Chapter 242: Sōsuke Aizen's Ambition
Swish.
Aizen slid open the door to Satoru's study.
In the dimly lit room, he saw Satoru sitting in a chair, leaning slightly forward.
His elbows rested on his knees, his chin propped on the back of his hands, as if lost in deep thought.
Seeing Aizen enter, Satoru blinked in mild surprise.
Then, he nodded gently.
"Sōsuke, you came at the right time."
"Have a seat."
"?"
Aizen looked at him quizzically. After confirming it wasn't an illusion, he pulled up a chair and sat opposite Satoru.
"What's wrong? Are you in some kind of trouble?"
Satoru nodded.
He frowned, as if pondering how to begin.
Aizen wasn't in a hurry and waited quietly.
After a moment of thought, Satoru suddenly spoke:
"Sōsuke, will you join the Mikami Family?"
"Though we're only a lower noble house, if I put in the effort, it wouldn't be hard to rise back to a middle-rank noble family, or even climb to an upper-rank one."
"I can give you all the authority I possess. You wouldn't even need to change your surname."
"What do you say?"
Hearing Satoru's question, Aizen fell silent for a few seconds.
Then, he shook his head gently. "I'm sorry, Satoru. You know I don't care for such conspicuous status."
"Rather than standing in the spotlight, I prefer working behind the scenes..."
"Is that the only reason?"
Before Aizen could finish speaking, Satoru abruptly interrupted him.
Under Aizen's gaze, he straightened his posture.
"Becoming nobility doesn't conflict with staying behind the scenes."
"With intelligence that's no less than mine, finding a way to balance both would be quite easy for you."
"The reason you won't accept my invitation is because in your eyes, the identity of nobility is an insult to you, isn't it?"
Upon hearing this, Aizen finally showed a somewhat surprised expression.
Looking at Satoru's serious demeanor, he slightly curved the corners of his mouth.
"I thought you never cared about such things."
Satoru shook his head. "I truly didn't care about these matters before."
"After all, the people around me are either geniuses like you or nobles like Sōjun."
"Even Seinosuke, or Shinigami with even worse talent, their lives are already at a high level in this world."
"Those places beyond my sight are, to me, as if they don't exist."
"But now... I'm increasingly realizing this isn't right."
"Children born in Rukongai who can't even get a sip of water."
"Civilians with barely any clothes, wearing only thin garments even in such cold winters."
"Even here in Seireitei, countless people have been reduced to mere grains of meat in the grinder for the glory of the Five Noble Clans."
"This world... has existed for a million years."
"A million years - even crawling, it shouldn't have progressed this slowly, should it?"
He looked at Aizen.
"Sōsuke, you already thought of this long ago, which is why you despise noble status."
"You never congratulated me after I became a noble."
"Because in your eyes, this isn't glory, but contamination."
Under Satoru's gaze, Aizen smiled.
"Yes, Satoru."
"I'm glad you've realized this."
"As expected... of my dearest friend."
His usually calm expression now held a light in his eyes.
With a thought, a soundproof barrier instantly expanded, covering the entire room.
"As you said, the Soul Society has existed for a million years, yet nothing has ever changed."
"While the living world also has its impurities, its systems have far surpassed the Soul Society."
"There are three root causes for this."
Aizen extended three fingers.
"First, Shinigami possess immense power."
"Individual prowess reduces the pursuit of progress."
"After all, for a million years, all crises could be solved with powerful Reiatsu and invincible Zanpakutō abilities."
"Given this, Shinigami who have already become power holders and beneficiaries naturally have no interest in changing anything."
"Second, the long lifespan of Shinigami."
"Powerful Shinigami can live for thousands of years, even over two thousand years."
"In such a long time, humans could have gone through hundreds of generations. Youth and age, progress and conservatism would be reset repeatedly, each reset containing the possibility of change."
"But for Shinigami, this is only one or two generations' time, with change occurring only once, or even half."
"Finally, the existence of the Five Noble Clans."
When mentioning this term, Aizen's eyes showed undisguised contempt.
