Bleach: Awakened — Chapter 66 - Friends

Ding-ling-ling,

The end-of-class bell rang out, morning lessons wrapped up, and students drifted off in twos and threes to grab lunch.

The members of the Gotei 13's World of the Living Special Operations Squad, meanwhile, ate their boxed lunches while continuing to regale the three non-members with a vivid, animated account of their journey through Seireitei.

"Oh, oh!" Keigo said with a look of sudden understanding. "So basically, Ichigo got played by that big villain Sosuke Aizen and ended up accidentally helping him finish his whole plan—ow!"

Clutching the back of the head, Keigo now sported a large lump on the skull with white smoke curling off it. The culprit, Ichigo Kurosaki, withdrew his fist and carried on as though nothing had happened.

"Asano," Mizuiro said, eating a boxed lunch, "you really have no read on the room at all."

"Ugh... but I'm not wrong." Keigo said tearfully. "Ichigo's always been like that—not the sharpest tool in the shed, easy for people to take advantage of."

"What I actually want to say is, Ishida, with you there, how did something like this still happen?"

"...Can't deny it." Uryu pushed up the glasses and said frankly. "It wasn't that our side was inadequate. The enemy's scheme ran too deep. Even sensing something was off in advance, seeing through their true intentions would have been nearly impossible."

"Right." Orihime nodded. "Who could have known it would turn out like that, when Ichigo activated Trinity State, I really thought it was all over?"

"Honestly," Yasutora said in a low, quiet voice, "the enemy had been hiding in the shadows for over a hundred years. It would actually be stranger if they were defeated that easily."

"Hmm..." After a brief pause, Tatsuki patted Ichigo on the shoulder and laughed brightly. "Looking at it that way, it's not really Ichigo's fault at all."

"...You guys..."

Whether it was exasperation, a rueful smile, or relief, Ichigo looked at the friends around him and found, for a moment, there was nothing to say.

"Ichigo."

After school that afternoon, at the school gate, Orihime called out to stop Ichigo. Yasutora and Uryu were right behind.

"What's up?"

"It's like this, Mr. Urahara sent word yesterday saying that tonight, a few captains and lieutenant-class Soul Reapers will be coming to the World of the Living." Orihime explained. "He didn't want to disturb your training, so he asked me to pass the message along."

"In the Great Spirit Library, which holds records of all of Soul Society's secrets and intelligence, traces of spiritual pressure led them to some materials Sosuke Aizen had looked into and researched. The most critical piece among them was the method for creating the Oken."

"The Oken?"

"It's the key to the Soul King Palace." Orihime thought for a moment, then continued. "Sosuke Aizen's goal should be to reach the Soul King Palace, overthrow the Soul King's rule, and make himself king."

"But the Soul King Palace exists in a separate dimension. Even someone who has entered the Transcendent realm can't get in without a spatial ability of their own, or a suitable method to enter."

"...Does the creation of the Oken have to take place in the World of the Living."

"Creating the Oken requires one hundred thousand souls and a Jureichi with a radius of one ri."

"...Which means Karakura Town." Ichigo's mouth pulled at the corner. "Really, after using me, he's not done yet. Now he wants to ransack my hometown too..."

"Alright, alright—Sosuke Aizen, that guy. We really were born to clash."

"There's roughly half a month left." Uryu said suddenly. "I've already arranged a leave of absence from school. For the next half month, I'll be continuing Quincy training."

"Yasutora and I are doing the same." Orihime said with complete seriousness. "We'll keep training with Mr. Hachigen and the others."

"Don't push yourselves so hard..." Ichigo opened his mouth, but could only manage, "You don't have to..."

"The enemy is far stronger than we imagined, Ichigo." Uryu pushed up the glasses and said evenly. "As you yourself said, Sosuke Aizen wants to ransack our home. How could we possibly stand by and do nothing."

"Are we just supposed to watch your back again, like we did at Sokyoku Hill?"

The standoff at Sokyoku Hill had utterly shattered the pride Uryu held inside. Uryu had believed the strength there was enough to take down a captain, but even the battle between Captain-Commander Yamamoto in Shikai and Ichigo had been nearly impossible to break into. Forcing an entry would have only made Uryu a burden.

"This half month, it isn't only you training hard." Yasutora looked at Ichigo. "We're all putting in the effort. For the battles ahead."

"And that's not even counting the Quincy who come after."

"Let's set that aside for now..." Uryu said, expression going a little awkward. "To be precise, it's Yhwach and the others."

"Ha... got it." Ichigo scratched the back of his head, and some of the tension left his shoulders. "Then keep up the hard work. My own training has pretty much hit a bottleneck anyway, so I'll probably keep going to school while I train."

"And don't even think about borrowing my notes when finals roll around!"

"Relax. Even after two months away from school, there's no way your grades could be higher than mine." Uryu pushed up the glasses, the lenses catching a light that could only be called wisdom. "With a muscle-brain like yours, worry about yourself first."

"Tch... we'll see about that!"

Joking and laughing, the four of them went their separate ways, same as always. Orihime and Yasutora headed off to train with the Visored, while Uryu went to seek help from Uryu's own father.

Worth mentioning: the last pureblooded Quincy in the World of the Living was also busy researching something at that very moment, though it would still take a little more time to study and confirm. If it proved viable...

"Speaking of which..." Walking down the road, Ichigo had both hands clasped behind the back of his head, turning over something seen in class that morning. "What on earth was that... it felt really strange..."

"Human? Doesn't seem like it. Soul Reaper? Doesn't seem like that either. A spirit body? A little bit maybe... just what is it, that strange feeling... hm?"

A girl walked past with her hair tied up in a purple pineapple style. Ichigo's gaze paused, looking the girl up and down.

"Hey! What are you staring at!"

The girl looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, with amber-yellow eyes and a sweet, cute face, and right now those eyes were fixed on Ichigo with a demanding look.

"Ah... nothing really..." Ichigo waved a hand. "I'm not some creep. It's just, that uniform you're wearing, that's from our school, right?"

"But I've never seen you before. What year and class are you in?"

"What does that have to do with you?!" The girl said with clear irritation. "That's such a lame way to start a conversation!"

"Ah... it's not like that." Ichigo scratched his head. "It's mainly because I... hm?"

Ichigo's brow furrowed. Turning to look behind, a peculiar spiritual pressure was coming from not far off.

"What kind of spiritual pressure is this... none of a Hollow's savagery... doesn't feel like a Soul Reaper's either... closer to a human-type like a Quincy... hm?!"

Turning back, Ichigo found with a start that the girl from just moments ago was gone, vanished without a trace, as if she had never been there at all.

➤ Next: The Amnesiac Soul Reaper