Kanonji thrust his palm forward and shouted,
"Break!"
The Kanonball left his hand, flying toward the Beetle Hollow at an astonishing pace.
In the blink of an eye, it was still right there.
Another blink, and it still hadn't drifted very far.
The Kanonball floated along, its speed astonishingly… slow.
Like a soap bubble.
Muten Natsu didn't even know what he'd been expecting a moment ago.
The Beetle Hollow stared blankly at the approaching Kanonball and reached out to poke it.
Boom!
The Kanonball detonated violently, blowing the Beetle Hollow's hand into a bloody mess.
"Aaagh!"
With a howl, the Beetle Hollow tried to retreat, but a terrifying surge of Reiatsu descended from above, pinning it firmly in place and leaving it unable to move.
Rolling its one remaining mobile eye, the Karakuri Hollow saw Muten Natsu behind it, along with the rapidly closing arc of deadly blade light.
Before the fear in its eyes could fully take shape, its body was already split cleanly in two.
"Success!" Kanonji shouted in excitement. "Well done!"
Muten Natsu put away Myōki.
"Does he look familiar to you?"
The Hollow's mask dissolved, revealing the face of the Jibakurei beneath.
When the transformation happened upstairs, Kanonji hadn't seen it clearly. Now, at this distance, he recognized it instantly.
"Th-this… wasn't this guy already purified by me?"
"That wasn't purification," Muten Natsu explained. "It was the collapse that happens before Hollowfication. You didn't notice because the ones you dealt with before weren't Jibakurei, but wandering spirits."
"Ordinary spirits have a Chain of Fate on their chests. Once it's damaged, the soul collapses and reconstructs into a monster called a Hollow."
Kanonji replayed everything he had done. His legs gave out, and he sank to his knees as tears streamed down his face.
"No way… Before… I always thought that making the hole in their chest expand meant the soul had gone on to reincarnation… I… what have I been doing…"
"So stop," Muten Natsu said, patting his shoulder. "Don't do this anymore."
"So… all this time, I've just been causing trouble for others…" Tears slid down Kanonji's cheeks as he gripped his staff tightly. "I'm sorry… but I can't stop."
"Huh?"
"If I stop now, I'd just be running away from my mistakes. A hero has to face his own failures." Kanonji's trembling voice gradually steadied. "From now on, I'll use other methods to help souls find release, to make up for the wrongs I've committed!"
Muten Natsu felt utterly drained.
"You should know how dangerous Hollows are after that fight."
"I do," Kanonji said, looking at Muten Natsu. "So let's fight side by side!"
Muten Natsu: "...I don't want to."
"I'll take you as my chief disciple!"
"Don't even think about it!" Muten Natsu finally gave up. "If you're really set on this, go to Urahara Shop and look for someone named Kisuke Urahara. He'll help you."
Kanonji looked pretty wealthy.
Kisuke Urahara would definitely like him.
And Kisuke Urahara knew a great deal about souls.
Kanonji would probably like him too.
A perfect match.
"Alright," Muten Natsu reminded him. "The people downstairs are still waiting for you."
"I…" Kanonji hesitated, still kneeling there.
"Since you've made your decision, then you should carry through with a hero's creed," Muten Natsu said. He could understand Kanonji's feelings. After doing the wrong thing for so long, it wasn't easy to face the people who believed in you. "Answering the crowd's cheers is part of a hero's job too."
"I… my legs are numb. I can't stand up."
Muten Natsu: "..."
He reached out, grabbed Kanonji, and hauled him back onto his feet.
Gazing down at the crowd waving their arms below the hospital, Kanonji lowered his eyes slightly, crossed his arms over his chest, and roared,
"Wahahahahaha!"
The crowd followed suit.
"Wahahahahaha!!!"
The exaggerated laughter echoed through the night sky.
And just like that, everything seemed perfectly resolved…
…or so it seemed.
...
The burly Kagine-sensei pointed at the footage playing on the television.
"I can't believe this! Do you have any idea what you've done?"
A large group of students who had been caught on camera stood lined up in front of him.
"This was a locally filmed television program from yesterday. A live broadcast," Kagine-sensei said as he stepped closer to Ichigo Kurosaki. "Care to share your thoughts?"
Ichigo stared at the screen, looking at himself.
"That guy kind of looks like me."
"That was you!" Kagine-sensei snapped. "Do you have any idea what kind of impact footage like this being broadcast would have on the school?"
He jabbed a finger at them one by one.
"Hm? Ichigo Kurosaki! Yasutora Sado! Mizuiro Kojima! Keigo Asano! Uryū Ishida! Muten—"
"Ahhh~" Muten Natsu yawned. "We didn't even get into a scuffle with the guards. Why were we called here?"
"You were caught on camera too!" Kagine-sensei pointed at the screen.
On it, Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue were holding an unconscious Muten Natsu, with Tatsuki Arisawa standing off to the side.
Tatsuki Arisawa complained unhappily.
"We don't control what the TV station decides to film."
"This is all my fault…" Rukia Kuchiki took out a small handkerchief and wiped at her eyes.
"When I saw Muten collapse, I was only focused on helping him. I never thought the TV station would film it. If I'd known saving someone would bring trouble to the school, I should have fainted too…"
"N-no… that's not what I meant…" Kagine-sensei stammered, completely flustered.
"Sensei," Muten Natsu said, pointing toward the window, "they're getting away."
"Huh—hey!" Kagine-sensei turned his head just in time to see Ichigo and the others climbing out the window. "You brats!"
While he was busy yelling at Ichigo, Muten Natsu and the others quietly turned and left as well.
By the time Kagine-sensei turned back around, only Uryū Ishida was left.
"If there's nothing else," Uryū Ishida said as he adjusted his glasses, "I'll be heading back too."
Kagine-sensei rubbed his forehead helplessly.
"Go on, go on."
...
At long last, everything was truly over.
After school, Muten Natsu finally got what he wanted and collapsed onto the sofa at home, just like always.
He stretched lazily, ending one short nap and preparing himself for the next.
The doorbell rang suddenly.
Rukia Kuchiki was studying hard with Ririn's help, while Orihime Inoue was in the kitchen preparing dinner. The only one free, Muten Natsu sat up from the sofa and went to answer the door.
"Coming."
He opened it, and the sleepiness in his eyes vanished instantly.
A woman with gentle features stood at the doorway.
She wore a pure white, high-necked, sleeveless dress. A red sash cinched the beautifully draping fabric at her slender waist, the subtle folds accentuating the fullness of her upper body while making the flowing skirt below appear even more ethereal.
She smiled softly.
"Won't you invite me in for a moment?"
"Please, come in," Muten Natsu said as he stepped aside. "Unohana…"