The First Generation Captain Entetsu Kumoi—who had given Soul Society's captains headaches for so long—had his soul sent back to Hell just like that.
No matter how the process went, the one who ultimately ended Entetsu Kumoi's life was Kuchiki Kōga.
"I never would've guessed you two had this kind of relationship."
Kurotsuchi Mayuri immediately saw the purpose behind Higashino Shuuichi's arrangement.
There were still plenty of mysteries in the middle—like how Kuchiki Kōga ended up mixed in with Higashino Shuuichi in the first place.
But the conclusion wouldn't change.
"There are still many things you don't know, Mayuri~"
Unohana Retsu had her Zanpakutō spit Ikkaku Madarame back out. Having been warned by his good friend Ayasagawa Yumichika, Ikkaku now glared at Mayuri with barely contained fury.
"And you've got plenty of trouble of your own to deal with, too~"
Unohana Retsu sheathed her Zanpakutō and returned to her usual gentle demeanor.
"You needn't trouble yourself worrying about me, Unohana-taichō."
Mayuri didn't spare so much as a blink for a mere Eleventh Division sanseki—even if that man had mastered Bankai.
Not far away, Kuchiki Kōga stayed beside Entetsu Kumoi's Reigai, not leaving. Kisaragi Shūsuke, who had come with him, had already withdrawn first.
Komamura Sajin tried to pursue—only to be met with Kisaragi Shūsuke's disdainful gaze and then be instantly one-shot by Kisaragi Shūsuke's Bankai.
If Kisaragi Shūsuke looked pathetic in front of people like Higashino Shuuichi, Entetsu Kumoi, and Aizen Sōsuke, that was only because those people, one way or another, possessed means that countered Kisaragi Shūsuke's Bakkōtō.
But most "ordinary" captains in Soul Society clearly didn't.
Komamura Sajin wasn't an exception. Neither was Tōsen Kaname, who was stuck in a weird overlap of "watching the show" and "trying to do his job."
Both of them had their ability to release their Zanpakutō stripped away.
If Kisaragi Shūsuke hadn't left so quickly, Mayuri suspected even the Arrancar sniffing their way over would've had a chance to steal a kill on two captains.
Because in Mayuri's understanding, aside from a tiny handful of freaks, the overwhelming majority of shinigami—including captains, including himself—relied extremely heavily on their Zanpakutō to fight. Without Zanpakutō release, it was like cutting off a shinigami's arms.
"Why didn't you run?"
Mayuri walked up to Kuchiki Kōga.
"Why would I run?"
Kōga stood perfectly straight.
"You're a traitor to Soul Society."
Mayuri answered.
"And if I said I'm not?"
Kōga shot back.
"How could you not be?"
Mayuri knew it wouldn't be that simple. He wanted to pry Higashino Shuuichi's intent out of Kōga's mouth.
It was obvious—Higashino Shuuichi's handprints were all over this.
"Of course I'm not. Everything I did back in Soul Society… I was manipulated by Higashino Shuuichi!"
When Kuchiki Kōga said it, his confidence wasn't exactly solid.
To be honest, when Kisaragi Shūsuke first told him to explain it that way, Kuchiki Kōga had seriously wondered if Kisaragi Shūsuke was actually Kyōraku Shunsui's undercover agent.
How could you dig a pit for your own boss like that?
Could Higashino Shuuichi really shoulder Kuchiki Kōga's crime?
But it was exactly at that point that Kuchiki Kōga thought it through carefully.
Because… Higashino Shuuichi actually could shoulder it.
Just look at the major crimes Higashino Shuuichi already carried—each one of them was enough to get him executed by the Head-Captain.
Even if he wasn't executed, throwing him into Muken would be more than justified.
So adding one more crime… really didn't matter.
"Manipulated by Higashino Shuuichi?"
Mayuri was genuinely puzzled. Did that sound like something Higashino Shuuichi would do?
…Actually, yes.
Higashino Shuuichi was, in fact, very good at ensnaring people's hearts.
Kisaragi Shūsuke—who now vaguely looked like Soul Society's number-one internal mole—Mayuri's own fukutaichō Yushima Ōko, and even Unohana Retsu just now… all of these renowned shinigami were now willingly helping Higashino Shuuichi.
Even Mayuri himself often did things for Higashino Shuuichi.
That alone proved Higashino Shuuichi had a real "method" when it came to manipulating people.
And if that was the case…
Mayuri realized he really couldn't do much to Kuchiki Kōga.
Because if Kuchiki Kōga ultimately cleared his name, then the weight of his identity as the Kuchiki clan head's brother-in-law would be enough to crush a massive number of shinigami.
It didn't include Mayuri—but over this period, Mayuri had fully experienced just how much power the Five Great Noble Clans held.
