3rd Year High School Student! Dressed Up, and a New Chapter Begins!

A groggy Ichigo, now seventeen and in his final high school year, is roused for breakfast, where he narrowly avoids a scolding from Yuzu over her new uniform and dodges his father Isshin's fashion questions. Karin, whose spiritual sight has sharpened since Ichigo lost his abilities, quietly swats away a pair of curious Pluses. On his walk to school with Mizuiro, Ichigo reflects that his friends have accepted his former Shinigami life without fuss and that Karin has reluctantly taken up the burden of seeing spirits.

In class, Ichigo keeps toying with his old Substitute Shinigami Badge, now a lifeless block of wood, and muses that it is the last trace of his lost powers. He watches Uryū rush off to handle a Hollow, a duty Ichigo once shouldered, and thinks of Rukia, who has not returned since he could no longer see her. At lunch, Keigo prods him about Rukia and his future, but Ichigo brushes it off, saying he only wants the normal life it took him sixteen years to reach.

That resolve is tested when a thief barrels past on the way home. Ichigo instinctively gives chase, tackles the man, disarms his knife, and returns the stolen duffel bag, realizing his combat reflexes are yet another leftover of his Shinigami days. The grateful owner, Kūgo Ginjō, smirks knowingly once Ichigo is gone, and a Substitute Badge of his own swings from the bag. Over the following day Ichigo juggles paid gigs for the school's sports clubs, spars verbally with Tatsuki and Orihime, and quits a part-time job. Kūgo, meanwhile, returns to an apartment marked Xcution, where the teenager Riruka Dokugamine asks whether he found their target; he confirms that the next Substitute Shinigami is an interesting one.

The story jumps forward seventeen months to Ichigo living powerless in Karakura Town while Karin's spiritual senses grow. Ichigo chases down a thief and recovers a stolen bag, unknowingly catching the attention of Kūgo Ginjō. Kūgo reports back to the group Xcution, confirming Ichigo as their intended recruit and introducing members Riruka, Yukio, Jackie, and Giriko.

Launching the Lost Substitute Shinigami arc, this episode adapts Chapters 424 and 425. The Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book segment chronicles Keigo's disastrous string of haircuts across the seventeen-month gap. Flashbacks reference Ichigo's final clash with Aizen. Harukaze opens the episode and Re:pray closes it.