Unknown time later,
"Oh my, oh my, truly, thank you so much. It's all thanks to you during that time, Amamiya-san," said Sentarō-san, Fourth Seat of the Karakura Town patrol team, offering a grateful smile.
Amamiya Miyako, Fifth Seat stationed in Naruki City, gave a humble shake of his head. "No, Sentarō-san. I should be the one thanking you. I got a little overconfident. The Hollows in Karakura Town… both in number and in spiritual density… they're leagues above what we've seen in Naruki. It was honestly tough."
"My, my, you're far too modest, Amamiya-san. Every time we've fought side by side, I could feel your Reiatsu steadily pressing down on the Hollows. If that's what you call struggling, I can't imagine what easy looks like," Sentarō-san chuckled, giving the younger Shinigami a hearty pat on the shoulder.
But Miyako's expression turned serious.
"Sentarō-san, there's something I need to report," he said, his voice lowering.
"Oh?" Sentarō raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"I've sensed quite a few spiritually aware humans in Karakura Town," Miyako said, his eyes narrowing. "Some of them have a surprisingly high amount of Reiryoku. They're likely to become targets for Hollows… and there's more."
He pulled a small, techy-looking object from his sleeve. "The Kikanshinki — the memory replacement device issued by the Kido Corps and the Shinigami Research and Development Institute — it doesn't seem to work on some of them."
Sentarō-san's relaxed demeanor faded.
"…That's not good."
"Exactly. So please be careful. Try not to reveal yourself unless absolutely necessary, and if a Hollow appears near one of these spiritually aware humans, take it out immediately. The fewer witnesses, the better."
Sentarō-san gave a firm nod. "Understood. You're right. I'll act with more caution from now on."
"If the situation ever becomes too much, just let me know. Naruki City's not far. I'll come running," Miyako added with a faint smile.
"Hmph, are you looking down on your senpai?" Sentarō-san huffed, puffing his chest. "I might not be a seated officer from the First Division, but I'm still a Shinigami who's awakened the name of his Zanpakutō."
Miyako smiled knowingly. "You know who I'm talking about, don't you?"
Sentarō's face stiffened slightly at that.
"…You mean Grand Fisher, right?"
Miyako nodded. "Even if he's not very strong … he's not a hollow to underestimate."
Sentarō-san sighed. "Yare yare… Alright. If he shows up again, I'll send a signal."
With that, Amamiya Miyako gave a light bow and turned to leave, his figure soon vanishing toward the west — toward Naruki City.
"…What a promising junior," Sentarō murmured to himself as he watched Miyako disappear into the evening sky. "A genius, huh? Maybe… he really can pull it off."
Despite Miyako's young age, the Reiatsu he had unleashed during recent battles still lingered in Sentarō's memory. It was the kind of pressure that didn't belong to a fresh graduate of the Shino Academy — more like that of a seasoned seated officer. With someone like that watching his back, Sentarō felt far more at ease than before.
Back in Naruki City, Miyako let out a long sigh as he landed on a quiet rooftop. Finally, he could stop shuttling back and forth between towns every other day. Even though the distance wasn't far, the sheer number of Hollow appearances in Karakura had kept him constantly on edge.
Still, he wasn't complaining.
The frequent skirmishes had honed his skills. His Shunpō had become faster. His control over Reiryoku — more precise.
And more importantly, thanks to his nightly training under Ishida Ryūken, he had finally grasped the fundamentals of the Quincy movement technique — Hirenkyaku. While still a Shinigami, Miyako had chosen to embrace this foreign technique to widen his range in battle. Of course, he used it sparingly — especially when Sentarō-san was nearby. No need to raise suspicions.
…
"AAAAAGGHHHH—!!"
A Hollow let out a blood-curdling scream as it thrashed on the empty road. Its limbs were pinned to the ground by glowing arrows of spiritual energy — Heilig Pfeil. Miyako calmly approached, his expression unreadable.
He reached for his Zanpakutō, unsheathing it with a clean motion. With one precise slash, he purified the beast.
"Yare yare… Naruki City's Hollows really are small fry," Miyako muttered, sheathing his blade. "At least compared to the ones in Karakura Town."
He looked toward the fading sun, bathing the city in a warm orange hue. Even though the Hollow population here was low in both number and strength, Miyako never let his guard down. After all, truly powerful Hollows didn't linger in the Human World. Those monsters hunted in Hueco Mundo, preying on each other to evolve into even more terrifying beings.
Scanning the area with a soft pulse of spiritual pressure, Miyako confirmed that no other threats were nearby. With a satisfied nod, he pulled out a black cloak from inside his uniform—one crafted by Ishida Ryūken himself—and slipped it over his shoulders. "Time for tonight's lesson," he said, vanishing in a swift blur of Shunpo.
At the same time, in Karakura Town, Ishida Ryūken sat behind his desk, finishing paperwork under the dim fluorescent lights of his hospital office. His hand paused over a document, fingers tightening slightly.
"You're here," he said without looking up.
Despite the cloak suppressing spiritual pressure, subtle distortions in nearby Reishi told him all he needed to know.
"Yes, Ishida-san," Miyako replied, pulling back his hood. "Shall we begin?"
Ryūken gestured silently toward the hidden chamber behind the office wall—a barriered space only they could enter. Once inside, the room grew quiet, soundproofed and protected from outside interference. Their training, as always, would remain completely off the books.
Outside the building, however, someone else had taken notice.
"Hm?" A pale figure stood just beyond the hospital's perimeter, his geta-clad feet resting on a nearby rooftop. The striped bucket hat cast a shadow over his eyes, but the subtle smirk on his lips said enough.
"So Ishida-san's using that cloak again… I wasn't expecting that," murmured Urahara Kisuke, the former captain of the 12th Division. "And it's not just him. That spiritual signature… it's unfamiliar."
He narrowed his eyes, adjusting his hat with a tap of his finger. The black cloak was his creation, after all. He'd embedded certain failsafes—small traces he could track, even when spiritual pressure was masked.
For Kisuke, information was everything. Though he and Ishida Ryūken had once worked together under unusual circumstances, their relationship was... politely distant. Both men preferred secrets over camaraderie.
"I suppose it'd be rude to barge in," Kisuke said, staying where he was. "But if Ryūken's letting someone else use that cloak... and it's a Shinigami of all people... this might need a closer look."
He tucked a hand into his haori, fingers brushing over concealed tools and cloaking charms from his Soul Society days. "Still got it~" he grinned softly.
Time passed.
Eventually, the moon climbed high. Miyako exited the hospital, his training for the night complete. Silently, he pulled his cloak back over his head and took off toward Naruki City, disappearing into the dark.
Kisuke watched every movement from the shadows.
"That's no ordinary patrol," he said, voice low and thoughtful. "That's definitely a Shinigami. But why would a Shinigami be hanging around with the last remaining Quincy?"
He frowned, fan snapping open in his hand as he hid his chin behind it.
"Oi oi… you're making this too interesting, Ryūken-san."
The cloaked figure darted across rooftops under the veil of night, unaware that sharp eyes were still trailing him. With the artificial cloak masking his Reiatsu, even a seasoned captain-level observer would have difficulty picking him up—unless they were someone like Kisuke.
Kisuke's gaze followed the direction Miyako had gone.
"Heading toward Naruki, huh?" he mused, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Looks like I've got some investigating to do."
Folding his fan with a snap, Urahara turned, already planning his next steps. After all, when both Quincy and Shinigami began moving in secret, the balance of the world could tip without warning.
And Amamiya Miyako… …had no idea that his silent, hidden training was no longer so secret.