Orihime Inoue vs. Numb Chandelier

Orihime Inoue vs. Numb Chandelier is a fight which takes place during The Death Trilogy Overture, consisting of Orihime Inoue's conflict with the Hollow Numb Chandelier, which awakens her unique spiritual powers, the Shun Shun Rikka.

Prelude[]

In order to prove to Ichigo Kurosaki that the Quincy are superior to Shinigami, Uryū Ishida challenges him to a Hollow-killing contest and crushes a piece of Hollow Bait,^[2] which scatters on the wind and begins to attract Hollows all over Karakura Town.^[3] Meanwhile, at Karakura High School, Orihime Inoue walks up and asks Tatsuki Arisawa if they can talk. However, before Orihime can elaborate, she and Tatsuki hear the sound of shattering glass, and someone shouts out that all the windows on the first floor of the nearby building just shattered. Wondering what happened, Tatsuki tells Orihime that they should check it out and runs off, only for Orihime to see the sky above them distorting.^[4]

Shortly afterward, Chizuru Honshō sweeps up broken glass alongside Tatsuki while stating she would not have come if she knew this is what she would be doing before bemoaning how boring the task is and criticizing the judo practitioners for getting rowdy and breaking the glass despite the risk of people watching. When Tatsuki notes they all said it was not them, Chizuru recalls they claimed their arms moved on their own and assumes they were simply mad over losing the state tournament. As Tatsuki continues to puzzle over the situation, Chizuru wonders if she is defending them and teases Tatsuki as having a preference for sweaty guys, prompting an angered Tatsuki to demand to know what she just said. After staring at Tatsuki for a few seconds, Chizuru declares she is going home as she tosses her broom and dustpan aside despite Tatsuki's protests.^[5]

Upon seeing Orihime standing motionless several feet away, Chizuru offers to go home with her and leave the cleaning to Tatsuki, but Orihime does not respond, leading a somewhat concerned Chizuru to ask her what is wrong and observe that she is even more out of it than usual. When Chizuru promises to tickle Orihime into submission if she does not snap out of it, Tatsuki demands to know if she has no shred of decency, leading the two of them to confront each other once more. However, Orihime suddenly claims that there is a TV show airing right now that she wants to watch and grabs Tatsuki and Chizuru before pushing them away from the school, to their confusion.^[6]

Atop the building behind them, Numb Chandelier drapes a tentacle over the side and looks down on the three girls.^[7] As she continues to push her friends, Orihime mentally notes that only she can see Numb Chandelier and recalls thinking only that she wish she had not seen it and that she needed to get away from there upon first seeing the Hollow. Admitting that she knows nothing about the situation other than that Numb Chandelier is dangerous, Orihime mentally asserts that she must act like nothing is wrong so she does not scare her friends. Orihime continues to run ahead of Tatsuki and Chizuru as she encourages them to hurry up, prompting Tatsuki to note that it is unlike her to skip out on chores like this. When Chizuru takes the opportunity to profess her love for Orihime, Tatsuki responds by angrily punching her hard in the gut, which Chizuru praises the form of as she collapses.^[8]

However, as she calls after her friends once more, Orihime realizes that Numb Chandelier has vanished from the roof of the building and nervously wonders where she has gone as Chizuru asks Tatsuki if she is really going to wear her karate gi home. Admitting that she had forgotten she was wearing it, Tatsuki tells Orihime that she has to change her clothes and that they should go on without her, despite Orihime's protests. Suddenly, Orihime sees that Numb Chandelier has suspended herself in the air above them, and as she slowly looks at the Hollow, Numb Chandelier notes that Orihime can see her.^[9]

Battle[]

