Light snow began to fall from the sky; in the blink of an eye, it was already December.
"Gin! Are the meat skewers done yet?"
"Shūsuke! Didn't I tell you ages ago to practice chopping? How are you still this clumsy!"
"Soi Fon! You set the tent inside out!!"
On a rare day off, Higashino Shuuichi brought Gin, Kisaragi Shūsuke, Rangiku, and Soi Fon to the World of the Living for a little cookout—five people, one outing.
Higashino Shuuichi sat alone on a big boulder at the mountaintop, gazing toward the distance where a proto-modern cityscape was taking shape, quietly savoring this leisure.
Behind him, Rangiku had her hands on her hips, scolding and directing the other three—who were fumbling about like newbies.
Though those three surpassed Rangiku by a fair margin in talent and combat power, when it came to a cookout—something that had nothing to do with fighting talent—the three of them together still couldn't beat one Rangiku.
The situation in the Seireitei had gradually come into focus over the past half year. Aside from the 3rd Division captaincy passing to its former lieutenant, Rōjūrō, the 10th Division's captaincy still had no resolution.
It wasn't that no one had the strength. Whether it was Higashino Shuuichi himself, the 2nd Division's 3rd Seat Kisuke, the 1st Division's lieutenant Chōjirō, or the 5th Division's lieutenant Sōsuke—each had the ability.
They each, however, had reasons they couldn't (or wouldn't) take the post.
Higashino Shuuichi wasn't allowed out of Retsu's sight; Sōsuke was in a similar situation. Kisuke and Chōjirō simply claimed they weren't interested.
So, in a rare development, one of the Gotei 13's captain seats remained temporarily vacant.
As for the other matter Higashino Shuuichi tracked closely—Kisuke had been diligently investigating the root cause behind the Kasumiooji clan's Hollowfied shinigami.
On this, Higashino Shuuichi was anxious enough to itch—he wished he could hurry Sōsuke into formally launching the captain-class Hollowfication experiments and drag that Kisuke down hard.
Unfortunately, Sōsuke's stance was very clear: "I know you're in a rush, but don't rush."
He didn't care whether Kisuke discovered something about Higashino Shuuichi. He only cared about that theoretically-existent incomplete Hōgyoku in Kisuke's hands.
Why "theoretically-existent"?
Because Sōsuke only learned from the Great Spirit Book Corridor that Kisuke had more or less succeeded in making such a thing.
But whether the thing Kisuke possessed was the same as what Sōsuke was creating—Sōsuke had never seen it and didn't know.
Kisuke was exceedingly cautious, never giving Sōsuke an opening.
Given how troublesome Kisuke was, even though Sōsuke had already found an opportunity to put him under Kyōka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon), he still didn't dare act rashly.
Because he knew: with Kisuke's intellect, he would only ever get one easy chance to strike. If Kisuke detected even a hint of inconsistency, attempting another strike later would be nigh impossible.
So that one shot had to meet a condition: even if he failed to force out the suspected Hōgyoku from Kisuke's hands, he still had to cast him into irredeemable ruin—
—so that in the future, with absolute advantage in hand, it would be convenient to move on him again.
But that kind of chance was hard to find.
Especially ensuring that Kisuke would definitely bring out the Hōgyoku—far too wishful.
Higashino Shuuichi didn't know how Sōsuke intended to guarantee that point, and he himself had no better plan.
Aside from using Rangiku to gradually relocate those civilians who had originally lived in East Rukongai District 62 to other districts—bit by bit erasing traces he'd left behind in the past—he had little choice but to leave the rest to fate.
It was a terrible feeling.
That was also why he chose to come to the World of the Living at this time—truth be told, to clear his head.
"Shuuichi-sama, the beef skewers are ready! Let's eat~"
Behind him, Rangiku waved excitedly at Higashino Shuuichi, calling out in a loud voice; certain parts of her also swayed dramatically with the big gesture.
"Got it!"
Higashino Shuuichi answered, drawing his gaze back from the distant city.
Without noticing, the World of the Living had come this far.
The first Industrial Revolution had passed; the second was blossoming across the globe.
Before long, he'd be able to buy a mobile phone and play video games here, right?
Higashino Shuuichi let his mind drift toward the future.
That had been his biggest dream right after he transmigrated.
What's so great about being a shinigami?
Come to the World of the Living to be a hack writer, speculate in stocks, dabble in arms dealing—live out countless things his past life wouldn't have dared to imagine, picking and choosing as he pleased.
That sounded much more interesting than licking blood from the edge of a blade every day as a shinigami.
"A long road ahead, comrade."
The more he thought, the wilder it got. Higashino Shuuichi suddenly gave himself a reality check.
"Shuuichi-sama seems to really like the World of the Living?"
Rangiku brought the first skewers to Higashino Shuuichi and asked, curious.
"Mm. I do. Don't you think the World of the Living is far more interesting than the dull Seireitei?"
Higashino Shuuichi nodded instinctively and voiced his thoughts.
Nothing to hide there.
But the answers from the others left him a bit speechless.
Rangiku: "Wherever Shuuichi-sama is, that place is interesting."
Soi Fon: "If Shuuichi-sama says the World of the Living is interesting, then it must be."
Kisaragi Shūsuke: "Same for me."
Gin: "I'm with Rangiku."
Right. Utterly unhelpful answers.
"And you, Shūsuke—the Three Kingdoms book I gave you, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, is so you can learn classic stratagems while having fun. It's not for picking up the characters' catchphrases!"
"Got it, Shuuichi-sama."
Kisaragi Shūsuke scratched his head, embarrassed—thankfully he didn't blurt out "aniki."
Still, that Oath of the Peach Garden in the book really did make one's blood boil.
"Haah."
Higashino Shuuichi plopped down on the ground, not bothering to guess what exactly Kisaragi Shūsuke's little head had "learned" from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
He was, however, meticulous about Shūsuke's development—after all, Kisaragi Shūsuke was his designated successor to the Moyao Blade "Raika."
At this point, after devouring so many Moyao Blade cores, even Higashino Shuuichi couldn't gauge how strong Raika had become.
Because the forging requirements for a Moyao Blade core demanded a shinigami with at least sixth-rank spirit-power aptitude as the base—and the highest tier of cores were refined from the souls of shinigami with third-rank aptitude or better. Only a long-standing noble clan like the Kasumiooji had that kind of foundation.
With Raika having devoured so many cores, Higashino Shuuichi wouldn't be surprised if it had grown into that topmost bracket. Even the vaunted Hōgyoku was, in essence, an aggregate of countless shinigami souls.
It was only because he couldn't bear to part with his own Zanpakutō—and wasn't sure he could resist the Moyao Blade's erosion of the soul—that he hadn't used Raika himself.
While Higashino Shuuichi and the others were enjoying their pleasant cookout, far away upon a small island in the great ocean of the World of the Living, a fissure was torn open out of thin air. A moment later, a pitch-black, tuning-fork-shaped head pushed through from the other side.
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