The night sky over Seireitei was, as always, deep and boundless.
This time, Kyōraku Shunsui didn't choose to meet inside a room, but instead in the Kuchiki estate's courtyard.
To the side were artificial rocks and flowing water; a few steps away stood pavilions and covered walkways.
Kuchiki Byakuya had already dismissed the household servants in advance, and Kyōraku Shunsui personally set up a Kidō (Demon Arts) barrier in the center of the courtyard to prevent their conversation from leaking out.
"Feels like it hasn't been long since you last came looking for me, Shunsui. Has it even been a month?" Higashino Shuuichi said unhurriedly as he stood by the pond, teasing the red-tailed koi inside.
He'd noticed these nobles all liked raising little things like this.
"Most of the time, plans can't keep up with change—especially when Soul Society isn't stable again. That's normal," Kyōraku Shunsui said, leaning back and looking at Higashino Shuuichi.
"Go on, then. Why'd you call me here this time?" Higashino Shuuichi rose, flicked the water droplets from his fingertips, and faced Kyōraku Shunsui—and Kuchiki Byakuya, who was seated beside him.
It was Kuchiki Byakuya who answered. He was concise, explaining the entire chain of events in just a few sentences, and then added his purpose at the end.
"I hope you, Grand Blade-Hunting Chief Shuuichi, can help us!"
Higashino Shuuichi didn't answer directly. Instead, he looked to Kyōraku Shunsui. "You think so too?"
Those few words carried a hidden meaning. Kyōraku Shunsui seemed to understand it—yet also seemed to pretend he didn't.
"Mm."
A soft hum—that was his reply.
"Don't tell me you don't know what the consequences are, Shunsui. I'll end up turning against the Tsunayashiro Clan. Me—and everyone under me, including Kisaragi Shūsuke and Matsumoto Rangiku—will be rejected by all of Soul Society again."
"I don't believe Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni will accept people like us!"
"I can represent the Kuchiki—" Kuchiki Byakuya started to explain, but Higashino Shuuichi cut him off roughly.
"And don't bother telling me the Kuchiki Clan can help us. That's bullshit!"
"Your Kuchiki Clan doesn't have that kind of power right now. Even if the Tsunayashiro Clan collapses, it still won't be your Kuchiki Clan's turn to take the stage."
"Or rather—young head of the Kuchiki Clan, tell me: do you have the guts to sing a different tune from the strongest Shinigami in a thousand years, the sōtaichō of the Gotei Thirteen, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni?"
One sentence, and Kuchiki Byakuya was left speechless.
Indeed, once the Tsunayashiro Clan fell, the Kuchiki Clan would absolutely become the most influential great noble house in Seireitei—but the current head, Kuchiki Byakuya, was still far too green. He didn't even measure up to Higashino Shuuichi, let alone have the nerve to oppose Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni.
At his age, he still couldn't truly grasp what it meant to be the head of one of the Five Great Noble Clans.
Not blindly obeying Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni already counted as "having the resolve" of a Kuchiki head.
Higashino Shuuichi knew very well that the current Kuchiki Byakuya still couldn't perfectly balance "Kuchiki Clan head" and "Sixth Division taichō" the way his grandfather Kuchiki Ginrei once had.
In fact, even Kuchiki Byakuya's father, Kuchiki Sōjun, hadn't managed that balance particularly well.
At the end of the day, it was Higashino Shuuichi's butterfly effect that caused Kuchiki Ginrei and Kuchiki Sōjun to die far earlier than in the original plot.
Even Kyōraku Shunsui, hearing Higashino Shuuichi bluntly rip the truth open like that, felt a flicker of surprise—but he didn't stop him.
From Kyōraku Shunsui's position and standpoint, he couldn't say something this cruel so directly to Kuchiki Byakuya.
But Higashino Shuuichi could.
Higashino Shuuichi's morally gray identity meant there were many things he could say without taboo.
For Kuchiki Byakuya, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Only after Kuchiki Byakuya had steadied himself a little did Kyōraku Shunsui smile and tease Higashino Shuuichi.
"Shuuichi, you're really bristling today. That's not very like you~"
"If it were you in my position, you wouldn't be doing much better. What happened today—you said it yourselves—it was aimed straight at our Katana-gari-shū. A warning shot meant to slap us down."
"Whether your reasoning is 'solid' or not, our Katana-gari-shū's face still got smeared into the dirt, didn't it?"
Higashino Shuuichi feigned anger.
"But it's fine. I'll find Kuchiki Kōga, and I'll tell him with my own mouth exactly how you establish 'authority.'"
After hearing that, Kuchiki Byakuya couldn't help but shiver.
Because Higashino Shuuichi's expression and tone felt like some great villain who'd clawed his way out of a mountain of corpses and an ocean of blood—and the spiritual pressure that "carelessly" leaked from him, stained with a terrifying aura, made Kuchiki Byakuya feel as though Higashino Shuuichi might start slaughtering at any second.
Maybe… in some sense, the sōtaichō's actions back then hadn't been wrong?
