Chapter 10

"Just to thank you, and..." Miyako Amamiya stalled.

"And?"

"Why don't you ask Mr. Ishida yourself, Mr. Urahara? You two should know each other, right?" Miyako Amamiya asked slyly.

"Oh my, ask Mr. Ishida? Now that puts me in a difficult position." He gave a wry smile.

"Sorry, Mr. Urahara. I made an agreement with Mr. Ishida, so I can't tell you," Miyako Amamiya said.

"Now that's a real headache." Kisuke Urahara scratched his head, and his hat slipped off.

He caught it, revealing his somewhat haggard face. After learning that Miss Masaki had been killed by a Hollow, Kisuke Urahara had originally paid no attention to what had happened that day. But Miyako Amamiya's death, Ryūken Ishida's phone call, and his wife falling into a coma had made the perceptive Kisuke Urahara realize that something must have happened that day.

But now Miyako Amamiya was acting like a little fox, and Ryūken Ishida was even less likely to tell him. Perhaps he could only ask Mr. Isshin to make inquiries for him?

"All right, young man. To thank you for keeping my secret, this is yours." Kisuke Urahara tossed him an old flip phone.

"This is my personal communication device. If you ever need help, you can use it to contact me. It works in both the World of the Living and Soul Society." Kisuke Urahara still intended to build goodwill, offering some help to Miyako Amamiya, who could keep his secret.

"Oh, and one more thing. Don't let any other Soul Reapers see it. Of course, I added a little feature that keeps others from noticing it." He flashed Miyako Amamiya a V sign.

Miyako Amamiya looked at the device in his hand, still uneasy. "You didn't tamper with it somehow, did you, Mr. Urahara? Like using it to keep an eye on me..."

"Ahahaha, you really know how to joke, young Amamiya." Kisuke Urahara laughed outwardly, but inwardly he broke into a cold sweat. The device really didn't have any strange functions installed; its only function was to contact him. But it wasn't as though he hadn't considered adding some surveillance measures. In light of Ryūken Ishida and the caution Miyako Amamiya had shown, however, he had abandoned the idea.

Good thing I gave up on that, or he really might have found out.

"Heh, who knows? After all, I'm guessing you were the one who gave Mr. Ishida this cloak, Mr. Urahara. You must have used it to discover my connection to him, right?" Miyako Amamiya picked up the cloak, intending to bluff him.

"Oh my, the weather is lovely today. Young Amamiya, I have things to do, so I'll be going now. Ahahahahahaha." Kisuke Urahara made a lame excuse and promptly slipped away.

Hmph, I knew it. Miyako Amamiya knew Kisuke Urahara fairly well. As a man who worked with technology, he always had strange tricks that were impossible to guard against.

Although he knew Urahara might have left something up his sleeve on the cloak, Miyako Amamiya didn't intend to stop using it. He only wore it to visit Ryūken Ishida anyway. Unless Kisuke Urahara resorted to forceful measures, he had no way of knowing what the two of them were actually doing.

Besides, when Ryūken Ishida had introduced the Reishi space, he had specifically said that no one could discover it. Perhaps he had also been on guard against Kisuke Urahara.

Still, this is a pleasant surprise. Miyako Amamiya looked at the flip phone in his hand. After all, asking Kisuke Urahara for help with certain things was a good option, such as obtaining the Tenshintai needed to learn Bankai quickly.

Returning to his inner world, Miyako Amamiya wanted to master Shikai as soon as possible. But if even Shikai took this long, Bankai would be even harder.

Soul Reapers in Soul Society trained for decades at a time to master Shikai and Bankai. But Miyako Amamiya didn't have that much time to train at his leisure now.

"You're a little too diligent, aren't you? Why not think of a strategy before you come back?" the black-haired boy in white robes said helplessly. To be honest, he had watched Miyako Amamiya grow stronger all along, but Miyako Amamiya couldn't exactly be called quick when it came to mastering his own power.

Besides, I'm only one part of it... the black-haired boy thought.

"I know that without you telling me. Let's begin." Miyako Amamiya wanted to start fighting him quickly. He had indeed come today because he had discovered a blind spot in his previous battles, and he hoped it would prove useful. "I..." Just as Miyako Amamiya was about to say something else, he suddenly noticed something strange about the boy.

Compared to when they had first met, the edges of the black-haired boy's white robes had been stained black, and the discoloration covered a considerable area. When they first met, his robes had been pure, immaculate white. Why were they turning black?

