Good Bye Halcyon Days

''This article is about the event. For the manga volume, see Good bye, halcyon days.''.

Good Bye Halcyon Days is an event marking the end of the Vizard Training and leading up to the Invasion of Hueco Mundo.

Prelude
In the wake of the Arrancar Invasion, Soul Society operates under the false assumption that Aizen and Hueco Mundo won't make their move before winter. Hitsugaya and his subordinates are ordered to train and prepare for the upcoming invasion. Orihime is put in charge of bringing her Human friends up to speed. When she arrives at the Urahara Shop, Urahara asks her not to take part in the battle, since she had lost her means of attack. Offended, Orihime confides in Rukia, who promises to help her find a way to be useful during the battle. Surprisingly, Orihime is able to get help from Hachigen Ushōda, who restores Tsubaki for her. Rukia takes Orihime with her to Soul Society, where the two start training in preparation of the coming battle.

At the same time, in Las Noches, Aizen hatches up a mysterious scheme with his 4th Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer.

The Smokescreen: Abduction
Lured into a false sense of security by their own misconceptions, The Gotei 13 members sent to Karakura Town as a front guard do their best to follow the orders they were given - to hone their powers for the battle ahead. Little do they know that a nefarious plot has begun to unfold right under their noses. While they are busy meditating in the park, a large Garganta opens in the sky above them, and four powerful Arrancar exit from it: The recently demoted 6th Espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez; his replacement, newly appointed 6th Espada, Luppi; 10th Espada, Yammy Riyalgo and the strange newest creation of Aizen, Wonderweiss Margera.

The two groups soon split into three separate battles: Grimmjow fights Ichigo, who's been training with the Vizard. Luppi takes on Hitsugaya and three of his subordinates; Rangiku, Ikkaku and Yumichika. While Urahara, relieving Renji, challenges Yammy who gets some assistance from Wonderweiss.

When the Arrancar arrive, alarm bells start ringing in Seireitei. At the control center of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute it is Rin Tsubokura who first spots the intrusion. To his horror he sees that the intruders are Espada level Arrancar. Rukia receives the news through a Jigokuchō. She is ordered by her captain to head for the Senkaimon. Inoue intends to go with her, but Rukia stops her, saying Orihime could not pass safely through the Dangai. Ukitake says he already made the arrangements to get her through as soon as possible, and she agrees to wait.

Once her safe passage through the Dangai is secure, Orihime sets off post haste. Ukitake sends two Shinigami to accompany her and protect her should she need it, but as she is making her way through the Dangai, the true nature of the invasion is made clear: While all her friends and allies are busy fending off powerful enemies, and Seireitei is preoccupied with monitoring the many fights unfolding simultaneously, Ulquiorra makes his move. A Garganta suddenly opens within the Dangai, whose protective qualities were neutralized to allow for Orihime's safe passage. Ulquiorra steps peacefully out of the Garganta and makes short work of Orihime's Shinigami bodyguards, forcing her to use Sōten Kisshun in order to keep them alive. Ulquiorra orders Orihime to come with him, threatening to kill her friends if she does not. Stressing out that it is Lord Aizen's wish to use her power, he repeats his order one more time. Ulquiorra gives Orihime a special bracelet. While she wears it, she will be invisible to everyone but the Arrancar, she will also be able to phase through solid objects at will, she is not to take off the bracelet for any reason. He gives her 12 hours to choose one of her friends to say farewell to, warning her that if that person notices her she will have disobeyed his orders. Once she has said he farewells, she is to meet him at a designated location. With that he leaves her to her own devices.

Having completed his mission, Ulquiorra arrives in time to halt Grimmjow before releasing his Resurrección, and all five Arrancar pull back to Hueco Mundo via Negación. Yammy is disappointed for not having finished his enemy, and Luppi, who was on the brink of defeat, promises to crush Hitsugaya when they next meet. The Shinigami and their allies are left puzzled by the unexplained appearance of these powerful Arrancar, months before they should have arrived, and by their equally unexplained withdrawal. Hitsugaya for one is left wary about the future of Soul Society, after having witnessed the power of an Espada and realizing how outmatched the Shinigami are.

Five Lifetimes, One Love
After Ulquiorra's departure Orihime spends some more time in the Dangai, finishing the healing of her bodyguards. A problem in communications prevents Hitsugaya's front guard from reporting back to Seireitei, it also stops Rukia from reaching Orihime. When Orihime, wearing Ulquiorra's bracelet, makes it to the Human World, she first goes home to leave a note for Hitsugaya and Rangiku, detailing the housework that needs to be done. She signs the note 'good bye, halcyon days'.

