"What is this form?"
"A hollow!?"
Cole stared at the hole in his chest—
a void like that of a hollow.
Not only that, instinctive abilities bubbled up within him—
not learned tricks, but inborn powers.
"Whatever."
He hefted the golden staff and slammed it into Minazuki's barrier. With a crack, the blood-dyed space shattered like glass.
In that instant, Captains across the Seireitei stiffened, sensing a supremely evil reiatsu.
"A hollow!?"
"Adjuchas!?"
"Did Aizen and his lot return!?"
There was no time to think; several Captains rushed toward Squad 2.
Bare-chested, a red-white shard of mask at his eye, Cole strode down the street with his staff.
Where he passed, walls, paving stones, and houses turned to reishi and flowed into him.
Ichigo gaped, signaling Kenpachi to stop, and stared at Cole.
"W-Wait—Cole, that's you, right!?"
Cole paused, bemused. "Ichigo, what dumb thing are you saying? You don't recognize me?"
Ichigo's temples throbbed. "I don't mean that… I mean—why did you turn into a hollow!?"
A minute ago his bro had clearly been a shinigami.
How'd a fight turn him hollow?
That evil pressure and the chest-hole—he looked just like Ulquiorra.
"It's only hollowfication. No big deal. You'll understand later."
Cole waved lazily and kept devouring the Seireitei's rich reishi, pouring it into his hollow power in this form.
"Wait—Captain Soi Fong will kill you."
Ichigo hurried to stop him.
By then the nearest Captains had arrived.
Shunsui rubbed his forehead at the sight. "So… what exactly happened, and why is he a hollow?"
It was the spitting image of the incident a century ago.
Had Aizen left another trap?
Ichigo shook his head, totally lost.
The scarlet space fractured; Unohana stepped out, somehow already dressed again, color in her cheeks.
Soi Fong, Rukia, and Orihime followed, faces flushed.
Unohana licked her lips and asked softly, "Cole-kun, will you tell me how you entered this state?"
Cole blinked. "You can stand already? Cheating, right?"
A moment ago she'd been trembling, soft as water, without even the strength to sit up—
mind and body both at their peak of rapture.
Suddenly his eyes lit. "You used Kaidō (Reversal Healing)… or Minazuki's power—no wonder you recover so fast every time."
He wasn't that weak, was he? He kept knocking Unohana limp, yet she always bounced back—enough to shake his confidence.
Mortified, Unohana still kept her gentle tone.
"Cole-kun, tell us about your state. It feels… off."
Rukia and the others added their pleas.
"What's there to tell?"
Cole rested the golden staff on his shoulder. "I stuck a shard of the Hōgyoku into myself. Then I turned into this."
"Hōgyoku…"
Several Captains went deadpan.
"You really try anything that falls into your hands, huh," Shunsui sighed.
Thanks only to the century-old precedent did they know a shinigami could return from hollowfication—
otherwise they would've erased this upper-class Menos on sight.
"Do you know how to change back?"
Rukia blurted; she truly feared he'd be stuck like this.
Cole chuckled. "Rukia, if I turn back, what do I get?"
Rukia hesitated, glanced down at her proud curves, then at Byakuya—
who stood off to the side radiating frost.
In the end, blushing hard, she tiptoed to Cole's side and whispered in his ear.
Cole nodded, smiling.
At a thought, the outward flow of hollow power subsided.
The red-white remnant on his face and the void at his chest faded and knit closed.
Only then did Cole realize how empty his emotions had been moments before—
like those extremes-of-nature Menos.
"Damn… Hollow Power means full hollowfication!?"
This wasn't what he'd imagined at all.
Where was the hollow mask?
When Ichigo gained hollow power, he didn't completely fall.
So why did Cole change species outright?
Seeing him return to normal, Rukia finally exhaled—then remembered the earlier madness and shot him a vicious glare.
Brat. You're not getting away with that later.
Soi Fong tapped her shoulder with a scowl—a purple bruise stood out on pale skin.
That little punk had smacked her hard enough to nearly dislocate her arm.
Orihime, for her part, had no idea what had happened—
Cole's brutal reiatsu had floored her earlier.
Cole sighed, then looked at Unohana with a nervous smile.
"Flower-sister… you're not mad, right?"
Thinking back to how he'd bullied her just now made sweat bead at his temple.
What if she carved him up?
Unexpectedly, Unohana smiled.
"How could I be angry? That slaughter was quite satisfying. In all my years, no one has ever beaten me like that."
Phew… not a normal person indeed… Cole finally relaxed.
Shunsui, too, let out a breath. "Cole, stop poking things at random. Study them first."
That evil reiatsu had rattled even him—
definitely Adjuchas-class, a hairsbreadth from Vasto Lorde.
If it had gotten ugly, the battle might've rivaled the clashes with Aizen, and all of Squad 2 would be rubble.
