Matsumoto investigates a strange tune, only to find a young male plus being attacked by an Arrancar. After Ikkaku easily dispatches the Hollow they interrogate the child regarding the Arrancar that attacked him. As they are about to perform a soul burial, he insists he has something to finish before leaving the real world. The boy is granted a reprieve thanks to Matsumoto, and as he sneaks out at night with her Zanpakuto the Arrancar that they thought to be slain reappears before both the boy and Matsumoto.
From creator Tite Kubo, comes the story of a world where passing lurks impalpable to an everyday human's eyes. Ichigo Kurosaki helps run a local clinic with his family but Ichigo has the unusual ability to see poltergeists but rather than react with surprise he merely sees it as an annoyance. Ichigo helps those when he cares but can't bring himself to care enough... until one fateful day. A small, mysterious woman appears on duty inside his room, a Soul Reaper known as Rukia. Soon enough Ichigo and Rukia get formal in the oddest of ways and in such an untimely matter the losses begin. The Kurosaki family is soon attacked. This leads Ichigo on his first step to accepting the roles and responsibility's a Soul Reaper must uphold.