Soul Society, Seireitei.
A secret underground laboratory.
Rows of screens lined the walls, all displaying live feeds from Karakura Town.
Click.
The door opened.
Gin Ichimaru walked in with his arms crossed, scanned the room, and smiled with his eyes closed. "Captain Aizen."
"How is it? Any results?"
Aizen smiled gently, pushed up his glasses, and walked over to the screens to observe the footage.
"My, my. Truly terrifying. Our young master from the Noble House dealt with that Adjuchas so cleanly. It seems a test subject of that level isn't enough to probe Kai's upper limit," Gin opened his eyes, switching the main screen to the replay of Kai's battle with the Adjuchas.
"A lightning-type Zanpakutō? A rare ability indeed," Aizen commented calmly after watching the battle conclude.
"Speaking of lightning-type Zanpakutō, one has to mention Vice-Captain Chōjirō Sasakibe. I'd love to see what his Bankai looks like. Such a pity..."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
Contrary to his sighing tone, the slight upward curve of Gin's mouth and his mocking expression clearly showed he was being deliberately sarcastic.
"It is a pity. Shinji Hirako's group and Kisuke Urahara haven't made a single move."
"It seems we need to increase the stakes."
Aizen pushed up his black-rimmed glasses. Behind the reflective lenses lay eyes as calm as still water.
Continuous experiments had already provided sufficient data.
The Hōgyoku in his possession was incomplete—flawed.
To evolve toward a higher, more perfect form of life, he needed to obtain the Hōgyoku created by Kisuke Urahara and fuse them to create a flawless Hōgyoku.
Merging with a perfect Hōgyoku was the ideal, ultimate form.
"Oh? Aren't you afraid of attracting Soul Society's attention by doing that, Captain Aizen?" Gin narrowed his eyes into a fox-like grin.
"No need to worry, Gin. They don't have the energy to notice us right now, and they certainly won't suspect us," Aizen smiled warmly, looking like a saint.
"As expected of Captain Aizen. You've prepared for everything. So, what is the plan?" Gin stopped what he was doing and asked with a smile.
"It is time to deploy 'White' to Karakura Town. With 'White' present, Soul Society will be scrambling for quite some time. They won't have time to investigate other minor details."
Aizen looked with interest at a screen in the corner.
His gaze was pure, like an artist admiring their own work.
On that dim screen, a pitch-black shadow floated inside a cultivation tank. Faintly, one could see deformed horns.
"'White'... is it?"
Gin frowned slightly. "Isn't it a bit too early? White's fusion progress isn't perfect yet; there are still flaws. Besides..."
"Using 'White' to test Kai... isn't that a bit excessive?"
Opening his narrowed eyes slightly, Gin also looked at the cultivation tank on the screen, a hint of wariness in his gaze.
The thing inside... was a complete monster.
"Gin, have you noticed? You seem to be paying a little too much attention to Kai," Aizen's tone suddenly shifted, his smile faint.
"My, my. Perhaps it's just mutual appreciation between geniuses. I can't help but pay him a little extra attention," Gin grinned, seamlessly shifting the topic.
"Mutual appreciation between geniuses? How rare for someone to earn your recognition, Gin."
Aizen adjusted his glasses, his tone flat. He switched the screen back to Kai's battle footage. "If he dies that easily at the hands of 'White', it only proves one thing."
"That I overestimated him. He was just a man of mediocre caliber, nothing more."
"Keep watching. Kai is not as simple as he appears. The things he's hiding are very interesting."
"That guy... he clearly died once back then... yet he came back to life..."
Aizen lowered his hands, but his eyes held a gleam of amusement.
"My, my. That is indeed interesting," Gin said lightly, as if discussing something trivial. "Speaking of which, Tōsen seems to have started paying attention to Kai recently as well."
Aizen's gaze deepened. "Kaname... has he?"
...
Karakura Town.
Inside a room in a warehouse.
A young man in pajamas and a black cat were locked in a staring contest, maintaining a stalemate for quite some time.
Finally, the black cat couldn't help but break the weird silence first.
"Yo. I wondered how long a guy like you would hide. Didn't expect you to expose yourself so quickly," Yoruichi said in her middle-aged male voice, flicking her tail mockingly.
She couldn't resist licking her paw as she spoke.
"Expose myself? I've always given the name 'Renji Abarai'. What does that have to do with me, Kai?"
Kai smiled and spread his hands, dumping the blame elsewhere.
The people in the know were few.
Either they didn't know his real name, or they were like Yanagawa Saitō—smart enough to keep their mouths shut.
As for enemies?
Every Hollow that had seen Kai fight was dead.
If I kill every enemy I fight, who can prove I wasn't slacking off? Who can prove I gained merit?
Clocking in and out on time to be a salary thief—isn't that the dream?
"Tch. A man like you can't hide for long," Yoruichi retorted, then suddenly blurred her gaze, pretending to ask casually, "By the way, that woman who threw herself at you just now... if I'm not mistaken, that was Isshin Shiba's Vice-Captain, Rangiku Matsumoto, right?"
"How did you interpret that as 'throwing herself at me'?" Kai looked baffled.
"That little girl practically shoved her scandalous body into your face. If that's not throwing herself at you, what is?" Yoruichi shot back.
"She was just drunk..."
"I don't think she was drunk. And I don't think her goal was alcohol, either."
Hearing this, Kai's eyes flashed.
"So you noticed it too."
The corner of Kai's mouth quirked up.
If we're talking acting skills, Rangiku Matsumoto is definitely Oscar-level. That clumsy, drunken "stumbling big sister" act was flawless—the kind that would get picked up by a dozen guys within minutes on the street.
But the problem was... Kai knew her character settings!
A woman who drinks sake like water, has god-tier alcohol tolerance, can drink a group of men under the table while remaining only tipsy, and is outwardly wild but inwardly meticulous and self-respecting... would she run to his room drunk in the middle of the night to flirt?
This was clearly an ulterior motive. Eight out of ten chances she was here to fish for information.
Women, heh...
Thinking of this, Kai shifted his gaze. Then, the corner of his mouth twitched violently.
"Dammit!"
"Why did you suddenly turn into a human?!"
"Change back! Hurry up!"
"Clothes! Put on some clothes, you bastard!"