Several days later — Karakura Town.
Soifon and Isane Kotetsu stood high in the air, gazing down. For Isane, it was her first ti truly seeing Karakura Town in all its living, breathing vitality — so utterly different from the false city replica that had stood in its place during the great battle.
"It's been a while since I ca through official channels," Soifon murmured, glancing down at the faint [Restriction Seal] etched on her wrist. She could feel her Spiritual Pressure suppressed to a fifth of its normal level — a familiar weakness she hadn't experienced in so ti. The corner of her mouth curved into a faintly nostalgic smile.
Beside her, Isane Kotetsu was also looking down at the identical marking on her own wrist, her brow furrowing slightly.
"So this is a Restriction Seal…"
She could feel it clearly — her Spiritual Pressure compressed to a re fifth of what she was accustod to. The sudden absence of that power made her instinctively edge closer to Soifon, drawing comfort from the other woman's presence.
Sothing soft and warm pressed against her arm, carrying the clean, soothing fragrance of dicinal herbs.
Soifon glanced sideways at Isane, taking in her faintly anxious expression.
"Every Shinigami reacts like this the first ti they're marked with a Restriction Seal."
"Having your strength suppressed doesn't exactly feel safe, does it?"
Isane's cheeks went a little pink — Soifon had hit the nail on the head. She scratched her cheek sheepishly. "You're right… Being this weak for the first ti, it feels like I'm back at the Shin'ō Academy."
Rather than continue teasing her, Soifon simply reached out and gently closed her hand around Isane's uncertain fingers. Her palm was warm, smooth as jade.
With her other hand, she drew from the folds of her uniform the antique pendant Ukitake had given her, and placed it in Isane's open palm.
"Isane, I need you to use [Kakushitsuijaku] on this pendant. Sense the Spiritual Pressure sealed inside it and pinpoint the owner's exact location."
"I'm not particularly practiced with that tracking Bakudō, so I'll have to leave it to you."
Isane accepted the pendant, listened to the request — and, for the very first ti in Soifon's company, gave a tiny, almost imperceptible eye-roll.
With Captain Soifon's talent and power, was there really a Bakudō she couldn't use?
She was obviously just thinking of her attendant's feelings, manufacturing a task so Isane would feel useful and not like she was completely along for the ride.
Touched by Soifon's consideration, Isane said nothing and simply nodded obediently. "Understood. Leave it to ."
Isane closed her eyes and focused her spiritual senses on the pendant in her palm. Inside it, sealed away, was the faint remnant of a Spiritual Pressure she didn't recognize — but it was unmistakably powerful.
Silver light blossod from her palm, fragnting into countless fine threads that spread in every direction, tracking the sealed Spiritual Pressure back to its source.
——Bakudō #58: Kakushitsuijaku!
Several minutes later, she opened her eyes and pointed from on high toward a particular quarter of Karakura Town.
"Found it, Captain Soifon. In that direction — approximately thirty kiloters from our position. The Spiritual Pressure reading is faint, but unmistakably clear."
"Good." Soifon pocketed the pendant and started moving. "Let's go."
At that sa mont, not far away, a man with his hair slicked back in a dium-length pompadour was leaning against an electric pole with a studied air of casual sightseeing — while repeatedly stealing glances at the orange-haired young man sitting in the park nearby.
[So that's Ichigo Kurosaki — the one who fought Sōsuke Aizen head-on and dominated him throughout the entire Battle of Karakura Town.]
[He looks like just a slightly hot-tempered, hot-blooded high schooler. Should be pretty easy to deceive.]
[But how exactly am I supposed to convince Ichigo Kurosaki to learn Fullbring…? Then again, nobody in their right mind would say no to gaining another power.]
According to intelligence from the Tsunayashiro remnants still active in Soul Society, all [XCUTION] had to do was gain Ichigo Kurosaki's trust step by step — have Ginjō Kūgo teach him the power of Fullbring, then steal that power for themselves once it had grown strong.
Such a simple, irresponsible plan. It perfectly matched his ntal image of the brainlessly arrogant nobility.
Ginjō Kūgo's thoughts drifted back several months earlier…
A towering old man who radiated decay from every pore had co to [XCUTION] accompanied by a girl of about ten years old. He had simply dumped his mission and intel on Ginjō without ceremony, as though tossing scraps to a beggar on the street.
Perhaps centuries of sitting at the top had made it second nature — the Tsunayashiro Clan had issued their orders to Ginjō Kūgo with the sheer, blunt arrogance of a great noble house, as though it were Ginjō who had co begging for their partnership.
"Don't you want revenge against the Gotei 13? I'm giving you that chance. Serve us, Ginjō Kūgo."
"You should feel honored. We are the Tsunayashiro Clan — foremost among the Four Great Noble Families."