When Chizuru asks her if something is wrong, Orihime frantically tells her to run, to Chizuru's confusion, as Numb Chandelier mocks this command and generates numerous seeds on her forehead before unleashing them in a flurry of projectiles. A frightened Orihime shields herself with her arms as the seeds slam into the ground around her and shatter all the windows on the surrounding buildings. Wondering what that was, Orihime realizes she is unharmed and runs over to Chizuru upon seeing her lying on the ground with a bloody shoulder. With Chizuru grunting in pain, Orihime notes that she is bleeding badly and asks her what she can do, only for Chizuru to perk up and caress Orihime's chin while calling her sweet for crying like this before quickly getting to her feet.^[10]

After admitting she does not know what hit her and may be bleeding a lot, Chizuru claims it does not hurt that much and demonstrates how her left arm still moves just fine. Upon seeing Orihime is still crying, Chizuru notes she is adorable when crying before asserting she likes Orihime better when she is laughing, only to suddenly find herself gripping Orihime by the throat with her left hand. As Orihime expresses confusion at this, an equally bewildered Chizuru begins to panic upon realizing she can no longer control her left arm and tries to pull herself away while apologizing.^[11]

Laughing at the sight of this, Numb Chandelier orders Chizuru to strangle her friend and drops to the ground as she explains that she fires seeds from her forehead which sprout and grow roots in whoever they hit because she does not like to fight. As Chizuru punches Orihime against her will, Numb Chandelier details how she makes her proxies kill each other while she stays clean before sending forward several other students possessed by her seeds while noting that it has been a long while since she has seen someone as pretty as Orihime be ruthlessly slaughtered by her classmates. The possessed students swarm Orihime and begin ripping off her clothing while Orihime begs them to stop.^[12]

Suddenly, Tatsuki kicks two of the students off of her, and as Orihime gratefully calls out to her, Tatsuki apologizes for not noticing Numb Chandelier before. When a surprised Orihime asks her if she can see Numb Chandelier, Tatsuki admits that she can only tell where Numb Chandelier is and asserts that she is the thing which made Orihime cry before proclaiming to Numb Chandelier that she has a long-standing rule of beating up anyone who makes Orihime cry.^[13] Tatsuki rapidly defeats several of the students possessed by Numb Chandelier's seeds in a single blow each and reminds them that she is just one little girl before maniacally laughing as she wonders if any of them will give her a fight, to Orihime's visible embarrassment.^[14]

Noting that Tatsuki is a lively one, Numb Chandelier declares that it is even sweeter to watch the faces of lively victims contort in agony as the possessed boys whom Tatsuki had knocked down rise up behind her. As she prepares to take them out once more, Tatsuki finds herself grabbed by Chizuru, who tearfully tells her to run, before receiving a powerful blow to the chest and being restrained by the possessed boys, allowing Numb Chandelier to shoot her in the shoulder with another seed. As Orihime screams out to Tatsuki despite being muffled by the possessed boys restraining her, Numb Chandelier explains that the seed which she fired into Tatsuki is now taking over her body and will allow Numb Chandelier to control her movements before wondering how to punish her.^[15]

Numb Chandelier's ideas are interrupted by Orihime still attempting to call out to Tatsuki. Angered by this, Numb Chandelier has one of the possessed boys restraining Orihime slam her head into the ground to shut her up. Claiming that it is hard for an unspoiled mind like hers to devise wicked tortures, Numb Chandelier decides to have Tatsuki plan her own death instead, but Tatsuki merely tells her to shut up and let Orihime go. As Numb Chandelier caresses Tatsuki's face with one of her tentacles and asserts that the latter's life is within her hands, Tatsuki bites down hard on the tentacle, causing Numb Chandelier to scream in pain as she tries to free herself.^[16]

When Tatsuki keeps biting down despite being whipped with other tentacles, Numb Chandelier unleashes a barrage of seeds upon her while declaring that Tatsuki is not worth controlling and should die, resulting in Tatsuki being hit by several seeds all over her body. Panicking at the sight of this, Orihime kicks and pushes her way free of the possessed boys restraining her and runs over to Tatsuki, who falls to the ground while mentally telling Orihime to not cry. However, as Orihime sees that one of the seeds has buried itself in Tatsuki's forehead, Tatsuki kicks her hard in the stomach, causing Orihime to collapse and vomit in pain. Looking up at a fully possessed Tatsuki, Orihime recalls how she was proud of the color of her hair as a child.^[17]

