Disclaimer: How many rights to Bleach do I own? Cero. (Ugh, that was terrible. Sorry.)

The Three-Body Problem

A Bleach Fanfic

Chapter Six: February

Yuzu panted, her hands on her knees, bent half-over and trying to catch her breath. She wasn't sure if this new exercise was better or worse than running around the track for the entire class period, but it was different.

That morning, Yanagi-sensei had pointed at Sugitani and Tojo, and told them that they were now captains of the Red Division and the Blue Division, and they had to pick the rest of their squads one after the other, in alternating turns. Predictably enough, Karin had been chosen first, followed quickly by Nishimura, Uryū, Fujita, and Abe. Moribito was next, leaving Yuzu and Matsuda for last, and it was Sugitani's turn to pick.

Yuzu had known she was still the slowest person in the class. She wasn't as far behind as she used to be, but it was nevertheless a simple fact. Matsuda could beat her in a footrace, and so Matsuda would be picked next.

"Kurosaki."

She blinked, raising a finger and pointing at her own chest, baffled. Someone on Tojo's team scoffed, and she honestly didn't blame them.

But Sugitani only nodded once, a confirmation. So she, still puzzled, padded her way over. At least she was on the team with Uryū and Karin this way. Several blue sashes were passed down the line, and they each tied one around their waist, loosely enough that they could be tugged away, but tightly enough that they wouldn't drop on their own.

"Very good," said Yanagi-sensei, his mustache twitching as if with a life of its own. He clapped his weathered hands together once. "Today's class will be a game of tag. It works a little differently from ordinary tag, however. Each of you is wearing a single sash with the color of your team on it. You'll all be on the field, attempting to remove one another's sashes."

He reached over and tugged sharply on Tojo's to demonstrate, the slick material coming loose with a brief rustle. "One you've acquired someone else's sash, you must tie it, and any attached to it, to the end of your own, making your total sash longer and easier to grab onto. If you lose your sash, you are permitted to continue pursuing others and trying to take theirs. At the end of the class period, the team with the most sashes between its members is the winner. You may use any tactics you believe necessary to defend or attack, except for your zanpakutō or kidō. Understood?" He peered at the two lines of students, all of whom nodded.

"Very well. Face each other, and do not move until I give the signal." They lined up, Sugitani's Blue Division with Karin, Uryū, Abe, and Yuzu against Tojo's Red Division with Nishimura, Fujita, Moribito and Matsuda.

Yuzu had the poor luck of ending up across from Nishimura, or else they were intentionally targeting her as the slowest person in the group. He'd nodded courteously at her, but at the moment of Yanagi-sensei's whistle, he'd darted forward with speed she couldn't match and seized her sash immediately, escaping the tangle before anyone could do the same to him.

That left Yuzu bereft of a sash, and taking quick stock of her teammates, she'd found that the early game advantage was definitely Red Division's. Abe had also lost his, and none of the members of Blue Division had stolen any, by the look of it.

Now, probably halfway into the class period, things had adjusted a little. Fujita had just lost her double sash to Uryū, if the contorted expression of fury on her face was anything to go by. Nishimura still trailed three total behind him as he moved, keeping away from Karin, if only just.

Abe and Moribito had gone to the ground, and appeared to be fighting each other more than trying to get at the scarves. Neither of them even had one, since Sugitani had just swept in and liberated Moribito of his.

Yuzu hadn't ever gotten hers back, and didn't feel that she was contributing much to the team. At least Abe was keeping one of the Red Division occupied. In a manner of speaking.

Fujita pursued Uryū around the field with the single-minded determination of the personally offended. Though he was keeping ahead of her, he now had a triple length of fabric fluttering behind him, making things much more difficult. With Karin locked in a chase too, the free parties on the field were Tojo, Matsuda, herself, and Sugitani, who appeared behind her.

"Matsuda has no sash, and he's slow," Sugitani said, and Yuzu straightened, glancing up at him. His eyes narrowed, flitting over the field, and he rubbed a dark hand over the short fuzz of hair atop his head. "We should go for Tojo. I'll distract him, and you can grab the sash."

It would make strategic sense. Yuzu, without a sash of her own, would suffer less penalty for adding a new one, unlike Sugitani, who already wore one. There was, however, a flaw in the plan.

"I'm slow, too," she pointed out.

Sugitani blinked at her. "Focus on what you can do, not what you can't," he said mildly. "Now come on."

