The sky gradually brightened, painting a layer of soft pink across the pale blue horizon, beneath which countless golden rays lay hidden.
Today was Ichigo's first day at the karate dojo, and the entire Kurosaki household—Masaki, Isshin, and Ichigo himself—seemed incredibly excited. The family woke up early, and as soon as Ichigo finished his breakfast, Masaki prepared to walk him over to the class.
The previous day, Kaito had learned through the grapevine that this particular dojo offered an after-school care service at noon. This meant Ichigo would be training and staying at the dojo from morning until three o'clock in the afternoon.
Coincidentally, this was also the first time Kaito hadn't slept in late.
"Ichigo, look here!"
Kaito magically produced two sets of clothing from behind his back—one large and one small.
The moment Ichigo saw them, his face fell. "Kaito... you don't expect me to wear that, do you?"
The clothes Kaito held up were simple white T-shirts, but stitched onto the back of each was a striking black polygonal pattern. It looked less like a fashion design and more like a... complex spell formulation.
The threads used to embroider those dark geometric patterns were a unique material sourced from the Soul Society—the very same material used to weave the standard-issue Shinigami uniforms. The total amount of spiritual energy these garments could store was roughly equivalent to the defensive output of a mid-level Bakudo. While that baseline level of protection wouldn't be enough to deal significant damage to a truly powerful Hollow, it would provide a crucial buffer.
Standing to the side, Isshin naturally recognized the special fabric at a single glance. He shot Kaito a puzzled look, asking, "Kaito, these clothes must have been quite expensive, right?"
Expensive?
The moment Ichigo heard the word "expensive," his eyes lit up with sudden joy. He instantly snatched the T-shirt out of Kaito's hands, examining it from left to right. Sure enough, after spending so much time around Kaito, the boy had fully picked up the habit of appreciating high-value freebies.
However, while Ichigo had mastered the art of accepting free gifts, his personal aesthetic taste remained unchanged. The more he looked at the shirt, the uglier it seemed. If he hadn't heard his dad mention the cost, he would have tossed it aside already.
"Kaito, this shirt is so ugly!"
"Hey, what do you know? This is what we call high art!"
In the end, after a considerable amount of flattering and persuasion, Kaito managed to extract a promise from Ichigo to wear the outfit all day. To make things easier, Masaki willingly agreed to wear the larger matching version, which instantly dissolved Ichigo's lingering resistance.
Once Masaki and Ichigo left the clinic, Isshin turned to Kaito, his tone shifting to something more serious. "Kaito, you gave them those clothes because you're worried about their safety, aren't you?"
As a member of their extended family, Isshin naturally never suspected that Kaito had any malicious intent.
Kaito simply laughed it off, waving his hand. "Come on, Uncle, I just wanted to give Ichigo a little encouragement for his first day. It's just a practical gift with a minor protective function built into it."
He didn't want to make Isshin worry unnecessarily. Besides, Isshin was scheduled to head out to the countryside for a medical consultation today, so it was best to let him focus on his work while Kaito handled things on the home front.
Isshin trusted his nephew implicitly. Even though the young man usually possessed a bit of an arrogant streak and an attitude, he had never once stumbled when it came to matters of actual importance.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
While they were talking, Kaito's Denreishinki vibrated frantically in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and scanned the alert.
An unprecedented surge of Hollow activity had just broken out in the northern suburbs of Karakura Town. Furthermore, the detection arrays at the Department of Research and Development had picked up the distinct spiritual signature of Grand Fisher. Captain Soi Fon was already leading a vanguard force to the coordinates.
The emergency order commanded both Kaito Shiba and Shino Madarame to deploy immediately as reinforcements, leaving Kiyone Kotetsu behind to handle logistics and maintain a real-time monitor over the rest of Karakura Town.
Life is never simple, Kaito sighed inwardly, pocketing the device. They just had to stir up trouble today of all days.
Noticing the shift in Kaito's demeanor, Isshin asked, "A sudden mission?"
Kaito grabbed his high-collared black trench coat from the chair, slipping it over his shoulders. He removed his dark sunglasses and swapped them for his pitch-black blindfold, securing it firmly over his eyes.
"Yeah. I'll fill you in later. I've got to run."
"Stay sharp out there."
After bidding farewell to Isshin, Kaito utilized the spatial pull of "Blue" to vanish instantly from the house.
Watching the empty space where his nephew had stood a fraction of a second ago, Isshin let out a quiet sigh. Kaito's speed and power had reached a level where even his trained senses could no longer track the movement. The boy had truly grown at a breathtaking pace.
