Yuta looked at the sparks in front of him.
They were the medical staff of the Fourth Division who were working tirelessly under the cover of night.
Some were carrying the wounded in for treatment, while others were moving the already treated to the recovery rooms one by one.
Screams occasionally echoed through the medical tents-broken limbs, crushed bones, torn flesh-the sound of pain filled the night.
At times like this, the Fourth Division prioritized saving those who could be saved. The dead had no place in their care.
"I'm here to ask you," Yuta began, his tone calm but firm. "Since you already know what the nobles are doing, why do you continue to protect the Soul Society?"
Kyoraku Shunsui was silent for several seconds before answering. He watched the busy medics ahead and finally spoke.
"In truth, I don't think the actions of the Tsunayashiro family are entirely sins. From the perspective of maintaining stability across the three realms, it might actually be better for the Soul King to remain unaware of his own condition."
"To some extent," he continued, "the method chosen by the founder of the Tsunayashiro family was the safest. Keeping the Soul King in that state-neither alive nor dead-and using him to stabilize the Three Realms is precisely what makes him the perfect wedge."
"Even so," he added after pausing briefly, "even knowing how dangerous this world is, I believe that a true warrior isn't someone without fear."
"A true warrior," Shunsui said, his eyes narrowing slightly, "is someone who recognizes fear-and moves forward anyway."
"The true Gotei doesn't turn away from the sins of this world. Even after learning the darkness that lies beneath everything, they choose to remain with the Gotei…"
He chuckled softly and pulled at the brim of his hat.
"Like that kid, Kurosaki Ichigo. Sometimes I look at him and think he's really simple-stubbornly so. He doesn't question much. He just does what he feels is right."
Shunsui smiled faintly. "Sometimes that kind of stubbornness isn't bad. When he knew nothing, he chose to protect the world. After learning everything, he simply said, 'so what,' and continued protecting the Soul Society without hesitation."
Yuta was silent for a long while. What Shunsui said was true.
Kurosaki Ichigo might seem clumsy, but in reality, he was the kind of fool who possessed profound wisdom-the kind of fool who understood what mattered most.
For Ichigo, the world was simple.
When friends were in danger, he fought to protect them.
When family was in danger, he stood to defend them.
When the world was threatened, he did everything he could to protect it.
Beyond that, the rest didn't matter to him.
Concepts like the balance of the Soul King or the structure of the Three Realms-those weren't things Ichigo could truly understand, or perhaps he simply refused to dwell on them.
Or perhaps… even after understanding everything, he would choose the same path regardless.
Yuta lowered his gaze slightly.
What about himself?
Did he also want to protect this world?
Or had his heart already shifted somewhere else-to the ideals of his allies?
To Yhwach-who sought to unite the three realms?
What was the "path" Yhwach desired?
What did he truly wish to accomplish?
And if the unification of the three realms truly created a world without death or suffering, wouldn't that be paradise?
At the beginning of creation, there had only been one world. Humans and souls lived together-death was just another form of existence.
It sounded peaceful-beautiful even.
Yet in that beauty, the monstrous force known as Hollows existed-creatures that devoured souls indiscriminately.
Without balance, everything would eventually be consumed by the void.
Hollows devoured souls. Hollows devoured other Hollows.
In the end, everything would collapse into one enormous void-an empty existence without heart or will-a true nothingness.
Yuta's eyes darkened slightly.
What if Yhwach truly succeeded in erasing everything-the void itself?
What if only humans and their souls remained in the unified world?
Without Hollows to consume souls, peace might seem eternal.
And in that eternal peace, beauty would lose meaning.
Would people stop striving for anything?
Would they cease reaching for light because the dark no longer existed?
In that world, where no one died and no one suffered-would that really be life?
Would that truly be paradise? Or would it be another kind of death?
Everyone would live infinitely, but in doing so, they would no longer live at heart.
They would stop thinking, stop struggling, stop creating. Happiness would no longer be earned-it would simply exist, meaningless and hollow.
No one would invent, no one would write, no one would dream, no one would build anything new-because there would be no reason to.
For beings trapped in eternity, beauty itself would lose its edge.
When everything is already possessed, when there is no longer loss-what becomes of the human heart?
Yuta exhaled lightly.
Perhaps it was birth and death that gave life its shape.
Human life was not defined by its length but by its motion-its direction.
Even just one hundred years was enough for humanity to strive toward their dreams.
Even if that dream remained unfulfilled at the end.
Even if they spent their entire lives fighting for it without rest.
Even if their names faded into the river of time, leaving behind only traces smaller than dust-it was enough.
It was those transient lives that built civilization's brilliance.
Humans-the powerless, fragile beings-had created endless wonders.
Glittering cities, flying machines, stories and worlds of imagination.
Art, technology, science-all manifestations of limited time being used fully.
They pursued infinite beauty within finite life.
Even if just one drop fell into the ocean-it could turn wastelands into gardens, coal into diamonds, ruins into civilization.
Yuta's gaze softened.
He had been avoiding this question for too long-though he already knew the answer.
Protecting Karakura Town.
Protecting the Human World.
Protecting the common people of the Soul Society.
And deep down, he understood-true equality could not exist without imbalance.
Class hierarchy was the only way to sustain fairness across the realms.
Those experiments that defied humanity-like Kurotsuchi Mayuri's-he had destroyed them without hesitation.
Why had he done that at the time?
Ishida Uryū had chosen to spare Kurotsuchi Mayuri.
Yuta couldn't.
He was walking his own path-his way toward what he believed to be the ideal world.
Hideki Yuta was neither wholly good nor wholly evil.
He fought only for the beauty he believed in-the world he wished to see one day.
And he knew that vision could not be achieved in haste.
After Aizen Sōsuke, Yhwach, and Tsunayashiro Tokinada… only then would it be time to reshape the realms.
As for the position of Captain of the Gotei 13?
Yuta smiled softly, his expression calm and genuine for once.
At least now, he could finally speak honestly.
He was not a Shinigami.
He was not human.
And he was not Quincy.
"…sorry," Yuta said lightly. "I won't be taking the position of Captain Commander."
"Why?" someone asked faintly behind him.
Yuta smiled faintly. "It's simple."
"I'm just… a regular civilian."
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