In Memoriam

"What do you mean I can't get in my body just yet?" Ichigo demanded.

"Your body can't take your reiatsu," Urahara explained easily. "Quite frankly, you're too powerful for your mortal body. It would die in a day or two as your reiatsu burned it alive from the inside out, possibly longer depending on your high-speed regeneration."

Ichigo sighed, palming his face. "Fine then, it's not like I didn't expect something like this might happen. What can we do about it?"

"We have very limited options, Ichigo-kun. You see, the problem is that our reiatsu cannot affect yours unless you consciously control it and lower it to our level," Urahara began. "That means that we cannot seal your reiatsu as we normally would. I could devise something for you in time, but I expect that you would rather join your body now, rather than in a week or two."

The Vizard gave him a flat look that clearly stated how he felt on the matter. "Why can't you seal my reiatsu?"

"Our reiatsu can't affect you anymore unless you let it," Isshin elaborated for Urahara, having decided to stick around for his son. "It's too, for lack of a better phrase, highly evolved. You could compare it to an experienced fighter facing a rookie who has just picked up a wooden sword. Unless the fighter actively lowers his skill level, the rookie would never be able to strike him. In the same way, unless you actively lower your reiatsu, we cannot normally affect it without using specialized tools, tools which we currently do not have."

Ichigo nodded, following the metaphor.

Seeing his companion's understanding, Urahara continued where Isshin left off, "So, if I were to seal your powers like any other Shinigami's, you would have to be constantly controlling and dampening your reiatsu to be on the same plane of evolution as we are. If at any time that control slipped and your reiatsu were to revert to an evolution higher than ours, the seal would break down at a very rapid rate. Your full reiatsu would then flare, quickly decomposing your body from the inside out. I surmise it would be a quite painful experience."

That made sense to an extent. "So, what are the alternatives?"

"Well… I can make you a gigai that can tolerate the reiatsu better until I can complete the device to help us seal your reiatsu…" Urahara said slowly. "Or… Tessai and I can teach you how to seal your reiatsu yourself."

Ichigo barely suppressed a groan. More to learn?

Oi! Quit your griping, this will take care of your little problem touching people!

That reminds me… "Urahara, I thought that my reiatsu kept me from touching people without hurting them. Tensa Zangetsu told me so, when my mother was in danger. But later, I was able to embrace her without a problem after I left Bankai. Do you know why?"

Isshin, already knowing this from Ichigo's explanation from earlier, was also looking at Urahara expectantly, hoping the scientist could answer the question.

"Hmmm…" The shopkeeper mulled over his thoughts for a few moments, before nodding. "During the confrontation, your reiatsu stayed at its evolved state so as to allow you your maximum fighting capabilities. Afterwards, it seems that your love for her and desire to protect made you instinctively suppress your reiatsu, and lower it to the point where it would be anything but harmful to her. But," he warned, "you cannot rely on that in your day to day life. If you even felt the slightest hint of aggression, playful or not, your reiatsu would respond. Considering how frequently you are targeted by human gangs, unless you want them dead…"

"I get it," Ichigo interrupted. "But considering my poor control, how am I supposed do something as complicated as sealing?"

"That would be a problem if you were to try sealing someone else," Tessai agreed, stepping inside the room and crossing his arms over his chest. "However, sealing one's own reiatsu is not so difficult – it is a similar process to resealing your Zanpakutō out of Shikai."

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head in a slightly embarrassed fashion. "Ah, well, I've never done that. Yoruichi said that Zangetsu is a constant release type Zanpakutō… my lack of control means I give off too much reiatsu, and it keeps Zangetsu in Shikai. My control never got good enough to try, and even if it did, I don't really care to keep him sealed. He's my partner, and he's always supported me. Why should I seal him away?" Ichigo suddenly received a sense of wordless appreciation from his Zanpakutō. No problem, Zangetsu.

"Even so, it is a skill worth learning," Isshin pressed. "Not only is it an important step in being able to fully control your reiatsu, it may prove especially useful in future interaction with Soul Society – they usually prefer Shinigami to keep their Zanpakutō sealed at most times. Adhering to their customs could ease your path later, especially when dealing with nobility and possibly the Central 46."

