A few days later, just after people in the Human World finished celebrating the Beginning of Autumn, the Soul Society, which had still been swelteringly hot, suddenly began to cool down.
Wooden geta clacked against the corridor as Higashino Shuuichi walked along, heading toward the Tsunayashiro clan's branch estate.
"Looks like you've already found your answer~"
Without even turning his head, Tokinada Tsunayashiro said this as he scattered a handful of fish food toward the koi swimming in the courtyard pond.
"Did you take a liking to his Zanpakutō ability?"
Higashino Shuuichi stopped a short distance behind Tokinada and spoke.
The cool breeze in the courtyard gently lifted the hem of his captain's haori.
"Judging by your tone, you're not impressed?
Makes sense. If you're looking purely from a combat standpoint, Yamada Seinosuke's Zanpakutō ability really can't be called strong. Among all the Shinigami in the current Soul Society who have achieved Bankai (Final Release), his Bankai is definitely among the weakest. There's simply no way to compare it to your Bankai, Shuuichi."
Tokinada scattered another handful of feed farther out into the pond.
"However, when you evaluate a Shinigami's ability, you can't always just look at what they can do in a fight, can you?"
"Seems like you already have a plan for Yamada Seinosuke," Higashino Shuuichi said, looking at Tokinada's back. "But since that's the case, why did you deliberately have me discover this?
Don't tell me you just wanted me to see that an old colleague secretly achieved Bankai… or that you simply wanted me to find that disgusting place, just to disgust me?"
"Of course not. You're the strongest card in my hand right now—how could I possibly have you do anything so pointless?"
Tokinada finally turned around, spreading his arms as he smiled at Higashino Shuuichi.
"In that case, you'd better give me a reason that actually holds water. I hope you understand something, Tokinada-sama—our relationship isn't truly one of superior and subordinate."
Higashino's tone turned cold.
Ordinarily, taking that stance would only make things more strained between the two of them.
But after dealing with Tokinada for so long, Higashino Shuuichi had more or less figured out his personality—this man liked people who pushed back hard.
"Hahaha, that's right, Higashino Shuuichi, there has never been any 'superior and subordinate' between us. We're just partners who share the same ideal, aren't we?
Do you still remember the goal we set at the very beginning?"
Sure enough, faced with Higashino's forceful displeasure, Tokinada didn't show the slightest irritation. On the contrary, he burst out laughing.
"What are you getting at?
Are you trying to say that this Yamada Seinosuke can help us deal with those people in the Zero Division?"
Higashino Shuuichi put on a frown of disbelief.
"Of course not. Even ten Yamada Seinosukes wouldn't be enough to resolve the trouble that is the Zero Division. But do you remember what I told you before about the history of the Soul Society?
The way the Soul Society currently operates is entirely built upon the Soul King's dismembered body—carved up by the ancestors of the five great noble clans.
And that body of the Soul King never truly died. It still retains the Soul King's original will. The current Zero Division is simply acting in accordance with that will."
As Tokinada recounted this, the expression on his face twisted, a perfect reflection of the complicated feelings he bore toward that history.
"So what?"
Higashino Shuuichi deliberately feigned ignorance.
"So, if we want to achieve our ultimate goal—to reshape this world and return it to its most primordial state—we must completely erase that lingering will of the Soul King."
Tokinada's face contorted into a feral snarl.
Higashino Shuuichi sucked in a breath of cold air. After a moment of silence, he slowly asked:
"How do you plan to do that?"
Then Tokinada's expression relaxed, his usual playful smile returning as the bulging veins on his face receded.
"Very simple. We create a substitute for the Soul King."
At that, Higashino Shuuichi's expression shifted to one of shock on the surface, while inside he remained completely calm.
Because Tokinada's plan hadn't exceeded his expectations in the slightest.
This guy's thinking was just that easy to read.
From beginning to end, he had only ever been working toward that one goal. He didn't even intend to change up the process along the way.
Higashino Shuuichi even suspected that if Tokinada hadn't been born into one of the five great noble clans and hadn't benefited from wartime dividends, then without Higashino or Aizen ever needing to move a finger, any one of those old schemers in the Gotei 13—Kyōraku Shunsui, Kurotsuchi Mayuri, or even Urahara Kisuke in the Human World—could've taken Tokinada out at any time.
