"Alright, that's it for today! Everyone, dismissed!"
"Yes, sir!"
At six o'clock in the evening, we three new recruits had finished our menial task of repairing the training ground and were sitting on the ground as ordered by our squad leader, utterly exhausted.
"This is brutal..."
"Haha... Asanai-kun and Kira-kun, your faces are completely pale..."
"Hina-mori, you're the one who..."
The exhausted figures of rookie Shinigami were a common sight in the barracks at this time of year. Among them, I—the spiritual pressure ghost pretending to be tired, was approached by our squad leader with a gentle voice.
"──Hmph, you're covered in mud. Shall we go take a bath?"
"Ka, Kaniwaka Squad Leader!"
That's right. She was Kaniwaka Hotaru, the former sixth-year student with her signature cherry-blossom-colored side ponytail.
In the original story, she delivered a stunning "ryona" scene during the soul burial exercise, but for the sake of my personal pride, she was deprived of that opportunity (?). It seems she ended up in the Fifth Squad after being lured by Aizen-sama's sweet talk during a period of depression following that incident, and has since become a devoted fan of the kind-hearted Aizen Squad Captain. As Hinamori Momo, I have... too many thoughts on this.
That said, this crab girl has a delicate build that, while not as slender as mine or Rukia's, still has a certain appeal for ryona scenes. She has the potential to make a sudden comeback, don't underestimate her... (Queen's perspective)
"Um, Hinamori-san..."
"Ah, yes. What is it?"
After parting ways with the men and sweating it out in the squadron's bathhouse, she suddenly approached me with an earnest expression.
"Um, I've never had the chance to say this before, but—thank you for helping me back then."
"Eh...?"
I was taken aback by her sincere gratitude. I remember being thanked by the sixth-year trio right after the incident, but this was the first time she'd said it face-to-face. I responded with my usual Hinamori routine from the original story.
"—No, no...! Um, at the time, I was so confused and didn't know what to say, but... um... hearing you say that makes me feel so embarrassed..."
"...Haha, you're as humble as they say. But from someone who was saved, I really want you to accept it. The others also wanted to thank you, so we'll come visit again soon to properly express our gratitude."
"Ugh..."
With a slightly relieved expression, she left the bathroom, saying, "If you ever need anything, just let me know." Hm? Anything... (ry
But I'm not really humble; I'm just embarrassed. I only threw it into the dimensional gate because it was getting in the way of my full effort for the Aizen-sama interview. Besides, the only one I really cared about was the 69-year-old love interest who couldn't die.
Well, if they're grateful, I'll just use it to my advantage. I'll gladly welcome them as one of my followers. You'll do anything for me, right? (Mishearing)
"...Phew."
Alone, I stopped pretending to be a tired newbie and soaked in the bathtub, savoring the afterglow of last night's events.
[Breaking News] Hinamori Momo, Stylish [Good News]
"—Hmph, even in my pre-transformation state, I managed to pull off an oshare move against one of the strongest cheaters in the story!"
After subduing Baraggan and leaving the remaining tasks to the Hollows under Tōsen's care, I returned safely to the Fifth Division's secret underground room.
Through this victory over Baraggan, I came to one certainty.
That is, in the BLEACH world, the truth lies not in ability, but in spiritual pressure, and above all, in OSR value.
Indeed, thanks to reaching Bankai, my spiritual pressure had increased exponentially, surpassing that of the Hollow Baraggan. Additionally, my handling of spiritual energy had improved significantly through the rigorous training and guidance of the top-tier captains. It wouldn't be incorrect to say that my victory was due to my superior spiritual pressure and skill compared to Baraggan.
However, core BLEACH readers would have realized that it wasn't about fixed abilities or spiritual pressure comparisons, but rather the fluid nature of the battle. They would have noticed that Baraggan was thrown off balance by my counter-provocation, and at that moment, they would have thought, "He's won."
That's right. The reason I achieved a complete victory in that battle wasn't just because my spiritual pressure was higher than Baraggan's. It was because I fully understood the truth of the BLEACH world: the "Oshare Point Battle."
***
[Oshare Point Battle]
Official name: A&COPB (Active & Count Oshare Point Battle).
It is an advanced turn-based victory calculation formula that comprehensively quantifies gap effects, flag effects, and the roles of the strong and weak.
In simple terms, it's about "who can create a more stylish and cool battle sequence throughout the entire fight."
This "stylish and cool battle sequence" is, to put it technically, the total of the [Comprehensive OSR Value]accumulated up to the final phase of each turn, where the [OSR Value] is separately added for each element such as appearance, speech, expression, actions, and situation.
In the BLEACH world, the outcome of combat is determined by comparing the difference in spiritual pressure between the two parties and this "total OSR value." Special abilities like cheating are merely converted into part of the OSR value (e.g., "ability activation: ○○"), so they can be overturned by stylish actions or developments afterward.
