The Nightmare Arrancar! Team Hitsugaya Moves Out

 is the one hundred and twenty-eighth episode of the Bleach anime.

The Shinigami Strike Force stationed in the Human World finds a boy named Shōta Toyokawa.

Summary
In the Study Chamber underneath the Visored warehouse, a masked Hiyori Sarugaki repeatedly slashes at Ichigo Kurosaki, who has donned his own Hollow mask and blocks her attacks with his Shikai, Zangetsu, prior to Hiyori engaging him in a blade lock and infusing her Zanpakutō with Reiatsu to send Ichigo flying back with a powerful blast. Skidding along the ground, Ichigo recovers just in time to block a flying kick from Hiyori with his arm.

However, Hiyori simply kicks Ichigo in the face with her other foot, resulting in him crashing into a nearby rock formation with enough force to crater it and sliding down to the ground below as Hiyori lands before him, pushes her mask to the side of her head, and notes that his time is up. When Ichigo suddenly reappears in the air behind and above her with Shunpo while preparing to come down on her with a slash, a startled Hiyori turns around and blasts him with a light-blue Cero from her open palm, causing Ichigo's mask to shatter.

Ichigo falls on his back as Hiyori points out how dangerous it was for him to not inform her of the time he can maintain his Hollow mask getting longer, and when Ichigo counters that she is the one who did not warn him and who instructed Ichigo to keep his mask on for as long as possible, Hiyori dismisses this as the wrong time to be complaining and instructs Ichigo to start again, which prompts Ichigo to don his Hollow mask once more by pulling his hand across his face in a ripping motion prior to blocking a strike from Hiyori when she leaps forward. With Hiyori criticizing him as too slow and continuing to spar with Ichigo, Kensei Muguruma and Mashiro Kuna watch.

Upon being approached from behind by Shinji Hirako and asked about how Ichigo is doing, Kensei reveals that his mask's duration has extended by half a second, and with Shinji sarcastically calling this a great development, Mashiro expresses shock at this being the result after Ichigo has trained so much and muses that he must not have the talent for it before concluding that it is surprising that the Visored have not gotten tired of him yet. In response, Shinji admits that they do not have a choice and must continue while Ichigo clashes several more times with Hiyori, separates from her by leaping back, and runs forward with a yell.

Meanwhile, at the Kurosaki Clinic, Yuzu Kurosaki tearfully claims that Ichigo is never coming back as she sits at the dinner table with Karin Kurosaki, who asserts that it does not matter and that Ichigo will come back when they have forgotten about him. With Yuzu indignant at the idea of Karin forgetting Ichigo every time he leaves, Karin clarifies that this is just a figure of speech before Isshin Kurosaki joins them and assures Yuzu that there is no need to worry because it is natural for people to want to rebel against those around them and get out of the house at Ichigo's age, though Yuzu is uncertain of what exactly he is referring to.

Isshin elaborates that he considered the whole world to be his enemy and left home in his youth to visit his high school at night and run to the beach to let out a youthful scream. When Yuzu inquires about the idea of Ichigo doing this as well, Isshin declares that he is probably looking at the ocean in an area long since left behind by summer and fulfilling his heart's desires during mating season, only for Karin to remind him that he means to say adolescence instead. Despite Yuzu remaining unconvinced by this, Karin concludes that Ichigo will be alright regardless of whether or not this is true and invites Yuzu to finish eating dinner, which the latter happily accepts.

Suddenly, Isshin demands to know why Rukia Kuchiki also is not coming home, prompting Karin to punch him in the face for being more worried about her than he is about his own son and inform Yuzu that Rukia told her she would be staying over at Orihime Inoue's apartment since she is busy with school work. As Isshin sobs over having lost what he thought was another daughter, an irritated Karin tells him to shut up and eat dinner. Elsewhere, in a park in Karakura Town, 10th Division Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya learns from his lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto, that 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai will be staying with Kisuke Urahara for the time being.

