The van, once a plain, ordinary, late third generation Mazda Bongo – don’t ask why I knew this. Just… just blame Top Gear… The van had been turned into a monstrous looking thing. At first, what I noticed were the wheels. The front wheels were mostly the same, but the back wheels had been made a little… different. “Six-wheel drive,” Urahara informed me, “For when four wheels aren’t enough.”

That was all fine and good, but the engine of the van wouldn’t be able to handle running three sets of wheels simultaneously without overheating. Urahara would have to – “I took the liberty of adding an extra pair of engines.”

…What. “A pair of engines?” I croaked, “So, that’s… that’s three engines, one for each pair of wheels, and… how does that even make sense structurally, it must take so much gas…”

He laughed at that. Urahara just fucking laughed at me. “Nah. No gas, no petrol, no diesel… This truck is powered by you.”

…Again, what. “Explain.”

“I noticed that you had a problem in your fight with Omaeda. While you could channel your power into various vehicles without even driving them, the vehicles themselves weren’t made very much stronger. But your van, out of all those vehicles, was able to repair its damages and drive back to the shop. That’s a pretty amazing thing, when you think about it.”

“…Your point being?”

“My point being, if this thing will repair itself, if this van will follow you around, why not make it a little better or a little more durable? You’re not from this world, I understand that. But if I do find you a way back, there’s little likelihood that you’ll be in exactly the right world. It’s a crapshoot. And what do you suppose the chances are that the world you end up in will be as nice as this one?”

Oh… That was his point. This, was he doing this to protect me? Did he try making the van better to save my life in the future? Was this some kind of reward for what I’d done? “That’s… Thank you… boss.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” he waved me off, “We haven’t even reached the good part.” He knocked on the side of the van, “I armored this thing with Sekkiseki…” he looked at me, “Do you know what that is?”

The word was translated as Spirit Reducing Stone to me. And yes, I knew what it was. Sekkiseki was the substance that covered the walls of the main part of the Soul Society – “Doesn’t that stuff repel spirit particles or something?” I asked, “It, uh, makes a field of power, and if any of those particles try to pass through, they get stopped?”

“That’s right,” Urahara nodded, “Sekkiseki is almost omnipresent in the Soul Society, there’s just so much of the stuff… but here in the living world, it can be incredibly scarce. Coating your van in the stuff was no easy task, but… it was worth it, I think. Even without your powers, this van should be able to withstand an incredible amount of punishment.”

So he’d made it faster, more durable, and capable of preventing anyone I didn’t want in my van from getting inside the van. The spare tire in a cover on the hood of the van brought a small smile to my face.