Chapter 001: Skipping Cutscenes = Skipping Life
Skip! Skip! Skip everything!
I already wasted money buying the game. There's no way I'm also wasting time sitting through cutscenes!
Maybe he'd hit skip one too many times.
Because right now, Matsushita Yusuke was sitting in a classroom, scratching his head with a look of total confusion.
Who am I, why am I here, and what the hell am I supposed to be doing?
"Didn't I buy a game called Slash and Kill? Why did I end up here? And the realism is kind of insane... hold on, let me look again."
...
What?!
Soul Reaper Online?! What even is that?!
And the quit button is just gone? They locked me in? What the heck!
So skipping the cutscene literally meant skipping his entire life.
"Matsushita-kun, are you feeling unwell?"
A low, calm voice drifted over from nearby. Matsushita Yusuke half-turned on reflex and nearly stopped breathing.
The man beside him had slightly wavy short hair, his features as soft and finely drawn as a flower that blooms just before the first light of dawn. Behind a pair of rectangular glasses, warm brown eyes caught the light, clear and unblemished.
Those eyes curved slightly at the corners, conveying a quiet, wordless concern.
His slender frame made him look even gentler and more refined than his face alone suggested. And yet that face, and the voice that had just spoken, carried something unmistakable about them. Once seen, impossible to forget.
Matsushita Yusuke watched him push up his glasses and lean forward half a step, lowering his voice to repeat himself.
"Matsushita-kun? Are you alright?"
If something was the matter...
"Should I have someone walk you to the infirmary?"
Yikes.
"No, no. I just haven't been sleeping well lately. Aizen-sensei, please don't worry about it. Go ahead and keep teaching."
Matsushita Yusuke forced an awkward laugh and settled back into his seat.
He watched Aizen Sosuke give him a small nod before turning and walking back toward the front of the room.
Right.
Aizen Sosuke.
Why is he here?
Matsushita Yusuke sat with both hands pressed against his temples and spent about thirty seconds processing the flood of memories surfacing in his mind. By the end of it, he had a complete picture of his current situation.
He'd transmigrated. He was now a native of Soul Society.
Twenty-one years of an uneventful life, nothing particularly dramatic about any of it. He'd grown up quietly, passed the entrance exam, and three months into the enrollment season had officially become a student at Shin'o Academy.
As for the current timeline, this was roughly eighty years before the main story began.
Ichigo Kurosaki didn't even exist yet. Not a single cell. The entire protagonist's group was still a distant future concept.
And Aizen Sosuke, the series' most infamous villain, currently held the position of Vice-Captain of Squad 5.
This was a lot. He needed to sort through it.
Matsushita Yusuke sat quietly for a moment, then pressed his fingers against his temple.
Known facts: Aizen Sosuke was dangerous. From a story perspective, the man was a ticking time bomb.
Under normal circumstances, the sensible thing would be to keep his distance.
But then.
Matsushita Yusuke suddenly noticed the enormous blue exclamation mark floating directly above Aizen's head.
[Aizen Sosuke -- future Lord of Hueco Mundo, hair gel enthusiast, Victoria's Secret model, silver-tongue generator]
[Quest: Join his quirky little team. Become Club Member #003 of the Standing Above the Heavens Club]
[Profile: As they say, it's lonely at the top. Until you've reached that kind of height... no one can truly understand what this man is thinking. He may be deeply scheming, but he's just as powerful and unshakeable.]
[Rewards: Hogyoku Power (fragment), Kido Mastery, Kido Chant Omission (50%) Technique]
A quest!
The panel showed up, so the game System is here too?
Come on, System, let me see my stats!
Matsushita Yusuke quickly skimmed through everything surfacing in the back of his mind and soon had a clear picture of where things stood.
As his thoughts settled, something like a status panel materialized in his vision.
[Matsushita Yusuke]
[Reiatsu Level: 4] (Current cap: 10)
[Zanjutsu: 11 / Hakuda: 9 / Hoho: 5 / Kido: 8] (Total: 100)
[Additional Abilities: None]
[Overall Rating: Below Seated Officer]
Simple enough. The panel covered pretty much every metric that mattered when evaluating a Shinigami.
Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, Kido: the four core disciplines, the required curriculum. Together they gave a multi-dimensional read on any individual's combat capabilities. And underpinning all of it was reiatsu, the fundamental baseline that determined personal power.
The reiatsu level breakdown seemed a little unusual. Since the original series used seated rankings as its power scale, this was probably a large-scale tier split with a secondary subdivision layered on top. It made things a lot more granular, letting you see exactly how strong you were at a glance. Very considerate of whoever designed this thing.
