Karakura Town trembled, respectfully offering a gift as a token of gratitude.
You comprehended… In the darkness, amidst an endless sea of fire, for the sole purpose of eradicating villains who invade territory — "Shihōin Clan Chika's Shunpo Insights."
Suddenly, a gentle breeze swept through.
It scattered the ink-wash characters.
Passing through Shimiya Takeru's body, it brought a chill that penetrated to his soul.
His mind became clearer than ever before.
All his mental and intellectual faculties were forcibly used to absorb inspiration from the ethereal realm.
Greedy, yet efficient.
His understanding of Shunpo soared at an incredible speed, to say it advanced a thousand miles in a day would not be an exaggeration.
No amount of training could achieve such an effect.
Even memory infusion would require a period of adaptation.
But Shimiya Takeru had achieved this understanding through his own efforts, gaining the same "experience" as his predecessor — Shihōin Clan Chika, the First Division Captain of the Gotei 13.
In other words…
He didn't receive something from others; rather, he acquired something identical to what others possessed.
Shimiya Takeru opened his eyes, which he hadn't realized he had closed.
His eyes were as bright as ever, not dimmed by the exhaustion from the intense battle; in fact, they seemed to have gained something more than before.
He looked at the sky, the ground.
The iron railings, walls, streetlights, green belts, glass windows… His gaze seemed to be filled with indifference towards these objects.
It wasn't a disdainful or disgusted emotional impression of coldness.
It was more like… he regarded them as insubstantial phantoms.
Shimiya Takeru's figure instantly vanished from his spot.
Then he reappeared at the main entrance of the Western restaurant downstairs.
If a Shinigami were present.
They would undoubtedly perceive Shimiya Takeru as moving at high speed using Shunpo.
Indeed, that perception would be correct.
But one point needs to be added —
This wasn't high-speed movement in a straight line.
Instead, in a mere second, he entered the building from the rooftop, then moved down the stairwell, bypassing numerous obstacles, and finally exited through the main door.
It was as easy and graceful as a phantom passing through walls.
Or perhaps… he treated the building itself as a phantom and passed through it.
In short, there was a sense of being above it all.
Shimiya Takeru himself, however, did not notice this.
He only knew one thing.
Although he hadn't mastered any exquisite techniques, the proficiency of the three basic elements of Shunpo — initiation, footwork, and Shunpo itself — had dramatically increased.
It was already difficult to describe it as rapid progress.
It was more like his mind and body had undergone an incredible baptism, leading to an all-around improvement.
Under normal training, even a genius like him wouldn't know how many years it would take to reach this stage.
Ultimately, Shimiya Takeru's talent in Shunpo couldn't compare to those prodigies who seemed born for a specific field.
However, his growth rate was enough to break the defenses of those prodigies.
"My mind and body were pleased, and I gained benefits; this trip was a win-win."
Shimiya Takeru knew very well that these Hollows were not entirely Ishida Uryū's doing; it was highly likely related to his kind-hearted teacher.
Regarding this, he only wanted to say —
The more teaching methods like this, the better.
…
"Ah, I'm exhausted! I never want to experience that again!"
Half an hour later, Shimiya Takeru, Hachihara, and Rindo Yu met in Minamikawa as agreed.
Ichigo, sensing the movement of spiritual pressure, also arrived at the scene on his own accord.
When he arrived, Hachihara was complaining bitterly.
"It was fun at first, but there were simply too many Hollows, endless, truly endless. By the end, my stamina and spiritual power were depleted, and I could only hide from them."
"Good thing they started running away for some reason, otherwise I would have had to send an e-book message and call you guys to pick me up!"
"That's good, you might not have noticed that your face has started to gain some weight recently."
"What?!"
Ignoring Hachihara, who was startled and pulled out his Soul Pager to take a selfie and check.
Shimiya Takeru casually greeted Ichigo, who was walking towards him.
"Are you okay over there?"
"I'm fine, I finally managed to deal with it… Speaking of which, I could feel the commotion you guys made from over here, it was like a war. For a moment, I even wondered if this city was going to be destroyed, and almost couldn't resist taking my family and running away!"
"I was trying to control the scale of the battle and minimize the impact on the Human World."
Rindo Yu replied with an innocent expression.
"I can tell, you're in much better shape than Hachihara."
Ichigo knew that the two of them were of similar strength.
There was no reason for Hachihara to be so exhausted while Rindo Yu was relatively relaxed.
So if such a situation occurred, it could only mean that someone was better at controlling the situation.
