"What?! No way! Headquarters actually… approved that plan?!"
Inside the once-silent underground Research and Development Institute beneath the Twelfth Division barracks, a man's shocked cry suddenly rang out.
"Captain Mayuri! Captain Mayuri! This is bad—Headquarters actually approved that—"
"Stop yapping, Akon—"
Wearing his black-and-white mask, Mayuri Kurotsuchi casually picked his left pinky while speaking in an indifferent tone.
"There's no need to even look to know that the 'Quincy Spiritual Modification Project' was approved by that newly arrived fellow in the First Division.
Although I know perfectly well that this plan violates Soul Society's regulations… since someone has finally given a response, we should naturally carry out the plan with full effort to repay that goodwill!"
"Uh… that makes sense, Captain Mayuri."
Akon—who had three small horn-like protrusions on his forehead—frowned slightly.
"Still… this plan involves the final pure-blood Quincy clan. I think it would be safer to report this to Captain-Commander Yamamoto—"
"No need, Akon!"
Mayuri said in a bizarre yet cheerful tone.
"Although that fellow's vice-captain position is neither properly earned nor formally recognized, for the Research and Development Institute—which urgently requires Headquarters authorization—
his words and actions represent the will of Headquarters itself!
Therefore… effective immediately, all personnel in the Research and Development Institute will begin experiments for the Quincy Spiritual Modification project!"
"I see… understood!"
The tight furrow in Akon's brow relaxed slightly. His eyes gleamed as he stared at the electronic display, fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Then, starting today, we will initiate real-time surveillance of Quincy Ishida Sōken—"
"Keh keh keh… Ishida Sōken, I urgently need your body right now!"
Mayuri's yellow eyes locked onto Ishida Sōken on the large screen as he let out a few eerie laughs.
"Captain Mayuri, according to the records in the Great Spirit Library, Ishida Sōken possesses the Quincy Cross, a symbol reserved for the highest-ranking Quincy…
Capturing him for research may be extremely difficult—" Akon said hesitantly.
"Keh keh keh… it's precisely because it's difficult that it excites me even more!
Just imagining him lying naked on the operating table, at my mercy… makes me drool!"
Mayuri licked his lips.
"Uh… the target is currently traveling with several Quincy toward—Mount Hakufusan in the Human World.
It appears a large-scale Hollow outbreak has occurred there!"
Watching the red signal on the monitor intensify, Akon couldn't help but cry out:
"This is bad! The electromagnetic measurement division is detecting intense disturbances in the airspace above Mount Hakufu—this feels like the spiritual pressure of a Menos Grande!"
"Keh keh keh… Akon, don't be so jumpy."
Mayuri stared at the increasingly violent red fluctuations on the screen and laughed.
"This is nothing more than a group of pitiful yet arrogant Quincies fighting a Hollow swarm. There's nothing worth special notation."
"Captain Mayuri… you mean—?"
"Inform the Communications Technology Division…
Cut off all signals within a ten-kilometer radius of Mount Hakufusan, Human World.
Coordinates: 138°43'59.77" E, 35°21'31.68" N!!"
"Captain Mayuri, if a Menos Grande or higher-class Hollow truly exists there, those Quincies will almost certainly be slaughtered.
Shouldn't we dispatch reinforcements—"
"Akon! I am issuing an order, not making a request.
Mind your attitude!!"
Mayuri dropped his exaggerated, artificial smile and spoke coldly.
"…Yes. Understood."
After a moment of silence, Akon complied.
Although he felt that Mayuri's actions were utterly inhumane…
as the Third Seat of the Twelfth Division, Akon ultimately lacked the courage to defy his superior.
With slightly trembling fingers, he pressed a key on the keyboard, relaying Mayuri's command to the Communications Technology Division…
...
"It seems I arrived too late.
Karakura Town can no longer sense Shiba Isshin's spiritual pressure…
Looks like it won't be many years before Bleach's absolute protagonist—Kurosaki Ichigo—is born!!"
Fūjin Taichi stood atop a utility pole, scanning his surroundings. Less than two hundred meters away stood a grand medical complex—Karakura Hospital.
Karakura Hospital was a well-known public hospital in Karakura Town. Its current director was none other than Ishida Sōken, bearer of the Quincy Cross.
However, in recent years, since Ishida Sōken had been leading the Quincies in their battles against Hollows, the hospital had been entrusted to his son, Ishida Ryūken, who was serving as vice director at the time.
Although Ishida Ryūken was reputed to be the most talented and capable Quincy, and had been acknowledged by Ishida Sōken and awarded the Quincy Cross, he personally disliked the Quincy powers he possessed.
Furthermore, as the heir of the pure-blood Quincy family—the Ishidas—Ishida Ryūken had once been engaged to Kurosaki Masaki, who also came from a pure-blood Quincy lineage.
Although Ryūken often voiced dissatisfaction with the engagement, deep down he had long accepted Masaki Kurosaki as his fiancée.
However, on the very day Fūjin Taichi finished his assignment guarding Naruki City and was about to return to Soul Society, the Arrancar "White", created by Aizen, attacked—seriously injuring Shiba Isshin and allowing Hollow power to invade Kurosaki Masaki's soul.
Soon after, signs of Hollowfication began to appear in Masaki. Ishida Ryūken carried her from place to place, desperately seeking a Shinigami for help, when he happened to encounter Shiba Isshin, who had secretly returned to the Human World out of longing for Masaki.
Thus, with the assistance of the scheming shopkeeper Urahara Kisuke, Shiba Isshin merged with Kurosaki Masaki at the cost of losing his Shinigami powers, allowing her to successfully suppress the Hollowfication and continue living in the Human World as a human from that point on.