Spirit Detective?
Asuka and Shinobu exchanged a glance, clearly having never heard of the term.
Kisuke Urahara reached under the coffee table and pulled out a somewhat old projection device. He played a live video feed that was a bit blurry but clear enough to make out the movements.
"Currently, Yoruichi is conducting a covert tail on the outskirts of Sarayashiki City. This is the footage she's transmitting back through a special Reishi device."
Asuka and Shinobu simultaneously turned their attention to the projection.
In the video, the sky was an eerie grayish-white, and the surrounding buildings were distorted as if covered by a layer of mist.
The streets were densely packed with faceless, translucent spirits wearing white mourning clothes.
Those were exactly the Blanks Shinobu had mentioned.
And in the center of the Blanks' encirclement, a figure was frantically fighting his way through.
It wasn't a Soul Reaper in a black Shihakusho, nor was it a Quincy wielding a spirit bow.
It was a teenage boy who looked to be only fourteen or fifteen years old.
He wore a green, high-collared school uniform typical of delinquents in the World of the Living, his hair slicked back in an arrogant pompadour.
Facing those bizarre Blanks, the boy surprisingly used no weapons, fighting entirely with his bare fists!
Bang!
The boy delivered a vicious headbutt, sending a lunging Blank flying backward.
Immediately following that, a roundhouse kick snapped another Blank in half.
Watching the boy's movements in the footage, Asuka frowned. "This kid's hand-to-hand combat... it's basically just a street brawl. But his strength and explosive power are incredibly astonishing."
"If it were just brute strength, he wouldn't be enough to catch my attention... Asuka, look closely at his hand," Urahara pointed out.
On the screen, the boy seemed enraged by the endless stream of Blanks.
He suddenly backed away to create some distance, bringing his right index finger forward and pointing it straight ahead.
In that instant, an extremely dazzling blue light gathered at his fingertip.
"Spirit Gun!!!"
Although there was no audio, Asuka could read the boy's lips to make out his shout.
Boom!
A sphere of azure energy blasted from the boy's fingertip!
The energy blast carried tremendous momentum, instantly piercing through dozens of Blanks and obliterating them into a sky full of light particles!
"What kind of power is that? It's not Kido, it's not a Cero, and it's not a Quincy's Heilig Pfeil..."
"That is exactly why I had to ask you to step in, Asuka."
Kisuke Urahara's expression turned grave. "I knew it the moment I saw it. That boy's power doesn't belong to the Reishi system of the Soul Society. It's a power from another dimension."
"Actually, during the days you were gone, these Otherworld rifts have occasionally appeared, though they usually don't last very long." Saying this, he looked at Shinobu.
Shinobu nodded. "Yes, at first we tried to find traces of you in those Otherworlds, but they dissipated so quickly that we had no way to investigate."
"But this time... I don't know if it's because the Valley of Screams intersected with this rift..." Kisuke Urahara stared at the boy on the screen. "This rift has lasted for two days now... and it shows signs of continuing to expand..."
"Yesterday, Yoruichi and I took a risk and infiltrated the rift in Sarayashiki to investigate."
"This boy's name is Yusuke Urameshi. He was originally just an ordinary delinquent at Sarayashiki Junior High, but he died unexpectedly in a car accident not too long ago."
"But strangely, he didn't turn into a normal Plus, nor was he reincarnated through a Soul Reaper's Soul Burial."
"Instead, he became a Spirit Detective."
"So what exactly is this Spirit Detective you keep mentioning?" Asuka pressed.
Urahara thought seriously for a long moment before answering. "...I'm not entirely sure either. It seems to be an organization completely independent of the Soul Society that manages supernatural order."
"If I had to put it in familiar terms, he's a Substitute Soul Reaper, just like you."
"Right now, that Substitute Soul Reaper named Yusuke Urameshi is clearing out the Blanks in a rather brutal manner."
"I'm worried that the rift to the Valley of Screams will become increasingly unstable due to his violent bombardments. If we let him continue, this area of the World of the Living will likely collapse completely."
"First, we need to find the cause of the intersection between the Valley of Screams and the World of the Living, and stop that detective kid from causing any more destruction."
Urahara looked Asuka straight in the eye and entrusted him with the task. "Therefore, it couldn't be more fitting for the highly experienced Sir Asuka to handle this trouble involving the collision of multiple worlds."
"...Since when am I highly experienced?" Asuka curled his lips speechlessly.
However, Urahara's words did spark some interest in him, especially after spending the past few days agonizing over his studies.
'A Spirit Detective from another world...'
After spending the better part of a month reading and memorizing books, he felt completely rusty.
Now, it seemed a target had finally appeared—one that didn't require following rules, only communicating through fists and blades.
Asuka stood up and stretched his spine, letting out a series of cracks from his long-inactive joints.
"Let's go, Shinobu," Asuka turned his head to look at Shinobu beside him. "Time for a fight."
Watching Asuka's confident and brash demeanor, Shinobu chuckled and stood up. "Since Sir Asuka says so, I naturally must follow orders and accompany you."
"In case you get too heavy-handed and injure that otherworldly detective, you'll need me to bandage him up."
"My, my, you two certainly have perfect chemistry... Well then, I leave it in your hands."
Kisuke Urahara waved his folding fan, smiling as he saw them off. "It's unclear when the rift will close, so please make it quick."
"If you need technical support, feel free to contact my shop via phone at any time!"
Sarayashiki City, East District.
What should have been a bustling commercial street was now shrouded in a dense, grayish-white fog.
The sky had turned hazy, and the surrounding skyscrapers looked as if they were submerged in rippling water, refracting an eerie sense of distortion.
This was a unique phenomenon caused by the overlapping of the Valley of Screams and the World of the Living—World of the Living Displacement.
In the center of the street, the battle had reached a fever pitch.
"Damn it! These rag-like bastards just keep coming no matter how many I beat up!"
Yusuke Urameshi panted heavily, his signature slicked-back hair now disheveled, and his green school uniform covered in dust.
His hands were somewhat red and swollen from throwing continuous, high-intensity punches.
Surrounding Yusuke were hundreds of Blanks floating in the air.
They had no facial features, only hollow mouths constantly opening and closing on their red masks.
In truth, Yusuke Urameshi didn't even know if they were aggressive or what kind of harm they could cause.
The orders he received were simply to eliminate these guys.
"Yusuke! Watch your back!"
A crisp, anxious voice called out from above Yusuke's head.
It was a cute girl with long blue hair, wearing a pink kimono and sitting on an oar.
She was the guide from the Spirit World, Botan.
Without even looking back, Yusuke spun around and threw a heavy right uppercut.
With a muffled thud.
A Blank attempting to sneak up from behind had its jaw shattered on the spot, dissipating into Reishi.
"Botan! What exactly did Koenma say?! These faceless monsters aren't even demons!"
Yusuke roared at Botan in mid-air while continuing to fight. "My Spirit Gun works, but I've been fighting for a whole day! I can't hold out much longer!"
"This number is way too ridiculous! What the hell is going on here?!"