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“What?!”

You just couldn’t believe it. Lubina was just here, and surrounded by very capable people, and she… managed to run away?

“I’M SSORRY, WAAAAH!” Lahela cries as she holds onto your clothing. “It wass my fault…! Sshe tricked me!”

You calm her down and shake your head, looking more for answers from Urahara and Tessai, who just shrug. Their response is something along the lines of ‘we should’ve done something?’ Really…

Leaving everyone else be, you give chase.

Fortunately, there’s no way for her to hide herself from you, but on the other hand she doesn’t feel like she’s trying to.

“I swear…”

Lubina sits on the edge of the tallest building she could find in Osaka, where you find her staring off towards the bay.

“You can’t just run away like that.”

“What are you, my mother?” she retorts. You feel a vein somewhere in your head bulge, but then you see the profile of her face, as she gives you a glance.

She’s genuinely smiling.

With a sigh, you walk over beside her and take a seat as well.

“If you want to go sightseeing, you know you could just ask.”

“Pffft. And make it easy for you? Give me a break. This is much more fun. Besides, not like I can really run away from you that easily. I’m not dumb.”

“You sure?”

She got upset of course, and tried to flail her arms at you. But in a way she did catch you off guard. Maybe it’s because of what happened within her when you mediated her, or just visiting the living world for the first time since ages, but there’s a huge sense of relief within her that’s only now surfacing.

A sense of actual freedom.

>2/8

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“Everything’s proceeding just like you said it would.” The man keeps a rather unsettling smile on his face, as he faces Aizen. “Gramps and gramma have finished their preps too.”

“Excellent,” Aizen says with a soft smile, but his eyes stayed unnervingly cold. “It’ll keep things busy for a while, and weed out the weak ones.”

“Yeah… hopefully it’ll rile up that shitty docile calamity too while at it. That’d all but ensure their eyes are fixed on Hueco Mundo.” Another person licks his lips and spreads his mouth into a wide grin. One can be skeptical whether he’s a human at all with his appearance, despite being shaped like one. “Not to mention all the data I’d get.”

“Well, the news of that realm resurfacing should reach their ears soon ‘nough. I’m surprised they’ve not moved their butts.”

That is indeed quite an interesting observation… but then again, they wouldn’t even come down if it meant half of Soul Society were to be destroyed and the Gotei 13 crippled. So detached from the rest of the world they are, one could think they don’t care about anything or anyone at all.

“No matter.” Aizen’s eyes move towards the last speaker. “Now, then.”

“Right,” he says and nonchalantly whips out a vial and a roll of film. “The whole footage of that kitty cat getting arrancarified. This shoulda be enough, right?”

“Ooooh!” The weirdest one of them zooms in, his eyes practically bulging as his mind imagines just what he can learn from those. “Gimme that!”

The shortest one of them closed their eyes in disgust, keeping away from the discussion this time.

“Analyze it and figure out if it can do it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, just give it to me already!”

“The insolence…” one of them comments.

As the material exchanges hands, the short one speaks. “Aizen-sama, this… shinigami, is this wise? He will leak information to that despicable man.”

“Not to worry,” Aizen calmly replies. “I am counting on it.”

>3/8

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Months pass.

Despite that little slip-up, it seems Hisashi’s report left you in peace. You did increase the frequency in which you visited Osaka, just to make sure you’re not missed by anyone. Akane eventually returned. You feel that she’s clearly gotten stronger again, but something else changed too that you couldn’t quite figure out yet. Something to ask her about you guess.

Urahara, while still in the city and within your grasp, taught you what you need for the Jikanteishi & Jikansaisoku spells. Casting them takes way too much time to be done safely, but that’s an obstacle you should be able to tackle with time and effort. At the very least, you have those options for you now, something that’ll help with reshaping your realm.

Lazuta Yami developed further now with an alliance with Azulwald and the tunnels being tidied up. You got to practice those aforementioned spells too. You see, word had spread surprisingly quickly among hollow colonies, and despite lingering fear there were multiple that wished to relocate to your realm. Especially that one colony you saw when you had just entered Hueco Mundo, where you met Trader.

Speaking of him, he actually ended up the reason why the word spread, having somehow learnt of your alliance and seeing the potential in working between Lazuta Yami and Azulwald.

What do you know, your realm is looking more livelier than before, and not just because of the spiders. The citadel is now completely refurbished – much more pleasant, with proper decorations and definitely not as bleak as before. Of course, there’s nothing you can do about Abathos’ pit of liquid black gross, but hey, nobody needs to see that, right?

The four sisters got a lot busier now too, since the realm actually had work to be done. There’s definitely more patrols now with increased border activity. Every now and then you get attacked by the combined forces of Baraggan and Daji Lü. Guess their alliance isn’t a secret anymore.

The solution to how to arrancarify the remaining sisters without Zilya trying her best to escape still eludes you. They literally have parts of her infused in them, which you can get rid of via mediation, but that’s exactly the problem here.

“Shit… will I really have to fight you in the case of each one?”

Zilya just laughed mockingly.

>4/8

File: Ancient Ruins.png (886 KB, 1295x821)

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Despite your new role as mother queen, or Matj Koroleva, you continue to work in Pesci’s pizzarea. You don’t know whether Kaizar even cares at this point about any reparations, but in this world, it feels like this is one of the few things that keep you sane. Some actual menial work. One could argue that serving and cooking for monsters is a rather peculiar thing to think of as ‘sane work’ but compared to everything else, it is.

Dordoni has long since given up on keeping up with you. You remember him saying…

“Bah, señorita, once I find more suitable hollows, I’ll find you. I mean, dios mio, spiders?”

Well, can’t blame him. Especially after seeing you handle Grimmjow and having him actually enter the Espada means he outranked him by a long shot. Speaking of him, he’s been surprisingly busy honing his skills. Challenging Nnoitra is still something he avoids, which you can understand must be quite a sour topic. But everyone below that is free game for him. You’ve had Lahela fight him on multiple occasions which should do both of them good. Perhaps you should offer Lubina a rematch with him…?

‘Only if she behaves well,’ you think to yourself.

Last but not least, your special assignment with those ruins.

Now that’s a sour topic for you.

You found the ruins of course, but the issue is… there’s no hole. Nothing of the sorts that Shinji described, almost like somebody patched it up. Even your senses haven’t given you anything useful at all. It’s all just plain old… ruins.

You tried some explosive spells too of course, places with big open fields.

No. Damn. Luck.

“It’ll be easy, he said… just take some photographs, he said…”

>5/8

File: isthisevensocceranymore.png (1.59 MB, 1912x1078)

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You gave your inner world more frequent visits as well, since it’s something you feel like you’ve been neglecting a bit.

And, well… it sure looks that way, considering what you’re seeing currently.

“G-Guys? What the fuck?”

You see in the sky, a huge sphere of energy that feels like it has enough energy to obliterate everything in your mindscape (would that affect your psyche?!), being kicked around from one end to the other.

“Oh Koharu,” Zilya welcomes you, with maniacal glee on her face. “We just recreated the… what was it called, she-stag?!”

Celaris gracefully kicks the mobile bomb of mass destruction away from her side and towards Zilya… or rather her Torii gate.

“I believe humans call this soccer.”

“How- what- whe-”

You try to find your words, but fail. How the hell is this in any way soccer?! They ball’s going from one end to the other a hundred times a second!

“GUYS, STOP! TIME-OUT! TIME-OUT!”

In the end, Celaris kicks the energy ball upwards into the sky.

“Ha, that’s a point for me, loser!” Zilya gloats, but Celaris just shrugs.

“Wait… is that.. safe? Why didn’t you absorb that?”

Zilya and Celaris look at each other, then at you. “We couldn’t without dying.”

>6/8

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After reprimanding them for putting your literal mind in such danger, they explain that they’ve been going through your memories out of boredom. You’re not sure you like that idea… but then again, they’re literally part of your soul. Apparently, they found out about this sport and decided to try it out. Of course, the version you just saw has little to do with it.

Okay, you’ve definitely neglected them here.

You sigh. “We need to figure out something else for you to do, I can’t have you endanger my mind like that. Find something more peaceful! Like… card games, or board games. Tactical! No power or strength involved!”

Zilya groans. “That’s soooo boring. What use is a game if you can’t kill your prey?”

Celaris shrugs. “I mean, it wouldn’t be any fun. I’d need an opponent with intelligence first.”

You shake your head as the two resume exchanging insults and jabs at each other.

“I don’t care! Anything that can be enough to pulverize this place is forbidden!”

They both cross their arms and look away from each other. Dear Reiō, are they pouting now?

“Maybe I should ask Hat’n’Clogs to figure out what to do.” You scratch your head. “In the mean-time, I don’t know, try golf. Skill through restraint!”

Hopefully that’ll work better. Then, you suddenly realize something.

“W-Wait… you’ve been going through my memories?”

Now their eyes are on you, with rather dangerous expressions on their faces.

“Surely you didn’t…”

“I mean, I always knew you to be the type…” Celaris says, putting his sleeve over his mouth. Zilya, in a miracle show of sudden cooperation, continues this attack.

“It was quite entertaining you know, seeing you-”

EJECT.

You get out of Jinzen, sweat on your forehead, breathing heavily. Those bastards.

“You think you are safe?”

And you blank out as you realize that indeed, they can talk to you even outside of Jinzen.

>7/8

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Eventually the time comes again that your other special assignment, for Aizen, becomes relevant. Of course you’ve been doing some more arrancarifications around your realm, but nothing really big.

Just as you finish a round at the pizzarea and throw the job of drinking with Kaizar to Pesci, Dordoni approaches you.

“Señorita, we’ve finally found another very promising specimen.”

“You did? That’s nice. What kind?”

“Well… I believe it’s better if you see it for yourself.”

“Huh,” you muse, as Lizzy shuffles out of your clothing, lightly nibbling at your skin.

>8/8

>Roll 1d3 to see who it is
1: Luppi
2: Ulquiorra
3: Wonderweiss

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Welcome to a new thread of Advent Soul Quest, and a very much happy new year 2022!

>What is this?
A quest based on the setting of Bleach. Deviation from canon depends on the MC’s influence, and some other additions are to be expected as well.
>Who are we?
Nakashiri Koharu, a former high school trap, now a 3rd seat officer in the 5th Division, a pawn of the two masterminds Aizen and Urahara, host of two ancient spirits, new queen of one’s realm in Hueco Mundo.
>When are we?
Currently it is Spring 1985, ~16 years prior to the events of canon.
>Dice? Challenge?
Prompted after deciding on an action. Usually 3d10, best of 3 (Bo3), against a set DC and sometimes a crit-DC. Write-ins may affect the DC as well. If a character stat (in the char sheet) is directly related to the action, it will substitute the lowest die in rolls if it is higher (will be always explained when prompted to roll).
>Updates?
Daily updates, with long voting period times. I will strive to update in my evening, leave voting on for overnight, and prompt rolls in the morning. Sometimes if I have the proper time, I may do an extra update in the morning. My timezone is UTC+2 (winter time).
>I have questions!
Ask away and I’ll do my best to answer! You can also address questions to characters, which I’ll answer in-character!
>What do?
Have fun, vote on what feels the best, roll some dice and chill.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/QmTrippy
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=advent+soul+quest
Char Sheets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DQUOuJbOgzrjIKQLjMFxdmsQh3WIKMMFJQ8fO5-biYM/edit?usp=sharing
Social Links: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HXWo1bA7rplcTIJSkE850qzEE55b-W36tuL_qtT0b00/edit?usp=sharing
Character Questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S1RrQ6icjeWSV2MIb6EUwuZjzGx0QvuFjoxB1bN_tlU/edit?usp=sharing

Rolled 1 (1d3)

>>5104667
Welcome back. Hope the holiday season was good for you.

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>>5104704
>Writing

It went pretty well. Loooooots of food put into me, thankfully my metabolism is good enough to keep me at 65 kilos, so no complaints there

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Once you get Lahela to tag along, the three of you leave Azulwald and head in the direction of the black, spiky mountains far off behind the jungle and the following desert. They really do look like looming hooded figures. A few times when you glance at them it almost seems like they’re slowly moving, but you just chalk that up to your imagination.

“Can you tell me anything at all about who you’ve found? You know, so I know what to expect.”

Dordoni sighs. “It’s a violent one, that’s for sure. Ambushed me, Cirucci and Gantenbainne. I’m sure they’re keeping it contained, si.”

“Right. Good that you finally found another one.”

“Señorita, while Gillians are numerous, Adjuchas are scarce,” Dordoni explains. “A lot of them have picked sides too for that matter. Not many are left in the wild.”

“So that means this one is either a fresh one… or one that nobody wanted?”

“Si, señorita.”

“Will your companions be alright?”

“Do not underestimate them please,” Dordoni gives you a confident smirk. “Becoming arrancars themselves only improved their skills.”

Hmm. You’ll have to take his word for it then. While you don’t care much for the lolita bitch, the orange afroman is quite chill and nice. It’d be a shame if something happened to him.

Picking up the pace, you reach the base of the mountains, where the white sand ends and withered black rock is exposed.

You find a rather bleak scene however. Dordoni is shocked, and you can’t blame him. This monstrous figure with tentacles has Cirucci wrapped tightly, and Gantenbainne pinned against the wall with another one.

“Fufufufu, are you really this weak? You’re more like toys to play with… and violently tear apart!”

“Stop right there!!!” Dordoni shouts and jumps down from the mountain opening you came from. “Behold! Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio has arri-”

He’s cut mid-sentence as he trips and lands headfirst into the ground. Ouch, that can’t do good for his neck.

“Pffft, hahahah!” the hollow bursts into a high pitched laughter. “Is this really the power of these so called arrancar? Soooo weak! I barely sensed your measly presence!”

Lahela looks at you, clearly waiting for instructions.

>Wait and see, let Dordoni handle it first.
>Intervene and try to reason with it.
>Let Lahela rough the hollow up.
>Straight up subdue with hanran.
>Other?

>>5104801
>Let Lahela rough the hollow up.
know your place.

anyways, are you planning a timeskip anytime soon? would be fun to start nearing canon

>>5104801
>Let Lahela rough the hollow up.
Tentacle fight

>>5104801
>>Let Lahela rough the hollow up.
Bitchin’ we’re back

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>>5104807
>are you planning a timeskip anytime soon?
Definitely am. Going to try and do some longer updates and get our pace up. There's a few things still on the to-do list, but hopefully it'll go at a nice speed.

There's one arc I was planning to do before canon, but I think it'll actually fit better after it. So yeah

>>5104801
>Let Lahela rough the hollow up.

