"...Nemu?"
Suspicion flashed across Shimo's face.
"What business would she have with me?"
He had a fair understanding of the Twelfth Division's lieutenant.
After all, she had been artificially created by Mayuri Kurotsuchi himself. For Nemu, her creator's words were absolute law.
Which meant—if Nemu had come all the way to the Fourth Division, she was here under Mayuri's orders.
"What is that lunatic plotting this time…?" Shimo mused, then lifted his head and smiled.
"Let her in."
Led by a Fourth Division member, Nemu walked silently into Shimo's presence, her face completely devoid of expression.
"Lieutenant Nemu, what brings you—" Shimo began, attempting courtesy.
But before the words had fully left his mouth, Nemu interrupted in her flat tone:
"Mayuri-sama requests your presence in the Twelfth Division to discuss research."
Her face betrayed no emotion, like a living doll.
Shimo frowned slightly. He was certain that if he refused, Nemu would not hesitate to attack him right here, so absolute was her loyalty.
And the last thing he wanted was a battle breaking out inside the Fourth Division barracks.
"…I'd have to go eventually anyway," he sighed inwardly.
Rising to his feet, he said aloud:
"Very well. Lead the way, Lieutenant Nemu."
Silence was indeed her most defining trait. If a single word sufficed, she never wasted a second one.
---
Twelfth Division Barracks
By the time Shimo arrived, he immediately noticed how drastically different the atmosphere was here compared to other divisions.
Steel frameworks and complex machinery filled the compound, giving the impression of an industrial age laboratory rather than a barracks.
This place wasn't only headquarters for the Twelfth—it was also the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, where new technologies and spirit tools were devised.
Decades ago, it had been founded by Kisuke Urahara.
It was he who had plucked Mayuri Kurotsuchi out of the Nest of Maggots and gave him the 3rd seat, entrusting him with leadership of the Institute.
Yet Mayuri never felt the slightest gratitude.
When Urahara vanished in his infamous exile, Mayuri naturally assumed the captaincy, claiming full control over most research projects.
Every member here was deeply immersed in their own experiments. Even as Shimo passed, not a single one spared him a glance.
In their world, nothing held more value than the work at their benches.
At the deepest part of the facility stood a massive set of crimson-marked doors. Painted across them in thick red ink was the character for "Forbidden."
Nemu turned and bowed slightly.
"Please wait here. I will notify Mayuri-sama."
Shimo nodded as she walked ahead.
The doors, sensing her identity, slid open of their own accord. Her figure slipped inside, and the doors sealed once more, the blood-red 禁 character fusing back together ominously.
Inside, Mayuri bent over a blood-stained worktable, bizarre headgear crowning his figure as always. The surface of the table was slick with crimson—half workbench, half abattoir.
"Mayuri-sama," Nemu reported softly, "Kyōraku Shimo awaits outside."
Mayuri's lips curled into a twisted smile.
"So, he's come. Excellent. The experiment can continue!"
With a hiss, the forbidden doors opened again.
Mayuri strode out, smiling twistedly, Nemu silently following behind.
"Kyōraku Shimo… our second meeting." His grin widened.
"Welcome to the Research and Development Institute."
Shimo forced a polite smile. "An honor, I suppose. But let's not waste time—why have you summoned me?"
This feverish work environment suited Mayuri perfectly, but Shimo's languid nature was utterly out of place here.
"Patience," Mayuri drawled. His voice, like his personality, was horrifying and unnatural.
"In science, impatience is the deadliest sin. Come. Follow me."
---
Inside the Forbidden Sector
Shimo followed Mayuri into the depths.
The illumination here was strange—white, clear light unlike the kido lamps Shimo knew. Closer inspection revealed it was light generated by dense spirit particles arranged in precise patterns.
He had to admit—the level of technology here surpassed much of Soul Society.
Science truly was the greatest productive force.
If his own specialty were different, he might have liked to dabble in it himself.
But, yeah. With a small shake of his head, Shimo resigned himself to merely observing.
The walls of the chamber were inscribed with intricate kido formulas, all tied to space manipulation. His expertise in kido let him recognize the connection.
After several narrow corridors, they entered a vast hall. Dozens of workstations were arranged in a ring, surrounding a massive transparent dome at the center.
What shocked Shimo most was the air itself—the spirit particles density here rivaled even the noble districts.
Mayuri, noticing his reaction, grinned.
"A high density of reishi makes experimentation far more efficient."
