A month quickly passed since Grimmjow's unauthorized mortal world invasion—October. I received reports through my intelligence network of stealth Hollows left in Soul Society that Rukia and Orihime had begun special training there.
With heroine Orihime-chan able to leave the mortal world without worry, Ichigo had probably safely started Hollowfication training with the Visored too. The "masked me" over there seemed to be properly supporting the protagonist—excellent.
Now I could concentrate on preparing for the second "HINAMORIIII!" plan.
The ultimate version I aimed for was like canon Hinamori-chan: getting stabbed from behind by Shiro-chan under Kyōka Suigetsu's influence, apologizing for all my betrayals while saying "I love you..." and dying (or entering suspended animation) in his arms. Of course, I'd already mastered healing kido techniques to maintain consciousness for about fifteen minutes with stopped soul pulse so I wouldn't miss Shiro-chan's crucial clouded expression.
But that alone wasn't enough to fully savor the climax. Having to focus on healing kido would defeat the purpose.
So I shut myself in my room's bedroom and arranged a secret meeting with my collaborator. My partner was my recent neglected heroine and soul companion—Tobi-chan.
"So I'd like you to use kido in my place during emergencies. A zanpakutō is a Shinigami's other half, so... is it impossible...?"
"...Being a kido-type zanpakutō doesn't mean the zanpakutō itself is proficient in kido."
Perhaps because it had been a while since materialization, Her Holy Body was in a bad mood. Since she'd been overjoyed at the Bankai feast during the recent DJ-Number Ten-me brawl, she was probably just pretending to sulk. Cute thing.
Though it's not like I hadn't materialized her at all since achieving Bankai. Since she was my life partner, I'd summoned her like this when brainwash—cough cough—proselytizing to help her thoroughly understand my hobbies and tastes. We were only halfway there, but being my other half, I thought she had good aptitude. The signs were already visible...
"Since you're my zanpakutō, Tobi must have kido talent too. Let's aim for double Kurohitsugi together! Or me fighting while you heal with kaidō—a two-person cell!"
"If such a thing were possible, wouldn't the Kidō Corps have already researched it? Parallel thinking using a zanpakutō's main body seems exactly like something those people would devise."
"Few in the Kidō Corps could use Shikai, you know? Probably because they use only kido, their zanpakutō sulk."
"...If you understand those feelings, couldn't you use me a bit more? Even at Sōkyoku Hill when defeating that impudent ice lizard, you finished with your favorite Kurohitsugi—honestly...!"
Tobi-chan pouted, turning away and grumbling "I wanted to show him what's what." I thought she'd accepted that we'd save that discussion for the decisive OPB battle with the Gotei Thirteen... but she probably felt an urge seeing Shiro-chan's wailing figure. I understood the feeling.
To recruit Tobi-chan to the pleasure-seeker club, I'd often shown her my treasured "Shiro-chan Growth Record" when free. Of course I started with light teasing scenes of me joking around with Shiro-chan. From there, gradually refining the "mischievous heart" everyone possessed, the plan was to ultimately corrupt her into the same "pleasure-seeking heart" as me.
However, while Tobi-chan definitely awakened to a pleasure-seeking heart, its target wasn't Shiro-chan but his zanpakutō Hyōrinmaru. I'd heard about him (?) from Shiro-chan, who boasted about being the strongest ice-snow type, and she'd become the type to laugh derisively at such a cocky zanpakutō while showing a wonderful sadistic smile saying "I'll make him understand someday."
Perfect.
"Hehe, when he learns that our victory in the previous captain-class official mock battle was mercy from us giving that boy face... what expression will he show, I wonder?"
"Wow, evil face."
Nicha-bai-chan hiding her mouth with her sleeve seemed to be developing well. Even in anime Bleach she'd been sharp-tongued with quite a harsh personality, and most of all, being this me's soul's other half, she'd surely become a pleasure-seeker surpassing even her master eventually.
"But I wanted to enjoy watching Shiro-chan's clouded face together with you. I don't really understand dragon expressions..."