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Rolled 6, 8, 4 + 6 = 24 (3d10 + 6)

>>5104807
>>5104811
>>5104832
>>5104985
>Writing
>Roll (for Lahela) 3d10, Bo3, Offense (7) may replace lowest die
>Rolling for Luppi

Rolled 9, 6, 7 = 22 (3d10)

>>5105953
So are we beating 24 or 20 with the 6 replacing the 4?

Rolled 2, 10, 7 = 19 (3d10)

>>5105953
push her shit in!

>>5105999
doesnt matter, i matched it :^)

Rolled 2, 8, 2 = 12 (3d10)

>>5105953

>>5105953
So does this >>5106007 mean they're dead even in combat power?

>>5105999
>22(23)
>>5106005
>19(24)
>>5106137
>12(17)

>>5105999
>>5106193
Replacing it is the DC (20) and total is crit (24)
So it's a crit!
>Writing

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>https://audius.co/QmTrippy/01-la-distancia-para-un-duelo-93850

You’re not sure about this one’s abilities, but so far it looks like it depends on those eight tentacles sprouting from its back. But what’s that tail…?

“Lahela, how about you show me your progress? I know you’ve been up to some training of your own.”

A wide, quite innocent smile spreads on her face and her eyes are sparkling, though you think you might be imagining that. Like a child who just got the toy they’ve been wishing for years.

“I will not let you down!!!”

“Just keep it alive!”

Lahela’s eyes shift back to the Adjuchas, and in a moment, she disappears from her spot. The hollow finds itself suddenly reeling back as Lahela kicks its head, and In that moment, Dordoni makes use of the diversion to get Cirucci out of her predicament, and you follow suit with Gantenbainne.

“Who the hell are you?!” the hollow screams as it recovers. Huh, if it didn’t even react to that first strike in time, maybe the hollow’s nothing special afterall?

“Lahela, pleassed to meet’cha!” she grins childlishly as she draws her zanpakutō. “Entangle, Sadkheu!”

With a flash of light, a shockwave of energy spreads throughout the canyon you find yourself in. Contrasting with the bleak black and white scenery, Lahela stands there now, emerging from a colorful flower with her torso and up, while her lower body is a mass of vines.

“H-Hey! You filthy copycat!” the hollow shouts in anger and sends a barrage of its own tentacles at Lahela. Lahlea counters each one with her own vines, but one of them suddenly flies towards her at a much faster speed than the others. “Lanza Tentáculo!”

Lahela can’t help but just grin. Just before the hollow’s attack would’ve reached her, four of her vines envelop this thick white tentacle, stopping it in its place.

“W-What the?!”

“You know, I’m sso happy! I get to sshow Koharu how I’ve grown! Sso be a good cunt and ressisst, yess?”

With a twist of the four vines, the white tentacle rips apart and blood gushes out of it. The hollow screams out, whether it’s pain or anger you do not know. But wow, this… doesn’t this scene conflict with Lahela’s… childlike charm? You'll also have to scold her for cursing again.

>1/3

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“Y-You think you’ve won? Ha, a phony like you can’t defeat me!!” the hollow shouts. The remaining tentacles, but also the remains of the one ripped off begin to spin like a propeller, flinging and whipping the surroundings. The cliffs begin to crack and stones fly from the impacts. “La Hélice!”

Lahela tilts her head, and then begins imitating the hollow with her own, thinner but more numerous vines. “Like thiss?” she taunts, and lets the spinning and whirling vines clash with the hollow’s. It’s almost like two chainsaws gritting against each other.

“You… you BITCH! I’LL CLEAVE YOU APART FOR THAT!!!”

At this point your interest picks up. Despite Lahela’s strength, this hollow is actually keeping up with its remaining seven tentacles against her multitude of vines. Maybe there is some potential…

Meanwhile, Cirucci and Gantenbainne are looking from the side, shocked.

“N-No way…! How?!”

“H-Huh… well, I guess that’s a reality check, innit?”

You smirk. “What, you thought she was weak? Give me a break.” You watch Lahela toy around with this new technique she gained by imitating. That passion in her eyes…

Dordoni meanwhile, just watches in silence. “This strength… why isn’t she in the Espada?”

“Ask her,” you shrug. “Besides, you said you wanted Adjuchas and above, right?”

“W-What do you mean, señorita?”

“I mean, she was a regular hollow, you know? Before becoming an arrancar.”

“””W-WHAT?!””” the three of them shout.

>2/3

File: flower_sprouting.gif (1.39 MB, 500x270)

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“WHY… WON’T… YOU DIE!!”

The spinning barrages of death and destruction stay in a lock, but only one of them is panicking and sweating. “Right! You know, Koharu likess flowerss. It’d be bad if I didn’t bring any!”

A few vines rise up from the spinning mass, and they have closed flowers on them, bright red. They tilt and turn towards the hollow, and begin sprouting. Inside them, an all too familiar energy.

“Dok Mai Cero!”

One by one they open up, and fire off the ceros blooming within and towards the terrified hollow, who’s desperately trying to fire off their own cero, but all too late. With the tentacles locked with the vines, it’s either incineration by cero, or dissection by vines.

In the end, he chose the former.

You appear beside Lahela as she’s standing in front of the barely alive hollow, back in her human form. Her eyes beam with pride and happiness as she presents this… well, artwork to you.

“W-Well done,” you sheepishly smile as you pat her head.

“Hnnnghh…” the hollow lets out a groan. “Y-You bas…tards…”

“Now, now, don’t be hasty.” You kneel down and smile, while caressing the hollow’s mask. “You’re not bad, but… aren’t your abilities rather narrow? Are those tentacles really all you can use? I thought you’d use that tail of yours at some point.”

Now you let out your own reiatsu, not suppressing it anymore. In combination with your fake smile, you can smell the fear in this hollow.

“What’s your name?”

“L-Luppi… Luppi Antenor…”

“Well…”

>3/3

>”...Want to become stronger?”
>”...Want to get revenge?”
>Other?

>>5106433
>”...Want to become stronger?”

>>5106433
>”...Want to become stronger?”
Don't want to paint a target on Lahela with the other option. Speaking of Lahela, she's certainly grown into something impressive

>>5106433
>>”...Want to become stronger?”

>>5106433
>”...Want to become stronger?

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>>5106478
>>5106492
>>5106500
>>5106763
>Writing

Also, kek, I salute the two anons who nominated Koharu for both the waifu and the husbando tourny

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“...Want to become stronger?”

Luppi hesitates. “Pfft, as if you’d give me anything like that for free!”

“That’s a given. But know that servitude comes in ranges of chill life… and agonizing pain.” You make sure to keep your uncanny smile motionless. “Considering how you just treated my friends here, you could say I’m being generous.”

To drive the point completely home, you let out some of Zilya’s power, hanran. With Luppi already afraid, he is quick to capitulate.

“F-Fine! Okay, I get it, I get it, stop!”

“Good.” You nod with satisfaction, drawing your zanpakutō. “Mediate, Naimen no Daiza.”

An almost unnoticeable breeze, and the familiar chalice-hilted blade is in your hand. Luppi begins to panic as you bring it closer.

In but a moment, you find yourself within the chaotic mindscape of Luppi. Despite the familiar hollow chaos and pain shell, you manage to push through into the depths of his mind. You find yourself in a rather classic historical European city.

“Oh,” Celaris says with some rare surprise in his voice, “it’s been a while since I’ve been in Italy.”

Italy, huh? Same as Pesci? It’s odd though, this place looks rather harmonious. That is, until you see Luppi running past a crowd and some thugs chasing after him.

“Sorry! Heheheh. Now you can safely call yourself Greek, right?”

“You little piece of shit, give back our money and your death will be swift!!!”

A thief. But hold on a moment, he’s… oh. No wonder something felt familiar.

“Now then, what to do with you?”

>Arrancarify as he is
>Use Celaris’ influence to stabilize more
>Use Zilya’s influence to guarantee loyalty
>Other?

>>5107406
>Use Celaris’ influence to stabilize more

>>5107406
>Use Celaris’ influence to stabilize more

>>5107406
>Arrancarify as he is
Don't see the need to make changes right now

>>5107406
Use Zilya’s influence to guarantee loyalty
Luppi a shit

>>5107406
>Use Celaris’ influence to stabilize more

>>5107462
>>5107514
>>5107589
>>5107620
>>5107774
>Writing

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“Celaris?”

You feel an internal nod from him, but also as if Zilya’s rolling her eyes. Really, what does she expect at this point? If it comes down to it, you can always enter a mind again and make it work, right?

Spreading your hands and closing your eyes, you focus on the chaos that is the hollow’s agony surrounding the missing heart. You draw it up all together, while leaving the mending process to Celaris.

Opening your eyes, Luppi is naked in front of you, with a fresh zanpakutō before him. He’s still processing the situation, confused and scared. The remains of his mask sticks to the side of his head, looking like a hairpiece despite being the upper front teeth of his mask. Kind of cute even.

Dordoni brings some basic clothes and puts them beside the zanpakutō.

“Congratulations,” you say. His eyes twitch once, and he finally regains enough focus to look up at you. “Now you won’t need to be afraid of regressing either.”

“H-Huh?”

“The señorita is right, amigo. As arrancar, we need not fear regression into Gillians anymore.”

It takes a while for the boy to get his bearings and properly realize that he now has a human body. His hollow hole is in his upper chest, which he promptly hides as he puts on the clothes.

And so Aizen’s army of arrancar gained another member. Certainly strong compared to most hollows, but not quite to reach any of the Espada… at least the proper ones. But most importantly, you got a new underling to work with and to pit against various opponents. Who knows, perhaps this Luppi will become useful in one way or another?

>1/3

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Months pass once more.

Skirmishes at borders and within territories become more frequent, though with Lazuta Yami, it’s hard for anyone unwelcome to really get in with all the spiders and networks. The clean-up process did make it easier to navigate throughout your kingdom, but that also makes it easier to get deeper into the territory.

You continue to juggle between Hueco Mundo and the living realm without issues with the help of Lahela and Lubina. Speaking of the latter, she’s been more and more at home at the citadel, much to the confusion of her sisters. Hopefully they’ll be able to reconnect and make up with the change in leadership.

In the living realm, you mostly keep watch so Akane can sleep, but you do spend time together along with Chie-chan. There was one conversation though that especially grabbed your attention…

“Hey, Koharu?”

“Yeah?”

“So what are you gonna do when you come back?”

“Excuse me?” You blink.

“You know, when we figure out a way to get you back in a proper body. This is where you belong, remember?”

You stay silent for a moment. You’ve been so caught up with Soul Society, Urahara and Aizen’s behind-the-scenes rivalry, and Hueco Mundo to even entertain such a thought.

“Come back, huh? I guess… that would be nice?” you muse.

“You never got to truly experience life, right?” Akane says as she puts her arm over your shoulder, giving you a wide grin. “There’s so many things I want to show you, you know. Things I know you would’ve enjoyed. A proper life, not one where you slave away as somebody’s personal death god, nor one where you have to put up with hollows.”

You look at her.

“You know, a human life.”

>2/3

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Despite your best efforts, the whole project with the ruins of Negal is one big dead end. You haven’t found anything new in them since the day you got the assignment, nor is there anything noteworthy here other than sand-covered ruins of white stone. There’s an ominous reiatsu here, sure, one that makes you expect a tragedy at any moment, but that’s it. Shinji clearly stated that there should be a huge hole ripped open on the floor, yet none is to be found.

Maybe he was hallucinating?

Regardless, you take some photographs with Urahara’s weird pink machine, and bring them to him.

“Nothing, huh?” Kisuke scratches his chin.

“I’m telling you, it’s all just empty ruins. I tried to damage the floor as well, just to be sure, but I barely made a dent into it. It’s as if that place is nigh indestructible.”

“Quite peculiar.” He spins his cane a few times, before throwing it up and properly grabbing it. “We need directions!”

“Huh?”

“Well, clearly we need to ask the person who fell down the hole that Shinji saw! I believe you already know him.”

You rub your neck. “He won’t give up such information for free, you know.”

At least, you really doubt it. Getting Shinji that easily may have been a stroke of luck with him not realizing just what he was, or he just did not care. But with Negal? Something tells you having been down the alleged pit, he may have at least explored it a little. But still, Jester’s intervention bothers you. What did he really want? Did you do the right thing?

You swear you can hear his distant laughter.

>3/3

Choose one major thing to work on until the end of your assignment:
>Work on Negal with Kaizar
>Work on your bankai
>Work on safely arrancarifying your other ‘children’
>Other?

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Sorry for the delay folks. Today's little trip took longer than expected

>>5109136
>>Work on your bankai
Don’t really feel the Kaizar one and I’m tempted on working on safely arrancarifying more hollows but I really wanna work on making Koharu more powerful then he already is

>>5109136
>Work on your bankai

>>5109136
>Work on your bankai
Time to fight a pedestal/ our ancestors unless we have to throw down with Celaris/Zilya for total dominance

>>5109136
>Work on your bankai

>>5109136
>Work on your bankai

>>5109136
>>Work on safely arrancarifying your other ‘children’

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>>5109174
>>5109210
>>5109337
>>5109716
>>5110196
>>5110206
Bankai development time
>Writing
>Also roll 1d100+8, Bo3, to determine your progress

Sorry for yesterday's silence, was a veeeeery busy day. Today there'll be a long and big update though!

Rolled 7 + 8 (1d100 + 8)

>>5110679
BIG
AND
LONG

Rolled 1 + 8 (1d100 + 8)

>>5110679

Rolled 58 + 8 (1d100 + 8)

>>5110693
>>5110692
what the fuck is this. can we get a reroll??

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>>5110692
>>5110693
>>5110724
We have been rolling poorly for personal power-ups lately. Dice gods demand we embiggen our friendos.

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>>5110692
>>5110693
Guys I said 1d100 not 1d10's- oh
>>5110724
>66
>Writing

>>5110724
>what the fuck is this. can we get a reroll??
No. At least your roll saves the day, otherwise we'd have super-frustrated Koharu for dinner That would've been quite fun

>>5110752
I'm just glad we don't have critfails

>>5110757
Just imagine the BTL if we did

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With Hueco Mundo growing more and more volatile, you quickly realize a problem: despite being now one of the barons of the realm, you doubt you’d be able to properly tackle any other one if it came down to it, possibly having trouble with their stronger underlings. Hanran is an efficient power to fall back on, but what will you do when it doesn’t work?

And thus, you decide that it’s finally time to unearth a shinigami’s strongest power available to them: your bankai.

Naimen no Daiza, after Urahara’s little powerup trick, did unveil the name of its bankai to you, perhaps deeming that you are strong enough not to die from it. But it still left a big problem: your zanpakutō is an inanimate tool, unable to talk to you. And while you have Celaris and Zilya along for the ride, they certainly don’t know any more about Naimen no Daiza than you do.