"Once you have seized Ichigo Kurosaki's power, cut down Yamamoto Shigekuni and Soifon. In return, we will yield the Captain-Commander's seat to you."
With that, the old man had handed Ginjō a Zanpakutō — supposedly the Tsunayashiro Clan's ancestral blade, Enra Kyōkyoku.
And then the young girl who had accompanied him demonstrated utterly overwhelming combat ability, effortlessly suppressing Ginjō and the others with her Fullbring — Dōhane Aura.
In the aftermath of the Tokinada Tsunayashiro Incident, the Tsunayashiro Clan had begun turning their gaze toward the power of the World of the Living. They had eventually discovered the peculiar community of Fullbringers, and then "rescued" the girl Dōhane Aura from the imprisonnt her own father had consigned her to — successfully brainwashing her in the process.
[XCUTION] had their own intelligence channels into Soul Society; they were well aware that the Tsunayashiro Clan had been subjected to a string of devastating blows by a captain nad Soifon, and was steadily crumbling. The title of [Four Great Noble Houses of Soul Society] was now a na without substance.
The Tsunayashiro Clan was now in a sorrier state than even the Shiba Clan — at least the Shibas had people on their side, and had reclaid control of Central 46.
Ginjō's plan was this: once he had seized enough power for his revenge, he would deal with the Tsunayashiro Clan first — and then turn that hatred against the Gotei 13 he so despised.
Those Tsunayashiro fools only knew that Ginjō's Fullbring could steal other people's Fullbring abilities — they had no idea that Tsukishima Shūkurō's Fullbring could implant mories. It was almost laughable.
On a park bench, Ichigo Kurosaki, Uryū Ishida, Yasutora Sado, and Orihi Inoue were enjoying a rare mont of leisure.
Uryū pushed up his glasses, leaning slightly back against the bench. The lenses caught the light and flashed white.
"The man with the slicked-back pompadour behind us, by the electric pole… since we sat down, he's looked over here at least ten tis. Does anyone know him?"
At his words, the group casually slid their gazes sideways to look.
Ichigo frowned, studied the man carefully, then gave a definitive shake of his head. "No idea. Never seen him in my life."
"Sothing feels… off," Sado said quietly.
Orihi lowered her voice. "Should we probably leave?"
"Agreed." Uryū stood. "Could just be so ordinary stalker or weirdo, but there's no reason to invite trouble here."
The four reached a silent consensus, quickly gathered their things, and walked away from the park at a perfectly ordinary pace, heading off in the opposite direction.
Only when their figures had vanished from the far end of the park did Ginjō lower his newspaper, clicking his tongue in irritation.
"They noticed …"
"I really have no experience at tailing people…"
Trying to tail soone with instincts as sharp as Ichigo Kurosaki's and Uryū Ishida's had been a stretch from the start.
He was mulling over how to approach Ichigo next, when a calm female voice spoke without warning from directly behind him.
"So you were tailing Ichigo Kurosaki?"
The voice was quiet, but every muscle in Ginjō's body snapped taut in an instant, cold sweat flooding his back.
When —?!
Soone had co close enough to stand directly behind him, and he hadn't sensed them at all?!
Ginjō forced his stiff neck to turn, moving with excruciating slowness.
Two figures entered his view — one tall, one short.
He didn't recognize the tall white-haired woman. But the short figure in the white captain's Haori? He had known that na for a long ti.
The intelligence photos provided by the Tsunayashiro Clan flashed through his mind in an instant. Scenes from the Battle of Karakura Town surfaced alongside them.
The existence that had fought Sōsuke Aizen head-on and thrashed him throughout the entire battle — an absolutely dangerous individual!
Cold sweat poured down. Ginjō had no ti to think about why she was here — his screaming survival instincts and years of combat-honed reflex overwheld everything else.
He exploded backward in a single massive leap, and in the sa motion his right hand slamd without hesitation to his hip. He clenched his teeth and chanted:
"Drink deep the four seas, coil across the horizon's edge — all things and all forms, overwritten and excised —"
"Enra Kyōkyoku!"
Accompanied by a clear, crystalline sound like a mirror shattering, Ginjō endured the agonizing sensation of his soul being carved and consud — and the Zanpakutō in his hand shifted form in an instant, transforming into a blade he had only ever glimpsed from afar on a distant battlefield: Kyōka Suigetsu.
Hypnotize Soifon — it was his only chance…
The mont they had t eyes, Ginjō had recognized that he stood absolutely no chance in a direct fight.
But the feedback that ca back from the replicated Kyōka Suigetsu was ice-cold: failure.
The hypnosis had not taken.
The gap in Spiritual Pressure between them was simply too vast. Kyōka Suigetsu's ability hadn't been able to activate at all.
[Why is the Tsunayashiro Clan's Enra Kyōkyoku here?]
