Hundreds of years ago, Seireitei, Official Street.
"Please let me see Central 46! I beg you!"
Ignoring the steel six-shaku staffs held by the burly guards blocking his way, Kaname Tōsen reached toward the door without the slightest fear.
Though his eyes could not see, he could still sense the viciousness of these guards, all relatives of nobles.
Ignoring Kaname Tōsen's cries, the guards raised their six-shaku staffs against the blind commoner from Rukongai.
The scrape of cloth, the shift of air, the direction of moving footsteps... a series of complex yet subtle sounds pointed to one simple fact.
An attack was coming, but Kaname Tōsen neither dodged nor feared it.
He had prepared himself for this long ago. Whether he was stopped, beaten, or even killed here, he would not take a single step back.
The gate guards swung their weapons at the unresisting man without hesitation, only for their strikes to be deflected by a Zanpakutō still in its sheath.
A gentle male voice sounded. "No need to be so violent. We're still in the mourning period for Miss Kakyō."
The guard's voice carried fear, along with other emotions too complicated to name. "Y-you are..."
The gentle voice instructed, "Leave persuading him to me. You just continue your guard duties."
"Yes... yes, sir!"
Had he been saved? Kaname Tōsen should have asked the name of the person who had saved him, but he froze because of the other name that had come from the man's mouth.
Kakyō.
That was the name of his irreplaceable dearest friend, the one he had lived with in Rukongai since childhood.
It was also the reason he had risked his life to come here.
"I know you. I remember you came to Miss Kakyō's funeral."
Hope rose in Kaname Tōsen's heart. "You... knew her?"
"We were colleagues, in a sense. I am also a Shinigami... But perhaps from the moment I failed to protect her, I already lost the right to call myself one." The man reached out to Kaname Tōsen. "Let's go somewhere else. You have nothing left to say to these guards, do you?"
Or rather, even if Kaname Tōsen said more, those guards would not listen.
In that case, he might as well speak with this man first.
From the man's voice, Kaname Tōsen heard deep grief. This man had known Kakyō, just as he had. Perhaps he would be willing to help him.
"I see. So you are Kaname Tōsen. She would mention your name at the squad barracks from time to time... That must be why you were specially invited to the squad funeral."
Residents of Rukongai normally could not enter Seireitei.
"When Miss Kakyō joined the squad as a Shinigami, she left a will in advance. After all, no one knows when they might die in battle against Hollows. Shin'ō Academy also advises everyone to do so," the Shinigami said softly. "She seemed to say that she wished to sleep forever at the foot of a hill in Rukongai where the stars could be seen, and that her dearest friend, Kaname Tōsen, knew where that place was."
"...Yes." In Tōsen's mind, a memory surfaced of looking up at the night sky together with his dearest friend beside a village on a hill. "I know that hill."
["Look at the stars, Kaname."]
["I love the night sky most of all, Kaname."]
["Because the night sky is so much like this world."]
["Everything is wrapped in darkness, but there are many tiny lights too."]
["There are clouds trying to cover them, and I want to become... someone who parts those clouds."]
["So those few lights can keep shining, I want to part those clouds, Kaname."]
The girl who had looked up at the starry sky and said those words had eventually fulfilled her dream, becoming a Shinigami and taking on the heavy duty of maintaining the balance of the world.
But... after fulfilling that dream, she could never take another step forward.
"...I heard," Kaname Tōsen said, forcing the words out, "that her husband killed her."
"Yes, that is true. Her husband killed a squadmate over a trivial dispute, then killed his wife when she tried to persuade him to stop. That is the truth."
Kaname Tōsen clenched his fists. "...Why did she... Why did Kakyō have to die?"
"This is only my guess, but I believe it was because she was more upright than anyone else... because she held justice and peace in her heart." The Shinigami's voice was quiet. "I was always worried about her. I feared that one day, something like this would happen. She wanted to uphold justice, but she loved peace too much. If she had been able to reject peace and live only for strict justice, perhaps she could have cut down her husband instead. But she could not do that."