While 11th Division 3rd Seat Ikkaku Madarame and 5th Seat Yumichika Ayasegawa stand with them, Rangiku confirms this and notes that Renji has made up an excuse for why he is staying at the Urahara Shop, which she theorizes means he has become accustomed to it since it is the second time that he has stayed there as a freeloader, prior to revealing that he is training Yasutora Sado. With Yumichika observing that Renji might be enjoying himself after all, Hitsugaya muses that the strength of the Arrancar means that they can never have enough fighting power, and when Ikkaku asks him about what they will be doing, Hitsugaya questions if he really needs to ask.

Hitsugaya asserts that they will not win this battle if they do not strengthen themselves as well, which Yumichika concurs with due to how annoyingly powerful the Arrancar are, and when Ikkaku welcomes this since it will allow him to have fun battles, Rangiku comments on how this is something he would like, but Ikkaku points out how she will not return to Soul Society alive if she does not improve her techniques. Claiming to already know this, Rangiku notices what time it is and laments how she will not get enough time to pick out what she wants to buy if she does not hurry due to the shop rapidly filling up with many customers.

With Hitsugaya picking up on her mention of a shop, Rangiku explains that she will be checking out the town for things to buy, only to correct herself and claim that she will instead be keeping an eye out for anything strange due to always needing to be attentive to her surroundings despite an annoyed Hitsugaya reminding her of what she just said, and runs off as she bids him farewell, leaving Hitsugaya to note that she does not listen to what others say at all. Soon afterward, at a local mall, Rangiku comes to the display window of a clothing store and tells herself that she needs to enjoy the time she is spending in the Human World.

Enamored by the outfits she sees in the window, Rangiku runs inside the store and enters the dressing booth to try on seven different outfits, though she does not know which one to pick since she finds all of them appealing. After making her decision, Rangiku calls out to the store assistant struggling to hold up all the clothes and announces that she will be buying all of them, to the assistant's bewilderment. Some time later, Rangiku walks down the street with over a dozen clothing bags in her arms and expresses appreciation for the Human World having lots of fashionable clothes that are much cheaper than they would be in Soul Society.

Upon noticing an accessory shop nearby, Rangiku decides to look in there as well and enters to drop all the clothing bags on the floor, to the astonishment of the cashier inside. While commenting on how many options there are here, Rangiku notices an ocarina-like stone on a necklace in front of her and finds it cute up close, which leads her to bring it to the cash register to buy. Stopping the cashier from bagging the necklace since she does not think it is necessary, which the cashier thanks her for, Rangiku hands him a 10,000 yen bill, which he rushes out of the store to get change for, leaving Rangiku to examine the necklace further.

However, when she blows into the ocarina and produces a high-pitched noise, Rangiku is shocked to hear an eerie melody play in response and looks around for a source, which she cannot find, before pulling out her Denreishinki to see that there is spiritual activity on North Block 11 of Karakura Town, indicated by a blinking red dot on her screen. On a different street, Hitsugaya wonders if the activity on his own Denreishinki is a Hollow and hears the melody as well, to his confusion, as Ikkaku and Yumichika examine the latter's Denreishinki at a ramen bar and decide to let Rangiku respond if it is just an ordinary Hollow.

Despite this, Ikkaku stops eating his ramen to observe that it has been noisy today as both he and Yumichika hear the same melody, which prompts Yumichika to wonder what it is. Back in the accessory shop, Rangiku laments being the closest to the activity, and when the cashier runs back inside with her change, Rangiku tells him to wait until she comes back, to his confusion, and exits her Gigai before telling Momone to handle it as she departs in a gust of wind. With the cashier questioning what just happened, Momone assures him that it was nothing and that he just imagined it as she flirtatiously grasps his hands and leans in despite his protests.

Later, with the sun beginning to set, Rangiku leaps across several rooftops, but is startled mid-jump when the melody fades and lands on a telephone pole as she, Hitsugaya, Ikkaku, and Yumichika look around in bewilderment. Suddenly, a nearby play structure is destroyed by a powerful impact, leading Rangiku to move down to the ground and attempt to find out what caused this as two more structures are destroyed and Shōta Toyokawa is sent flying out of the resulting cloud of dust with a cry of pain. Upon seeing Shōta's Chain of Fate when he lands on the ground before her, Rangiku realizes that he is a Soul and watches a large eyeless Hollow emerge as well.

