The Invalid Book of the End?

"Who are you?" The moment Riruka saw it was a stranger, wariness surfaced on her face at once. Even her posture faintly took on a defensive edge.

"I'm looking for Kugo Ginjo," Tsunayoshi said with a smile, doing his best to seem approachable.

Riruka did not believe Tsunayoshi right away. Instead, she questioned him guardedly. "Where did you hear that name?"

"Riruka? Who is it? I think I heard my name."

A lazy male voice came from inside the house. After a burst of footsteps, a sturdy man with slicked-back hair appeared behind Riruka. He was Tsunayoshi's target on this trip, Kugo Ginjo.

"He says he's here for you, so deal with it yourself." Riruka very rudely tossed the back of her head at Ginjo and gave up the doorway to him.

"My friend? I don't think we know each other, do we?" Ginjo looked him over with an appraising gaze. He felt that the guy in front of him did not quite seem like a pursuer from Soul Society. Those Soul Reapers from Soul Society always attacked without a word. Who would politely knock on the door like this?

"That's fine. After today, we will."

A flash of green light passed over Tsunayoshi's hand, and Ginjo immediately recognized it as the Reiatsu of Fullbring. The vigilance in Ginjo's eyes eased slightly. Since he could use Fullbring, it meant Tsunayoshi was not a Soul Reaper. In Ginjo's eyes, Fullbring was a power only humans could learn.

"So you're a new friend. Welcome. Come in." Because he thought Tsunayoshi had heard rumors about their Xcution and had come specifically to join, he took the initiative to lead Tsunayoshi into the house.

After entering the house, Tsunayoshi discovered that the furnishings inside were all quite ordinary, far from as luxurious as they had been shown in the anime. Riruka sat on a rather old-looking sofa, and beside her was a dark-skinned beauty with her legs crossed.

Tsunayoshi recognized the person beside Riruka. She was likewise one of Xcution's members, named Jackie Tristan. Neither of them paid Tsunayoshi any attention. Instead, they went on doing whatever they liked by themselves.

Tsunayoshi made a quiet calculation in his heart. It seemed Yukio had not joined the organization yet? Tsunayoshi vaguely remembered that Xcution's base had all been renovated using Yukio's funds.

At an old, shabby bar counter in the hall, a tall, slender man was wiping a glass inside. This person was Shukuro Tsukishima, the man Tsunayoshi was very much on guard against.

"Tsukishima, get our new friend a glass of... a glass of milk." Kugo Ginjo glanced at Tsunayoshi Sawada and still did not serve Tsunayoshi an alcoholic drink.

It seemed that before Tatsuzawa Kiriko arrived, Shukuro Tsukishima had been serving as Xcution's bartender. For now, on the surface, Tsukishima still seemed like a relatively gentle guy.

"So, new friend, where did you hear about our Xcution?" Ginjo brought Tsunayoshi to sit down at the bar.

"I don't think I said I came to join Xcution, did I?"

"Oh? Then what are you here to do?" Ginjo's expression turned somewhat unfriendly. Over the years, it was not as though there had never been some Fullbringers without any sense trying to absorb them and make themselves the boss.

"I already said it when I knocked on the door. I'm here to find you, Kugo Ginjo, the First Substitute Soul Reaper." Tsunayoshi calmly took a sip of milk.

Unlike Tsunayoshi's calmness, the moment his words fell, the temperature in the entire room seemed to drop by several degrees. Everyone's gaze fell on Tsunayoshi, and the whole atmosphere turned eerie.

"Did Soul Society send you?" Ginjo asked with a smile that did not reach his eyes, his entire face turning terrifying.

"I think you might have misunderstood—"

Before Tsunayoshi could finish speaking, a fierce gust of wind swept over his head. Tsunayoshi calmly ducked, and a sharp blade slashed past over his head.

"Ginjo, why waste words with them? Once I cut him, we'll understand everything!"

Tsukishima's expression was utterly cold. He raised his blade and pointed it at Tsunayoshi. As long as Ginjo gave the order, he would attack Tsunayoshi without the slightest hesitation.

It was not just Tsukishima. Jackie and Riruka, who had originally been sitting on the sofa, had likewise stood up. Green light flickered over their bodies as they prepared to attack Tsunayoshi at any moment.

This was also Riruka and the others' first time facing an enemy from Soul Society. In the past, they had only heard Ginjo talk about how they had been pursued, so they were not as decisive as Tsukishima, who had activated his ability and attacked Tsunayoshi in an instant.

"Mr. Ginjo, aren't we friends? Why bring out blades?" Tsunayoshi asked, fully aware of the answer.

"Sigh." Ginjo sighed. "I thought you people had already given up. I didn't expect that after so many years, you'd still come to die."

Ginjo also completely dropped the act. With one hand, he tore off the cross necklace around his neck, and his Fullbring activated, transforming it into a massive sword. This was Ginjo's weapon, Cross of Scaffold.

Tsunayoshi was also somewhat helpless. In the end, he still had to fight first. "How about we switch places? You don't look like you have it easy either. It wouldn't be good to wreck your home."

The moment Tsunayoshi mentioned this, Ginjo's vision went dark. These years, because he had constantly been hunted by Soul Society, his temporary bases had been destroyed again and again, forcing him to keep moving. His money had been drained just like that. Otherwise, he would not have had to live in an old house like this.

Just as Ginjo was about to agree to Tsunayoshi's suggestion, there was a pffft, and he saw a sharp blade pierce through Tsunayoshi's chest, stabbing Tsunayoshi straight through the heart.

"Tsukishima, you..."

