In a world of pink, a figure becomes bigger, nearing its target. “Gooood Mooorning, Iiichigooo!” It is Ichigo’s father (Isshin), greeting Ichigo violently as always. Ichigo evades and grabs Isshin’s face, pinning him to the floor. Isshin praises him, saying that he has no more to teach him. Ichigo realizes that it is the next morning after his fight with the Hollow, and immediately asks Isshin how his sisters’ injuries are. Isshin is baffled as to what injuries they could possibly have, much to Ichigo’s bewilderment.
The two soon find a large hole in their wall, apparently caused by a truck ramming into their house last night. Despite this, no one was injured, nor did anyone even wake up. As a result, the truck driver got away scott-free. Ichigo is astounded that his sisters’ injuries had disappeared, and that his whole family seems to think that the house was damaged by a truck. He labels this as “Shinigami after-care”, as his sisters walk back into the house, asking him to do the same or risk being late for school. Ichigo wonders if Rukia had returned to Soul Society.
In school, two girls, one with long chestnut-colored hair, and the other with spiky black hair walk along the corridor. The long-haired girl, Orihime, has brought an odd lunch of fish-shaped sweetbean bread and ramen with wasabi and honey. The other, Tatsuki, is a bit taken aback by the image of her lunch in her mind, and turns down the offer to share it. Ichigo accidentally knocks down Orihime, and instead of apologizing, merely says that it’s “just” her. Tatsuki scolds him for not apologizing, and Ichigo, asking if she’s alright, extends his hand to Orihime. Orihime gets up immediately on her own, perhaps a bit afraid of his face. She then starts muttering some intelligible stuff and runs off, still muttering. Tatsuki asks him why he is late, and he walks off, saying that he will tell her later.
In their classroom, 1-3, one of Ichigo’s friends, Keigo asks him if the rumor that a truck had crashed into his house was true. Ichigo confirms the rumor, and another, Mizuiro, asks if they had finished cleaning up. Ichigo says that would be impossible, and his big-sized friend, Chad, offers to help, but is refused. A girl walks up to the 4 friends, who continue their conversation, and her hairstyle seems somewhat familiar.
She asks in a very fake voice if he is Kurosaki-kun, and as Ichigo turns around and looks at her, he gets the shock of his life. The girl standing before him in school uniform is the Shinigami from the previous night! She says that she will be sitting next to him, and he, having recovered from the shock, stands and points at her, unable to form a coherent sentence. His 4 friends ask if he knows the new transfer student, and Rukia replies that this is the first time they have met. Rukia extends her hand for Ichigo to shake, and angles her hand slightly such that she can see a message written on it: Make a scene and I’ll kill you!
Later, Ichigo asks Rukia what she is doing and why she speaks in that disgusting way. She explains that the night before, she had learnt how to speak “modern” Japanese. In addition, he had sucked dry almost all her Shinigami powers, making her unable to return to Soul Society, and forcing her to get into a faux body. Faux bodies are temporary bodies that Shinigami enter when they are weakened and awaiting the recovery of their powers. This is how everyone could see her.
She then announces gleefully that until her powers return, he will take over her job as Shinigami, as he is the one with the powers. Ichigo promptly refuses, damning himself should he have to fight another Hollow again. Rukia says that he had fought well last night, but Ichigo claims that this is only because his family was being attacked. He would not fight that way for strangers. Ichigo apologizes and walks away, but does not walk far before Rukia pulls on a red glove with the emblem of a skull on it. She pushes Shinigami Ichigo out of the flesh Ichigo. Though Ichigo is flabbergasted by the separation of his soul from his body, he listens to her and follows her to a playground, near which flowers have been laid.
Ichigo asks how far they will be going, and Rukia replies that it is near. She has received orders from Soul Society, and a Hollow will be arriving to attack a plus in this park. True enough, they hear a scream, and see a little boy ghost running from a spider-like Hollow, which crashes through the various play items. The boy shouts for help, and Ichigo responds, running toward the Hollow and the boy. Rukia stops him, saying that the child is a total stranger, so Ichigo need not help him. He replies that that does not mean he can’t save the boy, as he is being attacked before his very eyes. Rukia tells him not to be selfish, and save only those he can see or reach. A Shinigami must be impartial to all souls. She tells him that if he wants to save this boy, then he must be prepared to save all other spirits as well, even if it means chasing them all around and sacrificing himself.
The boy slips and falls, and the Hollow raises a leg to stab the boy, but the leg is promptly severed by the monstrosity of a Zanpakutou, along with another leg. The Hollow falls backwards and disperses.
Rukia asks Ichigo if he is prepared, and Ichigo replies that he is not, and does not care. He had saved the kid because he wanted to. Was she not the same when she saved him that night at her own expense? Had she been thinking of her Shinigami “duty”? To him, risking one’s life is not for those reasons. The Hollow reappears and Ichigo swiftly kills it, piercing its mask. The boy sits up, breathing heavily, and seeing Ichigo, backs away in fear. Ichigo tells him that if he does not wish to be scared like that again, he should go to heaven. He then performs Soul Burial for the boy, which Rukia praises as “excellent”.
Orihime can be seen inside her apartment, reading a book. A depressed-looking spirit peers in through the window, and is disappointed when she draws the curtains. He turns around and sees two Hollows, which extend their tentacles and grab him. He is brought to the shadowy place from the 1st episode, where a dark figure over shrouds him, asking them to devour his soul. He begins to run, but a number of Hollows surround him and attack him with their tentacles, engulfing him. They suddenly leap away, and the lone figure of the ghost turns into a Hollow, and roars.
