The summer afternoon sun over London was warm and gentle.
Upon the broad waters of the Thames, on the deck of a cruise ship, three women were staring in disbelief at the unfamiliar man who had suddenly been summoned to appear among them.
"Oh? And where is this?"
Looking at the three familiar silhouettes around him, a small smile curled at the corner of Higashino Shuuichi's lips as he spoke.
A bold idea had abruptly occurred to him—and the moment it surfaced, he put it into practice.
"This is London, within West Administration's jurisdiction. Who are you?"
The relaxed expression on Kabuma Sayako's face, tinged a moment before with joy, immediately turned wary.
She really couldn't figure out what was going on here.
Even if Shuuichi-kun had some reason not to come in person, he should at least have sent a Shinigami they all trusted—and someone who knew roughly what their situation here was—shouldn't he?
But this man in front of them clearly wasn't a Shinigami. He wore neither shihakushō nor zanpakutō.
"Who am I? You're the ones who summoned me out of the World of the Living, and now you're asking who I am?"
Higashino Shuuichi looked toward Kabuma Sayako as he spoke.
After all these years apart, she had shed the old-fashioned noble attire of the past and now wore a neat, breezy British-style short dress. It suited her in a completely different, but equally charming way.
"I summoned you here simply because you've engraved a divine sigil on your body. Beyond that, I know nothing about your identity or your past."
The more Kabuma Sayako studied Higashino Shuuichi's current appearance—wearing the face of Kabuno Takuya—the more she felt that this man was no good.
That faint, almost teasing curve at his lips, and the way he looked at her so nakedly, made Sayako subtly uncomfortable.
She absolutely hated any man besides Higashino Shuuichi looking at her like that. It made her feel insulted.
"Is that so?
Then it seems I should introduce myself?"
Of course Higashino Shuuichi knew this particular trait of Seyabasa. Otherwise he would never have suddenly gotten this idea—to test whether Matsumoto Rangiku and Kisaragi Shūsuke had let their skills rust over the years without him.
"My name is Kabuno Takuya, and as you can see, I'm a wild Quincy, roaming free~"
Imitating the demeanor from his memories, he answered as he gave them a gentleman's bow.
"Quincy…?"
Kabuma Sayako had never imagined that the man she'd summoned would actually turn out to be a Quincy. And that wasn't even the most important part.
"I don't care what you are. Why do you have the Kabuma clan's divine sigil?!"
There was a distinct edge of anger in her tone.
In her understanding, even if the divine sigil spread to others, it basically wouldn't bring any real harm to the Kabuma clan.
After all, the final right of interpretation and practical use still belonged to the Kabuma family.
But there was a difference between her voluntarily passing it on and someone else learning of it through unknown means.
The latter, in terms of severity, was clearly far worse.
"Divine sigil? Oh, you mean that thing on that puppet's body, right?
You're saying that belongs to your Kabuma clan?
Well, isn't that interesting. I heard the Kabuma clan is one of the Five Great Noble Houses of Soul Society. Is that status still not loud enough for you?
So you specially sent that puppet to attack Soul Society and cause such massive casualties?"
Higashino Shuuichi's tone was mocking as he spoke, while subtly observing the changes in Kabuma Sayako's expression.
"What? A puppet attacked Soul Society?
I have no idea what you're talking about!"
Kabuma Sayako frowned. A bad feeling rose in her heart.
"From the look on your face, you really don't know anything, do you~"
Higashino Shuuichi's ability to read people was excellent. After being brutally trained by his Hollowfied self in his inner world, he only needed to glance at the complex emotions on Sayako's face to see that, most likely, she truly knew nothing about Sakahone Saizō.
Then whose handiwork was the divine sigil on Sakahone Saizō's back?
Could it be that the Kabuma clan still had living members in Soul Society or the World of the Living?
"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."
Kabuma Sayako admitted.
Higashino Shuuichi's lips curved upward.
