"Oh my, we'll have to trouble you again, Grimmjow-san." Kisuke Urahara grinned as he took out the sled, then tossed out two ropes.
Grimmjow picked up the ropes with a speechless expression and skillfully wrapped them around his waist. Still stubborn, he said, "Let me make one thing clear first. Once we can see Las Noches, you're walking the rest of the way yourselves!"
In order to preserve his image among the other Arrancar, this was Grimmjow's final compromise. No matter what, he would never pull these people all the way to the gates of Las Noches.
If it came to that, he might as well die!
As he tied the ropes, Grimmjow's hand remained close enough to touch his Zanpakutō at any moment. If Urahara and the others had the slightest objection, he was ready to release his Resurrección without another word and fight these bastards to the death.
"Of course, of course. As long as we can find Las Noches, we can make our own way over." Kisuke Urahara said. Grimmjow was only their guide. There was no need to make him do anything more unacceptable.
"Everyone, please get on the sled first. There happen to be six seats. Mr. Ashido, you can sit with Ichigo—"
At this point, Kisuke Urahara suddenly froze.
If he remembered correctly, when they came here, Ichigo had sat together with Uryū. First, those two were more familiar with each other. Second, Mayuri Kurotsuchi did not get along with several people in their group.
So on the way here, Kisuke Urahara had specially arranged for a Shinigami from Soul Society to sit beside Mayuri. Although the two of them could not exactly be called close either, an awkward silence was still better than mutual dislike.
But now, according to Urahara's suggestion, Ashido would sit with Ichigo. Since neither he nor Uryū saw eye to eye with Mayuri, that meant Tsunayoshi would have to sit with Mayuri.
Tsunayoshi probably would not refuse, but for some reason, Kisuke Urahara felt something was strange. Strictly speaking, Tsunayoshi was a human from the World of the Living, not a Shinigami from Soul Society.
Then who had been sitting with Mayuri?
"What is it?" Tsunayoshi asked.
"Something feels odd. Captain Kurotsuchi, when you came to the Menos Forest, who were you sitting with?" Kisuke Urahara asked with a serious expression.
"What nonsense are you talking about? I was sitting by myself on the way here, wasn't I?"
Mayuri shot Urahara a sideways glance. He knew very well that neither Urahara nor Uryū would ever sit with him.
He disliked Kisuke Urahara, while Uryū disliked him because of what had happened to Sōken. In short, the fact that they could act together now already meant they had set aside most of their personal grudges. As for minor personal feelings, those would absolutely never be let go.
Hearing the conversation between Urahara and Mayuri, Tsunayoshi also understood what Urahara was thinking.
"No. My intuition tells me that when we came here, every seat was filled. There is no way the seat beside Captain Kurotsuchi was empty."
The moment Tsunayoshi said that, Urahara, Ichigo, and Uryū all became serious. They knew just how uncanny Tsunayoshi's intuition was. In other words, the six seats had indeed all been filled before.
"Could Nel have been sitting in one of the seats?" Uryū suggested.
Hearing her name, Nel tilted her head and cutely pointed at herself.
"Nope. Nel was being held by Ichigo."
As soon as Nel said that, Tsunayoshi and Urahara exchanged a glance. Both immediately understood the severity of the situation.
"It is confirmed. Someone among us is missing, and we do not remember their existence," Kisuke Urahara said.
Tsunayoshi's expression also turned somewhat ugly. This trip to Hueco Mundo had him and Urahara acting as the safety net. Yet now, someone had disappeared without anyone noticing, and they did not even remember who it was.
This was a serious problem. They had lost someone, but did not even know whom they were supposed to be responsible for.
"Manager, please search the nearby area for familiar Reiatsu. I suspect they have not gone far."
At Tsunayoshi's suggestion, Urahara quickly took out the device he had previously used to measure Reishi and began searching the surrounding Reiatsu.
"I can narrow the target down to Shinigami Reiatsu and exclude all nearby Hollows…"
"The rest of us should think carefully as well. See if there is anything strange in our memories," Tsunayoshi said to the others.
