As for the location of the external manifestation, he naturally chose Lonely Hell.
After so many years of development, Lonely Hell had grown into a fairly large space. Although it wasn't as large as Soul Society, it was already comparable to a megacity in the World of the Living.
As Lonely Hell grew bigger and bigger, Yoshio could no longer allow it to remain in the Dangai. It had been fine when it was just a small bubble, but now that the bubble had expanded so much, if it remained in the Dangai, it might be damaged by the raging currents and compressive pressures of that place.
After thinking it over, Yoshio decided that Lonely Hell needed to move—and this time, the move would be outside the Three Realms and Six Paths themselves.
A place like Lonely Hell would cause spatial anomalies wherever it appeared, and Yoshio didn't want to be disturbed right now. If he was going to move it, he would move it somewhere very far away.
He had already decided on the destination.
As a Garganta opened, Baelz's figure appeared outside Lonely Hell. Then, the shadow beneath his feet began to stir and float. Although the shadow had already merged with him, allowing him to reach the realm of gods, perhaps because the shadow had existed for so long on its own, even after its consciousness disappeared, Baelz's shadow still possessed some incredible abilities.
Furthermore, Baelz had now surpassed his limits, and when that was combined with the special nature of his shadow, his shadow power had become extremely formidable.
Shadow and blood are two of the Quincy's greatest specialties, and one of the most important applications of shadow power is to create a shadow space.
As Baelz's shadow writhed, a vast darkness spread out from behind him, instantly enveloping the entire bubble that symbolized Lonely Hell. Immediately afterward, a white glare appeared within that sea of shadow, bleaching the darkness, and the bubble vanished without a trace.
Baelz had carved out a space inside his own shadow and stored Lonely Hell within it, but this was not his final destination.
As Baelz moved into Hueco Mundo, he looked up and saw the moon. There is no sun in Hueco Mundo, only a moon, so no one knows how it emits light. That moon had been drifting in the sky above Hueco Mundo for millions of years. As Baelz approached it, he felt the surrounding environment grow colder and colder.
That's right: he planned to place Lonely Hell on Hueco Mundo's moon.
This moon has transcended the Three Realms, yet remains intimately connected to them, and is not observed by any of the major powers. The concentration of spiritual particles in the World of the Living is far too low, so that was out of the question. If one tried to ascend above Soul Society, there was a risk of being discovered by the Zero Division guarding the Royal Realm.
Only Hueco Mundo—this godforsaken land—had no surveillance, while possessing an abnormally high concentration of spiritual particles. Of all the realms, only the area around the Soul King's Palace has a higher concentration of reishi than Hueco Mundo.
However, physically leaving the Three Realms is inherently very dangerous. It's equivalent to traversing the void with one's body. Even someone with Kenpachi Zaraki's monstrous physique would be injured by the vacuum of space, let alone other Shinigami.
However, Baelz's current strength was certainly above Kenpachi's, and even that monster's prized physique was no match for Baelz's own Blut defense. So although crossing the vacuum was somewhat uncomfortable, it was generally manageable.
Gradually, he landed on the moon's surface.
Hueco Mundo's moon looked no different from the one in the World of the Living, except that it was more desolate, exuding an eternal decay and ruin. Everywhere you looked, there was only despair and madness, as if it were the very source of Hueco Mundo's downfall.
"Let's call this place the Primordial Moon," Baelz murmured.
He slowly bent down and placed his palm on the moon's surface. Then, the shadow behind him spread out again, rapidly expanding to cover tens of square kilometers. As the shadow spread, it seemed to awaken the darkness slumbering inside the Primordial Moon itself. The darkness emanating from Baelz intertwined with the Primordial Moon's own darkness, and in an instant the entire moon was shrouded in a layer of black.
Meanwhile, in Hueco Mundo below, countless Hollows who were fleeing, hunting, and devouring suddenly raised their heads. They saw that the moon in the sky had briefly been obscured by darkness, and all of them felt that Hueco Mundo had grown even more desolate. At the same time, a profound loneliness welled up in their hearts, adding a pitiful, ancient sadness to their already desperate and depraved existence.
On the Primordial Moon, once Baelz had spread his shadow power across the world, he established an inner shadow space. The interior of that space was divided into two parts.