"That's fine. Whether you know anything or not doesn't matter to me. What matters is who you are.
As a Quincy, after finishing my training I still haven't found a worthy opponent. For me, that's truly painful.
Originally, I was planning to pretend to be one of those puppets and launch an assault on Soul Society…"
As he spoke, he raised his voice slightly. Before Kabuma Sayako and Matsumoto Rangiku's eyes, he channeled reishi into his veins, unfurling the Quincy-specific Dōketsusō (Moving Blood Form).
"…but since you're Shinigami as well, I think you'll do just fine~"
He's a lunatic!
Almost the very moment his words fell, the same thought flashed through the minds of Kabuma Sayako, Matsumoto Rangiku, and Nagasawa Satomi on the ship's deck.
Just how arrogant did you have to be to seriously entertain the idea of attacking Soul Society alone?
Normally, that sort of idea could only end with a brutally cold reality.
Yet now Matsumoto Rangiku and Kabuma Sayako exchanged a glance. There was a flicker of apology in Sayako's eyes, but it only flashed there for an instant. What replaced it was steely resolve.
"Then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed, Quincy Kabuno Takuya. Your arrogance will bring you only destruction."
Kabuma Sayako replied, voice cold.
At the same time, Nagasawa Satomi had already taken a quiet half-step back and was setting up a reiatsu-concealing device around them.
At the end of the day, they Shinigami were still foreign guests in West Administration. Regardless of whether Kabuma Sayako and the others were branded as traitors by East Administration, Shinigami of any kind were not welcome here.
If they openly unleashed their reiatsu and fought in this World of the Living, the mages of West Administration would definitely treat it as a provocation.
They had already learned this lesson the hard way when they first arrived.
So having taken that lesson to heart, Kabuma Sayako and the others had picked up the essence of Higashino Shuuichi's past fighting style.
No matter how big or small the battle—no matter the level—before you started, you set up reiatsu concealment first and only then fought, to avoid trouble knocking later on.
"Hadō no yon: Byakurai (Way of Destruction #4: White Lightning)!"
The moment she confirmed the reiatsu-concealing device was in place, Matsumoto Rangiku made her move. A point of white light danced from the tip of her finger.
Higashino Shuuichi merely gathered reishi beneath his feet and used the Quincy movement technique Hirenkyaku (Flying Scythe Step). With a short, horizontal burst of speed, he slipped cleanly past Rangiku's attack.
"Using such a low-level Hadō—aren't you underestimating me a bit?
But don't worry. I won't underestimate you~
Shinsei Metsuya! (Holy Arrow!)"
With that same faint, elusive smile on his lips, Higashino Shuuichi extended his left hand toward Rangiku, fingers poised like a gun. At his fingertip formed a pure white arrow of the densest spiritual power—and then it shot toward her like lightning.
"Bakudō no sanjūkyū: Enkōsen! (Way of Binding #39: Circular Shield)!"
Matsumoto Rangiku was stunned.
She had fully expected that her probing attack wouldn't work, and she had fully expected the Quincy to retaliate with their unique technique Shinsei Metsuya (Holy Arrow).
What she hadn't expected was just how fast the arrow Higashino Shuuichi created would be.
It didn't even give her the time to skip the chant and fire off a kidō.
Fortunately, this Quincy's aim seemed a bit off. The arrow flew slightly wide and only grazed her right arm.
"Rangiku!
Hadō no sanjūichi: Shakkahō! (Way of Destruction #31: Red Fire Cannon)!"
Kabuma Sayako saw how close that had been and immediately thrust out her right hand toward Higashino Shuuichi, a ball of fire blasting forth.
On the other side, having finished setting up the reiatsu-concealing device, Nagasawa Satomi also unleashed her ability at Higashino Shuuichi.
"Shinsō: Rengyoku! (Divine Aspect: Lotus Jewel!)"
A lotus-shaped phantom with five petals bloomed beneath both her feet and Higashino Shuuichi's.
So she's grown.