Shimo withheld comment. This is Twelfth Division's domain, not his. But curiosity continued to gnaw at him.
"Captain Mayuri," he finally asked, "why exactly have you brought me here?"
At this, Mayuri stopped walking. His pale hand gestured toward the towering glass dome.
"Tell me—what do you sense inside?"
Shimo extended his spiritual pressure toward it.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary transparent capsule. But under the lens of spiritual energy, the space pressed back with an overwhelming, crushing weight.
"…This is… the power of space itself?" Shimo's eyes narrowed.
Mayuri's grin stretched even wider.
"As expected—you see through it immediately. To be precise, what lies within is… a fragment of the Dangai."
At those words, Shimo's expression hardened in shock.
The Dangai a.k.a Precipice World—a boundary space, layers upon layers of severed dimensions, encased in torrents of time's current. Within, the flow of time was exponentially denser than in the outside world.
If quantified, one year outside equaled two thousand years within.
How in the world had Mayuri managed to isolate a fragment of that forbidden realm?
"Captain Mayuri… how did you separate a piece of the Dangai?" Shimo demanded.
He didn't doubt the claim—his own Zanpakutō gave him deep familiarity with spatial and time forces. Even before Mayuri spoke the name, he had felt that crushing presence.
"Leave it as a twist of fate," Mayuri replied with a shrug. "Even I don't fully understand it. It involved reishi turbulence, spiritual pressure segmentation, multiple layers of spatial conversion, and certain chaotic time-particles…"
He rattled off terminology that, though Shimo understood each word individually, strung together became near incomprehensible.
Shimo could only give a dry laugh. For all his mastery of space and time in combat, Mayuri's theoretical jargon was a world apart.
"My invitation, then," Mayuri continued, growing animated, "is for you to use your Zanpakutō's power over stasis—to manipulate this fragment of the Dangai!"
His arms flailed in excitement, twisted glee apparent on his painted face.
"Of all known Zanpakutō, yours alone can halt and condense space itself!"
Shimo's eyes narrowed in realization. So that was it—it came back to his zanpakuto's ability.
Though the Dangai was a forbidden world he had studied in passing, he had never gained anything concrete from it.
But this fragment… this was different.
Interest stirred in him.
"…Very well," Shimo said at last. "A collaboration, then."
Mayuri's grin twisted into manic delight.
"Yes. Here's for a fruitful partnership!"
---
Thus began their joint research into the Dangai fragment.
For months, Shimo became a regular visitor to the Institute.
Mayuri devised over a dozen experimental approaches—testing spiritual pressure, spirit particle fusion, Zanpakutō release, kido smelting… Shimo assisted in each.
The results were staggering.
At first, the Dangai fragment was impenetrable, like an unbreakable shell.
But repeated trials slowly unveiled its secrets. They confirmed not only its crushing spatial density, but also the immense importance of time forces within.
Through the research, Shimo gained deeper insight into manipulating both space and time.
His Zanpakutō's time ability grew more versatile—he could even impose it upon an opponent's weapon, akin to Kira Izuru's shikai, or arrange it around himself like a trap-type kido.
Nearly a year passed—insignificant in the long lifespans of Shinigami, yet enough for major developments to stir.
Shimo noted new movements in the Gotei 13.
Renji Abarai, Izuru Kira, and Momo Hinamori had all officially joined the Fifth Division as Aizen's subordinates.
Rumor also spread that Aizen had nominated his own lieutenant, Gin Ichimaru, for captaincy of the Third Division. The matter was still under evaluation… but Shimo knew the outcome was all but guaranteed.
Aizen's genial facade made opposition pointless. And Gin's strength was more than enough to warrant a captain's post.
...
Another six months passed. Their Dangai research struck a wall.
Mayuri grew increasingly irritable.
"Failure again?! Worthless! Even the simplest trials ruined! Perhaps I should turn you into a living bomb—at least then you'd be useful!"
Such rants became commonplace in the lab.
Shimo finally advised, "Mayuri, perhaps we should suspend the research for now. Breaking a bottleneck is never easy."
Reluctantly, Mayuri agreed. Shimo left the Twelfth Division.
Watching his retreating back, Mayuri's manic smile faded, replaced by something else in his eyes—wariness.
"…Kyōraku Shimo. Another anomaly within the Seireitei."
His fingernails scraped across the blood-stained worktable, shrieking against the steel.
"Time… such dangerous power…"
-------------------------///
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