From Outcasts To Outliers

There was no response at first until he saw the barrier gradually release. Almost immediately after its disappearance, the garage opened to reveal a blonde-haired man wearing a nightgown.

"Do you know what time it is?" Shinji yawned. "What's with all the yelling?"

Shinji was exactly what Silas imagined. There wasn't a single discrepancy in his appearance, save for his clothes.

"You heard me identify all your names, and yet you still play dumb?" Silas retorted.

Shinji merely blinked several times before acknowledgment. "So what? Do you know how many Souls we chase off?"

From behind, he was suddenly dropkicked in the head by Hiyori. The petite girl, hardly five feet in height with a dangled tooth, yelled that Shinji was being too loud. They then got into an argument, each raising their voice. Silas merely stood there, unimpressed by their comedic scene.

"Who the heck is this baldy?!" Hiyori pointed. This was her normal way of identifying people she didn't feel like calling by name. "I only came out here because our baldy was running my beauty sleep!"

"Beauty sleep?!" Shinji repeated. "You weren't even in bed last I checked!"

Their bantering continued even after Silas casually walked inside. Only then did Hiyori finally stop and chase after him.

With a pout, she stared. Silas, by no means, could take this little girl seriously. Even if she was more than twenty times his actual age, she couldn't match him in height or prowess.

"Baldy... Just who the heck do you think you are barging into our territory?!" she yelled.

"I didn't barge in," Silas calmly replied.

His nonchalant attitude frustrated her even more. That was exactly her personality: an aggressive and short-tempered girl with rather violent tendencies. She shows very little respect to the majority, easily getting irritated. If he were Shinji, she would have received the same beating she gave him earlier.

"Gather everyone around so I can explain who I am and where I came from."

At Silas's command, she was about to snap and tell him not to order her around. That is, until Shinji immediately called everyone's name. It was a means to spite her, which wound up working.

A few moments later, Silas found himself in a room with all eight of the members. Most of them were wearing nighttime outfits, while others, like Kensei, were still in their everyday clothes.

"Why'd you wake us up?" Love said, holding a magazine to his face. When Silas saw it, the cover looked more like an obscene book for perverts. "I was just getting to the good part."

Rose interrupted him, stating he didn't want to hear any more in case of spoilers. Lisa, who was wearing silk pajamas, revealed the ending, breaking Roses's heart. Silas could only watch, understanding why this bunch of misfits were deemed "dysfunctional". They acted exactly as their counterparts did in the story.

"I believe this person has something important to share with us," Hachigen said in a slow, lax tone. He was perhaps the only sane person here.

Despite his height of over eight feet and weight of over eight hundred pounds, he was quite the gentle giant. He is also subservient to the more authoritative members of the Visored, often obeying their commands with some quiet complaints.

"Tell us what it is already so I can go back to sleep!" Mashiro yelled. She suddenly dropped to the floor with her arms extended, as if already bored. Kensei was immediately held back by Shinji to prevent him from stomping on her body.

"Go on," Shinji said, keeping Kensei in an arm lock. "Ya got all of us here, so plead your case before I set him free."

"You all can call me Ichigo Kurosaki... I come from days to come, here to warn you of your impending doom: Sōsuke Aizen. I know you all because I came from a time when all of you were already dead."

When the members heard this, they were all amazed. Mashiro jolted up, desiring to know more. Love put down his book, no longer interested. Not even Hiyori seemed to want to interrupt this tale.

"Six years from now, Aizen will have merged with the Hōgyoku and defeated the captains who opposed him from the thirteen court guard squads. That includes the head captain, Genryūsai. The only person who gained the power to take him down was me."

Right then and there, Kensei interrupted, accusing Silas of being a possible spy. This was reasonable to believe due to the strange appearance. But Silas was more than prepared.

"I admit, knowing your location and all your names plus surnames is more than suspicious, but—"

"But nothing!" Hiyori screamed, cutting him off. "You think we're gonna let you near us just because you—" Before she could even finish, each of them became alarmed at what they were sensing.

A sudden shush fell over them. White fragments swirled around Silas, coalescing into the familiar visage of a sleek, bone-white mask that settled weightlessly on the side of his head. Without a single touch, it clung there as he stood with an eerily serene expression. Not a single person said a word.

Summoning a Hollow mask was not something Soul Reapers could fake. And even if they could, they wouldn't be able to admit that icy-chill spiritual pressure that Silas was radiating. It was so potent that the weaker of the Visoreds, like Hiyori, felt her very blood trembling.

Silas had always been able to summon the mask, but he never sought the need to since Zangetsu's power could be used without it. And although Zangetsu was sealed to this day, that didn't mean he couldn't draw from his own inner power.

His mask was unlike the white and red-striped one Ichigo donned; his was practically all-white with rounded edges. It looked no different than a regular mask, as seen in plays or props, but with three red stripes on the left side.

With a slow shake of his head, the mask crumbled into spirit particles, gradually floating in the air like dust. Shinji gave a big smile, saying, "Well, well, looks like he's telling the truth."