"Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck."
Nelliel said gravely, "That is my name, not 'antelope lady.'"
"Sorry, sorry." Yoshio scratched his head. "I forgot to introduce myself earlier. I'm Yoshio Kamado, and this is my captain, Aizen Sōsuke."
Because he'd already known her identity from the manga, he'd almost forgotten that in reality he shouldn't know her name at all.
"You want to bring a Hollow into Seireitei? Doing something so against the rules right in front of your captain—are you sure that's appropriate?" Aizen pushed up his glasses.
"It's not very nice to say, Captain Aizen, but you've done plenty of forbidden things yourself. One more won't hurt."
"You really are…"
"Hold on." Nelliel frowned. "I never said I'd go to Seireitei."
Was he kidding? She was a Hollow. If a Hollow walked into Seireitei, wouldn't that be throwing herself into a trap?
Seireitei wasn't like other places; it was wrapped in a Shakonmaku Barrier.
The Shakonmaku protected against enemy attacks and also served as a "prison" preventing internal spirits from leaving. Even with Garganta, moving within it would be extremely difficult.
"Don't you want to learn about the Soul Society's 'civilization'?" Yoshio asked.
Truthfully, he was reluctant to give up Nelliel's Souls Ability. [Size alteration] might seem useless, but in many situations it was extremely handy.
For example…
When to disguise oneself?
If he turned into a child, whenever he did something bad, no one would know it was him.
Who would suspect a kid of wrongdoing, right?
He really did need that ability now.
"I see…" Aizen seemed to have thought of something and said calmly, "Yoshio-kun, let's go back. What you're thinking about will come to pass before long."
?
What am I thinking?
I just want to raise Nelliel's favorability!
Yoshio grumbled inwardly but couldn't say it out loud, so he could only sigh.
"Well then, goodbye, antelope la—no, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. Next time…"
"We'll meet in Hueco Mundo."
Aizen opened a Garganta, and Yoshio followed him in.
Before entering, he waved at Nelliel.
"You'd better not come to Hueco Mundo again."
Nelliel said gravely, "Hueco Mundo isn't your Shinigami turf. If you come again, you may not run into me next time."
"Next time we meet, perhaps everything will be different," Yoshio said with a smile.
Who said Hueco Mundo wasn't Shinigami turf?
By the time they returned next, perhaps the Shinigami would already be masters of the Hollows.
Yoshio followed Aizen back to the Soul Society—specifically, to Rukongai, not Seireitei.
"Whew…"
Yoshio drew a breath. "Though the reishi concentration isn't as high as Hueco Mundo's, the air in Soul Society is indeed fresher."
"At least, there's no stench of slaughter."
"Nonlethal… mm." Light flashed off Aizen's glasses as he showed a faint, mysterious smile.
"Yoshio-kun, interested in becoming a squad captain?"
Yoshio quickly shook his head.
"No, I don't have that aptitude. If possible, let me stay as the Ninth Squad's seated officer."
"A month from now, Gin will become Third Squad Captain. I'd planned to place you as Fifth Division Lieutenant."
"Spare me. Jumping from Ninth Squad Seated to Lieutenant is too conspicuous." Yoshio tensed up.
Aizen really thought he was that strong—but for now it was just an act. At most, his true strength was that of an upper seated officer.
"Therefore, you need accomplishments."
Aizen took a step aside and clapped his hands.
The next moment, a "Shinigami" emerged from the woods ahead.
The man's face was flushed red, and tentacles seemed to be sprouting from him. If not for the shinigami uniform and the Zanpakuto in his hand, no one would mistake him for a Shinigami.
Especially since…
He wore a captain's haori.
"Whoa, isn't this a bit much?"
Yoshio looked at Aizen. "A bewitched Third Squad Captain? Captain Aizen, you're not asking me to deal with that thing, are you?"
"No. This was a failed experiment," Aizen said softly. "Because his spiritual pressure is too weak, once it parasitized a captain it suffered a backlash instead."
"His rampaging reishi means he can't even use his Zanpakuto anymore. He's useless."
As Aizen spoke, the tentacled monster ignored him completely and fixed its gaze on Yoshio.
Yoshio tensed up. He knew he couldn't appear too rattled, or the mystique he'd built with Aizen would crumble.
No helping it. It looked like he had to use Shuhei's [Black Sun]!
"Lieutenant, huh…"
Yoshio sighed. "For the record, I don't handle clerical work. Leave that to Captain Aizen."
With that, he drew his Zanpakuto.
"Black Sun."
He intoned softly as the monster charged toward him.
The next instant, something unbelievable happened.
Behind him, a viscous darkness appeared, like thick ink.
The darkness spread slowly, swirling, then formed a circle—like a Black Sun.
The moment the Black Sun appeared, it released immense heat, especially ahead of Yoshio—right where the tentacled monster lunged!
Boom!
The Black Sun's power burst forth. Black flames engulfed the monster, and the terrifying heat and rapid melting made it shriek and howl.
"ROAR!!!"
Metastacia screamed, writhing violently on the ground, but Yoshio simply strode up and drove his blade into its head.
Even that wasn't enough.
Yoshio thought, what appeared before him was indeed Metastacia, but there should be more than one.
He'd seen Metastacia parasitize multiple Shinigami.
If it concentrated all its energy, parasitizing a captain shouldn't have resulted in such a rampage.
Because, in Yoshio's memory, Metastacia could easily fuse with Shiba Kaien—who was a Lieutenant.
Even with the huge gap between a captain and a lieutenant, it shouldn't have caused backlash to this degree.
Moreover, this Hollow had been modified by Aizen.
Yoshio glanced at Aizen and saw that faint, almost imperceptible smile on his face.
So he didn't pull the Zanpakuto from Metastacia's skull.
Instead, he cried out again:
"Tranquil in three voids, Jigoku Zoku (Hell Clan)!"
He released his Zanpakuto!