"Aizen Sōsuke, how dare you say the kind of treasonous words you just did!"
"Where are the secret guards? Why don't you take action and capture them!"
Several secret guards jumped out from the shadows across the court.
Seeing them appear, the people in the Central Room 46 instantly felt reassured.
"Aizen Sōsuke, do you understand how many years you'll be sentenced to?"
"What about Ichimaru Gin and Tōsen Kaname?"
"Are you two accomplices of Sōsuke Aizen?"
"Come on-arrest them now!"
"Yes!" The guards responded-but rather than move on Aizen Sōsuke, they turned their weapons toward the elders of Central Room 46.
Screams echoed as chaos erupted inside the chamber.
"Ah-!"
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Don't-don't kill me!"
One by one, their cries were silenced. Blood poured across the floor as the once pristine hall was stained red.
Sōsuke Aizen stared at the corpses without emotion. To him, they looked no different than discarded trash.
"You're not qualified to pass judgment on me."
With that, he turned away. The pure white captain's haori drifted behind him with each step.
"Gin, if you want to follow-you know where to find me."
"Yes, Captain Aizen," Ichimaru Gin replied calmly.
Tōsen Kaname stood in silence. He wore his standard goggles, and kept his braided head low, offering no comment.
"Were you... even slightly pleased when you heard the screams back there?" Aizen asked him without looking back.
Tōsen's hands froze at his sides and his shoulders tensed slightly.
Hundreds of years ago, he'd knelt at the gates of Central Room 46-begging for justice for Kakyo's killer. They hadn't even looked at him then. The nobility ignored his pleas as if he had no name or worth at birth.
Now those same nobles were gone. Cause and consequence had finally caught up to them.
Without expression, Tōsen replied, "When that day comes-the day every noble dies and this world is reborn-only then will I feel true peace. That's also when I should die. What I fear isn't death-it's..."
"...Don't worry." Aizen's tone softened just once. "When your path is forgiven by others-when your sins find meaning-I'll end your pain. That's one of my few... mercies."
Tōsen's path had started long before joining Aizen-and long before standing among nobles' corpses today.
It began with one death-hers.
Her name had been Kakyo.
Tōsen and Kakyo had grown up together as close friends since childhood.
He'd been blind since birth, ignored and cast aside by others. Only Kakyo had shown him care that felt gentle and human. Only she had treated him as someone worth talking to.
Unlike him-just another poor man from Rukongai-Kakyo was exceptional. She was already standing out at Shin'ō Academy with rare talent and discipline.
One day, she came to him while he sat on one of the grassy hills they used to talk on. Her stance was firm beside him as she said softly, "I'm getting married soon... I probably won't be able to visit often anymore."
Though he could not see her face, Tōsen always believed she must have been beautiful-because her words and thoughts always felt full of grace. To him, she seemed like someone who truly wished for kindness in every part of the world-and lived it sincerely through her actions.
He would hear nothing from her again after that day.
When the news did come-it was about her death.
Tōsen couldn't accept it. Someone as peaceful and kind-hearted as Kakyo shouldn't have died at the hands of another person-not in this world or any other.
He dropped to his knees outside Central Room 46 and pleaded-
"Why... why hasn't her killer been sentenced to death?! Please-let me speak with the heads of Central Room 46! Please!"
His desperate cries echoed down the stairway as he stretched out both hands over stone and tried to crawl his way past the guards standing at the gate.
They exchanged glances and sneered down at the low-born civilian before raising heavy steel poles in warning.
With no intent to dodge or run, Tōsen remained in place. The moment he chose to plead here-he'd prepared himself for whatever cost came next.
Just as the steel rod swung down over him-a man stepped into view.
No Zanpakutō was drawn. He simply raised one hand calmly and ordered the strike halted.
"Don't be so rough. It's Kakyo's mourning period now-I'll talk to him instead," he said simply to the guards behind him.
They obeyed without hesitation.
Leading Tōsen elsewhere with slow steps, the man said gently-
"You're one of Kakyo's friends-I saw you grieving at her funeral."
Tōsen nodded weakly through silence. Tears soaked his face behind his goggles. Somehow-even if he didn't know this man well-he felt Kakyo's warmth lingering in his words. He gripped that memory tightly.
"I heard she was killed by her husband...?" Tōsen asked in sorrow.
"You heard right," the man answered. "He wanted revenge against another Shinigami officer over some petty dispute-and when Kakyo tried to stop him... he killed her too."
Tōsen's mouth trembled before the tears returned down his cheeks. "Why…why did Kakyo have to die?"
"Perhaps it's because she was righteous beyond most people's understanding," the man replied slowly. "She truly believed in peace-and believed people could treat each other with compassion."
Those were Kakyo's ideals too-the way she carried herself in every conversation with Tōsen was proof enough of that dream. He remembered how she once told him everyone deserved kindness-even those who couldn't see beauty or light anymore.
"She was too gentle," Tōsen whispered eventually. "She should've stopped her husband, somehow..."
"Are you saying her belief in peace was wrong?" the man asked curiously. "Her husband hasn't even been tried-and is walking free today."
Tōsen trembled again-his fists clenched tight at his sides now instead of open in grief. "I heard that too…"
"Is that why you begged at Central Room 46 earlier?" the man asked again in calm certainty.
Tōsen stayed silent-but his silence held weight stronger than any answer could've delivered in words.
"You know about the Five Great Noble Houses?" the man asked next without changing tone.
Tōsen looked stunned for only half a second-but nodded once when prompted further.
"The one who killed Kakyo," the man said finally, "is one of them."
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