"Project: White."
Its purpose was to destroy the boundary between races by fusing the souls of Hollows and Soul Reapers to achieve what was known as Hollowfication.
After repeated failures in experiments intended to achieve that goal, Project: White was devised.
If the souls of Hollows and Soul Reapers collided and collapsed, then they would prevent that collision by creating a Hollow using only the souls of Soul Reapers.
The entity born from that idea was White.
And now, astonishingly, White had begun parasitizing a Quincy as its host while a captain-class Soul Reaper named Isshin Shiba stood beside her.
"This is... impossible!"
Kaname Tosen, captain of the Ninth Division and a man who had become Aizen’s subordinate due to his hatred of Soul Reapers, cried out.
White was an entity born through a genuine miracle. Even if they invested the same effort and time it had taken to create White, there was no guarantee another entity like it would ever be born.
Yet it had vanished without a trace just as the experiment’s success was within reach.
"There is no need to be so distraught, Kaname."
Even so, Aizen merely smiled as though he found the situation amusing.
"Did I not tell you before? Failure is merely one of the paths that ultimately lead to evolution. A Hollow formed from dead Soul Reapers... deliberately chose a Quincy, the existence most antithetical to itself."
Did he not want to see what happened next?
*
"You’re being temporarily assigned elsewhere, Ryunosuke."
"Am I finally getting a post in the World of the Living?"
"No, you’re being assigned to the Tenth Division. Things have been pretty chaotic over there lately."
Time had passed, and at last the day arrived when Isshin Shiba, captain of the Tenth Division, disappeared.
Since this incident was directly tied to Ichigo’s birth, I had absolutely no intention of interfering.
There was no room for me to interfere in the first place. Even if I went, the only thing I could do was watch Isshin Shiba NTR Masaki right before my eyes while secretly seething behind them.
Captain Kaien looked somewhat troubled.
"Wait... You’re sending another division’s lieutenant to work with them?"
"I suggested it. Watching you coast through life lately was starting to piss me off."
"...."
I was struck speechless.
Sure, I had slacked off a little lately because I was short on training time, but I had still finished all my work.
All I had to do was fan the competitive spirit between my now-subordinates, Kiyone Kotetsu and Sentaro Kotsubaki, and dumping my work on the two of them was child’s play.
"Obviously, that’s not the only reason. I’ve heard the new captain is qualified but still inexperienced, and there’s been a lot of talk about you among the higher-ups. It can’t be helped."
"Me? What could the higher-ups possibly have to say about me?"
"You’ve learned Bankai, yet you’re still a lieutenant instead of a captain. Some are even saying you’re shirking your duty."
"What am I supposed to do? I’m not strong enough to push another captain out, and they aren’t going to expand the Gotei 13 into the Gotei 14 just because one more guy learned Bankai."
In the first place, the Gotei 13’s assessment of my Bankai was that it was "immature."
That was because I had never properly revealed it.
I had only displayed just enough power for it to qualify as a Bankai. I could not reveal its exact abilities.
If it had simply been an overwhelming enhancement of my existing abilities, like Daiguren Hyorinmaru or Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, I would have revealed it without concern. Unfortunately, mine had turned out to be a somewhat tricky ability.
I had no intention of becoming one of those secretly overpowered bastards, but I also wanted to avoid blabbing about my abilities and ending up with a star-shaped ventilation hole in my chest. What was I, a magical girl?
"Anyway! Stay there until the Tenth Division stabilizes. Think of it as balancing their power. If we shove two guys with Bankai into one division, immature though they may be, the other divisions won’t be able to look down on them."
That made sense. He should have just said that from the beginning....
"Ahem! Then I’ll go as ordered. Am I leaving immediately?"
"Get lost already."
*
Toshiro Hitsugaya, formerly the Tenth Division’s Third Seat and now its captain, always put my mind at ease whenever I saw him.
As expected, he was one of the few men in the Gotei 13 shorter than me. He was about as tall as a lower-grade elementary school student, despite being close to my age.
"It has been a while, Captain Hitsugaya."
Still, I had to address him properly. The more chaotic a division was, the more important its captain’s authority became.
"Yes. It has been a while, Ryunosuke Yuki."
He was sitting in the captain’s office handling paperwork, and he did not appear to be having much trouble.
Then again, Toshiro had handled most of the paperwork even when Isshin was still around, so perhaps that was only natural.
"I’m sorry after you came all this way, but there’s no work here for you to handle."
He frowned as though something had come to mind, then continued.
"I never requested support in the first place. The Tenth Division intends to resolve its internal affairs on its own."
He was not merely putting on a brave front. He had a strong sense of pride, but he was not incapable of setting it aside.
