[This is all your fault]
[I told you not to get carried away fighting]
[But some of you still can't tell what matters most]
[Every member we lose]
[means the Shinigami regain more of their power]
[and the danger to those of us who remain increases]
Inside the dark cave, the screen of light above the sleeping Bokukō's head rapidly refreshed.
[You don't want to go back to the way things were before, do you?]
[So from now on]
[every operation must be carried out strictly according to my plan]
"Why should I listen to you?" Kazeshini sneered. "I didn't gain my freedom just so I could take orders from someone else!"
[Because every companion who followed my orders is still here]
[The ones who didn't will never come back]
[You don't have to obey me if you don't want to]
[I order you not to obey my orders]
"Why should I disobey you... Tch... Huh?" Kazeshini raised his kama. "Are you messing with me?"
"Go ahead, Kazeshini~" Haineko casually held out a hand and admired her fingernails. "Once you kill Myōki, we can all listen to you instead and go die one after another."
Kazeshini clenched his teeth until they creaked.
"Don't get so worked up." Katen glanced at Myōki. "Judging by the results, there really wasn't anything wrong with Myōki's plan."
"There was plenty wrong with it!" Hōzukimaru snorted coldly. "I was right in the middle of enjoying my fight, and he insisted that I retreat."
"If I'd had just a little more time, I could've dealt with that irritating guy." Fuji Kujaku smoothed the feathers along his arm. "If this keeps happening, we might as well not have materialized at all. Either way, it's just as frustrating."
"Exactly!" Suzumebachi flew over beside Myōki. "If you'd just given me a little more time..."
Suzumebachi's tiny, shrill voice woke Bokukō from his sleep.
Bokukō lifted his head. His round pupils widened as he locked onto Suzumebachi.
His shark-tailed rear wiggled twice before he suddenly lunged at her.
Suzumebachi darted aside, but Bokukō followed her like a shadow.
"Hey!" Suzumebachi complained indignantly. "Myōki, do something about Bokukō!"
[Can't control him]
[Play with him for a while]
[He'll settle down afterward]
"I want to play too!"
The twin boys wearing pointed blue hats and blue kariginu, Sōgyo no Kotowari, joined hands and began chasing Suzumebachi alongside Bokukō.
Hollowfied Kinshara made his golden whip float in front of him and flicked a hand, immediately filling the cave with cheerful music.
Hollowfied Tachikaze let out a long sigh and helplessly covered his face.
After glancing at the silent Senbonzakura, Hollowfied Sakanade spoke up. "Just as Myōki said, things are looking pretty bad for us right now~ From here on, we need a reliable plan. Otherwise, we'll be forced out of our materialized forms before we can even accomplish the reason we materialized in the first place."
So...
Katen's gaze followed the screen of light above Bokukō's head as he darted around.
"Myōki, what's your plan this time?"
"You'd better let me fight until I've had my fill!" Hōzukimaru declared. "Otherwise, I don't care what plan you come up with."
Fuji Kujaku agreed. "Same here. Of course, the opponent can't be too ugly."
"Hmph..." Kazeshini snorted. "Just give me blood and lives..."
[Before we settle on a plan]
[we first need to acknowledge that we aren't strong enough right now]
[Increasing our strength is the top priority]
"Increasing..." Senbonzakura slowly spoke. His demon mask concealed any trace of expression. "Our strength?"
[Muramasa]
[He was able to materialize us]
[That means he must know much more]
[about our materialized forms]
[He may even have a way to make us stronger]
Haineko raised an eyebrow. "If he really has a method like that, why didn't he use it from the beginning?"
[If it isn't because he can't]
[then the only possibility left]
[is that he doesn't want to]
Bokukō eventually tired himself out from all the chasing. He flopped onto the ground with a thud and immediately fell asleep.
Sōgyo no Kotowari still wanted to keep playing, but after Suzumebachi threatened them with her stinger, the twins finally settled down.
"If he doesn't want to," Suzumebachi said, glaring angrily at Myōki, "how are you planning to make him change his mind?"
[Why did Muramasa materialize us?]
[Have any of you thought about that?]
Katen's single eye shifted slightly. "Do you know?"
[No]
Kazeshini frowned. "Hah?"
[I don't know what his objective is]
[But I do know what his objective definitely isn't]
[He didn't materialize us for no reason]
[He must want us to do something]
[So as long as we refuse to do anything]
[his objective can never be achieved]
"Oh~" Hollowfied Sakanade laughed. "That's actually a pretty good idea. If he refuses to find a way to make us stronger, then we simply won't do anything. He'll definitely be in more of a hurry than we are."
"What if it isn't that he doesn't want to?" Hollowfied Tachikaze asked in a low voice. "What if he can't?"
[Then we'll use a different plan]
...
Dense, twisted tree trunks stretched deep into the darkness like enormous claws, their surfaces almost indistinguishable from stone.
A figure suddenly appeared.
Her brown skin gleamed faintly, the tips of her short golden hair fluttering as her emerald eyes swept across the surroundings. Her brow furrowed slightly.
"Harribel-sama?" Nel called out. "Did you find anything?"
"There's a large amount of Reiatsu left behind by devoured Gillian." Harribel looked toward Nel beside her. "How did you know something unusual was happening in the Forest of Menos?"
Nel answered truthfully, "Pícaro told Nel."
Pícaro was not the name of a single Hollow, but of an entire group of Hollows.
This unusual group consisted of more than a hundred juvenile Hollows, both boys and girls.
They always moved as a group. To the inhabitants of Hueco Mundo, they resembled army ants or a swarm of locusts. None of the individuals had a unique name. They were all collectively called [Pícaro].
During Baraggan's reign, Pícaro had been nothing more than a small group he kept around to relieve his boredom.
After Sōsuke Aizen arrived in Hueco Mundo, he turned the entire group into Arrancar and incorporated them into the ranks of the Espada.
But Sōsuke Aizen soon realized that Pícaro lacked the qualities necessary to function as members of an organization.
They didn't merely look like children. Their innocent way of thinking was no different from that of actual children. They lacked reason and made little effort to suppress the fundamental instincts of Hollows, remaining completely faithful to their own desires.
Whenever they happened to find someone willing to play with them, they would keep playing until the other person broke and could no longer move.
Sōsuke Aizen expelled them from the Espada, and Pícaro became Arrancar No. 102, spending their days idly looking for ways to amuse themselves.
To stop them from leaving Las Noches and running wild in the World of the Living or elsewhere, Sōsuke Aizen assigned the Guardian of the White Sands Runuganga, a Hollow with virtually no weakness other than water, to watch over them and confined them within a perpetual sandstorm.
Now that Sōsuke Aizen had been captured and Runuganga was dead, keeping Pícaro under control had become a serious problem.
***
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