Aizen had already left. With his power and his mastery of spatial techniques, he'd long since reached the point where he could travel freely between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo without alerting anyone.
But coming over so suddenly without any preparations… fooling ordinary Shinigami was easy enough; trying to stay off the radar of those snake-like eyes for too long, that carried a certain amount of risk.
"Shuuichi-sama, do you need my help?"
Once Aizen was gone, only Higashino Shuuichi remained in the vast, empty hall. Tier stepped inside as a matter of course, leaving the job of standing guard to her three Fracción.
Shuuichi looked at Tier, whose best "features" were being fully emphasized by the moonlight, and shook his head.
"This is an internal Shinigami matter. There's no way I can let you Hollows get involved—that would only make things blow up even more."
The main reason was that Higashino Shuuichi still wasn't sure who exactly was behind this.
Looking across all of Soul Society, as long as it fit their interests and needs, aside from a very small handful, he believed the vast majority of Shinigami—even Captains like Kyōraku Shunsui and Unohana Retsu—were very much capable of pulling something like this.
In their eyes, there was no such thing as absolute good or evil.
Otherwise, letting Arrancar enter Soul Society to muddy the waters, then using the chaos to catch the mastermind slipping up… that would have been a perfectly valid tactic.
After that, the hall fell into a deathly silence.
Tier simply stood quietly behind Higashino Shuuichi, watching as he stared at the new throne in front of him.
She was never very talkative; the question she'd just asked was already pushing the limits of what she could say.
But for Tier, just quietly staying by Higashino Shuuichi's side like this was already more than enough.
From him, she could feel a serenity and ease that existed nowhere else in Hueco Mundo.
As if, so long as this man was here, she never again had to worry about any of her "colleagues" in Hueco Mundo.
That was the impact of the day he'd saved her—an impression that refused to fade.
"I'm heading back."
It was only after a long while that Higashino Shuuichi finished sorting through his conversation with Aizen in his mind, stringing it into a coherent line of thought.
What remained was to return to Soul Society and put it into action.
"Mm."
Tier responded softly.
Given that Higashino Shuuichi was a Shinigami, his visits to Hueco Mundo were never long. Over the years, aside from the first few when she might still have felt a bit of anticipation, Tier had gotten used to this.
So she cherished every moment at his side, but she never once asked him to stay a little longer.
Sensing the faint emotion in her, Shuuichi suddenly asked in a low voice as he turned:
"Come to think of it, I remember you once told me that among the current Espada there's another female Arrancar who shares your outlook.
You both dislike killing and devouring, isn't that right?"
At those words, a different light flashed in Tier's eyes. She had thought the request she'd made back then had already slipped from Shuuichi-sama's memory—but he still remembered?
She felt a tiny, excited flutter.
"Yes, Shuuichi-sama. Her name is Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck.
She's currently our No. 3 among the Espada, second in strength only to Starrk and myself.
I've spoken with her in private. She doesn't think much of Aizen-sama either, for condoning mutual slaughter among us Arrancar.
I believe we can definitely win her over to our side!"
Originally, when Tier had described her to Shuuichi, she hadn't included that last sentence.
Back then, she had simply felt that Nelliel was a like-minded companion and wanted to introduce her to Shuuichi-sama, nothing more.
But just now, after noticing how long Shuuichi had been staring at that throne, she became convinced that, in his heart, he also wanted to replace Aizen-sama and become the King of Hueco Mundo.
And what could be more wonderful than that?
If Shuuichi-sama could become Hueco Mundo's new king, then the future of Hueco Mundo would surely no longer be this dark forest of mutual devouring and the law of the jungle.
Shuuichi-sama would definitely bring a brand-new order to Hueco Mundo!
So Tier took the liberty of adding a hint of her own thoughts into her answer.
Higashino Shuuichi, however, was completely unaware of the subtle shift that had occurred in Tier's thinking just moments ago.
And deep down, he had never truly considered himself Aizen's subordinate either.
As a transmigrator, Higashino Shuuichi had always had a heart that refused to remain under anyone, a desire to establish his own power.
So he didn't find anything strange about what Tier had just said.
Especially since Nelliel herself possessed a healing-type ability that was extremely rare among Shinigami in general, and even rarer still in the Hollow faction.
