I ran at him as he prepared to send another punch at Orihime just as she brought another shield up to block him. And, suddenly, I was behind him. My left hand was on his shoulder; my right was holding my sword.

“Hey,” I said to him. He suddenly stopped. All his momentum was arrested so he could stand there with me right behind him. Orihime stared with wide eyes.

It didn’t take long to figure out what was happening here. Orihime wanted to bring Shishigawara along, she set him off, and they started to fight. But because she lacked the will to hurt him, her shield and offense were both useless. She didn’t want to hurt him, so she lacked the necessary will to use her abilities properly.

Meanwhile, Shishigawara had no such problems. His ability could just break through her shield again and again. And why not? Every time she made a new shield, it became something different for his jackpot ability to work on. In a way, even if Orihime had all the willpower in the world, she would not be able to play a defensive game against Shishigawara. His power said no to hers.

If it were a fight where she was supposed to kill him, if she had the willpower to do that much, then it would be a very different story. But because the goal was to recruit him… that left her with a defensive ability that couldn’t stop a single strike. She could use her offensive ability against him, but if his fist struck Tsubaki, she’d be out an attack and would be forced to waste precious time bringing him back.

Her shield was good, but if it could be broken through so easily, she’d have to abandon healing Tsubaki in favor of healing herself after a hit that may well have killed her.

Shishigawara, would probably be the weakest member of our group if we recruited him. But his ability was a terrifying thing for a kido specialist or someone who used spiritual constructs like Orihime. Sending her ahead was a mistake on my part.

“Ah! Mister Poe!” Orihime gasped, “You… How did you get so fast?”

That was a very good question. What I just did there, to get so quickly from one point to another, it felt like everything was a blur for the briefest second. I was running from my super-great van, and now I stood behind Shishigawara. Something about this was… not right.

What I just did there… was that Shunpo? I thought it was. It felt like it, or as close to how I thought it might feel. But when did I get so fast? Did it happen out of desperation? Did it just occur out of the blue? The last time something like this happened, Omaeda was about to kill me, so it couldn’t really be desperation. Unless I was desperate to save Orihime?