Well, you have to start somewhere. So you find a nice empty hall in your citadel (there’s quite many of them, why Zilya needed them is beyond you) and gather Lahela, Valeska and Lubina. If anything happens, they’ll be able to keep things contained.

You shudder as you recall Akane’s description of what once happened.

“All I need you to do is sit tight and be ready to fight if I lose control, okay?”

They look doubtful, but each of them seems to understand. Especially Lahela, who was there last time. Lizzy pops out of her hair too. It looks like she gives you a thumbs-up, but you chalk it up to your imagination.

“Alright, here we go…”

You prepare yourself, make sure Cel and Zil are ready, make sure you got the name right, pull on your reserves of reiryoku, and…

“Bankai: Zen Gōsei Naimen no Daiza!” you firmly declare as you hold your zanpakutō upwards in a pose.

>1/5

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“Should something be happening?” Lubina asks as she tilts her head.

“I must say I am… confused.” Valeska too, tilts her head, as does Lahela.

You stand there awkwardly, feeling even embarrassed. After all those precautions…

“I-I guess something’s missing,” you say, trying to save face.

You don’t understand. You’re sure the name is right, you have Cel and Zil at the fountain basin, you should have enough reiryoku at your disposal as well. So why isn’t it working?

“Time out,” you declare, and drop yourself to sit down, your legs crossed and Naimen no Daiza on your lap.

This, it turns out, would become a routine trouble for you. Trying out different variations of the process, pushing Cel and Zil’s presences into Naimen no Daiza, saying the name differently.

Anything and everything. Yet no progress.

Even in Jinzen, you spend a lot of time looking for anything that you may have missed. The pagoda structure above the fountain basin became your study chamber. Housing what’s essentially the tombstones of all of your ancestors who have ever borne the souls of Zilya and Celaris, perhaps they were the key to this.

“They have to be,” you muse and sigh. “If only you could talk. Any of you, really.”

And so more and more months went by as you worked on the secrets of your bankai. The training didn’t go completely to waste though, as you did spar with many opponents. All five of Zilya’s children for one, which also gave you a much better view on what their individual strengths and weaknesses are. Grimmjow and Lahela pushed you quite well now with their raw power, Grimbo especially. It’s scary how much he’s grown since you arrancarified him. Lahela’s been improving at a slower, but dedicated pace, which is again quite remarkable for somebody starting as a regular hollow. Luppi is doing his best, but his… personality keeps him from focusing on that. And Kaizar’s brat.

>2/5

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Over the course of this period, Aizen makes an appearance one more time for a meeting regarding the brewing war. Nothing really changed though, and the Espada were advised to stick to their respective jobs. However, after seeing the previous meeting too, you have a hunch that he’s doing this to keep them aware of his presence and awareness of what they are doing.

Nothing’s more unnerving than a person you rarely see and seems to know everything about you and what you’ve been up to.

After the meeting though, you meet up with him…

“Aizen-taichō, may I have a moment?”

The garden with the table and chairs is now empty, with all the arrancars scattered.

“Of course, Koharu-san. Afterall, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

You nod. “Yeah… there’s still some months until my assignment ends, then I’ll be back. Are things okay back there?”

“Certainly. Nothing short of a catastrophe could shake the Seireitei,” he says with a smile all too familiar to you, and one that fools neither of you. “So, how can I help you?”

“I need some more information on how bankai is trained for, achieved and polished,” you say, going straight to the point.

“Ah, so you’ve been unsuccessful so far?”

“No need to rub salt into the wound,” you grumble, crossing your arms, ignoring his sly confession of keeping tabs on you.

He pats your head, something that catches you off guard. “Now, no need to be pouting. You are, afterall, quite a special case. Now, let’s se…”

He goes over the basics that you remember from the academy. To achieve Bankai, a Shinigami must typically train upward of ten years to both subjugate and materialize their Zanpakutō spirit outside their mindscape, as opposed to getting drawn into the mindscape for shikai. Yet in your case, materializing a fountain basin seems ridiculous, not that you could tell Aizen, given the story you’ve given him. He’s more than likely suspicious about it, but the less he knows about how things really are, the better.

“...That said, there is another theory. You see, a zanpakutō spirit is the representation of a core aspect of your very soul, as you very well know. I have noticed that only once a shinigami truly understands and fulfills this aspect in themselves do they attain their zanpakutō’s true power. Is bankai merely an ultimate, unrestricted version of a zanpakutō’s power? Or is it perhaps something more… intricate?”

Now you’re even more confused. As if sensing this, Aizen simply chuckles and pats you again. “Take your time, Koharu-san. You’ll figure it out. I believe in you.”

>3/5

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It really did not help. Despite contemplating it all, you still couldn’t find an answer to it. For the sake of it you do however try to materialize the two spirits within you that are sentient. It didn’t work out as expected, but you do feel like it improved your connection to both of them. It’s the closest and longest you’ve worked with either of them.

Next person you go to for advice is unsurprisingly Urahara…

“Bankai, you say?” Kisuke asks.

“Before you even suggest it, no, I will not. Period.”

“B-But you didn’t even hear me out!”

“I don’t care. Your last trick almost got me killed, you think I’m stupid enough to try another one of your half-baked experiments?”

“W-Well I got my bankai in 3 days with it…”

“I don- wait what?”

“You heard me right!” he cheerfully responds. “You stab your zanpakutō into a device I made, and poof, it materializes your zanpakutō spirit! Easy, right?”

As tempting as it sounds, you pass up the offer. Of course, you don’t tell him the true reason for it, or any at all for that matter.

“Sorry, I’ll pass. But… I’ll keep this in mind. If you have any other advice though for the old-fashioned way, I’d love to hear it.”

Urahara thinks it over as Tessai pours tea for him, and then unravels his contemplations. There’s nothing to add to the normal bankai training, but he does mention that sometimes weird zanpakutō require just as weird activation methods, beyond a simple declaration. This is however usually for unbound zanpakutō without a proper master, or zanpakutō that change owners.

“Sōkyoku Kikōō and the Ise heirloom are perhaps the most famous cases.”

>4/5

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Despite your best efforts, progress is almost nonexistent, at least with bankai. You find yourself more and more frustrated. Perhaps you’ve been spoiled so far with quick progress? But ten years… that already feels like an eternity.

Lying sideways on Zilya’s wide-ass throne (at least you have some cushions now), you hold the released Naimen no Daiza in the air, trying to piece it all together.

‘In order to mediate yourself, mediate the world.’

You stare at that inscription. Of course, you know it by heart as it’s pretty much the foundation of your zanpakutō, but you still feel like you’ve missed something. Some tiny detail, some little clue.

“So what are you exactly?” you quietly ask.

You know what Kaishigome is. It is essentially a pseudo-zanpakutō of Celaris.

You know what Jorōgumo is. It is also a pseudo-zanpakutō, but this time of Zilya.

“Maybe it would’ve been easier if one of you had gone into the blade back then,” you sigh. The two protest of course, and you end up regretting saying that as you hush them down. Jeez, it was just a joke, okay?

But still, why did it have to be inanimate?

“So what are you?” you ask again, as if expecting it to suddenly say something.

Something however suddenly clicks in you. The pagoda, it just has to be related, right? And all the ‘graves’ of your ancestors. Why were they there? Didn’t they get consumed to keep your two spirit friends contained?

…Consumed by what?

Your thoughts are rushing in your head, as you continue to stare at your zanpakutō.

“N-No way, are… are you the seal itself?”

This epiphany did shake you, but it’s still something you can’t be sure of, nor something you can put to practical use. You still can’t materialize your zanpakutō spirit, and neither of the two spirits contained within you.

You feel like you’re so close, so damn close to the answer, yet it’s a hair’s breadth away from you.

>5/5

>Attempt something specific (write-in)
>Continue as you did (skip to return to SS)

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So this is essentially your chance to do some detective work and try a guess at how to get your bankai working. If any of you get it right, it'll push you a step further, but if you don't or don't want to, we'll just continue with slow meticulous progress and get moving.

So my initial thoughts. We now recognize our sword as a third party within us, the seal itself. What is the seal? A binding, but unlike Ziliya. Not domination but nullification. A sacrifice, or rather, an exchange. Follow a rule to enforce a rule. A little like Kyōraku at first blush but less freeform yet more expansive.

Let's make a deal.

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Maybe we mediate the sword or the fountain? An other thing I just thought is has Koharu actually tried to mediate himself? Honestly I should probably reread the quest but either way it feels like the answer is with the sword, the fountain, and/or Koharu

>>5110884
Well, if the Zanpakuto itself is the seal... And we probably need to face our ancestors... we should break the seal.

>>5110884
Ok so Naimen no Daiza is supposed to represent our desire to be in balance with ourselves, particularly our desires for freedom and control. Also according to the legend of our family plus what Celaris told us a long time ago, Celaris and Zilya were fatally wounded and latched onto our ancestor, only for someone else (Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto) to assist in the binding as normally it would have killed her. And being the first male of a 1000+ long curse signals our role being to break the cycle. My theory is that the seal is either Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto himself or a remnant of his powers and we need to break it and prove we're capable of holding our two soul mates back with our own strength, to do what no one before us could. We need to change the very core of our existence if we wish to see the change we want to see. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the seal had a defense mechanism built into it that we would have to fight.
TL;DR: Break the seal, pray to every god we know we can withstand the aftermath

>mediate yourself, mediate the world
Stab the lil' cunt sword in the ground. If it wants more ghost-go-juice we'll give it more

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>>5110909
>>5110937
>>5110961
>>5111056
>>5111532
>Writing
Was just and just there that it wouldn't be enough, but one anon mentioned the important thing

I'll try to get the update today, but there's a high chance it'll only come tomorrow.

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Over a thousand years ago, Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto sealed Celaris and Zilya into the first of the Tamaki line, creating a seal that would keep them restrained within the human soul and the descendants.

When you had the choice to have one of them inhabit your zanpakutō, you opted to do neither. This resulted in the birth of Naimen no Daiza. Now you realize that had you not done that, perhaps the seal would’ve never manifested itself into something this concrete.

And this means you can now affect this seal.

It already allows you to partially release the power of your spiritual tenants, but only one or the other. This bankai that you seek, you can only assume that it’ll allow you to work with both. Whether it’ll juggle the power balance for you or you have to keep the two contained yourself is up to debate as well. You have to assume the latter, simply for your safety.

“What if I break the seal?” you ask aloud. This implies the destruction of your zanpakutō, an idea that is making you feel terrified. You shudder as you recall what the two idiots were up to in your mindscape. Playing soccer your ass, you’ll die without Naimen no Daiza.

That still doesn’t solve the problem of how to access your bankai without permanent consequences. Fighting your zanpakutō spirit to attain it would be the standard way, but stone and water don't exactly fight back. How do you even go about materializing that outside your mindscape even?

However, there’s one thought that’s been clinging to you for a while now, ever since you properly started to experiment with Naimen no Daiza’s powers.

“What if I mediate myself?”

As it is, Naimen no Daiza can’t mediate itself. It is the vessel that takes in whatever it mediates. But you do have your own reiryoku, do you not? Problem is, if you start mediating yourself, what happens if you lose control? The consequences can be severe, considering how much power you’ve had over the minds and souls of those you’ve mediated. Lahela, Sanjuro, Grimmjow, and especially Lubina. One misstep, and you might end up in a vegetative state.

>1/2

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“Still, is that what it takes?” you ask your sword, as if it’ll answer you.

You read the inscription again, and something again clicks within you. With shikai, you must summon yourself into your mindscape. With bankai, you summon your zanpakutō spirit outside it, a reversal of shikai. The philosophical line on your sword appeared with your first release. And if you reverse it…

“In order to mediate the world, mediate yourself.”

…

You hang your head. You’d think figuring out how to achieve bankai would be a moment of joy and euphoria, but this… this is REALLY dangerous. This is going to be a battle to keep yourself from imploding in any of the thousands of ways. And if it changes you only slightly, are you going to be aware of the changes? What if you become somebody else entirely?

These thoughts scare you like no other.

But in the end, despite looking into alternatives, this is indeed the only method you haven’t tried yet.

As the saying goes, ‘Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.’

So you gather Lahela, Valeska and Lubina again, and prepare for it. But first you give them a somber warning.

“If I mess this up and become wild, do not hesitate to restrain me, and if you can’t do that, then kill.”

Everyone tenses up, you can feel their concern. Even Lubina who’s trying to act like she doesn’t care. Feeling on the inside, you can sense both Celaris and Zilya tensed up like never before.

“Wish me luck?” you say and poke Lizzy’s nose, or at least where it would be beneath the mask, before giving her to Lahela.

Oh boy. Here we go.

>2/2

>Roll 3d10, Bo3, Mental (8) may replace lowest die
>DC: 25
>Crit: 30

Rolled 6, 3, 8 = 17 (3d10)

>>5113142

Rolled 2, 10, 8 = 20 (3d10)

>>5113142
Over the lips and passed the gums

Rolled 3, 4, 3 = 10 (3d10)

>>5113213
pass
>>5113142
but watch this crit

>>5113217
It was worth a shot anon, at least we've made a breakthrough and hopefully won't go berserk again

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>progress
Let's gooooo

>>5113146
>17(22)
>>5113213
>20(26)
>>5113217
>10(15)
It's a pass, so the bad thing is avoided! Yay!
>Writing
>Update tomorrow, as I'm still in a D&D game
>There's a giant crab as somebody's PC, what the fuck

>>5113420
Would said person with the PC happen to be an enemy?

Well, granpa died. Maybe I'll get an update today, maybe not. We'll see.

>>5114032
No, party member

>>5114232
Damn, my condolences Trippy

File: dancing crabs gif.gif (4.8 MB, 352x200)

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>>5113420
>>There's a giant crab as somebody's PC, what the fuck
AWWWW YEEEAAAAAHHHHH

>>5114232
Sorry for your loss, take as long as you need Trippy

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“Mediate, Naimen no Daiza!”

With a deep breath, you draw the blade’s flat side closer to your head, until your forehead touches it.

…

Celaris and Zilya are watching in horror as the water sphere on top of the basin, which normally worked as a gateway for them to occupy the zanpakutō, is distorting in a chaotic way. Water spikes extend out, and return at a rapid pace, causing damage to its surroundings, the basin included.

There, the antagonistic duo are using all the power they have available to keep it contained. At the same time, they both notice something incredibly significant.

“This… this power…”

“Hahah, yes, YES! FINALLY!”

“D-Don’t you dare!”

“What, you think I’ll just sit idly?”

“Do you want us all to perish?! Whatever you’re planning, it’s flawed!”

“Try me!”