"Satoru, do you know why the Five Noble Clans came to be?"
Satoru thought for a moment: "Appointed by the Soul King?"
The anime hadn't mentioned much about the Soul King.
Aizen sighed with emotion.
"Appointed by the Soul King... that's such a beautiful explanation."
"Unfortunately, historical truths are often not so beautiful."
"Satoru, the Soul Society has existed for a million years. What was the world like before that million years?"
Without waiting for Satoru to guess randomly, he continued directly: "A million years ago, the three realms were one. Humans, Souls, Hollows... everyone lived in the same world."
"In this world, there was no cycle. All souls would eventually gather together, forming the most powerful Hollow, ending everything."
"To break this cycle, the Soul King stepped forward."
"Using divine power, he eliminated that Menos Grande, allowing the world to cycle anew."
"After witnessing the Soul King's power, the ancestors of the Five Noble Clans conceived a plan."
"By utilizing the Soul King, they separated the world into three realms: Humans, Souls, and Hollows, each existing in their own world."
"Leveraging the properties of mutual attraction and repulsion between these worlds, they guided the exchange and circulation of souls."
"To achieve this goal, the Shiba Clan's ancestor chose to negotiate with the Soul King, hoping to gain his cooperation."
"Meanwhile, the Tsunayashiro Clan's ancestor took advantage of the negotiations to launch a surprise attack on the Soul King."
"Facing the Tsunayashiro ancestor's brutality, the Soul King offered no resistance, allowing the Five Noble Clans to seal, bind, and imprison him in the Soul King Palace."
"Thus, the Soul King's power became a controllable entity."
"The Five Noble Clans utilized the Soul King's power to complete the separation of the three realms, giving rise to the present human world, Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo."
At this point, Aizen revealed a mocking smile.
"Although the Soul King never resisted, the ancestors of the Five Noble Clans lived in constant fear that he would break free from his cage, regain his liberty, and exact revenge upon them."
"To ensure the Soul King could never rebel against them, they employed secret arts to trap him in a paradoxical state where life and death coexisted simultaneously."
"Next, they severed the Soul King's arms, which governed 'progress' and 'stasis.'"
"Even this was not enough for them."
"Over countless ages, the ancestors of the Five Noble Clans excavated the Soul King's heart, removed his feet, sliced open his internal organs, and extracted them from his body."
"After stripping away these powers, they scattered the fragments of the Soul King across the three realms, ensuring these forces could never reunite."
"They continuously weakened the Soul King's power, all to create a 'king' convenient for their control."
"Having personally sealed the Soul King and obtained his power, they naturally became the earliest beings to acquire authority and status in Soul Society."
"This is... the truth behind the Five Noble Clans' enduring prosperity."
"Simultaneously, it is the profoundly tragic truth of the 'Soul King's' existence."
After hearing Aizen's explanation, Satoru remained stunned for a long time.
He harbored no doubts about the veracity of these events.
Given Aizen's investigative and analytical capabilities, he wouldn't have spoken of this unless completely certain.
Though he had already witnessed the darkness beneath the nobility's glamorous facade, he never imagined such a repulsive truth lay hidden behind it all!
Facing a Soul King who voluntarily accepted defeat and offered his power, how could these people still proceed to dismember him and remove his organs?
After a prolonged silence, he looked at Aizen.
While watching the anime, he never quite understood why Aizen, as a captain who could have lived comfortably, insisted on rebelling.
Especially that classic line: "The vacancy in the throne of heaven is about to end."
Indeed, a Soul King who had been dismembered, stripped of his organs, deprived of all freedom, unable to even define life and death—merely serving as the foundational power for the three realms' existence—could hardly be considered a true king.
Knowing Aizen's character, how could he possibly tolerate such circumstances after learning these truths?
Then he recalled Aizen's words to Kisuke after being defeated by Ichigo.
He despised Kisuke, who knew everything yet chose to do nothing.
While watching the anime, he couldn't understand what Aizen was saying, and even thought at one point that Aizen had lost his mind from the beating and started rambling nonsense.