Glancing down at the phantom beneath him, Higashino Shuuichi noted that there were more petals on the lotus than he remembered, and guessed that in the nearly twenty years since he left, Nagasawa Satomi, this human Fullbringer, had not been standing still.
And Sayako was using kidō now?
That, to Higashino Shuuichi, was actually a pleasant surprise.
He remembered that back when he'd still been by Kabuma Sayako's side, she'd had no interest whatsoever in studying kidō.
As for that kidō level…
A point of light shone in his right palm as his Schrift ability activated.
"Mirai Kyokō: Alpha! (Future Fabrication: Alpha!)"
A massive quantity of reishi suddenly converged at Higashino Shuuichi's side. In the blink of an eye, a half-man-tall mechanical hound brimming with sleek, technological beauty materialized beside him.
That alone wasn't enough. Simply constructing a body wouldn't give Alpha the power to stand against Shinigami. Higashino Shuuichi already knew this from the experiment he'd once performed, using Mirai Kyokō: Mokuyō (Future Fabrication: Mokuyō) to create a swarm of unmanned drones.
So Alpha needed a little extra boost.
"Reishi Shūsoku! (Reishi Cluster!)"
At the very instant Alpha was formed, Higashino Shuuichi swept up a huge volume of reishi from the air, layering it over Alpha's body. Its frame took on an effect similar to a Quincy's Dōketsusō (Moving Blood Form).
All of this happened in the space of a single thought.
Kabuno Takuya's relentless training in the World of the Living under Higashino Shuuichi's commands had not been in vain.
A body that didn't need rest, knew neither boredom nor fatigue, and could theoretically train twenty-four hours a day, nonstop—such a tool of a body brought terrifying gains.
Higashino Shuuichi turned toward Matsumoto Rangiku. She was his true test subject.
Kabuma Sayako, behind him, was being left to Alpha.
Alpha drove its rear legs into the deck, reishi exploding under its paws with a shrill crack. Its jaws yawned wide and it simply swallowed Sayako's Shakkahō in one gulp.
When its mouth snapped shut again, tiny sparks scattered from the corners of its jaws.
"What is that ability…?"
Matsumoto Rangiku was shocked. As a Shinigami, she certainly knew what Quincy were, and she knew their basic abilities—those were all written into the history textbooks at Shin'ōreijutsu Academy.
The Shinsei Metsuya and the subsequent Reishi Shūsoku were both still within the bounds of her understanding.
But this creature that looked like a dog yet clearly wasn't one—what on earth was it?
She had never heard of Quincy having any such power.
"Spacing out in the middle of a fight is deadly, you know—Shinigami-san~"
While Matsumoto Rangiku's pupils were still quivering with shock, Higashino Shuuichi used Hirenkyaku (Flying Scythe Step) to close right in on her. His breath was close enough to brush against her face.
"Shinsei Metsuya: Ransō! (Holy Arrow: Wild Burst!)"
She felt a large hand invade her chest. The Quincy's right hand sank completely into the soft swell of her chest—but there was nothing alluring about the scene. At least, not for Matsumoto Rangiku at that moment, who felt only a sliver of pure fear.
A moment later, reality confirmed that her fear was justified.
The Shinsei Metsuya—crystal-like arrows—blossomed inside her, spreading from the Quincy's hand pressed to her chest.
The pure white arrows were dyed scarlet in an instant.
"Hesitate, and you'll be defeated. Let your mind wander, and you'll die. Remember that lesson, Rangiku~"
His voice, audible only to her, echoed faintly in her ears.
That tone…
Matsumoto Rangiku stared at him, stunned, trying to find that one familiar feeling within this completely unfamiliar face.
And then she felt it.
Because as she collapsed, the Holy Arrows inside her vanished—and in their place came a flood of reishi, pouring into her body like precision instruments, reconstructing her from within.
Reishi Shujutsu (Reishi Surgery)—Matsumoto Rangiku remembered that technique.