"Indeed, seeing your childhood friend resent his own powerlessness—that is, his zanpakutō's powerlessness—during the declaration of war was most comical and enjoyable. Next time I'll personally draw that out, understood?"
"Y-yes, I know."
Tobi-chan repeatedly pressed me. She seemed to really hold a grudge about not being able to showcase even serious Shikai, let alone Bankai, during that defection. Rest assured, it's all stylish foreshadowing to obtain the first-Bankai bonus at the Karakura battle.
"Anyway, we still have a little time before the decisive battle, so let's try simple kido. It might become further power for you... and I think Hyōrinmaru probably can't do it, so you can blow that zanpakutō's mind."
"! I-if that's the case, please say so sooner! Quickly use Shikai and enter the mental world—let's begin training immediately!"
"...You're still so easy, I'm worried."
Unlike Bankai, which apparently had the same meaning as summoning the main body to reality, the mental world during Shikai was the zanpakutō's world, so time was infinite. My soul remained unchanged, but there was no better environment for training Tobi-chan.
She seemed motivated, so if there were prospects, I'd immediately get serious about special training.
Well, Tobi-chan's pleasure target Daiguren Hyōrinmaru would properly become strongest-class among all zanpakutō once complete, so to protect her pleasure spark, I needed to become even stronger.
So we could both enjoy ourselves long-term against the Shiro-chan-Hyōrinmaru combo—after Tobi-chan's training, let's awaken my soul, which had reached its limits as a Shinigami, to ★6.
Maybe I should go ask Aizen-sama about progress soon...
***
"—Oh right. I was consulting with Tobi in my bedroom about future pleasure events."
Having finished Tobi-chan's dizzingly long mental world kido training, I sat up from my room's bed—which I now felt nostalgic toward—and stretched with an "mmm." As expected, no changes to my own soul. Unfortunately, training in a hyperbolic time chamber via this method was probably impossible.
"But it's fine since Tobi-chan grew."
"Growth, or perhaps a trick... it differs from the ideal, but should at least withstand practical combat use."
The fact that both our voices sounded happy meant exactly that.
In the end, Tobi-chan couldn't use kido independently, but after various experiments, she amazingly became able to freely use my kido by forcibly merging with my portion of soul. Though strictly speaking she was just using my soul, so it seemed better to think of it as similar to the "parallel thinking" Tobi-chan mentioned before.
Hearing "soul merger" made me slightly hope I could "become the plum flames myself..." but apparently that was completely different. That was likely a technique only for the Shiba family zanpakutō, and I wouldn't use it even if I learned it since I didn't want to lose Tobi-chan anyway.
Now then, having safely secured the means to create the perfect pleasure-savoring environment—me gazing at Shiro-chan's sobbing face while entrusting soul life maintenance to Tobi-chan—let's go obtain the final piece.
The destination was naturally Aizen-sama's place.
"—I've been waiting, Momo."
Late at night when lieutenant Number Ten had left his side, I'd secretly conveyed my business to Aizen-sama beforehand via Tentei Kura and visited his lab. I'd brought herbal tea too, wondering if black tea at night was questionable, but it seemed like unnecessary concern. How much did he like this Darjeeling...
"Gin has been snooping around the Hōgyoku research. Getting inside from here on requires some ingenuity."
While opening the hidden door at the lab's innermost section and proceeding inside together, an interesting topic came up in Aizen-sama's small talk.
"Can that person detect Kyōka Suigetsu's dissonance like Captain Unohana?"
"He's not foolish enough to think he can defeat me without being able to do at least that much."
"...Thinking about it that way, the Gotei Thirteen planning to challenge without any strategy is kind of amazing."
The theory that Number Ten planned Aizen-sama's assassination alone in canon because of the Gotei's incompetence—I think there's something to that.
However, Aizen-sama was completely talking on the premise I knew all about Number Ten's betrayal too. Then I wanted to ask about DJ and such, but... thinking of Aizen-sama's smile when he could see with that Resurrección, asking seemed tasteless.
While brooding, Aizen-sama led me to the lab's secret section. Suspicious reddish-purple lighting appealed with that "quintessential evil organization research facility" vibe.
And then. The target I sought sat enshrined on an inorganic pedestal at the room's innermost part.
