Soul Society — South Rukongai, District 63.
The place had no special meaning—at least, Higashino Shuuichi figured Aizen had just picked it at random.
"Thank you, Shinigami-sama!"
Watching Sōsuke Aizen—now in a 5th Division captain's haori—kindly hand out food he'd brought to the nearby children, Shuuichi murmured, "Aizen-sama, I didn't expect that even after becoming taichō (captain), you're still this gentle~"
"Matching word and deed is basic conduct, isn't it?"
After finishing the last of the food and bowing to apologize to the children, Aizen straightened and glanced at Shuuichi at his side. "But you, Shuuichi—coming back to Soul Society like this… won't Urahara Kisuke and the others get suspicious?"
"They shouldn't. I came back for three things. One: scout the current state of Soul Society for Kisuke and company. Two: feel out Aizen-sama's current bottom line. Three: confirm something—has there been any major theft in Soul Society lately?"
Shuuichi laid out almost everything without fuss.
"Major theft?"
As expected, Aizen barely reacted to the first two—and showed a glimmer of interest only at the third.
"Yes, Aizen-sama." Shuuichi nodded. "We found reigai (Spirit Body) tech in the World of the Living. But that tech should've been halted by Central 46 during Kisuke Urahara's time as 12th Division taichō and sealed away in the 12th."
"Heh…"
Aizen smiled lightly. "Sounds like someone's about to tack yet another baseless charge onto Kisuke's head~"
"Aizen-sama doesn't know about it either?"
"Should I?" Aizen shot back.
"I had thought it was another crime you'd crafted to pin on Urahara Kisuke, Aizen-sama."
"I'd almost prefer it were. But I'm afraid this is yet another experiment from the nobles."
Up in the sky not far away, a massive garganta (Black Cavity) irised open. Aizen and Shuuichi raised their eyes at the same time.
"Looks like Soul Society's gotten a lot less peaceful lately."
Shuuichi watched a Menos Grande (Great Hollow) crawl from the rent—and two Shinigami in the air rushing to intercept.
"Suddenly losing so many captains and vice-captains… it's normal for hollows from Hueco Mundo (Hollow World) to get ideas."
Aizen let a faint wash of reiatsu spill from his body; none of the passing Shinigami noticed him or Shuuichi standing there.
"Back to what you said, Aizen-sama—you think this is another trial from the nobles?"
Shuuichi pulled his gaze back. He wasn't a Soul Society Shinigami anymore; no need to care about a hollow incursion the way he once did.
"You don't naively believe the Kasumiooji family's business ended with Kasumiooji Masasuke's execution, the Bakkōtō tech sealed, and the family either dead, missing, or stripped to commoner status—wrapped up with a neat bow, do you?"
Aizen pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his nose.
Seeing Shuuichi frown without answering, he smiled faintly and turned toward distant Seireitei.
"The Kasumiooji merely opened a box the nobles call 'Pandora.' Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni… has commanded the Gotei 13 far too long."
He stopped there; he didn't need to say more. Shuuichi understood.
In the end, it was the old story:
The realm had suffered under Yamamoto for a long time.
If no one had ever lit the fuse, maybe it would've held. But once someone struck the match—especially after the concessions Yamamoto made that day—
If not for Shuuichi cutting across it, the Bakkōtō faction might already have become the mainstream.
Those hearts would not go calm again.
"So, Aizen-sama—what do you plan to do?"
Seeing the confident smile on Aizen's face, Shuuichi knew: even if Aizen had only learned of this today, with his mind, he'd already projected out what the future might look like.
"Shuuichi, what would you name a private noble militia?"
Shuuichi blinked. Odd question—still, he thought a moment and ventured, "Katana-gari-shū (Blade-Hunting Corps)?"
"A fine name."
Aizen's voice drifted, then fell quiet. Shuuichi had no idea what he was plotting; he wasn't dumb enough to ask twice after Aizen dodged once. Push again and Aizen would start reevaluating his social sense.
After the two of them stood there for a few silent seconds, Shuuichi spoke again. "Aizen-sama, I have another request."
"What is it?"
"It's about a group in the Living World who call themselves Fullbringers."
Besides Kisuke, the best researcher was naturally Aizen; second-best, Kurotsuchi Mayuri; and distant third, that already-deranged Szayelaporro in Hueco Mundo.
"Fullbringers?" Aizen smiled as if he'd expected this. "You're interested in them?"
"Yes, Aizen-sama. From my fights with them: they have little reiatsu of their own, yet use abilities far beyond what their reiatsu should allow. It's probably like the Reiō (Soul King) fingernail fragment I got from Matsumoto Rangiku—a borrowed power from the Soul King's body fragments. It's the most reasonable explanation I can see."
He floated the line he'd prepared long ago.
"And therefore?"
"I'm thinking—if they can borrow the Soul King's body fragments to use such incredible abilities, why can't I? My 'infinite regeneration' is just a property attached to a Soul King fingernail shard. It's quite different from a Fullbringer's Fullbring."
He wasn't coy—he'd been eyeing Fullbring for a long time.
"You're already powerful, aren't you?
With Hollowfication mastered, that old problem—your natural cap on reiatsu—no longer exists. Is Fullbring really that important to you now?"
