"Sado… Orihime…"
"Please, don't look at me like that! I swear, I have no idea what's going on!!!"
Feeling the disbelief and suspicion in his friends' eyes, Ichigo was completely stunned.
About thirty minutes earlier—
It was just another ordinary lunch break at school.
As usual, after lunch, he had planned to hang out on the rooftop with Sado and Orihime to relax and chat.
But then—
Right after the three of them arrived on the rooftop, that strange, translucent screen appeared out of nowhere.
Then came the video—some kind of ranking countdown.
At first, driven by curiosity, Ichigo had watched with great interest.
But then—
After the previous person's segment ended, his own image appeared on the screen.
That's when things got seriously out of hand.
"Huh? What do you mean? You seriously had no idea?" Sado asked, half-doubting.
"What else could it be? Why would I lie to you?"
Ichigo rolled his eyes, exasperated.
Sure, he had a rebellious streak and had done plenty of wild things in the past—
Skipping class, getting into fights with delinquents on the street, even brawling with his old man Isshin—
But!
Ichigo was certain about one thing:
He had never used a weapon.
And definitely never wielded a sword like that, let alone fought someone on some unfamiliar mountainside with an oversized katana!
"But still…"
Sado met Ichigo's gaze.
Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, Sado hesitated. "The footage looked real. Like something that actually happened. How do you explain that?"
At this point in the timeline—
Rukia Kuchiki had yet to appear.
Which meant Sado hadn't awakened his Fullbringer powers yet.
Just like Ichigo, he had no spiritual pressure—he was still just an ordinary human.
He had no concept of Shinigami. Or Zanpakuto.
And yet—
The sight of Senbonzakura's cherry blossom storm, and the crimson shockwave unleashed by Tensa Zangetsu, sent a chill straight to his soul.
The realism was too overwhelming.
It felt as though he had been transported into the scene itself, standing right at the edge of the battlefield.
It was… unnerving.
Ichigo rubbed his forehead and shook his head in frustration. "Honestly, you're not the only one—I want to know what kind of sick joke this is!"
With that,
He clenched his fists—
And swung one hard at the screen.
But the moment his fist made contact… it phased right through.
The screen was intangible. A hologram.
Everyone stiffened.
"The screen… it's not even real? That's impossible!"
Orihime gasped and covered her mouth, trembling. This sort of high-tech phenomenon only existed in fantasy.
"A virtual projection that appears out of nowhere? That's… terrifying…"
Unconsciously,
Ichigo hadn't noticed that his back was drenched in cold sweat.
This translucent screen had completely shattered his sense of reality.
"What should we do now?"
Sado asked, visibly uneasy.
The longer he stared at the screen, the more restless he felt, as a creeping anxiety began to take root.
"We can either report this right away—or keep watching. What do you think?"
To Sado's surprise,
After a moment of stunned silence, Ichigo calmed down much faster than expected. His expression steadied.
Even though a chill still ran down his spine, and beads of sweat glistened on his brow—
Seeing his future self wielding Tensa Zangetsu stirred something inside him.
He wanted to keep watching.
Staring at the floating screen, Sado hesitated.
He frowned, thought it over carefully, and then gave a firm nod.
"To be honest, I have a bad feeling about this whole thing. But… I do want to see more."
Yes.
His thoughts aligned with Ichigo's.
Despite the unease, despite the fear—
Seeing Ichigo transformed into that black-clad warrior ignited a strange curiosity within him. He couldn't look away.
"Orihime, what about you?"
Ichigo turned toward Orihime with concern. "If you're scared, it's okay to leave. We won't hold it against you."
"No…"
To Ichigo's surprise, Orihime immediately shook her head. "I want to stay. I'm curious too!"
Though timid and gentle by nature—
Seeing Ichigo in the video wielding that mysterious black blade with such strength and confidence had given Orihime a burst of courage.
She was eager to see more.
"Alright then. Let's stay together and figure out what's going on."
Ichigo nodded, then shifted the topic. "By the way… that black katana I was holding… what is it?"
For some reason—
The moment he saw Tensa Zangetsu,
He felt a strange sense of familiarity.
As if this sleek, pitch-black blade had been with him for a long, long time.
"Wait…"
Sado suddenly perked up, as if something had clicked. He spoke with certainty:
"In that video, I think I heard your voice say the word 'Shinigami' with… hostility. Could it be that guy you were fighting—
That cold, expressionless one—is a real Shinigami?"
After he spoke,
Sado looked slightly embarrassed.
In his mind, Shinigami were supposed to be terrifying entities—
Shrouded in black cloaks, wielding giant scythes, with monstrous faces.
That imagery had been burned into him since childhood.
But the man in the video…
Didn't look inhuman at all. In fact, he was… kind of handsome. Refined, even.
A noble pretty-boy, not some monstrous death god.
No way…
Was being a Shinigami this… competitive now?
"A Shinigami, huh…"
Ichigo murmured the term, unfamiliar and strange on his tongue.
He frowned, pondered for a moment, then shook his head.
"Sado, I think you're overthinking it. Shinigami are just urban legends. They don't actually exist."
"And even if they did—
If I was fighting one using the same weapon, doesn't that mean I'd have to be a Shinigami too?"
Sado shook his head, countering immediately:
"Don't jump to conclusions, Ichigo!
Maybe you're not now… but who's to say what'll happen in the future?"
"Huh? Are you saying… those were scenes from the future?"
Ichigo's eyes suddenly lit up.
Thinking back—
When he was wearing that black uniform in the video, he looked way cooler. The style, the vibe—it was all on point.
If that's what being a Shinigami meant—
Then maybe it was actually awesome?
Noticing the excitement on Ichigo's face,
Sado offered a friendly reminder: "Don't get too excited. It's just a guess. Who knows what any of this really means?"
"Sado's right," Orihime chimed in with a nod. "Let's keep watching patiently. Maybe the rest of the footage will give us the answers we're looking for!"
"Yeah… you're right."
Ichigo clenched his fist, eyes brimming with resolve.
"I don't believe my appearance in that video was a coincidence.
There's definitely more surprises waiting for us!"
———
Scene shift.
Seireitei – Sixth Division Barracks.
Inside the administrative office, an eerie silence filled the air—
So quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"Captain… this video—it has to be fake, right?"
Renji Abarai's voice trembled. Beneath his spiky red hair, his lips quivered as he turned to the figure seated before the desk.
Long black hair.
The noble kenseikan hairpieces.
That gleaming white scarf.
As the captain of Sixth Division, Byakuya should have been focused on his paperwork.
But right now, he sat frozen like a statue, eyes fixed on the video playing before him.
That always-stoic, elegant face—
Was now as dark and lifeless as still water.
Yes.
Just like everywhere else in Soul Society—
A translucent screen had appeared in the Sixth Division barracks too.
And as its captain—
Byakuya had witnessed every second of it.