Chapter 143: Surveillance
Morning light stained Seireitei's horizon as usual.
"Isane-neesan, I'll walk you to here."
Suoh smiled.
"Alright, Tsukasa. Be careful on your way."
"If there's any abnormality, come find me at Fourth Division anytime."
Isane smiled and nodded gently, silver-gray short hair catching the morning light with a touch of warmth.
"I will."
Suoh and Isane waved goodbye at the intersection outside Fourth Division barracks.
Just as their figures were about to separate and disappear from view—
All of this was completely recorded by a pair of eyes belonging to no Shinigami.
Suoh's footsteps paused almost imperceptibly. His head moved slightly.
Morning wind brushed past eaves. Distant sounds from squad members inside the barracks. Everything appeared no different from usual.
But in that instant just now, some extremely subtle sense of wrongness swept past his perception's edge. More like an invisible hair lightly brushing across skin's surface.
Following instinct, he glanced toward the wall. A small team of pitch-black ants was marching in neat formation along stone slab crevices.
From appearance and spiritual pressure fluctuations, they seemed identical to the most ordinary biological ants in nature. This scene appeared completely normal.
Then he glanced at his shadow cast by sunlight below his feet. Equally nothing abnormal.
'Shouldn't be my imagination.'
Suoh thought, casually withdrawing his gaze.
This wasn't persecution paranoia.
Because as he knew, there were habitually four groups monitoring throughout Seireitei: Wandenreich, Twelfth Division's Mayuri, Aizen's trio, and Muken's Azashiro Kenpachi.
Additionally, among the other four great noble families existed one particularly fond of prying into others' privacy.
Hard to say clearly which group this inexplicable sense of being watched came from.
But his instinct could occasionally catch some subtle abnormality, though difficult to discern differences clearly.
Not that his spiritual awareness lacked keenness—rather, the spiritual pressure fluctuations around him showed absolutely no anomaly under his perception.
Two seconds later, Suoh quite decisively turned and left.
Silently memorizing this location. Better avoid passing through here in future.
He'd considered following his instinct to find the prying source, but felt it meaningless.
Simply no way—at this stage, he couldn't afford to provoke trouble with any of them.
Fortunately Seireitei was vast. Locations under surveillance like this probably weren't numerous. Today's feeling was his first encounter.
And when he left the position, the watched feeling indeed instantly disappeared.
Ninth Division barracks, a certain room.
Suoh's figure on the monitoring screen vanished like drifting fluff.
"Instinct, eh."
On the screen's other side, Tosen Kaname rewound, paused, and slow-played the footage, frowning.
The screen froze on a certain instant—the moment Suoh turned to look at the wall corner.
In the frame, Suoh's eyes for one brief moment seemed to pierce through the screen, making eye contact with him standing before the monitor.
Then the on-screen person's gaze shifted extremely quickly to his own feet below. Gave the feeling that eye contact was perhaps just a most natural coincidence.
Like an ordinary casual downward glance after morning parting with a friend.
Tosen's brows furrowed slightly.
His fingertips rubbed the console edge, adjusting parameters to enlarge the image, focusing on details of Suoh's eyes.
Spiritual awareness extended along the screen, attempting to extract that instant's emotional fluctuation from this footage.
But there was nothing.
Tosen finally replayed it once more, then imperceptibly shook his head.
Subsequently his fingers slid across the console, saving this footage segment, labeling it "Surveillance Mode Abnormal Perception Analysis Sample #069."
The file directory held many people's thumbnail images.
Each had at some moment unconsciously faced the direction where surveillance footage was located.
However, compared to figures in those images wearing white captain haori or vice-captain armbands, Suoh's Third Seat status among them proved rather negligible.
Approximately ten minutes later.
Aizen Sosuke entered with Ichimaru Gin following half a step behind. Face still wearing that impeccable gentle smile, he inquired.
"Kaname, thank you for your hard work."
"How is the new surveillance network's condition?"
Gentle as ordinary greetings between friends.
"Aizen-sama, everything is normal."
Tosen stood, bowing slightly, answering matter-of-factly.
"Aside from Twelfth Division being affected by Mayuri's anti-surveillance measures, surveillance network updates in other divisions proceeded very smoothly."
"According to past thirty days' monitoring records, currently only 69 cases of suspected abnormality detection. Actual confirmations of surveillance organisms with real action taken: zero."
"This entirely new surveillance method is nearly perfect. Even if Shinigami happen to see with naked eyes, they'll think—"
"That's merely an insect. And who would deliberately observe an insignificant creature by the wall or roadside?"
Aizen finished the sentence, lips curving into a pleased arc.
He walked slowly to the console, gaze sweeping across those screen data.
Ichimaru Gin leaned against the doorside, eyes squinted as though nearly asleep.
"Even if seen, after confirming its weak spiritual pressure fluctuation, they naturally overlook it."
Tosen's fingertips tapped the console, speaking gravely.
The screen began scrolling through series of character footage segments:
Captain-Commander at First Division barracks hosting tea ceremony, hand holding teacup pausing slightly, half-closed gaze casually sweeping past;
Second Division Captain Soi Fon lecturing her vice-captain, sharp gaze scraping past like blades;
Fourth Division's Unohana Retsu at flower arrangement gathering, water-gentle gaze sweeping over;
Screens scrolled in sequence. Various division captains' figures repeatedly appearing, occasionally interspersed with several vice-captains' and seated officers' reactions.
The commonality—everyone's reaction proved extremely subtle. Some merely blinked eyelashes once extra.
But they all quickly shifted gazes away.
Finally, the screen stopped on the newest record. Aizen's eyes moved slightly.
Somewhat unexpected.
Suoh had once again quietly appeared in the directory.
As footage ended, Tosen reported in detail.
"Captain-level perceptions are keen. Basically all detected something because they already stand at Shinigami power's peak, possessing instinctive alertness to any environmental minute changes."
"Vice-captain level next. Only some with lengthy service records listed among them. Also within reason."
"Seated officer level only two cases. Respectively Eleventh Division's Ayasegawa Yumichika, Thirteenth Division's Suoh Tsukasa. Suspected acute instincts, though coincidence not ruled out."
"Just the latter—according to monitoring records, recently frequently interacts with Fourth and Tenth Divisions. Close relationships."
"Aizen-sama, should we adjust surveillance strategy, conducting focused monitoring on Thirteenth Division?"
Their surveillance network had undergone comprehensive update iteration. Quantity, coverage range, and concealment all greatly improved, collecting more and more precise information.
If not for Suoh's fairly close contact with captains and vice-captains, with his mere Third Seat status, he'd also be easily overlooked in this information flood.
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