Aizen knew Shuuichi's state perfectly; he'd run who knew how many Hollowfication experiments.
"The more tools, the better at—"
"—but too many tools leave you chewing what you can't swallow," Aizen cut him off, tone firm. "Besides, it still wouldn't be your own power."
His words carried open disdain—for that power, and for the man behind it.
But how could someone like Aizen understand Shuuichi's bind?
If Shuuichi had Aizen's natural gifts, he wouldn't need to scheme this hard to claw for strength.
"I only want, when the day comes that Aizen-sama stands above the heavens, to be one step closer to you."
Shuuichi's eyes shone like admiration—yet burned with hunger.
Aizen gave him a long, meaningful look.
One step closer? There are many directions to get "closer."
From below? From the front… or from behind?
He wasn't sure.
The way Shuuichi craved power sat outside his normal models.
Madness and restraint, both.
Like a perfect machine that knew exactly what to do at each step to improve—relentlessly, methodically.
And with no visible end.
Aizen liked that.
He wanted to see how far this "mere mortal" could go.
"Fullbringers—are those with Soul King body fragments where the mother is attacked by a Hollow before the child is born; there's a chance a child is born…"
"Mm."
That much Shuuichi knew.
"But Shuuichi—have you ever wondered why it must be a Hollow's attack… and why the child to come, not the one attacked? The Soul King's fragment passes to the child."
Shuuichi lowered his head. He hadn't thought about it, because the original "rules" simply stated it that way. He'd always treated it as a premise.
"The birth of a soul is a wondrous thing. Whether from nothingness or through life's gestation—there's an ineffable force in it.
Haven't you considered that Fullbring is a product of three: Hollow power, a Soul King fragment, and a human soul—fused together?"
A word to wake a dreamer.
Right. Put like that, it clicked. In this world, powers were just recombinations of base elements.
Or think of the future protagonist's template: Kurosaki Ichigo—a grand hybrid packed with almost every element in this setting.
Human soul, Shinigami, Hollow—mixable and unmixable all slammed in together.
But if that's so—Shuuichi saw a serious problem:
As a Shinigami, he likely no longer possessed the possibility of owning a human soul.
Power could be acquired. But the nature of a soul—how was he supposed to get that?
Even a gigai only lent him a human shell for a while.
"So, Aizen-sama—do you believe I no longer have any realistic path to mastering Fullbring?"
"Though I haven't worked with Fullbringers directly, by my estimation, yes. Rather than waste effort there—spend it mastering the Hollow power you already have.
Resurrección (Return-to-Blade Release) won't lose to Bankai."
Aizen had no doubt Shuuichi could reach Resurrección.
With the Hōgyoku's boost, the true prerequisite left was subjugating the Hollow inside, not merely defeating it—something most Shinigami would find very hard.
Shuuichi? Aizen wasn't worried.
But he underestimated Shuuichi's resolve.
When there's no condition—create one.
That had always been Shuuichi's creed.
If Aizen didn't like the odds, fine. Shuuichi knew that in the future, Soul Society—seeking better ways to fight Hollows—would voluntarily study a technique called kaizō-konpaku (Modified Soul) technology.
Its core: use once-forbidden reigai as vessels to fuse Hollow power with human souls.
And what is a reigai? A container for a Shinigami soul.
He refused to believe a bona fide Shinigami like him was inferior to a reigai.
If a reigai can do it, so can he.
"I understand, Aizen-sama. In that case… could you take me into Seireitei?"
He asked again. With his current status, slipping into Seireitei without setting off alarms would be tough.
To his surprise, Aizen refused—without quite refusing.
"Shuuichi… Ichimaru Gin is captain of the 3rd Division now. And due to an 'accident,' he's touched my zanpakutō's blade while it was unreleased. You wouldn't want Ichimaru knowing your business, would you?"
"…Ah."
Shuuichi was momentarily at a loss. He knew what it meant to touch Kyōka Suigetsu's blade before release.
Permanent immunity to its hypnosis.
But in the 'original scenario,' Gin shouldn't learn this weakness this early—or touch it yet.
Was Aizen really playing it this big already?
And he wasn't worried Gin might preemptively cut him down?
Well—fair. Gin had already spent one of his later trump cards early for another fight.
But Aizen didn't know that. What made him so sure Gin didn't have another sharper card? A new 'secret move' is hard for Shuuichi to craft out of nowhere—but for a genius like Gin?
Forget it. Shuuichi had no interest babysitting Aizen's risk appetite.
If Aizen overplayed his hand, it wasn't Shuuichi's problem. It was just awkward now.
He'd thought Aizen's help meant free passage in and out of Seireitei.
As things stood, getting to Kurotsuchi Mayuri would take some doing.
But he had to see him.
If he didn't grab at kaizō-konpaku while reigai tech was already leaking, who knew when Central 46 would loosen the ban again?
Maybe only after Aizen wiped them out.
And if it came to that, the plot would be almost upon them—
and if the plot advanced at its terrifying canon speed, Yhwach would be dead in under three months.
When would Shuuichi find time to fuse a human soul and master Fullbring then?
He didn't press Aizen further. He gave a quick report on Kisuke's progress in the Living World—plus a long gripe about just how wary Kisuke was of him.
Once the hollow that had slipped into Rukongai was slain, Aizen took his leave.
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