For now, he probably just wanted to demonstrate that the Tenth Division remained strong and capable.
"I understand what you mean... but in that case, at least give me something to do to pass the time."
"If you insist, join me for training now and then. Saying you’re here to compensate for my inexperience should be enough. Other than that, you can keep Matsumoto company when she drinks. Now leave."
Contrary to Kaien’s intentions, it seemed I had become a drone living the sweet life.
"Wait!"
...Or not?
"Has the Shiba Clan or the Thirteenth Division... conducted any separate investigations?"
Isshin Shiba, the missing captain of the Tenth Division, was a member of one of the Five Great Noble Clans, just like Kaien.
Furthermore, the battle from his final mission before disappearing had occurred in a region where the jurisdictions of the Tenth and Thirteenth Divisions overlapped. Toshiro was asking me out of desperation, grasping at even the faintest hope.
"...The Thirteenth Division suffered casualties, so we conducted an additional investigation. However, all we discovered was that his trail ended in Karakura Town. Nothing else came to light."
All we had produced was another version of the Tenth Division’s report, written by someone else.
"As for the Shiba Clan, as you already know, they lack the resources."
The Shiba Clan possessed the honor of being counted among the Five Great Noble Clans, but they held virtually no real authority.
From the time of their founder, they had lived alongside the poor in Rukongai rather than within the Seireitei. As such, the only power they possessed was the talent for becoming Soul Reapers carried in the Shiba bloodline.
Moreover, using Isshin Shiba’s disappearance as a pretext, Central 46 had begun moving to strip the Shiba Clan of its noble status in an attempt to weaken the Five Great Noble Clans. What little influence the Shiba Clan possessed was currently being spent on resisting that effort.
Captain Kaien appeared to want to go to the World of the Living and investigate personally, if nothing else. However, his position as a captain bound him in place, leaving him unable to do anything.
"I see... Thank you."
Toshiro had looked up to Isshin like a father. He probably could not bear not to ask.
A bitter taste filled my mouth. After all, I knew every answer Toshiro wanted.
I knew so much, yet for now, I had to conceal all of it.
"He was an incredibly powerful captain. I’m sure... he’s still alive somewhere."
Toshiro did not answer.
...Maybe I should buy him some manju later.
*
"It’s called Hollowfication."
Was it because it had been so long since he last visited Urahara Shop?
The man once known as Isshin Shiba, now Isshin Kurosaki, found himself recalling the words spoken long ago by a suspicious man named Kisuke Urahara.
Hollowfication was a technique intended to achieve transcendence by having a Hollow’s soul parasitize another soul, thereby destroying the boundary between them.
However, no one had ever achieved it perfectly. At present, the two intermingled souls would collide, destroying their boundary with the outside world and annihilating each other. The result was known as "Soul Suicide."
That was the predicament faced by Masaki Kurosaki, whose soul contained both Quincy and Hollow aspects.
There was only one way to stop it. Isshin Shiba had to seal away his powers as a Soul Reaper, become an intermediary existence between a Soul Reaper and a human, and remain by her side for the rest of his life as a kind of support.
Isshin did not regret his decision. It was simply that his subordinates and relatives occasionally lingered in his thoughts, like clouds drifting far away.
"Isshin!"
Masaki’s voice called to him from inside the shop.
Isshin Kurosaki waved his hand back and forth, scattering the cloud of cigarette smoke.
"Is the examination over?"
Masaki was holding Karin and Yuzu in her arms, and her expression did not look troubled. Thankfully, there did not appear to be any serious problems.
"Allow me to explain the results... Isshin."
At the moment Ichigo was born, the Hollow inside Masaki had transferred to him.
At the time, Isshin, Masaki, and Urahara had all been thrown into utter panic.
Now that Karin and Yuzu had been born, they had judged that nothing was wrong. Still, Isshin had brought them here just in case.
"There are no abnormalities in Karin or Yuzu’s bodies. Aside from the fact that they inherited a small amount of spiritual power, that is. However..."
Urahara continued apologetically.
"Masaki’s Soul Suicide problem... has not been resolved. Even though White transferred to Ichigo, its remnants remain like a ghost. I am unable to cure her."
"...."
"Even if it could be cured, her connection to the Hollow that transferred to Ichigo would remain, so...."
"You mean I still wouldn’t be able to regain my powers as a Soul Reaper? Enough about that."
"What?"
"I’m Isshin Kurosaki. That’s the decision I made. Even if I regained my powers as a Soul Reaper, my place would still be here. So it doesn’t matter in the slightest."
As long as Karin and Yuzu were healthy, that was enough. Though it was power he had gained through centuries of grueling cultivation, he said it without hesitation.
"Now I can finally quit smoking."
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