Inside the Urahara Shop, Kisuke Urahara, Shinji Hirako, and the others were still reeling from the shocking news Isshin Kurosaki had brought them, each trying to process what it meant.
"You're saying… Kazuma is still alive?"
Isshin's words struck everyone like a thunderclap.
Every person present widened their eyes, their faces filled with disbelief.
Although Urahara and the others had once speculated that Kazuma might not have truly died, that had only ever been a possibility.
Now that they knew he was actually alive, it was almost impossible to believe.
"What condition is he in now?" Shinji asked impatiently, his voice full of urgency and anticipation.
Isshin rubbed his chin, looking puzzled.
"He seems to have become an ordinary person now. I couldn't sense any reiatsu from him."
Urahara raised an eyebrow.
"Where did you meet him?"
Isshin thought back and replied, "He's currently the dean of discipline at Karakura First High School. A little while ago, he had some friction with Ichigo, and Ichigo said he felt strangely familiar. Later, I went to the school intending to investigate that dean, and that was when I discovered he was Kazuma. Though he said he changed his name to Kazuto now."
Urahara frowned and sank into thought.
"Kazuto… is there even any difference in the name?"
Isshin shrugged.
"Who knows? Maybe he just made it up. He also denied ever meeting Ichigo before, and he refused to admit that those two masked people saved him back then. He insisted that when he woke up, he was alone, and there had never been anyone else there."
Urahara furrowed his brows and thought for a while before saying, "Mm… that is rather strange. Does he have some reason he can't speak about it? Or does he have another objective?"
Isshin shook his head helplessly.
"I don't know. But he clearly doesn't want to talk about that topic. We can't get much more out of him."
Urahara nodded.
"All right. Let's set that aside for now. Did you notice any other suspicious points?"
Isshin touched his chin.
"Oh, right. Masaki has become a Shinigami now."
The moment those words came out, Urahara and the others all showed stunned expressions.
"What? Masaki became a Shinigami? How is that possible? Isn't she an ordinary human now?"
"That's right. A few days ago, my family was attacked by a Hollow. Masaki was nearly devoured, but at the critical moment, she suddenly turned into a Shinigami and killed that Hollow."
Isshin explained what had happened.
Kensei Muguruma stared at Isshin in disbelief.
"Isshin, are you joking? How could an ordinary human who lost her Quincy powers suddenly become a Shinigami?"
To him, it sounded like pure fantasy.
"I'm not joking! Masaki told me herself. She said that nine years ago, after losing her Quincy powers, she suddenly became a Shinigami. As for the reason, even she doesn't know. Maybe the Shinigami power I poured into her back then had some effect."
Isshin gave his explanation.
Everyone fell silent, their hearts filled with doubt and confusion.
Urahara, however, shouted in agitation, "Impossible! That is absolutely impossible!"
As the one who had provided that method back then, he understood its effects better than anyone.
At the time, all of Isshin Kurosaki's reiatsu had been used to suppress and erase White's power.
There was no way it could have turned Masaki into a Shinigami.
There had to be something else involved, something they did not know.
"Isshin-san, could you please ask Masaki-san to come here? There are some questions I would like to ask her."
Urahara's voice was urgent.
Isshin nodded, took out his phone, and called Masaki.
...
Before long, Masaki arrived at the Urahara Shop.
Urahara got straight to the point.
"Masaki-san, may I ask how you became a Shinigami?"
Masaki thought back for a moment, then answered honestly—at least on the surface.
"That year, I went to pick Ichigo up from school and was attacked by a Hollow. When I was in mortal danger, I felt a powerful force surge up inside me. Then, before I knew it, I had become a Shinigami."
After saying that, Masaki looked anxiously at Urahara, carefully replaying her own words in her mind to check whether there were any flaws.
After all, the person who had truly turned her into a Shinigami was Kazuma, not the remnants of Isshin's Shinigami power as she had claimed.
Seeing Urahara's tightly furrowed brows, Masaki felt even guiltier and could not help asking.
"Is there something wrong, Kisuke?"
Urahara fell into deep thought.
He kept feeling that something was off, but for the moment, he could not clearly identify where the problem lay.
Then he keenly sensed the reiatsu coming from Masaki.
It seemed purer and more powerful than that of an ordinary Shinigami.
That only deepened his doubts.
"You said Ichigo was with you when you became a Shinigami? Then does Ichigo know about this?"
"That's right, Masaki," Isshin added. "Ichigo has never mentioned anything like this to us."
Faced with Urahara and Isshin's questions, Masaki's heartbeat quickened, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on her forehead.
But she quickly forced herself to calm down and fabricated a seemingly reasonable explanation.
"I remember Ichigo seemed to have passed out at the time, so he didn't see the moment I became a Shinigami."
The meticulous Urahara immediately connected this with Ichigo's claim that he felt as if he had met Kazuma when he was young.
Suddenly, a bold hypothesis formed in his mind.
"Do you think this could have been Kazuma's doing? That would explain why Masaki became a Shinigami, and it would also explain why Ichigo feels familiar with Kazuma."
Isshin shook his head after hearing that.
"But I didn't sense any reiatsu from Kazuma."
Yoruichi licked her paw and said, "Isshin, you're an ordinary human now too. Can you be certain he wasn't using some method to conceal his reiatsu?"
Isshin thought about it for a moment and did not deny the possibility.
Masaki, meanwhile, was doing her best to stay calm.
Urahara's guess was completely correct.
All of this was connected to Kazuma.
She silently prayed that Captain Kazuma would fend for himself.
She could no longer offer any more help. If she kept talking, she would only make it easier to expose the truth.
"If that is really the case, then things have become complicated," Urahara said gravely. "What exactly is Kazuma's goal? Why did he turn Masaki into a Shinigami? And why deliberately hide it…"
"No matter what, we need to find Kazuma first and uncover the truth."
Isshin clenched his fists.
At that moment, Masaki felt extremely conflicted.
She did not know whether she should continue hiding the truth.
On one hand, she was worried about Kazuma's safety.
On the other, she feared that revealing the truth would cause even greater trouble.
After a moment of silence, Masaki decided to keep quiet for now.
She hoped she could find a way to resolve the problem on her own.