Proud of her hair because Sora Inoue complimented how colorful and shiny it was, Orihime remembers cutting it in junior high despite growing it out since she was a baby because a ninth grader had declared that they did not like the color of her hair and took scissors to it, which forced Orihime to cut the rest to match. While Tatsuki viciously kicks her around, Orihime remembers being unable to tell her brother what happened and being left alone after he died, which resulted in her withdrawing at school and becoming ever lonelier until she met Tatsuki, who took her hand and protected her, leading to her being able to grow her hair out again and deciding to never cut it again because it symbolizes her trust in Tatsuki. Thanking Tatsuki for protecting her over the last three years, Orihime watches a tear fall from her open eye and mentally tells Tatsuki to not cry before verbally assuring her that she will protect Tatsuki from now on. Suddenly, Orihime's flower hairpins separate into six rods of light.^[18]

Glowing brightly, the six rods of light burst out and create a whirlwind around Orihime. As a surprised Numb Chandelier wonders what this is, one of her tentacles is severed, and the whirlwind clears to reveal a standing Orihime, who reminds Numb Chandelier of how Tatsuki had declared that she picked on the wrong person before proclaiming that she shows no mercy toward anyone who hurts Tatsuki.^[19] While Orihime confidently stares her down, a shaken Numb Chandelier mocks the idea of Orihime not showing her mercy before wondering what the gnats flying around Orihime are, leading Orihime to look up in mild surprise at the insect-like objects whirling around her before wondering the same thing herself, to Numb Chandelier's consternation. However, Orihime hears a voice telling her that she must have sensed their presence because they have always been close to her.^[20]

Landing on her shoulder, Shun'ō greets Orihime and introduces himself and the other spirits gathered with him as the Shun Shun Rikka, whose mission is to protect Orihime as the manifestation of her power. Shocked by this, Orihime mistakes the Shun Shun Rikka for fairies, which Shun'ō quickly corrects by explaining that they are the power of her soul which awakened by something she responded to, which essentially makes them her. When a confused Orihime traps him between her hands, Shun'ō protests that lack of understanding does not mean she gets to capture him and reveals that no one aside from her can see them anyway.^[21]

Responding to Orihime's disappointed reaction by wondering if she was planning on taking them to show-and-tell, Shun'ō notes that a few people like Ichigo Kurosaki may be able to see them, and when Orihime wonders why Ichigo would be able to do so, Shun'ō informs her that they were created because of him. Before Shun'ō can elaborate, Tsubaki suddenly dropkicks him and declares that there is no time for introductions. Brushing off Shun'ō's pained response, Tsubaki tells Orihime that all she needs to know is how to use the Shun Shun Rikka rather than who they are or where they came from, to Orihime's considerable and visible confusion.^[22]

Hinagiku proclaims that the job of him, Baigon, and Lily is to create a shield and reject, which requires Orihime to use her heart and a kotodama. Though Orihime is bewildered by all this information, Tsubaki notes that Numb Chandelier is about to attack as she readies several seeds on her forehead. After Hinagiku, Baigon, and Lily introduce themselves to Orihime, Shun'ō gives her a kotodama to repeat after him, and as Numb Chandelier unleashes a barrage of seeds at her, Orihime uses Santen Kesshun, creating a triangular barrier in front of her which intercepts and blocks all of the seeds. As Orihime expresses surprise at this, Shun'ō explains how those three reject beyond the shield by creating a barrier between Orihime and the enemy which rejects any attack aimed at her. While Numb Chandelier watches in confusion, Shun'ō flies over to an unconscious Tatsuki Arisawa and explains that he and Ayame can reverse the damage inflicted to anyone covered by their shield by rejecting all destruction behind the shield. After introducing himself and Ayame to Orihime, Shun'ō gives her another kotodama to repeat after him, and Orihime uses Sōten Kisshun, creating a half-oval barrier around Tatsuki that begins healing her injuries.^[23]

