"You really are amazing. Even Sir Hampton is asking when your next movie is coming."
After the Golden Crest Awards, an event that technically had absolutely nothing to do with Alex, came to an end, Lena did not return to the Blade in the Rain crew. Instead, she walked beside Alex, lowering her voice as though she were sharing a secret meant only for the two of them.
"It can't be helped. Some people are simply born to be protagonists. People like me, obviously."
The corner of Alex's mouth rose with shameless satisfaction.
Lena immediately put on a disgusted expression, as if she had just heard the greasiest sentence in the world.
"Seriously, though. What kind of script are you planning to write? Remember to hold back a little, or it'll never pass approval."
When Lena watched Death Note, she had been genuinely stunned by Alex's talent. But at the same time, even as someone who knew very little about the film business, she could see one thing with brutal clarity: with a script like that, how the hell was anyone supposed to approve it for a national theatrical release?
That thing was even more twisted than Joker.
"Hmm… I'm still thinking about it. It might take a while. But if there's a chance, I'll invite you to act in it."
"Really? You're not just giving me an empty promise, are you? Like you did with Rebeca Verne?"
Lena looked at him with a faint trace of suspicion.
The moment he heard that, Alex knew this girl had probably heard about the whole matter with Rebeca Verne.
He felt wronged.
Back then, all he had done was give Rebeca a verbal opportunity. He had never promised he would definitely choose her. How had this somehow become his fault?
What a cold and cruel world.
Could society still be saved?
How exactly was a young man supposed to live before everyone was satisfied?
"Relax. You're much more obedient than Rebeca. If there's a suitable role, I'll definitely choose you over her."
Alex said it while scratching Lena's chin as if he were petting a cat.
"Ugh, that's so corny!"
Lena slapped away his dog paw.
But the smile blooming across her face was impossible to hide.
"If you invite me to act in your movie, I can do a kissing scene with you. My mother won't interfere."
Before they parted, Lena deliberately left that sentence hanging in the air, full of obvious provocation.
Good grief. Another jab at Rebeca Verne, was it?
Alex understood immediately. Lena was talking about the time he filmed Legend of the Sword. The director had originally wanted to arrange a kissing scene between the male and female leads, but Rebeca's mother had refused no matter what. In the end, they had no choice but to change it into a kiss on the cheek.
That story had most likely been leaked by Mark during some backstage gossip session with the actresses.
No wonder that bastard would later become the lonely guardian of the whole franchise.
Who spent all day gossiping with actresses?
Wouldn't it be better to chat under the blankets instead?
The conversation between Alex and Sir Hampton was never leaked to the public. For now, only Lena knew about it.
And the girl seemed rather pleased by that, as if the matter had become a private secret shared only between her and Alex.
As for that year's Golden Crest Awards, it did not cause much of a stir either. The biggest award went to Operation Riverline, exactly as expected, with no real suspense. If they had wanted the internet to explode, they should have learned from certain popularity-driven awards and handed Best Actor to that already-canceled young idol whose name was completely burned. Then the discussion would have shot straight through the ceiling.
But across the country, and even across much of the world, the true center of attention remained Bleach.
Sosuke Aizen still needed several days to create the King's Key.
And during that brief window, the protagonist's side had to find every possible way to become stronger.
The first episode updated that week finally brought the camera back to the long-absent Seireitei.
The main group, the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, the Visored Corps, Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihoin, and even Isshin Kurosaki, the protagonist's father, had all gathered there. For the first time, every force standing on the side of justice occupied the same space.
But because of Yamamoto's death, the entire Seireitei was submerged in a suffocating atmosphere of grief, suppressed anger, and deathly silence.
"Now isn't the time to mourn. Aizen and the others could attack at any moment."
Looking at Ryujin Jakka, now masterless and broken in two, Kensei Muguruma, former captain of the Ninth Division and current member of the Visored Corps, spoke in a heavy voice.
"What did you say? You're only this calm because you've always resented the captain-commander, aren't you?!"
Soi Fon erupted in fury.
"What did you say?!"
Kensei and the others, who had already carried resentment toward the Thirteen Court Guard Squads for years, immediately glared back.
Seeing this, the audience could not help worrying.
The enemy had not even arrived yet, and they were already tearing each other apart?
A soft clap echoed.
"All right, all right, that's enough. Stop arguing."
Shunsui Kyoraku, his entire body wrapped in bandages, slowly stepped forward and intervened.
"The duty of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads is not to quarrel in front of what the dead left behind. It is not to roar in anger over a lost battle either. Our duty is to protect the Soul Society. Do not forget that."
Once those words fell, the Thirteen Court Guard Squads and the Visored Corps, who had been glaring at each other like blades on the verge of clashing, clenched their teeth in silence. Though indignation still lingered on their faces, they forced their rage down and accepted a temporary truce.
"First, let's discuss how we are going to handle Aizen's next attack."
Shunsui's expression turned solemn.
After two consecutive weeks of overwhelming battles, the story's rhythm finally slowed slightly.
It also allowed the viewers sitting in front of their screens to breathe again.
Everyone loved an ice-cold cola, fierce and refreshing, but even the most addictive drink needed to be balanced by plain water once in a while.
Even so, calling Bleach plain would be unfair. Even during its calmer chapters, the series never became bland.
