The Hero

Chapter #4 (p68-87)

— "His name is, of course, Mister… Don KANONJI!" The host announces his name and

the audience cheers. Don laughs and shouts, — "Bohahahaha! Spirits are always with

you!" The people in the audience cross their arms in front of their chests at the same

time and laugh along, "bohahaha". Don, dressed in gaudy clothes and a pair of

sunglasses, waves proudly to his audience. He’s a spirit medium and a hero to children

across the entire nation. His real name is Misaomaru KANONJI. Don’s spirit program is

starting to fall in ratings lately, but that didn’t slow him down one bit. He’d be satisfied

with just a single viewer. His producer and staff knew this, but still put all their effort

into this Karakura Special. Even so, they couldn’t give him the same spectacular

entrance (skydiving) as the last time. That’s because Karakura Town, famous as a spirit

hotspot, had suffered many civilian casualties nearly two years ago. It had cast a dark

shadow over the city. The city was hesitant to cooperate with a spirit medium show

nowadays.

Many people had died due to Yammy’s soul-inhalation technique, or simply by being

into contact with AIZEN, who had merged with the hôgyoku. The "natural outbreak of

gas" had been declared as the official cause of death to the civilians who had no

knowledge of hollows and soul reaper. In the past, Don ran around Karakura Town,

fighting hollows as leader of the Karakura Defence Force. But he has been busy

shooting overseas for another program this past year. He hasn’t seen the Defence

Force members in a while. The purpose of the show is to exorcise the masked womanwhich had been appearing all over Karakura Town. Don surmised she might be

connected to hollows in some way. And, although they had a bus to take him and his

crew to the woman’s location whenever she should appear, Don preferred to use his

own beloved, imported, high-class, open car: Jeanne d’Arc. There was a sudden noise

and Don felt a chill. He and his crew turn to the direction of the noise. But Don is the

only one who can see the child with white headphones standing on top of the bus.

Behind him, there’s a large black hole, like a wild beast’s open mouth. Then the hole

closes. Don can sense that the boy is no ordinary spirit.

The boy murmurs, "Weird. I’m sure it’s around here!" Noticing eyes on him, the boy

talks to Don and his crew. Don responds. The boy realises Don is the only one who can

see him and asks if he’s a soul reaper. Don denies this and introduces himself. The boy

gets his name wrong and calls him Donkan Onchi instead. Don is appalled, but quickly

recovers and asks what the boy is doing here. Is he looking for his parents? Don will

help him look! The boy says he’s looking for a woman with a skull covering half her

face. Don responds that they’re probably looking for the same person. The boy

proposes a race. Who can find her first? If the boy wins, Don will "play" with him. Don

agrees, not knowing how dangerous "playing" with the boy would be. The boy is

thrilled.

The boy taps his headphones and starts talking to the other Picarro ("Did you hear

that?"). The other Picarro appear from behind trees, telephone poles and roofs. They

chatter amongst themselves. Won’t they get scolded if they play with a human? But

Baraggan is gone. And so is TÔSEN. Won’t HARRIBEL get angry? Let’s just ignore her.

Let’s kill and play! He looks weak, though? The Picarro jump out into the night in

search of the woman. Don mutters to himself. How should he play with so many of

them? A soccer ball tournament? His producer, who didn’t hear the conversation, is

confused and worries whether Don has been possessed or something. Don assures

him he’s alright. He’s ready to take on the boy’s challenge. The producer doesn’t get it,

but he’s happy that this will probably create a wonderful program. The head-phoned

Picarro is looking for the woman using pesquisa. He notices she’s no longer in the

World of the Living. The Garganta opens next to him and another Picarro beckons him

inside. Several Picarro have assembled inside. They use pesquisa again and sense

something strange. Weird remains of spiritual-pressure were left in the area, different

from the spiritual-pressure of hollows or soul reapers. It was also slightly different

from what soul reaper call spirit-ribbons. It was thin like a spider’s thread. And it

stretched out into the torrent of spiritual-matter. Where does the thread lead to? One

Picarro remembers, ""Qrrr… I remember… over there …that’s where AIZEN-sama came

from… Qrrr." Soul Society. Led on by curiosity, the Picarro decide to go there. Not ari101190

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realising how foolish it was to go to their enemy’s land. Their purity was both their

weakness and strength. To which side will the scales fall?

— At the same time | In the Garganta, at unknown coordinates

The "void” exists between Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and the World of the Living. It’s

the Garganta, where storms of spiritual-matter swirl and rage. A darkness filled with

heavy spiritual-energy. And a beautiful young woman, with a mask covering half of her

face, was walking on the thin road she had made inside it. She’s walking alone but

there’s another presence whispering in her ear. The voice asks her why she let herself

be seen by the Picarro. Did she want to save Nelliel? She shouldn’t pay attention to

that outcast. But he’ll forgive her. Those Picarro might work as decoy later.

Nevertheless, the voice reminds her she’s just a tool. She apologises. He says he’ll let it

slide. He’s in a good mood. His research might bear fruit soon. But she mustn’t be

killed or else all will be for naught. He tells her to hide out in the World of the Living

and to flee whenever she runs into a soul reaper, hollow or quincy. No need to engage

in battle. Although the voice doubts that any soul reaper could kill her. The woman

responds with a sad look in her eyes: — "Understood… Szayelaporro-sama

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