Unfortunately, there was no "if."
In the original storyline, Tokinada Tsunayashiro did have heaven's timing, earth's advantages, and human favor all on his side.
In this current timeline, Tokinada Tsunayashiro still had heaven's timing, earth's advantages, and human favor.
At a point in time when Aizen temporarily didn't want any major upheaval in the Soul Society, as long as Tokinada could smooth over his own clan's internal messes, he really could run wild.
But that suited Higashino Shuuichi just fine.
After all, you could never have too many substitute Soul Kings lying around.
And if the quality of the ones produced was high enough, Higashino Shuuichi could even ignore Aizen's wishes for the time being and head straight into the so-called Shadow Empire to take care of the not-yet-revived Yhwach.
Up to now, the main reason Higashino hadn't dared to do that was because he was worried that if Yhwach died too early, he himself might become that monk's first choice as a Soul King candidate.
That would be… more trouble than it was worth.
"You're saying Yamada Seinosuke's ability can help us create a substitute Soul King?"
Higashino Shuuichi, still wearing an astonished expression, asked Tokinada again to confirm it.
That was exactly how a Shinigami who had just learned of such a thing ought to react.
He could have chosen to behave like Yushima Ōko did before—face flushed, tongue-tied and stammering.
But once he thought about it, Higashino felt that kind of reaction didn't really fit his identity.
After all, he was the Grand Blade-Hunting Chief of the Katana-gari-shū, a monster who had personally taken down the former ruler of Hueco Mundo, Baraggan. He had to at least maintain some dignity.
"Surprised, aren't you?
That beings like us—Shinigami who benefit from the Soul King's power—can actually create a replacement for him with our own hands. Quite unbelievable, isn't it?"
Tokinada fully savored the ignorance on Higashino's face. In this moment, he was the one in control.
"But, Shuuichi, the Soul King's power is far less mysterious than you think."
What followed was a long, drawn-out lecture from Tokinada.
Honestly, it made Higashino want to fall asleep. It was nothing but dry, dense technical knowledge—fundamental principles, theoretical frameworks—stuff that sounded like pure gibberish to someone who didn't do research and had zero interest in it.
If he had to compare it to something, Higashino felt this entire stretch could go toe-to-toe with those university lectures from his previous life, sitting in a classroom listening to professors drone on.
He didn't understand a damn thing either way.
Tokinada, on the other hand, rattled off every detail with ease, clearly delighted with his own grasp of the material, explaining everything as if he really wanted Higashino to learn it.
Well… Higashino Shuuichi was mildly moved.
And silently wished the explanation would end sooner.
He could feel that Tokinada must have secretly accumulated a massive amount of knowledge for the sake of this substitute Soul King plan.
And for Tokinada, that really wasn't difficult. Sitting on top of the Great Spirit Book Corridor and Eizō Hall—those two ultimate cheat codes—and with several hundred years of quiet seclusion behind him, there wasn't any knowledge in the Soul Society he couldn't get, if he wanted it.
But heaven and earth could bear witness—Higashino Shuuichi had absolutely no interest in personally getting involved with this project on the research side.
He really wanted to say to Tokinada: not every strong fighter is called Aizen Sōsuke.
He, Higashino Shuuichi, just happened to be good at fighting and had a bit more spiritual pressure; when it came to scientific research, he was a true, certified idiot.
Fortunately, Tokinada seemed to realize this eventually. He handed Higashino a recording device invented by the Technology Development Bureau—which was, in truth, nothing more than a rip-off of Human World tech.
Higashino admitted it: the moment he saw that thing, the corner of his mouth twitched, his heart stirred, and his hands itched to hit someone.
If you had this all along, why did you drag me through that entire lecture?
"Give this to Yamada Seinosuke. I believe that after listening to it, he'll definitely join us.
And Shuuichi, you can also tell him this: as long as he's willing to help us create this substitute Soul King, I can guarantee he'll become the director of the Shin'ō Medical Institute!
That position is much higher than being a simple vice-captain of a Gotei 13 division.
And if Yamada Seinosuke is smart enough, he should also realize what other hidden benefits come with being director of the Shin'ō Medical Institute."
Tokinada spoke as Higashino took the recorder from him.
"For example… the ability to openly carry out those previous inhuman experiments without worrying about anyone discovering them, right?
