041. Princess & Dragon

Herding Tatsuki and Chizuru away under a thin excuse, Orihime alone can perceive Numb Chandelier and fights to mask her terror so the others stay calm. The ploy fails when the Hollow drifts into the open overhead and scatters a volley of seeds that blow out every window nearby and leave Chizuru bleeding from the shoulder. Chizuru shrugs it off, until her seeded arm clamps around Orihime's throat entirely beyond her control.

Delighted, Numb Chandelier explains that her seeds take root in whatever they strike, letting her puppet victims into butchering one another while her own hands stay clean. More possessed students close in, pinning Orihime and clawing at her clothes, before Tatsuki storms up and kicks them off. Though she can only sense the Hollow's position rather than see it, Tatsuki brands the creature as the thing that made Orihime cry and swears, by a rule she has long held, to beat down anyone who does.

Orihime, the only one able to see Numb Chandelier, tries to shield her friends. Numb Chandelier fires seeds, its Bulb Scatter technique, that possess whoever they hit. The possessed Chizuru and other students are turned against Orihime. Tatsuki arrives, sensing the Hollow's location, to protect her.

The chapter was adapted within Episode 13, Flower and Hollow, and belongs to Volume 5's Agent of the Shinigami arc. It marks the first use of Numb Chandelier's seed-based Bulb Scatter attack.