Soifon raised her hand. Rikujōkōrō erupted in an instant, binding Ginjō where he stood and dropping him rigid onto the ground, completely immobilized.
"How—"
Ginjō gasped, staring up at Soifon in disbelief — and then his gaze snapped to her wrist and froze.
There, etched clearly into her skin, was the black marking of the Restriction Seal.
"Only a fifth of her Spiritual Pressure… and the hypnosis still failed?"
Ginjō murmured to himself in despair.
He gave a bitter, hollow laugh, tilted his head back, and looked up at the two figures standing nearby.
"It seems… you people in Seireitei have already found out about my arrangent with the Tsunayashiro Clan."
"Go ahead and do what you need to do."
Even at a fifth of her power, this woman's ability was sothing he could never hope to match. Better to die with so dignity than to die thrashing pointlessly.
He only hoped she wouldn't take her anger out on Tsukishima Shūkurō.
Soifon exchanged a look with Isane Kotetsu at her side. Both of them could see the sa clear bewildernt and confusion in each other's eyes.
This involves the Tsunayashiro Clan as well?
Soifon pressed a hand to her forehead with a slight headache. She had only co to find Ginjō Kūgo and learn Fullbring — and sohow she'd stumbled into pulling up more Tsunayashiro dirt in the process. Talk about a double win… specifically, Soifon winning twice.
She looked at the conflicted expression wavering on Ginjō's face.
"Tell . What exactly is your connection to the Tsunayashiro Clan?"
Lying pinned on the ground, Ginjō's mind suddenly flickered with a new thought.
Wait — looking at their expressions… this doesn't seem like an arrest.
Could it be that he had overreacted?
A wave of absurd, mortified frustration surged through him.
But things had already gone this far. Enra Kyōkyoku had been recognized by the other party — concealing his connection to the Tsunayashiro Clan was no longer possible. If he kept denying it, he'd risk being slapped with sothing even worse, like "theft of the Tsunayashiro Clan's ancestral Zanpakutō."
And so Ginjō Kūgo gritted his teeth and spoke.
"Several months ago, soone from the Tsunayashiro Clan ca to find …"
Soifon listened, and the expression on her face gradually beca sothing quite subtle — the sa speechless, exasperated look that had crossed Ginjō's own face the first ti he'd heard this plan.
This plan… was so sloppy it was almost offensive. Did those fossils in the Tsunayashiro Clan genuinely believe that people and powers in the World of the Living were chess pieces to be moved at will?
Beside her, Isane Kotetsu opened her mouth slightly. It was the first ti she had ever discovered that the lofty Tsunayashiro Clan could be so utterly brainless.
Still, thinking about the fact that Tokinada Tsunayashiro was currently rotting in Muken, the worry that had been nagging at Soifon eased considerably. She released the Rikujōkōrō binding Ginjō.
Ginjō's body went slack. He stumbled upright on unsteady legs, working so feeling back into his stiff limbs, watching Soifon with a wary, uncertain gaze.
"Lead the way," Soifon said, cutting straight to the point. "Take to your [XCUTION] base."
Just as he was about to bolt, Soifon added:
"I ca to learn Fullbring from you. I didn't expect to accidentally reel in so Tsunayashiro dirt on the side — truly a double win." She paused. The "double win" referred to Soifon winning twice.
Then she looked at the emotions warring on Ginjō's face. "You're worried I'll kill Tsukishima Shūkurō, aren't you?"
In that instant, Ginjō broke into a cold sweat all over again.
This woman was on an entirely different level from anything the Tsunayashiro Clan could even dream of fielding against her. At least, the Tsunayashiro Clan as it stood now.
The XCUTION base.
When the doors were pushed open and Ginjō's face appeared before the group — wearing an expression that could only be described as "done with life" — everyone froze in place. Every head turned toward the entrance at once.
When they caught sight of the two figures behind Ginjō — and especially the distinctive white captain's Haori Soifon wore — every face in the room changed color simultaneously.
Soifon's white captain's Haori.
Isane Kotetsu's Vice-Captain insignia.
They had watched the entire Battle of Karakura Town from a corner of the false Karakura, quietly taking it all in. The power and terror of Soifon — Captain of the Second Division — had been seared deep into their hearts.
And then they took in the dust visibly coating Ginjō's coat and the bitter misery on his face. It was obvious he'd co out on the wrong end of an encounter with Soifon.
"Everyone…"
"This person is…"
Ginjō started to speak, his voice hoarse.
"I know who she is," Tsukishima Shūkurō said, cutting him off. He rose and stepped forward to et Soifon. "Captain Soifon, to what do we owe the honor of your visit?"
"I ca to learn Fullbring from you."