Orihime chooses Ichigo as the one friend she will bid farewell to, over all her other friends, as Ulquiorra dictated. She is surprised to find Karin and Yuzu asleep on the floor next to Ichigo's bed. The twins, having missed their older brother, wanted to eat their dinner in their room, which Rukia approved of. Orihime realizes suddenly that this is her first time in Kurosaki Kun's room, which reminds her of why she is there. She leans in to kiss Ichigo, but can't bring herself to do it, since she believes she is about to leave forever. Orihime tells the sleeping Ichigo about her hopes and dreams for the future. She wanted to be a teacher and an astronaut and to open a cake shop. She wanted to go into Mister Donut or Baskin Robbins and ask for everything on the menu. If only she had five lives, she says, so she could be born in five different towns, and stuff herself with five different types of food, and have five different careers. And during all those lives, she wishes she would fall in love with the same person - Ichigo Kurosaki. After this Orihime leaves the human world, and her presence disappears off the face of the map.

Eagle Without Wings
The next morning Ichigo wakes up to find his wounds completely healed. He senses a familiar Reiryoku and is about to guess who it belongs to, but Tōshirō Hitsugaya finishes his thought for him, saying it probably belonged to Orihime. Tōshirō has come to pick him up to participate in an emergency conference with Seireitei. As Ichigo and Tōshirō arrive at Inoue's house, Rangiku has finished removing the spiritual interferences abrupting communication between the worlds, and the connection is made. Hitsugaya is surprised to see Jūshirō Ukitake, captain of the 13th Division instead of the Captain-Commander. Ukitake explains that he is replacing Yamamoto because he was the last person to see Orihime before she entered the Dangai. Seeing the reactions to his words, Ukitake concludes Orihime never made it to the Human World. Ichigo, visibly distraught, demands to know what Seireitei knows about Orihime's disappearance. Ukitake can only say what they think happened. Orihime's two bodyguards returned alive from the Dangai, they believed Orihime was either abducted or killed by the Arrancar. Ichigo and Rukia both voice their protest over this assumption. Ichigo presents his healed wounds as proof that Orihime isn't dead.

Hearing Ichigo's testimony, Yamamoto intervenes, referring to the new information as 'unfortunate'. When Ichigo and Rukia ask him to explain this determination, the Captain-Commander says that while the information does prove Orihime lives, it also raises grave suspicions that Orihime has committed an act of betrayal. If she had been abducted, she would not have been free to visit Ichigo and heal his wounds. Ichigo tries to protest, but Renji stops him. Renji volunteers to go to Hueco Mundo himself and retrieve Orihime as a traitor, but smiles at Ichigo to let him know his true intentions. The Captain-Commander forbids it. He recalls all of Captain Hitsugaya's front guard back to Soul Society, maintaining the life of a single person cannot be weighed against those of the rest of the world. In preparation every Shinigami will count. Rukia informs the Captain-Commander that she cannot obey those orders, but Yamamoto, having predicted her reaction, sent two captains, Byakuya Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki, to make sure all the members of the front guard follow their orders. The two powerful Shinigami inform everyone in the room that they will use force to impose their orders if necessary. Ichigo, realizing the situation, says he will go by himself to Hueco Mundo and save Orihime without the help of the Gotei 13, but Yamamoto forbids this as well, saying Ichgo's powers will also be needed during the upcoming battle and he is not allowed to throw away his life on a lost cause. With that the Captain-Commander ends transmission. The Shinigami of the front guard leave through the Senkaimon, Rukia is last to leave, apologizing to Ichigo before she does.

In school, Ichigo is forced to lie to his teacher and friends about the reasons for his absence. He shuns Mizuiro and Keigo, but when Tatsuki confronts him about Orihime and Ichigo won't give a straight answer, Tatsuki punches him in the face, and reminds of their long friendship. Keigo grabs Tatsuki to stop the fight, but Ichigo just walks away telling his three friends to keep a distance from him, hoping to protect them from the oncoming hardships. That very evening he departs to Hueco Mundo, accompanied by Chad with new found powers and Uryū, who recently regained his Quincy powers and acquired some useful items from his fathers vault, in a quest to save Orihime.

Rejection of Events: Restoration
Having succeeded in their mission, the Arrancar return to Las Noches and face Aizen. As Aizen welcomes Orihime to Las Noches, he requests Orihime to show her powers as he notices Luppi's discontent over Orihime's presence. Luppi expresses his discontent over the fact that their entire excursion was merely a decoy to allow Orihime's abduction. Aizen then orders Orihime to heal Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez's left arm. Luppi expresses his scepticism over what he sees as an impossibility, since Grimmjow's left arm was burned off by Tōsen, even threatening to kill Orihime if he finds her powers are false, but stops as he watches in disbelief at Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez's severed arm being completely restored. Luppi then asks how the restoration occurred. Aizen calmly explains it as the "rejection of events" as it was not the "temporal regression" or "spatial regression" that Ulquiorra believed to be. Grimmjow asks Orihime to heal one more spot: his burnt number 6 tattoo. Luppi becomes suspicious, asking what Grimmjow was up to. Grimmjow responds by impaling him through the chest with his renewed hand and firing a pointblank Cero at the former No. 6, obliterating all of Luppi's upper body. Grimmjow then proceeds to laugh manically over his restored title and power.