But let's be real here. This is basically telling me I'm incredibly weak right now, isn't it.
Not exactly shocking.
According to his memories, he was a completely ordinary Seireitei-born nobody. No noble bloodline, no backing, no connections. The ceiling for a commoner Shinigami was probably somewhere around Kaname Tosen's level.
But that was fine.
He had the panel. He could get stronger by completing quests and collecting rewards. Given enough time, Matsushita Yusuke figured he'd eventually be standing somewhere near the top of the story's power ladder.
"Now then, everyone. Our next topic will be the pause and the pressure point in brushwork. Please watch my movements carefully. The key to calligraphy is..."
Aizen Sosuke's lesson was still going.
Yusuke turned his attention back to the front, and after a moment's thought, understood his situation a little better.
According to canon, Aizen Sosuke had indeed taught at Shin'o Academy at some point in his past. The period wasn't particularly long, and the subject matter seemed fairly casual on the surface.
Calligraphy, of all things.
Every big boss had some refined little hobby that made them look even more unfairly cool. Aizen Sosuke was near the top of that particular list.
So... could he squeeze something out of this?
The thought had barely formed when a second exclamation mark appeared above Aizen's head, smaller than the first one and yellow.
[Quest: Study calligraphy under Aizen Sosuke]
[Profile: A whale is vast and enormous. Every time it feeds, the scraps left behind are more than enough to nourish the smaller fish below. Right now, for you, Aizen Sosuke is exactly that kind of existence.]
[Rewards: Calligraphy +1, Reiatsu Level +1]
Blue for main quests, yellow for side quests? This quest system has some real thought behind it.
Also, that profile is basically calling me krill, isn't it.
It stung a little. But then he thought about who he was being compared to, and the feeling dissolved.
Come on. I'm comparing myself to Aizen. The man improvises more in a single sentence than I could manage in a lifetime of trying.
With that settled, Matsushita Yusuke reined in his wandering thoughts and let a properly focused expression settle onto his face.
All he had to do was pay attention in Aizen's class and he'd get rewarded for it. The numbers weren't huge, but reiatsu was a slow grind by nature. You built it bit by bit. No rush.
Besides, the panel had more than just combat stats. There was a whole section of life skills tucked away in there too.
Not exactly battle-relevant. But they'd probably come in handy at some point.
A skill's a skill.
"That's all for today's calligraphy session. If any of you are interested, same time next week. That's it for now."
Aizen Sosuke, brush in hand, gave the assembled students a warm smile and a small nod, then turned and walked out of the classroom.
[Quest complete... Rewards acquired]
[Calligraphy skill content unlocked. Reiatsu Level 4 -> 5]
Level up!
As the System chime faded, a faint ripple of energy stirred somewhere deep inside Matsushita Yusuke and slowly worked its way to the surface.
He rolled his shoulders and flexed his hands, and felt, clearly and concretely, that his body had gotten a little stronger.
The biggest villain in the story had once said it himself: battles between Shinigami were battles of reiatsu.
Other factors mattered too, of course. But for a Shinigami, reiatsu was the single most important number on the board.
Riding Aizen's coattails already had its perks. Good.
"Aizen-sensei is seriously so cool..."
"I know, right? And the way he gets so focused when he's teaching calligraphy, it makes it even better."
"Ugh... you're all just fan club members at this point. Would you people please focus on the actual calligraphy?!"
Matsushita Yusuke ignored the chatter around him, gathered his things, and headed out.
His current identity was a first-year at Shin'o Academy, three months in and still a new student. There was a lot to learn.
Administration, logistics, practical governance, multi-track training...
On one hand, Shin'o Academy itself had high standards. The baseline requirements for a Shinigami candidate were no joke.
On the other hand, there was personal motivation.
If he didn't absorb everything now while he had access, who was he supposed to ask for help once he graduated?
But he ran into a problem pretty quickly.
In other classes, he wasn't getting any meaningful rewards.
Things like [Flower Arrangement +1], [Observation +1], [Reading the Room +1]... technically useful for daily life, sure. But they had absolutely nothing to do with getting stronger. The only classes that gave him anything substantial were the ones covering Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, or Kido.
He worked out the logic fast.
To get reiatsu-tier rewards, he needed to actively seek out contact with someone like Aizen.
The gap in quest quality between a regular instructor and Aizen Sosuke was a chasm. Staggering difference.
Which meant if he wanted to get strong, he had to eat the forbidden fruit. Actually, no. Wrong metaphor. What he needed was more time around people who were genuinely powerful.
Over the past few months, Matsushita Yusuke had developed a rough working theory about how the quest system operated.
Anyone stronger than him was capable of generating a quest. All it took was contact, and one would pop up randomly.