While Rangiku draws her Zanpakutō, Shōta gets to his feet and challenges the Hollow to fight him, which prompts a bewildered Rangiku to grab his shoulder and question what he is doing. In response, Shōta demands that she let go since she is getting in the way as an old lady and frees himself from her grasp to run off, leaving Rangiku to express shock at being called old prior to jumping into the air in irritation. When the Hollow roars at an approaching Shōta, Rangiku comes down on it with a slash while holding her Zanpakutō in a reverse grip, only for the Hollow to leap out of the way at the last second and land on a nearby hill as Rangiku crashes into the ground.

Upon seeing this, Shōta frantically runs over to a climbing wall leaning against the hill and begins scaling it, and when a concerned Rangiku moves above and in front of him with Shunpo, Shōta angrily tells her to get out of the way because she is interfering, only for Rangiku to counter that he is not making sense and cannot handle the Hollow, who looms over the edge of the climbing wall prior to Rangiku flipping her Zanpakutō around in her hand, leaping up to the Hollow's level, and fiercely slashing at it. In turn, the Hollow bites down to catch Rangiku's blade between his teeth and begins exerting a powerful orange Reiatsu, to Rangiku and Shōta's shock.

In astonishment, Rangiku determines that the Reiatsu she is experiencing belongs to an Arrancar like Nakeem Grindina rather than a Hollow while the Arrancar beneath her throws Rangiku into the air with a flick of its head. When Rangiku stops herself with Hohō and wonders what the Arrancar is since its Reiatsu is notably murky, the Arrancar orders her to stay out of the way and not interrupt his meal. With the Arrancar looking down at an intimidated Shōta and opening its mouth to reveal two glowing eyes within, Rangiku tells Shōta to run away, but he stubbornly refuses to and instead begins climbing up toward the Arrancar.

Aghast at Shōta's response, Rangiku moves down to him with Shunpo and grabs him with her free arm prior to moving away from the climbing wall and down onto the ground with another Shunpo bound. As the Arrancar roars and leaps toward them with his hands outstretched, Rangiku hops back right before he crashes into the ground where she was standing and begins running away while continuing to carry a protesting Shōta. When the Arrancar pursues them on all four legs, a chuckling Ikkaku falls out of the sky with his Shikai, Hōzukimaru, and smashes into the ground in front of the Arrancar with a strike that forces the latter to stop and evade by leaning back.

A grinning Ikkaku jumps up and spins Hōzukimaru around prior to leaping higher into the air when the Arrancar attempts to grab him with a swipe of its left hand. While Rangiku stops in surprise at his arrival, Ikkaku continues spinning Hōzukimaru and responds to the Arrancar swinging its long spine-like tail at him by cutting off a large chunk of his tail at the tip with a slash of Hōzukimaru, causing the Arrancar to roar in pain and rush toward Ikkaku, whom he promises to make pay for this. However, Ikkaku simply swings Hōzukimaru upward to deal the finishing blow and slices through the Arrancar's mask, resulting in his body disintegrating.

With Ikkaku landing on the ground and lamenting how this was not even a warm-up exercise for him, Yumichika stands behind Rangiku with Hitsugaya, both now out of their Gigai as well, and observes that the Arrancar seemed to be no match for Ikkaku as Hitsugaya explains that they rushed over after sensing the Hollow's Reiatsu pattern suddenly change and berates Rangiku for letting her guard down too much. Before Rangiku can relay what happened with him, a smirking Shōta comments on an old hag like Rangiku being scolded by a child, which prompts an aggravated Rangiku to smother him between her breasts while refusing to be called something like that.

Once Rangiku lets Shōta breathe again and puts him back under her arm., Ikkaku confirms Yumichika's assumption that he was fighting an Arrancar and muses on its murky Reiatsu indicating that it was not fully mature, though Hitsugaya asserts that they should assume Sōsuke Aizen sent him intentionally since he was still an Arrancar regardless of his level and decides to contact Soul Society immediately. In turn, Rangiku states that she will be performing Konsō on Shōta, and when the latter questions what this is as he rudely calls her an old lady once again, an annoyed Rangiku reminds him that she did not say he could call her an old lady.

