"In the original timeline… who awakened Kūgo Ginjō's Shinigami powers?"
"And who gave him that cross pendant allowing it to become the medium for his Fullbring?"
Raizen Kō stood beneath the dim streetlights of Yūhua Town, his gaze darkening.
"Why does everything I do… still flow toward the original course of events?"
The silver cross now resting against Ginjō's chest.
The early awakening of Shinigami power.
The steady convergence toward the future Substitute Shinigami.
A chill ran down Raizen's spine.
"Is the timeline correcting itself?"
"Is the world instinctively repairing deviations caused by my interference?"
"Or…"
His expression hardened.
"…is there something ensuring events unfold as they were meant to?"
If such a force existed, only one presence in the Three Realms could possibly orchestrate something on this scale.
High above Seireitei.
Beyond the Royal Guard.
Within the sealed sanctum of the Royal Palace.
The lynchpin of existence.
The Reiō the Soul King.
Raizen's breath stilled.
The Soul King did not move.
Did not speak.
Did not interfere at least, not in any way the Gotei 13 acknowledged.
But the balance of the worlds itself revolved around his existence.
If causality bent around him…
If fate itself maintained equilibrium
Then Raizen's intrusion into the timeline might not go unnoticed.
For a brief instant, his killing instincts flared.
If there truly were a hand guiding events
Then one day, he would cut through it.
No matter who or what stood behind it.
But the next moment, he exhaled slowly.
Speculation without power was meaningless.
If such a being truly arranged fate, then at his current strength, resistance was impossible.
The only solution
Grow stronger.
Strong enough that no scheme could bind him.
Strong enough that even destiny would fracture beneath his blade.
"I'm probably overthinking it," he muttered.
"Makoto-Nii? What's wrong?"
Ginjō's voice pulled him back.
Raizen's expression softened slightly.
"Nothing. Let's head back."
Two months passed in relative calm.
Three days remained before Raizen's Human World assignment concluded.
"The World of the Living really is comfortable…"
Raizen lay on the narrow sofa in his rented apartment, sipping a cold carbonated drink through a straw. Compared to the austere structures of Seireitei or the endless desolation of Hueco Mundo, this world possessed a warmth that was almost indulgent.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
His alarm sounded.
Midnight.
Without hesitation, Raizen rose and lay back upon the bed.
In the next instant, his Shinigami form slipped free of the Gigai. The artificial body remained beneath the blanket, appearing peacefully asleep.
Adjusting his Shihakushō, Raizen vanished with a silent Shunpo.
He had promised Ginjō one final evaluation before his departure.
Because Ginjō was still a child under the supervision of the orphanage staff, their training sessions were conducted in spirit form after midnight, away from prying eyes.
Moments later, Raizen arrived atop the unfinished building that served as their training ground.
Empty.
He frowned.
"Strange. He's usually here first."
Then
He felt it.
A familiar Reiatsu signature.
Raw.
Young.
But sharpened.
Ginjō.
And opposing it
A Hollow.
Raizen's figure blurred.
Above a single-story house in Yūhua Town, a grotesque Hollow clung to the rooftop.
Its mask resembled a cracked spiral shell, elongated tendrils writhing from its body. Its Reiatsu was uneven but dangerous comparable to a lower-class Menos Adjuchas fragment that had regressed.
It opened its maw
And spat corrosive bile.
The acid splashed against concrete with a violent hiss, eating through the wall and releasing a foul stench.
"Help!"
A young woman below screamed
Only for a small figure to flash before her in a burst of Shunpo.
Ginjō grabbed her sleeve and pulled her clear of the attack.
The ground behind them dissolved.
Before she could process what happened, Ginjō had already stepped forward, Zanpakutō drawn.
He launched himself upward with Shunpo still imperfect, still heavy-footed but far sharper than two months prior.
His blade cleaved downward.
One tendril severed.
The Hollow shrieked.
It retaliated instantly, firing a compressed stream of acidic fluid.
Ginjō vanished sideways.
"Hadō #4 Byakurai!"
A thin lance of concentrated lightning shot from his fingertip.
The two attacks collided midair.
Explosion.
Smoke.
Corrosive droplets rained across the street, pitting the asphalt.
Through the haze, Ginjō pressed forward.
His grip was steady.
His footwork disciplined.
He closed distance in three consecutive Shunpo steps
And drove his Zanpakutō straight through the Hollow's mask.
The white bone cracked.
The creature let out a distorted howl
Then disintegrated into drifting Reishi.
Silence returned.
The rescued woman stared wide-eyed.
"Th-Thank you…?"
Ginjō blinked.
"Oh… you can see me?"
That meant she possessed heightened spiritual awareness likely due to prolonged exposure to spiritual pressure.
Remembering Raizen's instruction, Ginjō formed a simple memory-modifying Kidō seal and lightly tapped her forehead.
A faint ripple passed through her consciousness.
Her perception blurred.
Then she collapsed gently into unconsciousness, her memory altered to remove the encounter.
"Clap. Clap. Clap."
Slow, deliberate applause echoed from the alley.
Raizen stepped into view.
"Well done, Ginjō."
In truth, he had arrived moments after the battle began.
He had chosen not to interfere.
If Ginjō could not defeat this level of Hollow alone, he was not ready.
Ginjō pouted.
"You were watching the whole time, weren't you?!"
Raizen merely smiled.
Then
Something unexpected happened.
Ginjō approached the unconscious woman and knelt.
He pressed his hand lightly against her chest.
A faint glow emerged.
A small white fragment of light like a condensed spark of spiritual essence was gently drawn from her body.
Raizen's eyes narrowed instantly.
"This is…"
The fragment pulsed faintly in Ginjō's palm.
Ginjō spoke innocently:
"If I take this excess spiritual residue away… Hollows won't target her anymore, right?"
Raizen stepped forward and took the glowing fragment.
He examined it closely.
It was not a soul.
Not a Plus.
Not Reiryoku.
It was the lingering attachment of spiritual influence
A distortion.
The early sign.
Fullbring.
Raizen's gaze sharpened.
So it had begun already.
Not in the distant future.
But here.
Now.
Convergence.
The timeline had not merely corrected itself
It had accelerated.
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