However, nothing happened.
"WTF? The Hōgyoku actually doesn't acknowledge me as its master?"
Fūjin Taichi muttered suspiciously as he held the Hōgyoku up and examined it closely.
According to Bleach's setting, the Hōgyoku possesses self-awareness. It can influence the hearts of those around it and draw out their latent power—
In theory, characters like Orihime Inoue and Yasutora Sado awakened their Fullbring abilities because they were influenced by the Hōgyoku's former host, Rukia Kuchiki, during her time stationed in Karakura Town.
If Kasumiōji Hoko was truly in a coma due to soul damage, as Kisuke Urahara had said—then in theory, the Hōgyoku should be able to repair her soul, right?!
"Heh~"
Yoruichi Shihōin couldn't help laughing. With her hands on her hips, she looked at Taichi and said, "Hey, kid. Care to tell me what you're doing?"
"Saving someone. Isn't it obvious?"
Taichi tossed the Hōgyoku onto the ground irritably and muttered, frowning, "Damn thing's blatantly discriminating against me… Guess I'll just destroy you instead!"
"Idiot."
Yoruichi walked over, scolded him, then picked up the Hōgyoku and said, "If you want to wield its power, you have to fuse with it first."
"Fuse? You mean that 'turning-into-a-moth-man' kind of fusion?!"
Taichi stared at her in shock and shook his head vigorously. "No way. I'd rather die than turn into that!"
"Moth-man? What's that supposed to mean?"
Yoruichi clearly didn't understand his slang. After a brief pause, she continued, "Never mind. There's no harm in telling you…"
"What?"
"You should know about the incident 110 years ago in Soul Society, when several captains and vice-captains supposedly 'defected,' right?"
"I… don't."
Taichi almost denied it outright, but then swallowed his words. After all, if Urahara had already seen through his so-called 'origin,' there was no reason Yoruichi wouldn't suspect something as well.
"I won't go into the details," Yoruichi said. "But that incident had hidden circumstances—related to this Hōgyoku."
Her eyes burned as she stared at the gem in her palm.
"Those captains and vice-captains didn't 'defect.' 'On the brink of death' would be more accurate.
"To save them, Urahara forcibly fused the incomplete Hōgyoku into their bodies, using its power to complete their Hollowfication."
"Oh…"
Taichi stroked his smooth chin, squinting at the Hōgyoku in Yoruichi's hand, his thoughts unreadable.
"So… if you want her to wake up, you could try fusing with it."
Yoruichi placed the Hōgyoku back into Taichi's hand and smiled faintly.
"But I can't guarantee there won't be side effects."
"Tch… You're treating me like a lab rat. I'm not that stupid."
Though he said that, Taichi gripped the Hōgyoku tightly. His dark eyes fixed on the unconscious Kasumiōji Hoko at his feet as a fierce internal struggle began.
To save her or not to save her—that is the question.
To fuse or not to fuse—that is also the question.
Theoretically, as a college graduate who had completed nine years of compulsory education, Taichi should be telling himself:
What are you hesitating for? Save her! Aren't you supposed to be a responsible member of society? How can you just stand by and watch someone die?!
But the thought of possibly turning into a white "butterfly-man" made him uneasy.
Sure, according to Bleach, the Hōgyoku allows its master to evolve endlessly—
But that evolution apparently involved transforming into a completely white, butterfly-like being.
Seriously—what sane Shinigami would remodel their own body like that?!
"Hmph. Kid, it's your call."
Yoruichi curled her lips slightly and added teasingly, "Which is more important—life or love? That's a very serious question."
"Don't be ridiculous! She's just my—"
Taichi suddenly faltered.
What exactly was he to Kasumiōji Hoko?
A friend? A classmate? A comrade-in-arms? Just someone he knew?
None of those felt quite right.
After all, he had been the one to sever their relationship first.
And neither Hoko nor Tsunayashiro Tokio had actually done anything unforgivable to him back then—
"Sigh… I guess I was just too young and stubborn. When you think about it, the conflict between the great noble houses and the Rukongai wasn't really their fault. Why was I so nitpicky about it…"
Taichi sighed inwardly.
"Hmph. There's no need to explain something like that!"
Seeing the strange look on Taichi's face, Yoruichi Shihōin assumed he was just too embarrassed to express his personal feelings. She shook her head and turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Fūjin Taichi snapped back to his senses and hurriedly called out to her.
"What?"
"The Hōgyoku… is it taken orally or applied externally??"
Clutching the Hōgyoku, Taichi hesitated for a long while before finally deciding to fuse with it.
After all, he had already raised the flag of "The Hōgyoku is mine to command." If he backed out now, wouldn't he just be slapping himself in the face?
"You complete idiot!"
Yoruichi pressed a hand to her forehead in exasperation. In a tone of disappointed impatience, she replied, "If you're going to 'fuse' with it, you obviously need to break the purification shell around it first—then place it inside your body."
"Oh! Like cracking an egg before frying it? Got it…"
Taichi tightly clenched the Hōgyoku in his right hand and crushed the blue purification shell surrounding it.
"Jade Emperor, please bless me!!"
With his left hand, he quickly made a cross gesture over his chest, took a deep breath, and cautiously pressed the blue-black Hōgyoku into his chest.
Thump. Thump-thump!
Like a crystal sugar cube dissolving into hot milk, the blue-black Hōgyoku melted into his body in an instant and vanished.
At that very moment, everyone in the underground training ground heard a distinct heartbeat echo through the air. Immediately afterward, Taichi's expression froze, and his body hunched forward like a shrimp.
"What's wrong?"
Yoruichi instantly noticed something was off and flash-stepped to his side.
"Fūjin Taichi, what's happening?!"
"The Hōgyoku is poisonous… You all, get out…"
Taichi trembled as he drew his Zanpakutō and slashed open a cross-shaped spatial passage nearby.
"I might Hollowfy again…"
"Again?"
Yoruichi's expression stiffened. "You've Hollowfied before?? That's… impossible!"
"No time… It's too late…"
Taichi collapsed forward onto the ground. A faint yellow glow flickered in his dark pupils—the unmistakable sign of impending Hollowfication.
"!!!"
Yoruichi's heart jolted. She immediately shouted to Uryū Ishida and Orihime Inoue:
"Ishida, Orihime—take Kasumiōji Hoko and get out of here!!"
"Huh??"
Ishida and Orihime looked over in shock.
"What happened, Miss Yoruichi?!"
"Don't ask—just go—Eh? Wait, what are you doing, kid?!"
Before she could finish, Yoruichi suddenly saw Taichi calmly sit up cross-legged, as if nothing had happened.
"Cough… cough… I think I misunderstood just now,"
Taichi scratched the back of his head awkwardly, a rare embarrassed expression appearing on his face.
"Turns out the Hōgyoku isn't poisonous. It just felt a bit uncomfortable during fusion… And now it feels like there's a Nine-Tails sealed inside my stomach or something!"
"..."
Yoruichi said nothing. Her amber eyes locked tightly onto Taichi's pupils, which had now turned a deep blue-black.
Something's not right.
What just happened?
Why… has the Hōgyoku's presence completely disappeared?
...
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