"Damn it… damn it!! Tsukiyomi—!!"
Reduced to an ordinary human, Kurosaki Ichigo lay sprawled in a pool of blood, his eyes burning with hatred as he watched Fūjin Taichi vanish before him with Saitō Tsukiyomi slung over his shoulder. From the depths of his heart came waves of agonized, wordless screams.
"Ichigo…"
Ishida Uryū regained consciousness. Seeing Ichigo lying in a pool of blood, his life force flickering, a spark of pure hatred flashed in Uryū's eyes.
Shinigami... I will never forgive you for this!!
"Whoosh!"
The previously clear night sky was suddenly overtaken by dark clouds drifting from the south. The moonlight was swallowed whole, plunging the surroundings into darkness. Soon, a chilly night wind began to howl through the empty streets of Karakura Town, followed shortly by a torrential downpour...
...
"Taichi! I know it was just an act, but the way you toyed with my cousin Ichigo... that was a bit much!"
Kaien Shiba, who had been missing from the scene for quite some time, suddenly appeared behind Fūjin Taichi and offered a soft complaint.
"Heh heh. I was just tempering Ichigo."
Floating in the night sky with Saitō Tsukiyomi over his shoulder, Fūjin Taichi stared fixedly at Ichigo below and explained:
"I realized Ichigo is like a resilient spring—the harder you press him, the harder he rebounds."
At this point, Taichi had already sealed Tsukiyomi's spiritual power and her five senses with Kidō, so he wasn't worried about their conversation being overheard.
At the same time, to prevent Aizen from eavesdropping on what followed, Taichi deliberately used his Zanpakutō Ichi to open the exit inside the Dangai at the very moment they entered the Senkaimon—
The so-called spatial gap between the Human World and Soul Society, filled with immobilizing Kōryū currents and the fearsome Kōtotsu, the "Dangai Cleaner" that appears once every seven days.
"Even so, Ichigo is still human," Kaien frowned as he looked at the pitch-black Kōryū surrounding them.
"Are you sure that destroying his Soul Sleep and Chain of Fate was really 'tempering' him?!
Without the Soul Sleep that generates spiritual power and the Chain of Fate that acts as a spiritual engine—even if he survives, he'll likely lose all spiritual power."
"Allow me to correct you formally, Captain Kaien."
Fūjin Taichi surveyed the silent, oppressive Dangai and said calmly:
"What I destroyed were the Soul Sleep and Chain of Fate that were manifestations of Saitō Tsukiyomi's Shinigami power imposed onto Ichigo's soul.
In other words, Ichigo's own Shinigami power is still dormant…
If you truly insist that he will one day become a genuine Shinigami—then just wait and see."
"…Hmm."
Kaien's brow relaxed slightly. He withdrew his gaze from the Kōryū and looked at Taichi instead.
"Taichi, sometimes I feel like you're always hiding something.
Whether it's Tsukiyomi or Ichigo—everything that's happened here seems to be completely under your control."
"Don't say such nonsense, Captain Kaien!"
Taichi shook his head.
"I'm just a vice-captain without even an official posting."
He then changed the subject.
"By the way—earlier you called Ichigo your 'cousin.'
That means you've already met Senior Shiba, right? What happened?"
"Taichi… this matter is truly unbelievable."
Kaien nodded.
"I did indeed find Uncle Isshin here, and I also learned the truth about what happened twenty years ago—"
"What was it?" Taichi asked, pretending not to know.
"It's…" Kaien hesitated and glanced at Taichi.
"The truth is too dark and bloody. You'd be better off not knowing."
"Captain Kaien—whether you admit it or not, it seems we're already in the same boat."
Taichi raised a hand and patted Tsukiyomi on the shoulder.
"Even if my strength is lacking, I fear nothing.
Even if I must stand against the entire Soul Society—I will fight at your side."
"Taichi…"
Kaien silently offered his thanks in his heart. He then relayed his conversation with Shiba Isshin, now bearing the surname Kurosaki, to Taichi, and sighed with deep concern:
"Uncle Isshin said… there is at least one traitor within Soul Society—
and that traitor is a captain-class Shinigami!"
"Oh…"
Taichi knew that the so-called "traitor" Isshin referred to was Aizen Sōsuke, Ichimaru Gin, and Tōsen Kaname—the Shinigami who would soon stand atop Hueco Mundo.
"And the Shinigami who could have silently approached Uncle Isshin back then and gravely injured him…"
Kaien continued, his expression extremely complex.
"There are only five people who could possibly have done it.
