Ryō Utagawa fought like a rabid beast driven completely mad.
His eyes were bloodshot, and hoarse roars kept tearing from his throat as he swung wildly at empty air.
None of that frenzy changed the outcome, however.
Ichinose Maki eventually found another opening and brought his Zanpakutō down without mercy, ending Utagawa's life on the spot.
"Everyone, retreat! Now!"
Kariya immediately rushed forward and snatched the Doll from Utagawa's lifeless hand.
The injuries he'd suffered during his clash with Yoruichi were so severe that even standing upright had become difficult, but as the leader, he forced himself through the pain and gave the order without hesitation.
The remaining Bounts needed no encouragement.
The moment they heard Kariya's command, they broke away from their opponents and retreated as quickly as possible.
Ever since Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng had joined the battle, the situation had been steadily turning against them.
If they stayed any longer, there was a very real chance none of them would make it out alive.
Amid the chaos, Uryū managed to locate Yoshino Sōma, who'd been locked away elsewhere in the estate, and freed her.
At the same time, Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng stayed close to Ichigo's group as they withdrew from the building.
Their reason for stepping in had only ever been to keep these reckless idiots alive.
Now that everyone had survived, neither woman had any interest in dragging the battle out.
And so the entire clash ended in an almost absurd fashion.
Both sides, as though by mutual agreement, simply retreated at the same time.
The only casualty of the battle was Ryō Utagawa, the traitor who'd chosen the worst possible moment to stab his own leader in the back.
...
"Are you all right?"
Uryū had imagined countless things he wanted to say to Yoshino.
When the moment finally came, however, that painfully simple question was all he managed to force out.
His cheeks immediately turned bright red. The cool, aloof expression he normally wore had vanished completely.
"You really are an idiot."
Yoshino looked at the embarrassed boy in front of her and suddenly laughed.
Then she wrapped both arms around him and pulled him into a tight embrace.
This seemingly slender young man had somehow saved her life twice without even realizing what he'd done for her.
The thought filled Yoshino with a warmth and emotion she could barely put into words.
Uryū, meanwhile, had absolutely no idea what to do with himself.
The sudden embrace made his entire face feel as though it had caught fire.
He was so red that it almost seemed as though steam might start rising from the top of his head.
"Ishida-kun…"
Orihime witnessed the whole thing and immediately became flustered herself.
For a girl only beginning to understand matters of romance, the sight of Uryū being embraced so intimately was far too much to process.
She lowered her head in embarrassment and practically buried her face against her chest rather than keep watching.
Most of the others looked just as awkward.
Yoruichi was the only exception.
She'd seen far too much in her life to be bothered by something like this.
Everyone else desperately wished they could find a hole to crawl into until the embarrassingly affectionate scene was over.
...
"Leader, what do we do now?"
Down in the sewers beneath Karakura Town, Go Koga and the surviving Bounts looked utterly miserable.
Their grand revenge against Soul Society had barely begun, yet they'd already lost three members.
Granted, one of those deaths had been entirely self-inflicted.
"Cough… cough…"
Kariya leaned heavily against the wall.
"We'll move to the secondary base first. My injuries are serious. We can make further plans after I've recovered."
Yoruichi had wounded him badly enough that even if he wanted immediate revenge, his body was in no condition to cooperate.
For now, he had no choice but to hide and recuperate.
"Until further notice, nobody goes out alone."
Kariya's expression became stern.
"If we have to take action, move in groups. I don't want to lose any more people."
He paused before adding with obvious unease,
"And be especially careful around those two female Shinigami. Their strength is… absurd."
This was Kariya's first direct experience with genuine captain-class power.
Before today, most of the Shinigami he'd killed were ordinary soldiers or lower-ranked seated officers.
Those victories had given him the completely false impression that Soul Society's forces were mostly worthless.
Now Yoruichi had personally corrected that misunderstanding.
"Ichinose."
Kariya looked toward him.
"Do you know who those two women were?"
Ichinose had come from Soul Society, so he should at least know their identities.
Why had Kariya never bothered asking him about Soul Society's stronger fighters before?
Because Kariya had been far too confident in himself.
He'd basically believed he could fight heaven, earth, and anything unfortunate enough to stand between them.
"If the captain appointments haven't changed much since I left…"
Ichinose thought for a moment.
"The two of them should be the former and current captains of the Second Division."
His expression showed some uncertainty.
"But I remember the former captain having defected from Soul Society. I have no idea why the two of them would be fighting together."
Ichinose himself had been shocked when Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng appeared side by side.
For a moment, he'd even wondered whether the current Second Division captain had defected as well.
Unfortunately, his information was badly outdated.
He had almost no idea what had been happening in Soul Society recently.
If nothing else, the incident exposed just how pitiful the Bounts' intelligence network really was.
Their knowledge of the enemy they wanted revenge against was so outdated and incomplete that launching a war against Soul Society under these circumstances was practically suicidal.
"Captains…"
Kariya frowned.
"From what I understand, Soul Society has thirteen divisions, which means there should be thirteen captains."
He looked at Ichinose seriously.
"Are all of them as strong as Yoruichi?"
Kariya at least knew the basic structure of the Gotei 13.
Unfortunately, that was about where his knowledge ended.
"Yes."
Ichinose nodded.
"Although the captains vary in strength, the differences between them shouldn't be overwhelmingly large."
Even as he said it, however, Ichinose himself probably had no idea how accurate that statement really was.
Before leaving Soul Society, he'd only been a lower-ranked seated officer.
He knew little about matters involving the upper levels of the Gotei 13, and he certainly had no clear understanding of just how terrifying some of the other captains could be.
"I see…"
Kariya's brows tightened.
His stomach sank.
One Yoruichi had already left him feeling almost helpless.
If Soul Society possessed another twelve captains of comparable — or even greater — strength, then their revenge plan suddenly looked far more difficult than he'd imagined.
The pressure settled heavily over him.
The future that had once seemed so clear now looked increasingly uncertain, shrouded in a fog he could no longer see through.
For a moment, Kariya genuinely had no idea how they were supposed to continue.
Then he forced himself to regain his composure.
"No matter what happens, our goal does not change."
His voice hardened.
"We will have our revenge against Soul Society."
"Even if they end up killing us instead, so be it."
Revenge was the very foundation upon which Kariya had built this organization.
If he abandoned that goal simply because Soul Society turned out to be stronger than expected, the others would lose faith in him.
Once that happened, the organization would fall apart.
And if the organization fell apart, their entire revenge plan was finished.
That was something Kariya absolutely refused to accept.