The next day at noon, after receiving a message from the Kasumiooji family, Higashino Shuuichi openly asked Unohana Retsu for leave and headed straight toward South Rukongai, District 79.
"Kasumiooji family."
Unohana Retsu watched Higashino Shuuichi's departing back, softly murmuring.
Although she didn't know why the Kasumiooji family had summoned him, with those nobles' temperaments, it most likely wouldn't be for anything good. Still, Unohana Retsu wasn't particularly interested in that sort of thing.
She was only curious—over the last few years, the Kasumiooji family had been calling Higashino Shuuichi away from her more and more frequently, almost once a month now.
Was this something worth reporting to the Head Captain?
Unohana shook her head. No need.
The nobles' affairs weren't matters for shinigami to meddle in.
If Higashino Shuuichi could cling to the Kasumiooji family, that was his own skill. She only needed to care about when Higashino Shuuichi could let her fully enjoy herself in kendō.
If he could maintain his current pace of progress, perhaps with another seventy years of training, he might be just about ready.
Unohana looked forward to that day's arrival.
On the other side, Higashino Shuuichi didn't take long to reach South Rukongai District 79. According to the Kasumiooji family's message, three vicious criminals had appeared there recently, each with no less than a hundred lives on their hands.
This should originally have been a matter for the Tenth Division, but the Kasumiooji family had maneuvered to delay their involvement.
Before summoning Higashino Shuuichi, Kumoi Gyoukaku had already sent two Bakkōtō assassins there. He knew well that until the Kasumiooji family was fully prepared, they weren't suited to openly commanding an active shinigami of the Gotei 13—especially one with captain-level strength.
But ever since the loss of their original expeditionary captain Chidori Akira, the Kasumiooji family had never recovered in twenty years and now lacked powerful fighters.
The two assassins sent ahead never even managed to return a message; they died in District 79.
With no choice, Kumoi Gyoukaku had to notify Higashino Shuuichi on short notice, instructing him to rush there, retrieve the Bakkōtōs, and conveniently capture the criminals to serve as test subjects.
At times Higashino Shuuichi found it laughable: for the sake of the family head's ridiculous ambition to become the sixth great noble house, he even kept guard against his own kin. In the entire Kasumiooji family, aside from the head's direct line, only Kumoi Gyoukaku knew of the Bakkōtōs.
Thus, whenever it involved the Bakkōtōs, not a single other shinigami from the vast Kasumiooji family dared to be dispatched.
They were too busy worrying about exposure.
No wonder Kumoi Gyoukaku nurtured thoughts of seizing power himself.
But none of this concerned Higashino Shuuichi. He was just a hired hand; his relationship with the Kasumiooji family was purely mutual benefit.
The Kasumiooji family sought to exploit Higashino Shuuichi's strength—having a captain-class fighter let them capture stronger shinigami than before, greatly accelerating their Bakkōtō research.
Meanwhile, Higashino Shuuichi quietly enjoyed using his Zanpakutō's powers to stockpile more and more Reishi Soldiers.
His Zanpakutō's third Shikai ability of Heisha: **Taoyuan (Peach Garden).**
This ability allowed him to create an independent pocket dimension where all things inside were frozen in time. No attacks or effects from the outside world could affect anything within.
It looked incredibly powerful, but it had two drawbacks. First, as its name Heisha ("Rejector of Soldiers") suggested, it rejected Higashino Shuuichi himself—even his own reiryoku couldn't enter.
Second, time suspension applied only to the space itself.
In other words, living beings inside still aged, their bodies and reiryoku depleting with the outside flow of time through their own systems. Only non-living objects could remain unchanged.
Thus, Taoyuan couldn't be used to house living beings long-term.
But the Reishi Soldiers created by another ability of Heisha, **Shōhei-sha (Controller of Soldiers): Master of Men**, weren't considered living beings.
Previously, while working under Aizen, Higashino Shuuichi only extracted small amounts of reishi from shinigami, and all had to be handed over. He never got a chance to stockpile Reishi Soldiers.
Later, when Aizen finally began targeting Rukongai civilians, how much reishi could commoners provide?
That was nothing compared to openly slaying shinigami alongside the Kasumiooji family.
For Higashino Shuuichi, Reishi Soldiers—usable as reiryoku batteries, scouts, melee fighters, or even kidō artillery—were absolutely something he wanted as many of as possible.
The sky over District 79 was gray, heavy with the threat of a storm.
Higashino Shuuichi stepped on the crimson ground, inhaling the frenzied, lawless air.
This was the outermost district of Rukongai: no order, only blood and slaughter. For an ordinary person without strength, surviving even a single day here was nearly impossible.
"Another one come to die?"
He didn't even need to search. The moment he stepped into District 79, a tall, pole-like man with a square face and long braids, holding a chipped butcher's knife, rushed toward him, following the scent.
Before Higashino Shuuichi could respond, a sharp dagger suddenly flew at him from the side.
With a crisp clang, Higashino Shuuichi drew his Zanpakutō and deflected the blade.
"Heh, a shinigami!"
From the direction of the thrown blade, a short, fat man appeared, gnawing on something—whether human bone or animal bone was unclear—while rusty knives shimmered faintly in his raised hand.
Higashino Shuuichi halted, silently sweeping his gaze over the two, making no move. He was waiting for the third to appear.
Soon, in his perception, another man emerged several hundred meters behind the square-faced one.
But the terrifying reiatsu rolling off him was enough to chill the heart.
"No way… this reiatsu?"
Confident just moments ago, Higashino Shuuichi suddenly felt like backing out.
That dazzling spiritual pressure nearly rivaled Unohana Retsu's. Since when had Rukongai spawned such a monster?
At that level of reiatsu, if the man got serious, just a single breath might leave him unable to move.
Without hesitation, Higashino Shuuichi turned and bolted.
So long as the green hills remain, there's always wood to burn!
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