The Right of The Heart

Back among the Visored, talk turns to the strange Human who breached their sanctuary. Shinji names Orihime and grandly claims she was his first love, a line Lisa points out he trots out for every pretty girl, to Hiyori's indignation that he never used it on her. Hachigen, meanwhile, puzzles over how Orihime slipped past his flawless barriers and concludes she must carry a shielding gift much like his own, a remarkable thing to find in a Human. Above ground, Yoruichi intercepts Orihime with word that Urahara wants her brought to his training chamber at once.

At the underground range beneath Karakura Hospital, a battered Uryu dodges Ryuken's relentless arrows, his limbs failing and his father's promise of restored power looking more and more like a lie. Sensing Ryuken's own Reiatsu ebbing too, Uryu gambles his final Ginto on Gritz to seal his father inside a stone shell. The trap fails. Ryuken emerges unfazed, draws a far larger bow, apologizes, and drives an ornate arrow into his son's chest, dropping him.

Ryuken then reveals the method behind the cruelty. Striking a spent Quincy exactly nineteen millimeters right of the heart's sinoatrial node, after grinding mind and body to their limit, is the only way to reawaken the powers burned away by Quincy: Letzt Stil, and the wound leaves a Quincy Zeichen marking Uryu's restored gift. Disgusted that his son chose Gritz over the more useful Heizen, Ryuken nonetheless chooses to spare him. This chapter was adapted into episode 126.