Kazuma demonstrated a heavily suppressed, simple manifestation of starlight, allowing it to gently illuminate the room without exerting any gravitational pressure and the audience immediately erupted into thunderous applause.
Taking the opportunity, Kazuma stepped down from the stage and prepared to make a quick exit, only for Aizen to smoothly step into his path.
"Captain Kazuma, since you are already on the stage, why not guide the students in their Kidō practice as well?" Aizen asked, his smile never wavering.
Kazuma sighed inwardly.
'This guy really knows how to push an opening!'
Just as Kazuma hesitated, Renji once again led the charge.
"Please guide us in Kidō, Captain Kazuma!"
The rest of the class enthusiastically followed suit.
Left with no choice, Kazuma agreed.
He looked over the students, briefly pointing out flaws in their incantation postures and offering generic advice.
In reality, the moment Kazuma released Hokushin, he had already understood exactly what Aizen was doing.
Aizen wanted him to release his Zanpakutō so he could actively probe his total Spiritual Pressure.
Because Kazuma's core was anchored by absolute power, his passive Spiritual Pressure was completely undetectable to normal senses.
Most Captains simply assumed he possessed a high-level concealment technique, never suspecting that his Reiatsu was actually too massive and dense to be perceived by a standard Shinigami soul.
As long as Kazuma did not actively unleash his power, he appeared perfectly average.
Aizen had failed to gauge him when Hokushin was released, so he instigated the idiot Renji into demanding a Kidō demonstration, forcing Kazuma to actively manipulate raw Reishi.
Kazuma caught onto the trap immediately.
As he demonstrated a basic Kidō spell, he deliberately leaked a highly controlled fluctuation of Spiritual Pressure—not too much, not too little.
Aizen instantly sensed the Reishi level, registering it as barely scraping the bottom of the First-Class Captain tier.
A satisfied smile appeared on his lips.
This outcome was a carefully calculated deception by Kazuma.
As a veteran, his Spiritual Pressure could not be too low, but registering as a transcendent monster was not appropriate either.
Feigning a low-tier First-Class output would not make Aizen suspicious, nor would it mark Kazuma as a legitimate threat to Aizen's grand plan.
If he registered any lower, Aizen's paranoid nature would only lead him to investigate Kazuma relentlessly.
Thinking he had finally satisfied the viper, Kazuma tried to take his leave again.
But Aizen was not finished.
"Since Captain Kazuma has graciously shown his Zanpakutō, I shall demonstrate mine as well," Aizen said smoothly, stepping onto the platform.
Aizen chuckled softly and unfastened the sword at his waist.
The steel glinted with a cold light.
"Shatter, Kyōka Suigetsu," he murmured, pointing the blade toward the floor.
The steel instantly released a strange, rippling light that enveloped the entire classroom.
The students gasped in amazement, stunned by the beautiful, misty power.
"My Zanpakutō is a Water-type," Aizen lied effortlessly to the class. "It disrupts enemies through the diffused reflection of mist and flowing water, causing them to strike each other in confusion."
The absolute microsecond Kyōka Suigetsu was activated, Kazuma silently communicated with Hokushin and wove a localized Domain of lightning directly over his own optic and auditory nerves, perfectly isolating his senses and completely nullifying the effects of Absolute Hypnosis.
Aizen was currently nowhere near strong enough to detect this level of reality manipulation, so Kazuma applied the countermeasure without worry.
After the fake demonstration concluded, Aizen smiled at Kazuma.
"How about it, Captain Kazuma? Are you interested in a light spar with me to show the students some practical application?"
Kazuma's heart tightened.
This was Aizen's final test.
However, Kazuma refused to make another move today. The more he fought, the more likely he was to reveal a flaw in his suppressed Reiatsu.
"Some other day, Captain Aizen. I have urgent official business to attend to," Kazuma replied coldly.
A microscopic flicker of disappointment crossed Aizen's eyes, but he quickly recovered his warm smile.
"Then I look forward to our next exchange, Captain Kazuma."
Aizen sheathed his blade and bid a polite farewell to the class.
Kazuma and Tetsuzaemon quickly left the classroom, and Kazuma secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He decided to be exceptionally careful around Aizen from now on.
The man's gentle facade concealed a terrifyingly sharp intellect!
Once they were clear of the lecture halls, Kazuma pulled Tetsuzaemon aside.
"Go to the Kuchiki manor immediately. Find Byakuya and tell him to come to the Shin'ō Academy right now, and tell him I have found what he's looking for."
Tetsuzaemon nodded sharply, then blurred away with Shunpo.
Meanwhile, Aizen had not left the campus.
He was hiding in the shadows of an adjacent courtyard, quietly observing Kazuma through the windows.
Kazuma had long since sensed the viper's presence, but showed no reaction, simply leaning against the corridor wall and waiting.
In truth, Kazuma had sent Tetsuzaemon on the errand specifically to make Aizen believe his excuse was genuine.
His behavior today—constantly avoiding conversation and trying to leave—had definitely raised Aizen's suspicion, so the best counter-play was to let Aizen watch Tetsuzaemon scramble to run a high-priority errand.