"Are you saying her wish was wrong!? I heard the man who killed her was never even charged with a serious crime!"
"That is why you wanted to meet the high officials of Central 46... isn't it?" The Shinigami sighed softly. "...Do you know of the Five Great Noble Houses?"
"I don't know their specific family names, but I've heard of them. They are the most exalted families among the nobles of Seireitei..."
"The man who killed Miss Kakyō came from one of those Five Great Noble Houses. Not from the main family, but from a branch line. Even though he had no real power to speak of, the higher-ups still reduced his punishment for murder because of his bloodline. If he had been from the main family, not only would the murder have been covered up, Miss Kakyō herself would have been branded a traitor. They would have claimed killing her was an execution and buried the matter there."
Kaname Tōsen's voice was dry and sharp. "How... How can there be something so absurd...!"
Though he asked, he had already suspected something like this.
But he had not wanted to believe it. He had not wanted to believe that the thing Kakyō had yearned for...
Unwilling to give up, Kaname Tōsen pressed on. "Aren't the Shinigami and the Gotei 13 supposed to protect the peace of Soul Society and the World of the Living? Isn't Central 46 supposed to be a council of sages that symbolizes the truth of the world?"
"Isn't that exactly what they are protecting? Nobles are part of this world too, after all. This protects their peace." The Shinigami paused. "And Central 46 is precisely the symbol of this unreasonable world."
Something seemed to seize Kaname Tōsen's breath.
He had not yet accepted the fact that Kakyō was gone, and now he had to face the reality that the dream Kakyō had given her life for did not exist either.
The starry sky he had once looked up at with Kakyō...
Had not illuminated her life.
She had been the light that illuminated this world.
But he had lost her forever.
...
"Komamura..." Kaname Tōsen's voice overlapped with a strange buzzing. "So in your eyes, I only threw everything away when I left the Soul Society?"
The sound of breaking air rang out as Kaname Tōsen closed the distance in an instant.
"Tenken!" Sajin Komamura swung his blade, and the giant blade behind him fell with it.
Kaname Tōsen blocked the giant blade with his Zanpakutō in one hand. While Sajin Komamura was still stunned by his strength, Kaname Tōsen twisted his body and swept out a leg.
His slender leg struck Sajin Komamura's side like a whip. His massive body bent uncontrollably and slammed diagonally into the ground, shattering the structure beneath him and sending dust billowing into the air.
Sajin Komamura threw off the bricks and stones pinning him down, only to see the blade rushing closer in his eyes.
Clang!
A spinning double-bladed scythe dragged its chain around Kaname Tōsen's Zanpakutō. Shūhei Hisagi pulled hard with both arms, drawing the chain taut. "Captain Tōsen..."
He lowered his eyes, looking at Kaname Tōsen after his Hollowfication. "I've paid my respects. This is my thanks for everything you taught me."
"Hisagi..." Kaname Tōsen shook his blade free of the chain. "Now that you have paid your respects, what will you do?"
"I'll use every technique you taught me..." The complicated look in Shūhei Hisagi's eyes faded, replaced by unwavering resolve. "To make you come to your senses and bring you back to the Soul Society!"
"Make me come to my senses?" Kaname Tōsen let out a sound that was almost a laugh. "You still haven't changed. I told you before, those who do not know fear have no right to fight. And in your words now, I sense... no fear at all."
Shūhei Hisagi clenched his teeth. What rose in his mind was a memory from when he had only just become a Seated Officer.
["Have your position as a Seated Officer revoked?"] Kaname Tōsen sounded puzzled. ["If this is about the mistake during yesterday's drill, you need not worry. Anyone can make mistakes at the beginning."]
["No... My delayed reaction back then wasn't a mistake! It was because I felt fear inside..."] Shūhei Hisagi trembled as he gripped his Zanpakutō. ["Before, I went to the World of the Living for a drill, and I lost my comrades and injured my right eye... Ever since then, whenever I draw my blade or face an enemy, part of me is always afraid..."]
He curled in on himself helplessly. ["Captain Tōsen... I... I'm afraid of fighting..."]
