leaving the Ishida family.
It was not as if Ryūken had wanted any of that to happen. The older generation who had those ideas had long since turned into Auswählen silver blood clot donors after the Auswählen. Now both families were happy and complete, yet Isshin still wanted to play petty tricks. A trace of killing intent appeared in Ryūken's eyes.
Sensing his friend's murderous intent, Isshin immediately hid behind Masaki and did not dare show his head.
Ryūken Ishida was not the sort of man to joke around. If he wanted to beat someone up, he really would do it.
"All right, dear. You've never practiced archery anyway. Let Ichigo handle awakening the Schrift."
Masaki soothed Isshin as if she were smoothing down a pet's fur.
This was the Kurosaki couple. They could show off their affection anytime, anywhere, completely ignoring whether the people around them lived or died.
"Dad, Mom, why did you come together? What about my two little sisters?" Ichigo condemned this couple for forgetting their children.
"Oh, I made dinner ages ago. Besides, Yuzu can cook now too, so there's nothing to worry about."
Masaki patted her chest. As a mother, she was still very responsible.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, do you still have strength left?"
Ryūken Ishida prepared to pull the topic back to business. Everyone here was very familiar with one another, and with Masaki, the family social butterfly, present, if he did not stop them, they might end up chatting until dark.
"I can do it, Uncle Ryūken. Leave it to me."
Ichigo imitated Masaki and patted his chest in assurance.
Hearing this, Tsunayoshi silently pulled Tatsuki over to the wall. Ichigo looked as if everything was guaranteed to go perfectly, and Tsunayoshi was afraid he would not be able to resist roasting him. This guy had clearly never thought about how to handle the consequences if the awakening failed.
After listening to Ichigo's explanation, Ryūken likewise realized the same problem as Tsunayoshi.
When it came to obtaining greater power, Ryūken felt that taking on a certain degree of risk was acceptable.
Not only did he accept it, after discussing the arrow's target point with Ichigo, Ryūken even took the initiative to undo a few buttons on the collar of his shirt.
This shirt was rather expensive.
He should save what he could.
The familiar "Tensa Zangetsu" arrow was once again nocked onto the manji-shaped Quincy Spirit Bow. After the experience of awakening Tsunayoshi's Schrift, Ichigo had improved somewhat. At the very least, this arrow would not push Ryūken all the way into the wall.
The arrow struck Ryūken. The chains of Tensa Zangetsu formed a large cocoon around him on the spot.
After doing what he could, Ichigo withdrew his Quincy power and went over to chat with Masaki and the others.
"Speaking of which, Mom, didn't Uryū only notify Uncle Ryūken? Why did you all come too?" Ichigo asked curiously.
Masaki rolled her eyes at Ichigo.
"Don't forget, your Auntie Kanae and I are Quincy too. After the Auswählen, our bodies have basically recovered after all these years of rest."
"If your ability can let A-Ryū awaken that Schrift thing smoothly, we wouldn't mind giving it a try either."
"That's right, little Ichigo. We'll have to rely on your help too," Kanae said with a hand over her mouth, laughing softly.
"That's easy. Leave it all to me."
But Ichigo's tone was nowhere near as confident as his words.
He stopped chatting with Masaki and hurriedly found a corner to sit cross-legged. He needed to ask Old Man Zangetsu what the consequences of a failed awakening would be.
"Mom."
After hesitating for quite a while, Uryū finally squeezed over to Kanae's side and said softly, "About the Schrift… I can return it to you."
With Uryū's current mastery over The Antithesis, he could completely reverse the Schrift back to Kanae. The reason he hesitated was that he feared Kanae would not accept it.
Just as Uryū expected, Kanae refused without the slightest hesitation.
"Little Uryū, what are you saying? Mommy doesn't understand."
"Mom, The Antithesis was originally your power…"
"Hm? Are you saying Mommy should take back a gift she already gave away?"
Suddenly, Uryū felt a chill sweep over him.
Why was there an invisible black terror behind his mother, who was wearing such a gentle smile?