One part was the front—the location of Lonely Hell. This side, symbolizing Lonely Hell, radiated a cold light back down into Hueco Mundo, as if it too wanted to spread its loneliness across all of Hueco Mundo.
On the dark side of the Primordial Moon, the side that would never face Hueco Mundo, Baelz stretched out his hands. In the next moment, the void twisted, and from a point within that distortion, a holy yet evil radiance began to emanate.
As soon as that radiance appeared, it spread throughout the entire space at an astonishing speed. In an instant, the distortion swelled larger and larger, and a gigantic Tree of Life manifested.
The Tree of Life was over three thousand meters tall, with lush branches and leaves, radiating the brilliance and vitality of life. The Tree of Evil wasn't visible from the outside, because it overlapped with the Tree of Life—inverted, rooted in the same space but pointing in the opposite direction.
After setting everything in place, Baelz brushed his hands together in satisfaction. The next moment, he reappeared in his laboratory within Lonely Hell.
He took out several bottles and began dripping his own blood into them, continuing until he had collected nearly a liter.
His blood could also stimulate Schrifts. As a Quincy from a different branch than Yhwach, his blood might have other uses that warranted careful research. In time, having the members of World Wings drink this blood should make them even stronger.
If we were to create a Quincy family tree—
Originally, all sources would point upward to the Soul King. But things had changed. Parallel to the Soul King's position, Yoshio appeared, with two branches extending below. Beneath the Soul King sat Yhwach, while beneath Yoshio there was now Baelz.
However, Baelz had no intention of leading a tribe. A few elite subordinates were enough. In any case, unlike Yhwach, he did not need to constantly absorb others' souls.
After doing all this, Baelz returned to the Wandenreich. He thought, I'll wait for a while… next month, I'll lure Pernida over and then use the Mind-Rending Blade to carve out a Hollow King's Right Hand.
After Baelz left, Yoshio appeared in Lonely Hell. Holding the blood Baelz had left behind, Yoshio pondered for a moment, then walked to the central square.
That was where Kurosaki Masaki was.
Having become a Hollow, Kurosaki Masaki had lost her sense of self, and regaining it would not be easy. That's how Hollows are: even if they retain memories of the past, they can't escape falling into the abyss of depravity—like Inoue Sora.
Compared to Inoue Sora, Kurosaki Masaki had been far too weak at the moment of her transformation; she'd been practically on the verge of death. As a result, after turning into a Hollow, her consciousness had become extremely blurred, leaving only Hollow instinct.
Now, Yoshio was preparing to use Kurosaki Masaki as a test subject.
It was important to remember that Yhwach could not only grant Quincies their Schrifts, but could also bestow powers on Shinigami and Hollows.
Let's see if Baelz can do the same.
He poured a dishful of Baelz's blood into Kurosaki Masaki's mouth, but nothing happened immediately. Based on his experience, it should take about a day for the effects to fully appear.
Only…
Just as Yoshio was about to return to the laboratory, he discovered that the mask on Kurosaki Masaki's face—the mask of a Hollow dominated entirely by primal instinct—was beginning to crack and fall away.
Yoshio had previously refrained from turning Kurosaki Masaki into an Arrancar because he was worried she might awaken a brand-new consciousness after being injected with a Shinigami factor—a consciousness not belonging to Kurosaki Masaki, but to the newly born being inhabiting this body.
This phenomenon was not uncommon in Hueco Mundo. Hollows are products of mutual devouring, and many are dominated by a single consciousness as they devour others. However, one day, the Gillian formed from countless fused souls might suddenly develop a new core consciousness that suppresses the previous dominant will. The same thing could happen to Masaki.
If a new self emerged within her body, then even if Kurosaki Masaki's original consciousness returned, she would only be a secondary voice to that new personality.
Knowing this, Yoshio still made her drink Baelz's blood. Since Baelz was a Quincy, Quincy blood might be able to activate the spiritual pressure tied to Masaki's Quincy memories and awaken her past as a Quincy.
As the mask cracked and began to fall off, Kurosaki Masaki's body started to change. Her skin grew paler and paler, a pair of devil-like horns sprouted from her head, yet her overall form shifted back toward that of a human. Her eyes, which had previously been wild and chaotic, became lively and far clearer.