"What's going on with your clothes?" Miyako Amamiya frowned and looked at him in confusion.

"Oh, you noticed after all. It was only a little before, but with such a big change this time, I suppose it would have been hard to miss." The black-haired boy looked at the black edges of his white robes and spoke helplessly.

"But if you want to know, defeat me." He took out his Spirit Bow, evidently unwilling to say anything more.

Miyako Amamiya had no choice but to suppress his doubts and begin gathering Reishi into the shape of a bow.

But if there was one difference in the Spirit Bow Miyako Amamiya formed this time, it was its size. After sparring with Ryūken Ishida, he could finally compress his Spirit Bow, so this time he made it about the size of a crossbow.

Thanks to his improved control over Reishi, he no longer needed his other hand to use Reishi Convergence to form arrows. He could fire them with one hand.

But its power certainly couldn't compare to when he used both hands. Still... this was precisely what Miyako Amamiya wanted.

Holding the Spirit Bow in his left hand, Miyako Amamiya aimed at the black-haired boy, formed three arrows, and fired them in quick succession.

"It's useless, arrows that weak." The black-haired boy fired an arrow that far surpassed Miyako Amamiya's gathered arrows in both quality and quantity.

His arrow swiftly pierced one of Miyako Amamiya's, but the other two sped toward him.

The black-haired boy merely turned sideways and tilted his head in midair, dodging both arrows.

"Listen..." The Black-Haired Boy looked at Miyako Amamiya, intending to persuade him not to waste his effort, but Miyako Amamiya had already vanished from where he stood.

"What were you going to say?" Miyako Amamiya used Shunpo to rush behind him, then gathered Reishi beneath his feet and used the Quincy-exclusive movement technique to stand at his back.

Then Miyako Amamiya drew the Asauchi he hadn't used in a long time with his right hand and slashed fiercely at him.

"What?" The black-haired boy was shocked. Miyako Amamiya had fought him with a Spirit Bow these last few times, so he had subconsciously overlooked the sword that had gone unused for so long.

Now, with Miyako Amamiya's improved Shunpo and familiarity with Hirenkyaku, his speed caught the Black-Haired Boy off guard. Although the boy quickly retreated, the slash still struck him.

"That really surprised me..." He retreated rapidly, keeping his distance from Miyako Amamiya as he covered his injured shoulder. Strangely, though, no blood flowed from it. Instead, a black substance gushed out, looking like both gas and liquid.

"This is bad. 'He' is getting excited." As soon as he said that, the black at the bottom of his white robes suddenly stirred, seemingly beginning to flow.

"What are you talking about?" Miyako Amamiya frowned. There he went acting like a riddler again. But the black-haired boy did look strange.

"Pay it no mind. Come on, let's keep fighting." He swept a hand over himself, and the abnormalities vanished.

Miyako Amamiya didn't let his guard down. He continued holding the Spirit Bow in one hand and the Asauchi in the other. Before this, Miyako Amamiya's thinking had always been caught in a misconception.

Miyako Amamiya had always believed that his Zanpakuto was a manifestation of his Quincy powers, so after gradually mastering those powers, he had thought of learning the enemy's skills to defeat the enemy.

But Miyako Amamiya himself had forgotten that, although his Zanpakuto might be a manifestation of Quincy power, he was a special being who possessed both Soul Reaper and Quincy powers.

If he fought the boy using only Quincy abilities, even Miyako Amamiya had no idea how long it would take. But in all this time, the black-haired boy had never once used Soul Reaper skills such as Zanjutsu. So why should Miyako Amamiya restrict himself to Quincy abilities as well?

With this sudden inspiration, Miyako Amamiya combined the two kinds of power and, sure enough, achieved some success.

"Today, you're going to tell me your name, nice and easy." Brimming with confidence, Miyako Amamiya pointed his sword at him. He noticed that his Asauchi was trembling slightly, as though in support of his words.

"Heh, then come on." The black-haired boy chuckled, as though he already knew how this would end.

An arrow sped toward Miyako Amamiya from ahead, its angle exceedingly tricky, but Miyako Amamiya could no longer spare it any attention. Ahead of him was the black-haired boy, pinned to a wall by Miyako Amamiya's Bakudō #30: Shitotsu Sansen. Although he had fired an arrow the instant he was pinned, the restraints that formed at the same time had left him unable to escape.