He took off at a run, and Yuzu followed, surprised to find that he didn't leave her in the dust immediately. Was he slowing down on purpose, or… was the distance between their abilities smaller than she'd thought?

Sugitani curved in towards Tojo, who was himself angling towards Karin. They were going to intercept him. If that was the case then—Yuzu changed her approach, peeling off from Sugitani's trajectory and winding around to the other side. She wanted to situate herself in Tojo's blind spot.

She wasn't a threat, and everyone in the class knew it.

But maybe that was an advantage, of a kind.

Tojo, surprisingly light on his feet for someone so tall, twisted out of the way of Sugitani's aggressive, straightforward approach. But their tattooed classmate was fluid, easily recovering from the miss and adjusting, lunging a second time. Tojo had to throw himself to the ground to avoid losing his sash, but he was back on his feet almost immediately.

Yuzu, seeing Matsuda approaching the pair, knew she had to be quick. But it was just as important that she be subtle. Using Tojo's size to block her from Matsuda's line of sight and prevent him from catching on too quickly, she rose onto her toes and moved in softly, catching Sugitani's eye from around Tojo's frame. She nodded; Sugitani threw himself forward abruptly, catching Tojo unprepared for the shift in momentum and hooking a foot behind his ankle.

Tojo went down, and in the spare seconds between that and his recovery, Yuzu slipped in, grasping his sash and yanking. It came away in her hand, and then she was off. Matsuda pursued, but Sugitani kept the faster Tojo tied up.

Looping the sash around her waist was difficult at full speed, but Yuzu managed, curving around towards Karin. Her sister looked to have Nishimura on the ropes, but Moribito, free of Abe's hold, was moving in as well, while Abe went to assist Uryū.

"Karin, look out!"

It happened very suddenly. One moment, Karin was going for Nishimura's sashes again, while Moribito lunged for hers in turn. It didn't look like she'd be able to get away from him.

Then, with almost no warning at all, she was ten feet away, her hands empty but her sashes intact. Her face had contorted into pure confusion; she seemed puzzled by her sudden change of position.

Yanagi-sensei whistled for a stop, gesturing the whole class in with a wave of his arm. They all gathered—in various states of windedness—into a rough circle.

"Congratulations, Kurosaki-kun," said Yanagi, his smile large under his facial hair. "You just took your first shunpō step. And congratulations to the Red Division, winners of today's game."

Karin, still looking a bit dazed, blinked slowly. A smile curled the edges of her mouth—and Yuzu found a matching one spreading over her own. They'd won. And not only that, either.

Karin had done it—she'd achieved shunpō!

"I did a shunpō step today."

The spirit blinked at her, ducking its head in acknowledgement. "I know."

Karin sat crosslegged, gripping her ankles in her hands, knees jittering up and down. "It was… really confusing, actually. I think it's going to take some time to get used to the way the world blurs." She rocked slightly on the springy ground, but did not attempt to move from her seat.

"The benefit of going slowly is that you see more, but I think you'll get used to staying aware, even when running with your reiatsu." The bird settled down in front of her, lowering itself so that its narrow legs were tucked underneath it completely.

"Yeah, probably." Karin wasn't too worried about it. All she had to do was practice more, and she'd get used to it. That was hard work, but if she just knuckled down and pushed through it, she'd be completely fine. She always was.

Her face dropped into a frown. "I'm kinda worried about Yuzu, though. I know I'll pass all my classes okay, but she really might fail zanjutsu." It had reached the point where Karin was improving more quickly at hakuda than Yuzu was at zanjutsu—and even though Renji was surprisingly patient for a guy that looked like a delinquent, Karin knew he couldn't pass Yuzu in the class if she didn't improve dramatically before the end of the year.

"I wish I knew what to do."

"Why do you think you have to do anything?"

Karin glowered. "What do you mean why? She's my sister! If there's something wrong, of course I'm going to try and help."

The bird shifted, some of its feathers fluffing, but it gave no other external sign of agitation. If that was what it felt in the first place. Karin wasn't exactly an expert in bird body language.

"Yes, that's respectable. You should want to help. What I asked is why you believe you have to do something."

"What? You just said—"

It made a sharp sound, an oddly-musical trill from the back of its throat that trailed off into a whistle. "Stop. Think. Then speak."

Scowling, Karin obeyed. Furrowing her brows, she moved her arms up to cross them over her chest. "You think that the way to help Yuzu in this case is not to do anything. That doesn't make sense."

"Why not?" There was a challenge in the question.