"Not to mention, I'd like to see some of their faces if you release Zangetsu in front of them," Yoruichi's voice jumped in. Ichigo spun, not having detected her presence, and then spotted her on the windowsill, basking in some sunlight in her cat form. "That would be a sight to remember forever. But Isshin's right, Ichigo. Before, it wasn't really a priority, since you needed as much power as possible, as quickly as possible. Now, though, it's time to refine your control, and being able to seal your Zanpakutō will help enormously in the long run. It may even make it easier for you to reenter your body."

"Well, I suppose knowing how to do it doesn't mean having to do it all the time," Ichigo muttered. He respected both Yoruichi and Tessai as his teachers, and his father did have a point… So he was willing to trust them, though he was reluctant to seal away Zangetsu. What would happen if you were sealed, anyway?

My power would be greatly limited, you would be largely cut off from me, and likely Cazador de la Luna as well, until you unsealed us or performed Jinzen. As a result, Cazador and I would be unable to see the outside world, and unable to converse with you regularly as we do now.

What's the point of that? Ichigo asked, confused. Surely there has to be some sort of upside, or others wouldn't do it so often. "Tessai-sensei, why does everyone keep their Zanpakutō sealed?"

"To prevent accidents from happening," was the Kidō master's simple response. "Also, it's customary to do so, as walking around with their Zanpakutō released tends to be viewed as a threat and a challenge."

Ichigo blinked. "Even the taicho?"

"Especially the taicho," Isshin answered solemnly.

"Why?"

Urahara cleared his throat. "The idea is a Shinigami should not have their Zanpakutō released unless they are planning to use them. It's based in the fact that most Shinigami don't have the reiatsu necessary to keep them in Shikai all the time."

"What about talking to them, getting to know them?" Ichigo demanded incredulously.

"That's what we have Jinzen for," Urahara explained with a shrug. "Why are you so offended by it?"

"It just seems so… stifling for the Zanpakutō," Ichigo tried to describe how he felt. "To be completely bottled up all the time, only able to see outside someone's Inner World when the Shinigami feels like releasing them… Try to imagine being in Benihime's position for a moment. Unable to invent anything, unable to talk to anyone, just stuck there and unable to see anything unless she needs you to help her fight someone. And when was the last time you used Jinzen?"

Now it was Urahara's turn to blink, looking down at his cane that hid his own Zanpakutō. "Huh. I hadn't thought of that. It sounds like a boring existence. Perhaps you have a point, Ichigo-kun. Regardless, if you want to reenter your body, you will need to learn how to seal your own power, and the first step to that is sealing your Zanpakutō."

It is alright, Ichigo.

Like they said, doing this could come in handy.

The Vizard sighed. "Alright, how do we do this?"

"Simply cut off the flow of your reiatsu into Zangetsu," Yoruichi ordered. "Try to keep as much of it as you can inside you."

Ichigo closed his eyes and focused on his reiatsu. It was so very, very vast and strong… ignoring how his reiatsu was emanating from him constantly, Ichigo traced how his power flowed. It took him a few minutes, but he finally located the river of power that ran through Zangetsu. He gave it a firm mental tug, pulling it away from its path and attempting to keep it in his body. It felt quite odd – if Ichigo could compare it to anything, it was like he was holding his breath, but not needing to breathe for a while.

Opening his eyes, Ichigo reached up and felt Zangetsu's physical form, and was surprised to see that Zangetsu was still in his Shikai state. Confused, Ichigo closed his eyes again and took another 'look' at where his reiatsu entered the blade. Though the Vizard still had a grip on the reiatsu he'd pulled away from that path, some of the reiatsu that he gave off into the air had apparently redirected itself to Zangetsu's pull.

This is gonna be tougher than I thought. I don't think I can create and maintain as many grips as I would need to capture all the reiatsu…

Then compress all the reiatsu into one place, and then grip it there.

Nodding absently at Zangetsu's suggestion, and vaguely noting that a lot of the Zanpakutō's advice concerning his reiatsu involved compression, Ichigo tried to think of a way to put the all the reiatsu in one place. What I need is a way to suck most of it back into my body and keep it there. He began to sigh, but then froze in mid-breath, having an idea.

He slowly breathed in, mentally grasping as many strands of his reiatsu as he could and pulling them back inside his body, combining and compressing them together. Making sure he had a good grasp on the combined strands, he breathed out and began again, pulling more of his reiatsu each time.

