The Sorrowful Battle! Ichigo vs. Sado & Orihime!

As Isshin and Urahara walk the night streets carrying a glowing blue sword, Ichigo and Kūgo Ginjō catch their breath in a hideout unknown even to the other Fullbringers. Frustrated, Ichigo blames Kūgo for pulling him into the mess, then relents. Kūgo shares his theory that Tsukishima's Book of the End does not erase memory but inserts him into people's pasts, making victims certain he was always their trusted friend. He warns that killing Tsukishima carries no guarantee of undoing the effect and could brand them as murderers to their own loved ones.

Yukio finds them through a tracking device, and rather than flee, Ichigo decides to let Yukio lead them straight to Tsukishima. At the forest mansion, an unarmed Tsukishima invites them in, and inside, Ichigo's friends and sisters greet him warmly and urge him to apologize. Unable to bear it, Ichigo chases Tsukishima upstairs, careful not to drag the others into a fight, only to find himself cornered among the Xcution members. Kūgo blows up the stairway to isolate them and tells Ichigo to hold nothing back.

Ichigo activates his Fullbring and overwhelms Tsukishima with startling speed, landing a strike on his arm. Then Sado and Orihime crash through the window with their powers active, shielding Tsukishima, and Orihime heals his wound despite Ichigo's protest. The pair recount fabricated memories of Tsukishima fighting beside them through their greatest battles and even their first Hollows, insisting they owe all their growth to him. Tsukishima slips behind Ichigo and asks if he understands, and Ichigo's answering slash misses and sends him crashing through a wall.

Kūgo deduces that Tsukishima's Book of the End inserts him into victims' pasts rather than altering memory. Ichigo lets Yukio guide them to Tsukishima's mansion to force a confrontation. Inside, Ichigo's friends and sisters have been turned against him. Kūgo destroys the stairway, and Ichigo fights Tsukishima with his Fullbring. Sado and Orihime arrive to defend Tsukishima, revealing they too are affected. Ichigo's attack misses and he is thrown through a wall.

Part of the Lost Substitute Shinigami storyline, the episode adapts chapters 454 through 456. An Xcution Dictionary segment plays the memory manipulation for comedy as Orihime and Sado thank Tsukishima for absurd fabricated kindnesses, leaving him to suspect he implanted the wrong recollections. Featured powers include Ichigo's Cross of Scaffold Fullbring, Bringer Light, and Orihime's Sōten Kisshun.