Another world, Hueco Mundo.
Inside the massive rocky cave, the atmosphere was somewhat subtly awkward.
Asuka sat cross-legged on the ground, resting with his eyes closed, seizing every minute to recover the Reiryoku in his body that had been left restless by the spacetime travel.
Beside him, Kaien Shiba lay on the ground without a care for his image. He had a piece of dead grass he picked up from who-knows-where dangling from his mouth, his hollow gaze fixed on the glowing ores on the cave ceiling.
As for the middle-aged man named Coyote Starrk, he maintained his side-lying posture, letting out even and rhythmic snores.
"Zzz..."
Above Starrk's messy head, the little girl named Lilynette was pulling his hair out of sheer boredom, trying to wake him up.
Or perhaps she was simply trying to make him bald.
"Hey! Soul Reapers!"
Lilynette suddenly turned her head, glaring at Asuka and Kaien with her single eye. "Are you two just going to sit there doing nothing?" she demanded, her tone laced with annoyance. "Since you're crashing here, you should at least show some gratitude, right?"
"Gratitude?" Asuka opened one eye. "Like what?"
"Like telling a joke? Or doing a dance? If all else fails, even a fight would do!"
Lilynette jumped off Starrk and waved her small fists. "It's boring to death here! There's nothing but sand and rocks, not even a Hollow to talk to! Two living people finally show up, and you turn out to be total bores!"
Asuka opened both eyes, looking at her in confusion.
'Is this a Vasto Lorde? She feels completely different from the ultimate Menos I imagined...'
"Well..." Kaien spat out the dead grass and sat up. "Little girl, I'm pretty bored too... but this guy is sleeping, and I'm afraid of waking him up."
"Hah? Waking him up?" Lilynette put her hands on her hips and laughed at the ceiling. "He's an absolute lazybones! He doesn't want to do anything but sleep!"
Saying that, she delivered another vicious kick to Starrk.
Starrk merely grunted, rolled over, and continued sleeping.
Kaien helplessly rubbed his forehead, turned to Asuka, and lowered his voice. "Hey, Asuka, we can't keep going on like this."
"We can't just waste time in this cave forever. Even though it's temporarily safe here, we still can't get back."
Asuka nodded. "I know, but if we want to go back, we have to find a usable Senkaimon. That's not going to be easy in Hueco Mundo."
Kaien analyzed the situation carefully. "A Senkaimon is definitely out of the question, unless we happen to run into a Soul Reaper on duty."
"The most reliable option is to find a Menos capable of tearing open a Garganta, and see if we can force them to send us back to the Soul Society."
As he spoke, both of their gazes coincidentally fell upon the snoring man.
Even though this guy did look incredibly lazy, lacking any demeanor of a powerhouse.
But both Asuka and Kaien could clearly feel it.
That seemingly defenseless back was radiating a bottomless Spiritual Pressure.
"Should we try getting him to send us back?" Asuka asked Kaien with a look.
"I think that's a stretch..." Kaien smiled bitterly. "Look at him. He's too lazy to even roll over. Do you really think he'd be willing to expend the effort to open a Garganta and send us home?"
"Besides, we're Soul Reapers, and he's a Vasto Lorde. The fact that we didn't start fighting on the spot is already a huge courtesy."
Asuka tightened his grip on his sword hilt. "Then what do we do? Force him?"
Kaien quickly held down Asuka's hand. "Don't! Absolutely not! If a fight really breaks out, the two of us combined probably wouldn't even be enough for him to kill..."
"This won't work, that won't work. Then what do you suggest?"
Kaien stroked his chin. "I think we should build a good relationship with him first. Maybe he can provide the locations of some other Menos, and we can figure something out then."
"If it's a Gillian or an Adjuchas, it'll be much easier to handle."
"...That doesn't sound very reliable either." Asuka released his grip on the hilt. "How exactly do we do that?"
"Just watch me."
Kaien straightened his tattered clothes, plastered his signature, highly approachable, bright smile on his face, and leaned in front of Lilynette.
"Say, your name is Lilynette, right?"
"What do you want?" Lilynette glared at him crossly.
"Don't be so fierce." Kaien grinned as he fumbled around in his shirt for a long time, eventually pulling out a somewhat worn deck of playing cards.
He had bought these at a convenience store to pass the time while in the World of the Living. Whenever he had nothing to do, he would play cards with the Kamado mother and daughter, sticking paper strips on the loser's face.
He never expected to carry them in his pocket all the way to Hueco Mundo.
"It really is quite boring here. How about... we play a game?"
"A game?" Lilynette's eye instantly lit up. "What kind of game?"
"These are called playing cards, and there are tons of ways to play!" Kaien shuffled the deck with practiced ease. "Old Maid, Fight the Landlord, Slapjack... Whatever you want to play, I'll teach you!"
"Yeah, yeah! I want to play!" Lilynette immediately tossed Starrk to the back of her mind and leaned in with great enthusiasm.
The two interacted passionately, and in no time, she had learned several different games. Laughter and cheerful voices echoed endlessly.
Asuka watched from the sidelines, completely dumbfounded.
'This guy...'
He was reminded of that overly familiar middle-aged man back at the Kurosaki Clinic.
'Are all the members of the Shiba Family like this...?'
"Asuka! Don't just stand there, come make up the numbers!" Kaien called out.
Asuka sighed helplessly and went over to sit down.
And so, in this white wasteland filled with slaughter and death...
Two Soul Reapers and a Hollow sat in a circle inside a cave, enthusiastically playing cards.
"Haha! I have the Joker! You lose!" Lilynette excitedly slammed her card onto the ground.
"Oh man! I lost again! You're way too good at this, Lilynette!" Kaien yelled exaggeratedly.
His acting was slightly over the top, but the results were outstanding.
"Hehe! But of course!" Lilynette smugly raised her chin, the mask fragment on her face seemingly brightening along with her mood.
Laughter echoed throughout the spacious cave.
The originally dead, suffocating sense of loneliness within the cave...
Had actually dissipated significantly without them even realizing it.
Starrk, who had been sleeping the entire time, opened his eyes at some unknown point.
He didn't get up. He simply lay there quietly, listening to the noisy commotion behind him.
'How long has it been?'
'This must be the first time since I was born... that I've heard such a vibrant, lively sound in this cold, desolate world.'
'Is this emotion... called happiness?'
In the past, any Hollows that approached him would have their souls crushed by the Spiritual Pressure he unconsciously emitted before they could even speak.
Only Lilynette could remain completely unharmed.
Because she was a splinter of his own soul, created because he was simply too lonely.
'But now...'
He originally thought that those two guys coming here to hide from the Menos had merely walked into an even more tragic suicide trap, and that their souls would soon scatter.
But to think that those two Soul Reapers could actually maintain their sense of self under his space-crushing Spiritual Pressure?
'Truly unbelievable...'
He could feel that the black, spiky-haired one's Spiritual Pressure radiated a warm, sunlight-like affinity, making Lilynette feel very comfortable.
'As for the other one...'
Starrk's gaze shifted slightly backward, landing on the black-haired young man who was always silent and frowned whenever he played a card.
'This person's Spiritual Pressure... is very special.'