Three more rounds later, Ichigo felt like he couldn't pull in any more without compromising what he already had. Time to test. The Vizard once more reached up over his shoulder, and gripped something that was far different than cloth-wrapped metal – an actual hilt.

His eyes flying open, Ichigo pulled what he knew had to be Zangetsu's sealed form out of its sheath, which had miraculously materialized on his back. The blade was a standard-sized katana, though a bit wider than most, with a red handle and a rectangular bronze hand guard. On the end of the handle were two light blue tassels. The hand guard had some decoration, though Ichigo had to look a lot closer to tell – it had stylized flame patterns on the long edges, and small curved slits on the short ones. "This is…! This is a properly-sized version of the sword that I was using, before I learned Shikai!"

Urahara nodded. "I see you're finally able to control your reiatsu enough to make your sword a normal size. I'm impressed; I thought you might generate that enormous version again."

"To be honest, I rather expected that monstrosity," Yoruichi admitted.

"Hold on a minute!" Isshin drew his own Zanpakutō and held it out to compare against his son's. "Look at them! My Engetsu is almost exactly the same as your Zangetsu, Ichigo!"

Ichigo blinked, before his jaw dropped. His father was right – they both had the same red handle, the same blue tassels, even similar lengths… The only thing different that Ichigo could see was the hand-guard, where Isshin had an elongated hexagonal handguard, while the Vizard's was rectangular.

The near-identical appearances of their Zanpakutō startled Ichigo enough to accidentally loosen his grip on his reiatsu, and suddenly Zangetsu glowed brightly before shifting into Shikai state. "… Sorry," Ichigo apologized.

"No matter," Urahara waved off. "You succeeded, which is enough for the time being. Now, go through the same process, but this time, condense the reiatsu as much as you can and imagine storing it in a symbol on your chest, as small a symbol as you can. This symbol will be the seal. When you're done, call out 'Gentei Reiin.'"

"Be sure to keep your reiatsu on a level that we can feel it," Isshin reminded his son. "So we can figure out how much of your reiatsu is sealed."

Nodding and getting to work, Ichigo once more gathered as much of his reiatsu as he could, and sealed Zangetsu. That done, he wondered what sort of symbol he should use… A sword? No, that's Zangetsu. A mask? No, that's Cazador. The word "seal"? Too suspicious if it's seen. Perhaps… a crescent moon? It worked as well as anything else Ichigo could immediately think of, so he decided to go with it. He mentally pushed the reiatsu into the symbol, and imagined placing it over his heart. Quietly, he whispered, "Gentei Reiin."

Suddenly, Ichigo's grasp of his reiatsu shattered, and so too did his sense of it. It was as though the reiatsu wasn't there at all! Wait, that's not quite true, he amended as he caught a flicker of it on his chest. Opening his eyes again, he glanced down at his chest, using his left hand to pull the shihakusho away from his body enough for him to see his skin. The symbol was there, white as the moon itself.

The Vizard relaxed, the feeling of holding his breath having disappeared when the symbol materialized. Glancing at Zangetsu, he felt a flash of frustration when he saw that the sword had once more resumed its Shikai form. Doing a quick assessment of his own reiatsu emissions, he found that once he'd relaxed, he'd begun to leak reiatsu, though not in the same quantities as before. "Well?" he asked expectantly, turning to his mentors.

Urahara glanced at Tessai, whose face was unreadable. "You have sealed approximately 20% of your reiatsu," the Kidō Master finally judged.

Ichigo sighed. "Is it possible to place more than one seal upon a person?"

"Of course," Urahara confirmed. "But it is not usually a good idea for a long-term self-sealing."

"Why not?"

"Seals, like all Bakudō, tend to reinforce each other," Isshin cut in. "So by putting more than one seal on yourself, it becomes harder for you to remove them."

"Isn't that a good thing in this case?" Ichigo pointed out. "We don't want my seals to accidentally go off."

"There is that…" Yoruichi agreed. "How much more do we have to seal before Ichigo is back to something resembling his old power levels?"

"One more ought to do it," Isshin judged.

