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The Tenth Division barracks.
Before Moyu stepped through the gate, Matsumoto Rangiku came rushing toward him, breathless, her expression flustered.
"Captain, Captain!"
Her voice carried a frantic edge, and the urgency in her tone made Moyu's brows crease.
"What happened?" he asked evenly.
She bent over, panting, her chest rising and falling as she blurted out, "I just returned from the East Great Holy Wall. Captain Aizen of the Fifth Division is dead!"
Moyu's eyes narrowed, his face still but momentarily frozen in surprise. He had not expected Aizen to move this quickly. With Ichigo and his companions already inside Seireitei, there were distractions enough. Killing himself now meant suspicion could no longer be shifted onto the ryoka. Unless, Moyu thought grimly, Aizen had prepared another pawn for the game.
Rangiku steadied her breath and pressed on.
"That isn't all. Captain Kyōraku found traces of Hollow Reiatsu at the crime scene. And members of the Fifth reported that Hirako Shinji visited Aizen yesterday."
Moyu's gaze sharpened. He knew Shinji had remained inside the Tenth Division all yesterday, not leaving until dawn. The entire accusation reeked of a setup.
"According to the report," Rangiku continued, "the cause of death was Zanpakutō wounds severing Saketsu and Hakusui. A residual trace of Reiatsu was discovered in his chest cavity. If nothing else, Captain Aizen seemed to be leaving behind a clue to the murderer's identity."
Her sigh was heavy, her eyes troubled as she searched Moyu's face.
"Captain, what do we do?"
Moyu lowered his eyes briefly, then looked up with steady calm.
"Business as usual. Continue your duties. I'll investigate personally."
She nodded, subdued. "Understood. Please be careful."
With a flash of shunpo, Moyu vanished, Nilu at his side, heading toward the East Great Holy Wall.
Not far along the way, a familiar presence crossed his path.
"Byakuya?"
Moyu quickened, appearing before the Kuchiki heir.
"You've heard?"
Byakuya gave a slow nod, composed as ever. "Gin Ichimaru informed me. Captain Aizen's body has already been sent to the Fourth Division for examination. If their assessment proves accurate..." His words trailed off, but his eyes spoke plainly. From the start he had lent Moyu his silent trust, and though rigid in his sense of duty, a subtle change had begun within him. For Byakuya, the Soul Society's honor mattered. But the bonds of family now weighed heavier.
Moyu shifted the subject. "The ryoka?"
Byakuya's cold expression flickered with faint surprise. "Didn't you send Rangiku and Hitsugaya to the vicinity of the Repentance Palace? With their strength, subduing intruders should be simple. Tōshirō has even attained Bankai."
In that instant Moyu saw Aizen's design. Rangiku and Tōshirō had never gone to the Repentance Palace at all. All of Seireitei was already drowning in Kyōka Suigetsu's illusion. Every division, every captain, every soldier—caught inside his staged theater.
What chaos would ignite when those who perceived the illusion clashed with those who glimpsed reality?
A distant boom split the air.
Buildings crumbled, debris filled the sky, and dust rolled across the avenues as explosions thundered in the south. The battle had already begun.
"Ryoka," Byakuya muttered, gaze darkening.
"First," Moyu said, his voice low, "we go to the Fourth. I need to see the body myself."
Byakuya inclined his head, and the two captains made for the Fourth Division barracks.
When they arrived, the sight was chaos. Barely half an hour since Ichigo and his companions had breached Seireitei, and the relief station was already overrun with wounded.
"The situation is grave," Byakuya murmured.
Following a medic's lead, they entered a quiet ward where Unohana Retsu and Kyōraku Shunsui waited.
On the bed lay Aizen's body, expression frozen in a twisted mask of pain. To Byakuya's eyes, the scene was tragic. But to Moyu—unbound by Kyōka Suigetsu—it was only a white sheet, immaculate and false.
"Captain Aizen..." Byakuya's tone softened with restrained grief. He had not known Aizen closely, yet they had served together as captains for years. To see one of Seireitei's pillars fall in such a way stirred sorrow despite the distance between them.
Unohana's voice was calm, almost clinical. "When Captain Aizen arrived, life was already gone. Repeated tests revealed residual Hollow Reiatsu within him."
Shunsui raised his head slightly. "Moyu. Do you have any explanation for this?"
Moyu's face betrayed nothing. "Explain what? Yesterday Nilu and Hirako Shinji were both in the Tenth Division barracks."
Shunsui lowered his gaze, voice quiet. "Yet members of the Fifth insist Shinji visited Aizen last night."
Moyu did not answer, and a faint displeasure flickered across Unohana's composed features.
"To fabricate guilt without proof—this is no different from slander. Captain Kyōraku, this is the Fourth Division, not the First. If questions must be asked, summon the Head Captain."
Shunsui's shoulders stiffened. He knew of Unohana's bond with Moyu, but he had not expected her to shield him so fiercely. Still, her gaze was sharper than steel. One look warned him enough—this was no place to press further.
Moyu almost smiled. The weight of another's protection was strangely comforting.
"I grieve as well for Aizen," he said softly. "But greater matters demand attention. In less than three hours, Abarai Renji faces execution. And by the flare of reiatsu I feel, the ryoka are already near the Repentance Palace."
Shunsui frowned. "This..."
His words cut off as a surge of reiatsu crashed outside. A figure blurred into the ward with frantic shunpo.
"Moyu!" Hinamori Momo's voice broke with desperation. "You must know something about Captain Aizen's death!"
Her eyes pleaded, searching his face for answers.
But Moyu only shook his head. "I came here the moment I heard. I know nothing more."
The reply shattered her composure. Tears burned at the corners of her eyes as she drew her Zanpakutō and leveled it at him.
"All of this began with you!" she cried. "If you hadn't brought Hirako Shinji back to Soul Society, Captain Aizen would still be alive. I will avenge him!"
With a scream she lunged.
Steel rang. Smoke burst.
Nilu's form snapped into her mature state, intercepting the strike with cold fury.
"This has nothing to do with Moyu," she declared. "To raise your blade against a captain without sanction violates the law of Seireitei itself."
Her reiatsu erupted like a mountain breaking, crushing down on the room. Hinamori's eyes rolled white, her body buckling as consciousness fled.
Silence fell heavy in the ward.
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