With a wide grin, Zilya starts shooting ceros towards Celaris, while continuing to channel her own power into Naimen no Daiza. ‘This is my chance,’ she thinks to herself, ‘now that the seal is wavering!’

Celaris does his best to stay opposite of Zil for now, as she wouldn’t dare fire at the sphere of water from Naimen no Daiza. Yet he can’t deny that there could be a chance… a chance to reclaim his freedom. And so, despite his allegiance, his hidden desire urged him to fight against Zilya as well.

‘If I manage to take her out… well, nobody would blame me for trying, right..?’

>1/6

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>https://audius.co/QmTrippy/12-nothing-can-be-explainedvocal-ver.-93780

A stream of chaos. Flashing memories, through continuously distorted senses. Like a room surrounded by television screens, images and sounds assault your senses from every direction.

“Where am I?” you ask, in this void that you float in. However, a more terrifying question slowly appears in your thoughts as all images turn into mirrors at once.

“W-Who am I?” you ask, and your voice echoes back and forth in varying degrees of loudness.

Despite the raging headache and fuzzy sight, you notice that the images you see, they’re… they’re not identical.

“W-Wait..! W-Which one is me?”

Again, your question echoes painfully throughout your head. Each of these faces, they look just a bit different from each other, but unless you look closely, you could easily dismiss them as identical. But which… which one is you?

You frantically try to touch your own face in hopes of somehow being able to figure it out. Of course it has no chance of working, trying to construct a visual from your sense of touch is ridiculous. Panic breaks even the soundest of rational minds.

“Who are you?” one of these images suddenly speaks up. You turn to stare at her, unable to give her an answer.

Another one asks the same question. And another. And another, until this void is filled with a cacophony of this same question.

Numerous names flood your mind, all of which feel familiar. Hitomi. Natsuko. Kanako. Honoka. Koyuki.

But… which one was yours again..?

>2/6

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Lahela curses loudly. As much as she’s been reprimanded for learning these words from the quatra bestias, if there’s any moment to curse it’s now. Koharu, her master and the person she loves and adores the most, is once again in grave danger. She has seen this form before, back when that weird man with the hat, sandals and cane made her undergo weird training.

Yes, this monstrosity before her is indeed, Koharu.

Just like before: Monstrous limbs and body, white as bone but covered with blackened fur. Four long, purple-tipped black spider limbs growing out of the back, with a large spider abdomen extending from where the spine would end.

The head is hidden behind a crown-helm with large stag horns and eight spider eyes: two large green, and six smaller purple. A monstrous jaw extends from the head, with an amalgamation of animal teeth and insectuous mandibles, oozing black saliva. Long, wild black hair extends from the back, flowing in the air.

And embedded into the torso, a wooden block with the symbol 封.

But unlike last time, this monster is much, much stronger than before. And somehow, even more monstrous and horrifying.

“Watch out!” Lahela shouts as the monster shoots a huge ray of destructive energy at them, moving this continuous beam across the large room to hit one of the three girls. Despite them being deep underground, this attack by itself created a huge open area. Whatever stone was there before, has just disintegrated.

“S-Seriously?! T-That was just a cero?!” Lubina shouts.

Thankfully, both Lahela and Lubina managed to release their zanpakutōs in time.

“I will distract Matj Koroleva,” Valeska says to the two as she creates shields of spider string and negación for both arms. “My powers are defensive in nature, afterall.”

And so, this trio joined hands in a battle for survival.

‘If we can keep this monster… no, Koharu, occupied… I know he will find a way!!!”

With this unwavering trust, she goes to face the thing she’s seen nightmares of every night.

>3/6

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You feel cold, really cold. As each version of what seems to be you keeps asking the same question over and over again, you feel as if you’re being strangled.

Why are you here again?

What’s the point?

Are you even alive?

Does it matter?

“Yes it does!!!”

You reopen your eyes, as you try to find who just said that. Or was it your imagination? But then, you find her. The one version that’s not speaking, and instead looking at you, with a worried expression. You watch her, and slowly, the first clear thought dawns upon you.

“M-Mother?”

“Don’t give up..!” her voice speaks. It’s somehow clearer now, the rest of the cacophony becoming more like background noise. Bits and pieces of various memories start coming back together. You grab onto this feeling, this hope and relief that you have some control. And soon enough, your senses become clear again.

“Hitomi. Natsuko. Kanako. Honoka. Koyuki… you are all my ancestors.”

The void falls silent.

“That is who we are,” they say one after the other, turning into a new cacophony again before dying down. Then, they all ask in total unison.

“But who are you?”

“Who am I…” you repeat the question. Wouldn’t that be Nakashiri Ko- no, it is a name you took in honor of the Rukongai district, and your first name… it is indeed your name, of you as an individual. But there is one name that unites everything in you, each face in this void.

“I am Tamaki.”

>4/6

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If Koharu would see what his mindscape’s like, he wouldn’t recognize it, that’s for sure.

Floating rubble is circling a huge sphere of water, the surface of which distorts in all directions. Ground is nowhere to be seen, and which way is up and which way is down is impossible to tell. Here, Zilya and Celaris continue to throw projectiles at each other, despite their bloodied and ragged conditions.

Despite them fighting, most of their injuries came from the water sphere between them. Each time they misjudged the situation, a distortion on the sphere stretched out far and incredibly quickly like a spike, piercing a wound in them. They did their best to keep it in check, but the reality looks like they can’t do it.

Unless..

“She-stag…”

“Spider-whore?”

“How about a ceasefire?”

“As baffling a suggestion as it is coming from your mouth… I must agree. Otherwise we will perish.”

“Yeah, that’d be pretty annoying. Damn this seal…”

And so they shifted their concentration on fully keeping the sphere of water in check. The distortions gradually lowered in intensity and speed. So much in fact, that it became like a mirror, through which you could also see to the other side.

At last, they could connect to it together.

…

‘Sso thiss… iss how I die?’

Lahela was lying against a melted wall, in a pool of blood. Lubina and Valeska weren’t much better either, somewhere in this room.

Something however, is keeping them all alive. A steady stream of black liquid has connected itself to where she is, with the blood, and through it, with her. It feels like a parasite trying to force itself into one’s body, yet… her wounds stop hurting, and bit by bit things start to heal.

Now that she has a moment of clarity… why isn’t she dead? The monstrosity should’ve had enough time to annihilate her in a multitude of methods by now. As her sight unblurred, she saw a black figure as if riding a wave of some black liquid, holding the monster down with this same substance.

Then, the form of this monster starts to shimmer, and its body begins to contract and morph.

Until in its place appears a being, so beautiful and divine, surrounded by an awe-inspiring aura.

>5/6

File: deersatyr.jpg (408 KB, 3028x2843)

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You are Tamaki Koharu, and you’ve just managed to stabilize yourself and your bankai… even if it’s just a small fraction of the true thing.

“Bankai: Zen Gōsei Naimen no Daiza.”

As these words leave your mouth, your eyes refocus and you see a troublesome scenery.

The room… it’s absolutely wrecked. There’s rubble almost everywhere, and new caverns where there should be walls. In front of you though…

“I am pleased to see you are alright. Matj Koroleva.” Abathos bows ever so slightly. “You are reckless. You should have told me first.”

You’re about to respond to him, but then you realize something that alarms you. Lahela, Valeska and Lubina are all in different parts of this room, on the ground.

“Do not worry. They are stable. Almost died. Fortunately not.”

“I… did this?” you solemnly ask.

Abathos doesn’t answer you right away. “Yes.”

You clench your fists. Would it have been better to try this alone?

“They stalled enough that I could put up the barriers,” Abathos says, as if reading your mind. “They will come about. Allow me to congratulate then, Matj Koroleva.”

Some of the black liquid around him rises up like a solid wall, its surface so flat and polished that it acts like a mirror. That’s when you see yourself.

Your form, while still human, has changed. Your legs are now like deer hooves, as if you were a satyr. From your head rise a pair of antlers, and a white visor-like accessory is on your forehead, with six eye-shaped holes. Your hair has grown in length enough that it almost touches the floor, though you have a feeling you’ve gained some height as well. Behind you, you can feel four new spider-like limbs. Moving them feels extremely weird.

Clothing-wise what you have is a weird combination of your miko outfit, a shihakusho, and various hollow bone fragments here and there. Dangling from a black silk-like choker is a wooden tag with the kanji 封. Seal.

And in your hand, a short, silver rod. The hilt of Naimen no Daiza.

>6/6

File: astolfoexhausted.png (144 KB, 495x581)

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Well, that became a long update. This concludes this part, and we'll continue tomorrow straight away with exploring the very fresh and still weak bankai.

>>5114240
>>5114595
Thanks, anons. I appreciate it

>>5116069
Motherfuck Koharu stop being so scary. It's almost... primordial.

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>>5116069
Goddamn Koharu and your monster energy what the fuck would a crit have looked like

>Nearly killed everyone inside and around us
At least the three have finally become one. Wish more artfriends were around who could give us a full visualization of our new form
>>5116116
I can only guess we wouldn't have gone berserk. A fail on the other hand 100% would have killed someone.

File: Thread014b.jpg (350 KB, 1000x700)

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You are Tamaki Koharu, inheritor of the spiritual beings that have been imprisoned within the very souls of your ancestors. One might think this is no big deal, were it not for the fact that they were doomed from birth to never pass on to the afterlife, instead falling into a limbo within their descendants.

You are the final one in this line, and you’ve somehow persevered through the insane act of mediating yourself. You don’t feel like anything important about you has changed. Perhaps your ancestors helped you with this task as well, afterall, they weren’t the ones being mediated.

How incredibly fortunate in the end that they’ve stuck through to this day, huh?

Despite having brought it under control, you opt out to seal your zanpakutō back and focus on taking care of your subordinates. It really stings, knowing that you put them in danger like this. Were it not for Abathos, they would’ve very likely died. There’s still so much you don’t know about that hollow, but at least he does seem to have your back and interests in mind.

Your experiment does have a profound impact on Lubina and Valeska who hadn’t seen you like this before. The small flash of fear in their eyes is something you notice easily, partially due to Zilya’s powers but also your sensory abilities through Celaris. Lahela however only got more confident. It’s like there’s a whole new level to her drive now.

One day, after a shift at Pesci’s pizzarea, you spend a moment together. It’s not that unusual, but her attachment to you is shining a little too bright.

“Hey, Lahela,” you ask, feeling frustrated and tense, “how do you stay so positive?”

“What do you means?” She leans in again an inch closer.

“I mean… all this we do, travelling, fighting, this hollow war, and even after that.. bankai incident. You would’ve been much safer with Drianni, you know.”

Lahela tilts her head, her expression turns to confusion. “I am with you. That is all I want and it makess me happy.”

“But you… you almost died. I.. I hurt you!” you say through grit teeth.

“But I didn’t.”

“How are you so calm?!” you finally burst. “I know you’ve been afraid of me ever since that freakish incident, I feel it in you every day. So how?!”

Lahela keeps just staring at you with a more serious face, but it soon relaxes into that bright smile of her.

“Because my love overshadowss my fear.”

And so Lahela consoled you until you drifted to sleep, having cried enough. Who knew that a hollow would be the one to keep a shinigami sane.

>1/3

File: ominoussmile.jpg (119 KB, 1920x1080)

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Your bankai training continues with just simple activation and deactivation. You don’t dare try anything more than that yet, as losing control and turning into a monstrous chimera isn’t something you want to have even a chance of happening. Fortunately a repeat incident does not happen, especially after visiting your mindscape.

Despite the duo trying their best to hide the damage that happened, this is your mind, and you can sense what has happened. One interesting thing with having your bankai now, is that your control over your mindscape and the duo seems to have increased.

You chew them out for allowing your mindscape to get damaged like that. Zilya of course tries to bitch about it and use force, but to her surprise, she can’t do as much against you now. Celaris makes use of the situation and spills the beans with everything much to Zil’s fury.

“So let me get this straight,” you begin. Both Zil and Cel feel a cold shiver run through their spines as they feel the calm before the storm inside of you. “I turned into that monster… again… because you two decided to take advantage and take over? Am I getting this right?”

Celaris averts his gaze, trying to make it look like he had nothing to do with that, but Zilya isn’t about to let him get off scot-free.

“D-Don’t try to act like you’re innocent! You tried to take control just as much, she-stag!”

“H-Hey, be quiet you-”

You just smile at them before drawing Naimen no Daiza. Well, it would make sense that you can get your bankai working in your mindscape too, right? How lucky you are to have such sweet training partners…

“Bankai: Zen Gōsei Naimen no Daiza..”

And so the two arch nemeses of each other had to learn a degree of cooperation in the face of your newfound fury.

>2/3

File: Osaka 1980.jpg (290 KB, 1500x1099)

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One of the benefits of achieving your bankai is that the mediation process has tweaked your inner balance a lot more in your favor. So while your bankai itself is still in its infancy, the stability and fluidity of working with your shikai and both nikais has increased significantly. For example, switching between the two nikais is easier now mid-battle.

Two things you’ve confirmed so far with your bankai: One, you can use both Celaris and Zilya’s powers, though making them actually work with each other is going to take a lot of training and practice. Two, the form you changed into looks very similar to the chimeric monster you turned into, but less… monstrous. At the very least, there’s similar features. This alone is enough to make Lubina and Valeska freak out when you have them observe you during training, but Lahela keeps them from outright panicking.

You can’t keep this form for long and it’s still incredibly inefficient. You use up reiryoku way too fast, so there’s no way you’ll use this in proper battle anytime soon. But at the very least, you now have a direction for improvement. One thing’s for sure, you’ll be keeping this development a secret from others as much as possible.

March rapidly approaches, and that means the end to your assignment. Lahela will make it still possible for you to travel around from Soul Society (you really need to learn how to do it yourself), but unless you figure out how to hide from Seireitei’s surveillance, you best not visit the living realm after getting back. This means that for now, it’s your last moments in Osaka before going back.

A farewell party with the girls is in order, as well as wrapping up any unfinished business.

>3/3

>Farewell party time (write-in for activities)
>Catch Urahara while you still can (for what?)
>Visit your family shrine one more time
>Other?

>>5117167
>>Visit your family shrine one more time
I guess we should do this, hopefully those assholes aren’t as annoying as they usually are. Although now that I’m thinking about it what was Koharu’s last visit to the shrine like?

File: Spoiler Image (68 KB, 720x500)

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>Koharu's alternate bankai

>>5116297
>spoiler
One can only wish. Maybe I'll ask and pay one of my irl artfriends, but that would require telling them about the quest in the first place

>>5117167
>Visit your family shrine one more time
>>5117205
We got annoyed at a Priestess who seemed to know more than she let on. Also the lore behind Celaris and Zilya.

