Chapter 149: Assassinating the Soul King, Turning the Heavens Upside Down
Naruki City, located within the Tokyo metropolitan area, was far livelier at night than Karakura Town.
And because of that, beneath its brighter lights and louder atmosphere, the unseen darkness lurking below was bound to be even deeper.
Far from the bustling city center, there was a residential district that had gradually become more rundown over the years, as though time itself had abandoned it.
On one such quiet street, the streetlights were sparse and dim.
When people crossed paths there, it felt less like a meeting and more like two writhing masses of shadow brushing against each other.
"Choosing to send a letter instead of calling in this day and age is impressively retro. I just hope you won't be equally slow when it comes to explaining who you are and what you want."
Ginjō Kūgo exhaled a stream of white mist. His eyes were locked on the person before him like a predator studying its prey. Combined with his tall, powerful frame, he gave off the impression of a tiger or lion waiting to pounce.
"Is there really a need to explain? There should only be a few reasons someone would seek out the first wanted Substitute Shinigami, shouldn't there?"
The man standing opposite him looked generous and carefree on the surface, but there was no sincerity in him whatsoever.
The shifting colors in his eyes and across his face were not those of simple amusement. They were closer to the pleasure of watching prey step into a trap and struggle all the way to its death.
It made Ginjō intensely uncomfortable.
And there were other reasons as well.
The other man wore the attire of a Soul Society noble.
The spiritual pressure radiating from him was unmistakably that of a Shinigami.
And the blade hanging at his waist was clearly a Zanpakuto.
Based on the reason he had founded Xcution in the first place, and on the desire that still lingered within him, he should have drawn his sword and cut this man down immediately.
But he did not.
"Or perhaps... would you rather get acquainted through a fight?" the man said. "If we go by numbers alone, the advantage should be yours."
His gaze slid past Ginjō to the figures behind him.
More than ten meters away, on the slope beyond the reach of the streetlamps, several shadowy figures stood or leaned in silence, their faces obscured and their physiques all different.
At a glance, they looked like a loose, undisciplined collection of drifters.
Yet each one possessed a strong sense of individuality, and together they gave off the pressure of a carefully assembled elite team.
In contrast, the man's side had only two people.
Himself, and a frail-looking woman beside him.
And it was precisely that frail-looking woman who had forced Ginjō to suppress his urge to draw his blade.
Not because she seemed strong.
But because he could tell at a glance that she was the same kind of existence as himself and the rest of Xcution.
A Fullbringer.
"Using swords? Sorry, but I'm not that hot-blooded," Ginjō said. "Besides, if we really started fighting, it probably wouldn't end well for you."
"Oh?"
"A Shinigami bringing a Fullbringer to meet me, the first Substitute Shinigami who's wanted by the Soul Society, through a secret channel... and instead of trying to kill me on sight, you send me a letter and ask for a private meeting. That alone says enough."
His gaze sharpened.
"To put it bluntly, you aren't on the Soul Society's side, are you? At the very least, not in the same way as the rest of them."
"So if we caused a scene here and attracted attention, that wouldn't be good for you either, would it?"
"Pfft... Heh... hahaha...!"
"What are you laughing at?"
"This? Don't mind me," the man said, rubbing his stiff stomach from laughing so hard. "I was simply thinking I made exactly the right choice."
Then he straightened and spoke lightly.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tokinada Tsunayashiro. And the person beside me, whom you've kept glancing at, is Aura Michibane."
"Tsunayashiro... Michibane...?"
Ginjō froze as though he had just been struck in the face.
When he came back to himself, he drew in a slow breath, his voice growing lower and heavier.
"A Shinigami from one of the Four Great Noble Houses, colluding with the descendant of a Fullbringer instead of enjoying your life in the Soul Society... Are you out of your mind?"
"I'm only from a branch family," Tokinada replied with a shrug. "And the sort of notorious wastrel nobody wants around. A pleasant life has never had anything to do with me. In fact, I only recently finished serving a few hundred years in prison."
He said it so casually that it made the content even more absurd.
"I came here because I slaughtered the Tsunayashiro Clan."
He said it as though he were announcing the weather.
"If I remain in the Soul Society now, being thrown back into prison would be the least of my problems. But I also have no interest in being hunted forever like a rat in a sewer."
His lips curved into a lazy smile.
"So I came to work with you. As long as we turn this world upside down, everyone should be able to enjoy themselves a little more, don't you think?"
His gaze glittered.
"So? What do you think?"
"..."
The moment Tokinada said the words I slaughtered the Tsunayashiro Clan, Ginjō felt as if a tidal wave had slammed into his heart.
One of the Four Great Noble Houses, a family that had stood at the pinnacle of power in the Soul Society for a million years, a clan even the Gotei 13 had to defer to... had been slaughtered?
