"Huh?"
Orihime Inoue stared blankly at Fūjin Taichi, at a loss for words, watching as he slowly stepped out of the black spatial rift.
Only after he fully emerged from the cross-shaped dimensional portal did Orihime notice that he was carrying a beautiful blonde girl in his arms.
"She's so cute!" Orihime couldn't help exclaiming.
"Yeah, she was quite cute when she was alive..." Taichi said quietly.
He gently laid Kasumiōji Hoko's body in front of Orihime and added:
"Orihime, in theory your Shun Shun Rikka can restore any injury… So please, I'm begging you—save her!"
"Ah? O-Okay… I understand!"
Orihime quickly raised her hands beside her ears and called out:
"Shun'ō! Ayame! Sōten Kisshun—I reject!"
Whoosh Whoosh
The blue hairpins in her hair transformed into two tiny fairy-like beings resembling hummingbirds. They flew into the air and unfolded a pale yellow shield, slowly enclosing Hoko's body within it.
In theory, Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka could revert anything within the shield back to its state before destruction. That was why Sōsuke Aizen had once described her power as "an ability that trespasses into the domain of the gods."
But that was only theory.
Taichi wasn't sure whether Shun Shun Rikka could truly bring Hoko back to life—
After all, Shinigami were spiritual beings composed of reishi. Once a spiritual body was destroyed, it dispersed into spirit particles. Not even the highest-level healing Kidō could fully restore that.
"Tch. It's you again—the guy whose beauty ranks just below mine—"
Yumichika Ayasegawa sprang up from the ground and shouted at Taichi:
"Perfect timing! Let's settle this once and for all, Fūjin Taichi!!"
"Bakudō #30: Shitotsu Sansen." Without even glancing at Yumichika, Taichi raised two fingers and released three massive yellow beams shaped like sharp beaks, pinning Yumichika's arms and waist firmly against the mountainside.
"What?!"
Ikkaku Madarame, who had been doing his bizarre "toe dance," was stunned.
Impossible! Yumichika already had vice-captain-level strength—how could he be restrained so easily by the same-ranking Vice-Captain Taichi's Bakudō?!
"Tien Shinhan, I told you—now's not the time to fight. So please… step aside," Taichi said calmly as he walked up beside Ishida, looking at Ikkaku.
"Tch." Ikkaku clicked his tongue and raised his Zanpakutō.
"The rule taught to me by the man who showed me how to fight is this: 'State your name to the opponent you're about to kill.'
Because someone who knows they're going to die on the battlefield at least deserves to know who killed them. So, Third Seat of Eleventh Division—Ikkaku Madarame!"
"Are you insane? We're both Shinigami—like I wouldn't know who you are, Baldy Saitama-sensei!!"
"Huh?!" Ikkaku's thin eyebrows twitched. "Who the hell is Saitama? I'm a thousand times stronger than that guy! I'm Ikkaku Madarame!! Now then—extend, Hōzukimaru!!"
In an instant, his Zanpakutō transformed into a long red spear. He spun it in his hand and roared:
"Fūjin Taichi! Let me show you who's the strongest among people with 'Ichi' in their names!!"