In my case during the Baraggan battle, being the first time, I held back on ability unlocking and explanations until the end, repeatedly provoked the opponent, and focused on basic stylish actions and statements like directly repelling the opponent's abilities.
Excluding one-time-only bonuses like the trump card [Past Flashback], [Apology to Allies], and [First Reveal: Bankai], it was a remarkably simple stylish move.
In addition, I not only earned points for myself but also consistently executed the foundational tactic of directly reducing the opponent's OSR value. Yes, it's the well-known [Counter OSR].
For lighter readers unfamiliar with the term, this iconic line might be more recognizable.
──[Special Line: "What...?"]
This is the reaction line that is inevitably uttered by those who have been hit by the most frequently used finishing move in OPB, the [Counter OSR].
[Counter OSR] is a special stylish action that can be used when your OSR value exceeds your opponent's at the end of a turn. It has two effects: "restricting the enemy's actions in the next turn" and "dealing damage equal to your temporary OSR value to the enemy's OSR value."
Enemies hit by this special attack often suffer a significant OSR value drop and are forced into an extremely disadvantageous situation where they cannot perform high OSR actions in the next turn.
For example, in the famous Edrad battle, Ikkaku performed a "Hatsudekai" with the following OSR bonuses: [First Use: Hatsudekai][Liberation from Disadvantage Lv.5][Unusual Seat Official Hatsudekai][Style-Specific Secret][Stylish Name Lv.2][Stylish Design Lv.3][Slow Starter], granting seven OSR bonuses. As a result, Ikkaku's OSR value, which had been languishing in the single digits after being beaten by Edrad, surged to nearly four digits in an instant. This value ignores even absolute spiritual pressure differences and is powerful enough to defeat even the Espada. It can be called the ultimate gap technique of the weak.
The famous line often heard in such situations, "What...?" is a reaction to having allowed a high-point [Counter OSR]at the last moment, resulting in a massive loss of OSR value.
It's the difference between an egg and a chick, but this "What...?" is both an accidental slip of the tongue and a clear way to tell the opponent that you've taken massive OSR damage, making it a sort of etiquette in OPB.
When I get hit by an enemy's [Counter OSR], I should probably say something like "What...?" or "No way..." or "You're kidding..." I don't want to die, but since it's a famous thing in the series, I'd like to say it once in a serious moment.
[Counter OSR] isn't 100% effective, and each character can resist it based on their base stat [Counter OSR Resistance]. The reason Baraggan could so easily say "What...?" was because his resistance value was low.
This resistance value is high for characters like Urahara Kisuke, who has excellent information gathering abilities, and Aizen-sama, who can enjoy his own disadvantages, while characters like Baraggan, who rely solely on their arrogant cheat abilities, have values close to the minimum.
He had been in an unstoppable state relying solely on his cheat ability [Ability Unlock: Aging/+500], which had an absurdly high base OSR value, so when faced with an unexpected result, he immediately blurted out "What...?"
I exploited this by repeatedly shattering their prideful attacks and using [Counter OSR] to chip away at their OSR values, while keeping my own [Counter OSR Resistance] consistently high by hiding my trump cards like [Bankai], and steadily building up my own OSR value.
Reincarnated characters with original work knowledge who have nearly complete insight into the opponent's strategies possess this [Counter OSR Resistance], which is unmatched among all characters in the series. As long as they have sufficient spiritual pressure, even cheat-level abilities like Baraggan are merely basic ability unlock OSR bonuses. This system, which gives me an overwhelming advantage, is my greatest strength.
(—The only other thing is the variety of options. I'm starting to really want a Black Coffin... not just as a joke.)
With this confidence, I won't flinch even if the opponent's abilities or spiritual pressure are superior. I'll definitely get the other members into the Espada as well. As a fan of the original work, it's my duty to recreate as many iconic scenes as possible.
...But then, when I recruited Baraggan like that, Aizen-sama said something nonsensical about him becoming my subordinate. What was that all about? Baraggan's subordinates include Szayel Aporro at his peak, who is stronger than his master, and these two are later... And the Espada are a direct subordinate organization of Aizen Sousuke. I'm just a scout! Leave the recruitment to me!
That's how I feel, but every time I say something like that, it always ends up being a flag, so to be safe, I'll do some image training for stylish battles, increase my daily training, and expand the types of Kidō techniques I know.
(First, I need to learn more advanced Kidō techniques from the 80s.)
Tomorrow is my enrollment into the Kidō Corps. In the world of Kidō, spiritual pressure isn't that important, so you can train freely without needing to act. In the Hollow World, we train by exposing our spiritual pressure, but that's different. The Kidō genius, Hinamori Soul, is going to blow everyone away!
"The Kidō Corps, huh? I wonder what it's like."
A daily life filled with anticipation is a good thing. I soaked in the bath, my heart racing, and dreamed of myself as an Oshare Master using the most stylish complete incantation of the black coffin to gain around +300 OSR points that night.
And when I woke up in the morning and realized it was just a dream, I cried a little.
***
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