In the past it had been a skill mastered only by the very top echelon of Quincy, the ultimate expression of precise reishi control.
It has to be you, Lord Shuuichi…
She still didn't understand why the Shuuichi-sama from her memories had become a Quincy, but this familiar tone and this unique hands-on teaching style were exactly the same as the Shuuichi-sama she remembered.
And even as a Quincy, Shuuichi-sama was as overwhelmingly strong as ever.
That fit perfectly with her fixed image of Higashino Shuuichi.
Unfortunately, the severe trauma made Matsumoto Rangiku's consciousness grow ever more blurred. Even so, she knew she'd be fine—because even if this man wore a completely unfamiliar skin, she would still recognize him as the Shuuichi-sama she thought of day and night.
And indeed, Higashino Shuuichi even quietly used Reishi Shūsoku behind her back to create a cushioning layer, so that she wouldn't suffer too harsh an impact when she fell.
All in all, in the decade-plus since he'd left, aside from having physically developed a bit, as for Rangiku's strength…
Higashino Shuuichi looked at his right hand, savoring the sensation from moments ago.
Well, it wasn't that bad.
"Rangiku!"
Nagasawa Satomi, ignorant of what had actually happened, could only see one thing: Matsumoto Rangiku being killed by this Quincy calling himself Kabuno Takuya—a brutal, bloody reality.
So she immediately snatched up her little knife and charged straight at Higashino Shuuichi.
This, of course, was no mindless suicide attack. Nagasawa Satomi's ability required the enemy marked by the lotus phantom to attack her first in order to be triggered. Once triggered, it could drag that enemy into an endless abyss, ignoring all constraints.
It was a true first-strike killer ability. Even Higashino Shuuichi wasn't sure what its upper limit was—mainly because test subjects for something like that were… hard to come by.
And Fullbring was notorious for refusing to play by any sane rules.
So Higashino Shuuichi had absolutely no intention of clashing head-on with Nagasawa Satomi.
With a single backward step, he slipped away from the seemingly harmless sweep of her little knife.
It was that very step back which made Kabuma Sayako—who had been closely monitoring the situation and, after seeing Matsumoto Rangiku go down, had already been about to fully release her zanpakutō and start burning away her own life—halt.
Because in the face of Nagasawa Satomi's attack, which contained no spiritual power and was purely physical, with virtually no threat on the surface, Higashino Shuuichi's retreat clashed sharply with the confidence and decisiveness he had shown up to now.
Unless he already knew Nagasawa Satomi's true ability.
But this Quincy had clearly stated earlier that he didn't know any of them.
The two facts were irreconcilable.
Unless…
"You're Shuuichi-kun…"
Kabuma Sayako felt there was only one explanation that fit—and it also neatly erased every prior doubt.
Why had she summoned a completely unknown man?
What puppet, what attack on Soul Society?
Those were all just stories Shuuichi-kun had made up to mess with them.
Following that line of thought, Kabuma Sayako quickly pieced together what Higashino Shuuichi actually meant to do.
He just wanted to see how much progress they'd made over the years, didn't he?
As for Rangiku lying on the deck—well, just look at the faint, inexplicable smile tugging at the corner of her lips. As someone who'd always been on the front lines by Shuuichi-kun's side, she must have guessed his real identity as well.
And you're always saying I act like a child. Aren't you exactly the same?
Kabuma Sayako griped inwardly.
She was just about to sheath her blade and expose his little game when an abnormally powerful reiatsu suddenly pierced into the space that had been sealed off by the reiatsu-concealing barrier.
"You bastard—die!
Tsui En Ryūga! (Falling Flame Dragon Fang!)"
From the sky above, a figure wrapped in raging flames plummeted down, smashing straight toward where Higashino Shuuichi stood.
With a flicker of movement, Shuuichi slipped aside, dodging the strike. Looking at that familiar silhouette, seething with fury, a smile slowly spread across his face.
The star of the show had finally arrived.
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