— "His name is, of course, Mister… Don KANONJI!" The host announces his name and the audience cheers. Don laughs and shouts, — "Bohahahaha! Spirits are always with you!" The people in the audience cross their arms in front of their chests at the same time and laugh along, "bohahaha". Don, dressed in gaudy clothes and a pair of sunglasses, waves proudly to his audience. He's a spirit medium and a hero to children across the entire nation. His real name is Misaomaru KANONJI. Don's spirit program is starting to fall in ratings lately, but that didn't slow him down one bit. He'd be satisfied with just a single viewer. His producer and staff knew this, but still put all their effort into this Karakura Special. Even so, they couldn't give him the same spectacular entrance (skydiving) as the last time. That's because Karakura Town, famous as a spirit hotspot, had suffered many civilian casualties nearly two years ago. It had cast a dark shadow over the city. The city was hesitant to cooperate with a spirit medium show nowadays.
Many people had died due to Yammy's soul-inhalation technique, or simply by being into contact with AIZEN, who had merged with the hôgyoku. The "natural outbreak of gas" had been declared as the official cause of death to the civilians who had no knowledge of hollows and soul reaper. In the past, Don ran around Karakura Town, fighting hollows as leader of the Karakura Defence Force. But he has been busy shooting overseas for another program this past year. He hasn't seen the Defence Force members in a while. The purpose of the show is to exorcise the masked woman which had been appearing all over Karakura Town. Don surmised she might be connected to hollows in some way. And, although they had a bus to take him and his crew to the woman's location whenever she should appear, Don preferred to use his own beloved, imported, high-class, open car: Jeanne d'Arc. There was a sudden noise and Don felt a chill. He and his crew turn to the direction of the noise. But Don is the only one who can see the child with white headphones standing on top of the bus. Behind him, there's a large black hole, like a wild beast's open mouth. Then the hole closes. Don can sense that the boy is no ordinary spirit.
The boy murmurs, "Weird. I'm sure it's around here!" Noticing eyes on him, the boy talks to Don and his crew. Don responds. The boy realises Don is the only one who can see him and asks if he's a soul reaper. Don denies this and introduces himself. The boy gets his name wrong and calls him Donkan Onchi instead. Don is appalled, but quickly recovers and asks what the boy is doing here. Is he looking for his parents? Don will help him look! The boy says he's looking for a woman with a skull covering half her face. Don responds that they're probably looking for the same person. The boy proposes a race. Who can find her first? If the boy wins, Don will "play" with him. Don agrees, not knowing how dangerous "playing" with the boy would be. The boy is thrilled.
The boy taps his headphones and starts talking to the other Picarro ("Did you hear that?"). The other Picarro appear from behind trees, telephone poles and roofs. They chatter amongst themselves. Won't they get scolded if they play with a human? But Baraggan is gone. And so is TÔSEN. Won't HARRIBEL get angry? Let's just ignore her. Let's kill and play! He looks weak, though? The Picarro jump out into the night in search of the woman. Don mutters to himself. How should he play with so many of them? A soccer ball tournament? His producer, who didn't hear the conversation, is confused and worries whether Don has been possessed or something. Don assures him he's alright. He's ready to take on the boy's challenge. The producer doesn't get it, but he's happy that this will probably create a wonderful program. The head-phoned Picarro is looking for the woman using pesquisa. He notices she's no longer in the World of the Living. The Garganta opens next to him and another Picarro beckons him inside. Several Picarro have assembled inside. They use pesquisa again and sense something strange. Weird remains of spiritual-pressure were left in the area, different from the spiritual-pressure of hollows or soul reapers. It was also slightly different from what soul reaper call spirit-ribbons. It was thin like a spider's thread. And it stretched out into the torrent of spiritual-matter. Where does the thread lead to? One Picarro remembers, ""Qrrr… I remember… over there …that's where AIZEN-sama came from… Qrrr." Soul Society. Led on by curiosity, the Picarro decide to go there. Not realising how foolish it was to go to their enemy's land. Their purity was both their weakness and strength. To which side will the scales fall?
— At the same time | In the Garganta, at unknown coordinates
The "void" exists between Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and the World of the Living. It's the Garganta, where storms of spiritual-matter swirl and rage. A darkness filled with heavy spiritual-energy. And a beautiful young woman, with a mask covering half of her face, was walking on the thin road she had made inside it. She's walking alone but there's another presence whispering in her ear. The voice asks her why she let herself be seen by the Picarro. Did she want to save Nelliel? She shouldn't pay attention to that outcast. But he'll forgive her. Those Picarro might work as decoy later.
Nevertheless, the voice reminds her she's just a tool. She apologises. He says he'll let it slide. He's in a good mood. His research might bear fruit soon. But she mustn't be killed or else all will be for naught. He tells her to hide out in the World of the Living and to flee whenever she runs into a soul reaper, hollow or quincy. No need to engage in battle. Although the voice doubts that any soul reaper could kill her. The woman responds with a sad look in her eyes: — "Understood… Szayelaporro-sama."