Recaps

Fifth Seat Yan Si met Aizen Sōsuke over drinks after Aizen paid for the liquor and praised Yan Si’s serialized novel. Yan Si avoided explaining the story’s dangerous next step, while Aizen interpreted his vague advice as a strategy for overcoming his own limits and Soul Society’s constraints.

• Yan Si tried to buy Spiritual Intoxication despite owing the Maple Pavilion tavern 50,000 rings, and the shopkeeper offered him more credit in exchange for extra chapters.
• Aizen arrived, paid for Yan Si’s liquor, and invited him to discuss the serialized story over a drink.
• At the river, Aizen explained that he admired The Loneliness and Arrogance of a Genius Boy and saw its protagonist, Lan Chuan, as a kindred intellectual spirit.
• Aizen asked how Lan Chuan would break through his power limit, while Yan Si worried that writing the next plot developments could draw suspicion.
• Yan Si spoke vaguely about shackles, taking time, and standing above the heavens, and Aizen took his words as advice for planning his own breakthrough.

Siwei Yan avoided revealing the truth about Aizen and halted his novel’s updates after Hirako Shinji questioned him about Lan Chuan’s next plotline. He returned to the Ninth Division barracks, where Captain Kensei Muguruma was waiting to speak with him.

• Siwei Yan considered new stories to replace his popular Aizen-inspired novel while walking back to the Ninth Division barracks.
• Hirako Shinji confronted Siwei about drinking with Aizen and suggested that Aizen might join the Ninth Division, though Hirako intended to recruit him for the Fifth Division.
• Hirako pressed Siwei about how Lan Chuan would break through his limits, but Siwei said he was stuck and would pause the novel.
• Siwei arrived at the Ninth Division prison, learned that guards had caught ten Shinigami, and reminded them to maintain their shifts.
• Kensei Muguruma waited for Siwei in the barracks courtyard and said they needed to talk.

Kensei Muguruma assigned Yan Siwei to represent the Ninth Division at the Central Spirit Arts Academy’s recruitment event after Yan chose it over taking on the squad’s paperwork. That night, Yan exposed Yoruichi Shihōin’s cat form to Lieutenant Kyunnan Shiro, who caught and carried her away.

• Kensei Muguruma told Yan Siwei to attend the academy’s graduation recruitment event because Kyunnan Shiro wanted him to accompany her on an outing.
• Yan Siwei agreed to recruit new squad members rather than take over the barracks’ accumulated duties.
• Yan Siwei discovered a black cat hiding in his room and recognized it as Yoruichi Shihōin.
• Yan Siwei called Kyunnan Shiro to see the cat, and she caught the fleeing Yoruichi and carried her to her room.
• Kyunnan Shiro told Yan Siwei to update two chapters of Hell Girl after her outing, and Yan barricaded his door before going to sleep.

Siwei Yan arrived at the Central Spirit Arts Academy to recruit graduates, where Hirako Shinji confronted him over his meeting with Aizen Sōsuke and Kyōraku Shunsui joined them. The captains discussed the year’s top graduates as the fifteen students entered the training grounds.

• Siwei Yan found shredded paper outside his door and headed to the Central Spirit Arts Academy.
• Hirako Shinji confronted Siwei Yan, suspecting he planned to recruit Aizen Sōsuke for the Ninth Division.
• Kyōraku Shunsui arrived and said he hoped to find a lieutenant for the Eighth Division.
• Kyōraku Shunsui named Yadomaru Lisa, Sarugaki Hiyori, and Aizen Sōsuke as the year’s outstanding graduates.
• Hikifune Kirio teased Siwei Yan, Hirako Shinji, and Kyōraku Shunsui about their drinking reputation as the fifteen graduates entered the training grounds.

At the academy’s recruitment event, Lisa Yadomaru chose the Eighth Division after Shunsui Kyōraku offered her a lieutenant’s position. Hiyori Sarugaki challenged Miraiji Yanadera over his presence, and he answered by provoking the graduates into a contest.

• Miraiji Yanadera assessed the graduating class and worried that Sōsuke Aizen’s presence might lead to trouble.
• Kirio Hikifune announced that the Twelfth, Ninth, Eighth, and Fifth Divisions were recruiting graduates.
• Lisa Yadomaru stepped forward, and Shunsui Kyōraku offered her the Eighth Division lieutenant’s position while Shinji Hirako offered her the Fifth Division’s Fourth Seat.
• Lisa accepted Kyōraku’s offer and joined the Eighth Division.
• Hiyori Sarugaki pointed out Yanadera and accused him of looking down on the graduates.
• Yanadera confronted Hiyori and challenged the graduates to prove themselves.