That sounded even more bizarre than the Gotei 13 being wiped out.
It was like hearing that the most basic laws of the world had suddenly stopped functioning.
"You slaughtered the Tsunayashiro Clan... Are you serious?"
"I wouldn't mind swearing on my family name."
There was bitter irony in the joke, but Ginjō found himself believing it at least a little.
After all, that was not the kind of lie one could keep hidden for long.
"That said..." Ginjō's eyes narrowed. "Why did you do it?"
"Because I couldn't stand the sight of them, of course." Tokinada answered lightly. "You probably still don't know this, but it was the Tsunayashiro Clan who truly ordered the Shinigami to target and eliminate your companions back then."
"What?!"
Behind Ginjō, several people stirred sharply.
Seeing the shock on Ginjō's face, Tokinada smiled with obvious satisfaction.
"The reason I came to know Aura was also because of that."
"The Tsunayashiro Clan has been quietly collecting Fullbringer corpses for a very long time. Their goal was to obtain the power of Fullbringers, the kind of power that twists the rules of the world with sheer personal will."
"So... you misunderstood Ukitake, the one who gave you the Substitute Shinigami Badge. He is actually a good man who worries for the world and its people. He simply had no way of defying the will of the Tsunayashiro Clan."
Those words hit hard enough on their own, but for the people standing behind Ginjō, the effect was even more severe.
"Ginjō..."
Tsukishima Shūkurō had already started to move forward, only to stop when Ginjō raised his right hand without even glancing back.
"In other words..." Ginjō stared at Tokinada, his voice rough and strained, as though being dragged out of his throat. "Because you couldn't stand what the Tsunayashiro Clan was doing, you killed them all. And now, because you can no longer remain in the Soul Society, you came to cooperate with me, someone who also has a grudge against the Tsunayashiro Clan and is being hunted by the Soul Society, so that together we can overthrow the Soul Society?"
"Exactly."
Tokinada pulled a small bottle out of his robes.
The transparent vial was filled with a strange substance as dense and cloudy as mercury.
"And I even brought you a gift."
"Not long ago, the Quincy attacked Seireitei and were crushed instead. Aura refined the large number of corpses they left behind into this... a special kind of reishi substance containing Quincy power. If someone like you absorbs it, you should be able to gain Quincy abilities and become even stronger."
Ginjō frowned at the vial.
"The Quincy attacked Seireitei? What exactly happened there?"
"Put that aside for the moment." Tokinada smiled. "First tell me. Are you going to cooperate with me or not?"
"To overthrow the Soul Society? If what you said is true, then with the Tsunayashiro Clan gone, I no longer have a reason to go to war with the Soul Society."
"Not necessarily, right?"
Tokinada gave a low chuckle, his laughter tainted with something ugly enough to spoil even the winter night air.
"This world is cruel. For people like you, even without the Tsunayashiro Clan, there will still be endless malice waiting to swallow you."
"If you drift along and do nothing, all that awaits you is a dead end. And once you die, where will you go?"
"Hueco Mundo? Soul Society?"
"If you were the sort who could live quietly, both in life and after death, then perhaps I would have nothing to say. But you were never born to be ordinary. You were born to overturn things. Were you really planning to live some ordinary little life?"
He took a step closer.
"In the end, won't you still have to fight those who would persecute you? Isn't that why you gathered your companions together in the first place, Ginjō Kūgo?"
"You have power. Enough power to achieve far more."
"And to the rulers of any age, power like that is never anything but a threat to be coveted."
"Today it was the Tsunayashiro Clan. Tomorrow it may be another house, and another after that."
"So now that your enemy is dead, are you truly planning to stop there? Are you not going to take this as a warning and create a world where Fullbringers can actually live?"
"Do you really not want to fulfill the promise you made to them?"
At that word, Ginjō fell silent.
Because Tokinada had unknowingly touched the exact same thing Ginjō himself had once used to gather the others around him.
Though he had his selfish reasons, the ideals he had spoken back then had not been empty lies.
Changing the world.
Gaining a voice within it.
Those had not been false.
"But if we are really talking about overthrowing the Soul Society, then this tiny bottle won't be enough," Ginjō said at last. "We need more power, and we need the Soul Society weakened."
His eyes turned colder.
"You should never have attacked the Tsunayashiro Clan. If you had stayed in the Soul Society and acted as my inside agent, the gains would have been far greater."
"There is no need for that much trouble." Tokinada replied. "I have a better plan. More direct, too."
"What plan?"
Ginjō's brow furrowed. He had no intention of letting himself be used.
Especially not by someone who gave off such a thoroughly vile impression.
"The plan is simple."
Tokinada's eyes burned with ambition, as if he wanted to set the whole world on fire.
