“That’s exactly why you’ve got to be kind to everybody around you. And I will try to do that as well.”
≡
With Hikone almost unconscious before him, Hisagi glanced toward Kyoraku.
“I’m going to release my bankai…but don’t kill Hikone when I do.”
“Huh? Do you think I would be such a fiend?”
Kyoraku shrugged it off, but he replied with a serious look on his face. “Well, anyway. If I did that, the young lady over there would probably stop holding the castle.”
Hisagi looked over and noticed the clouds surrounding the castle in the air already starting to seem abnormal. The clouds were steadily disappearing, and the edge of this disappearance was approaching the castle itself.
“The teleportation’s already gone so far…”
Hisagi understood what Kyoraku was saying and tried to release Kazeshini’s bankai.
Now that Hikone had used up almost all their spiritual pressure, they were harmless. He thought that he could just use a simple hakufuku to put them to sleep, but…
It happened the moment he released the bankai with both their spiritual pressures almost fully depleted. Just as he saw Hikone’s zanpaku-to light up, a Hollow-like monstrosity—Ikomikidomoe—appeared and assaulted Hikone.
“What…?”
Since it had all happened in the span of a second, those surrounding them were too late to respond.
But there was one who could still protect Hikone.
The one who just barely defended Hikone the moment that Ikomikidomoe’s fangs threatened to tear the child’s head off was Aura, who instantly came between them. Since she had been directing all of her spiritual pressure toward the castle in the sky, she hadn’t been able to fully turn herself into mist, and the side of her torso was gouged deeply as her body was flung into the air.
“Oh…”
“Aura!”
Though Hisagi was almost out of breath, he ran to where Aura had collapsed and held her.
Meanwhile, Ikomikidomoe, now separated from Hikone, was rapidly absorbing the spiritual pressure around him and growing at a terrific pace.
“I was so close to consuming all the Fragments of the Reio.”
“That numbskull…”
Grimmjow gritted his teeth as he saw Ikomikidomoe ominously transform his entire form.
“But, right now, a small piece is enough.”
When he had separated from Hikone, he must have stolen some of the Fragments of the Reio that were in the child. He was absorbing the reishi in the atmosphere with a force that was incomparable and condensing an incredibly ominous spiritual pressure as he stood in the way of Hisagi and the others.
“So this is a Fragment of the Reio, then! Ha ha, ha ha ha! That was it! I remembered! I remembered it!”
Even a small Fragment of the Reio seemed to have given Ikomikidomoe immense power, to the point that the Manako Osho’s zanpaku-to ability had been weakened and he had apparently regained his true name that had been overwritten. At the same time, his spiritual pressure swelled with an explosive force, and he diffused a Hollow presence within the Kyogoku that was far more pronounced than before.
Then, as a first step toward killing everyone in that place and getting his revenge on Squad Zero, he raised his voice to extol his own true name.
“Etch it into your flesh along with your despair. My true name is—”
“Hey.”
Ikomikidomoe turned toward the voice behind him, and…
…leaping high from the sky with Nozarashi, a gigantic zanpaku-to larger than he was tall, gripped in his hand, a demonic form filled Ikomikidomoe’s sight.
“I’m not lettin’ anybody take you from me.”
Then a blow like a fierce god’s—a blow strong enough to smash a meteor—came down on Ikomikidomoe.
In the end, Ikomikidomoe was unable to say his own true name.
All that was left was Ikomikidomoe in his faded sword form after Nozarashi crushed and dispersed most of the power from the Fragments of the Reio.
“…the hell?”
Kenpachi seemed disappointed as he regarded the broken and battered zanpaku-to blade that may or may not have retained its will, and he spat out…
“Your name might as well’ve been ‘wimp.’”
≡
“Aura! Hang in there!” Hisagi shouted as he laid Aura on the ground.
Though Nanao tried to use kaido on her, Aura shook her head slightly and held her wound with her hand as she stood up.
“Don’t…mind me. You should treat Hikone…”
She still held Hikone in her arms from when she had rescued the child. Hikone, who had lost most of their spiritual pressure, slowly opened their eyes, looking dazed.
“…Ms…Aura…?”
“I’m fine. Please, Master Hikone, take your time and rest.”
Aura uttered these words as though she were the next Soul King’s subordinate, yet when Nanao looked at Aura then, she felt she didn’t see a servant, but a mother.