I can't dodge. If I do, I'll give him a chance to break free. Miyako Amamiya had made his decision. He had finally managed to pin him with Bakudō; if he didn't seize this chance, he wouldn't get another.

The arrow was about to hit Miyako Amamiya, but his approach didn't slow. He turned his body slightly, shifting the arrow's target from his heart to his left shoulder. Blood gushed out as it pierced his shoulder.

The pain didn't stop Miyako Amamiya. His left hand could no longer maintain the Spirit Bow, but his right still had strength.

"It's over!" Miyako Amamiya shouted, slashing fiercely at him with the sword in his right hand.

The blow also shattered the light formed by Beak-Piercing Triple Flash, and black substance began gushing from the Black-Haired Boy's entire body.

Miyako Amamiya began gasping for breath, but he didn't let his guard down. He leaped into the air again, ready to follow up with Kidō. "O sovereign..." He immediately began chanting the words of Shakkahō, preparing to fire it at point-blank range.

"There's no need," the black-haired boy said. "This battle is your victory."

Only then did Miyako Amamiya stop chanting. In the end, he could barely control the Reishi beneath his feet, and he fell from the air onto a house.

Miyako Amamiya knelt on one knee and looked at the black-haired boy against the wall of the tall building opposite him. Black substance churned over the boy's body, leaving Miyako Amamiya unsure what was happening.

"By getting this far, you've met 'my' expectations. So, I'll give you my power." The Black-Haired Boy's white robes began to dissolve, seemingly turning into Reishi that gradually flew toward Miyako Amamiya. Strangely, however, his body didn't disappear. Where the white robes vanished, they revealed blackness hidden beneath them.

"But don't think this is over..." His body gradually began turning black as he spoke words that confused Amamiya.

"Listen carefully, Miyako. My name is..." Miyako Amamiya clearly heard the black-haired boy's final words.

In the last second before his consciousness left, Miyako Amamiya looked at the boy still standing in midair. His robes had turned completely black. Then Miyako Amamiya's consciousness began to blur, and he could only vaguely see that the boy's short, tousled black hair seemed to be turning white...

Miyako Amamiya's eyes snapped open. He now knew his Zanpakuto's name clearly. His heart was surging, and the power he had mastered felt so solid.

Then he looked down at his changed Asauchi, or rather, the Zanpakuto that truly belonged to him. But one glance left Miyako Amamiya dumbfounded.

The Asauchi resting on his knees had actually become two swords. Miyako Amamiya picked them up in both hands and examined them carefully.

The two swords were of normal size, no different from the Asauchi, with black-and-white hilts.

"Hey, hey, this isn't funny." Miyako Amamiya looked at the two swords in his hands. "It's not over... huh?"

"......" Miyako Amamiya softly whispered the release command. The vast Reiatsu within him began to pour out, and his Zanpakuto gradually changed. The two swords didn't change separately; instead, they fused, curved, and spread out. In the end, they formed a normal-sized... bow.

Miyako Amamiya examined the bow closely. Its body was pure white, but intricate black patterns were carved into it.

Miyako Amamiya held the bow in silence for a long time. He understood that perhaps the secret of his Zanpakuto had yet to be fully unraveled. Its present form might not be its true form either.

But for now, there were other things he needed to do.

Miyako Amamiya stood and began to draw the bow. The surrounding Reishi naturally gathered at his hand, more easily than when he used Reishi Convergence himself. He then dispersed the arrow and instead used the Reishi within his own body to form one, which was just as easy.

But there was nowhere in the World of the Living for Miyako Amamiya to experiment, so he couldn't determine the arrows' power. The special ability of his Zanpakuto wasn't easy to test casually either.

Miyako Amamiya then dismissed his Shikai, returning his Zanpakuto to its original form.

Just as Miyako Amamiya was about to leave, he sensed a Reiatsu approaching him, and it felt very familiar.

It's him? Miyako Amamiya was surprised, unsure why he had come looking for him.

"Hey, Fifth Seat Amamiya, I sensed a powerful Reiatsu from Karakura Town. Its source was somewhere around here. Do you know what happened?" Only Zennosuke Kurumadani addressed Miyako Amamiya that way.

Zennosuke Kurumadani had been lying comfortably on a roof in Karakura Town when an enormous Reiatsu suddenly came from neighboring Ukigi City. It was strong enough to affect the World of the Living, and he thought a Menos Grande or something similar had appeared. He had hurried to Ukigi City, where Miyako Amamiya was stationed, intending to support him.