>>5117167
>>Visit your family shrine one more time
Time to pay our respects

>>5117167
>>Farewell party time (write-in for activities)
Koharu has had drinks with everyone but the girls and this is a crime.

>>5117205
>>5117282
>>5117538
>>5118239
So first the family shrine, then the farewell party
>Writing

>>5118513
Actually, update's gonna come tomorrow. Don't think I can write anything as my body is just falling asleep on its own, sorry 'bout that

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Okay, I have to be honest with myself and you, I need a bit more time to process things. As much as I want to continue, I feel like my mind is at a standstill with everything going on in my life right now. I'll check back on Sunday to keep you posted. Sorry.

>>5119943
Take care Trippy

>>5119943
Thanks for the session Trippy, take care

>>5116297
>>5117213
>art
Confession time: I've actually been working on a sketch of the transformation. Regrettably I don't have the hardware to do digital art and the quality isn't what I'd call professional level, but I think it may work well enough for the purpose of putting the concept onto paper.
For a quick reminder, the hilt in the transformed state looks mostly like the image in >>5113142 right?
And can someone repost a Zilya image? I'm forgetting what the anatomy of the spider-limbs from the back looks like and the archive is giving me guff.

File: astolfostareyes.jpg (18 KB, 512x288)

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Hokay, I'm back. Nothing significant has changed yet, but at the very least I feel better and more peaceful. This means we get to continue!

>>5122791
That's absolutely fantastic. Any and all artistry is appreciated and I'll treasure it till the end of times. I made a quick reference sheet for the art I've used so far, which you can find here:
https://imgur.com/fKBQcpq
I've kept a lot of descriptions vague on purpose as well, so that there's room for imagination and creativity. Hope the references help though!
Maybe I can pay in feet-pics or something

File: Kasuga Taisha 3.jpg (357 KB, 1280x720)

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Last time you visited Kasuga-taisha in Nara, you left with a bitter taste in your mouth and an existential crisis. Despite the harsh words you gave Kameko, you do wonder how things are after a year, and whether she’s learned anything since then.

Still, it is the place where you both grew up and where your ashes are.

This time you avoid the park with the deer completely, you’re not really keen on those weird shenanigans. Instead, you approach from the opposite side, from the forest. The smell of stone and moss, wet from the thawing snow is quite nostalgic even.

The mausoleum is just like it was last time, except that now even your stone label and urn have some moss growing on them.

You pay your respects.

There’s one thing that’s been bothering you since you came here: You can’t sense Kameko anywhere. In fact, even the barriers here feel weaker than what they were before. Despite your ill feelings towards her, you can’t help but feel a little worried.

An examination of the shrine however reveals the sad truth.

Not far from your own family’s mausoleum, is a smaller and more humble crypt of the retainers of the Tamaki line. And in there, among dozens of names on a single stone pillar, etched at the end is Kameko.

You never knew she didn’t have a surname. None of the retainers had it seems.

“So you decided to see what the other side is like, huh?” you muse.

Still, something’s bothering you about all this… wasn’t Kameko quite youthful still? Despite the fact you called her a crone behind her back as a child.

And why didn’t you hear anything about this?

>Roll 3d10, Bo3, DC 23, crit 27, Mental (8) may replace lowest die
>Write-in’s for investigation can give you bonuses

Also
>Pay respects
>Don’t pay respects

Rolled 3, 8, 7 = 18 (3d10)

>>5123210
>>Pay respects
The dead deserve at least this much... probably

Rolled 8, 1, 3 = 12 (3d10)

>>5123210
>Pay respects
My first thought would be a hollow attack, especially since the barrier around the place is weaker than before. But nothing seems out of place like a rampaging hollow would create. Maybe another spiritually aware being snuck in?

Rolled 6, 6, 5 = 17 (3d10)

>>5123210
>>Pay respects
Guess we go see who's in charge now.

File: Transformation_WIP.jpg (1.25 MB, 3264x2448)

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>>5123207
I figured I'd post the current work-in-progress version to give an idea of how it's looking so far. Looks like my memory was mostly accurate regarding the spider-limbs (a couple joints each guarded by a chitinous armor-spike).
Sorry if the perspective's a little fucky at times, I'm very amateur. I also wasn't sure how to even start the outfit so I can try to work something out later currently we are in the artistic nudity stage.
One thing I can add is a bit of color, but a couple clarifications would be appreciated since my color-vision isn't top-tier:
- Hair color (is it brown or black with a tint of green depending on the lighting?)
- Color of the fluff on the satyr legs?
- Would it be a problem to give the spider limbs a bit more purple for contrast as opposed to them being mostly black?

Regarding your spoiler, you are a funny fellow. This is not a refusal btw.

>>5123507
Fuck why did it get shifted off-angle? Sorry about that.

>>5123508
>>5123507
Gotta remember to delete the EXIF data and then fix the orientation before posting

>>5123526
WELP I'm retarded
Thanks though

File: astolfohappy5.png (108 KB, 243x317)

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>>5123212
>18(23)
>>5123232
>12(19)
>>5123346
>17(20)
It's just and just a pass, nice.
>Writing

>>5123507
Holy shit, that's amazeballs! Keep up the good work, anon, love it!
>I'm very amateur
So am I, yet I still somehow ended up writing this quest. The more you do something the better you become anyway. I highly respect artistry, it's really cool. Saved of course! As for questions:
>Hair color
I have black in the character sheets, but I dunno, can always color brown first and then make it black than vice versa
>Color of the fluff on satyr legs
Despite the pic of Celaris having brown fluff, he was known as Shirojika (白麌 white stag) while in Japan, so I guess either or
>Would it be a problem to give the spider limbs a bit more purple for contrast as opposed to them being mostly black?
Absolutely no problem, sounds quite rad!
If there's anything I can do to help with that please do ask

File: letter.jpg (64 KB, 1366x768)

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You pay your respects to the late Kameko as well as the other retainers. Shame you don’t have incense, but then again, you didn’t have it for your own family either. You do briefly wonder whether you’ll find her in Soul Society, maybe even close to your Rukongai district if they vaguely map to the real world locations. But then again, the afterlife is huge. You did find Tokiko-chan though, against all odds.

Regardless, perhaps you can find some clues as to what happened. It all seems too… convenient. Doing some investigating around the place, there’s a couple of things you learn:

None of the staff here are spiritually aware, which explains why the barriers are falling apart.

There has indeed been an attack, with a part of the shrine damaged, despite the incredibly good restoration efforts. It’s likely that there’s been months since whatever incident happened.

It is however when you resort to using senzen that you find something really important

A trace of Kameko’s reiatsu.

Coming from your own urn.

With a bit of distaste, you lift the urn’s lid and find inside a rolled up piece of paper, in it an incredibly faint seal that is the source of Kameko’s reiatsu. Considering you almost ignored this lead, it’s very unlikely anybody with lower senses could’ve found this. And so you open it and read it..

‘...Dear Koharu-san. Please forgive me for desecrating you in this manner, but I would not have done so were it not the only way for this message to reach your hands. I sincerely hope it is you.

I was approached once again by the Tenjiso. They asked me to lure you into a trap, to seal you away. I could not agree to it, especially not after I saw how you’ve grown, not after you showed me how wrong I’ve been. Please, let this be my first, and perhaps final kindness I can give you. I’m afraid by the time you come visit again, I may not be around to welcome you.

…If you’re reading this, then it seems to be so. Be safe, be on your guard, may Reiō bless you.’

>1/2

File: shintopriest.jpg (57 KB, 512x288)

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…Well. Great.

You close your urn and rip out the spiritual counterpart of the message before burning the real thing and pocketing the other.

“So now the Tenjiso are breathing down my neck? Just great.”

You recall their temple in the adjacent district to Nakashiri. Saitentera they called it. Even back then, the apparent head priest there felt kind of sketchy. Good thing you decided not to pursue your afterlife career with them.

But why do they want to seal you now, of all possible times? If they’re afraid of Zilya they should’ve and could’ve done that before you entered the Shin’ō academy.

Wait a minute…

“Those guys… they already knew it back then, didn’t they? Is that why they wanted me to join them?”

There’s a lot of speculation that you can do, but too few answers. So you shelve those questions and focus on the now. At the very least, you don't sense that there's anybody spiritually aware nearby, but you keep your guard up just in case this is part of the trap.

With the current state of the shrine, it won’t take long before it becomes a mundane place like any other, with the barriers crumbling and the spiritual caretaker gone. Hopefully the pilgrims will still be able to reach the divine, even if they aren’t allowed to respond back.

Could you perhaps do something about it?

>2/2

>Try to strengthen the barrier
>Dismantle it now, maybe you’ll learn something valuable about the kidō
>Leave it be and just go

>>5124648
>Try to strengthen the barrier
Might have to pay a little visit to this Shrine

>>5124648
>>Dismantle it now, maybe you’ll learn something valuable about the kidō
Fucking spirt priests trying to trap a trap

>>5124827
>spirt
Kek meant to write spirit

>>5124648
>>Try to strengthen the barrier
This will only draw our enemies here. Which means we know where they'll be.

>>5124648
>Try to strengthen the barrier
We may learn something interesting along the way.

>>5124648
>>Try to strengthen the barrier

>>5124648
>Try to strengthen the barrier
Zilya Moment incoming

File: Transformation_1.jpg (1.98 MB, 3264x2448)

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>>5124565
So this is about as far as I'm going to take this, due in part to material constraints (as you can see on one of the shoulder-spikes not having a digital erase option with manual implements can suck), and in part due to the fact that I'm thinking further edits would give diminishing and risky returns soon.
Hopefully it captures the description of the bankai form reasonably well and that the file data isn't fucked again.

>>5124648
>Dismantle it now, maybe you’ll learn something valuable about the kidō

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>>5124802
>>5124827
>>5124840
>>5124954
>>5124960
>>5125114
>>5125745
Boosting it wins
>Writing

>>5125595
Awesome! Thank you, that's really sugoi. Saved! You know what, have a +1 to any roll, well deserved
Tomorrow™

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Well, this place is a holy place afterall, and kind of your childhood home. It’s not like it’ll cost you anything to strengthen the barrier so it stays up for longer. It’s rather simple to fix up actually, you just focus your reiryoku into it. In fact, the barrier actually becomes much sturdier than it was before this incident. It repels hollows, but everything else is unaffected by it. Could be useful in the future, especially Hueco Mundo, but you’ll have to learn it from somewhere.

You leave Kasuga-taisha behind and make your way back to Osaka.

>https://audius.co/QmTrippy/22-going-home-93789

After scheduling with Akane and Chie, you all meet up a few days later. You drag Lahela and Lubina with you of course. The location is a bar a bit off the big streets. Not too busy, but not completely remote or down a shady alleyway. You did celebrate both Akane’s and Chie’s birthdays last year here, but that’s a story for another time.

“Ahhh, it’s been too long!” you say and stretch your arms just after crashing onto the sofa, only for Chie to pinch your cheek.

“Yes, too long, Koharu-san… It’s almost as if you’re forgetting about us.”

You do your best to smile, but sweat flows down the side of your face. Where did the cute and shy Chie-chan go? Now she’s all confident and even scary, despite her benevolent appearance..

“N-Never!”

“Come on, Chie-chan, don’t be so harsh on him! He’s just been working hard!”

“Yess, he has!” Lahela nods. “Sso many customers!”

“”“...so many what?”””” both of them ask.

And so you have to explain to them about your little part-time job at an italian pizza place in ghost mexico’s fourth reich. Akane and Chie grill you about all the details, while Lubina is just laughing her ass off.

>1/3

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After that embarrassing ordeal is over, the drinks finally arrive. You make use of this and divert the conversation.

“A-Anyway, Chie-chan, this is Lubina-san. She has a troubling family background, but she can be a decent person.”

Chie-chan suddenly becomes much more attentive, and you swear you feel some weird mother-vibes coming from her.

“It’s okay, Lubina-chan! You are safe and sound with us! Please, let us take care of you!”

“W-Wha- hey, I can take care of myself!”

But it’s too late. Now Lubina receives her full attention and you watch on with a smug expression. Akane just rolls her eyes. You’ve been a bit concerned about her ever since she returned from that little training trip with your dad. Despite your inquiries, she never spilled any details, but her posture whenever in the presence of hollows, including Lahlela and Lubina, tells you something has changed.

Oh well, as long as they get along, it’s fine. But jeez, what is your dad up to?

“...Yeah she was a bitch, okay? But I’m free of her now and I don’t want to give her a single thought more,” Lubina finally concludes her story that Chie insisted on hearing. It’s a rather simplified and humanized version of it, but it’s mostly true.

“What a stuck-up brat,” Zilya comments within your mind, but you brush her aside. Her own fault, really.

“Yea, that’s why Koharu-chan adopted her.” Akane smirks.

“Eh?” Chie-chan tries to process this, her head slowly turning towards you. Oh no, you have a bad feeling about this.

“Y-You’ve become a parent already?!?!?! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME? Oh my goodness, that means I can be your aunt!!!”

And that’s how Akane ended up throwing both you and Lubina under the bus. Sheesh, first betrayed by Lahela, and now Akane… what has the world come to?

>2/3

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Slowly, the sun descends towards the horizon, the sky shifts to orange, the street lights come on and the daily workers start to fill the place. And while laughs and shouting can be heard from every table and booth, those from your group cannot be topped.

Watching them mingle and laugh, despite their differences from the perspective of a soul… It really does assure you that coexistence is possible. Even Lahela, as timid as she was before, is quite openly cracking jokes with the girls, even swearing despite your attempts to make her unlearn that. Oh well, maybe you can allow some leeway. But only today.

You’re drawn out of your thoughts when everyone turns to you.

“””Koharu-chan, what do you think?!”””

“H-Huh?”

“Jeez, you were spacing out?!” Akane asks in disbelief.

“Hmph, what an unreliable mother.”

“He wass probably jusst thinking!”

“Y-Yeah, sorry,” you say and wave your hand dismissively. “I was just captivated by you all. It’s definitely a memory I’ll return to a lot after tomorrow.”

Like that, melancholy settles within your group, though mostly Akane, Chie, and you.

“I always knew you’d have to return, it’s just… I didn’t think the day would come this soon.”

Now you feel guilty as you see Chie-chan’s eyes glistening. You see her gripping a fan, the one you had given her as a present back when...

Akane catches the single tear that does escape her eyes, despite her efforts. “Now, now, let’s still keep up the fun. Koharu-chan’s still here, right?” Despite grinning confidently, you can definitely make out small droplets in the corners of her own eyes. Surprisingly, it’s Lahela who lightens up the mood.

“Don’t you worry!!! I will make ssure Koharu can come vissit!”