For the first time, Uryū felt an emotion called fear from Kanae. He had originally thought he would only ever feel this from his father. It turned out his mother's pressure was not the slightest bit inferior to his father's.
"No, that's not what I meant…"
His explanation was pale and powerless.
Kanae immediately became all sunshine and smiles again, and all the terror around her vanished.
"It's all right. Mommy still has Uryū's Schrift power, doesn't she? Mommy is looking forward to it too. I wonder what little Uryū's Schrift will be."
Seeing that his warm and radiant mother had returned, Uryū could not help but let out a breath of relief.
He decided not to discuss the Schrift with Kanae anymore.
This was simply a minefield.
In that instant, Kanae had been even more terrifying than Ryūken.
Time gradually passed. Everyone waited for the moment Ryūken would break out of the cocoon.
No one doubted whether Ryūken would fail. After all, he was the last pure-blood Quincy in the World of the Living. Ryūken absolutely had that ability.
Light suddenly bloomed.
The crimson chains were completely swallowed up, and a massive pillar of light rose from Ryūken's position. A huge Quincy Cross stood within it.
Thankfully, this was the underground space beneath the Urahara Shop, not the crude replica Tsunayoshi had made in Soul Society. Kisuke Urahara had been operating this place for hundreds of years. It had been dug deep enough and was stable enough that it would not be destroyed by the Quincy Cross.
Tsunayoshi stood up in surprise.
He knew what the appearance of that Quincy Cross represented.
While awakening his Schrift, Ryūken had also completed the power of Vollständig.
Ryūken Ishida truly lived up to his reputation as a genius.
It was not that he lacked talent as a Quincy. He simply was not interested.
Tsunayoshi even suspected that if Ryūken had not neglected his Quincy training, he might have been able to research and modify a Vollständig suited to modern-world Quincy on his own.
The light gradually faded, revealing Ryūken Ishida's figure.
Aside from his open collar, there was no visible change to his body.
Masaki, ever eager for excitement, immediately pulled Kanae and rushed forward. The others also gradually surrounded Ryūken.
"A-Ryū, what is your Schrift?"
Looking at Kanae's equally curious wide eyes, Ryūken had no intention of hiding it.
"Schrift N. Nicety—Precision."
"What? That doesn't sound very powerful. It doesn't feel nearly as fierce as little Ichigo's All-Killing or little Uryū's The Antithesis," Masaki commented.
Kanae, however, did not give any evaluation. She simply quietly hugged Ryūken's arm, sharing the joy of his increased power together with her beloved.
"Uncle Ryūken, your Schrift had already manifested long ago, hadn't it?" Tsunayoshi suddenly asked.
Ryūken smiled calmly.
"Yes. Only after learning the name of my Schrift did I realize that I had already obtained part of its power long ago."
"Little Tsunayoshi, don't say things that people can't understand!"
Masaki rubbed Tsunayoshi's spiky hair in dissatisfaction.
Tsunayoshi helplessly explained, "Auntie Masaki, Auntie Kanae, do you still remember the day you were struck by Auswählen? It was Uncle Ryūken who helped remove the silver blood clots from your bodies."
Tsunayoshi's first sentence immediately pulled several of them back into memories of the past.
"To be honest, those silver blood clots were incredibly small. I didn't expect Uncle Ryūken to be able to remove every one of them without causing any damage. Perhaps even back then, he had already unconsciously used the power of his Schrift."
"Precision, huh?" Isshin murmured.
That day had indeed been extremely dangerous. If not for Tsunayoshi and Ryūken, he could not even imagine what his life afterward would have become.
"That's right. Aside from that incident with Auswählen, Uncle Ryūken's battle style has always been about achieving the greatest result with the smallest amount of force by striking precisely at an enemy's weak points."
"It's hard to say that wasn't the Schrift of Precision at work," Tsunayoshi said, spreading his hands.
Author's Note:
Ryūken's Schrift power, Precision, should technically have used an English word starting with P. But I've already assigned P to someone else, and I didn't want to duplicate Schrift letters, so I settled for this N-word instead.
In any case, from now on, I'll try to use Japanese to represent the power of each Schrift. Treat the English as just for fun.
That's all.
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