Though he said "think," the ones mainly struggling with it were the three from the World of the Living. Mayuri did not care whether there was one more person or one less person. Nel could not be counted on, and Ashido had only just come out of the Menos Forest.
"It does feel… a little strange…"
Among the three, only Ichigo frowned and spoke up, instantly drawing everyone else's attention.
"I keep feeling like there's someone whose face I can't remember clearly. It feels weird."
"I think it's a girl? It feels like she had a pretty important influence on my life?"
"Orihime? Tatsuki? Or Aunt Masaki?" Tsunayoshi immediately threw out several names. There were not many important women in Ichigo's life, so using the process of elimination made it easy to reach a conclusion.
"What kind of joke is that, Tsunayoshi? Mom, Tatsuki, and Orihime are all in the World of the Living, okay? That woman was wearing the same Shihakushō as me!" Ichigo said with certainty. Yet he still could not make out the face in his memories.
"Rukia Kuchiki."
"What?"
Hearing the name Tsunayoshi had just spoken, Ichigo froze as well. After that, the woman's face seemed to gradually grow clearer.
Tsunayoshi smacked his own forehead in frustration. He had not remembered the name Rukia Kuchiki at first either.
Only after Ichigo had eliminated every other answer did Tsunayoshi search through his memories from his previous life and finally remember that onion-headed girl.
How could Rukia not be important to Ichigo's life? She was the one who guided him onto the path of a Shinigami.
Strangely enough, all of Tsunayoshi's memories of Rukia from this life had been erased. Just like with Senna last time, he had only remembered the name by relying on his cheat-like advantage.
As Rukia's name appeared, Ichigo finally saw the face in his memories completely. He excitedly grabbed Tsunayoshi by the shoulders and asked, "Rukia! Tsunayoshi, you remember Rukia too, right?!"
"No, Ichigo. I also forgot Rukia. It is only because of certain special reasons that I know she exists."
Tsunayoshi pried Ichigo's hands off his shoulders, then pointed a finger at the center of his forehead and continued,
"The reason you can remember Rukia is because your Shinigami powers were awakened by her. Inside your body, there is still Reishi that belongs to Rukia."
"So, Ichigo! If we want to find Rukia, we can only rely on you. Open your Reiraku and search for the Reiatsu belonging to Rukia in your memories!"
Ichigo knew this was not the time to mess around. He hurriedly closed his eyes and carefully sensed the nearby Reiatsu.
Seeing that Tsunayoshi and Ichigo had a plan, Urahara simply stopped what he was doing and asked Tsunayoshi,
"You know what incident this is?"
"More or less." Fragments of Fade to Black: I Call Your Name that Tsunayoshi still remembered flashed quickly through his mind. "Manager, do you remember when you were a captain, you once researched a snake-like Hollow? That thing could erase people's memories."
"So it was that thing causing trouble?" With Tsunayoshi's reminder, Urahara immediately recalled the experiment he had conducted in the past. "If I remember correctly, it was a parasitic Hollow, wasn't it?"
"Mm. Simply put, that Hollow parasitized Rukia's old friends and brought them to Hueco Mundo. Later, Rukia's friends devoured that Hollow's power. They came for Rukia, which is why they did not attack us."
"The reason we cannot remember someone named Rukia may be because they used that Hollow's power to erase the memories of Rukia in our minds."
"I see. That explains it." Kisuke Urahara scratched his head apologetically. "It seems this has something to do with me after all."
Kisuke Urahara had researched that parasitic Hollow in the past. Since that Hollow had escaped from the Department of Research and Development, he, the former director, naturally bore part of the responsibility.
Just as Urahara finished sorting out the situation, Ichigo opened his eyes with full confidence.
"Found her!"
Ichigo's eyes turned toward an empty sand dune. He could sense Rukia's Reiatsu moving rapidly in that direction. After shouting "Bankai," Ichigo activated Tensa Zangetsu and flew toward it at high speed.
