Shinji gives Ichigo an angry call!

Ichigo's phone suddenly buzzed in his robes, and he paused, picking it up. "Hello?" he asked.

"WHAT THE HELL, ICHIGO!?" Shinji's voice bellowed without warning through the speaker, making Ichigo move it away from his head as it shook, his expression flat. He was way too used to people yelling at him out of the blue, so he was more exasperated than startled by it at this point.

"Whoah, maybe you shouldn't have your phone on speaker, Ichigo..." Orihime chuckled nervously. "He's speaking loud enough as is..."

"... it's not on speaker," Ichigo deadpanned, making Rukia and Hachi chuckle. Ichigo then spoke into the phone, "Sorry Shinji, you're going to have to be a little more specific..."

"WE HAVE BEEN WAITING TO GO INTO HUECO MUNDO! FOR THIRTY MINUTES!" Shinji shouted in irritation. "Does the method you mentioned with Inoue work or not!?"

Ichigo actually flinched. "...oh, right, that... Sorry, we kind of got distracted... There was more to our Arrancar guests than we expected. Long story short, we got a former Espada as an ally. I'll tell you the rest when you get back."

There was a moment of silence. "...okay, fine, I get it. Now hurry up and test the idea!" Shinji huffed. Ichigo rolled his eyes and hung up.

Nel was of course, laughing her ass off at the display. "Oh, real mature," he told her flatly. That only made her laugh harder, and he rolled his eyes. He turned to Orihime. "Ready?"

She nodded, and extended her hands towards him, her power washing over him. She closed her eyes, focusing on Ichigo's soul, and trying to isolate the ones trapped within. Then, she tried isolating the Reishi those souls contained. "...I Reject," she finally announced, triggering her power. Almost immediately, several souls erupted from Ichigo, leaving behind most of the Reishi they held as well, leaving only what they needed to exist comfortably. They could regain it later anyway. For now though, they all ascended to Soul Society.

Ichigo blinked. "How do you feel?" Rukia inquired of Ichigo, who patted his chest.

"...slightly weaker, but still stronger than when we started," Ichigo noted.

"Yeah, I left behind most of the surplus Reishi of the souls I released," Orihime panted slightly. "Figured I could release the souls, but leave most of the power boost with you that way. Did it work?"

"Obviously," Ichigo smirked, sending Shinji a text. "Seems Hollows don't need to eat souls per say, but rather, they eat Reishi, and souls just happen to contain it."

"Makes sense. Maybe Urahara can do something with that info later. Create a Reishi based substitute for Hollow Allies to consume," Rukia nodded.