After all, I heard that in the past, any 'medical accident' that happened inside a noble-affiliated institution like the Shin'ō Medical Institute was completely outside the jurisdiction of the Gotei 13. All such matters were handled by the noble house's own private guard."
"That was back then. Nowadays, that entire category of affairs has been legitimately handed over to your Katana-gari-shū to take care of.
And you, Shuuichi, aren't exactly going to punish your own people, are you?"
Tokinada's smile took on an even deeper, more meaningful curve.
Looking at him, Higashino Shuuichi couldn't say whether this outcome was something Tokinada had imagined from the very beginning.
A bruiser and a researcher—each doing their own job, covering for one another, the two of them working right under everyone's noses while they pursue their unspeakable goals.
That was probably Tokinada's original blueprint, wasn't it?
It was just that, in the original story, without Higashino's existence, Tokinada never managed to find a fitting enforcer within the Soul Society, and in the end he settled for a Fullbringer from the Human World as a compromise.
"'My own people,' huh…"
Higashino Shuuichi looked down at the recorder in his hand and gave Tokinada a smile that was impossible to read.
He didn't bother asking why this task had to be entrusted to him.
Because the answer was obvious. The current Soul Society was nothing like the original point in the storyline when Tokinada first made his move—back then, there were high-quality experimental "materials" everywhere in both Soul Society and the Human World, and Tokinada already had the examples set by Aizen and Urahara Kisuke to learn from, with a complete template for what a proper substitute Soul King should look like.
At this point in time, Higashino figured Tokinada still believed he was the first person ever to propose the concept of a substitute Soul King. And one cold, hard fact was that up until now, neither in the Soul Society nor in the Human World had a single standard substitute Soul King been successfully created.
As for what Higashino Shuuichi was right now, that was at best a half-finished substitute Soul King—something you toss into the role to plug the gap for a few decades until it breaks down and gets scrapped.
So whether from the perspective of research progress or experimental material, there was simply no way Tokinada could bypass Higashino Shuuichi.
Or more precisely, just as Higashino had guessed a few days ago—Tokinada had set his sights on Higashino's modified soul project.
Before the Quincy Empire revealed itself, before Aizen obtained a complete Hōgyoku and created perfect Arrancar, the batch of nearly-completed modified souls in Higashino's hands were without doubt the best possible test subjects to pair with Yamada Seinosuke's ability.
Just the fact that those modified souls came with human-type souls by default—souls that were also inherently "re-moldable"—would save them an enormous amount of trouble in the experiments to come.
And that was precisely what Yamada Seinosuke's ability couldn't do.
This conclusion was something Higashino had only reached after seeing the failed fusion products produced by Yamada in that pocket dimension near Koizumi Izakaya.
Yamada Seinosuke's ability only allowed for physical-level fusion. It could not touch the level of the soul at all.
As a result, when he tried to fuse Shinigami with Gillian-class Hollows, the souls of both sides clashed, shattered together, and irreversibly turned into a pile of trash.
In the original storyline, the reason Yamada Seinosuke eventually succeeded, Higashino guessed, came down to two things:
First, he had the technological groundwork laid by Urahara Kisuke.
Second, he used the brain of Gremmy Thoumeaux of the Sternritter as the core, and relied on Gremmy's special Schrift to make it work.
Here and now, both of those conditions were missing.
So cutting corners by using Higashino's modified souls was the best solution Tokinada could come up with—and the one with the highest success rate.
Of course, just modified souls plus Shinigami and Hollows still wouldn't be enough.
To become a substitute Soul King, Quincy power was also absolutely indispensable.
But Higashino felt that for Tokinada Tsunayashiro, this wasn't exactly a difficult problem.
He might even put this topic on the table in broad daylight.
After all, the Quincies in the Human World right now were basically like fish laid out on a chopping block as far as Shinigami were concerned—kill them, don't kill them, it was all the same.
But that had little to do with Higashino Shuuichi personally.
If things really reached that stage, it wouldn't be something he could resolve alone through brute force anyway. At most, he could shelter a few Quincies he didn't want to see die.
As for right now—
Higashino Shuuichi walked out of Tokinada Tsunayashiro's estate and looked in the direction of Fourth Division.
With all the preparations finished, it was finally time to pay that place a visit.
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