Siwei Yan confronted Sarugaki Hiyori after she drew her Zanpakutō, effortlessly evaded her attacks, and defeated her Shikai with his self-created Hadō: Plum Thunder Flash. Hiyori lay unable to rise as the graduates watched in stunned silence.

• Sarugaki Hiyori drew her Zanpakutō against Siwei Yan, who warned her that she must accept the consequences of attacking a fellow Shinigami.
• Siwei Yan taunted Hiyori and evaded her repeated sword strikes without moving the finger he pointed at her.
• Hiyori released her Shikai, Kubikiri Orochi, and attacked Siwei Yan with a surge of Reiatsu.
• Siwei Yan chanted and fired his self-created Hadō: Plum Thunder Flash, blasting Hiyori from the air and knocking her Zanpakutō back into its Asauchi form.
• Hiyori struggled to rise while the graduates stared in stunned silence.

Yan Siwei defeated Sarugaki Hiyori and explained how focused spiritual power overcame her defense, then realized she might be a fan of his writing. As Aizen Sōsuke approached to choose a division, Hirako Shinji interrupted and invited him to join the Fifth Division.

• Yan Siwei defeated Sarugaki Hiyori, who cited a saying by Lan Chuan and prompted Yan Siwei to suspect she was his fan.
• Yan Siwei explained how concentrating spiritual power could break through a stronger opponent’s unevenly distributed defense, and Hiyori admitted she understood.
• Yan Siwei offered to sign Hiyori’s copy of Soul Society Communication, but she called him “Baldy” and hid behind Captain Hikifune Kirio.
• Yadomaru Lisa admired Yan Siwei’s precise spiritual-power control, while Kyōraku Shunsui warned her that relying on it could leave her dangerously undefended.
• Aizen Sōsuke approached Yan Siwei to discuss his division choice, but Hirako Shinji interrupted and invited him to the Fifth Division.

Aizen chose to pursue a place in the Ninth Division and praised Yan Si’s rumored Zanpakutō, while Hirako and Kyōraku pressed Yan Si to reveal it. Yan Si finally released his Shikai, transforming his blade into a beautiful ice fan as the training ground filled with wind and snow.

• Aizen said he wanted to join the Ninth Division to learn from Yan Si, while Yan Si tried to steer him toward Hirako’s Fifth Division.
• Hirako teased Yan Si about joining the Fifth Division as lieutenant, and Yan Si denied being qualified while recommending Aizen instead.
• Aizen praised Yan Si’s control and the rumored beauty of his Zanpakutō, prompting Hirako to ask to see it.
• Aizen, Hirako, and Kyōraku urged Yan Si to demonstrate his Shikai, and Yan Si agreed.
• Siwei Yan released his Zanpakutō with “Fall, O Scroll of Wind and Snow,” turning it into a translucent ice folding fan as snow and cold wind spread across the training ground.

Yan Si revealed the Ice-Snow War Fan’s Shikai at the training ground, impressing the assembled captains and graduates before ending the display and pressing Aizen to get on with business. Aizen joined the Fifth Division, while Yan Si was swarmed by graduates hoping to join his division or spend time with him as recruitment wrapped up.

• Yan Si’s Shikai transformed the training ground into a striking snowscape, drawing praise and awe from Kyōraku Shunsui, Yadomaru Lisa, Hikifune Kirio, and Aizen Sōsuke.
• Yan Si dismissed the Ice-Snow War Fan’s Shikai and reminded Aizen that it was time to handle business.
• Aizen thanked Hirako Shinji and agreed to join the Fifth Division, then told Yan Si he hoped to exchange ideas with him later.
• Five female graduates crowded around Yan Si, asking to join the Ninth Division, learn Flash Step, or meet him for tea.
• The other graduates approached Hikifune Kirio and Kyōraku Shunsui, who recommended suitable divisions, and the recruitment event ended.

Siwei Yan escorted three new recruits back from the academy after gaining Sarugaki Hiyori and Yadomaru Lisa as readers of his serialized story. In the Fifth Division barracks, Aizen Sōsuke studied Yan Si’s Reishi techniques and resolved to pursue a similar path of hidden power while awaiting their future rivalry.

