After talking with Aizen, Shin left Hueco Mundo with Ikaros. He couldn't stay in Hueco Mundo for too long.
—
Karakura Town.
Shin and Ikaros went to the supermarket to buy ingredients for cooking.
As Ikaros walked, she stopped in front of the watermelons, staring intently and gently stroking one.
Seeing this, Shin asked, "Ikaros, do you want it?"
Ikaros nodded.
"Then let's buy it."
Shin picked a large one, but Ikaros stared at a small but round watermelon in front of her.
He understood, put down the large watermelon he was holding, and took the smaller one instead.
'It seems Ikaros has preferences, she just doesn't express them well.'
After paying, the two walked home.
Ikaros held the watermelon the entire way, refusing to let go.
Shin originally thought she wanted to eat the watermelon, but seeing this, he figured she simply liked watermelons.
Back home, everyone greeted Ikaros.
After getting to know them, Ikaros got along with them very well.
"It seems I've been forgotten." Shin said, seeing no one was paying attention to him.
"Brother!" Nel clung to Shin's arm.
Shin patted Nel's head and said with satisfaction, "It seems Nel still remembers me."
Riruka gave Shin a glare, then her gaze shifted to the watermelon in Ikaros's arms, noticing how she cherished it.
She asked, "Ikaros, do you like watermelons?"
Ikaros nodded softly.
Riruka didn't expect her guess to be right. "That's... a unique hobby. You're too easily satisfied."
Shin agreed with this point. Ikaros was easy to care for and very capable.
Ding-dong!
Ikaros opened the door.
Looking at the unfamiliar girl holding a watermelon, Ichigo was stunned and apologized, "Sorry, I've got the wrong house."
Shin heard Ichigo's voice and said, "Kurosaki, you're not wrong, come in."
Ichigo, preoccupied with his thoughts, arrived at Shin's house. He had initially thought he had knocked on the wrong door, only realizing his mistake when Shin called out to him.
Shin introduced, "This is Ikaros."
"Kurosaki Ichigo."
Ikaros nodded, indicating she had registered the name.
"Kurosaki, is something wrong?"
"Nohara, I'd like to talk to you alone."
"Alright, let's go."
Shin led Ichigo down to the underground space.
Ikaros consciously followed close behind.
Ichigo hesitated upon seeing this, not speaking.
Shin explained, "It's fine, Ikaros is no problem. She's wherever I am."
Hearing this, Ichigo finally spoke about the matter that had been bothering him for a long time.
It turned out that he had transformed into a terrifying Hollow during his decisive battle with Ulquiorra in Hueco Mundo last time, and he had been bothered by it ever since.
After that, he had no memory of that period and only learned how terrifying he was in that state through Orihime's description.
He had initially thought that since he had returned to normal life, as long as he didn't use the power of the Hollow within him, there would be no problem, and that guy had indeed stopped threatening him.
But the subsequent Shūkurō incident made him realize that evasion was useless.
After going to Soul Society, he couldn't help much because he didn't want to use his Hollowfication power, and even if he did, he was apprehensive and dared not use his full strength.
"You said before that the Hollow inside you often threatened you, but if you think about it carefully, has he ever truly harmed you?"
Shin knew that White Ichigo was just scaring Ichigo. In reality, he had always been helping him and had never lied to him.
Ichigo thought about it carefully, and indeed, as Shin said, although that guy had always threatened him, he had saved him several times when he was in danger.
He shook his head. "Didn't that guy save me because he was afraid that if I died, he wouldn't be able to take over my body?"
"Uh..." Shin was speechless.
'White Ichigo, look at how you've scared this child, he just doesn't trust you.'
In the original timeline, Ichigo used "Final Getsuga Tenshō" during his fight against Aizen, losing his Shinigami powers.
He neither awakened his Fullbring powers nor obtained the second Zangetsu. This also led to his mental journey being quite different from now.
Shin said, "I think you still need to face him actively. If you keep being afraid of him, you'll never truly control him."
"How about this? Just like before, whenever you enter that berserk state, I'll help you knock him back. What do you think?"
Ichigo thought for a moment and then agreed.
Shin added, "One more thing, your techniques are really too few."
"Since you can use Cero in your berserk state, why don't you try it in your normal state?"
Shin remembered that Ichigo could use Gran Rey Cero and Getsuga Tenshō together.
"Cero?" Ichigo had never thought of it that way.
"Yes."
"After this, you should come and train with me again. Don't deliberately suppress the power of the Hollow within you."
...
Somewhere in the Human World.
"Tsk tsk, to think you've fallen to such a state." Urozakuro mercilessly mocked Sōya.
Sōya had quickly left Soul Society and went into hiding in the Human World after Tokinada lost power.
When Tokinada sought his help, he was still lurking in the shadows. He didn't reveal himself to save Tokinada because he knew it would be useless.
From the moment Enrakyōten was sealed, Tokinada was already useless.
Furthermore, even though he had completely merged with Seireitei, he wasn't confident in dealing with the entire Gotei 13. He was well aware of the weaknesses of his own abilities.
And the "Soul King" Kūgo, on whom Sōya had placed high hopes, was entangled with Shin.
At that time, he knew that the tide had turned. The fact that the so-called "Soul King" hadn't dealt with Shin for so long already explained everything.
Urozakuro said, "One thing Tokinada did get right, you are an opportunist."
"How much better it would have been to cooperate with Shin. With his strength, you could have gained greater help. Bouncing between several factions, you ended up gaining no benefits."
"Shut up!"
This clearly hit a raw nerve for Sōya.
"It's no use getting angry with me. What are you going to do next? You can't just keep hiding, can you?" Urozakuro feigned pity.
Sōya slowly said, "Relying on others won't work. Perhaps the path I chose was wrong from the start."
After a series of failures, Sōya began to rethink his plans.
Urozakuro asked curiously, "Oh? It seems you have a new plan."