However, Hitsugaya stops Rangiku and requests that she perform Konsō after he asks Shōta about the Arrancar, which a confused Rangiku agrees to. After Hitsugaya affirms that he is a captain, Shōta cheekily claims that he cannot believe it since they are almost the same age, leading Hitsugaya to note that they might need to perform Konsō now after all. That night, back at the accessory shop, Momone claims to have heard that physical contact is important in the Human World and continues to flirt with the blushing cashier, who insists that they cannot do this in the shop and collapses while questioning what Momone's catchphrase means.

Walking into the shop with Shōta and the other Shinigami, who have returned to their Gigai, Rangiku promises to get her own Gigai right now, but is shocked alongside them to see Momone crouching over and kissing the motionless cashier. As Momone states that she came back at a good time, Rangiku pulls her off the cashier and enters her Gigai prior to thanking the lipstick-covered cashier, who focuses on Rangiku's lips and immediately leaps toward her while claiming that they are very naughty, only for Rangiku to casually incapacitate him with an elbow to the throat and excitedly run over to her clothing bags, leaving the others exasperated.

Meanwhile, in an outdoor hallway in the Seireitei, 13th Division Captain Jūshirō Ukitake is shocked by the news of a new Arrancar being sent to the Human World, prompting his 3rd Seat, Kiyone Kotetsu, to clarify that Hitsugaya wants them to determine whether that is what actually happened. With Ukitake musing that this would mean Aizen is making a move, Kiyone question what they should do, leading Ukitake to assert that analyzing the report comes first and that he will do it from here, which Kiyone acknowledges. Back in Karakura Town, at Orihime's apartment, Shōta sits next to the monitor with Hitsugaya, Rangiku, Ikkaku, and Yumichika.

When Shōta belligerently states that he does not understand the ramblings of old men about Soul Society and Konsō, Yumichika is aghast at being called old and Ikkaku warns him to not take it personally since it just means he seems old to children, but Yumichika refuses to forgive Shōta for this since being called an old man does not sound beautiful. Upon being addressed by Ikkaku, Shōta claims that the former's baldness is blinding him and tells Ikkaku to put on a wig, prompting an enraged Ikkaku to put Shōta in a chokehold and demand to know why he is being so abusive when Ikkaku has done nothing to him as Rangiku tells them to be quiet.

After Ikkaku lets Shōta go, Rangiku requests that he be good and answer the questions they have for him, though Shōta merely scoffs and looks away, prior to promising that he will go to Soul Society once they are done. In turn, Shōta declines to go there, and when Rangiku reassures him that it is not a scary place, Shōta proclaims that he is never going there and responds to Rangiku insisting that these are the rules by reiterating his refusal and noting that he still has things to do here. While Rangiku recalls Shōta challenging the Arrancar to battle earlier, Hitsugaya asks him if he heard a whistle-like melody when the Arrancar appeared.

Ikkaku remembers that he heard the melody while Shōta reluctantly confirms that he did as well, leading Hitsugaya to question whether the Arrancar told Shōta anything when he appeared. Once Shōta asserts that the Arrancar just growled at him and attacked, to Hitsugaya's disappointment, Ikkaku observes that they will not learn anything even if they ask Shōta more questions and Yumichika muses that they seem to have just happened to have met there by chance. Affirming this, Hitsugaya decides to perform the Konsō and gets to his feet as he grabs his Zanpakutō despite Shōta's continuing protests, which startles Rangiku.

With Hitsugaya unsheathing his Zanpakutō while admonishing him for being so stubborn and Shōta maintaining that he does not want to go as Ikkaku and Yumichika hold him in place, Rangiku suddenly interjects and suggests that they wait through the night to send Shōta to Soul Society since he is probably confused by what just happened. Following Rangiku reacting with irritation to a surprised Shōta calling her an old woman once more, to his intimidation, Hitsugaya sheathes his Zanpakutō and agrees to leave this case to Rangiku, pleasing her while Ikkaku comments on how weird she is acting, before noting they still do not know what Aizen's goal is.

