Bang! Bang! Bang!
A rapid series of heavy strikes shattered the nighttime silence of the Seireitei.
The sound rolled across the courtyards like distant war drums, each blow carrying an ominous weight that seemed to warn of an approaching storm.
"Emergency summons! All division captains are to report immediately to the First Division barracks! Repeating—"
The announcement echoed again and again through the night, spreading across the entire Seireitei in moments.
The sound of that battered wooden clapper was hardly unfamiliar to its residents. Whenever it rang, something serious had happened.
The last time anyone could remember hearing an emergency summons of this scale had been nearly a century ago, during the captain Hollowfication incident.
Now that dreaded sound had returned.
Nobody needed to be told how serious the situation was.
Whoosh!
A figure shot through the night toward the First Division barracks.
Then another.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Within moments, captains from across the Gotei 13 arrived one after another.
What surprised everyone was that First Division Lieutenant Sasakibe Chōjirō and Special Forces Commander Kuchiki Kōga had also been summoned.
Neither would normally attend a meeting reserved for captains.
The assembled officers exchanged uneasy glances.
Something was clearly very wrong.
"What happened?"
Kyōraku Shunsui yawned sleepily, still looking as though someone had dragged him directly out of a pleasant dream.
"How would I know?"
Ukitake Jūshirō immediately started coughing.
"But judging from the fact that we've all been dragged out here in the middle of the night, it must be serious."
Late-night emergency meetings were particularly miserable for someone with his health.
Being chronically sick really was a terrible way to live.
Then Yamamoto spoke.
"According to an emergency report from the Human World, Seventh Division Captain Kazuma was suddenly pulled into a Gate of Hell."
His voice remained grave and steady.
"There is reason to suspect that Hell may have developed a will of its own and has begun interfering directly with the Three Worlds."
The meeting room exploded.
"What?!"
"That's impossible!"
"Interesting."
The captains reacted in wildly different ways.
"Captain Batsu'unsai!"
Shunsui reacted quickly and caught Katori Batsu'unsai when she nearly stumbled.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
Batsu'unsai steadied herself.
For one brief instant, the news had thrown her completely off balance.
Then she remembered exactly who her husband was.
Kazuma was a lunatic who'd gone straight to the Soul King Palace and challenged the Soul King himself.
It was only Hell.
Surely the place couldn't actually eat him.
"All right."
Yamamoto brought the room back under control.
"To determine exactly what has happened, a special investigation team will be dispatched to the Human World immediately."
He began naming its members.
"Sixth Division Captain Kuchiki Byakuya."
"Tenth Division Captain Hitsugaya Tōshirō."
"Eleventh Division Captain Zaraki Kenpachi."
"Twelfth Division Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri."
"Special Forces Commander Kuchiki Kōga."
"Third Division Lieutenant Kira Izuru."
"Fifth Division Lieutenant Hinamori Momo."
"Ninth Division Lieutenant Hisagi Shūhei."
"Tenth Division Lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku."
"These nine will form the investigation team. Depart for the Human World immediately."
Yamamoto had wasted no time assembling a formidable force.
An abnormality involving Hell concerned the safety of the entire Soul Society.
There was no room for carelessness.
"Yama-jii."
Shunsui frowned.
"Isn't that deployment a little excessive? Four captain-class officers, plus several lieutenants?"
The Gotei 13 was already operating below full strength.
Sending four of its strongest officers into the Human World at once would leave the Seireitei noticeably less defended.
And if Aizen somehow learned about it and decided to launch a surprise attack from Hueco Mundo…
That could become a disaster.
"Old man, you think my presence here isn't enough?"
Yamamoto's eyes narrowed.
He understood perfectly well that moving so many high-ranking fighters at once would weaken Soul Society's defenses.
But he was no longer the aging Yamamoto Shigekuni he'd once been.
If Aizen came charging back now, Yamamoto was confident he could beat the bastard until he dropped to his knees and called him daddy.
Besides, Batsu'unsai would remain in Soul Society as well.