["Then you are all the more suited to be a Seated Officer."] Facing Shūhei Hisagi's stunned gaze, Kaname Tōsen explained further. ["What matters to a warrior is not strength, but a heart that fears battle. Because you fear battle, you can take up your weapon and fight for those who fear it as well."]
["Someone who does not even fear his own weapon has no right to wield one."] Kaname Tōsen's voice echoed in Shūhei Hisagi's ears along with the mountain breeze. ["If you truly fear battle from the bottom of your heart, then you have already gained the most irreplaceable thing a warrior can possess."]
Only those who feared battle would seek ways beyond battle and learn to avoid conflict.
Only those who feared weapons would use the power in their hands carefully, so as not to harm others.
Only those who feared themselves would remain constantly alert to their own words and actions, so they would not cause an irreversible tragedy.
Shūhei Hisagi had never once forgotten Kaname Tōsen's teachings. That was why he could not understand. "Captain Tōsen... What about you? What are you... afraid of now?"
"For the past hundred years, I have been afraid..." Kaname Tōsen cut through Shūhei Hisagi's body with one stroke and whispered amid the spray of blood, "Afraid of becoming the same as you Shinigami. Afraid of dying as a Shinigami... like you."
"Bankai!" A black-armored giant that blotted out the sky rose from the ruins. "Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō!"
"At this point, you still insist on doing something so useless?" Kaname Tōsen flickered away, dodging the descending giant blade and cutting open Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō's arm. "Your Bankai... is far too closely connected to your body."
Blood sprayed from the same spot on Sajin Komamura's right arm. He turned back and swung his arm, and Kokujō Tengen Myō'ō copied his movement, sending Kaname Tōsen flying through the air.
The air beneath his feet creaked. Kaname Tōsen's broken arm swayed, then restored itself to its original state.
"High-Speed Regeneration..." Sajin Komamura saw it clearly. "After falling this far, is there not even the slightest trace of your former justice left in your heart?"
"Falling?" A crack appeared where the mouth of Kaname Tōsen's mask should have been. "Do you mean joining an enemy organization for revenge, then forgetting my purpose because my days were peaceful, even going along with that revolting organization? Is that what you mean?"
"You... Your reason for becoming a Shinigami was..."
"Revenge," Kaname Tōsen answered. "Did you never once suspect it? A man whose most important friend was murdered joining the same organization as her killer..."
"You said you didn't want the justice she tried to uphold to disappear, so you would inherit her will even at the cost of your life." Sajin Komamura's voice trembled. "For the sake of justice, you were even willing to forgive..."
"Forgive the enemy who killed my friend? How kind... How beautiful... But kindness and beauty are not always justice." The mask on Kaname Tōsen's face split open completely, like a gaping maw. "And being unable to avenge the dead, then living a peaceful life, is absolute... evil!"
Kaname Tōsen's voice rang through the air.
It echoed, then faded.
Looking up at his former friend in the sky, Sajin Komamura's furry ears drooped.
"It seems I... misunderstood what was in your heart." Sajin Komamura gripped the hilt of his blade with both hands. "If our beliefs differ, then there is no need for me to persuade you. For the sake of the Soul Society, I have no choice but to destroy you."
"For the Soul Society..." Kaname Tōsen's voice carried undisguised hatred. "Then you can die with your regrets."
"Now that I have heard your true feelings, I have no regrets left." There was no anger left in Sajin Komamura's eyes. "In my heart... I have already forgiven you."
"Forgiven me? When did I ever ask for your forgiveness?" Kaname Tōsen raised his Zanpakutō. "Suzumushi Hyakushiki, Grillar Grillo!"
Churning darkness poured out of Kaname Tōsen's body, then contracted irregularly into a twisted, chilling form.
Black fur covered his body. Four arms hung from his bulging shoulders. Two pairs of translucent wings beat behind him. A pair of massive curved horns wrapped in chains arched upward from his shoulders. His reverse-jointed feet were like claws, and a long tail lashed behind him.
"I can see..."
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