Reality of the Despair, the Assassin's Dagger is Swung

Hitsugaya and Rangiku find the Central 46 massacred in their sealed chamber, the blood long dried. Realizing every order about Rukia's execution has been a forgery, Hitsugaya is confronted by Izuru, who denies the killings and claims the council itself admitted him. Warned that Hinamori has followed them under a concealing barrier, Hitsugaya leaves Rangiku to face Izuru and races back. Izuru unveils his Shikai, Wabisuke, which doubles the weight of whatever it strikes, but Rangiku answers by releasing Haineko and refusing to carry a blade she cannot wield.

Meanwhile, Gin leads a stunned Hinamori to the forbidden Seijōtōkyorin and reveals her captain, Aizen, alive and calm. As she weeps into his robe, Aizen thanks her for their time together, then runs her through with his Zanpakutō and departs. Hitsugaya arrives to find Aizen standing beside Gin, discovers the grievously wounded Hinamori, and reels as Aizen coldly reframes his deceptions as no one ever having truly known him. Enraged, Hitsugaya activates Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, only for Aizen to fade into an illusion and cut him down in a single stroke.

Unohana and Isane corner Aizen, who admits his corpse was no doll but a product of his Shikai, Kyōka Suigetsu. Releasing it reveals its true power, Kanzen Saimin, a complete hypnosis that hijacks all five senses of anyone who has seen the blade released. He confesses the earlier demonstration to the lieutenants was itself the moment he ensnared them, and that the spell cannot touch the blind Kaname Tōsen, whom he names as his agent from the start. Tōsen spirits Aizen and Gin to Sōkyoku Hill, where Aizen greets a captured Renji and orders him to surrender Rukia.

Hitsugaya discovers the Central 46 have been dead for some time, proving the execution orders false. Aizen reveals he faked his death, mortally wounds Hinamori, and defeats Hitsugaya through illusion. Unohana learns the nature of Kyōka Suigetsu and its complete hypnosis, and Aizen exposes Kaname Tōsen as his hidden accomplice before seizing Rukia and Renji on Sōkyoku Hill.

The episode adapts material from the Soul Society: The Rescue storyline, including a flashback to Aizen attending Hitsugaya's birthday. The original broadcast obscured Aizen's stabbing of Hinamori behind a slanted shadow, later removed for the DVD release. A comic Illustrated Picture Book segment follows Kon's attempt to retrieve his plush body from Jinta during a kickball match. It first aired in Japan on December 6, 2005, with the opening Ichirin No Hana and the ending Life.