After Yamamoto's death, Shunsui Kyoraku inherited the position of captain-commander.
At the same time, he submitted a formal request to the Central Forty-Six, asking them to summon back Shinji Hirako and the others who had been falsely accused a hundred years earlier and forced to flee the Soul Society. That way, they could fill the vacant captain positions once more.
It would also help mend the relationship between the Thirteen Court Guard Squads and the Visored Corps.
Meanwhile, Ichigo Kurosaki, who had lost control in Hueco Mundo, finally awakened in the Fourth Division's medical quarters.
"I… what happened to me?"
Ichigo stared at his own hands, lost.
His last memory was of being defeated by Ulquiorra's second release. As for what happened after that, he remembered absolutely nothing.
"You're awake, you brat?"
The sudden voice startled him. Ichigo turned his head and found that the speaker was none other than his father, Isshin Kurosaki.
"Dad?! You… how are you - "
Seeing his normally ridiculous, eccentric old man dressed in a shinigami uniform, Ichigo nearly fell off the hospital bed.
"Don't panic like that. You're embarrassing me, kid."
Isshin walked over and knocked his son on the head. Then he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"I'll tell you… what happened twenty years ago."
Under the curious gazes of both Ichigo and the audience, the screen gradually darkened, drawing the story into a flashback.
Before long, a younger Isshin appeared at the center of the frame, his face clean-shaven. He was not merely wearing a black shinigami uniform, but also the white haori reserved for captains.
On his back was a large number ten.
Captain of the Tenth Division.
The sudden revelation startled the audience all over again.
Even without a battle, even in a transitional episode, Alex could still pack the story with countless explosive moments.
Who could have imagined that Isshin Kurosaki's former identity was actually captain of the Tenth Division?
The audience comments instantly boiled over.
Many viewers remembered that during the Arrancar arc, when Hitsugaya and the protagonist's father met for the first time, their expressions had seemed a little strange. At the time, plenty of people found it odd and speculated about their relationship, but even by the end of that arc, no answer had been given.
Now it all made sense.
They had once been superior and subordinate.
Alex, that bastard, truly hid his foreshadowing deep. Unohana's true strength had been one example. The relationship between Hitsugaya and the protagonist's father was another.
But the next revelation left the audience even more stunned.
Ichigo's mother had once been engaged to Ishida Uryu's father.
So the connections within the protagonist group had already begun in the previous generation?
Wasn't this family web a little too messy?
All at once, the story seemed to shift from a hot-blooded battle series into a tangled family drama.
As the plot continued, when viewers discovered that Masaki, the protagonist's mother, had once been promised to Ryuken Ishida, Ishida Uryu's father, everyone was shocked.
Were the relationships among the parents' generation really this chaotic?
But an even heavier bomb was still waiting.
Because Sosuke Aizen appeared.
When the audience saw Aizen release that white-masked Hollow into Karakura Town, one that closely resembled the berserk horned form shown the week before, Bleach fans all over the world realized the truth at the exact same moment.
Ichigo's Hollowfication absolutely had something to do with Sosuke Aizen.
The creature Aizen created was called White. Its power was unstable, and Isshin Kurosaki - or rather, at that time, Shiba Isshin - would have been able to kill it.
But Aizen suddenly struck from behind, cutting Shiba Isshin down with one blade.
That was what pushed Isshin into a life-or-death crisis and forced Masaki Kurosaki to intervene.
In the end, at the brink of death, White surged into Masaki's body.
"It seems we've discovered something rather interesting. Let's go back, Gin, Kaname."
After witnessing the entire process, Sosuke Aizen smiled faintly, as though there was no longer any need to continue observing.
At that point, everyone understood.
No wonder Ichigo had been born with the ability to Hollowfy. No wonder that form's power was so absurd.
It turned out that before he was even born, he had already inherited the bloodline of the strongest Hollow.
According to Aizen himself, White was a special entity created from the souls of hundreds of shinigami.
In other words, even Ichigo's greatest cheat had been handed to him indirectly by Aizen.
At the end of the episode, Shiba Isshin, in order to save Masaki Kurosaki from White's possession, willingly gave up his shinigami powers.
Later, the two married in the human world.
Yes. With that, the world where only Ryuken Ishida was wounded was complete.
The episode ended after revealing the truth behind Ichigo Kurosaki's origins.
Although it did not deliver the kind of mind-blowing battle that had defined the previous two weeks, it perfectly filled in old holes in the plot.
The fans were just as satisfied.
Of course, they still could not help complaining about how messy the relationships in the parents' generation were.
And judging from the earlier plot, Isshin Kurosaki and Ryuken Ishida seemed to get along fairly well.
That man was impressive too. Someone practically took the woman who had been meant to marry him, and he still managed to be so generous about it. He could have been appointed lifetime president of the philosophical cuckold club.
But what moved and chilled fans the most was still Sosuke Aizen's sheer level of sinister manipulation.
Every time the story entered a flashback and someone ended up miserable, Aizen was inevitably behind it, pulling the strings from the shadows.
That had been true for Shinji Hirako and Kisuke Urahara in the flashback from a hundred years ago.
And now it was true again for the protagonist's parents, Shiba Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki.
A professional life-ruiner for one hundred and twenty years.
In the end, it was not merely a joke.
It was practically Sosuke Aizen's official résumé.
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