Karin bit her tongue before the knee-jerk reply could form. Because standing there and watching someone suffer wasn't something she should do. Could do. Especially not Yuzu. "Because I… because she's my sister, and I have to support her. Just like she supports me. That's what family is for."

The spirit's red down smoothed a little, and it nodded at her. "That is not wrong to feel. But: what form should that support take?"

Karin's eyes fell; she studied the flat ground in front of her with a grimace. "I don't know. Usually, if she'd have a problem or something, I'd… I don't know. Try to help her push through it."

"Is that how she supports you?"

"Not… exactly. Yuzu isn't that… aggressive. She's the kind of person who would just try to arrange things without me knowing it so that I do better." Unbidden, Karin remembered warm food on bad days, the smell of fresh soap, and the occasional quiet word of encouragement.

The bird tilted its head. "So support can have different forms at different times."

She nodded. "Yeah. But… I don't know how to do those other kinds of things. All I… all I can really do is try and knock down a problem, you know? I don't know how to look for the other ways around or over. Does that make sense?" She wasn't great with metaphors, but she thought it was the right basic idea.

"It does."

Karin sighed, propping her elbows on her knees and leaning forward to catch her head in her hands. "What you said the other day… about why I want so bad to be the best. It's not… it's not about being the best—I was telling the truth about that."

"But not the whole truth."

"No." She shifted her eyes up to meet the spirit's. "It's just… I take things as challenges because… if I make something an obstacle for myself, I know how to deal with it. If something's standing in my way, I tear it down. And if I can't, I keep trying until I do. I train more, or get stronger, or whatever. I know what that takes. I understand it—it makes sense to me."

"Yet some problems are not that kind of obstacle."

Karin swallowed. "Yeah. But I try to make them that way anyway. Because if it's close enough, then… then I can keep going."

The spirit blinked, cocking its head. "To where?"

"Just… just forward, I guess. Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"

The bird said nothing, only laying its head on her knee in silence. Karin felt no desire to keep talking, either. So instead, she took one hand from her chin and used it to smooth over the crest of feathers at the spirit's crown.

The Fourth District of the Rukongai was still quite nice, as far as living arrangements went, but it didn't have quite the same enforced gentility about it as the First District did. This was probably what drew some of the less-fastidious—or less-well-paid—shinigami officers to it.

Uryū walked alongside Karin and Yuzu, trailing Rukia and Renji, who were obviously both long-familiar with the area. Though he'd been less than certain that he really wanted to join them and their friends for a night out, Rukia had extended the invitation to the other two as well, apparently at the insistence of whoever Matsumoto-fukutaichō was.

The drinking group was mostly composed of vice-captains, plus Rukia, though apparently Kyōraku-taichō was known to make the occasional appearance. Presumably, his usual haunts were elsewhere. The fact that such high-level officers would be involved had Uryū on his guard somewhat; but, he supposed that if they were friends with Renji and Rukia, they were not likely to be the sorts to worry too much about his own status, whatever it was to them.

The streetlights were all on; night had fallen about an hour ago, and the establishments that did most of their business at this time were beginning to waken. People passed by on their way home from day jobs or their way to evening engagements, crowding the streets much more than usual. Uryū was unaccustomed to the press of bodies after so much time with plenty of room, and he made sure to keep the two shinigami ahead in sight.

Eventually, they turned a corner, coming upon a more relaxed street off the main thoroughfare. It was lined by buildings that all seemed to be some form of bar, gambling house, restaurant, or similar location. Paper lanterns dangled from most of the overhangs or awnings, shifting slightly in the mild breeze. The scent of hot fish and sake was strong, but not especially cloying.

"You're lucky," Renji said, almost as if aware of Uryū's thoughts. "When we were recruits, we had to go a lot more districts down to find a place. Ended up in some pretty shady places."

Uryū pushed his glasses up his nose, but declined to point out that he probably wouldn't have agreed to this if he'd been expecting to end up anywhere 'shady.'

The building they were after had orange lanterns, the sign in the front window cheerfully proclaiming it to be called Sasagin. Heading inside, the five of them were quickly bathed in warmth, the result of several old fashioned kotatsu functioning at once. Rukia led them through the front part of the room to the larger back half, further from the bar but boasting several larger sitting areas—one of which was already occupied.

Sitting on the wall side of a long, low table were two men and a woman, already into their first bottle, if the various paraphernalia scattered about were anything to go by.

