Quincies are truly contradictory beings.
They are merely humans with the power to defeat monsters called Hollows, yet because they stand in opposition to the Soul Reapers, they are a people who can never simply enjoy peace.
They fear Hollows, but they loathe Soul Reapers.
Rejecting the black robes, they paradoxically insist on wearing only white.
They are the white ones who hunt the white monsters.
Is it not a truly bizarre and pitiful sight?
*****
Nachahmer stepped out of the room after finishing his conversation with Bambietta.
There was no one to see him off.
As he entered the hallway, a group of highly eccentric individuals—likely the Sternritter—were staring at him with collective interest.
"Loyalty. Private Second Class Einsamer Nachahmer reporting.”
He snapped into a rigid salute, the kind one would only see in a training manual.
Bambietta had cut him off before he could even salute during their first encounter, but the Sternritter were essentially the highest tier of authority.
He had to show them the proper etiquette.
Of course, aside from Cang Du, few of them actually cared about such formalities.
Even under the weight of numerous gazes filled with the curiosity of the strong, he spoke without a hint of a tremor.
"That's a name I've never heard before.”
"Hiyah... this guy's something else, isn't he? To actually walk out of there alive.”
A sly-looking man with slicked-back hair, Askin Nakk Le Vaar, stroked his chin and tilted his head.
It wasn't just that he survived; he showed absolutely no nervousness in their presence. He was certainly different from your average Soldat.
"No, more importantly, what were you doing in there?"
Candice asked urgently.
In truth, they were all curious about that one thing.
The answer they wanted was already decided in their minds.
"I conducted a brief interview. There were no other unusual occurrences.”
However, this 'chef' had no intention of serving up the juicy gossip they craved.
"Hey, you brat...! You don't need to put on these stiff formalities, so just tell us the truth...!"
"Yeah. Give us the full story. I'll listen for thirty minutes, even an hour.”
"Wait, everyone, let's try to maintain some dignity..."
"Tell us how you met first! I'm dying of curiosity!"
"..."
The high-ranking officers were practically writhing on the floor in their eagerness for an answer.
Their dignity and authority as Sternritter had long since been cast aside.
And before they knew it, other Sternritter who had seen the commotion from afar joined in.
Bazz-B, Driscoll Berci, Berenice Gabrielli, Mask De Masculine, Shaz Domino, and even Nianzol Weizol.
The scene was starting to resemble a rowdy marketplace.
"I understand what kind of answer you are looking for, Sternritter, but..."
"...But?"
"Truly, there was nothing else.”
He did not succumb easily to his superiors' thirst for scandal.
Besides, he was technically telling the truth.
"Damn it...! Then what did you talk about? You can at least tell us that, right?"
"I apologize, but Lady Bambietta has requested that the contents of our conversation remain a personal secret..."
"Fuck!"
In the end, the 'appetizer' that would have warmed their hearts was...
"Hm? Wait a second. A 'personal' secret?"
"Oh...?"
...Served anyway.
Created by the very 'customers' who were frustrated by the 'owner's' refusal.
"You just leaked the bait, you rascal!"
"Hahaha, we finally hooked a lead!"
"But you look somewhat familiar.”
"Shaz, what kind of nonsense are you talking about?"
They say groups become more dangerous the more they gather, and men become stupider the more they congregate.
The atmosphere, which had been spreading primarily among the men, soon swallowed the relatively few women present as well.
It was a feast of childish dialogue reminiscent of elementary schoolers.
Cang Du felt like he was about to cry.
'What do I do...'
To think a single word could cause such a butterfly effect—this was his own mistake.
While he was debating the most ideal way to handle the situation, the door behind Nachahmer swung open.
"It's loud enough to kill me. Is there a show going on?"
Bambietta stepped out and glared at them.
That was right.
They had been making all this noise right in front of the room of the person in question.
Cang Du covered his moist eyes.
He was the only one in this world who wasn't happy.
*****
"Why are you still here? Hurry up and deliver my message.”
At Bambietta's harsh command, the Soldat vanished in an instant.
It was a shame, but it didn't matter.
The main subject was still here, after all.
"Don't you guys have anything better to do? Gathering around like a bunch of cockroaches.”
"Oh sure, it's fine. Weren't there just a pair of cockroaches right in front of us?"
Bazz-B smirked.
Bambietta found that mohawk particularly annoying today.
She turned her head and clicked her tongue.
"Tch, say whatever you want.”
With those final words, Bambietta turned around and went back into her room.
The remaining Sternritter were left stunned.
"...Wasn't she usually more hot-tempered than that?"
"Hm-haha! Well, it's only natural to become sensitive after experiencing... certain things!"
Hahaha.
Mask's boisterous laughter echoed through the hallway.
