Goodbye to Our Xcution

Urahara arrives with breakfast for Riruka only to find her missing, so he passes the meal to Jinta Hanakari instead. In Soul Society, Sentaro Kotsubaki brings Ukitake the welcome news that Ichigo has beaten Ginjo.

A messenger informs Captain-Commander Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto of Ichigo's arrival, and the young Substitute is met at the First Division hall by an assembly of captains, Kensei Muguruma among them, who waves him inside. Ichigo announces that he has come to carry Ginjo's remains home to the human world for burial. The declaration startles the room: Sui-Feng objects that the man was a criminal and killer, and Shinji Hirako asks whether Ichigo could forgive what Ginjo did to his family. Ichigo answers that forgiveness is beside the point, since everything has returned to how it was and he remains nothing more than a Substitute Shinigami. Yamamoto accepts that the decision was carefully weighed.

Afterward, Shunsui Kyoraku calls on Ukitake to report that Ichigo has gone, badge still in hand, and that despite his questions Ichigo plainly trusts them; the boy, he notes, has matured. Ukitake concedes they had failed to see it. In the human world, Riruka silently thanks Ginjo for the invitation into Xcution, Chad for his faith, and Orihime for her tears, then departs hoping Ichigo will forget her, even as she knows Xcution will linger in his memory.

Word of Ginjo's defeat reaches Soul Society, and Ichigo travels there to reclaim the body for burial rather than leave it as a criminal's. His steadiness convinces the captains, including a doubtful Sui-Feng and Shinji, of his resolve, and Ukitake and Shunsui recognize how much he has grown. Riruka quietly leaves the group behind.

The title chapter of Volume 54, Goodbye to Our Xcution, it was adapted into Episode 366, "Changing History, Unchanging Heart," and closes the Substitute Shinigami storyline before the series enters its final arc.