"…"
At that moment, Kurosaki Masaki looked at Yoshio in front of her. Her lips moved slightly. Then she frowned and asked, "You are…?"
She had regained consciousness.
Yoshio frowned.
Amnesia?
No. Judging from the hint of wariness in her gaze, she hadn't completely lost her memory. At the very least, she knew she was a spiritual being and that she was in danger.
A partial loss of memory, then.
"Don't try to draw your bow anymore. You're already exhausted," Yoshio said slowly.
His words startled Kurosaki Masaki. She subconsciously touched her face and found a hard mask still there. Some of it had fallen off, but only about a quarter. Only the area around her right eye was exposed.
"Hollow…? What's going on?!"
Kurosaki Masaki looked completely lost; she had no idea what had happened. If not for the inexplicable sense of familiarity she felt when looking at Yoshio, a wave of frenzied killing intent would already have surged up inside her.
It was this mixture of emotions that made Masaki Kurosaki realize she had indeed become a Hollow, and that she couldn't fully suppress the depraved impulses of a Hollow.
Because that was her instinct now—the instinct to devour souls.
"It seems you've lost a portion of your memories," Yoshio said, frowning. "Tell me the last thing you remember."
Masaki Kurosaki paused for a moment, then forced herself to recall. Perhaps her mind wasn't working too well after becoming a Hollow, because it took her quite some time to piece it together.
"At the very end… I seemed to see that black, humanoid Hollow rushing toward me…"
Through Masaki Kurosaki's account, Yoshio understood. Masaki Kurosaki had regained consciousness, but only her Quincy memories had returned. Baelz's Quincy blood had indeed restored Masaki's memories of being a Quincy, but after she was bitten by White, she'd no longer been a Quincy, so the memories from after that time hadn't been restored.
Seeing this, Yoshio could only sigh and then recount everything that had happened since.
Masaki Kurosaki had been bitten by White and was on the verge of death. Shiba Isshin relinquished his identity as a Shinigami to keep her alive. In the end, the two married and had three children. Finally, due to Yhwach's Auswählen, Masaki Kurosaki died while protecting her son, Kurosaki Ichigo. In the end, in order to save her, Yoshio had no choice but to transform her into a Hollow.
After listening to him, Kurosaki Masaki looked stunned. Which girl wouldn't be shaken if, at sixteen or seventeen, she was suddenly told that she would someday be in her thirties—married, with three kids?
Only…
Yoshio's words resonated with her soul, making her realize he wasn't lying. Everything he said was the truth.
"Can… can I see them?" Masaki Kurosaki whispered. She still wanted to see her family with her own eyes.
"Of course you can," Yoshio replied. "But although you have regained your memories under my power, you are still a Hollow.
"Moreover, as I told you before, your existence is a secret weapon to use against Yhwach. It's best not to be discovered by him, so you must avoid too much contact with them."
"…Of course." Masaki Kurosaki gave a bitter smile. "I don't want to have too much contact with them right now anyway. To be honest, I'm very confused."
"Confusion is a good thing. It means the heart you lost after becoming a Hollow has come back. A Hollow without a heart would not be troubled at all."
"Maybe… but it feels like I only get this feeling when I'm with you," Masaki said quietly. Then she became serious again and asked, "Mr. Yoshio, can I trust you?"
"Of course," Yoshio said in a deep voice. "What I just told you is exactly as it happened."
"No, that's not what I mean." She shook her head. "Mr. Yoshio, who exactly are you?"
"…"
"Although you say you are a Shinigami who transformed from a Quincy…" Masaki Kurosaki said softly, "I feel a suppressive aura emanating from you, as if I'm seeing a blood relative…"
"Kurosaki… If that was your original name, then you are…"
"…"
Yoshio was silent for a moment, then said, "Just think of me as an elder of the Kurosaki family."
However, Masaki wasn't fully convinced by this. After all, Yoshio had appeared when Ishida Sōken was still very young. Moreover, according to Yoshio, he had already transformed his soul into a Shinigami at that time, which meant his days as a Quincy must have been even earlier—possibly hundreds of years ago.
Furthermore, considering the bloodline resonance Masaki felt when she looked at Yoshio, didn't that mean Kurosaki Mitsuun was from the Kurosaki family…
…an ancestor?