That would convince Aizen that Kazuma truly had urgent business, lowering the viper's guard.
As time ticked by, Tetsuzaemon finally hurried back, followed closely by a highly agitated Byakuya.
Watching from the shadows, Aizen frowned in surprise.
'Why is Byakuya Kuchiki here? What business does the noble heir have with the Seventh Division?'
Byakuya strode up to Kazuma, his stoic face cracking with unconcealable joy.
"Captain Kazuma! Did you really see Hisana's sister? Are you certain it's her?!"
Kazuma nodded seriously. "I'm certain. Her face is absolutely identical to Hisana's, if I hadn't looked closely, I would have thought your wife was wearing an Academy uniform. She's here right now. Do you want to see her?"
A frantic flicker of excitement crossed Byakuya's eyes.
"Where is she?"
Kazuma pointed down the hall. "She's in that classroom. She was just speaking with Captain Aizen a few minutes ago."
Byakuya frowned, his tone turn cold. "Captain Aizen? Why is he involved with her?"
Kazuma shrugged. "I don't know. He was already teaching the class when I arrived."
Byakuya scoffed. "Never mind him. I need to see her."
With that, the nobleman strode quickly toward the lecture hall.
Watching Byakuya's back, Kazuma secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He knew Byakuya's dramatic entrance would completely halt Aizen's probing.
At least for today, he had successfully escaped the web.
Kazuma and Byakuya walked back into the lecture hall, finding Rukia still chatting with Renji and the others.
"Rukia, come over here for a moment," Kazuma called, waving her over.
Rukia jogged over, looking puzzled. "Captain Kazuma, why are you back? Is there something else you needed to show us?"
Beside Kazuma, Byakuya began to tremble with overwhelming emotion.
"The resemblance… it's uncanny. They are practically identical. It's as if she and Hisana were carved from the exact same mold."
Rukia stared at the man beside Kazuma.
A high-ranking Shinigami dressed in expensive noble attire was looking at her with tear-filled eyes, leaving her completely bewildered.
'Who is this man? Why is he looking at me like that? He has none of the composure of a noble.'
Nearby, Renji grew highly vigilant.
He glared at Byakuya, then back at Rukia.
'Is this rich noble bastard here to steal my girl?! I don't stand a chance against a noble!'
As Rukia stepped closer, Byakuya impatiently pulled her aside, his dark eyes burning with desperate anticipation.
"You're Rukia, aren't you? Do you have an older sister?!"
With swift, practiced hands, Kazuma immediately snapped his fingers and erected a transparent, sound-dampening Kidō Barrier around the three of them, preventing Renji and the class from overhearing.
Of course, Kazuma purposefully left a flaw in the Barrier, allowing Aizen, who was still eavesdropping from the shadows, to hear every word said.
Rukia blinked, confused and slightly intimidated. "I… I don't remember clearly. I think I did have an older sister when I was very young."
Byakuya pressed closer. "Were you born in the Junrinan District?"
Rukia thought for a moment, then nodded firmly.
"Yes. When I first arrived in Soul Society as a child, I woke up in Junrinan. After wandering the slums for a while, I met Renji and the others. We all enrolled in the Academy together."
Byakuya closed his eyes, murmuring to himself.
"So that's how it happened. No wonder Hisana and my guards scoured Junrinan countless times, and even the surrounding districts, but could never find a trace of you. You had already moved on."
"My lord," Rukia asked nervously, "are you looking for me because of a girl named Hisana?"
Byakuya opened his eyes, his voice trembling as he finally spoke the truth.
"I am the heir to the Kuchiki clan. My name is Byakuya Kuchiki, the Hisana I speak of… is my wife. She is your older sister."
Rukia's eyes went wide.
"Back when you and Hisana first arrived in the Rukongai," Byakuya continued softly, "Hisana, in order to survive the winter, made the agonizing choice to abandon you. She has regretted it every single day since, and she has never stopped searching for you."
Hearing this dramatic confession from the shadows, Aizen nodded to himself.
It confirmed that Kazuma was indeed running an official, high-level noble business.
The rumors he had heard about the Kuchiki clan aggressively searching for a missing slum child were true, and that child was Rukia.
Satisfied that Kazuma was not a threat to his grand plan, Aizen quietly vanished into the wind, departing the Academy with his mind at ease.
Sensing the viper's Reiatsu completely fade from the campus, Kazuma let out a massive, silent sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, inside the Barrier, Rukia's heart was a maelstrom of conflicting emotions.
She clenched her fists.
"If she chose to abandon me… why is she looking for me now? Wouldn't it be better to just assume I died in the slums?"
Byakuya shook his head, his tone desperate but gentle.
"Rukia, Hisana didn't abandon you out of malice. Unlike you, who possesses the innate talent to become a Shinigami, when Hisana arrived in Soul Society, she had absolutely zero spiritual power. She was just a starving, ordinary soul. You should know exactly what that means in the slums."
With Byakuya's patient, heartbreaking explanation of his wife's guilt, the anger in Rukia's chest slowly began to fade, replaced by the crushing reality of her forgotten past.
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