Unless Aizen had suffered catastrophic brain damage, there was no reason he'd willingly attack while both of them were present.
"But—"
Shunsui was still uneasy.
His concern was for Soul Society as a whole.
"Captain Kyōraku."
Batsu'unsai cut him off.
"Even if every one of you left, Soul Society would remain safe as long as the Captain-Commander and I stayed behind."
It was not empty boasting.
At their current level, the two of them genuinely had the strength to make such a claim.
"I understand."
Shunsui looked seriously between Yamamoto and Batsu'unsai before finally choosing to trust them.
"Then move out immediately."
Yamamoto swept his gaze around the room.
Nobody objected.
The deployment order was final.
...
Karakura Town
It didn't take long for Byakuya and the other members of the investigation team to rendezvous with Suì-Fēng and Yoruichi.
"Hahaha! Byakuya-bo!"
The instant Yoruichi saw him, she cheerfully threw her arms around him.
"You've gotten taller again!"
Byakuya's face immediately turned bright red.
"Demon cat! Get away from me!"
He struggled furiously, muttering variations of damned cat and stay the hell away from me while Yoruichi laughed without shame.
Once that little reunion was finally over, Hitsugaya got straight to the point.
"So what do we do now?"
His expression was serious.
"Are we supposed to stand around in the Human World and wait for another Gate of Hell to appear?"
The most urgent issue was finding some way to contact the missing Captain Kazuma.
Otherwise, what were they supposed to do?
Stand around Karakura Town staring at the sky?
The group immediately began discussing possible approaches.
Unfortunately, after talking over one idea after another, they got absolutely nowhere.
Eventually, Kuchiki Kōga glanced toward Mayuri.
"Surely this is a question for Captain Kurotsuchi."
He smiled faintly.
"After all, he is one of Soul Society's greatest scientists. I'm certain a problem like this is well within his capabilities."
Kōga understood scientists surprisingly well.
If you wanted something from them, flattering their intelligence first was rarely a bad strategy.
"Hmph."
Mayuri looked thoroughly pleased despite clearly recognizing the manipulation.
"A group of barbarians who only know how to swing swords. Naturally, you end up relying on me when an actual problem requires thought."
The tactic might have been painfully obvious, but Mayuri still enjoyed hearing it.
He folded his arms and began analyzing the problem.
"If you want to determine whether Yoruichi's theory is correct, the solution is painfully simple."
Everyone turned toward him.
"We open another Gate of Hell and enter it ourselves."
Mayuri stared at them as though surrounded by idiots.
"You've all lived this long, and none of you could reach such an obvious conclusion?"
The look in his eyes practically asked whether they'd spent their entire lives storing their brains somewhere else.
Rukia hesitantly raised a hand.
"Um… Captain Kurotsuchi?"
She spoke cautiously.
"How exactly are we supposed to open a Gate of Hell?"
Shinigami didn't possess the ability to summon one whenever they pleased.
That was rather the entire problem.
Mayuri stared at her in disbelief.
"What exactly has your teacher been teaching you?"
His patience was visibly deteriorating.
"If Shinigami cannot open one directly, then find a sufficiently sinful Hollow and kill it."
He spread his hands.
"The Gate of Hell will appear to claim it."
"Is this really something I have to explain?"
Mayuri had officially had enough.
How had the Gotei 13 somehow gathered this many people capable of becoming captains without requiring any of them to use their brains?
The others thought about it.
Then, reluctantly, they had to admit he had a point.
"We'll do what Captain Kurotsuchi suggested."
And so the highest-ranking combatants of the Gotei 13 began sweeping across Karakura Town in search of Hollows.
The local Hollows had never enjoyed such prestigious treatment in their miserable lives.
Captains and lieutenants were personally hunting down these small-time pests.
Honestly, it was almost an honor.
If any of them somehow survived long enough to brag about it later, they could proudly tell every other Hollow they met:
Yeah, I got hunted by the highest-level fighters in Soul Society.
Not every worthless Hollow got that kind of VIP service.