"They did not choose to return to the Menos Forest? Then it seems we do not need to worry too much about Rukia's safety," Tsunayoshi said.
Their group had just come out of the Menos Forest when Rukia disappeared, which meant the ambushers should have come from the Menos Forest. After taking Rukia away, they had not chosen to return there. Perhaps they were afraid the countless Hollows would hurt Rukia.
"Since this is my mistake, I should help a little as well." Kisuke Urahara swept his gaze over Grimmjow and Mayuri. "How about everyone waits here for the moment? We should be back soon."
"Let's all go together. That way, we can look after each other," Tsunayoshi suggested.
In the end, everyone followed in Ichigo's direction. The distance was not far, and wasting a little time was acceptable.
After climbing the sand dune, Tsunayoshi and the others saw Ichigo wielding Tensa Zangetsu as he fought Shizuku's scythe. Behind Shizuku stood Homura, her face full of fear as she carried Rukia. She had not expected their actions to be discovered so quickly.
Damn it.
They should have taken Rukia away without anyone noticing. Why had these people found them immediately?
Homura did not understand, but she knew that if she did not do something, Rukia would be taken away, and the promise of staying together with Rukia forever would never come true.
Madness grew stronger and stronger on Homura's face. With a wave of her hand, four Gillians appeared around her. At the same time, she shouted loudly at Shizuku,
"Shizuku, let's do it together!"
Shizuku swung his scythe and temporarily forced Ichigo back. Then, after retreating to Homura's side, he raised the crimson scythe in his hand high. The four Gillians transformed into twisted Reiatsu and were absorbed into the scythe, causing Shizuku's aura to reach its peak.
As Shizuku swung his scythe toward the sky, milky-white liquid shot out from the blade and transformed into white giant serpents. They opened their bloody maws and attacked Ichigo.
"Oh? They converted Hollow Reiatsu into white serpents. Manager, did the Hollow you researched have this sort of power?" Tsunayoshi asked Urahara.
"Perhaps after the two of them came to Hueco Mundo, they evolved this ability in order to survive," Urahara guessed. "After all, with their Zanjutsu, surviving in the Menos Forest would not be easy."
Urahara's eyes were exceptionally sharp. With one glance, he could tell that Shizuku's way of fighting with a scythe was completely self-taught. If Ichigo had not been wary of Rukia being in the enemy's hands, he would have cut down the two of them long ago.
What Urahara did not know was that, apart from Rukia being in the enemy's hands, there was another reason. When clashing with Shizuku, that blood-red scythe could actually pass through Tensa Zangetsu.
Combined with Tsunayoshi's speculation that they could erase memories, every time the scythe passed through his Zanpakutō, Ichigo had no choice but to retreat a step. He was fighting with his hands tied, which was why he had only barely managed to fight Shizuku to a draw.
For precisely that reason, when facing those terrifying giant serpents, Ichigo had just been about to counter with Getsuga Tenshō when he saw Shizuku appear at his side. To avoid having his memories erased, he had no choice but to stop his attack and dodge.
But the more Ichigo dodged, the deeper he fell into the serpents' encirclement. Seeing that Ichigo was about to be swallowed by the giant serpents, Tsunayoshi prepared to make his move as well.
Tsunayoshi still remembered that being hit by that white liquid was no good thing. Even Kenpachi Zaraki had been forcibly removed from action for an entire movie after being hit by it.
They did not have time to waste here. They had to settle this quickly.
Orange Dying Will Flames ignited on his forehead, and red armguards wrapped in Dying Will Flames appeared on both his arms.
This was the Sky Bankai.
Author's Note: Regarding the white giant serpents, in the movie, they could only be used through Mayuri Kurotsuchi's device. Here, I changed it so that they were originally the siblings' ability. After all, that Hollow looked very much like a snake anyway.
In this version, Mayuri's device from the movie can simply be treated as a Reiatsu amplifier. The novel's plot turns it into the great serpents being released after absorbing the Reiatsu of four Menos Grande.
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