After vowing to not let their guard down at Hitsugaya's behest, Ikkaku and Yumichika depart as Shōta stares at Rangiku's sealed Zanpakutō. Later that night, once Hitsugaya and Rangiku go to bed, Shōta, who had been lying in a sleeping bag beside them, quietly grabs Rangiku's Zanpakutō and slowly sneaks out of the apartment, where he begins running down the street and contemplating what he could do with the Zanpakutō. However, Rangiku interrupts him and wonders what he is planning to do while stepping out behind a shocked Shōta, who stops in his tracks and looks at her prior to frantically attempting to flee, only for Rangiku to grab him by the shoulder.

Rangiku berates Shōta for taking someone else's belongings without permission and yanks her Zanpakutō out of his hands, and when Shōta claims that she is stingy as he once again calls her an old woman, Rangiku painfully pinches his cheek to lift him into the air and introduces herself before ordering Shōta to address her properly instead of rudely. Following Shōta's agreement to this, Rangiku drops him and inquires about what he was planning to do after taking her Zanpakutō, but Shōta states that it does not concern her. In response, Rangiku counters that it does concern her because it is her job as a Shinigami to protect Souls like him.

As she explains that a Zanpakutō is as important to a Shinigami as their life is, Rangiku presumes Shōta would not be happy if she took something important from him without permission, which he reluctantly confirms, and instructs him to apologize, to his astonishment. With Rangiku detailing how he is supposed to apologize when he does something wrong and threatening to pinch his cheek again if he does not, Shōta meekly apologizes and formally addresses Rangiku in doing so at her insistence, which she is pleased by. While the two of them walk back to Orihime's apartment, Rangiku asks Shōta what his name is and where his family is, though he does not answer.

After Shōta fails to respond to her questioning what he was doing in the park, Rangiku laments his silence and inquires about what he wants to do while he is still in the Human World. Coming to a halt, Shōta reveals that he is looking for someone and asserts that they have to meet, but does not elaborate further despite Rangiku being curious about who he is referring to, which leads her to crouch down in front of Shōta with her hand on his shoulder and warn him that Karakura Town is not safe right now due to him not knowing when more monsters like the Arrancar from earlier will appear and not having the slightest chance of defeating them if they do.

Upon seeing Shōta staring at her in fright over this, Rangiku pleads with him to at least tell her his name, prompting Shōta to finally introduce himself, to her relief. Suddenly, the two of them hear the eerie melody again, and as an Arrancar physically identical to the one from before stands on top of a building with his mouth open and chuckles, a startled Rangiku realizes that his Reiatsu is the same murky type as that of the Arrancar she fought before.

Arrancar Encyclopedia
Gin Ichimaru announces that they are going to talk about an Arrancar's Zanpakutō release today and points to the screen behind him, which shows Edrad Liones's Volcánica, Yylfordt Granz's Del Toro, and Shawlong Koufang's Tijereta, as he explains that an Arrancar's Zanpakutō is the core of their power sealed in the form of a sword, meaning that they are releasing their true form when they release their Zanpakutō. However, before Gin can reveal Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez's Resurrección, Grimmjow walks onstage and notes with irritation that people keep interfering whenever he tries to release his Zanpakutō, prompting Gin to slyly wonder who he should get to interfere with Grimmjow's release next.

Events

 * Cloning Arrancar Threat

Powers and Techniques Used
Hohō Techniques:
 * }

Hollow Techniques:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Zanpakutō released:

Shikai:

Other Powers:

Anime Notes
Trivia=
 * When Hiyori Sarugaki uses a Cero during her anime-only training of Ichigo Kurosaki in this episode, it is light-blue in color and she fires it from the palm of her open hand with her mask partially off; however, when she uses a Cero for the first canonical time in episode 279, it is deep red in color and she fires it from her open mouth with her mask fully on.