To him right now, Nelliel might not offer much direct help anymore.
But for Tier, having a healer of her own would drastically increase her survival odds on the brutal battlefields yet to come.
"I agree. Go ahead and do that.
And in fact, Tier, you don't have to limit yourself to Nelliel alone. Did you know that in Soul Society, in recent years, some female Shinigami have formed an organization to fight for women's rights? It's called the Women Shinigami Association.
I think you could set up something similar in Hueco Mundo. Call it… the Women's Arrancar Office.
Granted, in Hueco Mundo right now, 'fighting for rights' would be nothing but empty words, but you can approach it another way.
Use it as a banner to back up female Arrancar, help them handle provocations and attacks from male Arrancar under that name.
I'm sure that as long as you propose it, Nelliel will have no trouble accepting your invitation."
Higashino Shuuichi offered the suggestion.
The idea mainly came to him because he remembered from the original timeline that Nelliel was a very compassionate Arrancar.
Approaching her this way would make winning her goodwill a lot easier.
And with his memories from his previous life, Shuuichi knew better than anyone that gender antagonism was the easiest thing to stir up, the easiest way to move emotions and create a shared identity.
Especially since, before long, the Espada would be welcoming a certain ruthless fellow who would help him further intensify that particular contradiction.
If everything went as expected, by then Higashino Shuuichi would be able to use Tier to gather a large group of loyal female Arrancar supporters.
This was just a small bit of early groundwork.
Tier knew none of this.
From her perspective, Shuuichi-sama's attitude was enough to make her believe he had silently acknowledged her guess.
Otherwise, he wouldn't just refrain from denying her suggestion—he was even telling her to secretly establish a new organization of their own in Hueco Mundo.
Women's Arrancar Office… what a name full of hope~
In Tier's mind, only a Shinigami like Shuuichi-sama would be so considerate of Arrancar like them.
Unlike Aizen-sama, whose thoughts seemed to revolve solely around making Arrancar fight to the death.
If Higashino Shuuichi could have heard Tier's inner monologue at that moment, he would've shouted that he was being framed.
Heaven bear witness—when had he ever told Tier to set up the Women's Arrancar Office "secretly"?
Openly, out in the daylight, damn it!
"I understand, Shuuichi-sama. Do you have any other orders?"
Tier looked at him with bright, hopeful eyes.
After such a long lull, Shuuichi-sama was finally making his move.
For the sake of their future, she swore she would carry out every one of his instructions with absolute precision.
She would not allow a single misstep in any link of the chain.
Unfortunately, Shuuichi-sama didn't seem to have completely made up his mind yet, and for now he only planned to dip his toes in.
"For the time being, that's all.
Just the Women's Arrancar Office alone will be enough to keep you busy for a while, Tier."
Higashino Shuuichi honestly had no idea where this sudden burst of enthusiasm from Tier had come from.
Her sudden excitement left him, who was used to her quietly following behind and accepting orders, a little caught off guard.
But he wasn't in the mood to dig into it.
With the original plot as reference, he only needed to know one thing: having saved Tier, he could be certain of her absolute loyalty to him now. That was enough.
What went on in Tier's heart didn't matter.
It couldn't possibly come back to bite him, anyway.
With that, Higashino Shuuichi opened the portable boundary gate he'd had Kurotsuchi Mayuri specially design for him and stepped through it back to Soul Society.
By now, the distant sky over Soul Society was faintly brightening—another day about to begin.
Judging the time just right, Shuuichi immediately went full throttle with Shunpo, heading straight for Yushima Ōko's home in Rukongai.
He'd originally thought he'd see a drowsy, half-asleep face.
Instead, what greeted him was a pair of bloodshot eyes.
"Sh-Shuuichi-sama?!!"
Yushima Ōko, who had been swinging his Zanpakutō and practicing sword techniques, froze the moment Higashino suddenly appeared in his room.
He hurriedly hid his Zanpakutō behind his back like a child caught misbehaving, completely at a loss.
"Why aren't you resting? What are you doing secretly practicing swordsmanship here?"
Higashino Shuuichi asked, confused and with a hint of anger.
If this were twenty-odd years ago, back when Yushima Ōko had first met him, this wouldn't have been strange at all.
In fact, back then, it had been Higashino Shuuichi himself who had forced Yushima to train like this.
