"Wait, wait, wait!" Kisuke Urahara rushed to cut Ichigo off. "Let me go over the ground rules first!"

"Huh?" Ichigo looked baffled. "What ground rules? We're just going over there and cutting stuff up, right?"

"It's not that simple." Uryu pressed down on Ichigo's head and yanked him back. "When your brain's not up to the job, listen to someone whose is!"

"Ugh... fine, fine!"

"First, this isn't just a door. It's a spirit particle converter." Urahara wiped his forehead. Ichigo without a functioning brain was genuinely a handful. "Soul Society is a world of souls. Aside from Ichigo, who can freely shift into Soul Reaper form, everyone else has a normal physical body. That means we need the converter to transform your physical bodies into spirit bodies."

"Oh, ohh—" Ichigo nodded, looking like he'd grasped it completely. "Then let's go."

"I said wait!" The cane blocked the path. Urahara pressed on. "That was just background. What actually matters is what comes after, what happens once you're inside the gate."

"The conversion itself and passing through the gate? Neither is particularly hard. Just keep moving forward. But there is one problem, and that problem is time."

"Time?"

"Yes. This isn't an orthodox method, after all. This gate only exists for four minutes. If you don't make it through in four minutes, you will never get out." Urahara's expression turned serious. "And to keep intruders out, there's a gas inside called Koryu. Once it gets tangled around you, things get very difficult."

"So basically, be fast." Ichigo shrugged, unbothered. "It's not like these past days were wasted on any of us. Nobody's going to be scared of something like that."

"Is that so..."

No one said a word. Urahara looked at the determined faces in front of him and knew he'd been making a mountain out of a molehill. The people standing here weren't the type to be rattled by something as trivial as Koryu.

'As expected... birds of a feather... they really are all good kids.'

"Then one last thing!" Urahara said, his tone sharpening. "Our goal is not to fight! It's to expose Sosuke Aizen's true nature!"

"None of this asks too much of you. Besides rescuing Rukia, what you need to do is make Seireitei as chaotic as possible. Only when things are in chaos will Aizen move to do what he wants to do. And once he's done everything he set out to do, he'll expose himself naturally!"

"Keep yourselves safe, and go make a scene!"

"Yeah!"

Spirits high, the four of them passed through the gate, with Yoruichi Shihoin padding alongside in her cat form. Able to transform into a cat and holding the greatest mastery of Shunpo among them all, she was undoubtedly the most suited adult to make the trip to Soul Society. Whatever their purpose, having a local with both the strength and the experience along would make everything go considerably smoother.

Beyond the gate, there was only a single straight corridor. Deep purple gas pressed in on all sides, this was the Koryu. Any spirit body caught in it would find escape nearly impossible.

"Move!"

The moment their feet crossed the threshold, the four of them and one cat broke into a run. Pushing spiritual pressure too hard would excite the Koryu's reaction, so for now they had nothing to rely on but raw physical strength.

Fortunately, even the lean Uryu and Orihime had built up their physical conditioning considerably over these past days, and their control over spiritual pressure had climbed to a new level as well. Even where raw physical strength fell short, they could tap a measured amount of spiritual pressure to push themselves further.

Before long, white light bloomed at the far end of the corridor. Less than a minute in, and they'd already covered more than half the distance. Once they broke through that white light, they'd arrive in the world of souls, Soul Society.

CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK,

"What's that sound?"

Something strange rattled from behind. Orihime, running at the rear, looked back, and saw something shaped like a locomotive, thundering toward them at terrifying speed.

"It's Kototsu!" Yoruichi recognized it instantly and shouted. "It only shows up once every seven days, it's like a sweeper! Run! It'll grind you to pieces! And it is fast!"

Everyone immediately kicked it into another gear. But Kototsu's speed matched its bulk perfectly, it tore through the corridor like a high-speed train, closing the gap behind them in moments.

"Tch!" Ichigo glanced back from the front and clicked his tongue. "What rotten luck, we were almost there!"

Done complaining, he slowed, moved to Orihime's side, and in one clean motion hauled Orihime onto his shoulder.

"You're so light, Orihime." He sped back up without missing a beat. "You really need to eat more."

"Ah... okay..."

Head down, hands pressed over both cheeks, Orihime's face had gone completely red, steam practically rising from the top of that head. Genuinely adorable... a shame the certain someone already charging ahead with eyes front had absolutely no chance to appreciate it.

"Almost there!"

Ten-odd meters left to the end. Kototsu was still dozens of meters behind Uryu, who was nearest to it. Even if someone tripped right now, a single leap would get them through in time.

"You go first, Orihime."

Ichigo slowed, set Orihime down from his shoulder, turned around, and drew his twin blades.

"Huh?" Orihime went still. "What are you doing, Ichigo?"

"Hm?"

Ichigo's spiritual pressure was climbing fast. Yoruichi caught it too, looked back, and the entire cat launched into the air in alarm.

"What are you doing, Ichigo!"

"Do I even need to explain?!" A grin spread across his face, slightly savage, entirely deliberate. Ichigo pushed his spiritual pressure to its absolute limit. "It's been chasing me for a good while. If I just let it go, it'll think I'm easy to push around!"

"Don't do anything reckless! That is not something a Soul Reaper can deal with! That thing is a near-absolute existence, it's practically a Rule!"

"Hey!" Golden ripples shimmered up the length of the black blade. Left arm held across his chest, Ichigo laughed. "Rules? Rules are exactly what I hit!"

The words were barely out of his mouth when golden light exploded through the entire corridor. The deep purple Koryu vanished in an instant, dissolving like winter snow at the first breath of spring. The black short blade swept out in a sharp arc. A massive crescent-shaped slash screamed into existence and tore down the corridor straight at the towering Kototsu.

"Not done yet!" The long blade in his right hand rose high. The golden light didn't fade even slightly. "Getsuga, "

The black long blade came down. Golden light blazed again. A second golden crescent was released from the tip, faster than the first, immediately overtaking it.

One horizontal. One vertical. The two slashes met and merged, and a massive cross-shaped strike hammered into that enormous body.

"This —?!"

Before Yoruichi's disbelieving eyes, the golden cross slash carved through Kototsu like it wasn't there, splitting it open the instant they touched. What remained dissolved into scattered spirit particles and drifted away into the air.

Only then did the last of Ichigo's words reach them.

"—Tensho!"

➤ Next: Breakthrough — Soul Society