Reunion, Ichigo and Rukia and Shinigami

Saving Orihime from Yammy, Ichigo releases Tensa Zangetsu and severs the massive Arrancar's arm with ease, alarming Ulquiorra with the threat his raw power poses to Aizen. The tide turns when Hollow Ichigo surges up and demands control, and Ichigo's refusal leaves him paralyzed mid-battle. Yammy pummels him and hurls Orihime aside, until Urahara and Yoruichi arrive to shield them, Yoruichi battering Yammy with a rapid barrage while Urahara offsets a point-blank Cero.

Rather than let the fight escalate, Ulquiorra strikes Yammy for losing control, then opens a Garganta and retreats, dismissing Ichigo as trash not worth killing before reporting back to Aizen. In the days that follow, a defeated and withdrawn Ichigo lies staring at his ceiling, haunted by the fear of his inner Hollow consuming him, while Orihime and Sado recover at the Urahara Shop and Yoruichi eats her way back to full strength.

Five days later, Orihime returns to school heavily bandaged, and Ichigo, weighed down by guilt over his friends' injuries, can barely speak to her. His mood is broken when Ikkaku, Rangiku, Renji, Hitsugaya and Yumichika appear in the halls in ill-fitting Human World uniforms and Gigai, bickering over directions and dress code. Renji opens the classroom door to a stunned Ichigo, explaining they have come to ready the Substitute Shinigami for the Arrancar. Then, turning to the window, Ichigo finds Rukia perched on the sill in a school uniform, smiling as she returns to his life.

Ichigo severs Yammy's arm with his bankai but is incapacitated when Hollow Ichigo interferes. Urahara and Yoruichi arrive and drive off the Arrancar, and Ulquiorra retreats through a Garganta, reporting Ichigo as unworthy to Aizen. A guilt-ridden Ichigo withdraws, fearing his inner Hollow. A Soul Society squad of Hitsugaya, Rangiku, Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika arrives in the Human World to prepare Ichigo for the Arrancar threat, and Rukia returns to reunite with him.

The episode adapts portions of chapters 192 through 195 within the Arrancar storyline. The anime alters several details, such as making Yammy's Cero an explosion rather than a beam and expanding Yoruichi's flurry of blows, and softens the violence with light-brown fluid standing in for blood. A comedic closing segment reveals Unohana served Ganju boar meat that turns out to be his own boar, Bonnie.