With Orihime tearing up at the sight of her friend's recovery, Tsubaki tells her to stop crying and explains how he rejects both sides of the shield by blowing a hole in the enemy and creating a shield inside to reject the union of matter, effectively splitting them in two. After Tsubaki introduces himself to her, Orihime unleashes Koten Zanshun, which burrows inside of Numb Chandelier before vertically bisecting her.^[24]

Aftermath[]

As a stunned Numb Chandelier crumbles and dissipates into the sky, Orihime faintly cheers for her victory before collapsing, which prompts Shun'ō to note that it was all too much for her before telling Orihime to hang in there as he and the other Shun Shun Rikka return to their hairpin forms, which fall to the ground next to Orihime as Kisuke Urahara arrives, with Tessai Tsukabishi carrying Yasutora Sado on his back behind him.^[25] Later, at the Urahara Shop, a sleeping Orihime rolls around and mutters that Ichigo is misunderstanding the rules of the video game they are playing before bolting awake out of frustration, slamming the back of her head into Sado's face in the process as he looks down on her.^[26]

After Orihime and Sado greet each other, Urahara walks in, prompting Sado to reveal that he is the one who saved their lives before asking Urahara to finish telling them why they suddenly have strange powers and what Ichigo's involvement is, to Orihime's surprise.^[27] With Urahara having informed them of the existence of Shinigami and Hollows, Sado and Orihime express disbelief at his tale, but Urahara merely points out that they cannot deny it without denying their own pain as well. With Sado and Orihime conceding this, Urahara explains that Ichigo has incredible Reiryoku that constantly flows out of him and can affect other Souls, like Orihime and Sado, before revealing that this is what caused their latent supernatural powers to awaken.^[28] As Sado and Orihime are stunned by this, Urahara assures them that they do not need to pass through or even open the doors which they have been given the keys to.^[29]

After confirming with Tessai that preparations are complete, Urahara begins to leave, and when Orihime protests this, Urahara asks her and Sado if they wish to come along in order see the proof of the world they are about to step into and the enemy they are going to fight for themselves.^[30] Later, as a Menos Grande strides through a Kūmon toward Ichigo and Uryū, Sado asks Orihime if she can see Ichigo and Uryū clearly, which she confirms, and admits that they are blurry to him as they watch the battle unfold through a window. Noting that they will be waiting and watching to decide what path they will take, Orihime asks Sado what they are supposed to do, only for him to remain silent.^[31]

References[]

Navigation[]

The Death Trilogy Overture: Death & The Strawberry
Major Participants	Ichigo Kurosaki • Isshin Kurosaki • Karin Kurosaki • Yuzu Kurosaki • Rukia Kuchiki • Yasutora Sado • Orihime Inoue • Uryū Ishida • Don Kanonji • Grand Fisher • Yoruichi Shihōin • Kisuke Urahara • Tessai Tsukabishi • Ururu Tsumugiya • Jinta Hanakari • Kon • Byakuya Kuchiki • Renji Abarai • Fishbone D • Hexapodus • Acidwire • Shrieker • The Demi-Hollow • Bulbous G • Numb Chandelier
Events
Fights & Events	Rukia Kuchiki & Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Fishbone D • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Hexapodus • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Acidwire • The Cursed Parakeet • Rukia Kuchiki & Yasutora Sado vs. Shrieker • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Shrieker • The Mod Soul Incident • Ichigo Kurosaki & Kon vs. Millipede-like Hollow • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Grand Fisher • Ichigo Kurosaki & Don Kanonji vs. The Demi-Hollow • Yasutora Sado vs. Bulbous G • Orihime Inoue vs. Numb Chandelier • Ichigo Kurosaki & Uryū Ishida vs. The Menos Grande • Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Renji Abarai & Byakuya Kuchiki • Trials of the Shattered Shaft