In a certain corner of Karakura Town, an abandoned warehouse stood. At first glance it was nothing more than an ordinary derelict building, nothing unusual about it. But look closer, and something was off. Cats on the roadside moved as though picking along a narrow ledge, even in the middle of open ground. Birds, insects, ants, none of them went near the place.

An invisible barrier cut the building off from the world, concealing it at the level of awareness itself. That was Orihime's first impression.

"This is incredible..." Orihime reached out, and the barrier, which should have repelled anyone, rippled instead. "This power... it feels like my Shun Shun Rikka... similar..."

"Doesn't it?"

Ichigo said that and stepped straight through in one stride. To Orihime's senses, he hadn't sought permission at all. He had simply forced his way in. The barrier shattered on contact, then quickly reformed.

"A strange feeling..."

The spiritual pressure resonated with the barrier. Orihime's hand passed straight through. One step forward, and Orihime was fully inside.

"Oh wow, " Even Ichigo sounded surprised. "Didn't expect it to be that similar! Hachigen should be able to teach you a lot!"

"Yeah!"

"..." Outside the barrier, Yasutora Sado couldn't help speaking up. "What do I do...?"

"Oh right, " A single punch broke through the barrier, and Ichigo grabbed Sado and hauled Sado inside. "Sorry, forgot about you!"

"..."

The warehouse interior appeared empty. But powerful spiritual pressure surged up from underfoot, and not from just one source. Multiple dense currents intertwined, and both Sado and Orihime felt a quiet shock. That level of pressure was no weaker than the Soul Reaper captain from the day before.

"Follow me."

Ichigo navigated as though he knew the place well, found the passage leading underground, and led the two of them down.

"Yo, figured it'd be you, Ichigo." Bowl cut and all, Shinji Hirako called out. "Hachigen said someone forced their way through the barrier. I knew right away it was you."

"Yo! Shinji!"

"So these are Sado and Orihime, the ones you mentioned." Shinji grinned. "Quite the beauty. As expected of my first love!"

"...Huh?!"

"Don't mind him. This guy just gets carried away when there's an audience." Ichigo waved a hand as though shooing a fly. "Hachigen is who you're actually here for."

At that, a tall figure walked over. Hachigen Ushoda's expression was gentle. "You must be Miss Inoue... as I thought, our abilities are quite similar."

"Ah... hello, Hachigen... sir..."

"Hello, hello."

Hachigen observed carefully, even reaching out a large hand to cup Orihime's head and turn it this way and that, muttering something under Hachigen's breath the whole time.

"Aaah— my head! It's going to come off!"

"It is the same, as I thought." Hachigen studied a while longer. "Very similar to my ability... is it a hairpin? Not unlike a Soul Reaper's Zanpakuto..."

"Please let go of my head first!"

"Oh, sorry!"

'Are they actually normal people...' Sado couldn't help thinking.

BOOM!

A tremendous crash rang out. Only then did Sado notice that two people were locked in combat not far away.

"Blazing Hammer!"

A massive, cactus-like club came crashing down with brutal force. A figure in sunglasses with a huge afro roared at the top of that figure's lungs, and in the next instant a towering pillar of fire erupted, raising the temperature of the entire underground chamber by several degrees.

"Now that's got some kick!"

The fire dispersed, revealing a muscular figure with white hair and a six-eyed mask. The figure patted a shoulder, snuffing out the sparks that had just caught there.

"Can't walk away unscathed without the mask on." Kensei Muguruma spoke in an odd cadence, as though layered with an electronic filter. "Shikai is making you a real handful right now, Love."

"Oh? So you're about to use Bankai, are you."

Love Aikawa, the afro, pressed a hand to Love Aikawa's forehead and slid it down. A mask like a demon's materialized across Love Aikawa's face, and spiritual pressure surged an entire tier higher, the whole feel of it turning ferocious.

"Not quite there yet!"

Kensei swung the dagger, and visible jade-green threads of blade-light drifted in the air. Kensei's feet drove off the ground, Shunpo firing, and then Kensei was behind Love Aikawa.

"Too slow!"

The massive club had no time to block. Love Aikawa thrust out a right hand, wrapping it in powerful, savage spiritual pressure that blazed with dazzling light.

CLANG,

Like steel on steel. Love Aikawa's fist caught the blow, but several cuts opened across the knuckles all the same. Bare hands, in the end, could not fully stand against a blade.

"You're not fast either!"

The left hand on the club wrenched with sudden force. The injured right hand closed around the shaft as well. Both hands together, Love Aikawa swung down at Kensei with everything Love Aikawa had.

CLANG,

Kensei blocked with a raised right arm, and the comparatively short blade met the club in an almost improbable deflection. The force behind it was enormous. That crushing, momentum-laden strike sent Kensei flying outright.

"Tch!"

Kensei tumbled through several rotations in the air, stabilized, landed, and skidded across the ground for over ten meters before finally stopping. Kensei spat out a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva and stood back up.

"That actually stings a little."

It was Love Aikawa who said it. Love Aikawa shook a right hand, what had been cuts across the knuckles moments ago now looked as though the entire back of the hand had been blown apart, flesh and blood in ruin.

"Careless, Love." Kensei said flatly. "You know what Tachikaze does. Anything it cuts explodes."

"I just didn't expect you to come out of that so clean." Love Aikawa shook Love Aikawa's head. "I figured a hit like that would at least break two ribs no matter what. Your body's gotten stronger, Kensei."

"Of course it has." Kensei sheathed the Zanpakuto and shifted a gaze toward Ichigo, not far away. "The gap between me and that guy, though, hasn't shrunk one bit."

"Well, he's a monster, just a monster." Love Aikawa waved a hand as the club shrank back down. "Ordinary people like us shouldn't bother comparing ourselves to something like that."

"Heh..." A bitter laugh escaped Kensei. "In front of a monster like that, even a captain who has mastered Bankai — the highest pinnacle of the Soul Reaper's art — is just an ordinary person..."

"Yo, " Seeing the two of them stop, Ichigo stepped forward. "Kensei! Love! This is my friend, Yasutora Sado."

"Hey."

The fight had left Sado's eyes wide. The clash between two captain-class fighters had ended quickly, but both had moved with clean, decisive efficiency, the unmistakable mark of those who had survived countless battles.

And most importantly, both of them were visibly exceptional in physical combat. For Sado, whose ability manifested through the transformation of an arm, guidance from fighters like these was exactly what was needed.

➤ Next: It Won't Take Up Too Much Time