The Quincy are a race that places great importance on bloodline. They are divided into pure-bloods and mixed-bloods, and one of their core powers is tied to blood. Naturally, they pay special attention to bloodline inheritance and the purity of their line.
Therefore, Masaki Kurosaki believed the reaction from the Quincy blood in her body wasn't wrong.
Yoshio was likely one of the ancestors of the Kurosaki clan.
He might even be the most fundamental source.
Only a true source of bloodline would allow descendants separated by such a long time to feel such a clear call of blood.
On hearing this, Yoshio's expression remained unchanged, but internally he was a bit dumbfounded.
That… actually makes a lot of sense. I'm almost convinced myself.
So I'm the progenitor of the Kurosaki family now?
However, only the person involved knows the truth. He had originally taken the name "Kurosaki Yoshio" simply because he thought it sounded interesting. Masaki Kurosaki was able to feel a bloodline call because she had drunk Baelz's blood, while Yoshio was the source of that blood.
So strictly speaking, Masaki was not entirely wrong. Yoshio Mitsuun was indeed an ancestor of Kurosaki Masaki, but he had little to do with the "Kurosaki" family line as history knew it.
In terms of seniority, he thought, I'm an ancient old man.
What's one little ancestor of the Kurosaki family?
Even the Soul King has to call me "cousin."
However, being the founder of the Kurosaki family sounded oddly amusing. Therefore, Yoshio didn't refute her. It was also a good thing for Masaki to think that way.
Seeing that Yoshio didn't respond, Masaki Kurosaki took his silence as tacit approval. She was deeply shocked.
The ancestor of the Kurosaki family had actually become a Shinigami…
Masaki Kurosaki herself didn't know how long her family's history truly was. She had lost her parents at a young age and been taken in by the Ishida family; thus, she knew little of her own clan's situation.
Yoshio didn't speak further. He simply opened a passage to the World of the Living and said, "If you want to see them, go."
Suppressing her emotions, Masaki Kurosaki replied, "I understand."
She nodded, then put aside matters concerning the Kurosaki bloodline and stepped out.
Seeing the outside world, Masaki Kurosaki realized that times had truly changed. Back then, Karakura Town hadn't been nearly this bustling. Skyscrapers now rose everywhere, and cars rushed by in endless streams. If not for the familiar spiritual pressures floating in the air, Masaki would have thought she'd arrived in Tokyo.
No, even Tokyo in her day hadn't been this lively, had it?
According to Yoshio, she had only lost ten years of memories. Ten short years… and the world had changed this much?
Masaki Kurosaki felt confused. But after seeing a few wandering spirits on the street, a strong longing welled up from the depths of her heart.
Devour them.
Devour them.
Devour them.
Devour them.
I'm so hungry.
I'm so hungry.
I'm so hungry.
I'm so hungry.
The primal instinct howled inside her. Masaki Kurosaki felt an almost unbearable urge to eat. Instinctively, she clutched her head with both hands and quickly left the area.
Away from Yoshio, that instinct burned even stronger. Hollows were truly terrifying creatures.
Masaki had originally wanted to observe the people around her, but how could she face them in her current state?
She arrived at the Ishida family's home following her old memories. That was the place she was most familiar with. In her memory, she hadn't moved out of the Ishida residence yet.
"Uncle Sōken and Aunt Izumi have already…"
She couldn't sense Ishida Sōken and Ishida Izumi's spiritual pressures, which meant they had passed on. Although Masaki had already learned this from Yoshio and knew that Ishida Sōken had chosen reincarnation, seeing it with her own eyes still made her chest ache.
She didn't see Ishida Ryūken right away, but she did see a young child. Well, young in her own self-perception; in truth, he was about the same age Masaki had been just before she died.
"Ishida Uryū?"
It was Ryūken and Katagiri Kanae's child. They had actually gotten married.
Although somewhat surprised, Masaki was still happy for Ishida Ryūken and Katagiri Kanae. Even though she'd been young back then, she had clearly felt Katagiri's feelings.
"A child who always frowns is not cute," Masaki muttered. She noticed Ishida Uryū's perpetually sour expression and couldn't help thinking of Ryūken.
He should be at the hospital right now, right?