But after he arrived, the immense Reiatsu had suddenly vanished, and Miyako Amamiya was the only one at its source. Zennosuke Kurumadani found that very strange.

"An immense Reiatsu?" Was it caused by my Shikai just now? Miyako Amamiya wondered.

"Yeah. Reiatsu that powerful would affect the World of the Living. I thought a Menos Grande had come over. It gave me quite a scare, but I can't sense it anymore. It's really strange," Zennosuke Kurumadani explained.

"Ahahaha." Miyako Amamiya laughed awkwardly. He had forgotten about that. Soul Reapers of lieutenant rank or higher from Soul Society received a Limitation Seal when they came to the World of the Living, to avoid unnecessarily affecting the souls there. The Reiatsu released by his Shikai just now might indeed have been a little over the limit. Fortunately, he had only released it for a short while.

"Ah!" Zennosuke Kurumadani pointed at Miyako Amamiya. "Could it be...?" He had just noticed the swords at Miyako Amamiya's waist. Two identical swords were simply too conspicuous.

"Fifth Seat Amamiya, have you already learned your Zanpakuto's true name? And it's a pair of swords..." Zennosuke Kurumadani was too shocked to speak. The only two dual-bladed Zanpakuto in Soul Society belonged to two of its oldest captains: Shunsui Kyōraku of the Eighth Division and Jūshirō Ukitake of the Thirteenth Division.

And now a third dual-bladed Zanpakuto had actually appeared. Moreover, the Reiatsu that had erupted just now had been at least lieutenant-level. Zennosuke Kurumadani could hardly believe it.

"Yes. I was just lucky," Miyako Amamiya said modestly.

"Goodness, newcomers these days are really something." Zennosuke Kurumadani scratched his head. "I can't go on like this."

Miyako Amamiya was puzzled by his words.

"Fifth Seat Amamiya, your Reiatsu may now exceed the level permitted by Soul Society. You might be recalled very soon."

"Could you explain, Fourth Seat Chōtarō?" Miyako Amamiya frowned. He had hoped to continue studying with Ryūken Ishida for a while longer. If Soul Society recalled him, he wouldn't be able to.

"Well, to keep immense Reiatsu from affecting the souls in the World of the Living, Soul Reapers of lieutenant rank and above receive a Limitation Seal when they enter it. You know that, right?"

"I know." Miyako Amamiya nodded.

"But you weren't originally over the limit. You trained in the World of the Living and gained immense Reiatsu here. I don't think it'll take long for Soul Society to detect it," he explained.

"When that happens, to keep you from continuing to affect the World of the Living, they may recall you to Soul Society and apply a Limitation Seal before sending you back."

"I see..." Miyako Amamiya hadn't expected his accidental experiment to have this consequence. Soul Society did have basic monitoring of the World of the Living, so it should have detected the fluctuation in Reiatsu caused by his Shikai.

If I'd known, I would have brought the cloak, Miyako Amamiya thought helplessly, although he didn't know whether the black cloak could conceal the Reiatsu released by Shikai.

Thinking back, the places where Kisuke Urahara and the Visored released their Shikai in the World of the Living were generally concealed by barriers. Miyako Amamiya, however, didn't know such advanced Kidō barriers.

The result of his accidental experiment gave Miyako Amamiya quite a headache. It seemed he had little time left to study with Ryūken Ishida.

"Don't worry, Fifth Seat Amamiya," Zennosuke Kurumadani said. "This might actually be a good thing for you."

"A good thing?"

"Your goal is to become a lieutenant, isn't it, Fifth Seat Amamiya? I heard what you said when you first arrived," Zennosuke Kurumadani teased.

"When your spiritual pressure erupted earlier, I could tell it had already surpassed mine. So perhaps the position of lieutenant isn't out of reach for you. Why not make the most of this opportunity?"

Miyako pondered. Since he couldn't continue learning Quincy skills, he might as well go to Soul Society and study the Soul Reaper arts of swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, movement, and Kidō in greater depth. If he could really become a lieutenant, he should be able to learn even more.

"Thank you, Fourth Seat Chōtarō. I'll give your advice careful thought."

Zennosuke Kurumadani said goodbye to him and returned to Karakura Town.

I still have to explain this to Ryūken Ishida. Miyako Amamiya sighed. Was this what they meant when they said plans couldn't keep up with change?

But... Miyako Amamiya looked at the two swords at his waist. At least I have some ability to protect myself now.

That night, in the basement of Ryūken Ishida's hospital.