It appeared suddenly, from the void.
A female Shinigami clad in a white dress-like Shihakushō floated in midair, her skirt hem playing in the wind. The girl surveyed Kurosaki Ichigo and company with a bitter expression, quietly brimming with immense spiritual pressure.
"You are... Hinamori Momo!"
At Yoruichi's voice, Ichigo suddenly realized.
This was the popular vice-captain he'd heard about in Rukongai—someone they'd hoped might become an ally in rescuing Rukia. The Shinigami with a complicated story who'd been taken away at the finale of the Soul Society's massive conspiracy, responding to what seemed like the enemy's threatening invitation.
"H-Hinamori-san...? Why are you here..."
The enemy Hollow-like giant fearfully asked the airborne girl—Hinamori Momo. His wilted back, contradicting his previous arrogance, revealed their power dynamic.
And the questioned Hinamori Momo called the man's name, face still bitter.
"Yammy-san."
The female Shinigami slowly surveyed the surrounding devastation, biting her lip painfully.
"...What did you do? I asked you to 'please refrain from unnecessary violence.'"
"B-but! Every single one of 'em was pissing me off—"
"I won't hear excuses!"
Cutting off the man's plea, the girl gently descended to the ground.
"As I said before, you evolved into an Arrancar and became human from Hollow. You're not just a fighting beast anymore, understand?"
"S-sorry..."
Hinamori Momo scolded the apologizing Hollow-like creature with a sad tone. To Ichigo, she looked like a mother admonishing a troublesome child.
"Is Ulquiorra alright?"
"No need to worry. He won't be hurt by small fry like these."
The girl sighed in relief after confirming the other enemy's safety. Then, with the two at her back, stepping forward, she glared sharply at Ichigo's group.
The surrounding atmosphere tensed. But what broke the hair-trigger tension was a confident question from one half of the man-woman pair sheltering wounded Ichigo... Kisuke Urahara.
"You're 'Reader,' aren't you?"
Was it some metaphor, or perhaps a title? An unfamiliar term to Ichigo, but apparently something Yoruichi beside him could scarcely believe.
"Impossible, but this one..."
"...Yes, I'm also somewhat surprised. Her atmosphere differs too much from that time."
As the two whispered information exchanges, excluded Ichigo involuntarily asked, "Do you know her?" But his reply was ambiguous and ominous.
"...A mysterious Hollow researcher. We met once long ago, but she disguised her Shihakushō, mask, even voice—truly an unidentified woman."
"Shihakushō and mask...?"
"Yes, except her Shihakushō was pure white. And the mask she wore was..."
—A Hollow's.
Those words shocked Ichigo. The recent Visored. That strange dream during Bankai training. The mysterious Hollow researcher, the unidentified woman—he had total recollection of such a person.
"I expected connections to Sōsuke Aizen, but... never thought she'd reveal it this way."
"Aizen...!? So that Hinamori person's an enemy?"
"Normally you'd think so."
The vague words confused Ichigo further. Beyond the shock of learning the mysterious girl he'd had various encounters with was one of the enemies, Urahara indicated matters were more complex.
Her caring for Hollow subordinates without discrimination as a Shinigami did match "Reader's" nature. But the eerie mystique from their first meeting had greatly diminished, replaced by hollow decadence and humanity he sensed within her.
"Reader" transformed like a different person. Was this change acting versus true nature—two-facedness? Or...
"What happened these twenty years... no—this past week? Hinamori-san."
But immediately after Urahara questioned her—after a moment's wide-eyed shock, the girl's face contorted as she released explosive spiritual pressure.
"!!?"
"This girl...!"
"I'd heard, but this much...!"
Tremendous pressure echoing in the heart made the world scream.井上 Inoue collapsed on the ground in exhaustion, of course, and even battered Ichigo couldn't move, overwhelmed by spiritual pressure.
(She's completely a monster... when she instant-killed that shrimp Tōshirō, she was still holding back...!)
The prodigy Aizen personally cultivated. Ichigo's group trembled at the overwhelming spiritual power befitting that name.
Then the angry girl threw out low words.
"...You seem to be under some misunderstanding, Kisuke Urahara-san."
"!"
"I am Lord Aizen's faithful servant. Arrancar Army Commander Hinamori Momo."
The female Shinigami puffed her chest with pompous words and expression.
But Ichigo felt slight dissonance there.
Once noticed, the girl's unnaturalness appeared one after another. Impatience, irritation, resignation flickering beneath the brave expression raised one possibility for her transformation's cause.
And naturally, sharp Yoruichi and Urahara reached the same speculation.
"Tch... brainwashed, then."
"—!"
A flash.
Suddenly, the ground at Yoruichi's feet split. The girl who'd somehow drawn the Zanpakutō at her waist with her right hand glared at Ichigo's group as if to shoot them dead with dilated, clouded pupils.
"...I'm not brainwashed. I abandoned the Soul Society of my own will. Don't interpret things conveniently for yourselves."
Hinamori Momo spat "How unpleasant," shoulders trembling.
What was the resentment's true nature sealed behind that anger? Though seeming like desperate bravado, sensing extraordinary darkness there, once drawn, the blade couldn't return to its sheath until tasting blood.
