Bankai! Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame!

"Ah... what a pain... if I'd known, I wouldn't have let him enter this stage so soon." Sōgo Shihoin continued dozing over the back of his chair. He looked at the clock beside him and silently calculated, Come to think of it, it's almost been three hours. He should be nearly done, right? He should... be nearly done, right? Or did he just die because he couldn't achieve Bankai? Speaking of which, if Urahara really dies, how am I supposed to explain it to my sister? Maybe I'll just say Urahara killed himself. Kisuke Urahara couldn't bear my intense training and took his own life, and despite my best efforts to save him, he regrettably died... what a great excuse!

"No, I don't think deceiving your own sister is a good thing to do!"

Just as Sōgo Shihoin finished writing his script, Kisuke Urahara slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh~ you're awake, Urahara~" Sōgo Shihoin smiled at the now-conscious Kisuke Urahara, looking as though he had complete faith in him. "I knew you'd be able to achieve Bankai and wake up."

"No, didn't you just sentence me to death?"

Kisuke Urahara couldn't help retorting after hearing Sōgo's words.

"Not at all. You must have misheard." Sōgo Shihoin kept smiling. "Well, let's not dwell on what I just said. Let's move on to the next stage of training! Incidentally, I'm really looking forward to your Bankai."

"Young Sōgo, you're absolutely trying to gloss over this, aren't you?" Hearing Sōgo Shihoin's words, Kisuke Urahara gave a hollow smile. Then, just as he tried to move, he discovered that chains had somehow been wrapped all around him. "One more thing... young Sōgo, do you know what's going on with these chains?"

"Well, you know, right? I waited for you for three whole hours. Do you know how I spent those three hours?" Sitting in his chair, Sōgo Shihoin explained to Kisuke Urahara, "To relieve the boredom, of course I had to find myself some toys to pass the time, right? Put that way, doesn't it seem like I wasn't being unreasonable?"

"Your toys are other people's bodies?" The corner of Kisuke Urahara's eye twitched at Sōgo Shihoin's words, and he shook his head helplessly. "Forget it. Help me undo these chains first! Let's start the next stage of training."

"What are you talking about, Urahara?"

"Our training has already begun~"

As he spoke, Sōgo Shihoin picked out the largest rock in the training ground, lifted it high, and aimed it at where Kisuke Urahara sat.

"Um, young Sōgo, I'm still tied up!"

"You're not planning to throw that rock over here, are you?"

Looking at the enormous rock in Sōgo Shihoin's hands, Kisuke Urahara's forehead became covered in cold sweat.

"Of course."

Sōgo Shihoin gave Kisuke Urahara a slight nod. That was indeed what he intended, and he had no intention of hiding it.

"Hey, young Sōgo, let's talk this over... help me undo these chains first, and we can train properly..."

Kisuke Urahara looked at Sōgo Shihoin with a somewhat panicked expression, cold sweat slowly trickling from his forehead down his cheeks. He couldn't use Kidō to defend himself or release his Zanpakuto. Getting hit by that thing would be no joke.

Boom!

But before Kisuke Urahara could finish speaking, the rock overhead had already fallen, landing squarely where he had been and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"It's over. I'll just tell my sister that Urahara was accidentally crushed to death by a rock falling from the sky." Sōgo Shihoin lightly dusted his hands, knocking off the dirt clinging to them, and nodded in satisfaction at the enormous rock pinning Urahara beneath it. "Thank me, Urahara~ now we don't even need a gravestone."

"Little brother Sōgo, if you do this, not only will your big brother Urahara be very sad, but your sister will be very sad too." Just as Sōgo Shihoin finished erecting Kisuke Urahara's gravestone and prepared to leave, an immense Spiritual Pressure surged from beneath the boulder. At the same time, a faintly aggrieved voice reached Sōgo's ears along with the roaring surge of Spiritual Pressure. "Bankai! Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame!"

Crack, crack, crack...

The boulder pinning Kisuke Urahara down instantly shattered into countless fragments, while Kisuke Urahara simply sat quietly cross-legged on the ground, calmly watching Sōgo Shihoin. Behind Kisuke Urahara stood a delicate-featured woman with her hair in a classical Japanese bun, wearing a sleeveless kimono, with a voluptuous figure and joints like lotus roots.

"Urahara, you really... sigh, what should I call you? A lecher? Or something else?" Sōgo Shihoin rubbed his chin with his fingers. Despite wearing a blindfold, he struck a pose of careful scrutiny, as though his blindfold didn't affect his vision at all. "A Zanpakuto's Bankai is a manifestation of a Soul Reaper's innermost self. To think you had a beautiful older woman living inside you~"

"If you think my Bankai is as gentle as it looks, you're sorely mistaken. Honestly, if I had a choice, I wouldn't want to use my Bankai's ability on a comrade."

Kisuke Urahara gave Sōgo Shihoin a slight nod. Even he, its wielder, found his Zanpakuto's Bankai ability somewhat brutal.

"Oh? Now you've really made me curious. Come on, show me, show me your Zanpakuto's ability."

After hearing Kisuke Urahara's words, Sōgo Shihoin looked eager to try it.

"Be careful, young Sōgo."

"First, the ground."

Kisuke Urahara gave Sōgo Shihoin a warning, then looked at the ground beneath Sōgo's feet.

"Hm?"

Sensing something wrong with the ground underfoot, Sōgo frowned and hurriedly dodged away.

"You noticed?"

Kisuke Urahara smiled slightly as he watched Sōgo dodge.

"The ground turned into a swamp?"

Sōgo Shihoin frowned at the patch of training ground where he had just been standing, which had transformed from solid earth into a mire.

"That's right. This is my ability. I can freely restructure everything within my field of vision... and of course, that includes people, young Sōgo~" Kisuke Urahara spread his hands toward Sōgo Shihoin, looking thoroughly pleased with himself. "Restructuring the ground just now was only a warning. Next, I'll restructure you. Don't get taken out in an instant~"

"Is that so?" Sōgo Shihoin spoke unhurriedly after hearing Kisuke Urahara's words. The next second, he appeared behind Kisuke Urahara. Standing close behind him, he said softly, "What a shame. Telling me the secret of your Bankai was the reason for your defeat. As long as I'm behind you, your ability won't work on me, will it?"

"Sorry, little brother Sōgo. I lied to you again. My Bankai, Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame, really does have the ability to restructure anything, but it isn't within my field of vision. It's within a range centered on me. In other words..." Hearing Sōgo Shihoin's words, Kisuke Urahara didn't turn around. Instead, he remained perfectly composed, as though victory were already assured. "Little brother Sōgo, standing behind me as you are, you've already been caught~ surrender, Sōgo!"

"Haha, you mean this? I know~"

Faced with Kisuke Urahara's aggressive tone, the corners of Sōgo Shihoin's mouth lifted slightly. He lightly draped his arm over Kisuke Urahara's shoulders and spoke with a smile.

(End of chapter)