Chapter 92: Captain Aizen's Performance Was Too Good!
Maybe it was because Ichigo and Orihime had saved Mayuri Kurotsuchi's life not long ago.
The equipment the Research and Development Institute provided this time was not only versatile, their post production work was also finished right before the last day of summer vacation.
There was no promotion. No rivalry drama. No competing projects fighting for attention.
The Fifth Division's film premiered directly at the theater on Noble Street.
The moment the Seireitei Film Festival project was announced, it caused a massive stir, like a festival in its own right. The divisions even arranged rotating leave for their Squad Members, completely unafraid that no one would show up.
The First Division even notified the Gold Seal Association ahead of time, asking them to temporarily lift the access restrictions on Noble Street.
For some reason, the Gold Seal Association agreed without a fight.
Takeru only found out why after he asked Soi Fon.
When Shūhei had been doing the sealing work, a suspected stalker was caught red handed by the Onmitsukido.
Under interrogation, the truth came out. The person really was a spy sent by the Gold Seal Association.
Their goal was to gather anything that could be used against Shūhei, threaten him, stop him from publishing reports related to the nobility, and keep any noble secrets from being dug up, and so on.
They had not intended to target the Gotei 13 or the Captain Commander himself. The conflict was limited to private grudges.
Even so, they were still targeting the Ninth Division's Vice Captain.
If it had stayed hidden, that would have been one thing. But now that they had been caught, it could not be ignored.
Otherwise, the dignity of the Gotei 13 would be damaged.
That was the Captain Commander's stance.
Once the First Division went to negotiate, the Gold Seal Association compromised immediately.
According to Soi Fon, the reason was simple. The existence of the pure realm chapter had terrified the Gold Seal Association. It made them realize how essential the Gotei 13 truly was.
So they chose, for now, to avoid open conflict.
Opening the noble district was their display of "sincerity."
At the same time, it was a chance for business minded nobles to profit.
After all, it was rare for ordinary people to enter the noble district. If someone came to watch a film, they would not just leave the moment it ended, right?
That was exactly how Takeru saw it too.
He planned to take the cast and crew to a high end restaurant Byakuya had recommended for a wrap up meal after the screening.
"Takeru… honestly, I'm kind of nervous right now."
Inside the theater, Ichigo leaned toward his friend and lowered his voice.
"What is there to be nervous about?" Takeru replied, equally quiet. "Even if you do not trust the Research and Development Institute's post production, or your own acting, you should at least trust my directing."
"About your directing…" Ichigo hesitated, then blurted, "I've wanted to ask for a while. Weren't you planning to be a folklorist? How do you even know how to make movies?"
Takeru looked more surprised than Ichigo.
"If a folklorist can't operate a camera, how do you record your discoveries?" he shot back. "If you run into some strange creature, even if you escape and tell people about it, who would believe you without proof?"
"…" Ichigo could not argue with that.
Then the lights dimmed.
The movie began.
A red haired boy appeared first on the giant screen.
Seeing himself, Ichigo's posture straightened. He stopped whispering and focused on the film, just like everyone else.
The story was not complicated.
Just like Ichigo had said, it was extremely classic.
The protagonist he played was a delinquent who grew up in Rukongai.
Because he possessed massive spiritual power without realizing it, he constantly attracted Hollow attention. Casualties in the area stayed frighteningly high.
So the Seireitei dispatched a young shinigami to take over as the person in charge and station there.
She was introduced by narration as a noble born contemporary genius, and a beautiful girl.
The moment that voiceover hit, the entire theater went silent.
Everyone except Rukia, who immediately pumped her fists with enthusiasm.
The plot moved forward fast enough that people quickly stopped thinking about how questionable that setup sounded.
And that was also because Rukia, playing the female lead, earned sympathy and recognition almost immediately.
She was injured by a Hollow while bravely stepping in to protect the protagonist.
At the critical moment, the protagonist Ichigo played did not hesitate.
He grabbed her Zanpakuto and drove it straight into his own chest, taking in shinigami power.
Then he cut the Hollow down, clean and decisive.
The oversized Zanpakuto and his fierce momentum made plenty of viewers' eyes light up.
But the good times did not last.
That battle drew Seireitei attention. Investigators arrived.
When they learned the girl had committed the grave crime of transferring shinigami power, they did not hesitate. They arrested her and dragged her away.
In the audience, Byakuya and Renji watched themselves knock Ichigo to the ground.
They watched Rukia surrender in tears to protect him.
At that moment, neither of them could describe what they were feeling.
Still, the boy who fell was not truly defeated.