Ginjo held his forehead, somewhat speechless. This ruthless style of attacking directly really was Tsukishima's way of doing things, but this unfamiliar guy had clearly seemed rather sincere. They had barely exchanged a few words before Tsukishima stabbed him. Ginjo did not even know what to say. He could not exactly blame Tsukishima; Tsukishima had done it for his sake.

Blood gushed from Tsunayoshi's body. Tsunayoshi's face turned deathly pale, showing the look of a corpse. Ginjo's expression immediately changed. "Tsukishima, what's going on?"

Logically speaking, Tsukishima's slash should not have caused Tsunayoshi any harm, because Tsukishima should first have read Tsunayoshi's memories. So why had Tsukishima directly killed Tsunayoshi with a physical strike?

"No! Ginjo, my ability failed!" A huge ripple appeared across Tsukishima's calm, waterlike face. He discovered that his ability seemed to have no effect on Tsunayoshi, and instead he had killed Tsunayoshi outright.

"Impossible! Is he human or a ghost?"

Now even Ginjo could no longer stay calm. As a former Substitute Soul Reaper, he began doubting Tsunayoshi's identity, because he had never once seen Tsukishima's Fullbring fail. That was an ability that could take effect even if he stabbed his blade straight into the ground!

"Of course I'm human. You're the one who used to be a ghost, Substitute Soul Reaper." Tsunayoshi's voice came from behind Riruka. She immediately turned her head and saw that, at some point, Tsunayoshi had sat down on the sofa she had just been sitting on.

And Tsunayoshi Sawada, who had been skewered on Tsukishima's blade, slowly vanished. At this moment, Ginjo understood that it was Tsunayoshi's Zanpakuto ability. When had he activated it?

Riruka and Jackie immediately turned around and attacked Tsunayoshi. Riruka prepared to form a Love Heart, while Jackie raised her leg high and kicked toward Tsunayoshi.

But Tsunayoshi was faster than them. The moment they turned around, two clicking sounds had already rung out on Riruka and Jackie.

Riruka's wrist and Jackie's ankle had both been cuffed with a black handcuff. It was Tsunayoshi's Fullbring, Arnold's Handcuffs.

Clicking sounds continued to echo over Riruka and Jackie. Very soon, the two of them were bound tightly by Tsunayoshi, lying on the ground like mummies as they struggled nonstop.

"Don't waste your strength. If I had any intention of attacking you, you'd already be dead."

After hearing Tsunayoshi's words, and with the handcuffs continuously binding them, Riruka and Jackie quickly chose to give up and lie flat. In any case, Tsunayoshi was looking for trouble with Kugo Ginjo. Their relationship with Ginjo had not reached the point where they would risk their lives for him.

Ginjo's gaze naturally noticed the fact that Riruka and Jackie had given up. There was nothing he could do. This was simply how the organizational ties of Xcution worked. Only each person's interests bound them together.

Ginjo hefted Cross of Scaffold and charged straight at Tsuna, while Tsukishima followed close behind. The moment he got an opening, he would stab Tsuna without the slightest hesitation.

Ginjo's greatsword cleaved down at Tsuna from midair, only for the blade to pass through Tsuna again. What was going on? It was not just Tsukishima's attacks that had no effect on Tsuna—even Ginjo's own attacks were useless now.

Riruka and Jackie, collapsed on the floor, looked at each other. They had seen it clearly: Ginjo and Tsukishima had suddenly swung their blades at an empty spot. They had never attacked Tsuna, who was sitting on the sofa, at all.

Fear flickered in both Riruka's and Jackie's eyes. Just who was this man, to be able to toy with Ginjo and Tsukishima like this?

Given how wary Tsuna was of Tsukishima, how could he possibly have come knocking empty-handed? The moment he knocked on the door, he had already activated his Mist-attribute Shikai, so from the instant Riruka opened the door, they had already fallen under Tsuna's illusion.

That was why Tsukishima's Fullbring had failed. From beginning to end, Tsukishima had only been swinging his blade at thin air. Now that Riruka and Jackie had been taken down, next came the most troublesome one—Shukuro Tsukishima.

In Kugo Ginjo's sight, he saw Tsukishima's wrist suddenly cuffed by a pair of handcuffs. Then came the familiar routine: the handcuffs multiplied in rapid succession, covering Tsukishima's entire body and taking him down on the spot.

But even after hitting the ground, Tsukishima still tried to struggle. He desperately pointed his blade at himself. As long as he could cut the handcuffs on his body, he would be able to insert a past into them, thereby gaining control over the cuffs.

He was only a little short. Just as Tsukishima was about to succeed, Tsuna appeared and kicked Tsukishima's blade away. The instant the blade left Tsukishima's hand, it turned back into a bookmark and drifted down.

Tsukishima, now unable to resist, was tugged down by Tsuna and, like Riruka, dropped to the floor. A book fell from his pocket. It was the book Tsukishima used to hold his bookmark, and also the origin of the name of Tsukishima's Fullbring ability, Book of the End.

Watching one companion after another fall before his eyes, even the Shukuro Tsukishima he trusted most taken down as well, the string called reason in Ginjo's mind finally snapped.

Overbearing Reiatsu gathered inside Ginjo's body. Kugo Ginjo was going all out.

Tsuna could tell what Ginjo intended to do, but he had only just promised not to damage their base. If they fought here now, it was hard to say whether this old building would even be left standing.

Tsuna sighed soundlessly. If he was going to be a good person, he might as well see it through. His real body opened Xcution's door, while the illusory Tsuna made a face at Ginjo from the center of the doorway. In this state, Ginjo was easily baited by Tsuna, and the two of them flew together toward the skies above Naruki City.