As she spoke, Soifon's gaze moved past Tsukishima and settled on an unfamiliar figure tucked into a corner of the base — Dōhane Aura.
She was not young, exactly, but her eyes held a purity that didn't match soone her age — exactly as the intelligence had described, the product of years of confinent. When Dōhane's gaze t Soifon's, she visibly flinched, shrinking behind Riruka and leaving only two fear-filled eyes peeking out.
——People who wear a captain's Haori are dangerous.
That was sothing the Tsunayashiro Clan had drilled into her, over and over again, during their brainwashing.
Soifon didn't acknowledge the girl's fear. She withdrew her gaze and turned back to Ginjō.
"Because of Tsukishima's ability…" Ginjō lowered his voice to explain, "Aura now considers us her allies. The Tsunayashiro Clan's brainwashing has been, in a sense, overwritten."
"Brainwashing…" Isane Kotetsu's expression soured. Her already poor opinion of the Tsunayashiro Clan dropped another several notches. She would absolutely be filing a full report to her captain the mont they got back.
Soifon's assessnt of the situation wasn't far off from what Isane was feeling. She sympathized with Dōhane's circumstances, but now wasn't the ti to deal with that.
At Ginjō's cue, the mbers of XCUTION — Dōhane Aura included — each demonstrated their Fullbring abilities for Soifon one by one.
Soifon watched with focused, unwavering attention throughout, her powerful spiritual senses ticulously recording the unique fluctuations in soul and Spiritual Pressure that each person produced when activating their ability.
But when she attempted to channel her own Spiritual Pressure according to the patterns she had perceived — to replicate those fluctuations within herself — nothing happened.
It was as though an invisible mbrane stood between her and that power, blocking her at every turn.
After several failed attempts, Soifon frowned. She had reproduced the fluctuation — yet could not draw out any Fullbring of her own.
Ginjō watched from the side, and the other XCUTION mbers exchanged helpless glances.
——If we can't teach her, she's not going to just lose her temper and kill us all, is she?!
That terrifying thought began spreading through every mind in the XCUTION base.
"Um…"
A small, timid voice spoke up. Riruka gathered her courage and stepped forward.
"Captain Soifon, Fullbring isn't learned that way…"
"It requires… it requires reaching out through the power of sothing you deeply cherish. That's how you connect to it."
For the sake of everyone's lives, Riruka forced herself to keep talking.
She pointed at Ginjō. "Like Ginjō's Fullbring — his dium is a cross necklace."
Soifon fell silent in thought at those words.
What in the world was the thing she cherished most deeply…
Without thinking, she raised her hand and looked at her palm.
A flash of gold.
The small, delicate Suzubachi thimble blades wound themselves around her fingers without warning, and simply rested there — quiet, docile, intimate.
Soifon looked at them, murmuring softly: "The thing I've poured my heart into… I suppose that would be you, Suzubachi."
The mont the words left her lips, Soifon felt sothing begin to stir within her.
A current of warmth, intimately bound to her soul, welled up without warning from the deepest core of her being — like the very first flutter of life, beating rapidly and with force.
Because Suzubachi had long since fused with her soul itself, this newly awakened power did not take shape outside her body the way a dium normally would. Instead, it acted directly upon the core of her existence. Golden light poured out from within her, enveloping her entire form like a chrysalis on the cusp of breaking open.
The Restriction Seal etched on her wrist shattered under the impact of that force.
——Fullbring.
It was remaking her very soul.
"Captain Soifon—"
Isane Kotetsu sensed sothing was wrong and reflexively stepped forward — only to be gently but firmly pushed back by a soft wave of force.
The others in the room were not so lucky.
"Ugh—!"
Ginjō let out a stifled grunt, his knees buckled, and he dropped to one knee.
The Spiritual Pressure spilling from Soifon — even the small portion that escaped unintentionally — was a crushing weight that none of them were capable of withstanding.
The golden light began to coalesce on Soifon's body, condensing, converging, taking form.
Starting from the Suzubachi thimbles, countless fine threads of gold extended outward, spreading from her wrists across the surface of her skin, tracing out several lines of golden tracery — reminiscent of the Blut Vene's markings.
The lines were few — only a handful — yet they were placed with perfect elegance on her slender fra, lending Soifon an air of divine, almost sacred authority rather than diminishing her.
She looked down at the Suzubachi on both her hands — familiar, yet sohow different — and at the golden tracery flowing across her skin. A na arose in her heart as naturally as breath.
"Enma-ten."
That was the na of Soifon's Fullbring.
Behind Soifon, faint golden threads connected her to a golden silhouette — one that bore a striking resemblance to Soifon's own form in shape and bearing. Yet none of those present seed to perceive its existence at all.
Sensing the golden silhouette behind her, Soifon turned to look. She found the figure hovering quietly in the air, watching her in silence.
____
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