At the very least, there were definitely plenty of wronged souls lying under Higashino Shuuichi's blade.
Fortunately, Kyōraku Shunsui released a bit of his own spiritual pressure as well—quietly, without changing expression—sharing some of the pressure for Kuchiki Byakuya. Only then did the Kuchiki head avoid losing face in front of Higashino Shuuichi.
"Everything you said is built on the premise that you'll turn against the Tsunayashiro Clan," Kyōraku Shunsui said. "But what if I told you… you won't?"
Higashino Shuuichi's expression froze. He slowly walked to Kyōraku Shunsui's side and sat opposite him.
"Go on~"
"First: the Tenshintai (Soul Separation Body) is real, right?"
"Mm."
"Second: its creator, Urahara Kisuke, has already left Soul Society. He's now somewhere in the World of the Living, missing without a trace. Right now, the only people in all of Soul Society who know the Tenshintai's true purpose are you, me, Byakuya, and Kuchiki Kōga—who went to the Great Spirit Book Corridor to check."
"Mm." Higashino Shuuichi knew far more people than that were aware—Aizen and Kisaragi Shūsuke included—but what Kuchiki Kōga saw in the Great Spirit Book Corridor was content Aizen had altered, so it was normal for Kyōraku Shunsui not to know that.
"And then: as for the fact that Kuchiki Kōga can use Bankai (Final Release), up to this point, aside from you, me, Byakuya, and Kuchiki Kōga's wife Kuchiki Murasaki… no one else in Soul Society knows."
"Sure, Kōga's ability should be filed in the Great Spirit Book Corridor, but unless there's evidence directly pointing to Kuchiki Kōga, no one's going to go out of their way to dig through the Great Spirit Book Corridor just to look up his ability."
"I think I get what you're thinking, Shunsui," Higashino Shuuichi said, catching on immediately. "You're planning to have me join hands with Kuchiki Kōga?"
Before coming, he'd already prepared several possible scenarios in his mind—moves Kyōraku Shunsui and Kuchiki Byakuya might choose.
This was one of them.
And it was the one Higashino Shuuichi believed carried the highest risk.
Yet facing his question, Kyōraku Shunsui nodded.
"The process of accusing you doesn't need to change at all. Kuchiki Kōga has already gotten Ninth Division taichō Tōsen Kaname to agree to come forward and identify your Tenshintai."
"With a taichō who has nothing to do with this incident joining in, I think the old man will focus on this very soon—maybe even tomorrow. You'll be summoned to the First Division."
"To prevent the Tsunayashiro Clan from using the Great Spirit Book Corridor to dig out the truth, we need to test the Tenshintai's effect directly on the spot."
"And then you'll have Kuchiki Kōga secretly cooperate in the shadows, right?" Higashino Shuuichi said.
"When the time comes, as long as we prove in front of everyone that 'the Tenshintai can materialize Shinigami Zanpakutō on a wide scale,' and I also admit that the Tenshintai does have that ability, the Tsunayashiro Clan won't be thinking about verifying anything in the Great Spirit Book Corridor anymore—they'll be thinking about how to handle this for me."
"But Shunsui—have you considered the consequences?"
"On the sōtaichō's side… will he compromise with the Tsunayashiro Clan again this time?"
Higashino Shuuichi looked serious, though in truth, Aizen had already predicted the outcome.
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni would compromise—but the Tsunayashiro Clan, and Higashino Shuuichi's Katana-gari-shū, would fracture further away from Soul Society, pushing Tsunayashiro Kamihara to accelerate the plan behind the scenes.
Because Tsunayashiro Kamihara also couldn't guarantee that once he and Soul Society fully broke, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni wouldn't lead the Gotei Thirteen to strike him down.
Kyōraku Shunsui answered Higashino Shuuichi with a firm nod. As Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni's prized student, he understood his teacher's choice more clearly than anyone.
But beside him, Kuchiki Byakuya latched onto a different point.
"Why does it sound like you're not worried at all about what the Tsunayashiro Clan will do, Shuuichi? Aren't you afraid they'll abandon you and choose to compromise with the sōtaichō?"
"After all, if this is carried out smoothly, Shuuichi, the suspicion on you will be extremely serious."
"…"
This was exactly why Kuchiki Byakuya was too young.
For a moment, Higashino Shuuichi didn't even want to answer such an intelligence-draining question.
Stuck between him and Kyōraku Shunsui, it really was hard on Byakuya.
"Because Tsunayashiro Kamihara won't do that. It's just a Tenshintai issue—this time it didn't even cause major casualties. Even if it had, would it be a bigger impact on Soul Society than the Hollowfication incident involving Higashino Shuuichi and the others back then?"
"As long as Shuuichi doesn't openly betray the Tsunayashiro Clan, something like this will never make Tsunayashiro Kamihara give up on him."
"After all, Kamihara went out of his way to bring Shuuichi back from the World of the Living because he wanted to use Shuuichi to keep Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni in check—甚至 even the entire Gotei Thirteen."