Masaki went to the hospital as well. As his former companion, she knew Ryūken's strength very well, so she didn't dare to get too close this time and only observed Ryūken from a distance.
Sure enough, a long time had passed. Ryūken now looked more mature, just like those corporate elites in the newspapers.
Suddenly, Ishida Ryūken, who had been reading a book in his office, seemed to notice Masaki's gaze. He turned his head, but saw nothing.
"An illusion…?" he murmured, frowning.
Masaki Kurosaki, who had used Sonído to retreat, patted her chest with lingering fear. "Ryūken's senses are still as sharp as ever. Seems like he never gave up his Quincy training after all."
Just as Masaki was about to leave, a voice suddenly came from behind her.
"So it wasn't my imagination."
Ishida Ryūken had somehow caught up. He stood calmly on the other side of the street, while a car sped between them. Adjusting his glasses, he asked in a calm tone, "Who are you?"
Who am I?
Masaki Kurosaki was startled to see that Ryūken had actually followed her, but she quickly turned her back to him and replied with a teasing smile, "Guess."
"Boring."
Ryūken raised his hand. In the next moment, a spiritual bow formed in his grip. "You have one more chance to say your name."
"How ruthless," Masaki Kurosaki laughed lightly. "But if you want to know my name, you'll have to catch me first."
As soon as the words fell, she vanished.
Ryūken frowned. This Hollow gave him a strange impression. Although it was undoubtedly a Hollow, its presence felt strangely familiar. Moreover, her speech was far too lighthearted for a typical Hollow.
Still, once I catch her, I'll know everything.
Ryūken's figure disappeared, moving faster than the cars on the street.
Each time he reappeared, Masaki Kurosaki pulled away again. She had been very weak in the past, because Yhwach's Auswählen had taken most of her spiritual power, and what little remained hadn't been enough to even handle Grand Fisher. However, after Yoshio infused her with Baelz's blood, her power had begun to rise rapidly. After she had regained her Quincy memories and accepted her Hollow powers, both sides of her power grew in tandem.
By combining the Quincy Hirenkyaku with Hollow Sonído, Masaki had become even faster.
In that moment, she felt like she had returned to the days when she trained side by side with Ishida Ryūken.
However, she also remembered Yoshio's words: her identity couldn't be revealed yet. So, after crossing almost the entirety of Karakura Town in a game of cat and mouse, she finally decided to stop running.
The next instant, Ishida Ryūken reappeared. He had chased her this far without breaking a sweat. Looking at her retreating back, he said slowly, "Now, will you tell me your name?"
"My name…" Masaki Kurosaki turned around coolly. With the mask obscuring her face, only her right eye was visible, and she wasn't worried about being recognized from such a small glimpse.
Just as she was about to say her name, Masaki Kurosaki's body vanished.
Even the usually composed Ishida Ryūken snapped his eyes open wide. He stared at the empty space where she had been, frowning deeply.
Gone?
How could that be?
This isn't Shunpo, and I can no longer sense her spiritual pressure anywhere nearby.
Strange. What's going on?
At that moment, Masaki Kurosaki appeared near the Ishida household again. She let out a long breath. "Ryūken is as troublesome as ever. His Hirenkyaku has improved a lot too."
If she hadn't received Yoshio's powers, she probably wouldn't have been able to shake him off at all.
Generally, it takes a day or even longer for a newly granted Schrift to activate. Masaki Kurosaki, however, had awakened hers almost instantly. Her Schrift was "P," for "Path." Its ability was to assign a path of movement to a "thing," allowing that thing to appear at any point along that path. The "thing" could be herself, someone else, or even an inanimate object.
This was likely because Masaki Kurosaki herself had gone through the path of becoming a Quincy, then a Shinigami, and then a Hollow—her life could be described as a series of "paths."
Masaki used this ability to jump to the point farthest from Ryūken along her path, directly crossing space and disappearing entirely from his range, so he could no longer catch up.
Masaki pouted slightly, still surprised that Ryūken had spotted her with just a single glance. This guy really was as sharp as ever.
And then…
Thinking of what came next, Masaki Kurosaki's heart grew heavy again. She had finished observing the Ishida family; all that was left was…
My own home.
My husband and children.
