Binda•blinda

Acidwire halts his attack, and Ichigo suspects the shallow wound he inflicted has rattled the beast. Spotting Tatsuki unconscious on the floor, Ichigo then realizes Orihime is present twice over, her body slumped nearby while her spirit sits calmly behind him, delighted to have guessed his identity. Puzzled that she can perceive him at all while he acts as a soul reaper, Ichigo has no time to answer before the Hollow declares the girl already dead and whips its armored tail into him, hurling him out of the apartment.

Righting himself in midair with a bleeding forehead, Ichigo is scorched by the creature's acidic spray and loses his grip on his blade before a second tail strike drives him to the pavement. The Hollow seizes Orihime, sweeps aside its fringe, and shows the lone human eye beneath, letting her name him at last as her older brother Sora. Down below, Rukia scolds Ichigo for folding so quickly, and he confesses that Sora's humanity made him falter. She warns that any hesitation will cost Orihime her soul.

Confronted by his sister, Sora blames Tatsuki and Ichigo for stealing her attention and admits that her fading prayers left him feeling erased, a wound that curdled into murderous rage. When he begs Orihime to live at his side once more, she weeps and insists the brother she knew would never behave this way, which sends him into a fury as he begins to crush her for turning him into a Hollow. Ichigo severs the monster's hands and nearly all of its tail, declaring that an older sibling exists to shield the younger and that no brother has any right to threaten a sister's life.

Sora's identity is confirmed to Orihime when the Hollow reveals the human eye hidden beneath its hair. Ichigo is nearly beaten, thrown from the building and disarmed by the acid attack, before rallying to sever Acidwire's hands and tail and shield Orihime from being crushed.

This installment appears in the first volume, THE DEATH AND THE STRAWBERRY, and belongs to the Agent of the Shinigami arc. Its events were dramatized in the third episode of the anime, The Older Brother's Wish, the Younger Sister's Wish. Viz Media publishes the chapter under the styling BINDA BLINDA.