The day after the verdict was announced, Karakura Town, Urahara Shop.
Yoruichi Shihōin frowned deeply as she reviewed the intelligence passed on by her family's informant. Without saying a word, she ran up to Kisuke Urahara and slapped the piece of paper onto his face.
"What kind of joke is this?!!"
"Are those old fogies in Central 46 all senile?!"
"They can't find the hidden Quincies, but they sure have a knack for screwing over their own people!"
"If I were still the Captain of the Second Division, not a single one of those old geezers in Central 46 would get away!"
Yoruichi spun around abruptly and slammed her palm heavily onto the low table. The wooden table let out a groan of distress, and several small glass bottles atop it jumped and clattered.
"Miss Yoruichi, please calm down." Kisuke Urahara put down the paper, anxiously tapping the table. "The intelligence is indeed somewhat unexpected."
"Calm down?! How do you expect me to be calm!" Yoruichi grabbed the intelligence report and crumpled it tightly in her palm. "That bastard Byakuya Kuchiki! He clearly promised me..."
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Yoruichi Shihōin stood up with a whoosh, looking ready to go to Soul Society to demand an explanation from him.
"Miss Yoruichi!"
"Even if you go to Soul Society now without any preparation, you won't be able to save Miss Soifon."
Kisuke Urahara raised his voice to interrupt her. He stood up, walked around to face Yoruichi, and spread his arms to block the shop's entrance.
"Are we supposed to just watch then?!"
Yoruichi Shihōin stood rooted to the spot, glaring at Kisuke Urahara, the fire in her eyes almost bursting forth.
The two stared each other down for a long time. Finally, Yoruichi Shihōin suppressed her violent emotions and returned inside the shop to sit down.
Having known him for so many years, Yoruichi knew that since Kisuke Urahara had spoken, it meant he had a plan to rescue Soifon.
Kisuke Urahara took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and analyze:
"Captain Kuchiki may have done his best, but the resolutions of Central 46 are something even the Captain-Commander cannot always completely overturn."
"Moreover... Central 46's verdict this time is very abnormal."
"Usually, the decisions made by those old fellows require several meetings, big and small, dragging on and on before a conclusion is reached. Why is it that in this case..."
Taking off his bucket hat, Kisuke Urahara scratched his messy hair. He felt that things were speeding full throttle toward a future he could not predict.
This is terrible. Who on earth is behind this? Could it be Aizen...?
But what grudge does Aizen have against Soifon to want her dead like this?
It couldn't be that he knows I put the Hōgyoku inside Soifon's Gigai, could he?
If Aizen's intelligence network is that perverse, we might as well just surrender.
Kisuke Urahara had thought that hiding the Hōgyoku inside Soifon's Gigai would solve everything. He never imagined the situation would spiral into such an uncontrollable state.
After all, if Soifon had chosen to elope with Yoruichi in the World of the Living, she would have become human before long, and finding her would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack.
And if she returned to Soul Society, the heaviest punishment would be imprisonment in Muken or the Maggot's Nest. Sōsuke Aizen wouldn't suspect that Soifon was hiding the Hōgyoku on her person.
But execution by the Sōkyoku is different. Even if Soifon dies, the Hōgyoku will not be destroyed. Wouldn't that be equivalent to handing the Hōgyoku over to Aizen on a silver platter?!
No! I absolutely cannot let Soifon die under the Sōkyoku...
Kisuke Urahara stopped scratching his hair. He abruptly raised his head to look at Yoruichi Shihōin, who was equally agitated across from him.
"Miss Yoruichi." His voice returned to its usual calm. "We must go to Soul Society and rescue Miss Soifon."
Bang—
What welcomed him was not Yoruichi Shihōin's agreement, but a heavy punch.
"Kisuke Urahara! You spaced out for so long just to give me that one sentence?!"
—Do you even need to say that?!
Kisuke Urahara clutched the freshly baked lump on his head, grimacing in pain. "Of course, it won't be just the two of us. Miss Yoruichi, have you forgotten Mr. Ichigo?"
"Ichigo Kurosaki?!"
At these words, the second punch Yoruichi Shihōin was about to throw stopped in mid-air.
The scene shifted to the Kurosaki Clinic.
The living room was deathly silent. Masaki Kurosaki and Isshin Kurosaki stared with wide eyes, completely unable to accept the facts brought by the two visitors.
—Are the judgments of the Seireitei so trifling nowadays?
"Death penalty...? Are you kidding me?!"
Ichigo Kurosaki stood up from the sofa, his clenched fists trembling with anger.
"Ichigo, calm down."
Masaki Kurosaki pulled her son back down to his seat.
"I'm sorry..."
"If there were any other way, I wouldn't want to drag Ichigo into this..."
Yoruichi Shihōin rubbed the space between her eyebrows, her face full of exhaustion. She really couldn't bring herself to face Masaki Kurosaki and Isshin Kurosaki. After all, inviting someone else's son to join a raid on an execution ground was a bit hard to say out loud.
After a long silence, a sudden slam on the table broke the quiet.
"Alright, it's decided then!"
"Ichigo, Mom and Dad have decided. You will go to Soul Society and bring Captain Soifon back. Go for it!"
Isshin Kurosaki stood up with Masaki Kurosaki and placed his hands on Ichigo Kurosaki's shoulders.
"—?"
In the blink of an eye, the Kurosaki couple had already gone upstairs, leaving only the three of them in the living room.
Urahara Shop, underground training ground.
Smoke and dust filled the air. Ichigo Kurosaki, glowing with blue fluorescence, was suppressing and beating a mysterious man in a black trench coat.
"Hey, Kisuke... isn't this Tenshintai broken?"
Yoruichi Shihōin crossed her arms tightly, frowning as she looked at the two figures fighting in the arena.
"How could that be? What's summoned is naturally Zangetsu's sword spirit; it's just that Ichigo's combat power is too strong..."
Kisuke Urahara fanned himself, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
The series of recent events had exceeded his understanding. Why was Ichigo Kurosaki able to suppress and beat his own sword spirit just after becoming a Shinigami? Was this right?
In his memory, achieving Bankai using the Tenshintai was not such a simple matter.
"If he has such powerful combat ability in Shikai state, won't he be able to walk unhindered across Soul Society after learning Bankai?"
Yoruichi Shihōin's mood improved considerably.
"Did you forget about His Excellency the Captain-Commander...?"
"The Captain-Commander's Bankai can't be released casually in Soul Society."
"True enough."
Just as they were speaking, the sword spirit Zangetsu, who had been silent all this time, spoke for the first time.
"Your power is already very strong. Why do you still want to learn Bankai? Ichigo..."
Ichigo and the sword spirit Zangetsu stood confronting each other on two artificial hills.
"I don't know if my power counts as strong." Ichigo Kurosaki gripped Zangetsu tightly in his hand. "But, if I don't master even greater power, I won't be able to protect my family and friends."
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