She clearly remembered being a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old girl—yet now suddenly she had a husband and three kids. That was indeed hard to accept all at once.
But, since this is my past, there's no reason not to accept it.
I wonder when my memories will return.
Masaki felt troubled, but in the end she decided to go and see for herself.
According to Yoshio, they were…
Masaki Kurosaki slowly arrived outside a clinic. Looking at the large sign that read "Kurosaki Clinic," she couldn't help but sigh softly.
Only…
Judging from the spiritual pressures inside, there were only three people. Kurosaki Isshin had lost his Shinigami powers, and the remaining two were children. They couldn't possibly match Ishida Ryūken's keen perception, so Masaki wasn't afraid of being noticed and cautiously moved closer to peek inside.
She saw three people, each alone in their own room, all wearing gloomy expressions, their faces twisted with worry and pain.
Upon seeing them, Masaki Kurosaki reflexively pressed a hand to her forehead.
Not good. The primal instincts again.
Masaki knew that when a Hollow faced their former family, an even more intense devouring instinct would erupt. That overpowering urge surged within her now, making her absolutely certain that these people truly were her family.
But what was wrong with them?
According to Yoshio, she had already been dead for several years. Naturally, they would still be grieving. But… one, two, three. Only three spiritual pressures.
Yoshio had said she actually had three children. Although she hadn't recovered her memories of that period, Masaki still grew nervous at the thought—it concerned her own children.
Kurosaki Isshin, Kurosaki Ichigo… and there should have been two daughters. Yet now, she sensed only one.
The missing one could only be Yuzu. Had something happened to Yuzu?
A mother's instinct seized Masaki's heart with panic. Seeing the pained expressions of the three family members, she felt her heart might break. She activated her ability again and returned to Lonely Hell via the path.
Fortunately, Yoshio hadn't left yet. She immediately asked, "Lord Yoshio, did something happen to Yuzu?"
"…"
Yoshio looked at Masaki's anxious face and slowly said, "Yes. I see it now. She seems to have been captured by a Hollow."
Masaki was somewhat surprised. She could tell that Yoshio had seemed unaware of this at first, but as soon as she asked, Yoshio had immediately found the answer.
What kind of power was this? It was as if he could perceive the entire Three Realms and Six Paths—omniscience.
But she couldn't dwell on that now. She quickly said, "Please tell me where she is. I have to save Yuzu!"
"There's no need to worry. Yuzu has awakened the Quincy Blut Armor. Those Hollows can't do anything to her," Yoshio replied calmly. "You should let Ichigo handle this."
"Ichigo?" Masaki Kurosaki was caught off guard. "He must blame himself, right? He must think he's the reason Yuzu was taken… so he should be the one to rescue her himself."
"How can he? He's just…"
Halfway through, Masaki stopped.
Yes. Why can't Ichigo Kurosaki do it?
He is a descendant of Quincy and Shinigami, and he also has Hollow power inside him. He's special.
Yoshio was right. The best solution was to let Ichigo rescue Yuzu. Only then could he reconcile with his own heart.
"Lord Yoshio, thank you," Masaki said gratefully.
"Go. She's here…" Yoshio told her Yuzu's location, and Masaki immediately disappeared.
Although it seemed like a lot had happened, only about a month had passed since Yuzu Kurosaki was taken.
It had only been around a month.
Although the frog Hollow had kidnapped Yuzu, the intense stimulation from its presence had awakened the Quincy power inside Yuzu's body, activating her Blut Armor. Blut Vene is an extremely powerful Quincy ability, comparable to a Shinigami's Bankai. Quincies with powerful lineage can directly control blood and shadow, while those with less talent can still awaken Blut through training.
The Quincy blood in Yuzu Kurosaki came from Masaki Kurosaki. Once activated, it naturally granted her outstanding talent, and she immediately awakened Blut Armor.
The frog Hollow had indeed captured Yuzu in its mouth, but it couldn't do anything to her. It couldn't even pierce her with its teeth.
However, Yuzu was still flesh and blood; she needed to eat and sleep. Theoretically, she could only last two or three days at most. Once she ran out of stamina and could no longer maintain her Blut Armor, the frog Hollow would finally devour her.