Rukia recites from a book of supposedly “modern” Japanese, annoying Ichigo to no end. He demands that she shut up and stop following him, but she says she will tail him until he agrees to do his Shinigami work. Ichigo nonchalantly walks off, just as they hear the screech of car tires behind them. They turn to see a blue car stop, then drive off, leaving a girl lying on the road behind it, her belongings strewn everywhere. Ichigo runs up to see if she is okay, and recognizes the girl to be Inoue. She too realizes that it is Ichigo. She thinks that she “probably” got hit by the car, but she is now totally revived, although the car is long gone. She suddenly realizes Rukia’s presence, but Rukia merely looks at her and asks Ichigo who the hell she is. An awkward Ichigo hisses that she is Inoue Orihime, from their class. Rukia immediately curtsies and politely greets Orihime, who does the same back. Rukia asks her if she had been to the market, unconsciously reminding her that the ingredients for her dinner are still on the road. She picks the green onions, butter, banana and sweetbean jelly up, glad that they are all uninjured. Ichigo wonders what her dinner will be.
Rukia notices an oddly shaped bruise on Orihime’s calf, and asks her about it. She kneels down to examine it despite Orihime saying that it doesn’t hurt. Orihime says that she has a very serious face, and asks if anything is the matter. Rukia hastily stands up and bids her farewell. Ichigo offers to walk Orihime home, but the latter turns it down. As Orihime crosses the street, Rukia retains her solemn expression.
As the two walk along the river, Rukia asks Ichigo if he is close to Orihime. Ichigo replies that they have never had a real conversation, but her best friend is his neighbor. However, three years ago, her big brother had died at their clinic. Rukia narrows her eyes as he continues; saying that Orihime’s only blood relative had been her brother, who met with a traffic accident. He had only recently discovered that the girl crying that night was Orihime. Rukia then asks how his spirit power was at the time, and Ichigo replies that it was not like the present, as he was only recently able to see and converse with ghosts so clearly.
Ichigo stops, asking what the questions are for, and Rukia continues to walk on, saying she is going “home”. Ichigo asks her where her “home” is, and she asks cheekily if he is curious to know, and if he isn’t, not to ask in the first place.
Orihime opens her apartment door to see Tatsuki standing there with a bowl of beef stew her mother had instructed her to give Orihime. Orihime tucks in happily into the stew, as Tatsuki comments that if it weren’t for them, she would eat ridiculous stuff like that on the table (the banana, green onion etc.) .
In the Kurosaki household, Ichigo sits on his bed reading a manga as Yuzu barges in, asking if he knows where her pajamas are. Ichigo chides her for not knocking, and tells her that he does not know the whereabouts of her pajamas. Yuzu says that he got meaner since entering high school, and that she is also missing a dress. As Ichigo complains that she asks him about everything, she shuts the door after wishing him a quick good night.
Rukia lies in a dark somewhere, appearing deep in thought as her phone suddenly begins to beep. She pulls it out from inside her shirt, just as Ichigo wonders what the beeping sound he hears is. Rukia stares at the phone, and when the screen color changes, so does her expression. Ichigo almost jumps out of his skin as his closet opens and Rukia shouts for him. Ichigo asks her what she is doing there, and those pajamas… Rukia pulls on the skull glove as she tells him that they have orders, and that “it” is coming. She pushes out his soul just as the hand of a Hollow smashes in through the wall and narrowly misses squishing Ichigo like a fly. The Hollow emerges fully and gives a loud roar as it breaks Ichigo’s bed. The Hollow attacks Ichigo, but he dodges, and draws his Zanpakutou. As he swings it, he destroys his ceiling, but doesn’t hit the Hollow. Instead, he is knocked back by its tail. He later manages to cut the Hollow on the arm, but Rukia tells him not to swing the Zanpakutou around recklessly. He again tries to attack the Hollow, this time managing to crack a bit of the mask. As the Hollow rears back in pain, screams, then escapes, Ichigo realizes that this is Orihime’s brother. Rukia tries to follow the Hollow, but stops when Ichigo does not budge.
Meanwhile, in the place where Hollows “live”, Orihime’s brother-turned-Hollow appears, writhing in pain due to its broken mask. However, the mask begins to form where it is missing, and once complete, the Hollow roars like a lion.
Rukia, having heard Ichigo’s reason, sighs and tells him that the fundamentals of Hollow vanquishing are as follows: crack its skull from behind in a single attack to reduce damage from the fight, and also to avoid seeing its identity. After all, Hollows are monsters that were once pluses. Ichigo is stunned by what he has learnt, but Rukia says that souls who still have feelings for the world refuse to accept burial by Shinigami, and wander, eventually surrounded by Hollows. They then become Hollows.
Tatsuki has just heard what happened to Orihime that day, and is shocked to hear about Ichigo being with Rukia, thinking that he is being too “quick with the girls”. She also mistakenly believes that he had not offered to walk an “injured girl” home. Orihime says that he did offer, then suddenly has a queer martial arts dream. The picture on her brother’s altar glints as there is a tremor of sorts. Orihime awakes from her dream and the two girls stare at the kitchen, from where a whipping sound seems to come. Orihime’s pink stuffed bear, suddenly drops to the floor. The two girls, Orihime now gripping Tatsuki’s sleeve, continue to sit, rooted to the floor in fear. The whipping sound continues as the Hollow roars, its red eyes turning orange.
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