Aside from Aizen, every quest he'd seen so far was pretty low-tier. But that didn't bother him. According to the Bleach timeline, the kind of quests that could actually change the shape of things, the blue quests, were supposed to be rare to begin with.
So he had to keep farming Aizen while he had access.
Which led him right back to the problem.
Aizen Sosuke only had one calligraphy class per week. Outside of that, he almost never showed his face at the Academy.
How was Yusuke supposed to get more contact time?
Given that Aizen was already a Vice-Captain, the friction between him and Squad 5's captain, Hirako Shinji, had probably already begun.
And the Hogyoku situation was probably already in motion.
No way to know what stage that was at right now. But at this point on the timeline, Aizen's power had almost certainly already pushed up against the ceiling of what a Shinigami could achieve.
Matsushita Yusuke decided not to make any rash moves.
Instead, he spent the first stretch of his new life just learning its rhythms.
Shin'o Academy's dorms were actually pretty reasonable. For an institution that covered room, board, and guaranteed career placement, getting a single room felt like an outright luxury.
Back in his room, the first thing Yusuke did was check himself out in the mirror.
Red lips, pale face, undeniably pretty. Soft features. Definitely a pretty-boy build.
Heh. No wonder so many people had been glancing at him on the way back to the dorm.
The System's default character model was a solid ten out of ten. Deserved.
Okay, well, that was a slight exaggeration.
But the face looking back at him from the mirror was genuinely handsome, gentle, scholarly, the kind of bookish attractiveness that drew a second look. Less like a death-dealing Shinigami, more like the sort of carefree young man who'd rather be reading poetry than fighting Hollows.
With that confirmed, Matsushita Yusuke flopped flat onto his bed and stared at the ceiling for a long moment.
Well. This was how it was. Time to buckle down and work for it.
Because one way or another...
He had to survive to see the ending, didn't he?!
In the weeks that followed, Matsushita Yusuke didn't rush into anything.
Instead he spent nearly a month just watching and taking stock, letting his Calligraphy skill stack up to level 5 before he finally, nervously, knocked on the door of the faculty office.
Knock knock knock.
"Come in..."
Matsushita Yusuke pushed the door open.
The faculty office at Shin'o Academy was plain and simply furnished. Aizen Sosuke's desk sat in the corner. He glanced up as Yusuke entered, expression carrying a faint note of curiosity.
Dressed in his black Shinigami uniform, Aizen pushed his glasses up with one finger. An eyebrow lifted slightly.
"Isn't this... Matsushita-kun? What brings you here? Is something the matter?"
He remembered my name.
Honestly, that was a little surprising. Over the past month, the total time they'd spent in the same room barely added up to four hours. And Aizen's calligraphy class was open enrollment, consistently packed with over a hundred students.
It was probably just the polished warmth Aizen projected as part of his image. Yusuke knew that. But hearing his name said like that still produced a small, involuntary sense of being seen.
He adjusted his grip on the calligraphy supplies in his arms and laughed awkwardly.
"There's something about the calligraphy I wanted to ask you about, Aizen-sensei."
Aizen Sosuke's eyes lit up noticeably.
He stepped aside, rose from his chair, and beckoned Yusuke over with a wave of his right hand, like a shopkeeper welcoming in a customer.
"Come on over then. Tell me what's going on."
An expression of genuine interest.
Matsushita Yusuke felt something in his chest settle a little. He nodded and walked over.
He moved around to Aizen's side of the desk, spread out the calligraphy practice sheet he'd prepared in advance, and pointed at the brushwork quietly.
"I keep feeling like something is off when I write. Kind of stiff?"
"Mm, mm, mm. Give me a moment to take a proper look..."
Aizen Sosuke nodded, braced his left hand on the desktop, and raised his right hand to rest his chin between his fingers.
Behind his glasses, both eyes narrowed slightly. A low, contemplative hum.
If it was a performance, he was committed to it. Matsushita Yusuke could feel something that actually deserved to be called genuine focus radiating off the man. Aizen even lifted his right hand and made a loose brush-holding gesture in the air, tracing an imaginary stroke.
"I see. I think I understand."
He half-turned toward Yusuke and offered a warm, unhurried smile.
"Matsushita-kun, you've started copying from model scripts already, haven't you?"
That was a fairly technical way to put it.
Aizen seemed to catch himself a beat later. He gave a soft "ah," straightened up, and chuckled.
"Sorry, that was jargon. Let me put it in simpler terms."
Matsushita Yusuke watched him raise his right hand and hold up a single finger, waggling it gently.
"In the open classes, I've been covering how to write, but most of the focus has been on posture and how to hold the brush. That's where I spent the majority of the time."