Originally, Tsunayashiro Tokinada had planned to provoke Ichigo Kurosaki by forcing him to witness his sister's death before his eyes, thereby tempting him towards despair, corrupting the Seed of Light within Ichigo even further.
However, after seeing that Yuzu Kurosaki had awakened her power, he'd conceived a new idea. He wanted to first use his own power to corrupt Yuzu, then make the corrupted Yuzu kill Ichigo, and then further deepen her depravity.
Fortunately for Ichigo, this plan didn't last long before Tsunayashiro Tokinada was killed.
With Tsunayashiro Tokinada death, no one cared about Yuzu and the frog Hollow anymore. At first, they didn't know Tokinada was dead, but after several days without seeing him, the frog Hollow could no longer resist its hunger and wanted to devour Yuzu by force.
So the two sides remained at an impasse. When Yuzu's stamina finally runs out, the frog would eat her.
After learning all this, Masaki immediately returned to the World of the Living. She needed to find a way to guide Kurosaki Ichigo to rescue Yuzu.
With that in mind, she appeared directly in Ichigo Kurosaki's room.
Ichigo Kurosaki was lying on his bed, his expression full of dejection and pain. For over a month, the police had searched the entire Karakura district but still hadn't found a single trace of Yuzu. He had also asked many of his wandering-spirit friends for help, but there were still no clues.
Several years later, he was once again experiencing this same suffocating sense of powerlessness.
It was as if he had returned to that rainy night when his mother's life had been lost in the downpour.
The scene in his mind shifted, and he saw that dark sewer again. The frog monster swallowed Yuzu right in front of him, then leapt away.
Damn it.
He…
He was so useless.
Ichigo clenched his fists and sat up on the bed. He had been absent from school for a long time. Even though his high school entrance exams were approaching, he had no interest in studying—he only wanted to find Yuzu as soon as possible.
Just as he was about to go downstairs and search again, he realized someone was in his room.
A woman wearing a white mask.
The moment Ichigo saw that mask, his pupils constricted. He was all too familiar with it—that was the mask of those monsters.
The frog monster had a white mask. Inoue Sora had also worn a mask when he'd turned into a snake-like Hollow.
Although this person now had a human body, and part of the mask on her face was damaged, that mask was definitely from one of those monsters.
Ichigo leapt to his feet, and Masaki Kurosaki was deeply shaken by the sight of him.
Now that she was this close, she felt something inside her awaken. Contact with them could begin to pull back her missing memories.
However, Masaki Kurosaki wasn't here for herself this time. Looking at Ichigo Kurosaki, she said calmly, "Don't panic. If you want to save your sister, do as I say."
"Yuzu!" Ichigo's wariness immediately gave way to excitement when he heard Masaki mention his sister. "You know where Yuzu is?!"
Seeing his reaction, Masaki felt gratified. This was how an older brother should be.
"Three point six kilometers northwest of here, there's an arched bridge. Your sister is beneath that bridge. But it's very dangerous there."
"Thank you!"
For some reason, Ichigo felt this masked person was very familiar, and unconsciously he trusted her completely. He put on his shoes and socks in a rush and bolted out of the room.
"Ichigo! Where are you going?!"
"Nii-san!"
Two anxious voices came from outside the door. Ichigo shouted back, "I'm going to find Yuzu. Don't wait for me for dinner!"
"…"
Watching Ichigo dash away like that, Masaki was momentarily speechless.
All right… It seems he inherited some of my courage, but what happened to my wisdom?
Is he really planning to just run there?
Masaki Kurosaki slipped out of the room just in time, and the door swung open the next moment. Kurosaki Isshin walked in with a serious expression. After looking around and finding nothing amiss, he could only leave.
Meanwhile, Masaki appeared outside and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Ichigo stop a taxi. At least he wasn't planning to run all the way there, but…
Is he really capable of handling that monster?
For some reason, Masaki felt that whatever Yoshio said would always come to pass. If Yoshio said Ichigo could solve this, then he absolutely could. It was like a god whose words became laws.
She was increasingly convinced that Yoshio Mitsuun's identity was anything but simple. He claimed he had turned into a Shinigami to avoid Yhwach's Auswählen, but…
Was that really the whole story?
Masaki Kurosaki shook her head to clear her thoughts. She followed after the taxi, thinking that if anything went wrong, she would step in to help.