Achieving the greatest results with the least consumption, and still retaining some reserves until the end of the battle.
"Don't worry."
Shimiya Takeru exuded confidence.
"I don't know about Hachihara, but I guarantee I didn't accidentally kill any humans; at most, I caused some negligible damage to the city."
"…"
Ichigo's mouth twitched, speechless.
Then again.
Although he didn't believe that the battle, where half of Karakura Town's sky was lit red by fire, only resulted in "negligible architectural damage."
But under such circumstances, not involving ordinary people was indeed quite incredible.
At least he wasn't confident he could do it.
Hachihara, who had checked and found it was just a false alarm, gave Shimiya Takeru an annoyed look and said, "Actually, compared to all this, I'm more curious about what happened to this city to suddenly attract so many Hollows."
"Regarding that, we'll have to ask the Shinigami stationed here to explain."
Shimiya Takeru crossed his arms, leaning against a streetlight.
As he spoke, he turned his head, his gaze directed towards a street corner not far away.
Ichigo, Rindo Yu, and Hachihara also instinctively looked over.
They saw two girls rushing into view, then freezing in surprise upon seeing their group.
"Uh…"
"?"
Both sides were surprised.
But the reasons for their surprise were different and hard to explain at once, leading to a strange silence in the atmosphere.
"Hey, Shimiya, their reaction makes it seem like they know you."
The lively Hachihara couldn't stand the atmosphere and broke the silence.
He nudged Shimiya Takeru with his elbow; although he lowered his voice, in the pin-drop silence of the moment, it was perfectly clear.
"It's not 'seem like,' nor is it 'me,' but 'us'… To be precise, they are acquaintances of Brother Kurosaki and me."
Shimiya Takeru looked at Rukia, then at Orihime next to her, dressed in a Shinigami uniform, and fell into contemplation.
Ichigo, who was named, didn't think too much. After his surprise, he raised his hand with a hint of mischievousness and greeted, "Yo, Shinigami, long time no see."
"It's not Shinigami, it's Kuchiki Rukia!"
Rukia's face was stern, and she lifted her chin.
"I remember mentioning this great name to you two."
"Never mind whether it's great or not, it's been so long, who would remember that!"
Ichigo pouted, having no good feelings for this short woman who had sent him to Soul Society without a second thought.
"It's only been a few months; compared to a Shinigami's lifespan, it's just a fleeting moment. If you can't remember, it only means you're still far from being a proper Shinigami, kid."
Rukia scoffed.
Despite her words, she wasn't so calm inside.
To meet again in just a few months, and for their strength to have improved beyond imagination.
At such close range, a dense, extremely strong smell of blood assailed her.
Undoubtedly, it was Hollow blood, carrying residual Hollow spiritual pressure.
There were countless similar battle traces.
Speaking of fighting Hollows, she and Orihime had not slackened for a second either.
However, even on the same battlefield, the intensity was vastly different.
Let alone first-year students who had just enrolled.
Even a Shinigami like her, who had lived for over a hundred years and could barely be called an "elite," felt her scalp tingle.
Just thinking about it brought a suffocating feeling that made it hard to breathe.
Yet, the blonde kid in front of her, and the other black-haired kid, as well as the two new people she hadn't seen before, all looked completely unfazed…
It was utterly incomprehensible.
Had the Spirit Arts Academy been merged with the Eleventh Division's group of battle maniacs?
Or… were these guys the real problem?
While Rukia was lost in thought, Shimiya Takeru suddenly spoke, "It's only been a few months, and you've changed quite a bit too. Your spiritual power is almost depleted. Are you planning to retire, so you're training a successor for yourself? But I see she's not even a spiritual body."
As soon as this was said, Ichigo, Rindo Yu, and Hachihara's gazes instantly focused on Orihime, making her flustered and at a loss.
Indeed, the current Orihime was not a spiritual body.
She was clearly wearing a Shinigami uniform and carrying a Zanpakuto.
Yet, she wasn't a spiritual body.
Ichigo frowned and couldn't help but ask, "What exactly is going on? Inoue, how did you get involved with this guy, and how can you possess Shinigami powers while still being human? Logically, this shouldn't be possible."
"Eh! Um… you're Kurosaki-kun, right."
"…Hey, although we're not very familiar, we're both Tatsuki's friends, so you shouldn't have forgotten me, right? I still remember you bringing your brother to my family's clinic for treatment three years ago, so strictly speaking, we can't entirely be considered just friends of friends."
"Eh!? Was that Kurosaki-kun's family clinic?"
Orihime's eyes widened, looking quite surprised.