Encouraged by a mysterious black cat, he regained his resolve. By awakening the spiritual power hidden inside him, he grew stronger.
Then, guided by that black cat, he charged toward the Seireitei like a hero.
With unwavering belief, he gained help from many people along the way and forged bonds that looked almost unreal.
Even those he defeated acknowledged their loss.
He fought forward through blood and wounds, yet his original intention never wavered.
At one point, Kenpachi pushed him to the edge.
And in a situation that looked completely hopeless, the boy spoke a line that hit especially hard for the audience made up of Gotei 13 members.
"I don't fight because I think I'll win. I fight because I must win."
That willpower seemed to ignite something in the theater itself.
The audience's passion rose with him, and the boy with immense spiritual power clawed his way back from desperation, narrowly defeating Kenpachi by a single move.
Then came the contract with the black cat.
The boy, critically wounded, recovered in a short time at the cost of his lifespan, and continued forward.
That scene brought tears to the eyes of many emotional female shinigami.
At the same time, it made them even more furious at Byakuya, who personally guarded the execution platform.
Then the decisive battle began.
The clash of spiritual pressure felt so real it was as if the screen itself was pushing back. The entire theater tensed.
The color, visuals, and special effects were flawless.
And since it was filmed on location, the clarity was perfect.
Their ideological collision, their oppressive auras, their dialogue, it all drove what the audience considered the climax to its absolute peak.
Brilliant cherry blossoms danced against a black blade.
And layered over it was the classic BGM, Number one, recreated by Takeru from memory.
The spectacle of a Captain level battle had the theater gasping almost nonstop.
When the boy won, and Byakuya admitted defeat without excuses, everyone thought the movie was about to end.
Then it flipped.
Byakuya was not the mastermind.
The true mastermind was Aizen.
No one expected that turn.
But since it was a film, the audience leaned in, curious.
And then it happened.
"Give up, both of you. It's difficult to master the force required to crush ants without killing them."
Aizen casually handled both Ichigo and Byakuya as if they were nothing.
Then, right in front of them, he pulled a gem from Rukia's body, claiming it could grant wishes.
He revealed his plot and displayed his power.
Yet his calm, composed presence did not make the audience feel disgust or rejection.
Instead, it made them feel something else entirely.
"Wooooo, that's so cool!"
At Hachihara's cheer, Ichigo could not help turning his head. His cheeks puffed as he muttered, "Takeru, I think this part should be cut. How can we let our teacher play the villain?"
"There was no choice," Takeru replied bluntly. "This film's main purpose is to break the gloom left by Tosen Kaname and Ichimaru Gin's betrayal."
"After thinking it through, I decided the best way was to create a more charismatic villain to overshadow them. This part is crucial."
"Only by bringing it into the open, letting people tease it and joke about it, can you help everyone look at it with a normal mindset again."
"I get it," Ichigo said, his expression shifting as understanding clicked into place.
Hachihara's cheer was only the beginning.
When Aizen casually crushed Komamura with Hado, then calmly retreated from the reinforcements by riding Orihime's Santen Kesshun, the theater erupted.
The subsequent lines and developments set the entire room on fire.
Only Ukitake, making a friendly cameo, could be heard loudly questioning his colleague.
"…Have you fallen!"
Then came the line that made the theater freeze.
"…Don't be so arrogant. No one stands in the heavens from the beginning. Not you, not I, not even God."
Aizen, as the villain, spoke with quiet certainty, like someone who had already seen through the world.
As he talked, he took off his glasses and smoothed back his hair.
His whole aura transformed.
That condescending gaze, pointed straight into the camera, carried suffocating pressure.
"But this unbearable window of the heavens is about to close."
"From today on, I shall stand in the heavens."
Under the stunned gaze of everyone below, Aizen vanished into a crack in the sky, as if truly ascending toward that throne.
The camera followed his retreating figure, zooming deeper and deeper into the crack.
Then the screen went black.
The film ended.
The ending song, also composed by Takeru, played over the rolling credits.
Then the theater exploded.
"It was brilliant!"
"Captain Aizen's acting was divine, it felt just like the real thing! I want to apply for a transfer to the Fifth Division. I want to fight under Lord Aizen!"
"I want to watch it again. No, twice!"
"Worth the ticket price!"
"Will there be a second part? I want to see the decisive battle between Captain Aizen and the Rukongai boy!"
Thunderous applause filled the theater. Shinigami from every division were buzzing with excitement.
Watching it all, Takeru knew it.
The mission entrusted to him by the Captain Commander and his own teacher had been completed successfully.
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