Karakura Town · Third District.
At dawn, office workers and students streamed out of their homes, crowding every corner of the city and making it unbearably noisy.
But not everywhere was so lively. Urahara Shop, located only one street away from the main road, was surrounded by an eerily deserted lane. An elderly man with heavy footsteps would pass by the shop only once every half-day.
Yet even those elderly strollers never spared Urahara Shop a glance.
In front of Urahara Shop, a red-haired little boy waved a broom as he chased a little girl with two braids.
"Who's afraid of a moron like Tessai... I'm sweeping because I want to sweep. It's not because he... Huh?"
The broom the little boy had raised halted in midair. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't swing it even slightly, as though an invisible hand had seized it.
"Well, well, well. A distinguished guest has arrived."
The shop's sliding door slowly opened, and two men, one tall and one short, stepped out. The shorter man, who had spoken, was Urahara Kisuke.
"Shinta, Suzu, stop fooling around."
The burly man beside him scolded the two children. "Get ready to welcome our guest."
"Yes."
The little girl called Suzu nodded. The little boy, meanwhile, stared at the broom suspended in midair. A hand had somehow grabbed it, and behind the broom was a human head.
That was right.
A human head.
It was as if the newcomer's body had been concealed by refracted light, leaving only one hand and his head exposed.
"Redhead, you shouldn't bully girls for no reason."
Duan Mu met the two children's gazes and smiled gently before releasing the broom.
"Tch."
Shinta pulled back the broom and curled his lip. "I don't need some adult who ran naked in