• Sarugaki Hiyori asked Siwei Yan for an autograph when his collected volume came out, and he agreed.
• Kyōraku Shunsui invited Siwei Yan for drinks, but Yan postponed because he needed to settle his three new recruits.
• Yadomaru Lisa told Siwei Yan she would buy every past issue of Seireitei Communication that serialized his story.
• Aizen Sōsuke reread The Loneliness and Arrogance of a Genius Boy and noticed his released Reishi drifting toward the Ninth Division barracks.
• Aizen Sōsuke deduced that Siwei Yan concealed subtle Reishi fluctuations in his Shikai and decided a water-flow Zanpakutō would serve as camouflage for his pursuit of transcendence.

Siwei Yan absorbed the reader resonance gathered by his Zanpakutō, Tsuzurimono Bansho, and weighed his limited ability to influence the future through writing. He decided he needed a new story, then found Yoruichi Shihōin waiting outside his door in her black-cat form.

• Yan retrieved his hidden manuscript and absorbed the spiritual power readers had contributed through their emotional responses to his story.
• Yan assessed that his Spiritual Pressure remained around Sixth-Class despite two weeks of gathering resonance.
• Yan recalled that Tsuzurimono Bansho could gather spiritual power from readers, but writing about the future or changing it consumed far more power than he could afford.
• Yan concluded that his current story had reached its limit and considered who to write about next.
• Yoruichi Shihōin appeared outside Yan's room as a black cat, and Yan greeted her while privately deciding to stay cautious.

Yoruichi infiltrated Siwei Yan’s room in cat form to search for secrets, but he trapped her in an enthusiastic petting session and she fled. The next morning, Yan Si learned his Shikai had made him famous as the “Most Beautiful Noble Son of Soul Society,” while Yamagane Tetsu accused him of planning to abandon another novel.

• Yoruichi entered Yan Si’s room as a cat to search for leverage, but Yan Si locked the door and cuddled her until she escaped through the window.
• Yan Si woke the next morning and stretched in the Ninth Division courtyard, where Yamagane Tetsu made him pose for a novel cover drawing for an hour.
• Yamagane Tetsu told Yan Si that a portrait of him using Shikai had spread through the Seireitei and inspired the nickname “Most Beautiful Noble Son of Soul Society.”
• Yan Si proposed advertising a new work due within five days instead of using Shikai for another illustration.
• Yamagane Tetsu accused Yan Si of dropping yet another novel, rejected his excuses, and walked away with his drawing board.

Siwei Yan visited Urahara Kisuke in the Second Division to collect a Spirit Particle Isolation Device he had funded, hoping to use it as he prepared to grow stronger amid rising risks. Urahara revealed that the device worked but could not be moved.

• Siwei Yan worried that his new reputation as Soul Society's most beautiful young nobleman could provoke Nobles and decided he needed to grow stronger.
• Siwei Yan entered the Second Division barracks and made his way to Urahara Kisuke's cluttered room.
• Siwei Yan demanded the device he had paid Urahara Kisuke forty thousand kan to build.
• Urahara Kisuke revealed a Spirit Particle Isolation Device that could block spiritual power from escaping a room-sized area.
• When Siwei Yan tried to take the device, Urahara Kisuke stopped him and admitted that it could not be moved.

Yan Si negotiated with Urahara Kisuke to use the Zetsu device, then awakened his Zanpakuto’s true form and began writing a story about Shu Hua. The first lines reached Unohana Retsu, stirring a faint, familiar feeling in her.

• Urahara Kisuke demanded three hundred thousand kan to install an auxiliary circuit in Yan Si’s room, so Yan Si told him to activate the device while he found a way to earn the money.
• Urahara Kisuke activated the Zetsu barrier and warned Yan Si to leave before the division drew from the spirit spring in three hours.
• Yan Si chose Unohana Retsu as the inspiration for a story meant to move both ordinary Shinigami and powerful captains.
• Yan Si released his Zanpakuto, Tsuzurimono Bansho, and wrote the opening lines of “The Killer of Meteor City,” Part One: “Blood Blossom.”
• Unohana Retsu felt a distant, familiar stirring as she arranged flowers in the Fourth Division barracks.

Siwei Yan realized that poetry let him write around the rules with less spiritual power, then hid his new manuscript when Yoruichi Shihōin barged into Urahara Kisuke’s room. Yoruichi let him leave without reading it, but Siwei Yan discovered the manuscript had vanished from his sleeve.

