There is a boy watching his father, who was bound because his greatness inspired fear.
He feels a deep, burning resentment.
Later, the boy would cut off his own child's head to seal their power.
*****
Something white.
Something white is moving in the distance.
Wriggle, wriggle.
Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle, wriggle.
Wriggle, wriggle (Kunekune).
Reeds sway under a sky too red to be midday, yet too blue to be dusk.
They wave and flow like a woman's hair.
Between them, a disparate, unnatural, and inorganic white shape twitches.
The ambiguous distance—just on the edge of being visible—blurs one's vision.
It evokes an unexpected desire to approach, eventually ensnaring any life that draws near.
In folklore, it is commonly known as the Kunekune, a yōkai or demon said to drive people mad.
Because its true nature cannot even be guessed, it inspires even greater terror.
But in reality, it is a hollow affair.
Its identity is a Hollow that has hunted humans in the village for ages.
Originally, a Hollow is invisible to humans who lack the unknown power called Spiritual Pressure, yet it can still exert physical force.
However, physical phenomena are not limited to destruction alone.
The creature expanded its abilities into the visual spectrum, turning itself into a lure to hook humans.
Until now.
*****
Krr-keeeek—
A bizarre entity, looking as if the head of a turtle and the body of a snake were attached to each limb, twists its body incessantly.
It convulses like a snake with its head stepped on, thrashing about as if trying to pull out the fingers that have invaded its skull through its maw.
To think it would struggle like this, despite having willingly become the worm on the hook.
However, such thoughts do not exist in the mind of the fish that swallowed the hook.
That fish—the man—was born only a short while ago.
He had never interacted with another being.
This was simply his first instinctual reaction since birth: fighting back against the thing that attacked him while he was walking aimlessly.
Crackle—
As he crushes the head, the body goes limp.
He watches the monster rapidly turn to dust and vanish, as if time were being fast-forwarded.
It is the result of a counterattack born from the minimum defensive instinct of a living being.
The problem, however, was that he had never spoken to anyone.
There was no one to tell him about his own weapons.
Consequently, the moment he realized his strength and abilities came only after being bitten by that white thing for about an hour.
His unusually hard skin had blocked the mask's teeth.
But whether out of persistence or something else, the creature gnawed on the same spot for an hour, eventually opening a tiny wound.
He had remained unresponsive until the wound appeared, but once he realized the creature could actually harm him...
It was like the annoyance of swatting a mosquito only after it has finally managed to draw blood.
However, that small crack rotted, widened, split, and split, and split.
Having no measures to take himself, he ceased all activity to conserve maximum energy. A day passed.
The form that was once a man thus met its death.
*****
"Hoo, so you're this time's 'volunteer'."
A brilliant light source is thrust before his eyes.
His pupils contract sharply, and he winces physiologically.
"Don't worry. Your sacrifice will become a great pillar for the eternal development and scientific progress of the Soul Society."
Small blades, hooks, saws, needles, needles, and more needles and knives.
A man with a bizarre atmosphere, a face strangely divided into black and white, and an odd head, rummages through his tools with light movements.
It feels ominous.
"The supply of Quincies has been quite poor lately. I'm very fortunate to have devoted individuals like you."
He hums in a tone similar to a play's opening narration, as if no answer is required.
"Besides, you have extra credit. A specimen that died from Hollow erosion is quite rare. Usually, they die of old age or are killed by us."
"Isn't it pitiable? No matter how great the power they possess, if they receive even a fingernail's scratch from a Hollow, they cannot escape death."
Soon, with the eyes of a student who has found the right answer, he holds up a syringe.
Compared to the needle, the body of the syringe was bizarrely large and unbalanced.
"I hope for meaningful results this time. ···For instance, something like a fusion with a Hollow?"
The corners of his mouth tear upward into a wide grin as he leans in so close their eyes almost touch.
The madness of a scholar leaks out from his large eyes and the tiny veins within them.
"I hope you endure... for a long, long time. Please."
Thwack.
*****
"Nemu! Nemu, where are you?!"
"Yes, Mayuri-sama."
The Gotei 13, guardians of the Soul Society.
Among them, Squad 12 is responsible for all manners of science and technology.
Otherwise known as the Department of Research and Development (S.R.D.I.).
Since the previous captain, Kisuke Urahara, was exiled, this place has essentially been regarded as the private laboratory of the current captain, Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
An emergency has struck this place.
"How is it going?! Have you found him?!"
