Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Hexapodus

 is a battle taking place during The Death Trilogy Overture and the first that Ichigo Kurosaki fights one-on-one, with his opponent being the Hollow Hexapodus.

Prelude
The morning after the fateful battle against Fishbone D, Ichigo Kurosaki wakes up to find his family unharmed and believing that the damage done to their house was caused by a truck crashing into it while they slept, causing him to wonder if Rukia Kuchiki is responsible for this. Later, at Karakura High School, Tatsuki Arisawa wonders where Ichigo is.

When Mizuiro Kojima details how a truck apparently crashed into the Kurosaki Clinic last night, a shocked Tatsuki to ask if Ichigo is injured or dead, only for Ichigo to appear behind her and hit Tatsuki in the head with his bag while confirming that he is okay. After being greeted by a flustered Orihime Inoue, Ichigo has Mizuiro inform him of the day's schedule and notes that the current class's teacher, Misato Ochi, will not ask questions.

Ichigo is suddenly confronted by Rukia in a student uniform, who Mizuiro introduces as having started attending the school yesterday due to her family moving. Rukia asks Ichigo if she can borrow his textbooks and holds out her hand, which has a message telling Ichigo to stay calm or suffer the consequences written on it, to Ichigo's shock. Later, Ichigo and Rukia walk to a more secluded part of the school, where Ichigo demands to know why Rukia is still here and attending his school instead of going back to Soul Society. Rukia reveals that she cannot return to Soul Society because she lost all of her Shinigami powers when transferring them to Ichigo.

Rukia details how this predicament has left her unable to perform more than a few Kidō spells and forced to live in a Gigai, allowing normal Humans to see her. When Ichigo asks her what she wants with him, Rukia proclaims that he must perform her Shinigami duties until she regains her powers, only for Ichigo to abjectly refuse because he does not want to fight Hollows on behalf of strangers instead of for his family, as he did the previous night. Hearing this, Rukia puts on her Gokon Tekkō and pushes Ichigo's Soul out of his body, to his shock, before telling him to follow her. Shortly afterward, Ichigo and Rukia arrive at a local park.

As they wait at a park, Ichigo asks Rukia why they have been there for twenty minutes, only for Rukia to ask him in turn if any Souls come to this park. Ichigo notes that one young boy does, but admits that he has only seen him a couple times and not spoken to him before asking why this is important. Rukia hands Ichigo her Denreishinki and reveals that the text on the screen details a Hollow appearing in the park fifteen minutes before or after 12:00 p.m. before noting that it will most likely attack the young boy. Suddenly, Ichigo and Rukia see the young boy running away from Hexapodus while screaming in terror.

Battle
When Ichigo attempts to help him, Rukia stops him and points out that the young boy is a stranger before reminding Ichigo that he will be devoured sooner or later regardless of whether Ichigo saves him unless Ichigo performs her Shinigami duties. As Rukia tells him to not save the young boy unless he can commit to helping all Souls in need of help and even risking his life for them, Ichigo appears in front of Hexapodus and cuts off one of his legs. Rebuking Rukia for speaking of self-sacrifice so casually, Ichigo reminds her of how she risked her own life last night for him despite her Shinigami duties and proceeds to shove his Zanpakutō through Hexapodus's head.

Aftermath
While Hexapodus collapses and his purified, Ichigo admits that he may not be able to save every soul and may just run away when things get hectic. However, Ichigo also affirms that he is not a scumbag before promising to repay his debt to Rukia as best he can, to Rukia's relief.