“This is UNBELIEVABLE!” Kurosaki and his pals find themselves in the principal’s office, getting lectured by their gym coach Kagine about the rucass Ichigo caused last night,

Escaping Trouble.

which was broadcasted for all of Japan to see. Tatsuki and Orohime slip out claiming they had nothing to do with it. Rukia fakes some tears and blames herself for not stopping Ichigo in time. While the gym coach is distracted by her, the boys jump out the window. Free from the clutches of Mr. Kagine, Ichigo can take care of the Hollow order that just came in.* The others watch as Rukia and Ichigo run off again. Orohime wonders if the two could be dating. As the friends debate the idea, Chad sees a fellow student look down on them from the building accusingly. Chad grows suspicious.

Ichigo and Rukia arrive at the locationRukia’s order designated. They find a scared, helpless

It's a pathetic ghost; not a hollow.

(and rather fat and pathetic) ghost quivering in a corner, but no hollow. Ichigo and Rukia interrogate the ghost, who says there was a hollow before, but someone came and killed it. But he was too scared, he kept his eyes closed the whole time, so he can’t tell them anything about his savior’s appearance. Ichigo performs konso on the ghost, as the student who was watching Chad looks on.

At school the next day, the class scores for the semester are posted (Orohime is 3rd, who would have guessed she has boobs and brains). Keigo and Mizuro step up the chart. “Well girls aside, at least none of our comrades betrayed us by entering the top 50.” Mizuro points out Ichigo’s name as 23^rd**. Keigo freakin’ flips. Ichigo explains he goes home and studies right after school. Keigo doesn’t take it well at all. Resorting to Chad to hang out with, Chad points himself out as number 11. Keigo and Mizuro freak, call them devils and storm off. “If we’re devils, what does that make the top ranked person?” Ichigo reads the name: Ishida Uryuu.

Rukia gets fed up with Urahara. He sells her bad products, he pops his head in when he’s unwanted and never picks up his phone. On top of that, Rukia worries her command receiver (cell phone) is malfunctioning. An order will come in, but no hollow. Speak of the devil… and order comes in. Rukia grabs Ichigo in the hallway. As they dash out of the school, Ichigo brushes shoulders with a malevolent looking classmate. At the scene of the order, there is once again, no hollow. In the midst of their quarreling, the classmate from earlier steps forward (wearing a gimmicky white coat). “Good evening Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san.” Before Ichigo can ask his name, the classmate reveals that he knows about Ichigo’s ability to interact with ghosts. The student senses a hollow’s presence, seconds before the command receiver does. The student even points the direction out. He’s rather ashamed Ichigo couldn’t tell.
 

Ishidu Uryuu, Quincy.

A cross dangling from the student’s wrist lights up with blue energy. The student pulls a ring on the cross, as a bow and arrow forms out of the energy. He releases, launching the arrow through the air and strikes the hollow in the head from nearly 200 feet away. Ichigo gets his original question through: who are you? “Ishida Uryuu, Quincy. And I hate soul reapers… Kurosaki Ichigo, I hate you.”

The next day at school, Ichigo broods over last night’s encounter. He tries to remember the guy’s name. Unfortunately, he has a difficult time remembering faces and names (as pointed out earlier by Tatsuki). Orohime pops up, and asks if he’s talking about Ishida Uryuu.
 

A 200 year old name.

She remembers his name because he’s in her Arts and Crafts club. Ichigo is rather shocked at this development, “ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB?!” Peeking in, they see Ishida repair a classmate’s doll with overly-dramatic skill. He’s good at what he does, at least. Ichigo having seen enough decides to leave. Later that day, Ishida notices Ichigo following him home. Ishida realized this because Ichigo is always letting his spirit power leak out like an idiot. Ishida can sense people with high spirit power. Spirit tape springs up around him, the same from when Ichigo was looking for Chad’s parakeet. A red tape appears, Ichigo’s spirit tape. The spirit tape of soul reaper’s are different colors. He challenges Ichigo to a match, to decide who is stronger.

Rukia pays Urahara a little visit. There’s something she needs to ask him, about Quincys. Urahara admits he hasn’t heard that name for over 200 years. The Quincys were an anti-demon clan that specialized in anti-hollow combat which were scattered across the globe. The clan was destroyed 200 years ago. There was a defining difference between them and soul reapers, however. As opposed to purifying a hollow and sending it to Soul Society, the Quincys adhered

Quincy vs. Soul Reaper.

methodically to killing hollows. It’s a human way of thinking, “if hollows eat human souls, why should we calmly let it rest in peace in Soul Societ?" It was because of this belief they were eventually destroyed. Back in the alley, Ichigo pops Kon into his body, and accepts the Quincy’s challenge.

* This order comes the next day, after a humorous visit from Don Kon’anji, left out in the anime.
** 18^th in the manga.

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