With a sigh, Ichigo performed the Gentei Reiin again, this time making a black crescent moon facing the opposite direction, so the tips almost touched and the combined symbols made a circle. Zangetsu was still in Shikai, but now Ichigo felt that if he needed to, he could keep Zangetsu sealed for a while, though why he would ever want to was still beyond him. Now that that was done, Ichigo did feel much weaker – he was down to between half and two-thirds of the power he'd had just a few minutes ago, and it wasn't regenerating. When he voiced this question aloud, he was greeted with a laugh from his father.

"It's still in your body, Ichigo!" Isshin chortled. "So your body doesn't recognize it as missing, you just don't have access to it at the moment!"

"What I'm curious about, is whether you can still put your reiatsu on that stage of higher evolution," Urahara mused.

Feeling curious about the results himself, Ichigo mentally made the indescribable change to his reiatsu, the change brought on by the evolution he'd achieved in the Dangai. Ichigo almost jumped when all the other occupants in the room stumbled in place. "Something wrong?"

"It's just… weird," Yoruichi told him. "For your reiatsu to just suddenly vanish entirely…"

"So, it's not just a matter of how much reiatsu you have, there's another factor involved…" the scientist muttered just out of Ichigo's earshot. "In any case, you should be able to get back in your body now."

"About time." Relaxing and feeling his reiatsu settle back into its pre-evolutionary state, Ichigo promptly entered his body and immediately doubled over in pain.

Isshin yelped and ran to get his son out of his body, but Urahara and Tessai bodily held him back. "What are you doing? He's obviously in pain!" Isshin yelled. "We have to get him out!"

"Look."

Having little other choice, Isshin did as he was told, and then noticed that Ichigo's body was growing a few inches, as was his hair. His facial structure was maturing somewhat, and the rest of his body was filling out somewhat. All in all, Isshin was watching his son's mortal body rapidly age from the point where Ichigo had left it three months ago, to what Ichigo now looked like.

"… Well, that hurt," Ichigo rasped, straightening into a sitting position. "Can I have some water?"

"Of course." Tessai had a glass of water in his hand in seconds – Ichigo realized a moment later that perhaps he'd anticipated needing it.

"Do you feel any pain?" Urahara pressed urgently. "Any burning sensations?"

"No," the Vizard answered.

"Good. Now that you've sealed off enough of your reiatsu not to harm yourself, your human body is acting as a buffer to the rest of your reiatsu. As a result, you should now be able to touch others without harming them, no matter what stage of evolution your reiatsu is in. I shouldn't have to tell you that you should not unseal your reiatsu while inside your human body," he warned gravely.

"Right. How do I unseal it anyway?" Ichigo asked, realizing belatedly that it was a rather important piece of information.

"Gather reiatsu to the seal you want to undo, and call out Gentei Kaijo," Yoruchi instructed before Urahara could open his mouth. She knew quite well that Urahara would have had Ichigo say some ridiculously long and embarrassing but ultimately useless phrase, and only tell the truth when it failed – he'd played that trick more than once on Ichigo, and on others as well.

Urahara almost pouted at Yoruichi for spoiling his fun, but merely nodded. "Ichigo…" The Substitute turned to face him questioningly. "Isshin was just explaining to me before you arrived, that you want a vacation. Tell me what you want and I'll see to it that you get it. It's the least I can do after dragging you and your friends into this mess."

Several minutes later, Ichigo left the shop in a better mood. He was on his way home when he heard a familiar voice yell, "Kurosaki-kun!"

Turning on the spot, Ichigo spotted Ishida, Chad and Inoue coming his way. "Hey guys."

"What happened to you?" Ishida gasped. "Your hair…!"

"Trained in the Dangai for three months," Ichigo explained glibly. "Turns out time goes a lot slower in there than out here and in Soul Society, so I was able to get some last-minute training to take out Aizen. When I got back in my body, it aged accordingly."

"Is he…?" Inoue asked quietly.

"Yeah. Aizen's dead. Blasted his head off myself. Well, twice if you're counting," the Vizard corrected himself. "But he's definitely dead now, and even if he wasn't, Urahara's got his body now and there's no way that Aizen's getting out of that one."

Ichigo almost smiled when he saw his friends relax at the news. "And the Hōgyoku?" Ishida pressed.

"Urahara's got it again. He'll take care of it." Ichigo wasn't sure how to explain that the Hōgyoku had its own sort of semi-conscious will according to the exile, and that it now registered Ichigo as its master. Nor did he want to go into detail on why it had happened – it was an experience that Ichigo just wanted to put behind him.