• Siwei Yan realized that using symbolic poetry could reduce the spiritual power cost of writing about settled events and considered using it to describe Lan Chuan’s fate.
• Yoruichi Shihōin burst into Urahara Kisuke’s room, where Siwei Yan had been writing, and demanded to see his manuscript.
• Siwei Yan refused to show Yoruichi the manuscript, and Urahara Kisuke supported his decision.
• Yoruichi stepped aside and let Siwei Yan leave the room without reading his work.
• Siwei Yan reached into his sleeve and discovered that the manuscript was gone.

Yoruichi Shihōin stole Yan Si’s manuscript and challenged him to catch her, leading him on a chase across Seireitei and into the Sword Forest. She teased him about his movement techniques while he struggled to keep up.

• Yoruichi revealed that she had taken Yan Si’s manuscript and taunted him about its importance to his pride as a writer.
• Yoruichi fled across the rooftops, promising to let Hachi Saaya and Kūko read the manuscript if Yan Si failed to catch her.
• Yan Si chased Yoruichi across Seireitei while Urahara Kisuke watched and remarked on their relationship and the unusual manuscript.
• Yan Si pursued Yoruichi into the Sword Forest, where she mocked his Soru and Moonwalk techniques and compared them unfavorably to Flash Step.

Yoruichi returned Yan Si's manuscript and warned him that writing in the Second Division could expose his secrets to other Noble factions. Realizing that his growing fame made secrecy difficult, Yan Si decided to publish a book and asked Yamagane Tetsu how to do it, only to learn the largest printing factory belonged to the Omaeda Family.

• Yoruichi returned Yan Si's manuscript and warned him that the Second Division was watched by other Nobles families.
• Yan Si realized Yoruichi had staged the manuscript seizure to discourage others from investigating him.
• On his way back to the Ninth Division, Yan Si noticed he was being watched and concluded that he needed more strength to work unnoticed.
• Yan Si went to Yamagane Tetsu and announced that he wanted to publish a book.
• Yamagane Tetsu explained that Yan Si would need captain Kensei Muguruma's review and a printing factory, then asked whether he had connections to the Omaeda Family.

Siwei Yan tried to secure printing for his books and learned that the Omaeda Family’s press would only take on work with strong profit prospects. After he presented Yamagane Tetsu with two revised manuscripts featuring striking opening poems, Tetsu agreed to take him to the printing house the next morning.

• Yamagane Tetsu explained that the Omaeda Family’s printing house needed convincing evidence that Siwei’s books would sell well.
• Siwei returned to his room and copied two manuscripts, protecting his original spiritual lure while polishing the writing.
• Siwei presented The Killer of Meteor City and a revised version of The Boy to Yamagane Tetsu.
• Yamagane Tetsu was impressed by the opening poems and declared both works worthy of publication as separate volumes.
• Yamagane Tetsu planned to take Siwei to meet the printing house the next morning, and Siwei agreed to go.

Siwei Yan accompanied Yamagane Tetsu to the Omaeda Printing Factory to negotiate independent book publication, hoping it would increase the spiritual power gathered by his story. While Yamagane Tetsu went inside, Yan Si met Omaeda Kichiyo, who recognized his pen name but doubted that a non-noble could write well.

• Siwei Yan and Yamagane Tetsu walked through the factory district as workers stared at Yan Si.
• Yamagane Tetsu told Yan Si to let him handle the printing negotiations and explained the Omaeda Family’s wealth and business.
• Yamagane Tetsu entered the Omaeda Printing Factory with two manuscripts while Yan Si waited outside.
• Omaeda Kichiyo approached Yan Si, asked about his background, and learned that he wrote under the pen name Zhi Ge.
• Omaeda Kichiyo recognized Yan Si as the author of Genius Boy but expressed surprise that a non-noble had written it.

Siwei Yan negotiated to publish his novels through the Omaeda Clan’s printing factory, using a premium edition of The Boy to help sell his cheaper new book, The Killer of Meteor City. After finalizing the deal, he headed to the Second Division barracks to find Urahara Kisuke.

• Omaeda Kichiyo discussed printing costs and risks with Siwei Yan, who proposed pricing The Boy at 2,000 rings and printing 10,000 copies.
• When the factory manager balked at the risk, Omaeda Kichiyo agreed to print the books and take 1,600 rings per copy, and Siwei Yan accepted.
• Yamagane Tetsu warned Siwei Yan that his earnings per copy would be small, so Siwei Yan explained how The Boy’s collector’s edition price would make The Killer of Meteor City seem like a bargain at 600 rings.
• Yamagane Tetsu told Siwei Yan that the captain and lieutenant would return the next day, then left for the Ninth Division barracks.
• Siwei Yan headed to the Second Division barracks to find Urahara Kisuke.