That cheerful, genuine, wide grin of hers. It melts away the festering sadness in all of your hearts, and even confuses Lubina. Chie-chan dries her own eyes, and returns a wide, kind smile of her own. Very like the one you remember from your school days.

“You’re right, both of you. I’m incredibly happy just that I’m able to be here, with you all, really. So let’s drink to that! To Koharu-chan’s homecoming! Kanpai!”

“””Kanpai!!!”””

>3/3

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No prompt this time, but more updates tomorrow. I kinda ran out of time today and I need the sleep so I don't die tomorrow trying to make students figure out Schrödringer's equation. Hope this update brings a smile or two!

>>5125595
drawanon get a trip to safely use your +1, i dont expect any assholes to want to use it in your stead because this quest has a chill playerbase, but this board IS troll-ridden

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Today got fucked, my brain hurts and I just want to sleep, so unfortunately no update, I apologize. At least work was actually good and nice. Tomorrow will be a definite update though since it's a free day

Anyway here's what I promised

>>5126462
Fair enough, I'll try to make this my identifier in case the issue arises.

>>5126285
>trying to make students figure out Schrödinger's equation
Undergrad quantum mechanics? If so fun times, although I wish when/where I had taken it there was less of a "just do the fuckin' matherino" mindset and more "let's talk about how the intuitive notion of causality breaks down on the quantum scale" explanation.

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The night draws out with enough drinks, that you all roam some of the streets and occasionally have some childish fun like chasing and tickling. Of course it’s a lot more fun when you’re all drunk. Watching your two besties do that does paint a clearer picture now in your mind.

Chie-chan however passes out after a while and ends up being piggybacked by Akane.

“Well, I guess it’s time t’part then, huh…”

“Y-Yeah,” you say, scratching the back of your head. “I suppose it is.” You glance towards the two arrancars who are messing around with each other some distance away.

“Well, I hope it’s worth it.”

You raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… Hic! Ya could always just stay here, y’know? Ya still hav a life here, the hatter can arrange somethin’. So why stick in that shitty afterlife?”

You sigh. Definitely too drunk for these kinds of questions right now.

“Because I have to. That’s all I can say.”

Akane stares at you, her eyes as if boring right through you, before closing them and her eyebrows relaxing. “Ya used t’be so lazy, y’know. Just readin’ manga, or sleepin’. It’s crazy t’see ya change like this.”

“Well, I don’t have a broken body constraining me anymore.”

“And if ya’d get a workin’ body back? Hic! Would ya still choose ta stay in Soul Society? Are ya really okay with never experiencing a proper life and instead serving idiots?”

“It’s too late for that,” you sigh. “My life was never intended for a normal life since birth. Not much I can change about that.”

There’s a pause. Lubina and Lahela still try to poke each other in a silly game. Maybe it was a mistake to introduce them to alcohol.

“I’m not giving up,” Akane states resolutely, “and neither should you. But I do wish ya a safe and good journey back there. Hic! I’ll be angry if ya don’t visit.”

“R-Right. Take care of each other.” You give her a wink, which she returns with a confident grin.

>1/4

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You have the arrancars return to Lazuta Yami as well, leaving you alone in the night. You ditch the gigai as well at Urahara’s store, and sit on the roof of your old apartment. It’s still empty, your old possessions still there.

“Live a normal life, huh?” you say out loud, and Lizzy shuffles out of your sleeve, playing with your fingers.

Sure, that would be wonderful, but is such a thing really even possible? Akane’s perspective is still quite limited. Escaping Soul Society is probably the easiest part, but escaping Aizen and Urahara? And what of Lazuta Yami? Drianni and her forest?

You shake your head. “No, I can’t turn my back on them.”

This silence as the effects of alcohol disappear and the aftereffects start appearing is a surprisingly calm moment where you, Zil and Cel all share feelings of distaste towards the lack of control.

>https://audius.co/QmTrippy/13-burden-of-the-past-93782

Just as the sun rises, a gate opens close to you. The traditional Japanese doors slide open, and a group of shinigami come out of the blinding white light, along with some hell butterflies.

“3rd Seat Nakashiri-dono, we are here to replace your post,” one of them says with a polite bow. The five others follow suit just as the gate behind them closes. The 13th squad, quite famous for their politeness.

“Right, thanks,” you nod. A hell butterfly lands on your shoulder, ready to guide you back. “Nothing out of the ordinary here, but keep your eyes sharp.”

“Yes ma’am!”

You blink and then shake your head. Jeez, you’ll have to get used to that again.

>2/4

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You come out of the Senkaimon atop the tower in the Seireitei. Finally, after waiting for an hour to get a connection. You deal with the 4th division member posted there to give a short report of your assignment and to confirm your return. This one seems more capable than the wimpy guy you saw a year ago, when you left.

“Welcome back.”

You turn around to face him. “Ah, Hisashi-kun. What’s this, you have the time to personally greet me?”

“What, you don’t like it?” He folds his arms.

“Nono,” you laugh, “it’s just with your amount of work I’m surprised you can afford it.”

“Well, I took the example of my Captain. I’ve got my two wonderful co-third-seats to deal with it.”

“I kind of feel hurt as a third-seat, you know.” Jeez, good thing you’re not in his division.

“That said, jeez… I didn’t expect you to, uh, change this much.”

“Huh?”

“Well, how to put it,” he says as he’s scratching his cheek. “You kind of look more… mature?”

“Hisashi-kun, it’s only been one year. And besides, souls don’t really age that fast, do they? Are you sure you just didn’t regress more into a child?”

“Hey, shut up! I was trying to compliment you there, but fuck you too then.”

You share a laugh. But huh, you hadn’t really noticed it yourself, maybe you have grown a little bit?

Settling down to working in the Soul Society is incredibly weird. The year you spent between Osaka and Hueco Mundo was quite packed with developments and active work, and yet here you are again, dealing with ordinary division bureaucracy. You’re glad to see Hinamori again of course, but Emika and Izumi you don’t even get to see as they’re busy in their own respective divisions. You’ll need to force them to go out for a drink again, this won’t do.

Of course, of all the people that you do see, Yukiko is one of them. To your surprise though, even with a snobby and elitist remark, she seems more calm and even a tad bit confident.

The NKFC organize a whole welcoming parade at the barracks, embarrassing you so much that you shoo them away the moment they started singing.

And then there’s Aizen. Being the same, kind and friendly captain as before, with no hint of the Aizen you’ve seen in Hueco Mundo.

>3/4

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Afterlife continues monotonously, however some developments occur.

For one, your growth in reiryoku and skill does not go unnoticed. With the insistence of Hinamori and approval of Aizen, you become the Co-Lieutenant of the 5th Division alongside her. Since the plan to be low profile ended as soon as the NKFC formed, perhaps it’s useless to resist this path. With a shiny new badge wrapped around your arm, you assume the duties of a Lieutenant.

The Central 46 of course show their disapproval for this, but the simple fact that you’re much stronger than the current Lieutenant is enough to shut them up. They don’t even demand that Hinamori steps down.

The Tenjiso remain as isolated and silent as ever, however there is news about some cooperation, especially in regards to soul burial. This is right after the world was shaken once again due to the Chernobyl nuclear explosion and the continued wars in the areas where Gotei 13’s jurisdiction ends and Valhalla’s begins.

Lahela ends up moving between the Wailing Forest, Lazuta Yami and Azulwald, serving as something like a liaison for you. Drianni is happy to have her back again, that’s for sure. While you were gone, a small village had formed in the heart of the forest, with the arrancars that you transformed here in Soul Society living there. Lazuta Yami in the meantime continues to grow and transform from a spider-infested hellhole to a surprisingly habitable domain. Plantlife spreads into the caverns, the spiders weave their webs around the place and help with construction. Perhaps one day you can get Drianni and the others to migrate there.

You also try to get Zilya to teach you how to open the portals into the Garganta and out of it, though it ends up being incredibly inefficient. For one, she’s bad at teaching. And secondly, moving in the Garganta requires an incredibly attuned sense of instinct, something that only hollows have. She suggests you make use of Jorōgumo and let her do it for you, but you’d rather let Reiō take the wheel at that point than her.

But, after some experimentation, trial and error, you do find a bit of a roundabout way of doing it using Naimen no Daiza. It’s really hard to pull off for one and you’re not exactly sure yet how it works, and on top of that it doesn’t solve the problem of navigating that abyss.

And so the wheel of time turns…

>4/4

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This concludes this part, but we'll have an additional vote here in regards to the future. There's a few possible ways we can go about the story arcs and timeskip:
>Timeskip to canon
This means you'll focus on personal training and developing Lazuta Yami a lot, but you can also suggest some things to do / complete during it.
>Timeskip about 10 years, go to Siberia (Special Bount Arc)
This was what I was going to go with originally. However, this can also be moved to later, but it just means the situation there will develop in its own way as well.
>Timeskip in small bits and actively deal with the Tenjiso (Tenjiso Arc)
This one's more of an optional quest/goal, but I'll put this here as well. This too can be dealt with later, but that too means different development

So yeah, vote on what you want!

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>>5128295
It's two courses actually. One is for 2nd year Bachelor students, and the other one for 1st year Master's students. And I definitely agree. While the math is important, I think it's a lot more important to understand what the fuck you're actually doing and why and how it translates to the actual world, its ramifications and the implications of the theories used

I also swear to god, if my students had read 5 pages of the course book (which is given to them for free on the course site) they'd be doing good. But most of them didn't even bother trying to read

>>5129124
>>Timeskip about 10 years, go to Siberia (Special Bount Arc)
Because I need dirty slav valkyries in my life

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>>5129117
>“You kind of look more… mature?”
YES MILF (DILF) Koharu is now truly complete, all that was needed was confirmation
>>5129124
Would going with dealing with the Tenjiso still result in us being able to deal with the Siberia stuff?

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>>5129339
It can be done in any order really, it'll just determine how much time each antagonist has to gain bullshit things that you'll have to dismantle to win

Oh fuck right, here's Koharu's new look

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>>5129124
>>5129365
Then I guess if my brainlet ass is understanding you right
>>Timeskip in small bits and actively deal with the Tenjiso (Tenjiso Arc)
And then when it comes up go to Siberia. Although now that I’m thinking about it that’ll probably be up to a vote when it comes up
Also
>Koharu’s new look

>>5129124
>Timeskip in small bits and actively deal with the Tenjiso (Tenjiso Arc)
I want to put this recent development to rest first. We’re quickly approaching the inevitable Koharu vs Ichigo discussion

>>5129124
>>Timeskip in small bits and actively deal with the Tenjiso (Tenjiso Arc)

I want to know the mechanics of Kami ascension. I want to become the God Aizen wishes he was.

>>5129124
>>Timeskip in small bits and actively deal with the Tenjiso (Tenjiso Arc)

>>5129124
>Timeskip in small bits and actively deal with the Tenjiso (Tenjiso Arc)

My memory sucks and google isn't giving me anything. What was the Tenjiso arc?

>>5129124
I want Tenjiso Arc but I also want a proper, long timeskip after.

>>5130274
It wasn’t in the original story. They’re the guys who run the temples.

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>>5130645
Ah, thanks. Me dumb.

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Heyo, been a busy few days. Got some new clothes and made lots of food, but now I'm not dragged around or responsible for food for a party, I can get back to this. Tenjiso arc it is then, and we'll start it on Monday. After it I'll put it to another vote whether you want to still do the bount arc or jump straight into strawberry time

>>5130274
Yeah it's an original arc / non-canon, should've been more clear about it

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You are Nakashiri Koharu, Co-Lieutenant of the 5th Division, and it’s been some three years since you returned from your assignment to Osaka in the living world. Since that time, you’ve continued to do your job as a shinigami, serving your division and motivating them. Being a retainer for the Shiraka family, you’ve kept up with duties to them as well. Despite a lot of annoying and sometimes borderline asinine assignments by them, you’ve been able to keep your pride and sanity.

Beneath that, however, you’ve been up to more secret motivations.

Your bankai training is progressing slowly and you’ve only just started to uncover just what you can do in that form. Unfortunately, you are doing this without the help of a zanpakutō spirit that could talk. On top of that, your bankai is still unstable, which does not surprise you given that it’s a patchwork of Celaris, Zilya, and Naimen no Daiza.

With the help of Lahela, your off-realm duties are not neglected either. The situation in Hueco Mundo worsens and skirmishes have become frequent across the realm. Fortunately your little realm has very effective natural defenses, but will that be enough?

Azulwald’s plant life has spread throughout Lazuta Yami as well, with moss, vines and mushrooms spread almost everywhere to the point your spiders have to actively keep them away from the citadel. That place has also been largely renovated with the additional introduction of wood, and it looks architecturally closer to a shintō shrine than the gloomy castle it was before. You’ve also replaced that damn throne that had to accommodate Zilya’s fat and wide ass before.

The Wailing Forest has become something of an outpost to Lazuta Yami as well, with a small village in the same shintō style built deep inside the woods. At the very least, if somebody ever finds it, they won’t suspect its hollow origins at first, especially with all the arrancar dressed in shinigami clothing. Ansaleh and Rodmehr become the two guardians of the forest, while Drianni… She finally agreed to become an arrancar after hearing out Lahela and thinking it over.

>1/6

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In the courtyard of Morimiya, the little village within the Wailing Forest, you stand along with Drianni, while Lahela, Ansaleh and Rodmehr are watching nearby. You’ve prepared some shinigami clothing for her.

“Okay then,” you say nervously. “Are you ready?”

This will be the first time you ever transform a Vasto Lorde.

“I am, Koharu,” she stoically replies.

“Right. Mediate, Naimen no Daiza.”

A soft breeze brushes the cheeks of those around you. You take a step closer, and put the flat side of the blade against Drianni’s forehead. In an instant, you find yourself inside her mind.

The intensity of the chaotic hollow power still feels overwhelming, however Drianni keeps it in check. You see her in front of you, floating in darkness, her dark long hair almost blending into it. Seeing her rather voluptuous body naked though flusters you for a moment.

“I entrust my life to you.”

You nod, and finally focus on shaping that enormous power of hers just like you’ve done with so many before. As Drianni’s safety measures falter with your mediation, you’re suddenly surrounded by the agony and pain of millions of souls. The eye-stabbing swirl of color settles into a scene of a jungle, burning away in an inferno into smoke and ash.

And in there, Drianni stands, using insane strength to keep the fire from spreading onto the small canoes on the river, her people’s only escape. And just as the last of her people get onto the canoe, an explosion shoots a chunk of burning matter towards it. Drianni stands in between, a sharp pain spreading over her back. At the very least, she gets to see her people escape. Drianni, barely able to raise her eyes, looks towards the river as the fire engulfs her back…

The canoes are all burning, sinking one by one.

