Individual Thoughts

Five hours before the sentence, Byakuya bids farewell at the shrine of his late wife Hisana. At the Seventh Division, Tetsuzaemon Iba slides in with a clumsy apology, but his captain Sajin Komamura sees through the stalling: Iba delayed their departure to give Komamura room to reconsider the execution. Komamura insists he carries no doubts, driven only by gratitude to Yamamoto, who took him in when his beastly looks made others recoil. Kaname Tōsen agrees that his own road, the one of least bloodshed, runs alongside Komamura's.

Elsewhere, Suì-Fēng tells a grumbling Ōmaeda that questions of right and wrong mean nothing to her, only her duty as a captain, and that anyone in her way becomes an enemy to cut down. Shunsui Kyōraku, lounging on a rooftop, frets that the grass blade in his mouth may be poisonous until Nanao yanks it free and promises to trail a few steps behind him through the coming mess. As Yamamoto and Sasakibe set out, Kenpachi leads the Ryoka to a rooftop pavilion, where Yumichika senses a heavy spiritual pressure. Tōsen appears with Komamura, Iba, and Hisagi, demanding to know where Kenpachi thinks he is taking the intruders.

Undaunted by the four opponents, Kenpachi announces he will face all of them at once, doubting even that will test his blade. The chapter is collected in the sixteenth volume, Night of Wijnruit, and was adapted as part of episode 51, Morning of the Sentence. Viz Media published it as "Private Thoughts."