"I didn't expect it to be that dangerous. Blame Urahara—who told him to research such stuff?"
Cole threw Kisuke under the bus.
Shunsui nodded, sympathetic. Friend or not, that man was a lunatic who made things even he couldn't break.
Genryusai arrived then; after hearing the sequence he glowered at Cole.
"Brat, will you die if you go a day without making trouble?"
In over a thousand years, he'd never seen a walking catastrophe like this.
In a single month Cole had turned the Seireitei upside down.
Cole coughed, apologizing—and added that he wanted to stay and contribute to the Seireitei.
Had he not said that, Genryusai would've kept him anyway;
letting this menace back into the World of the Living might blow it into the sky.
But hearing him out—
and seeing the buildings around them visibly thinned by reishi-drain—he changed his mind.
"You go back tomorrow—no, today."
He resolved to warn Urahara to keep the brat on a short leash.
He must not be allowed to slip back into the Seireitei; there would be no peace otherwise.
After much pleading, Cole wrung out a seven-day stay; after that, he had to return to the living world.
When the crowd dispersed, Cole grumbled,
"The Seireitei is really inhospitable. Kicking out a great benefactor like me?"
Soi Fong strode over, speechless. "You have the face to say that? Your earlier outburst nearly scared the other Captains to death—they thought Hueco Mundo was invading."
Adjuchas-class reiatsu—
true upper Menos.
Even in Hueco Mundo they were rare monsters, each with power beyond most Captains.
Cole could only shrug. He'd just wanted to master hollow power—who knew he'd become a hollow.
"Maybe hollows and shinigami are two sides of one coin… both born of human souls…"
He mulled it over, deciding to consult Shinji and the others when he returned—
at least to learn to control the state.
Unohana, licking her lips, hooked an arm over his shoulder.
"Cole-kun, that bout was still a little unsatisfying. Let's fight again; I won't let you get hurt this time."
Cole: "…"
The next morning, bright-eyed, Cole sat up and looked at the tide-flushed Unohana beside him.
"Flower-sister, how come you can't get up this time?"
She shot him a look. "Because you were too rough."
Cole swelled with smugness.
Last night he'd used his zanpakuto's power to block Unohana's self-healing—
finally bullying her thoroughly.
The gentle lady had turned into a little maid, and she seemed to enjoy it, too.
Washed and dressed, Cole headed to Soi Fong's office.
"Soi Fong, did you find the person I asked for?"
She glanced up. "Finally willing to get out of bed? Not tangled up with Unohana?"
He coughed, embarrassed. "You heard that?"
A faint blush touched her cheeks. "If I hadn't put up a barrier, your noise would've echoed through all of Squad 2."
Which meant she'd listened to it all night in her office…
Realizing her own reaction, she scowled and flicked him a slip of paper.
"The person you want is here. Go. I'm catching up on sleep."
"Thanks, Soi Fong!"
Cole hugged her once, then sprinted out waving the paper.
"Orihime, let's go—time to find your brother!"
Watching him go, Soi Fong huffed and headed to her room—
and froze, face burning scarlet.
"Unohana—get down from there. Now."
"Cole-kun… I can really see my brother?"
At the Seireitei's southern gate, Jūrekimon, Orihime stepped out, nerves fluttering at the wooden buildings beyond.
She'd never imagined she'd meet her departed brother again—
maybe even reunite here in the Seireitei.
"Of course."
Cole waved the note. "Internal Affairs checked—your brother's in the South District, Area 26, Seiryū Street."
They walked deep into the Rukongai.
Soon they saw Inoue Sora beneath a shabby eave, hauling water in a wooden bucket.
"Brother!!!"
Orihime's eyes lit up; she flew into his arms.
Sora froze. "Orihime!?"
They clung and cried for a long time before trading stories.
Sora had been lucky—arriving in District 26 where water was plentiful, he'd simply stayed on that street.
A plain, uneventful life.
Hearing Cole and the others' tale, though, he sucked in a breath.
"You guys are insane!"
They'd stormed the Soul Society, fought its shinigami—
and now were friends with them.
It sounded like myth.
"Relax, just standard procedure."
Cole smiled and stayed until dusk before finally parting, Orihime reluctant to leave.
"Cole-kun, will I be able to see my brother again?"
From what she'd learned, souls in the Rukongai would die and reincarnate after a few decades.
If that happened, they might never meet again.
"Don't worry."
Cole ruffled her hair. "Your brother has reiryoku. When I get back, I'll ask Soi Fong or Flower-sister to make him a seated officer."
Orihime nodded hard, eyes bright with gratitude. "Thank you, Cole-kun."
That night, cheeks burning, Orihime slipped into Cole's room, shed her clothes, and crawled under his covers.
"Cole-kun…"
___________
At dawn, dark crescents under her eyes, Soi Fong planted a boot on Cole's face and glared like he was trash.
"Brat, are you trying to make me drop dead?"
(End of Chapter)
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