"This is..."
"Yes, indeed."
—Your Hōgyoku.
Aizen-sama spoke somewhat enjoyably. Perhaps it was his masterwork—his cold eyes seemed to hold unusually sincere pride without nastiness.
The Hōgyoku I stared at intently differed from Aizen-sama's lapis-lazuli one—it was white peach-colored like cherry blossom shells. I could stare mesmerized forever at such beauty and mysterious sense of kinship.
"Momo. What kind of substance do you think the Hōgyoku is?"
While I gazed stunned at the orb's twinkling radiance, Aizen-sama posed such a question from beside me. I wanted to pour out the complex emotions swirling in my chest, but somehow feeling frustrated about him perceiving my agitation, I took a deep breath to calm my heart.
"...Captain Aizen previously said it was something that 'manipulates boundaries between souls,' right?"
"Correct. The previous me, that is."
Aizen-sama showed a satisfied smile at my answer. Apparently he'd already noticed the Hōgyoku's true nature.
And the reasoning Aizen-sama spoke was roughly—no, almost exactly what his canon self told Ichigo's dad. That both Aizen's Hōgyoku and Urahara's Hōgyoku were incomplete, and only by merging the two into one did they complete for the first time. That the Hōgyoku's power was actually "the ability to take in and materialize the hearts of those around it." That within the Hōgyoku existed a will-like thought that guided those whose hearts it absorbed...
"Urahara Kisuke's failure to destroy the Hōgyoku, and Hirako Shinji and others becoming Visored—all because Urahara himself regretted the disappearance of those phenomena. If he were the type to abandon precious research samples for humanitarian reasons, the 'genius' Urahara Kisuke wouldn't have been born into this world."
"...Well, from another perspective, Urahara Kisuke forcibly made Kuchiki-san human to hide the Hōgyoku, and tried to send fifteen-year-old human children to Soul Society without telling them anything to clean up his own mess. The only difference between us is whether there's intent to make our misdeeds look pretty, right...?"
Aside from us scum's passionate mutual disgust at being completely shameless, this "Wait, isn't this guy dangerous when you think about it?" bottomless quality was Urahara Kisuke's greatest charm. His spiritual pressure was ordinary, but with his intellect and inventions, he dominated not only OPBs but even the Thousand-Year Blood War arc's New Testament Battles—one of the story's foremost stylish powerhouses.
Though Aizen-sama deeply hated that type of strong person who acted like a honor student, considered surrounding weaklings, and placed restrictions on himself.
"Yes, and precisely why his Hōgyoku didn't complete. Fearing unpopularity from his surroundings and isolation as an individual, Urahara Kisuke couldn't collect the 'massive number of Shinigami souls' necessary for the Hōgyoku's completion."
"...Come to think of it, why are Shinigami souls necessary?"
At my casually asked question, Aizen-sama grinned.
"The Hōgyoku takes in surrounding hearts and materializes them. Don't you think that's very similar to us Shinigami?"
"...Eh, no way."
I reflexively stared intently at the Hōgyoku on the pedestal.
"You've noticed. What the Hōgyoku's completion requires isn't just spiritual power, Pluses, Hollows, or other souls—it had to be countless Shinigami souls. Because among numerous species, only Shinigami are—the species that fights by materializing their own souls as zanpakutō into reality."
As Aizen-sama's explanation permeated my brain, my jaw dropped limitlessly.
No way. Because if, if that were true...
This abnormal sense of kinship, and the identity of the pale peach light swirling inside the Hōgyoku—everything...
"This Hōgyoku creates a vessel with my Hōgyoku and Loca's Negación Thread, then is nurtured by countless artificial souls of you produced with Urahara Kisuke's and Szayelaporro's artificial soul technology. The worst failure that awakens only to your heart, yet..."
—The masterpiece that exists solely for you.
Like DJ after finishing the Aizen farm harvest, Aizen-sama casually revealed this tremendous dignity-destroying act with a refreshing smile.
[Breaking News] Hinamori Momo's soul apparently copied without permission, multiplied, and fed to a Hōgyoku...
***
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