Hitsugaya, Karin and Soccer Ball

Brooding over her brother's secrecy, Karin Kurosaki accidentally boots her soccer ball into the road, where it is stopped and flicked back to her by a white-haired boy in a gigai who then vanishes without explanation. He is Tōshirō Hitsugaya, the Tenth Division captain stationed in Karakura Town. Later, Karin and her friends are muscled off their reserved field by a group of middle schoolers, and rather than back down she accepts a challenge to settle the dispute with a match the following Saturday.

Needing a skilled player and unable to call on the traveling Ichigo, Karin tracks down Hitsugaya at his favorite sunset-watching spot along the river and pesters him to join. He refuses repeatedly, brushing her off as busy, though his skill shows when he instinctively returns a ball she kicks at his back. Hollow alerts on his Denreishinki keep pulling him away, and Karin, sensing the same disturbances, begins to suspect he is more than a small boy. When the game finally arrives, Karin's team is losing badly and she has hurt her knee, but Hitsugaya turns up at the last moment, subs in, and dominates the field before passing Karin the ball so she can score the winning goal herself.

The victory is cut short when a Kūmon tears open in the sky and a Huge Hollow drops onto the field, scattering Karin's friends. Her spirit-charged kick bounces off it harmlessly, so Hitsugaya abandons his gigai, enters his Shinigami form, and unleashes Hyōrinmaru, freezing the creature's arm before slicing it in two. Afterward he realizes Karin can perceive spirits, and her admission that Ichigo is her brother stuns him. He gently reassures her that Ichigo is growing stronger and will not give up, then endures her repeatedly mistaking a Gotei 13 captain for a grade schooler as Rangiku Matsumoto arrives laughing.

Hitsugaya and Karin first cross paths over the runaway soccer ball, establishing their reluctant rapport. Karin commits her team to a grudge match against the middle school students. Hitsugaya keeps deflecting Hollow signals near his sunset spot while Karin's spiritual awareness becomes obvious. He joins the game late, carries the team, and lets Karin land the deciding goal. A Huge Hollow emerges from a Kūmon, forcing Hitsugaya to reveal his Shinigami identity and destroy it with his released Shikai. The episode closes with the revelation that Karin is Ichigo's sister and Hitsugaya's promise that Ichigo will prevail.

This is the one hundred thirty-second episode and an anime-original story with no manga chapter basis, set during the Arrancar arc. The opening theme is Alones and the ending is Daidai. A closing comedy segment, Kon-sama's Ultimate Shinigami Illustrated Guide, shows the Visored insisting that okonomiyaki must be eaten with rice despite Ichigo protesting the double dose of carbohydrates. Techniques on display include Hitsugaya's Tensō Jūrin and the released Hyōrinmaru, plus Karin's improvised Karin-Style Death Shoot.