"And up to now, Shuuichi has done that extremely well. At the very least, those nobles led by the Tsunayashiro Clan have been acting more and more arrogantly in Soul Society."
Halfway through, Kyōraku Shunsui realized something felt off—why did it sound like he was praising the enemy?
But he was stating a fact: something that was quietly, subtly changing within Soul Society.
Otherwise, Tsunayashiro Kamihara wouldn't have dared to openly set up those so-called "Shin'ō Academy preparatory classes" as fake institutions all over Rukongai without reporting to Central 46.
He also wouldn't have brazenly bought so many plots of land throughout Rukongai to install those special devices.
These were all things Tsunayashiro Kamihara and nobles like him used to want to do under the Gotei Thirteen's rule, but didn't dare to do—or simply couldn't do.
Because Yamamoto would never allow something so rule-breaking—so outright capricious—to happen. It would severely damage Soul Society's normal functioning.
And it was only after hearing all that that Kuchiki Byakuya's gaze toward Higashino Shuuichi changed a little.
Before, he'd simply believed Higashino Shuuichi was nothing more than a powerful thug working for Tsunayashiro Kamihara—no different from the noble vassal Shinigami of the past.
This was exactly why, if Kuchiki Ginrei were still alive and heard what Kuchiki Byakuya was thinking today, he'd be so furious he'd probably charge back from Hell, grab Kuchiki Byakuya by the ear, and curse him out:
"You blind little shit, Byakuya—why don't you turn around and listen again to what your grandfather planned for your uncle by marriage, Kuchiki Kōga?! Wasn't it because Kōga's Zanpakutō ability posed an enormous threat to all of Soul Society—no, to all Shinigami?!"
"Now think about that bastard Higashino Shuuichi. Just the day he returned—right in front of every taichō—he displayed that special Bankai (Final Release) ability that can seal the Zanpakutō powers of all Shinigami. That alone counts as nuclear deterrence!"
"Even if Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni wants to deal with Higashino Shuuichi now, he has to weigh the consequences, you hear me?!"
"A Shinigami like that—without some real value, how could Tsunayashiro Kamihara possibly just 'give him up' on a whim?!"
In short, Kuchiki Byakuya would definitely get chewed into pulp.
But unfortunately, Hell was still very far away from him, and for the time being, Kuchiki Ginrei wouldn't get that chance.
When the moon rose over the distant mountain ridge and disappeared into the clouds, Higashino Shuuichi's exchange with Kyōraku Shunsui and the others that night finally came to an end.
Just as Aizen had predicted, neither Kyōraku Shunsui nor Kuchiki Byakuya were truly ruthless men.
They had the will to resist and struggle. They had the desire to change Soul Society's current state. They all wanted to build a better Soul Society.
But what they lacked was a single thing—bloodlust.
The kind of ferocity that drives a blade through the enemy and doesn't stop until there's no tomorrow.
With the situation already at the point where the two sides were like fire and water—where it was either you die or I die—Kyōraku Shunsui and Kuchiki Byakuya were still thinking that it would be enough to simply topple the Tsunayashiro Clan.
It was honestly laughable.
No wonder, in the future, they always ended up getting pinned down by enemies in all sorts of ways.
Even Kuchiki Byakuya, despite being the head of the Kuchiki Clan, wouldn't dare protect his own sister—having to rely on someone else's power to save her instead.
Using this incident to force Tsunayashiro Kamihara to make concessions, return part of the Katana-gari-shū's authority, and formally incorporate Higashino Shuuichi's Katana-gari-shū into the Gotei Thirteen system—rather than leaving them as they were before, only "in name" under the Gotei Thirteen while refusing all commands and mobilizations—
That was the best outcome Kyōraku Shunsui and Kuchiki Byakuya hoped for.
There were so many things to roast that Higashino Shuuichi felt too drained to even start.
And what left him even more speechless was that Aizen's thinking was actually similar. For the sake of Soul Society's stability, Aizen also didn't intend to carry out sweeping reforms against the existing Five Great Noble Clans' structure.
Taking this opportunity to bring down the Tsunayashiro Clan and shatter the decades-long conspiracy behind them—that was Aizen's final goal.
But Higashino Shuuichi was very dissatisfied.
The Tsunayashiro Clan—one of the Five Great Noble Clans that was rotten to the core—placing unrealistic hope in them was less likely than hoping the sun would rise in the west.
"Since everyone says plans can't keep up with change… then let me be the ruthless one, yeah~"
Higashino Shuuichi lifted his head toward a sky with not a single star left, and a bold plan slowly took shape in his heart.
At the same time, perhaps because their talk had ended and Kyōraku Shunsui had removed the barrier, Kuchiki Hisana—still awake, still waiting for Kuchiki Byakuya—walked over carrying a fresh tray of tea.
Looking at that familiar face, Higashino Shuuichi suddenly remembered something he'd almost forgotten.
"Kuchiki-fujin, I've seen a face similar to yours before. That little girl claimed she's your younger sister~"
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