Siwei Yan helped Urahara Kisuke rethink how to conceal a research base, and Yoruichi Shihōin proposed building it beneath the Hill of the Twin Executions. The group settled on the location, but Yoruichi warned that funding would depend on Yan Si's book sales, and he suggested everyone contribute.

• Urahara Kisuke offered Siwei Yan tea and showed him a machine designed to create a Reishi vacuum.
• Siwei Yan explained that a Reishi vacuum would draw attention and proposed hiding the base in a remote location with spiritual isolation devices.
• Urahara Kisuke brought out a detailed map and suggested sites in District 62, Huāku, and District 3, Lǐfú Shān.
• Yoruichi Shihōin appeared and recommended the natural cavern beneath the Hill of the Twin Executions as a secret-base location.
• Urahara Kisuke praised the location, and Siwei Yan agreed to build the base there.
• Yoruichi Shihōin warned that the project would need substantial funding, and Siwei Yan said everyone should contribute.

Yan Si secured Yoruichi’s agreement to fund half of Urahara Kisuke’s lavish secret-base project in exchange for her help with troublesome matters. Yoruichi then promoted Siwei Yan’s The Boy among the Nobles, drawing women to buy the book before she left the shopping street satisfied with the result.

• Yoruichi proposed an initial secret-base budget of one hundred million rings, and Urahara Kisuke enthusiastically promised to build a fully equipped base.
• Yan Si reluctantly accepted the budget and asked Yoruichi to use her influence as head of the Shihoin Clan to help with troublesome matters.
• Yoruichi walked through the Nobles’ shopping street reading The Boy in public while Hachi Saaya watched over her.
• Omaeda Kika joined Yoruichi’s staged praise of The Boy and announced that she and her daughter Kimi loved the book.
• Omaeda Kika bought several copies, and other Nobles women began asking about and purchasing The Boy before Yoruichi left with Hachi Saaya.

Siwei Yan absorbed the spiritual power from The Killer of Meteor City and broke through to Fifth-level Spiritual Pressure. Meanwhile, Ashido brought the novel to Kurayashiki Kenpachi at the Eleventh Division training grounds.

• Siwei Yan found that The Boy’s spiritual power was insufficient to break through, then prepared to absorb the power gathered on The Killer of Meteor City.
• Siwei Yan endured the violent negative emotions within the manuscript as its spiritual power battered his body and cracked the Sixth-level barrier.
• Siwei Yan broke through to Fifth-level Spiritual Pressure, hid the drained manuscript, and set off with his first share of profits.
• Kurayashiki Kenpachi led the Eleventh Division through a strenuous sparring session at the training grounds.
• Ashido showed Kurayashiki Kenpachi a copy of The Killer of Meteor City and asked whether he had read it.

Kurayashiki Kenpachi read Teacher Zhi Ge’s The Killer of Meteor City and decided to visit Zaraki District, believing the story was based on the area. At the Fourth Division barracks, Yamada Kiyonosuke’s fear of the same novel caught Unohana Retsu’s attention.

• Kurayashiki Kenpachi became absorbed in The Killer of Meteor City, and his Reiatsu crushed the squad members training nearby until Ashido reminded him to stop.
• Kurayashiki Kenpachi asked Ashido whether Meteor City referred to Rukongai and its streets to Zaraki District, then ordered preparations for a visit.
• Yamada Kiyonosuke trembled while reading The Killer of Meteor City in the Fourth Division barracks, and Unohana Retsu calmed him.
• Yamada Kiyonosuke told Unohana Retsu that he believed the Killer in the novel truly existed, prompting her curiosity about the book.

Unohana Retsu recognized clues to her buried past in Yan Si’s novel and decided to visit its author. At the Maple Pavilion tavern, Kyōraku Shunsui questioned Yan Si about whether the terrifying Killer had really existed in Meteor City.

• Unohana Retsu read the poem “Blood Blossom,” which stirred memories of her past as Unohana Yachiru.
• Unohana Retsu recognized that “Shu Hua” referred to her and learned from her squad members that Zhi Ge was Ninth Division Fifth Seat Siwei Yan.
• Unohana Retsu decided to visit Siwei Yan, who remained unaware of her interest as he went to the Maple Pavilion tavern.
• Siwei Yan met Kyōraku Shunsui and Hirako Shinji, paid his tab, bought drinks, and signed a copy of The Killer of Meteor City for the shopkeeper.
• Kyōraku Shunsui asked Siwei Yan whether a killer as terrifying as the one in his novel had really existed in Meteor City.