Prob-less, Progress

At the research institute, a still-aching Akon returns to duty and asks after Mayuri, only to learn from Niko Kuna that the captain has shut himself in his office with Nemu ever since the invasion. Noticing the surveillance bugs left dormant far longer than Mayuri ever allows, Akon suspects either a crisis or a hidden experiment and activates a secret camera of his own. The feed shows Mayuri asking whatever lies on his table whether it can move, leaving Akon horrified at what his captain is building.

At the Ōmaeda estate, little Mareyo begs her lounging brother Marechiyo to play ball, but he begs off as busy. When Marejirōsaburō offers to read to her instead, she flatly refuses his creepy books and wanders off, leaving Marechiyo to gaze at the sky and wonder why his captain, Suì-Fēng, left him behind. Elsewhere, Suì-Fēng grinds through one-armed push-ups atop a rocky spire.

In the cave, the Wolfman Clan Elder mocks Komamura for demanding their secret technique after years spent hiding his face in shame to pass as human. Komamura counters that he conceals himself no longer, arguing that the world has changed enough for their clan to live openly, though that world is now imperiled. The Elder rages that nothing needs to change, since their people will endure in the shadows regardless of who rules, and threatens to crush Komamura should he disturb their peace. Komamura accepts the challenge.

Back at the Soul King Palace, Ichigo plunges screaming down a chute into a pool, and Nimaiya praises his nerve before conceding he was shoved in headfirst. Nimaiya then reveals the vast waterfalls ringing the cliff beneath the Hōōden, built there because a Bankai cannot be reforged without such water, and tells Ichigo that this is where he and Zangetsu will say their farewell.

Akon discovers Mayuri is secretly building something in his sealed office. The Ōmaeda household bickers while Suì-Fēng trains alone. Komamura confronts the Wolfman Clan Elder, who refuses to teach him and vows to fight him instead. Nimaiya brings Ichigo to the waters where his Bankai will be reforged and warns that he must part from Zangetsu.

Appearing in Volume 60, EVERYTHING BUT THE RAIN, this chapter weaves several Gotei 13 subplots during the Thousand-Year Blood War arc's preparation period. Its scenes were adapted into Episode 379, THE BLADE IS ME. The glimpse of Mayuri's covert project foreshadows a later reveal, and Komamura's standoff sets up his clan's secret technique.