When Rukia called out to get their attention, they stood, moving out from behind the table. The men were nearly night-and-day opposites in appearance: one had short, spiky dark hair and a blue stripe over one cheekbone, with a tattoo of the number '69' resting just below it. The other, if Uryū had to hazard a guess, was of noble stock, blond and slightly doleful in aspect.

"Ah, so this must be them!"

But really, the woman made the most obvious impression.

She was much taller than Rukia, Yuzu, or Karin, and walked with obvious self-assurance. Tossing a handful of blonde hair over her shoulder, she leaned forward slightly too far to peer into Karin's face. Uryū averted his eyes purposefully—the way she wore her shihakushō was rather… bold. And probably not entirely without risk of more serious exposure.

"Uh… yeah? Who're you?" Karin didn't lean back to create distance, but she did cross her arms.

The woman smiled, or he thought he heard one in her tone, anyway. "Rangiku Matsumoto. You can just call me Rangiku. This is Izuru Kira and Shūhei Hisagi. But don't worry if you forget their names; they aren't as much fun as I am."

The blond man sighed, and the other one rolled his eyes.

"I'm Karin Kurosaki, and this is my sister Yuzu. That's our friend Uryū Ishida." She jerked her chin in his direction.

Very carefully, Uryū made eye contact with Matsumoto, inclining his head slightly.

She regarded him with a smile that wouldn't have been entirely out of place on Yoruichi's face, and inwardly, he grimaced. That was never a good sign.

"I don't think there's anyone left in Soul Society who doesn't know that name," she said. "Nice to have a real face to put to it though." Matsumoto waved a hand, as if to forestall anything further on the topic for the moment. "But! We can talk more once we've all got some sake. Come on, sit down!"

Uryū went to sit between Karin and Yuzu, but paused when Matsumoto clucked her tongue.

"Uh-uh. No keeping the adorable new people together." She hit Hisagi lightly on the shoulder. "Get up and go sit next to Karin-chan. Yuzu-chan, you come here." She made a beckoning gesture.

Yuzu, likely not recognizing the inherent danger, moved without protest. Karin frowned at Hisagi for all of five seconds before she shrugged and passed him the sake jug that was going around.

Uryū wound up between Kira and Rukia, which could have been much worse. He elected not to complain—the way the rest of these people were moving around to suit Matsumoto's whims suggested to him that he ought not.

"Sorry about all this," Kira said with a mild smile. "Rangiku hasn't stopped talking about wanting to meet the three of you since she learned you were at Shin'ō." He passed a jug of sake over.

Uryū poured himself a shallow glass before setting it down next to Rukia. "It's… fine," he replied.

"We never met, last time you were here," the other man continued. Something melancholy touched the edges of the words, just a light brush. "It was… a tumultuous time, for more than one reason."

Uryū pursed his lips. "I admit I don't know all the details. At the time I was only aware of what I was doing, and then, towards the end, what Aizen did."

"Mm." Kira turned his wrist, coating the sides of his dish in a fine layer of sake before he brought it to his mouth, tipping his head back and swallowing it all at once.

Wordlessly, Renji handed the jug back across the table to him. He poured another.

"My captain was one of those that defected. And one of my best friends was Aizen's vice-captain. He nearly murdered her." He leaned back against the barrier separating them from the next table over. "This group… in a way, we're the people who were hit most personally by everything that happened. So in some sense, I think it's we who owe you the most, for what you did."

Uryū's brows furrowed; he sipped carefully at his sake, finding it to be pleasantly plum-flavored. "I don't understand."

Kira tilted his head, studying him for a moment. "You don't have to. And besides, you probably will, after you join a division and get a sense for what it's like."

Except that Uryū had no plans to join any division. Urahara had said there was a way out; it only made sense to take it when the time came. In Karakura Town, he'd be freer to move as he liked, to take what actions he and his friends decided were best at the time. Unrestricted by a captain's judgement, or that of the Sōtaichō or whatever new group was now the Central 46.

"If you say so," he said, swallowing the rest of his drink and the bitter flavor of deception at the same time.

[break]

"So what do you do?" Karin asked, figuring that if she was sitting next to the guy, she might as well talk to him. He didn't seem like a tightwad or anything, which was nice. He also wasn't all up in her face like Matsumoto, which ticked two boxes in the 'all right' column.

Hisagi poured them both another drink, though he gave her considerably less than himself. Karin frowned, but wasn't sure he noticed.