Just like the choice Higashino Shuuichi had made—
If Mayuri wanted enough voice in Soul Society to make his experiments even more unrestrained…
Then choosing a Five Great Noble Clan to attach himself to might actually be a pretty good option.
Higashino Shuuichi had already set an excellent example.
Mayuri figured that even if he followed that example, he wouldn't do too badly.
Especially when his gaze finally settled on the Reigai behind Kuchiki Kōga—his eyes growing heated.
If nothing unexpected happened, the Kuchiki clan would have a strong say in who got to claim that Reigai.
Last time, with Sakahone Saizō's Reigai, Mayuri still felt he hadn't fully developed everything there was to discover.
This time, he absolutely had to get his hands on it properly.
"Mayuri-taichō! Why haven't you subdued Kuchiki Kōga yet?!"
In the distance, Komamura Sajin cut down the Arrancar foolish enough to come provoke him while shouting his doubt toward Mayuri.
"As for how we handle Kuchiki Kōga, I think we should—"
Mayuri started to explain, but suddenly he felt an absurd reiatsu change surging from far away.
A violent reiatsu, like a raging flood smashing into the sky.
Even in Soul Society, Mayuri had never seen reiatsu like that.
And this was the World of the Living—how could it be here?
That direction was already close to the edge of the territory controlled by the East Administration.
"What… happened over there?"
Mayuri wondered.
And a few minutes earlier—right in the direction Mayuri was now looking—
Miyazaki Sakai Masato had brought Kabuno Takuya to a mist-wreathed mountain peak for a picnic.
Two candy apple skewers per person.
"Good?"
Miyazaki Sakai Masato savored it, biting a single piece off the stick, lightly cracking the outer sugar shell with his teeth and letting the cold syrup melt across his tongue.
The plum inside the sugar coating then hit him with a sour, exhilarating punch of flavor.
"This is a delicacy of the World of the Living!"
Miyazaki Sakai Masato praised.
By contrast, Kabuno Takuya across from him looked far stiffer—mechanically biting three pieces off in one go, chewing hard, swallowing, treating even the hard pits with the same ruthless equality.
"Mm. Tasty."
Kabuno Takuya wore a rigid smile—professional, fake—and answered after finishing.
"Heh."
Miyazaki Sakai Masato shook his head helplessly.
He was already used to Kabuno Takuya acting like this.
And he had more or less guessed Kabuno Takuya's identity.
So when Higashino Shuuichi—wearing a Hollow's shell—stepped through the void and descended from the Garganta (Black Cavity), landing before him…
Miyazaki Sakai Masato was completely calm.
"Looks like you knew I'd come."
Higashino Shuuichi took the untouched candy apple skewer from Kabuno Takuya's hand.
"Sooner or later," Miyazaki Sakai Masato replied with a smile. "Otherwise, why would such a stiff Quincy keep following me around everywhere, day after day, without complaint? There had to be a reason."
Higashino Shuuichi fell silent.
If the Miyazaki Sakai Masato from before felt like a frivolous playboy, then the Miyazaki Sakai Masato in front of him now felt like a crafty old fox.
Every flicker of expression looked as if it had been carefully designed.
Did every Twelfth Division captain really have to end up like this?
Higashino Shuuichi complained internally, exhausted.
Couldn't this shinigami world have more "pure" shinigami like Zaraki Kenpachi and Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni?
"Then, Miyazaki-taichō… you should also be very clear on what I'm here for, right?"
Higashino Shuuichi didn't draw his blade immediately.
Because he knew: if Miyazaki Sakai Masato had waited here for his arrival, then he was absolutely prepared.
"If you were wearing a captain's haori," Miyazaki Sakai Masato said, "I'd guess you came to kill me. Back then I used almost the entirety of Northern Rukongai as my laboratory. In a single night, ninety percent of the civilians died."
"I nearly destroyed the balance between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. If the Head-Captain didn't send someone to kill me, that would be very strange~"
Higashino Shuuichi frowned.
The dossier he'd read said Miyazaki Sakai Masato caused massive civilian casualties.
He'd thought it was, at most, a few hundred—enough under Soul Society law to strip a captain of their position.
He hadn't expected Miyazaki Sakai Masato to be even more ruthless than he'd imagined.
Ninety percent of Northern Rukongai's civilians…
What kind of astronomical number was that?
"But you aren't wearing the captain's haori," Miyazaki Sakai Masato continued, stuffing more candy apple into his mouth with an almost blissful expression. "So I might guess you're a messenger sent by Tsunayashiro Kamihara."
He stopped "savoring it piece by piece" like before. To Higashino Shuuichi, it felt like he was eating… a last meal.
"But that's not it either," Miyazaki Sakai Masato said. "Because you've already implicitly accepted you and this stiff Quincy are on the same side. Tsunayashiro Kamihara wouldn't need to do something like that."
