Chapter 146: Cutscenes Can Wait
The blade fell in silence.
But the blood and torn flesh that should have followed never came.
Aizen Sosuke lowered his gaze and looked for a moment, then redirected his attention toward the distance.
Hirako Shinji was gone. Or rather, the more accurate way to put it:
He had been pulled to safety by the two people now standing in front of Aizen.
Backup, from somewhere unexpected.
"Squad 12 Captain, Urahara Kisuke. And this one... Head of the Kido Corps, Tsukabishi Tessai."
He identified both of them without a moment's hesitation. Aizen turned to face them at an unhurried pace, his tone giving away nothing.
"What exactly brings the two of you here?"
"...That's a question we should be asking you, Aizen Sosuke."
Gone was the mild and unassuming manner he usually carried. Urahara's expression was grave, his gaze tight, his entire bearing pulled into something unmistakably wary.
"What are you trying to do here?"
"Why, protecting Soul Society, of course. Removing souls that have been corrupted."
Aizen's tone remained perfectly pleasant, as if he were stating something any reasonable person would already know.
"Shinigami fighting Hollows, purifying them... isn't that precisely what we do, Captain Urahara?"
"That is absolute nonsense!!!"
Compared to Urahara's cold composure, Tessai's temper was considerably more direct.
He had been the one to carry Hirako clear of Aizen's strike moments ago, and right now he wasn't just grave-faced. His whole voice carried something that bordered on a reprimand.
"We watched you about to cut down your own captain!"
"What a regrettable misunderstanding... Head Tessai."
Aizen adjusted his glasses with a small smile and stepped back half a pace.
"Surely with your level of skill and discernment, you can see it for yourself? Captain Hirako, and the others... they aren't purely Shinigami anymore, are they? In any meaningful sense of the word?"
"..."
"..."
Silence stood in for an answer.
And behind that silence, something more unsettling: the quiet admission that the question had landed somewhere real.
Because what was happening to Hirako Shinji right now had already pushed past the edge of what either of them could categorize.
The person was still the same person.
But the shape of the spiritual pressure, the outline of the soul visible to their perception... neither matched what could meaningfully be called a spirit body. Not anymore.
In fact, from where both of them stood, what they were looking at had moved to something infinitely close to a Hollow.
How?
Aizen Sosuke could transform living people into Hollows?
Too many questions crowded into the space between thoughts, spiraling and converging, folding into something more tangled and unsettling than any single answer could address.
Neither of them made any large movement. They simply kept their eyes fixed on Aizen in the distance.
"Not going to do anything? Either of you?"
That was a provocation. It could be ignored.
But two figures dropping from the sky overhead pulled all of their attention away in an instant.
Matsushita Yusuke and Tosen Kaname.
Neither showed a single mark of damage on their clothes. If you were pressed to find something, the most you could say was that Matsushita Yusuke's condition seemed a little unsteady.
"So that's who was fighting over there."
The answer arrived, but it only made both their expressions heavier.
The reason needed no elaboration.
Matsushita Yusuke had taken down three captains entirely on his own.
Stated plainly, without any framing around it, that was the kind of result that made your stomach drop.
"Captain Matsushita... I didn't expect you to be on that side."
Urahara was looking at him with barely concealed unease. Matsushita Yusuke gave a couple of vague sounds in response and didn't pay much attention.
Because he was checking the panel.
Getting paid first. The closing cutscene could wait. I'll watch it properly when I have a spare moment.
[One Against All]
[Betrayal and hatred trail each other like shadows, inseparable twins...]
(Conditions-based, multi-stage triggered quest)
[Completion... 80%]
Eighty percent?
The answer came to him fast.
Urahara had swept in and stolen the big boss, Hirako Shinji, right at the finish line. That missing twenty percent was the gap.
Not exactly a clean run. But from a pure profit standpoint, it was more than enough.
Hirako's capabilities were considerably more troublesome than the rest of them, and on top of that, Yusuke's win had been built on catching everyone completely off guard. He'd gone in before anyone had time to adapt.
If even one person had kept their head for a moment longer, if they'd managed to push through and force their Bankai out...
This whole run would have ended in a loss.
Don't get greedy. Know your limits.
[Rewards: All Zanpakuto types below Bankai +10, Zanjutsu/Kido/Hakuda/Hoho +5, Reiatsu Level +10; Hollow Power +5, Sonido/Cero/Hierro +5]
Damn.
No surprise bonuses. But as a payout this was thorough in every direction, a clean pass across the full stat spread, shoring up the gaps and tightening the weak points across the board. Every great fighter builds from the ground up, and chasing the ceiling before the foundation is solid never ends well. Even at captain level, the basics still need to be there.
Absolutely worth the trip.
Matsushita Yusuke collected the stats with quiet satisfaction, and when he came back to the present, he caught Aizen Sosuke turning in their direction.
"In that case, I'll take my leave."
Right on time. The closing cutscene was done anyway.
He'd already sat through it in the anime and the manga, more than once. No point developing an attachment to a scene he'd already seen.
That's a wrap. Go home, get some rest.
Aizen gave a light wave toward his two subordinates. "Let's go, you two."
Before anyone on the other side could move, Tsukabishi Tessai was already in motion.
"No. You are not leaving!!!"
Bringing in the man behind all of this, dragging him back as evidence, was the most powerful play available. With that goal fixed in his mind, Tessai was not about to let these three walk away clean.
He raised both hands flat in front of him. Spiritual power surged and boiled through him...
Matsushita Yusuke glanced over from beside him and couldn't help blinking.
Here it comes.
In his opinion, this was Bleach's second most iconic moment. Right after the hair gel reveal, obviously.
"Hado #88, Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!!!"
A torrent of azure light erupted with a roar, tore open the earth and crashed through the forest, surging forward in an unstoppable wave toward Aizen and his group.
Without turning around, Aizen answered with a quiet, almost amused tone.
"Bakudo #81. Danku."
A dome of condensed reishi particles assembled high above and caught the entire thunderous strike without flinching, holding it completely.
"What..."
Tessai was still processing the shock when Aizen had already stepped lightly past his two subordinates.
Tosen Kaname gave a quiet sound of acknowledgment, and as he turned, patted Matsushita Yusuke on the shoulder.
"You all right?"
Matsushita Yusuke rubbed his eyes and laughed, a beat behind the moment.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's move..."
[You witnessed Bleach's defining moment. Aizen Sosuke stepped into the spotlight -- maybe next time, that someone is you?]
[Achievement reward obtained...]
****
70+advance chapters at patreon.com/Eatinpieces