Until a moment ago, they were mostly just teasing, but seeing her react so awkwardly made them truly suspicious.
"Hey. You guys were here from the start. Did you see anything?"
"Not really..."
"He really came out in ten minutes... Maybe that really was all?"
The women had no useful news to share either.
"Or maybe..."
Giselle, who had been tilting her head back and forth, spoke up as if something had just occurred to her.
"Maybe they didn't go all the way and just did something simple? Since we were outside.”
"What are you talking about...?"
"I mean, there are plenty of tools one can use~. Even hands~.”
"...!"
It was like Columbus's egg.
A truly brilliant answer.
As expected of the Sternritter's finest mind, Giselle Gewelle.
And this 'bait' burned hot throughout the Wandenreich for four whole days.
Cang Du simply had a headache.
*****
"He eventually made contact with the Sternritter.”
Haschwalth gave a short assessment after reading Nachahmer's regular report.
It was a situation he hadn't particularly hoped for.
He hadn't expected to be able to completely block contact with the Sternritter after the boy's enlistment.
But it had happened in just a year, and in a rather conspicuous manner.
'Encountered Basterbine while she was out on an excursion while he was hunting Hollows in Hueco Mundo...'
It was a staggering coincidence.
No matter if they used the same gate, to run into each other in that vast expanse at such a timing.
Life is originally a series of coincidences and necessities, but this time, it felt as though the scales had tipped significantly.
According to the report, it didn't stop there; he encountered multiple other Sternritter afterward.
Fortunately, he wasn't among them.
'Rather than keeping a risk factor, should I just dispose of... no, that isn't desirable.'
Retention and elimination.
The two words stood side-by-side on the scales.
The heavier one was retention.
The timing was too coincidental.
If the man still possessed his original power, he would have chosen unconditional elimination, but...
Since even his movements were limited, it was a simple matter of managing him naturally.
It wasn't just him; by becoming Basterbine's personal attendant, Nachahmer had actually become easier to monitor.
One could see it as a purely positive interpretation, but...
'I'll have to keep watching for now.”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and exhaled.
For some reason, it felt like his workload was constantly increasing.
*****
"So, this fella brought some news.”
At Gin's feet lay a large piece of crustacean shell—specifically, a fragment that looked like a finely divided section of a centipede's carapace.
It was breathing faintly as an individual entity, as if defying the normal biological structure of a living being.
"It saw Quincies?"
The one listening to the Hollow's report was the Soul Reaper, Sosuke Aizen.
"Cough, yes... My, gasp, upper body was wiped out, but from my lower body... I barely managed to escape..."
"Aww, that's not it. Did ya see 'em or not, eh?"
Crunch!
Gin stepped on the cracked shell.
"Gah...! Yes, yes. I saw them! They were traveling in a group of about ten or twenty!"
"Hmm..."
It was the centipede Hollow that Nachahmer had killed in Hueco Mundo earlier.
The upper body, which couldn't use its inherent abilities, had died instantly, but a single fragment of the simply destroyed lower body had managed to survive.
"Yes, thank you for the good information. You've done well.”
"Tha... thank you..."
With a dry snapping sound, the Hollow was split in two.
Aizen, who had personally cleaned up the trash with a light gesture, fell into thought.
"I've gained certainty.”
"I didn't expect 'em to get caught so absurdly, but talk about a crazy coincidence.”
A small smile played on Aizen's lips.
It was a very cold curve.
"History is always a repetition of coincidence and necessity. We were lucky this time.”
He always avoided uncertainty, but he never turned away unexpected good fortune.
"What'll ya do?"
"Just as I said before. There's nothing we can do yet. We don't know their location or their strength.”
His tone was incredibly relaxed, as if he were talking about the weather.
"For now, continue to pretend we haven't noticed. Let them be certain that they haven't been discovered.”
In fact, he didn't feel a great sense of immediate crisis regarding Yhwach.
Though that didn't mean he wouldn't prepare.
'Yhwach cannot move before his powers are restored.'
However, because the enemy's strength and location were unconfirmed, he couldn't attack before the resurrection, and he wouldn't be able to face him after the resurrection.
Unless, of course, he achieved his own goal.
Yhwach's 'The Almighty' was not an ability that could be logically overcome in the first place.
In order for him to take Yhwach down, he needed to become an existence that Yhwach himself could not see or predict.
He needed the body of the 'Soul King,' or the Soul King itself.
To do that, he needed the Ouken.
And for the Ouken, he needed the Hogyoku.
Ultimately, he reached the conclusion that he had to complete his plan through induction.
If he couldn't complete the plan, he couldn't face him anyway.
'Within 46 years, that is.'
It wasn't a particularly big deal.
He just had to lay down other foundations.
Slurp.
The black tea had steeped well.
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