Her scream, filled with agony, turns her mind into chaos, and it is that chaos that you focus with your every fiber to shape and channel.

>2/6

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You open your eyes, cold sweat all over your body. As if you’ve been holding your breath, you violently cough and start breathing again. Your eyes refocus only to see Drianni, now in her human form, towering in front of you, while you’re on the ground. Your mouth quivers, and you barely get your words out.

“I-I’m sorry.”

She dresses the shihakusho while you gather yourself together.

“You didn’t know,” Drianni finally responds to you, “but I appreciate the gesture. Ugh, who designed these clothes?”

She then proceeds to rip most of her hakama off as well as the sleeves.

“Much better.”

Now that you’re calm and cool, you see that Drianni’s mask fragment is two pieces resembling her white wooden crown on each side of her head, on her temples. Oh, and she’s incredibly tall, just like in her hollow form, towering above you despite you standing now.

“Well, uh, I’m glad it turned out okay. Your abilities should still be the same, minus regeneration. But there’s some cool other stuff!”

Her zanpakutō is a very short blade with a hilt that looks like three trees twisting around each other in a spiral. Drianni inspects it for a moment, before tucking it into her sash.

A small feast is held in honor of this, with various fruits and vegetables, bounty of the Wailing Forest, of Drianni’s forest. You do end up asking her about visiting Hueco Mundo one day, though her reaction isn’t very enthusiastic.

“I… not yet. It’s been so long and I’ve put that realm far behind me. I won’t deny that the stories you’ve told intrigue me. I just want to be ready myself.”

“I understand.” You nod, and bring up a sake cup into the air.

>3/6

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For now you’ve been able to keep Drianni out of the Espada program, justifying it to Aizen that it’ll confuse any future enemy, and the fact that her abilities are incredibly defense-focused. So for now, she’s the only member of the ‘Escuda,’ the shield to the existing sword.

Speaking of the Espada, Grimmjow has been busy with keeping the enemy at bay and polishing his skills. He’s still Séptima, but it’s not like he’d be able to surpass the freak of nature that is Nnoitra anytime soon. As for Luppi… Well, he tried to challenge Nueva Espada and lost spectacularly.

You still have no idea how to go about arrancarifying Lubina’s sisters without risking the revival of Zilya, despite a few leads. Your other goal of figuring out the ruins of Negal is still very much fruitless. Well, hat’n’clogs never gave you a deadline, right? And it’s not like you owe it to him…

But enough about Hueco Mundo. Here in Seireitei, you’ve been doing some digging on the noble houses, but especially that of Shiraka. Slowly but surely you’re gathering dirt on her and those associated with her so that if you ever find your back against the wall, you can reverse positions. Most of it is really a lot of coercion, blackmail and straight up assassinations between the noble families, happening as often and as casually as a tea party. Makes you feel like vomiting. And this is supposed to be the good afterlife?

Your friends in Seireitei though keep you sane. Despite being in different divisions and busy, you find time here and there to spend time with Emika, Izumi, Hisashi and Junichi. Heizo has apparently left for Tenshogu on a longer assignment, much to Emika’s sorrow.

You still have a rather awkward situation with Hisashi, though as long as you don’t see each other in private it shouldn’t affect anything. Hopefully. It also doesn’t help that Lahela is also starting to get veeeery attached to you and your attention.

There’s one thing you definitely have not forgotten during these three years: family.

Despite your best attempts, it was really hard to pinpoint their location. Their weak reiatsu coupled with the whole population of Rukongai made finding them nigh impossible even with your specialization in sensing. One part of the problem though was the fact that you started looking through the West Rukongai districts. Only after alternating between South and North, did you finally find them in the 20’s North Rukongai.

>4/6

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You knock on the door of the simple house that’s been personalized in a cute way. Your heart is beating fast, partially because it appears not everybody is home.

The door opens, and the gleaming eyes of a much taller Seiji-kun widen at your sight.

“K-KOHARU-ONEESAMA!”

And so all hell breaks loose in the house as he, Kimi-chan, Maki-chan and Junzo-kun drag you inside and hug-tackle you. They’re all much taller now too. How they’ve grown…

You spend a lot of time listening to their stories and adventures beside the fire pit. They’ve gotten quite crafty and have been making a wage through all kinds of trading. Once they calm down, you finally take a turn to ask something.

“By the way, where’s Toru-kun and Tokiko-chan? And old man Sanjuro?”

The kids all look at each other and you instantly feel a sense of dread.

“Toru-kun left for the Shin’ō Academy a year or so ago,” Seiji-kun explains, clearly missing him. But wow, Toru is going to actually become a Shinigami? You’ll have to pay him a visit.

“Tokiko-chan on the other hand left for Hokutentera,” he continues, fiddling with his thumbs. Everyone looks gloomy now, but you do your best to stay positive. It’s hard, knowing that your precious girl is now in the hands of the Tenjiso at their temple here in the North. You hope they won’t make the connection to you. Apparently, she helped out at the local shrine and then got offered to be trained by the Tenjiso.

“Okay,” you swallow quietly while keeping a smile, “what about the old man? He’s still taking care of you, right?”

Everyone’s quiet, until Seiji-kun breaks the silence once more.

“He drifted away.”

>5/6

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Such an odd thing, the cycle of life. You kind of forgot, with the longevity of those in Seireitei, that souls do indeed ‘die’ in the afterlife at some point. Passing on, to provide a blank soul to new life in the living realm.

You end up asking for a few days off in order to spend the days and nights with the kids and to pay your own respects to Sanjuro. If it wasn’t for him, you would’ve had to check up on them constantly or taken them into Seireitei, both of which would’ve compromised them to the corrupt politics of the afterlife. It’s thanks to him that they could live in relative peace from those trying to take advantage of them because of you.

Despite the somber reality though, you can’t help but feel proud of the kids. They’ve certainly grown.

You pray at the small pile of stones the kids had put together in memory of him, before standing up and going back to the kids one more time. You make sure to cook well for them, putting to use the skills you’ve gained in Hueco Mundo. Your cacio e pepe turns the gloomy atmosphere into that of a celebration.

And so it’s the present day. Sitting in front of your desk, with today’s paperwork done in record time, you think of what to do. Visiting them is always an option, but that again could draw unnecessary attention to them. You don’t want the noble families to get even close to Toru-kun, and after the Tenjiso revealed their own interest in you, you don’t want to jeopardize Tokiko-chan.

But then again, you would like to see them at least once..

>6/6

>Check up on Toru-kun
>Check up on Tokiko-chan
>Don’t visit
>Other?

>>5136297
>Other?
>Ask Izumi to check up on Toru-kun
>Ask Hisashi to check up on Tokiko-chan
The nobles have already tried to use the kids against us, and the Tenjiso are shady as hell, so attracting attention to either by visiting them would not be optimal.
But maybe our friends could go see how they are doing without attracting too much attention?
Not sure who would be best to ask, but I figured Izumi should not attract any attention at the academy, meanwhile Hisashi knows enough of our situation to understand the need for secrecy regarding the Tenjiso.
Don't know if I'm forgetting something crucial, if I am correct me.

>>5136297
>Don’t visit
obvious plot hook is obviousa

>>5136297
Supporting >>5136334

>>5136334
+1

>>5136297
>>5136334 +1

>>5136297
Supporting Koharu's further attempts at playing The Big Game

>>5136334
>>5136432
>>5136546
>>5136807
>>5136807
>>5137424
Good call! Koharu learns how to shift respo- I mean, delegate
>Writing

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If you can’t see them yourself, then you just have to send someone else. As much as you’d like to see their cute faces, you’ll have to just suck it in. You schedule a time with both of them.

“Koharu-chaaaaan!”

“Yes, hey there Izumi-chan, w-whoa!” you gasp as she tackle-hugs you. The place you meet up at is a nice gazebo in the garden of the 4th Division. You feel like an ominous shadow looms over the whole place, but you brush that aside as weird paranoia.

Aohira Izumi, the former shy, socially awkward dork and bookworm, has slowly been overcoming her obstacles. For one, she doesn’t stutter like crazy anymore, but that always returns when she gets flustered for one reason or another. Despite the bullying from other divisions, she seems to be quite happy there and has befriended some lanky fellow by the name of Hanatarō. Huh, that sort of rings a bell.

“I’m glad to hear you’re not bored. I hear it’s a hit and miss for people, and more a miss than a hit.”

“W-Well, supply duty can be a chore, but with inventory work I can usually read a lot! And with hospital duty it is so satisfying to put bones back into position before healing. Ah, the sweet sound of pain and gratitude all at once!”

You stare at her blankly. Sometimes you forget how she is, well, beneath that innocent facade.

“A-Anyway, I actually have a favor to ask of you. I need you to check up on someone in the Shin’ō academy.”

“That’s unusual. You never check out anyone!”

“Shush. This is one of the kids I’ve talked about, Toru-kun,” you say crossing your arms. “I just want to make sure he’s okay and all and that nobody is trying to use him for anything. Can you do that?”

“Hmmm… I-”

While she’s pondering it and just before she’s able to reply, you take out a manga. Specifically, a dōjinshi. Izumi’s eyes instantly expand. You smirk, as you have already won.

“O-O-Okay, I’ll d-do it! But I NEED t-that!”

“Then we have a deal,” you smile mischievously, and tuck the work of… dubious art away. Just as you let out a sigh of relief, Izumi manages to throw you off guard.

“So, how is it going?”

“How is what going?” you blink.

“Oh you know, you can tell me! You and him, I b-bet you’ve b-been up to- HEY, COME BACK HERE!”

But you’re already gone with the wind. “Damn that fujoshi…”

>1/3

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You wait near a barracks in the 13th Division. You’ve been avoiding private meetings with him as much as possible, but there’s not much you can do here. Hisashi knows of your situation better than anyone else.

Since your little encounter in Osaka and then return, your friendship’s been both closer and more tense. He knows that you’re up to dubious things that could get you exiled, or worse, executed. Despite his strong sense of loyalty to the Gotei 13 and hatred of hollows, he hasn’t reported you. Thus, you’ve confided in him a bit more with your situation, but mostly Soul Society stuff, especially related to the noble families and the Tenjiso.

At the very least, you can direct his desire for your attention towards useful things while you try and fail to figure out your own feelings.

“Hey.” He startles you out of your thoughts. “This is quite rare for you to ask to meet up like this.”

You quickly recompose yourself. “W-Well, this matter requires some privacy.”

“Hooh?” He raises an eyebrow and gives you a grin.

“Remember how I told you about the kids after whom I looked after?” You see his expression falter just so slightly.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well, Tokiko-chan has been recruited by the Tenjiso. I want to check up on her myself, but…”

“But you’re afraid you’d bring unwanted attention to her, right?” he finishes your sentence. You nod, looking down at his feet.

“I don’t know if they know about our connection, so I want to make sure at least that she’s alright. Maybe even figure out what they know or don’t as well as their motives.”

“Koharu, you do realize this is the Tenjiso? The official caretakers of divine faith? What you’re saying could be considered implied treason.”

“Well what should I do then?” You look back up at him. “They started this. They are the ones meddling with me and the living realm.”

Hisashi puts his hand on your shoulder. “I know. I’m just saying… be careful. I’ll do what I can, but I’m a Lieutenant of the 13th.”

You both sigh, and then you bring up a faint smile, moving your hand to brush his cheek a bit. “I will be. Just make sure she’s okay, that’s all I want.”

You feel a bit dirty for using his feelings against him like this, but hey, if it motivates him then that’s all it is. He tries to move in closer, but you casually escape the predicament, waving at him with a smile as you leave him with this matter.

>2/3

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Now that you have those two on their respective jobs, you contemplate on what to do.

You know very little of the Tenjiso despite having been in the Soul Society for a long while. The constant barrage of duties both in Seireitei and Hueco Mundo, along with training in secret has kept you from giving them much thought. Especially with how quiet and isolated they are.

But no longer.

You know they are related to the whole worship of divinity, those that actively interacted with the living and spiritual realms before the whole Interpantheonic Noninterference Pact. They used to be the middle-people between them and the regular souls and even humans. Yet after the aforementioned pact, you have little understanding of their duties besides maintaining shrines and temples.

Another thing you have no idea about is how they relate to the Gotei 13 and Central 46. They seem to be a completely separate entity, yet you’ve seen some joint soul burial operations with them. The nobles of Seireitei also employ them for various rites and rituals.

Many questions, not enough answers.

>3/3

>Ask Aizen to take you to the Daireishokairō, the Great Archives, and research there
>Covertly investigate one of the four temples (North, West, South or East)
>Other?

>>5137948
>Ask Aizen to take you to the Daireishokairō, the Great Archives, and research there
Probably best to lay low until after we hear back from them.
Besides, the archives are guaranteed to have some nice info.

>>5137948
>>Ask Aizen to take you to the Daireishokairō, the Great Archives, and research there
Been quite awhile since we’ve been to the archives

>>5137948
>Ask Aizen to take you to the Daireishokairō, the Great Archives, and research there

>>5137948
>Ask Aizen to take you to the Daireishokairō, the Great Archives, and research there

>>5137948
>>Ask Aizen to take you to the Daireishokairō, the Great Archives, and research there
More time with best girl

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>>5137990
>>5138024
>>5138400
>>5139350
>>5139492
Koharu smart, Koharu hitting the books
>Writing

I'll try to finish the update today, but I might run out of time. If it happens, I'll post half of today and then half tomorrow with the next prompt.

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You end up with the decision to hit the books. So you go to your Captain and mentor.

“Research on the Tenjiso?” he asks with feigned surprise. “And for what reason?”

You imagine he already knows the answer, but for whatever reason wants to hear what you’ll say. So you oblige.

“There’s little information on them, their history or their inner workings, not to mention members.”

“And?”

“...And they are a threat. To me.”

In any other circumstance, saying such a thing to a Captain would be suicide. But this is a special bond the two of you have, and when you are away from the eyes and ears of others, is when you can be a step more open about reality.

But only a little.

“Hmph.” He nods approvingly, and so you make the familiar trip into the archives. Once there though…

“I believe you know the way by now, especially since you know the method. Enjoy.”

And he disappears. Leaving you alone in this dark underground complex.

Cheeky bastard.

There’s barely anyone here as before, as if nobody expects anyone to get this far. Sure, there’s insane barriers everywhere, something that you are able to appreciate better after four years of self-improvement. Unfortunately for the Central 46, these barriers work both ways. Unless they know of the tiny vulnerability that by some insane chance Aizen found out about, nobody’s getting in here before you leave.

>1/2

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Daireishokairō.

The Great Archives.