Meanwhile, on the forested outskirts of Karakura Town.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Following a sequence of heavy detonations, three towering Gillian-class Hollows dissolved into a heavy mist of spiritual particles, scattering across the cleared ground.
Shino and Omaeda were leaning forward, panting heavily for breath.
For reasons they couldn't comprehend, today's anomaly had manifested several Menos Grande alongside a dense swarm of lower-level Hollows. Although Shino possessed excellent combat instincts, her official rank was still that of a trainee, and while Omaeda held the title of Lieutenant, his combat prowess was heavily reliant on specific match-ups. Having pushed through the front line to bring down those three massive structures, both of them felt their spiritual energy reserves running dangerously low.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over them. Behind their position, a remaining Gillian opened its massive, masked jaws wide, a sphere of dense, crimson energy condensing rapidly at its center.
It was a Cero!
The spiritual pressure locked them in place; they didn't even have the time or energy to dodge.
Vroom!
The crimson beam fully formed and blasted forward like a thunderbolt, ripping through the tree line straight toward Shino and Omaeda. If that concentrated blast hit them dead-on in their current state, it would be fatal.
"Technique Reversal: Red!"
In the span of a single heartbeat, a tall figure materialized directly in the path of the incoming beam. Kaito stood firmly before them, one hand casually tucked into his coat pocket while his other hand formed a precise, single-handed sign.
A tiny, intensely concentrated bead of crimson light ignited at the tip of his finger. The sphere expanded instantly, its internal mass reaching a critical threshold before erupting into a violent, shockwave of pure repulsive force that collided head-on with the incoming Cero.
The opposing energies clashed for a fraction of a second before "Red" completely overwhelmed the Hollow's attack, shattering the beam and tearing straight through the Gillian's mask. The giant creature let out a muted groan before collapsing into a shower of disintegrating spiritual particles.
"Whoa... that's incredible!"
"He's ridiculously strong!"
The pupils of both Omaeda and Shino shrank in absolute astonishment. The sheer magnitude of that spiritual pressure and the casual ease of the execution were entirely comparable to a captain-level performance. It was hard to believe Kaito had graduated from the Shin'o Academy barely a year ago.
Kaito, of course, paid no attention to whatever wild theories the two were cooking up. Even with the Gillian taken care of, the surrounding woods were still crawling with a densely packed, chattering swarm of lesser Hollows.
"Let's clear the field, then."
Kaito opened his arms wide as if welcoming the sky, before snapping his hands back to his chest to lock a specific hand seal.
"Maximum Output: Blue."
An invisible wave of gravitational attraction rippled outward from Kaito's position. Within a fifty-meter radius, the spatial fabric compressed violently, instantly crushing every single Hollow in the vicinity into absolute nothingness before they could even screech.
Kaito had carefully adjusted the manifestation of "Blue" this time; rather than generating a visible, lingering singularity that would warp the landscape, he utilized a localized, instantaneous implosion. Otherwise, if another massive crater appeared in Karakura Town, even the most oblivious investigator in the Seireitei would connect it to the anomaly from the other night.
"Oh my god..."
The shock in Omaeda and Shino's eyes instantly melted into stars of pure, unadulterated admiration. Standing near this man provided an almost overwhelming sense of absolute security.
Kaito turned his blindfolded gaze toward them. "Omaeda, where is Captain Soi Fon?"
Omaeda snapped out of his daze, quickly pointing toward a dense valley deeper into the mountains. "The Captain headed off in that direction. She mentioned she felt an exceptionally heavy, suffocating spiritual pressure hiding out there."
I see.
Kaito nodded. "Alright. Omaeda, Shino, clean up whatever is left around the perimeter. I'm going ahead."
With a sharp burst of Shunpo, Kaito blurred out of sight, tracing the path Soi Fon had taken. Trusting his Six Eyes, he could already tell there was something deeply anomalous about the spiritual signature Grand Fisher was emitting today. It felt far too deliberate.
Watching the empty trail where Kaito had been a second ago, Omaeda scratched his head and muttered, "Geez, is he really that worried about the Captain's safety?"
Shino, still coming down from the adrenaline rush of the battle, only caught the tail end of his murmuring. She blinked, looking over. "What were you whispering about just now?"
Omaeda glanced down at the young woman. Her head was entirely filled with thoughts of glorious combat and training—she and her brother Ikkaku truly were cut from the exact same cloth. Absolute battle maniacs.
"Nothing," Omaeda sighed, turning back to the empty field. "Let's just finish the sweep."