Aura left Hikone with Nanao and once again turned her attention to the sky.
“Hey, what are you planning?”
Aura, still pale, smiled at Hisagi as she always did and told him, “There’s something I need to do.”
The teleportation had already reached a section of the outer walls, at a point where they couldn’t postpone it a moment more. Urahara’s voice once again echoed from the external speakers. “Apologies for the delay!”
In the next moment, a gigantic garganta opened its maw at the lower end of the castle in the air. Once they saw the jet-black fissure, even bigger than a Menos Grande or the Hollow Fura, all of them realized what Aura and Urahara’s aim was.
“I’ve already discussed what we would do in the event this occurred with President Vorarlberna. I’ve exhausted all my tricks, and this is as big as I can make it right now.”
The Arrancars seemed to have complex feelings about a Soul Reaper like Urahara opening such an unbelievably large garganta. Nelliel sighed.
“A garganta isn’t exactly supposed to be a garbage dump…but I suppose with the situation being what it is, we don’t have any other options.”
“That’s more than large enough.”
Then Aura subjugated the konpaku in the air and attemp-ted to leap into the sky.
“Hey…are you just leaving?”
When Hisagi saw Aura’s injuries, he realized her very survival was precarious. If she were to try to control the fall of the gigantic castle in the air, it would be suicide. At the same time, he understood that he couldn’t stop her, no matter what he did.
He thought she would say something to Hikone, but Aura slowly shook her head.
“I was able to hold Hikone in my own arms for the first time. That was enough.”
“I see… Well, if that’s how you feel, then all right.”
“Yes. Please do take care as well, Mr. Hisagi.”
Though he felt that the smile on her face at that moment was different from her usual mechanical expression, Hisagi didn’t question what it meant.
Hikone slowly reached out their hand from where they had collapsed.
“Wait…please wait.”
Aura turned her eyes to Hikone and gave the child a smile filled with more heartfelt affection than the one she had shown Hisagi. “Please, stay in good health.”
Though her words were curt, it seemed that they were enough for Aura.
“Oh…”
Before Hikone could say anything else, she had turned herself into mist. She transformed, though they had thought she was no longer able to just a moment before. Doing so must’ve been a burden for her, but she likely wanted to demonstrate for Hikone that she was fine.
Then the shape of the castle in the sky changed through Aura’s handiwork and slowly disappeared into the fissure of the garganta.
At the same time, as though the teleportation had completed, the clouds floating in the Kyogoku fully cleared.
Hikone’s hands were still reaching toward her, but eventually their yearning seemed to fade as they muttered with an unspeakably sorrowful expression, “I wasn’t able to fulfill the role Lord Tokinada gave me.”
“Yeah, you weren’t.” Hisagi answered him, though he thought Hikone had probably been speaking to themself.
“I tried to kill…Ms. Aura for Lord Tokinada…I still think that was right, even now…to do it for Lord Tokinada.”
“Do you?”
Hisagi noticed a faint doubt in Hikone’s eyes. Hikone would soon find the answer. Understanding that, Hisagi didn’t immediately condemn Tokinada’s behavior.
After Hikone was silent for a while, they turned to Hisagi and asked directly, “Why would Ms. Aura have saved me?”
Though he could think of several reasons, Hisagi felt that at this point it wasn’t right for him to give an answer, so he sidestepped the question. “Don’t think about it too much. She did that because she wanted to. That’s good enough, don’t you think?”
“She did it…because she wanted to? Didn’t she have a reason?”
They likely felt the effect of Ikomikidomoe having stolen some of their Fragments of the Reio. Though Hikone should have had leftover spiritual pressure about the same as Hisagi’s, Hikone was so emaciated they couldn’t move. Still, they continued. “I heard that…Ms. Aura is something like…my mother.”
Hisagi’s words had given them more confidence about the reason for Aura’s actions.
“Was she? Then she really doesn’t need to explain.”
Hikone was silent for a while… Then, for the first time, they spoke from their own heart, rather than following Tokinada’s will.
“Do you think…I’ll actually be able to call Ms. Aura ‘mother’ someday…? No…do I even…have the right to…?”
Hikone’s voice trailed off as Hisagi shrugged.
“If you don’t know, then I’ll tell you.”
Despite being wounded all over, he tried not to show his own weakness as he said to Hikone with a bitter smile, “Having a reason or having the right to…these things don’t matter when it comes to a mom fawning over her kid.”
≡