Now, everything made sense.
Over the long years, Kisuke must have also learned the truth about the Soul King.
Yet, being rational and conservative, he chose to accept this reality.
Faced with such injustice yet doing nothing about it, it was only natural that he would be harshly criticized by Aizen.
Thinking of this, Satoru suddenly felt like laughing.
This guy Sōsuke, though usually appearing aloof and indifferent about everything, deep down was still a youth after all.
In the country he came from before crossing over, there was a special term for someone who would silently struggle their entire life for injustices that had nothing to do with themselves...
He raised his head and looked at Aizen.
"Sōsuke, since you've said all this, you must already have some ideas, right?"
"Correct, I've made my decision."
Aizen slightly lifted his chin: "Satoru, I'm going to change all this."
"Since the Soul King has given up resistance, then let me..."
At this point, he suddenly looked at Satoru.
Meeting the latter's gaze, he smiled.
"Let us resist instead."
"Satoru, you should become the Soul King."
"When that time comes, you can change everything."
"The nobles, the darkness, the injustice... let us end it all with our own hands!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Satoru's expression twist.
He looked extremely unwilling!
Satoru shook his head violently, like a husky shaking off water.
"No no no, I don't want to be any Soul King."
Just imagining himself sitting high on a throne, glowing with golden light, with a bunch of Shinigami bowing to him below made Satoru feel sick.
Never mind how boring that would be—even his Soul Society paradise plan would become utterly dull.
How could the harem obtained through the Soul King's power compare to the girls he worked hard to pursue himself?
He glanced at Aizen, then grinned:
"Rather than me, I think you'd be much more suited for that position, Sōsuke."
"After all, you already act so sexually indifferent and uninterested in everything—perfect for sitting alone on that cold throne until you grow old and die~"
"?"
Aizen narrowed his eyes.
This bastard, was he really his good friend?
He stood up, annoyed: "Enough, stop thinking about that."
"Don't even talk about becoming the new Soul King... with our current strength, we can't even control the Soul Society."
"According to ancient texts, there are four terrifyingly powerful Royal Special Forces above the Soul King Palace, called the Zero Division."
"Though there are only four of them, their strength surpasses the entire Gotei 13."
"That means to change reality, we must possess greater power."
"When you have the ability to fight Captain-Commander Yamamoto head-on, then you can think about whether you want to be Soul King or not."
Hearing Aizen's words, Satoru found it hard to believe.
"Impossible, my teacher is invincible!"
"I might believe that the Royal Special Forces are stronger than the Gotei 13 excluding my teacher."
"But stronger than the entire Gotei 13 including my teacher... I don't believe it!"
Aizen shook his head: "I also find it somewhat unbelievable, but since we've decided to oppose them, we must prepare for the worst possible scenario."
"The longer the game, the further ahead we must think."
"Because one wrong move could mean losing the entire game."
After saying this, he curled the corner of his mouth and looked at Satoru.
"Never thought I'd be able to share these things with someone one day."
"Indeed, life is always full of surprises."
"Let's continue working hard together in the years to come, Satoru."
Without waiting for Satoru's response, he lightly waved his hand, dispelling the soundproof barrier, and prepared to leave.
He was in a good mood.
Meeting someone like Satoru was truly his fortune.
But before he could open the door, Satoru flashed in front of him, blocking his way.
"?"
Aizen looked at him curiously.
Satoru grinned widely:
"Sōsuke, don't rush off just yet... Your timing is perfect. Those Shin'ō Academy folks are all back—how about giving them a lesson?"
"..."
Aizen closed his eyes, feeling his blood pressure spike.
Just moments ago, he'd shared such confidential, grand ideals, and now immediately it was back to this trivial nonsense.
Meeting someone like Satoru was truly his misfortune!
Yet, in that moment, a sudden inspiration flashed through his mind.
Under Satoru's expectant gaze, he revealed a somewhat peculiar smile.
"Satoru, isn't there someone more suitable for this right by your side?"
"He's been hiding long enough—it's time to drag him out."
"I can help with this matter~"