Birds of a Feather

"Something's wrong."

Yan Si spoke softly. Only Ashido beside him and Shiba Kaien, who had just come over, could hear him.

"That rift... it's not going to close."

Ashido and Shiba Kaien's expressions immediately darkened.

They followed Yan Si's gaze. He was right—the rift was still open.

Even if Captain Kurayashiki could take down a Great Hollow with a single slash, how many more would come if the rift stayed open? Ten? A hundred?

A captain's Reiatsu wasn't infinite, and the other Shinigami couldn't keep holding out forever, either.

This wasn't a battle at all. It was an endless war of attrition.

Kurayashiki Kenpachi suddenly murmured, "Hmm?" and looked up at the sky again.

Almost at the same time, that vile, immense, chaotic Reiatsu surged out from deep within the rift once more!

As the Shinigami below froze, their smiles vanishing and their gazes fixed in place, another pallid Great Hollow, no smaller than the one before, clambered over the rift's edge and stepped through, descending into the Human World.

"Oh?" Kurayashiki Kenpachi raised his thick eyebrows, genuinely surprised this time.

"What's going on? Are Great Hollows in Hueco Mundo not selling? Are they having a clearance sale?"

His voice held a touch of bored amusement. Reishi burst beneath his feet, and he vanished from where he stood. The next moment, he appeared in midair, charging toward the newly arrived Great Hollow.

Again, he swung his sword in one simple slash.

A streak of purple light flashed.

The second Great Hollow met the same fate as the first. After letting out half a brief howl, it dissolved into dust-like Reishi.

"He's so strong! He's invincible!"

Cheers rang out below once more, but this time they held less unrestrained joy and more trembling unease.

The smiles on some of the Shinigami's faces had grown strained, and their eyes kept drifting toward the rift in the sky.

Yan Si's brow furrowed slightly. Things were getting more and more wrong.

Just as the atmosphere began to grow tense, the air at the edge of the battlefield rippled like water without warning.

Then, a wooden sliding door with a simple, old-fashioned design appeared out of thin air.

"Creak."

"Whoa!"

Fifth Division Captain Hirako Shinji was the first to poke his head through the Senkaimon. His blond hair swayed in the hot wind stirred up by the battlefield.

He looked up and saw the sinister black rift in the sky. The corners of his mouth immediately turned down.

"What the hell? There's a huge hole in the sky. Where's the repair crew? Who's this supposed to scare?"

He sauntered all the way out, his haori hanging loose.

Then he noticed the pallid giant in front of the rift, which was lowering its head to peer down at them.

"Huh? There's still a Great Hollow," Hirako Shinji said flatly, scratching his smooth blond hair. "Haven't seen one in over a century. Still looks the same. What an ecological disaster."

"Captain Hirako."

A gentle voice sounded beside him.

Twelfth Division Captain Hikifune Kirio had somehow appeared at his side. A kind smile rested on her face, but her gaze was fixed on the rift in the sky.

"I'll leave the support operation to the Fifth Division. As for that 'big problem'..." She tilted her head slightly, her smile deepening.

"Leave it to the Twelfth Division to study... no, to handle."

"Yeah, yeah, got it." Hirako Shinji picked at his ear, looking thoroughly put out.

Just then, another figure quietly came up beside Hirako Shinji.

He was tall, wore black-rimmed glasses, and had an armband bearing the division flower, the andromeda, as well as the character for "five," marking him as the Fifth Division's Fifth Seat.

His face bore a suitably worried expression, and his tone was warm.

"Captain Hirako, the situation is urgent. Our colleagues in the Thirteenth and Eleventh Divisions are still locked in a tough fight. Since we're here, we should help relieve the pressure as soon as possible and prevent unnecessary casualties."

Hirako Shinji shot Aizen Sōsuke a sidelong glance and silently thought, Ha. This guy's all surface polish.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right, Fifth Seat Aizen." Hirako Shinji drew out the words as he pulled his Zanpakutō from his waist. "Time to get to work. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can knock off and have a drink."

