"Excuse me... does this happen often?" Orihime Inoue asked.
"No. Las Noches hasn't been invaded in hundreds of years. And I suspect... the intruders are your friends." Nel Tu looked grave.
Orihime's heart clenched. She knew who had come. Kurosaki, it has to be you, doesn't it?
Bittersweet feelings tangled inside her, and she could no longer tell what she felt.
"Miss Nel Tu, could I ask you a favor? If you run into my friends... could you tell them to go back at once? I don't want them getting hurt trying to save me." Orihime pleaded with her.
Nel Tu turned to look at Orihime, then suddenly wore the expression of someone who had spotted a juicy secret. "Do you like that boy?"
Orihime's face flushed. Having someone see straight through her feelings was mortifying.
"It's all right. Now I want to see what kind of boy could win your heart." Nel Tu strode out of the room.
By then, Kurosaki Ichigo, Uryu Ishida, and Yasutora Sado had reached Hueco Mundo. Along the way, they had also run into Rukia Kuchiki and Renji Abarai.
The five-person team was ready to move.
"Didn't Old Man tell you two not to come?" Ichigo stared at Rukia and Renji in surprise.
"The rules are there. That doesn't mean we have to follow them," Rukia said calmly.
There was no denying these youngsters had nerve. With the strength they had, they were practically serving themselves up to the enemy.
Las Noches lay ahead, and the five of them prepared to break through in one push.
None of them expected the road ahead to be so hard. They met an enemy at every turn, and each one was so strong that they had no hope of winning without Bankai!
Since they knew nothing about