"I'm the fukutaichō of the Ninth Division, and Editor-in-Chief of the Seireitei Bulletin."

Karin's eyebrows inched up. The Ninth was one of the divisions with a traitor for a captain, which meant Hisagi was probably running it himself. "I saw that issue you did on the invasion. It was pretty good, but I don't think you should have given my old man so many pages. Couldn't fit his ego through the door for a month, at least." She mumbled the last part into the rim of her cup, then tipped it back.

She hadn't exactly been to a bar before, but her dad hadn't religiously kept all alcohol from her, either, being pretty fond of it himself. She'd tried it once or twice, but never in a setting like this.

Hisagi looked confused. "Your father was one of the ryoka?"

Her mouth pulled to the side; she leveled him with a blank stare. "Uh… yeah. Isshin Kurosaki?" She pointed at herself. "Karin Kurosaki."

He blinked. "Well… that explains why Rangiku wanted to meet you so bad."

She followed his eyes—Matsumoto had Yuzu's hands clasped in her own, her face far too close, and was rambling giddily about something. "I don't get it."

Hisagi raked his hands through his hair, tugging at the ends. "Your dad. He used to be captain of the Tenth. That's Rangiku's division. She was his fukutaichō for about a decade."

"No shit?" Karin's eyes rounded. She'd known her dad used to be a shinigami—he'd had to explain that much to them to get them into Soul Society and all that. She'd also suspected he was a captain, because his shihakushō had a fancy white bit that might have been a haori once. But she'd never known any more than that; he didn't talk about it and she didn't ask.

"No shit," Hisagi confirmed.

"But Yuuuu-zuuuu," Matsumoto drawled. "We were having so much fuuun…"

Yuzu suppressed a smile. "I think you might have had a little too much fun, Matsumoto-fukutaichō." She staggered sideways slightly, trying to support the other woman's weight. It wasn't an issue of pounds so much as one of spatial dimensions—Matsumoto was easily eight or nine inches taller than she was.

"Thanks for helping out with this," Rukia said, shaking her head. "They aren't usually this bad, but…"

"Sometimes remembering can be hard," Yuzu finished. "It's okay. I'm glad to help."

Hisagi and Kira were leaning on each other, neither especially sober but not particularly in need of assistance. Renji had lost the drinking contest with Matsumoto, or at least Yuzu was pretty sure he had, because she was still conscious and he was not. Rukia had tried carrying him first, but in the end, it had proven more expedient just to sling him over Uryū's shoulder, for much the same reason as Yuzu struggled to support the stumbling vice-captain of the Tenth.

"Here." Karin moved in on the other side, and between them, they managed to keep her more or less steady.

"Guess you're all getting your first look at the divisional barracks," Rukia said lightly, then glanced at Uryū. "Or second, I guess."

That part was actually a little bit exciting. Shin'ō students weren't normally allowed so far into the Seireitei, but accompanied by an actual shinigami like Rukia, it was permitted. The group's progress wasn't exactly fast, given their burdens, but they managed.

When Renji started snoring, Yuzu giggled. Matsumoto looked over at him long enough to figure out what was going on, then laughed outright.

"He's such a lightweight," Rukia said, shaking her head. Her smile was fond, though.

They made it to a crossroad, where Hisagi and Kira broke off from the group, the more-sober Hisagi promising to get Kira back to the Third before returning to the Ninth. Yuzu waved goodbye with the arm that wasn't around Matsumoto's back, and they returned it before taking their leave.

"Good grief. You could stand to drink a little less," Karin complained, shifting her hold on Matsumoto.

The latter grinned. "You're just like Isshin. Only he's as bad as me, so maybe not."

Karin scowled, but Matsumoto was still talking. She turned her head to look right down at Yuzu. "But you… are you like your mother, Yuzu-chan? What is she like?"

For several seconds, there was nothing but silence. Then Karin clicked her tongue against her teeth, and Matsumoto's expression seemed to clear slightly. Her lips turned down into a frown, her large eyes growing wider.

"Sorry. I have a big mouth. You don't have to answer that, Yuzu-chan."

Yuzu bit her lip. "No, it's okay. Um… from what I remember, mom was a strong person. Fierce. But also very kind, to the people she loved. And she always told us… to remember to take care of ourselves, that it was okay to be different from other people."

Matsumoto hummed softly, as if considering it. Anything she might have said tapered off before she actually managed to, her humming transforming into a soft tune instead. That was probably better—Yuzu couldn't say for sure if she would remember this in the morning anyway. There were drunk patients in her dad's clinic sometimes, but the repercussions varied widely from person to person.