His Reiatsu flickered beneath his feet, and he appeared in midair.

But when he saw Kurayashiki Kenpachi nearby, swinging his Zanpakutō and casually chopping a third Great Hollow into a shower of lights as if he were whittling wood, he immediately lost interest in joining in.

"What's the point? Nobody needs me." He muttered, landed briskly on the ground, and joined the cleanup of the remaining ordinary Hollows.

Almost at the same time, another Senkaimon opened. A Fourth Division medical team hurried quietly onto the battlefield, pale green healing light beginning to glow among the wounded.

The arrival of support finally let Ashido and Shiba Kaien, who had been on edge all this time, breathe out a little.

Seeing this, Siwei Yan also quietly returned to the ground.

He stopped taking part in direct attacks against the Hollows. Instead, he darted around the battlefield, appearing beside Shinigami who were clearly running out of strength but still forcing themselves to fight.

"Reinforcements are here. You've done more than enough. Fall back and get some rest." His voice was steady, its cool reliability reassuring.

"Yes, Fifth Seat Yan Si!" the exhausted Shinigami replied gratefully, stumbling backward.

"Your determination is admirable, but let someone else take over now." He caught another Shinigami who was swaying on the verge of collapse.

"Thank you!" The other Shinigami was practically in tears.

In just a few minutes, he had "persuaded" more than a dozen Shinigami on the verge of their limits to leave the front line.

Not far away, Hirako Shinji was casually smashing Hollows with the back of his blade, but he hadn't taken his eyes off Yan Si.

His eyes narrowed slightly beneath his golden bangs.

When did this guy turn into such a caring comrade?

Darting around the battlefield to "rescue" people who are exhausted? What's he up to?

Hirako Shinji prided himself on being a good judge of character, especially when it came to "his kind."

From the first time he met Siwei Yan in a bar, he'd known the man was wearing a mask.

His words were half truth and half falsehood, his emotions veiled behind a layer of "mist." He always dealt with others using the most reasonable "surface facts."

So Hirako Shinji had kept an eye on Yan Si, though he hadn't yet found anything concrete to pin on him.

And the Fifth Seat Aizen beside him... Well, he wore an even tighter mask than Yan Si.

Why could Hirako Shinji tell at a glance that there was something off about the two of them?

Simple. People of the same kind were always particularly sensitive to one another.

Soon, Hirako Shinji shifted his attention from Yan Si to Aizen, who was moving around the battlefield as well.

Chaos and danger made the perfect stage for anyone with an agenda to make their move.

Aizen's performance was nothing short of "exemplary."

He too moved through the battlefield, helping comrades in danger or on the verge of collapse. His movements were swift and effective, and after helping someone up, he would offer a few gentle words of comfort, his face filled with a concern that made everyone feel as though they were basking in spring sunshine.

Hirako Shinji's teeth began to itch as he watched.

These two... Their words and mannerisms were practically taught by the same master!

Everything about them carried that carefully calculated air of "doing the right thing." You couldn't find fault with either of them, yet they made your skin crawl. Neither was someone to take lightly!

With the efforts of the two captains and the many Shinigami reinforcements, the Hollows on the battlefield were being cleared away at a visible pace.

Ever since the Great Hollows had started lining up to get themselves killed, no ordinary Hollows had emerged from the rift. That made the cleanup remarkably efficient.

Hirako Shinji sheathed his Zanpakutō and dusted off his hands, though there wasn't a speck of dirt on them.

As he casually surveyed the battlefield, he happened to spot Aizen nearby, finishing yet another "rescue" before walking steadily in the other direction.

At the end of that path, Siwei Yan had just handed an injured Thirteenth Division Shinigami over to a Fourth Division medic. Now he stood alone on a slightly raised patch of scorched earth, gazing quietly up at the rift in the sky.

Hirako Shinji's eyebrows lifted.

Oh? Is it starting?