"Good," Chad said simply. "So what now?"

"We go on a week-long vacation," Ichigo answered his best friend. "All expenses paid trip to a nice beachside hotel. Urahara and Yoruichi will take care of anything that happens in Karakura while we're gone."

"Who all is coming?" Inoue asked excitedly.

"Just the four of us, plus Rukia and Renji if they want to come," Ichigo told her. "And anyone you guys want to invite."

"Why them?" the Quincy asked, curious.

"They're the only ones who doubled back and helped save Inoue, and they're almost sure to catch flack on that," Ichigo justified his decision. "Besides, they've been going through just as much shit as we have."

"Point taken," Ishida conceded.

"When is the vacation?" Chad asked.

"Next week," Ichigo admitted. "They do need time to actually set up the trip."

"Why is he doing this?" Ishida pondered aloud.

Ichigo didn't answer; he had his suspicions, nothing else.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," Ishida muttered, low enough that the others wouldn't hear him. "Kurosaki, Sado, Inoue…" The three turned to him questioningly. "I will make this quick. In order to receive the training I needed from my father to be of significant aid in the Winter War, I swore to halt most of my Quincy activities and resume life in a manner of someone not spiritually aware. As Aizen is dead, I am now forbidden to hunt Hollows. I may only act in defense of a life should the situation present it. As such, I entrust the safety of Karakura to you."

Ishida spun on his heel and began walking home, leaving three shocked people behind him. It hurt, Ishida had to admit, to leave the life he had chosen, the life where his intelligence and power could be used to their full potential. But this is the price I chose to pay for the strength to protect. And he refused to regret it.

"Ishida! Is that it?" Ichigo demanded with traces of anger coloring his tone. "Is that the extent of your feelings? Will you just walk away from us like you no longer belong? You are Ishida Uryū, Quincy of the Winter War! More than that, you are our companion!"

"Don't you get it, Kurosaki?" Ishida turned, his voice caustic. How dare he make this harder than it is? "I can no longer be a Quincy! I swore on the pride of my race! I cannot guard your back anymore, Kurosaki Ichigo, and I will not break my oath by associating with three people so intimately tied with the spiritual world, just for some half-assed effort to make me feel useful! Face it, Kurosaki! I'm not needed anymore!"

"You are not our friend simply because of your powers," Chad rumbled. "If that were the case, then would we not have let you go when you had no powers, before Orihime restored them?"

"Ishida-kun…" Inoue whispered, taking a step towards her friend. "I understand. You are hurting, because you feel that if you cannot protect Karakura alongside us, then what was the point of making these bonds?"

Ishida gaped at her, but had no chance to respond as the mistress of rejection continued with tears forming in her eyes.

"We are your friends, Ishida-kun, but right now that gives you so much pain, doesn't it? You want to protect your home just as much as we do, and the knowledge that we're going to do it without you now just breaks your heart…" Inoue brought her left hand to her heart, but her eyes never left Ishida's as she took another step forward. "You want to push us away so it hurts less, so you can resent us and your father in peace. But don't you see, Ishida-kun? You can never break the bonds we've forged together. We've been through too much."

Memories flashed against his will in front of Ishida's eyes… He remembered fighting back to back with Kurosaki, and being shaken by the Substitute's words reminding him of his grandfather's vision of Quincy and Shinigami working together, eventually taking on a Menos Grande together. He recalled Chad and Inoue offering for him to join them in training under Yoruichi, and later working with them and Kurosaki to break into Soul Society to save Kuchiki Rukia. Training together, protecting Karakura together, invading Hueco Mundo to rescue Inoue together… She's right. We have been through too much.

Ishida came to himself only to realize that Inoue had finished crossing the distance between them and had pulled him into a hug, her arms gently wrapped around his waist, his head over her left shoulder. He gaped, but once again was not given the chance to speak as Inoue's soft voice silenced his own. "It's ok," Inoue whispered. "It's ok to let us in, Ishida-kun."

"You're our friend, no matter what you think," Ichigo stated firmly from a few meters behind Inoue. "We'll figure it out together, alright?"

Chad merely nodded his agreement.

Slowly, hesitantly, Ishida returned the beautiful girl's embrace. "… Yeah," he finally assented. "Alright."