The largest, most extensive repository of knowledge of the whole Soul Society, its access restricted only to the few of the ruling nobles. Breaking in is punishable by death… and worse.

Yet here you are, casually browsing through. The seemingly infinite tower contains vast amounts of knowledge. Only the machine at the end of this almost floating platform can properly work with these archives. Unless you are Aizen, or somebody else with similarly inhumane levels of mental capacity. There’s just one problem with the machine approach: you have to know what to look for in order to retrieve what you need. Otherwise the search fails and returns nothing, costing you time.

This time though, you are in luck. Tenjiso, the keyword you’re searching with, produces a rather long list.

Deities and the Tenjiso
History of the Tenjiso: Vol I
History of the Tenjiso: Vol II
History of the Tenjiso: Vol III
History of the Tenjiso: Vol IV
Tenjiso Barriers
Tenjiso Register of Members
Tenjiso Techniques
Tenjiso Temples
…and many more.

It’ll take some time to sift through them all. But unlike your day-to-day bureaucracy at the division barracks, this is something you’re much more interested in. The best case scenario is that you can get some dirt on them, but you’ll be happy with just knowing more about them and the potential candidates for who’s pulling the strings and trying to mess with you.

Thus you begin your research, going one by one through the available material.

>2/2

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This is actually a good moment to split the update and actually allow you to suggest any details and specifics for what to look for. So
>Write-in for anything specific to look for related to the Tenjiso

Meanwhile I'll hit the bed. I feel close to passing out, these early mornings are forcibly changing my unhealthy sleep schedule, damnit.

>>5139883
First off, we need to decide what we're looking for in the first place. We need to shift our approach, dependant on whether we want to strike at:
>Special Techniques
>Weaknesses
>Methodology
>Hierarchy & Succession of Power
>Interference in/Connections with the Living Realm

Wouldn't hurt to try and search for keywords relating to Koharu and the motley crew inside them.

>>5139883
>>5139906 +1

>>5139906
This, but add a little of their history as well.

>>5139883
We need their history as well as favoured and secret techniques they employ.

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Good ideas. I'll be slowly writing the update, it might take a day or two as I need to wrap up with the job applications and deal with funeral preparations. And that's on top of current work and studies. And practice a song since I might end up singing it at the funeral, oh god

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A month or so passes as you go in and out of Daireishokairō to do research, while also practicing your Kūkanten'i. The first time you had to leave though was seriously a big struggle, and for the first time in a long time you felt like panicking. Fortunately you figured out how to make use of the barrier’s vulnerability that Aizen was kind enough to show you. It did result in another heart attack as you almost teleported in front of the guards.

In that time, you learn quite a lot about the Tenjiso.

>https://audius.co/QmTrippy/13-burden-of-the-past-93782

They, the heavenly temple priests, share roots with the shinigami from the old realm and from a time where humans, spirits and the divine intermingled on a daily basis. While you have little knowledge of the history of religion from outside Japan, just looking at Japanese mythology alone shows that the divine could be both a benevolent and a malevolent force. Therefore, it was crucial to maintain a healthy relationship with the divine in order to keep them appeased.

Those with the spiritual awareness to perceive and the mental acuity to understand these things eventually formed religious practices, shrines and temples. The priests of the time were referred to as shinshoku, or gods’ employees. The Tenjiso were simply the spiritual counterpart to the human priesthood.

This social order pleased the deities enough for them to share abilities and techniques, some of which utilizing the power of the deities themselves. Such things however have long since stopped working after the Interpantheonic Noninterference Pact came into effect.

This event itself shook both the Shintō priesthood and the Tenjiso, however the latter suffered the most. With the pact came a loss of power that rendered many weak, as well as rejection of faith that crippled much of the ranks. Despite this, the Tenjiso have been able to keep their temples running and the faith alive, focusing mostly on the Reiō, the Soul King. While their combat prowess was crippled, the defensive capabilities of both human priests and Tenjiso, especially their barrier spells, have kept them relevant as local protectors and healers. The Gotei 13 however became the absolute power dominating the afterlife, a fact that quite a few priests have written about their distaste of in various works.

>1/4

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Various excerpts from a collection of personal notes following the pact:

“...I will never forget the day we heard the news. How could our gods abandon us like this? Our supreme and unbeatable gods? Surely they could reign supreme over the Western pretenders. Alas, here we are… absolute death is preferable to living in this reality and worshiping an empty shell.” - Hiramoro, Chief Priest of the Southern Temple. Immolated himself two months after the pact.

“...We must make the best of what we have. Pass on our traditions, protect the innocent, support the shinigami, and continue to keep the peace between humans, spirits, and the remaining half-divinities. I do fear what will happen now however. Too many have gotten used to power. Many will seek to do anything to gain it back. Perhaps we will have to ask the shinigami for aid, lest we destroy ourselves.” - Ise Miyashi, the last Grand Priestess of the Tenjiso. Abdicated as part of negotiations with the Gotei 13.

“...disaster. The North Rukongai is still on fire as I write this. I should be out there, now, but I believe it is important that I write thes- this as close to truth as possible. The Chief Priest of the Northern Temple, Toshinaga, attempted to usurp the position of Grand Priest. He gathered various items of power, I never know- knew there were so many. A ritual took place that sacrificed so many, all to give him power. We were called for help, but even the Captains struggled against these… monstrosities. However, this has all now ended after our Captain-Commander himself took action. I am still shaking. I do not know how many bystanders were torched. All I can think of… was it really necessary?” - 9th Seat of the 6th Division. Executed at Sōkyoku Hill for treason.

As these excerpts describe, a power struggle followed after the pact was initialized. Many relics were destroyed by this incident, and others confiscated by the Shihōin Clan. The position of Grand Priest or Saishu was abolished, with each temple working as independent entities post this event. Following this incident a peculiar law had been added to the already long list of prohibiting laws by the Central 46:

It is against the law to pursue divinity. To do so is treason.

>2/4

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The order within the Tenjiso has remained quite the same for the past thousand years, after the radical changes in structure.

Each temple is governed by a Chief Priest, also known as a Gūji with the aid of a Gon-Gūji. The priests, Negi and Gon-Negi deal with most of the actual work at the temples, maintenance of barriers, performance of rituals and rites, and so forth.

While they are supposed to only stick to issues in Soul Society, they do actively communicate with various shrines and temples in the living realm, even visiting there. One of the documents you found was a log of departures and arrivals through an unofficial Senkaimon operated by the Tenjiso, apparently one in all four temples. This is however a very old document, going all the way up to the year the coup was attempted.

The position of Grand Priestess was inherited always by the Ise lineage when it existed, out of a tradition from the living realm where the position of the same name at the Grand Shrine of Ise was always filled by an unmarried princess of the Imperial family. While before the position of Chief Priest was decided by the Grand Priestess, in modern times the other three Chief Priests would convene and nominate a new one from the temple with a vacant position. From there on, the Gūji nominates their Gon-Gūji, and the Negi and Gon-Negi are decided by these two.

Studying hierarchy is a bit boring, but you do find some interesting bits as well. For one, the area they’re allowed to operate is completely up to each temple. It could be their nearest districts, or it could be all of Soul Society, or even the living realm, despite the division.

Looking through records of performed rituals also gives you a rather good understanding of the Tenjiso’s relationship with the noble families. That is, they’re suspiciously close. It could just be that the noble families perform rites and rituals more often, but even with that in mind, there are patterns that suggest cooperation. Among those families, Shiraka instantly pops up.

There’s one more document that doesn’t directly talk about the Tenjiso, but one that still catches your eye: demigods. Specifically, a report of demigod activity. For the past hundreds of years, there’s been less and less sightings of these beings, many of which are considered to have disappeared. Connected to this, there are two very specific reports on two demigods and their ensealment: That of Tamamo-no-Mae into the Sessho-seki, and that of Shirojika-no-mikoto into Fujiwara Tamaki. In both cases, the Tenjiso were involved. But even with these reports, you will like there’s a lot of information missing. Could it be that perhaps even these archives are incomplete?

>3/4

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There are four Gūji in service:

Nijo Yasutake of the Western Temple. You’ve met him before, though you were still quite inexperienced back then. If only you could’ve read him better already back then, but at the very least you’re happy you didn’t let him persuade you into joining the Tenjiso. He is described as a calm and collected person. He has been actively working on strengthening faith in the now distant divinities, as well as cracking on heretical worship of a weird deity by the name of Mimihagi.

Ōshizumira Haruko of the Northern Temple. She is the most recent one to become Gūji, and is described to be a very diligent worker and very capable kidō barrier specialist. She has been improving the training of the Tenjiso and reviving techniques lost to time.

Mochichika of the Eastern Temple. A very old, often described as deranged priest who hails back all the way from before the pact and the attempted coup. Half of the priests describe him as a great philosopher and sage, while the other half as an absolute lunatic that gives impossible and asinine riddles as pranks. Has accidentally insulted a divinity before, resulting in the destruction of a city.

Usami Fusakage of the Southern Temple. He’s not that remarkable as a person, but he has been quite active himself alongside the other priests of his temple in defense against hollows. Though one reason for this would simply be the fact that the Gotei 13 does not have an outpost in the South.

Knowing who are in charge, you tried to read up on their techniques and weaknesses.

There’s just one problem. The book detailing their techniques… it only contains basic to average levels of barriers, as well as a few basic seals, including soul burial. Nothing complex. Nothing that you can analyze and figure out counters for. Somebody else might not question it, but you’re not naïve anymore to think that this is it. Either the archives are simply incomplete, or… tampered with.

Just as you receive a message from both Hisashi and Izumi, you also receive a personal letter.

To: Nakashiri Koharu
From: Tenjiso

>4/4

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Okay, hoo boy, what a few fucking days. Hope you all enjoyed this one and I hope the exposition doesn’t feel boring. Critique is still very much appreciated

I’m going to have to put the quest on break for another two weeks until a bunch of issues that have come up and the cremation ceremony are all over. I think it’s for the best, trying to write while my head is full of shit is hard

That said, if you have any questions, comments, or anything else, all welcome. I’ll update the character sheets and social links as well during this period

>>5143673
>What does Kūkanten'i do again? I can't find it in the google doc

>>5144864
It's the teleportation spell that you learnt from Hat'n'Clogs
https://bleach.fandom.com/wiki/K%C5%ABkanten%27i

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OMAKE: Toru’s Journey

The Shin’ō Academy.

The place where simple plusses with enough spiritual power can become shinigami.

It wasn’t hard for Izumi to make the visit, since being a 4th Division member has some nice perks. Like access to all places which need supplies. That’s how she ended up here, looking for the kid that her friend Koharu had looked after.

After a bit of looking, she finally finds her prey.

“...I still don’t understand how you got in Sanju-kun. You utterly botched that class!”

“W-Well, in my defense, kidō is not my strong suit!”

“I don’t think anything’s your strong suit..”

“What’s that?!”

“Nothing! Still, I guess the old fart of an instructor saw something in you. But why was I bunched up together with you in the dropout class?!”

“That’s because you suck all-around. I got my kenjutsu at least and my secret tackling technique. There’s your answer for how I got in, you better remember it!! Anyway, we have…”

The two boys disappear around the corner. Izumi sighs with a light smile. Oh the sweet days of school! All those hours spent in the library, digging through the wonders of humanity! Especially the-

“Aohira-chan?”

“EEEEEE!” Izumi jumps for the roof, only to find Konuma-sensei. “D-Don’t sneak up on me l-like that!”

“Heh, sorry,” he laughs. “I just had to make sure that a random weirdo’s not stalking my students, right?”

His eyes have that unnerving glint in them, enough to make Izumi sweat. “N-No, I’m just making sure he’s okay, that’s all!”

“Oh?” Konuma grins. “Now who would that be and why?”

Shit. She’s been had.

>1/2

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>https://audius.co/QmTrippy/04-oh-so-tired-93770

“Toru-kun, huh?”

The two of them had moved to a separate, smaller room with a low table and some cushions, green tea served.

“I knew I felt something oddly familiar about him during his admittance examination. His… recklessness has Koharu-san written all over him. My back still hurts from that stunt.”

“Heh-heh,” Izumi laughs awkwardly. This is bad… This was supposed to be a covert mission, yet she was exposed so quickly. I-It’s okay though, right? She’s just checking in for the kid! And Inejirō-sensei is trustworthy, r-right? And it’s not like Koharu-san has to know about this little slip up…

“Sanju Toru-san… What can I say? He’s a handful and a stubborn brat. Why couldn’t he have been like his sister?!” he clenches his fist at the roof and tears flow down his cheeks.

“Isn’t it a bit unfair to compare him like that?” Izumi tries to calm the teacher down. “Koharu’s kind of a scary one.”

Konuma nods vigorously. “Yes, yes! So proud of my student! Not only did she graduate in a year but also a Lieutenant within three years of that?”

“She?” Izumi mumbles confusedly. This old man… but this gives her an idea.

“You know, I’m sure Koharu-chan would gladly reimburse you if you look after Toru-kun. I’m sure ‘she’ can give you a photograph or two… purely for reminiscing purposes.”

His expression changes to a serious one in an instant. “Are you trying to bribe me, Aohira-san? That is a serious offense.”

However, a small trail of blood below his left nostril tells everything it needs for Izumi. She just looks at him smugly. “Oh, you don’t want them? Okay.”

“I will look after him like my own son.”

Mission accomplished.

>2/2

I've updated the social links half way, but hopefully I'll get the rest and the character sheets wrapped up by tomorrow. I've finally at least caught up with my uni work with grading and stuff. You can also expect another omake for Tokiko

Hope y'all doing fine

Good to see our tradition has been passed down to the next generation
>>5152385
Hope everything’s treating you alright Trippy

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Hokay social links and char sheets are all updated, omake still pending and might go to next thread with my schedule. Cremation is on Saturday, so I think a realistic date for next thread will be the following Monday, so 14th. See you there

>>5153464
>Hope everything’s treating you alright Trippy
Lot's of bullshit one right after another but that's life I guess. Not gonna let that stop me from questing

koharu a sissy

>>5158355
That he is but not as big of a sissy as he was in the beginning. But speaking of Koharu’s growth,
>>5157075
Trippy how’s Koharu physique gotten, has he gotten a bit fit?

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>>5158355
>literally a trap

>>5158817
>how’s Koharu physique gotten, has he gotten a bit fit?
He's still lanky, but he's getting up there. You got your physical stat up a bit during this small timeskip. Once we get to canon, Koharu will be pretty /fit/

Guess we'll be in the archive soon, it was fun lads.

>>5159572
If you persist in this teasing you may regret the eventual consequences.

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>>5159572
>>5160190
Last for nutting to traps including fit ones but most definitely delinquent or evil bitch traps