"I am sorry, Mayuri-sama. We are mobilizing physical means such as tracking spiritual traces and checking surveillance cameras in the East District, but so far..."
"Dammit! You useless thing, find him at once!"
The woman named Nemu bows her head and promptly withdraws.
'Blast it...'
Currently, every spare member of the S.R.D.I. has been drafted into the search operation.
Normally, wasting this much emotion and energy on a single test subject would be a futile endeavor, but...
Of all things, the escaped subject is a 'Quincy'.
Under the current Head Captain's policy, their existence is strictly managed within the Soul Society.
After the war a thousand years ago, the Quincies were effectively exterminated.
The tiny number of Quincies remaining in the World of the Living were granted a temporary right to survive because their influence and power were weak.
However, they are managed under the strict principle of preventing the emergence of dangerous elements like Yhwach or the Sternritter.
For that reason.
Head Captain Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto—
The strongest Soul Reaper.
The guardian of the Gotei 13.
The butcher of the Quincies.
He is the reason why the man who knows of the experiments—even if he doesn't know their exact nature—hasn't killed Mayuri yet.
Naturally, it is partly because Mayuri's achievements as a scientist are brilliant.
However, while Mayuri was highly confident, he was no fool who ignored risks out of conceit.
If Central 46 and the Head Captain were to discover the details of his progressive and innovative experiments—which the world would condemn as unethical—the flaming guillotine would drop immediately.
Therefore, he kept his experiments strictly hidden and internal.
'But a Quincy escaping by his own strength and hiding inside the Seireitei is a different matter entirely...!'
The problem was the fact that a single captured Quincy had personally half-destroyed the Squad 12 barracks and the research wing, and was now loose within the Seireitei.
This was news that would make Squad 1, where hostility toward Quincies was rooted to the very core, foam at the mouth.
And unfortunately, the Head Captain was the Captain of Squad 1.
A Quincy with Captain-level power wandering inside the Seireitei?
And that being the result of a Captain's personal experiment?
It was an incident that would bring the Head Captain charging in, shouting profanities.
Thus, Mayuri urgently ordered a gag on the information and the disposal of the lab while setting out to recapture the subject... but this was merely a shallow, temporary fix.
This fire was already beyond control.
'...Right. It is already time for the Head Captain to appear and take direct command.'
A major reprimand would likely be unavoidable.
Restrictions on experiments or the prohibition of further progressive technological research—which were, in fact, his private and cruel hobbies—would also follow.
But he was a Captain of the Gotei 13 as much as he was a scientist.
He was not some mediocre man who would struggle to catch a beast that had wounded him by relying on others.
This also heavily concerned his pride as a Captain.
'Just you wait... I will tear you apart with Ashisogi Jizo at the very least...'
This was absolutely not a vent for his nasal bone being shattered by a single punch.
Because he was always a rational and cool-headed scientist.
*****
'I succeeded in escaping.'
He escaped the laboratory, leaving behind the Soul Reaper whose sense of self seemed severely unstable.
He had 'information' in a dictionary sense, but because his knack for utilizing it and his thought processes were still immature, he had listened intently to the man's words to gain experience.
That was why he had remained quiet until just before the injection.
Since he had learned from his previous contact with the Hollow that his skin was considerably strong, he figured the syringe would not pose a real threat.
Indeed, all attempts to insert tubes into his limbs or torso had failed.
"Hmm, Blut Vene? Quite impressive. Strength testing would be interesting, but I have other priorities right now."
Then, the man brought another syringe, forced his eyelid open, and attempted to stab it into his eye—
He stopped him, broke his restraints, and threw a punch at the man's face.
He aimed for the jaw, but the opponent reacted instantly, causing the punch to shift and only strike the nasal bone.
Even so, the man went flying through the roof.
When the aftermath of the attack half-destroyed the building, making it inevitable that he would attract attention, he chose to flee.
His observation while being transported to the lab was that most people were submissive and obedient to that man.
Judging that he needed to leave this place at the very least, he ran.
As the physical dragnet tightened, he recalled the techniques he had learned to find a secret plan to overcome the situation.
Then, it occurred to him.
He extended his shadow, which caught the faint light of the artificial lamps, and created a door.
It was a technique he had seen before.
Yes. The name was surely—
"Schatten Bereich."
With a rush—
His form vanished.
*****
Static—
Oh dear.
A variable, it seems.
*****
A desolate black sky welcomed its new child.
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