"Let me see."

Shinji tried not to yank away from Kisuke's hand as he pried Shinji's eye open to examine the eyeball. The blackness has spread halfway across, and the edge of his pupil was white where it met the dark region.

"It's progressed considerably over the past few days," Urahara said lightly, snapping open a fan to conceal his face.

"You don't need to tell me that," Shinji said. "I can feel it inside me. Whatever you did to me has it suppressed for now, but it's breaking free bit by bit. And once it does..."

Neither of them thought that anything needed to be said in response to that. They both remembered what had happened when Tessai had first released the stasis on Shinji's hollowfied body, and how much damage he had caused before they managed to get him under control again.

"Do it now," Hirako said, looking up at Urahara.

"I don't think we should do that," Urahara said, fanning himself. "After all, it's something I just came up with, we still need to do more testing--"

"Get that stupid thing out of my face!" Shinji snapped. He reached out and snatched the fan away from Urahara, and threw it across the room. "Where the hell did you even buy something like that? And why?"

Urahara pouted. He liked that fan. "They sell them at the market," he said. "I think it makes me look dignified."

"It makes you look like an idiot."

Urahara shrugged and pulled a second fan from his pocket and snapped it open. Shinji moaned in exasperation, closing his eyes and tilting his head back.

"Listen, Shinji," Urahara said, "you really don't have to be the one to do this, if you don't want to."

"I don't care," Shinji said.

"Why don't we wake some of the others up, see what they have to say? I'm sure one of them will--"

"I. Don't. Care," Shinji repeated through gritted teeth. "You said it yourself: If it doesn't work, I'm probably a hollow for good. I ain't letting anybody else take that risk. This is my mess, and I'm gonna fix it myself."

"It's not your--"

"It is my goddamn fault, and you know it. If I'd kept a better eye on Aizen, none of us would be here now. So, do your thing and get me going. Now."

Urahara hesitated for a moment, and then extended one hand to cover Shinji's face. Shinji tensed for a moment, and then fell to the ground, limp.

Urahara bent down over him, checking for a pulse to make sure that he hadn't just killed him. When he found one he smiled. "Just remember, Shinji. Don't lose, or it's all over."

He stood back up, and turned to face Tessai, who was standing on the other side of the room. "Set up as strong a barrier as you can round us," he said. "Don't let us out until it's finished."

Tessai set about constructing the barrier behind him, and Kisuke Urahara drew his zanpakuto as Hirako's mask began forming.

Don't lose, he thought, or I'm going to have to kill you.