They reached the Tenth first, approaching the barracks just as the door opened and a figure stepped out, wearing a white haori and carrying a zanpakutō slung across his back. Yuzu was surprised by how young he looked—maybe her own age, and he wasn't much taller than herself or Karin. He had a shock of fluffy-looking white hair, though, easily visible in the dark.

He took one look at Matsumoto between them and frowned.

Matsumoto herself grinned though. "Taiii-chō," she singsonged.

"Hitsugaya-taichō." That was Rukia. "Is Matsumoto's room open?"

The captain crossed his arms, nodding. "You didn't have to bring her back."

Rukia smiled knowingly. "Saved you the trouble, didn't it?"

His frown deepened, and his focus seemed to shift from Matsumoto to the rest of them. He blinked sharply when his eyes landed on Karin, pale brows knitting together. He gave no indication as to why. "You can bring her in."

He turned, opening the door behind him back up, and between the three of them, with the fukutaichō's own very limited assistance, they managed to navigate her to her quarters. Yuzu turned her on her side while Karin stood up.

"Can you get her some water or something?" she asked the captain, who still looked vaguely perturbed by her presence specifically.

It took him a moment to respond. "…sure. You can go now; I'll make sure someone checks on her."

He left the room without so much as a casual thank you, and Karin scowled at his back.

"What a jerk. She's his fukutaichō. The least he could do would be look in on her himself."

Yuzu smiled wanly. "Well, as long as she's taken care of, right? We should go, Karin."

Her sister nodded and rubbed a hand down her face. "Now we just have to get the monkey back to the Sixth."

Uryū caught Yuzu's practice blade easily on his own, shifting the angle to slide them apart, though he could have simply out-muscled her. This maneuver had the benefit of throwing off her balance, and he stepped in, delivering a smart rap across her back when she stumbled forward, knocking her to the mat.

She groaned softly, pushing herself to her feet again, resetting her stance, and shifting her grip on the wooden tantō in her hand.

On paper, she was doing everything the right way—until they actually started. Her stance was solid, her hold was right. She'd even clearly thought through the ways to compensate for the fact that her blade was shorter than his. But her strikes were slow, and when they hit they were weak.

He wasn't sure what to suggest. She knew this was her problem, and yet it seemed that any attempted improvement lasted for at most a short exchange before evaporating.

"Let's take a break, and see how Karin's doing on her kidō," he said, and she nodded gratefully.

They placed their practice blades at the side of the mat and moved to the other end. Uryū crossed his arms as Karin braced herself for a Byakurai, incanting the spell and aiming the blue lightning for a target downfield.

The bolt flew mostly straight, hitting slightly up and to the left of center, but it did tear a chunk out of the wood, and he hid a smile by ducking his head. There was still a ways to go, but all three of them were really benefiting from the practice.

"Sugitani-san?" Yuzu's voice drew his attention.

Uryū straightened his expression and turned. Sugitani had indeed approached—though he normally gave them a wide berth and did his own training, it would appear he had something to say.

With three pairs of eyes on him, he bowed his head, a fraction stiffly. "I don't mean to intrude," he said, letting his wrist rest casually on the hilt of his zanpakutō, "but it occurs to me that your training might be slightly easier with an even number. If you don't mind."

That was unexpected. Sugitani was mostly a loner; he spoke to Abe if he spoke to anyone at all. But at the same time, he stayed well away from the hostility Moribito and Fujita demonstrated, and he didn't have the same sense of formality about him as Nishimura did.

Uryū glanced down at the others. Karin shrugged, and Yuzu nodded after a moment.

"I guess there's no reason why not," he replied.

Term Dictionary:

Kotatsu – 炬燵 – "Torch foot warmer." This is a low, wooden table frame covered by a futon, or heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits. The old-fashioned kind, like Uryū notices in this chapter, actually involve a charcoal brazier under the table. Modern ones use electric heat, sometimes built into the table itself.

So yeah, both Rangiku and Tōshirō have unresolved issues involving that incident where their captain went to the living world one time and never came back. Hisagi didn't recognize the connection right away because it isn't widely known, especially since Isshin was known to everyone in Soul Society as Isshin Shiba. So the fact that some academy student had the same last name as his fake last name wouldn't have immediately rung a bell. But of course Rangiku knew him better, and Karin does bear a pretty decent physical resemblance to him.