"And even if Tsunayashiro Kamihara did come looking for me… my ending wouldn't change much~"
"Why do you say that?"
Higashino Shuuichi's suspicion deepened.
Miyazaki Sakai Masato smiled faintly, rose to his feet, then turned around—fully exposing his back to Higashino Shuuichi as he looked out at the endless snowy mountain range.
"Because I failed~"
"Heh… is it funny?"
"The results of over a hundred years of painstaking research… were stolen—openly—by another shinigami in less than a year."
Miyazaki Sakai Masato didn't name him.
But Higashino Shuuichi already knew who he meant.
Higashino Shuuichi almost wanted to comfort him: if it was that man, then Miyazaki Sakai Masato shouldn't be so pessimistic. He should be grateful instead—at least he was still alive, not dragged off to be research material.
"What Tsunayashiro Kamihara wants… I can't provide anymore."
"You originally still had time."
Higashino Shuuichi said no more than that.
He believed Miyazaki Sakai Masato understood what he meant.
"Yeah. But how would you know?"
"Those eleven Reigai were made from the West Administration's accumulated stores of the last thousand years—stores I stole. The technique can be replicated… but what about the materials?"
"Can you provide those?"
"…"
Higashino Shuuichi got shut down.
This was his one and only fatal weakness—when it came to scientific research, he truly knew nothing.
"And besides," Miyazaki Sakai Masato continued, "even if Tsunayashiro Kamihara could really find me the materials, I still couldn't make them anymore…"
As he spoke, Miyazaki Sakai Masato turned back and tore his shirt completely open, revealing his bare upper body.
Not because of some strange habit—
But because—
"This is… Bakudō #96: Kyōkakafūmetsu (Capital Fire Rack Seal Extermination)?"
Higashino Shuuichi stared at the miniature silver object embedded in Miyazaki Sakai Masato's chest—three sword-drills crossed together—an old, sealed memory snapping open again.
"So you recognize this Kidō (Demon Arts), huh?" Miyazaki Sakai Masato gave a bitter smile. "I thought the only shinigami in today's Soul Society who could use this was that guy~"
Of course Higashino Shuuichi couldn't use it. In truth, high-level Bakudō were far harder to learn than Hadō.
With Higashino Shuuichi's talent in Kidō, mastering Bakudō beyond ninety was indeed asking too much.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was—
This was Kyōkakafūmetsu!
In the original story, it was the kind of brutal thing that could even seal Aizen with a fully evolved Hōgyoku—yet here it was, planted into Miyazaki Sakai Masato like it was nothing?
In that instant, Higashino Shuuichi felt like he understood some things.
No wonder Miyazaki Sakai Masato had been so desperate to leave the West Administration.
No wonder after leaving, he kept hiding and moving around with his Quincy clone, constantly on the run.
He was fleeing Urahara Kisuke.
Maybe even this time—Urahara Kisuke coming to the East Administration territory at all—had included the intention of dragging Miyazaki Sakai Masato back.
"How did you evade it?"
Higashino Shuuichi asked the crucial question.
After all, this was Bakudō #96: Kyōkakafūmetsu—cast personally by Urahara Kisuke.
Given Urahara Kisuke's scheming…
It was hard to imagine anyone escaping after being hit by it.
"Did you forget my Zanpakutō's ability?"
Miyazaki Sakai Masato said.
"This Bakudō can indeed seal my powers—but as long as I set things up in advance, and before my body is sealed, I fuse my soul into a Reigai I created…"
"Then I can bypass this Bakudō."
"So what I'm seeing now isn't your real body," Higashino Shuuichi said slowly. "It's a Reigai you made… but…"
"But why is this Reigai so weak?"
Miyazaki Sakai Masato burst into laughter—raw and hollow.
"Of course it is. Those eleven special Reigai were watched by that guy like a hawk. How would he ever give me the chance to fuse with them?"
"This is just one of my failed products, that's all~"
His laughter was filled with bitterness.
"No wonder… in my impression, you weren't that strong."
"But if it's only an ordinary Reigai, it couldn't possibly support you acting for this long."
"Your real body is sealed—only your soul remains. And a soul by itself can't provide reiatsu."
Higashino Shuuichi was about to reach the core of it.
"Exactly," Miyazaki Sakai Masato smiled. "So you must not know why I used all of Northern Rukongai as my laboratory back then, right?"
He gave Higashino Shuuichi a meaningful look.
Higashino Shuuichi didn't answer.
Miyazaki Sakai Masato lifted his head as if reminiscing about bright, youthful days.
"I don't know whether that boy is still alive. I don't know whether you even know about him."
"But I can tell you with absolute certainty, Higashino Shuuichi—Northern Rukongai once produced a very special boy."
"His name was the same as the district where he appeared…"
"Zaraki."
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