But among them, the ones most likely to be 'traitors' are only two:
One is the Fifth Division Captain—Aizen Sōsuke.
The other is the Thirteenth Division Captain—Ukitake Jūshirō!"
"What?!"
When Taichi heard the name Aizen Sōsuke, he couldn't help but think to himself:
Not bad for the father of 'hax-protagonist Ichigo'—he even suspects Soul Society's 'Mr. Nice Guy,' Aizen!
But when Kaien spoke Ukitake Jūshirō's name, Taichi was genuinely shocked.
"How could it be Captain Ukitake?!"
"Oh?" Kaien raised an eyebrow.
"That's a strange reaction. Why couldn't it be Captain Ukitake?
He's a Shinigami who's existed for nearly a thousand years, with unfathomable strength.
And… no one knows what his Bankai is!"
"That's a bit of a stretch, Captain Kaien!"
Fūjin Taichi shook his head and said:
"There are many Shinigami who have existed for nearly a thousand years. Besides Captain Ukitake, there's also the Eighth Division captain, elders of the Four Great Noble Houses, and even criminals imprisoned in the underground prison…
Likewise, there are plenty of people whose Bankai are unknown. That alone cannot be used as evidence to identify Captain Ukitake as a traitor.
Moreover, I can't think of any reason why he would do such a thing…"
"Besides those two reasons—"
Shiba Kaien said in a low voice while recalling past memories:
"He's always gone on about how 'Soul Society should treat Shinigami and humans equally,' and how humans with strong spiritual power should be allowed to become Substitute Shinigami—
Yet behind the scenes, he proposed to Seireitei a plan to monitor Substitute Shinigami through the Substitute Shinigami License, and to eliminate them outright the moment they show any sign of resistance—"
"The intention behind the Substitute Shinigami surveillance plan was good," Taichi replied calmly.
"And as it turns out, that particular Substitute Shinigami really was dangerous."
When Taichi was still serving in the Thirteenth Division, he had already heard rumors about the unexplained disappearance of a Substitute Shinigami, so he added his own perspective:
"A Substitute Shinigami is like a double-edged sword.
Used properly, they can become a fine blade in the hands of the Shinigami, maintaining 'balance.'
But if used incorrectly… they can turn into an absolute weapon of disaster, threatening both the Human World and Soul Society.
So I believe whether a Substitute Shinigami becomes good or evil has no inevitable connection to Captain Ukitake's monitoring proposal itself—
rather, it depends on the Substitute Shinigami's character."
"Perhaps so."
Kaien knew he had been somewhat impulsive. He eased his emotions and continued:
"But don't you find it strange?"
"What do you mean?"
"Captain Ukitake's health has always been poor.
Logically speaking, he shouldn't even be capable of fulfilling a captain's duties.
Yet for nearly a thousand years, he's continued to serve as the Thirteenth Division's captain for that long—don't you think that's odd?"
"Heh heh heh. Captain Ukitake is, after all, of noble birth and a direct disciple of Captain-Commander Yamamoto.
Having a bit of privilege is easy enough to understand," Taichi said jokingly.
"Damn it! I'm not joking!"
Kaien's face darkened as he spoke each word deliberately:
"What if his kindness, pacifism, and sickly appearance… are all just an act?!"
"Sigh… even Senior Shiba—the person directly involved—hasn't been able to confirm the culprit.
You really shouldn't be making wild guesses here."
Taichi knew that Kurosaki Isshin's past had deeply shaken Kaien's worldview, causing even the beliefs he had once held without question to begin to waver.
"Hey, Taichi!"
The gloom on Kaien's face suddenly vanished. He broke into a grin and said cheerfully:
"Everything I said just now was wild speculation! Hahaha… did I scare you?"
"Yeah—nearly scared me to death," Taichi replied casually.
Then he added more seriously:
"Still, until this matter is fully investigated, we shouldn't act rashly.
Especially you, Captain Kaien. If you still consider me a friend, don't show those emotions back in Soul Society."
"Tch, how annoying. I know, I know."
Kaien snorted with a laugh.
"I'm the captain of the Tenth Division—
I haven't fallen so low that I need a vice-captain from another division lecturing me, have I?"
"That's hard to say!"
Taichi grinned and said:
"Maybe someday… Soul Society, the Human World, and even Hueco Mundo will all have to rely on this vice-captain to save them!"
As Taichi finished speaking, he noticed the surrounding Kōryū currents beginning to stir restlessly. He raised his hand and sliced open a cross-shaped spatial rift, and together with Shiba Kaien, returned to Soul Society…