Because at that time, Yushima's foundation was truly terrible.
Without extra practice, how was he supposed to sleep at night?
Back then, Shuuichi had firmly believed the kid wouldn't be able to.
But times had changed.
Now that Yushima Ōko possessed power far beyond that of an average Captain, he no longer needed this kind of stupid training method to improve.
Maintaining proper rest and conserving his strength, then returning to the Dangai once the alert state in Soul Society triggered by that Sakahone Saizō incident was lifted—that would be a far more efficient approach.
And judging by Yushima's reaction, he clearly knew his current behavior was wrong.
Otherwise, he wouldn't look so panicked at being caught.
"Shuuichi-sama, I…"
Who would have thought that someone capable of trading blows with a strengthened version of the First Generation Captain, someone whose combat power ranked firmly near the top among today's Captains, would sound on the verge of tears in front of Higashino Shuuichi?
Even Shuuichi himself hadn't expected Yushima's emotions to swing this wildly.
It really wasn't like him.
"Talk properly."
Higashino Shuuichi frowned slightly.
Something was off today.
First Tier, then Yushima Ōko—had the two of them coordinated this or something?
Who would be next?
Unohana Retsu?
Ridiculous.
Under Shuuichi's gaze, Yushima deflated like a punctured balloon and spilled the reason for his actions all at once:
"It was Kisaragi Shūsuke.
He keeps telling everyone he's your 'chief disciple', Shuuichi-sama.
I couldn't accept that, so a few days ago I went to challenge him… and I lost."
"Ahem."
As the saying went, Higashino Shuuichi had had professional training; he would never lose his composure—at least not too obviously.
Seriously, where had Yushima even gotten such unrealistic ideas?
What kind of setup did Kisaragi Shūsuke have again?
He was basically a pure Shinigami-slayer build.
After that one wave of "extreme muddy-water fishing" Shuuichi had pulled back then, forget Yushima Ōko—even Shuuichi himself, without using Hollowfication or his Quincy powers, would probably take a serious beating in a straight fight against Shūsuke.
In this timeline, compared to the original story, Kisaragi Shūsuke might have less raw stat accumulation in basic combat power, but when it came to his Bakkōtō's capacity, Shuuichi had already raised him to the cap in advance.
If it really came down to a fight, there were only a handful of Shinigami in Soul Society right now who could beat Kisaragi Shūsuke.
The only ones Shuuichi could think of were Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, Unohana Retsu and Aizen Sōsuke.
As for Shinigami like Kyōraku Shunsui, Ukitake Jūshirō, or even Yushima Ōko—who all relied heavily on their Zanpakutō abilities—there was practically no chance of them winning a one-on-one against Kisaragi Shūsuke.
Even so, after hearing Yushima's explanation, Shuuichi could roughly understand why he'd suddenly started drilling his long-neglected swordsmanship again.
Clearly, Yushima had also seen the weaknesses in Kisaragi's build.
It was just that…
"Ōko, I'm glad you have this drive to improve. That's a good thing, and it puts my mind at ease.
But you have to understand one thing—swordsmanship isn't something you can master in a day.
Even I only reached my current level after nearly a hundred years of hard work.
With the Dangai as your personal cheat, even if your talent with the sword is a bit lacking, you still have plenty of time in the future to catch up.
There's no need to rush like this."
Shuuichi spoke sincerely.
Looking across all of Soul Society—across Soul Society's entire long history—there wasn't a second Shinigami like Yushima Ōko who could exploit glitches inside the Dangai like he could.
Even if Aizen ever learned about it, he'd probably be green with envy.
So there was really no need for Yushima to exhaust himself like this.
"I understand my mistake now, Shuuichi-sama. I won't do it again…"
In front of Higashino Shuuichi, Yushima Ōko had always been the kind of kid who could admit his mistakes and correct them.
Apart from being a bit competitive and fond of showing off, there wasn't really anything else to criticize.
And it wasn't as if what he'd done today was that bad.
But Shuuichi hadn't come here today to play the role of teacher.
"Good. I believe you.
Now then, Ōko—get your things. You're coming somewhere with me."
"Huh? Now?"
Yushima glanced out the window at the pale dawn light, stunned.
"Yeah. Now."
Higashino Shuuichi's tone left no room for argument.
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