"...Looks like we have no choice but to fight."
"Dammit..."
Urahara concerned for Chad and others behind him, Yoruichi for her injured leg. Each reluctantly heightened fighting spirit while harboring worries. Protected by those two, Ichigo felt utterly pathetic at his powerless self merely enduring the girl's spiritual pressure.
"! She's coming—"
Immediately after Urahara's voice reached Ichigo's ears as he readied his Zanpakutō, the battlefield moved. Six light panels suddenly appeared from thin air around Yoruichi's body.
"What!?"
She escaped by a hair's breadth. But the two Shinigami who knew the enemy technique's logic couldn't hide their shock.
"Guh! Completely chantless sixties-level!?"
"This spiritual power residue... concealment via Kyokkō...!"
To ignorant Ichigo, he could only discern the girl's technique was tremendously advanced. Yet knowing the enemy's power, the reliable adults' fighting spirit didn't waver.
"I'm going!"
Kamisori, Benihime—Kōkyokuha
Urahara's Zanpakutō attacked to cut down the opponent with a crimson spiritual pressure blade. Knowing its destructive power, Ichigo involuntarily held his breath...
"...Both of you. Stand back please."
Bakudō Eighty-One—Dankū
"What...!?"
His worry was caught by a spiritual pressure wall suddenly towering between them.
Shockwaves from Kōkyokuha raged wildly. But after dust cleared, only two unharmed Hollow-like creatures remained at the center.
"She vanished...!? Where—"
No time to marvel at the spiritual barrier's hardness. Frantically, Ichigo also searched around, but the girl's presence was nowhere. That massive spiritual pressure had dissipated like mist.
"Above, Kisuke! She's erasing spiritual pressure with Shirofuku!"
"What!"
At vigilant Yoruichi's shout, everyone looked up reflexively.
And seeing the white dress-like Shihakushō fluttering against the clear blue sky, everyone harbored the inappropriate impression that she looked like a celestial maiden...
Hadō Eighty-Six—Gaki Rekkō
Emerald meteor showers descended, filling the heavens.
"!!?"
Terrifying numbers of light arrows BAM BAM BAM gouged the ground. As rising dust clouds crushed all visibility, Ichigo desperately rallied to protect Inoue and Chad.
But.
(That's strange. None of the attacks are hitting us.)
Both power and aftershocks were tremendous. Yet not a single direct hit—Ichigo bewildered by the anticlimax.
Then.
"—Ichigo-kun."
Suddenly, someone's voice was heard. A wistful sigh faintly brushed his ear.
At practically nose-touching distance, she—Hinamori Momo—whom he sensed no spiritual pressure from, stood there.
"Eh...?"
"Sorry, right now this is all I... can do."
The petite girl's face dark as if agonizing. Her small left hand gently touched Ichigo's chest like that time... and her pale pink spiritual power melted into it.
"Wait... wh-who are you really—"
But though he reflexively questioned, the girl's form wasn't there, and he noticed her presence was in the sky above.
"Both of you! The World of the Living reconnaissance mission is complete!"
"Yes!"
Flanked left and right by those two Hollow-like creatures, Hinamori Momo looked down at them from above with cold eyes.
The raiders were finishing their objective, about to depart.
"I'll report to Lord Aizen...! That both Urahara Shōten and the Substitute Shinigami faction are forces not to be feared!"
The girl raised her voice as much as her small body allowed. Though supposedly a spirited, confident declaration, nowhere held appropriate emotion.
"Everything is for Lord Aizen's sake...!"
Leaving that blindly devoted yet faintly tragic self-answer, Hinamori Momo turned on her heel, turning her back on the World of the Living. Her destination—the spatial rift Menos Grande use, Garganta.
And the instant before space closed—
Do your best.
Faintly sensing her remorseful gaze, Ichigo felt such words were embedded there.
✦ ✦ ✦
"What was that..."
At the park ruins after the raiders departed, remaining Ichigo fearfully placed his hand on his chest.
His chest unchanged from usual. Like that distant memory long ago, like during that Bankai training, and—like when those pink spiritual pressure bands emerged from his body.
Inside Ichigo, those connected as one.
"An ally... maybe...?"
But the connected thread, like complexly tangled cat's cradle, showed no end, exposing new questions before him.
Who was she, instantly calming his terrifying Inner Hollow? What was "Reader" that Urahara mentioned? What's her relationship with the masked girl watching over the same world as old man Zangetsu and white me?
Why did she—who gave him that mysterious charm on that rainy day, stopping his chest's turmoil—appear before him?
The mystery-spawning-mystery first encounter with Hinamori Momo.
How could he approach her, who knew him better than himself?
When you becomea full-fledged person someday
That's right. Ichigo remembered.
He had one clue to knowing about her.
—The Visored.
Those shady people sharing his Inner Hollow must know something. About Hinamori Momo, about the mysterious Hollow researcher "Reader," and...
"The method to control this thing as a full-fledged person...!"
Thus Kurosaki Ichigo's moratorium met its end, new resolve and courage carved into his heart.
But the looming great evil wasn't merciful enough to wait for his steps...