Almost an hour later, the four of them sat atop Ichigo's roof, looking at the sun as it finally began to set. None of them had had the destination in mind, but had ended up there after meandering through the town for a while, making sure no one was injured.

"… This has been the longest day of my life," Ichigo finally said as the sun dipped behind the horizon.

Ishida chuckled lightly at the non-sequitur. "Well, you did spend three months in the Dangai, Kurosaki. It's to be expected." He smirked but purposely did not look at Ichigo, who was glaring half-heartedly at him.

Inoue giggled a little. "It all seems so strange," she admitted. "I was beginning to think it'd never be over."

"In a way, it never will be," the Quincy said quietly, but not quietly enough it seemed, as Inoue's face scrunched up in a confused manner, though her eyes did not waver from the sun as it continued to descend.

"What do you mean?"

Ichigo shared a look with Ishida, whose eyes reflected a grim expectancy that made the Vizard realize that Ishida had already thought past the Aizen conflict a while ago. Of course. Ishida always did see further than I did.

Ironic, given his glasses.

Stifling a snort, Ichigo's eyes darted at Inoue, but the newly-retired Quincy shook his head subtly. Don't tell her.

Ichigo understood; Inoue was an innocent, kind soul. It would break her heart to suspect that Soul Society was going to go after them next, and there was always the chance that somehow their friends in the Gotei 13 would be able to keep that from happening. So, thinking quickly as he turned his eyes back to the sunset, he finally said, "He means that now that we're involved with Soul Society, there's probably always going to be something that we're going to end up in the middle of."

"Well, it'll be nice to stay in touch with our friends in Soul Society," Inoue concluded with a smile.

After another few minutes, the sun finally disappeared beyond the horizon. Ishida got up slowly. "I'm going to head home," he announced. "School in the morning, and after today, we're all going to need some rest."

Seeing the wisdom in his words, though Ichigo felt a little silly thinking about school after the war he'd just finished earlier that day, the four of them parted ways. Jumping down to the ground, Ichigo walked in the front door, only to find his father in the middle of an aerial roundhouse kick.

Without even breaking stride, Ichigo ducked underneath it, took a step forward and retaliated with a punch to the chest that sent Isshin flying back several feet. "Hey Dad," he said casually as if this happened every day – which it largely did. "What's Yuzu making for dinner?"

Isshin got up quickly, rubbing his chest but grinning. "Your skills haven't deteriorated at all, my son! And Yuzu-chan won't let me into the kitchen to find out…"

"You're right on time, Ichi-nii!" the aforementioned daughter chirped as she began to bring out the food, steaming hot with enticing aromas drifting in the air.

Minutes later, all four living members of the Kurosaki family were sitting at the table and eating Yuzu's freshly prepared food with relish. "Hey, old man?" Karin began after a minute. "Tell us about Mom?"

Isshin closed his eyes and swallowed his food, savoring the taste as he chose his words. Opening his eyes, he fixed a kind gaze at his fraternal twin daughters, with Ichigo nearby. "She's a wonderful woman who loves every one of you dearly. She was so happy to be a mother, I wish you could have known her so much longer just so you could feel the love and caring she felt and still feels for you."

The food was almost forgotten on the table as the three children of the late mother listened closely. Yuzu and Karin were leaning in eagerly, while Ichigo merely smiled softly in remembrance – he'd had nine wonderful years with his mother, and remembered being such a happy child. Kurosaki Masaki had always supported him, and had never failed to bring a smile to his face no matter what had happened.

"She liked to tease a little," Isshin recalled fondly. "Gently of course, she could never stand hurting someone's feelings. Yuzu takes after her in that way. But she loved to poke fun at people, make them laugh at themselves. Let me tell you, she once…"

The next couple of hours were spent telling stories about Masaki, with even Ichigo contributing a couple that he could remember. And so, when the Vizard lay down in his bed that night, he found himself feeling far more relaxed and at peace than he had for a long, long time. He felt himself drifting to the land of dreams…

"Hello again, Ichigo-kun."

… and awoke in a realm of nightmares. Ichigo's eyes went wide with horror, leaping out of bed and summoning Zangetsu to his hand, heart beating so loud that he felt it might just pound its way out of his chest. "No… You can't be alive!"

For there in front of Ichigo's bed, the impossible image of Aizen Sōsuke stood calmly with a triumphant smile on his face.