Splash.
A sheet of water slapped Rangiku across the face, snapping her out of a daze. She puffed her cheeks and glared at Matsumoto Rangiku.
"Miss Rangiku, what are you doing?"
"That's my line. I called you five times. Thought you'd passed out in the tub."
"…No. I was just wondering…" Hinamori Momo glanced toward the men's baths. "What do Captain Aizen, Shigō, and Ichigo talk about? Hopefully not the weird stuff you bring up."
"What do you mean 'weird stuff'! Say that again and—hiya!"
"Kya!"
"Hey, you two… enough," Sui-Feng said, weary. Rangiku's splashes were hitting her, and the woman wouldn't stop bobbing in front of her eyes.
"Fiiine. You got lucky, Momo. I was about to check your development."
"Eek!"
Momo hid behind Sui-Feng at once. "Why are you hiding behind me…" Sui-Feng muttered, sensing malice.
"But men's talk?" Rangiku gazed up. After a bit of thought she waved a hand. "Dreams, probably. 'What do you want to do later?' That kind of thing. Like kids."
"Sometimes I have no idea what goes on in their heads."
…
"Dreams? Asked like that, I've got nothing," Ichigo said in the men's bath, arms folded, head tilted as he searched himself.
"No need for something lofty," Aizen said, the patient teacher. "Just… what would you do until your life ends? There's always one or two things."
"Until my life ends—that's plenty lofty! But if that's the standard, then yeah. One thing." Ichigo drew a breath. "I want to protect a lot of people."
"What's that supposed to be? Save-the-world hero talk? I thought you weren't into that when you enrolled," Shigō said, eyes still closed, lazy as a cat.
"Zip it! When I first landed in Soul Society I was lost and walking on eggshells. Shouting about saving everything would've made me an idiot." Ichigo flushed. "And I'm not 'great.' Even right now, in places I can't see, people are getting hurt and dying. If I know that, how can I brag about 'saving the world' without sounding fake?"
"So no, I've never wanted to save everyone. But I can't limit myself to the few I can hold in two hands, either. If someone's about to die right in front of me, I'm not cold enough to walk away. Of course, I'm not saving monsters who'd just hurt more people."
"Given reality, I'll protect as many as I can. If I have a 'dream,' that's it. All the way to the end." He turned. "And if you think that's dumb, Shigō, show me your measure."
Shigō opened his eyes without hurry, adjusted his posture, and met Ichigo's teasing look with an even tone. "For the record, I'm not belittling you. Honestly, mine might sound even more naïve."
"Hey, let's not—" Ichigo began.
"That's not self-denial," Aizen cut in, interested. " 'Naïve' and 'ridiculous' here mean how others will see it. And often, when most people call something ridiculous, it's closest to greatness. If the day comes it's achieved, they'll flip to worship."
Ichigo didn't fully get it—until Shigō spoke.
"Every man wants, at least once in his life, to be the strongest. That's my dream." He looked out over the burning horizon, firelight shivering over his face, something vast surging under his calm. "But just getting stronger is boring. And once you're there, power drags influence behind it. Doing nothing isn't realistic."
"Like Ichigo, I don't think of myself as 'great.' I won't promise utopia or a perfect system. But right now, somewhere I can't see, someone's dying unjustly; a kind deed is getting someone killed; incompetent fools sit high; the greedy gorge; some jerk ruins the peace of others for a whim; the ugly tramples the good; idiots run wild…"
"Too much. So much it makes you think the good deserve a gun to their head, that honest people deserve to be bullied. I won't even call it good and evil. I'll just say—I can't stand it."
"So if you ask what I want to do, all the way to death? I'll become so strong no one can stop me, and I'll crush everything I can't stand."
"I'll be a true Shinigami. A true balancer. An adjuster. Wherever I go, there will be fairness. Fairness, fairness, and fairness."
The words hit Ichigo like bullets. His mouth went dry—heat and violence in the vow boiling the water out of him. He forced a laugh.
"Sounds like you're aiming to be the god of a new world."
"Gods can't do that," Aizen said before Shigō could answer, voice suddenly flint-hard. "Whether for good or ill… gods don't care. They see the world, not lives. Rise and fall, grief and misfortune—they don't weigh on them."
"People don't want gods. They want someone omnipotent who will grant their wish. The irony is, gods exist—but that other thing doesn't. They never stand on the same ground. The contradiction is inevitable. So even the brightest eras are built wrong at birth—and end in ruin."
Ichigo swallowed. A chill crawled up his spine. Was it Aizen's presence, or was there something dangerous under those words?
"Sensei," Shigō said, breaking the pressure as if it weren't there. "We've said ours. Your turn. You started this—no dodging. A philosopher in the living world once said: refusing to talk about oneself is a very noble form of hypocrisy. Don't set a bad example."
Ichigo grinned. "Yeah—what's your dream? Knowing you, it's upright and beautiful. We won't laugh."
Aizen smiled gently. He reached to push up glasses that weren't there, paused, and the smile thinned. Eyes shut, he spoke quietly. "I'm afraid I'm not as good as you think, Ichigo."
-------
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