Aizen spread his palm open and demonstrated the grip again, his tone easy and measured.
"Posture and technique come before putting brush to paper. My original plan was to introduce actual letterforms midway through the semester. But it looks like Matsushita-kun is already well ahead of that."
So going by that...
"I'll give you two copybooks in a moment. If you're interested, take them home to practice. They're from a calligrapher I have a great deal of respect for, and they're quite approachable for someone still developing their foundation."
"Thank you so much, Aizen-sensei!"
"Not at all. It's simply what a teacher ought to do. If anything, the fact that my class caught your interest, that's the honor on my end."
He paused for a moment.
Aizen Sosuke looked at Matsushita Yusuke with an expression that was somewhere between a smile and something more measured.
"Matsushita-kun, are you genuinely interested in calligraphy?"
"A little bit, yeah."
"Ha. It seems we may have more in common than I expected."
"Is that so..."
Matsushita Yusuke gave a small nod, as if carefully weighing his next words.
"Aizen-sensei, do you not talk to many people? Outside of class, I mean."
"...?"
No immediate response.
Aizen Sosuke tilted his head slightly, a thoughtful look crossing his face, before replying with genuine curiosity.
"Matsushita-kun, what makes you say that?"
"I've just noticed you're usually alone. Coming and going by yourself."
"Ha. So you see me walking around by myself and assume I must be antisocial. That's a bit of a stretch, isn't it."
Aizen Sosuke smiled and gave a small nod.
"But regardless, thank you for the concern, Matsushita-kun."
"No, no, I didn't mean anything by it."
Aizen bent down and rummaged through his desk drawers for a good while. Matsushita Yusuke waited patiently beside him, not moving, until Aizen straightened back up with two slim booklets in hand.
"Here we are. These copybooks are ones I worked through myself back when I was studying. There are some notes in the margins. If that doesn't bother you, please take them."
How could he possibly say no?!
"Thank you so much, Aizen-sensei. I'll practice properly."
"I'll be looking forward to seeing the results."
At the same moment.
Matsushita Yusuke noticed the yellow exclamation mark above Aizen's head had changed.
[Aizen Sosuke's Copybooks]
[Profile: The fortunate all share a common kind of happiness, but the unfortunate each carry their own particular sorrows. You are touching the edge of this solitary soul. Whether to go further, or stop here, the choice is yours.]
[Rewards: Calligraphy +10, Reiatsu Level +5, Zanpakuto (self-directed affinity)]
...Huh?!
Zanpakuto, sure. But what does "(self-directed affinity)" mean?
In Bleach, a Zanpakuto was no small thing. It was the cornerstone of a Shinigami's power, and one of the most vivid expressions of Tite Kubo's vision as a storyteller.
A Zanpakuto reflected its wielder's inner world. No matter the person, no matter their emotions, no one could refuse what lived inside them. Not even Aizen Sosuke.
Normally, a Zanpakuto took shape through a long process: the Shinigami received their asauchi, spent days and nights communing with it, built up a resonance over time, and eventually something truly their own emerged.
But Matsushita Yusuke's situation seemed to work a little differently.
Can I actually choose what my Zanpakuto's ability is?
That would be huge.
Because anyone who had read the manga knew that Zanpakuto abilities weren't all created equal.
Retsu Unohana's Minazuki, for instance, had capabilities that bordered on the healing arts, able to tend to even gravely wounded combatants. And Aizen's own Kyoka Suigetsu was an illusion-type, similar in nature to Hirako Shinji's Sakanade. Users who craved control and manipulation tended to end up with abilities that reflected exactly that.
A Zanpakuto mirrored the soul of the one who carried it.
It should have been impossible to steer deliberately.
And yet, apparently, he could just pick?
"Matsushita-kun... Matsushita-kun?"
Aizen Sosuke's voice reached him from somewhere nearby, snapping him back to reality.
He stumbled half a step backward, belatedly realizing he'd been standing there completely zoned out.
"Sorry, Aizen-sensei. My mind wandered for a moment."
"That's alright. You're still a new student this year, a lot to take in. Just make sure you're getting enough rest and not pushing yourself too hard."
Aizen Sosuke quietly gathered a few things from his desk, walked toward the door, gave Matsushita Yusuke a parting nod and a smile, and left.
His primary role was Vice-Captain of Squad 5. Teaching at Shin'o Academy was something he did out of personal interest, nothing more.
Which meant if Yusuke wanted to see Aizen Sosuke again, he'd have to wait until next week.
And before that...
Finish the copybooks. Complete the task Aizen had given him. And then he'd have his Zanpakuto.