The Shinigami's Work

Isshin ambushes the sleeping Ichigo, who pins him and then panics over Karin and Yuzu, only to find their injuries healed and their memories of the truck crash rewritten, which he suspects is a Shinigami's doing. At Karakura High, Ichigo knocks Orihime down and unsettles her, then is stunned when Rukia turns up as a transfer student seated beside him, her palm bearing a warning not to make a scene. Outside, Rukia explains that Ichigo absorbed most of her powers and left her trapped in a temporary body called a Gigai, and she declares he must cover her Shinigami work until she recovers. Ichigo flatly refuses, wanting nothing more to do with Hollows.

Rukia forces his soul from his body with a Gokon Tekkō and marches him to a park where a Plus, a young boy, is being hunted by the Hollow Hexapodus. She lectures that a Shinigami must treat all souls equally rather than help whoever is convenient, but Ichigo saves the boy anyway, insisting he acted purely because he wanted to, then slays Hexapodus and performs Konsō. That night, Orihime's dead brother Sora watches over her until two Hollows drag him to Hueco Mundo, where Grand Fisher's minions force him into a Hollow.

The next day Orihime is grazed by a hit-and-run car, and Rukia notices a strange handprint bruise on her leg. Ichigo later explains that Orihime's only family, her brother, died at the Kurosaki Clinic years earlier. That night, a Hollow alert sends Rukia bursting from Ichigo's closet, and Acidwire attacks. Ichigo fights it clumsily and shatters part of its mask, only to freeze when he sees Sora's face beneath. Rukia reveals the grim truth that all Hollows were once human, and that a blow from behind is meant to keep Shinigami from learning a Hollow's identity. Acidwire regenerates and looms over Orihime's apartment as Tatsuki visits inside.

Ichigo discovers his family's memories and wounds have been altered by Shinigami intervention. Rukia enrolls at his school, stuck in a Gigai after losing her powers to him. Ichigo saves a young Plus from Hexapodus on his own terms. Sora Inoue is transformed into the Hollow Acidwire at Grand Fisher's behest. Ichigo unmasks Acidwire to find Sora's face, and Rukia reveals that all Hollows were once human. Acidwire regenerates and menaces Orihime's home.

The second episode adapts chapters two through four and lays groundwork for the Sora and Grand Fisher storyline. Featured techniques include the soul-parting Konsō and Acidwire's Tail Shaker. The anime reworks numerous manga details, notably having Ichigo sever both of Hexapodus's front legs rather than one and staging Orihime's near-accident at an intersection beside Ichigo and Rukia. A flagged continuity error concerns Ichigo claiming only recently to see spirits, contradicting the manga.