"We combine our strength, bypass the Soul Society entirely, remove the source of the Soul Society, and defeat the being who created this world in the first place."
Then he smiled.
"To put it in simpler terms... we assassinate the Soul King."
"Assassinate the Soul King?"
Ginjō's expression changed sharply.
"If the Soul King dies, the world will descend into chaos. As for whether it can be done or not, that depends on whether you are willing to cooperate."
"The ancestors of the Tsunayashiro Clan were among those who created this world alongside the Soul King, so I know very well what state the Soul King is in now. I also know how to reach him."
He tilted his head slightly.
"You do not need to trust me. You only need to see it for yourself."
"Reality does not lie."
Half an hour later, Ginjō led his people back to Xcution's apartment base.
"Ginjō..."
The dark skinned woman with foreign features, Jackie Tristan, spoke bluntly.
"Shouldn't you explain properly now? About the predecessor of this organization, the so-called first Substitute Shinigami, and those murdered Fullbringers?"
"When Riruka gets back, I'll tell you everything."
Ginjō sat down on the sofa, clasping his fingers beneath his chin, his gaze fixed on the small vial of unknown reishi on the table.
"Are we really going to use that?" Yukio Hans Vorarlberna asked without looking up from his handheld console. "It doesn't look like anything good. And that plan he suggested is completely outside our knowledge. Whether it's true or false, once we get involved, he'll be the one leading us around by the nose."
"In his eyes, we're probably nothing more than a blade to use."
"We can't stop time from moving forward," said Kutsuzawa Giriko, the bartender-like man with a gentlemanly air, "but we can decide whether we become the masters of it."
His tone remained calm.
"The same principle applies here. It doesn't matter what his objective is. As long as we become stronger than he is, then in the end, we will be the ones who win."
Sitting there, Ginjō's expression hardened.
"Not long ago, I saw through that Tsunayashiro Tokinada and decided not to trust him. The fact that he slaughtered his own family is proof enough that he is either insane or rotten to the core. No one does something like that out of love, or for the Seireitei."
"So no, I do not trust him."
He raised his eyes and looked at everyone in the room.
"But even if I do not trust him, I have no problem using his malice toward the Soul Society for the sake of everyone's future."
"Mr. Ginjō..."
The one who spoke was a tall, dark skinned young man, much like Jackie in appearance.
Sado Yasutora.
"I am grateful that you and Mr. Tsukishima took me in when I had fallen into despair and was ready to give up on myself. But... if we go through with something like this... will it really bring happiness to everyone?"
"Sado, there's something you need to understand."
Ginjō met his eyes directly.
"As shocked as I was by Tokinada's proposal, the more I think about it, the less unreasonable it sounds. It's certainly better than going head on against the Gotei 13. Isn't it?"
"Your dead friend is a Shinigami now too. Are you prepared to fight him?"
"..."
Sado fell silent.
Ginjō cast a glance toward Tsukishima.
The latter immediately understood, then smiled gently and stepped in.
"Sado, I know you still carry pain over your friend's death, and I know you felt relieved to hear that he found a new path after dying."
"But that doesn't change the fact that he is dead."
"The dead are gone. The fact that he fought for the Shinigami does not make the Shinigami righteous, nor does it mean they can bring happiness to everyone."
"On the contrary, we have always been searching for a way to change the world without having to sacrifice countless people."
He took a step closer.
"And you should trust those who have stood beside you all this time. Ginjo and I are your most important companions."
"We are the people you should protect until the very end... even if that means crossing blades with your former friend."
Sado's eyes clouded with confusion for a moment, then slowly steadied.
"I'm sorry. I should not have doubted you."
"Don't worry about it."
Ginjō exhaled softly.
"Each of us has our own convictions. But in the end, we all came together for the sake of the same ideal. That alone wasn't easy."
"So if we've found a plan that everyone can accept, then even if it comes with huge uncertainties... it's still worth trying."
Yet even as he said that, a thought flickered across Ginjō's mind.
Could this have been Tokinada Tsunayashiro's real goal from the very beginning?
"By the way," Jackie said suddenly, "where's Riruka? Why isn't she back yet?"
"She said she was going shopping," Yukio answered casually while continuing to play his game. "She's never treated herself as anyone's subordinate. In her own mind, she's one of the three founding members here. So it's not strange for her to stay out however long she wants."
"Still, I did send her a message. Whether she comes back or not depends entirely on her mood."
"She was probably already on her way back," Jackie muttered, "and then the moment she saw your message, she deliberately turned around and went to another shopping district just to prove she can't be ordered around."
"Knowing her," Ginjō said with a sigh, pressing a hand to his face, "she really would."
Meanwhile, in Karakura Town...
There was a large commercial plaza there, and the surrounding streets were lined with shops.
It was a genuine shopping district.
Though winter break had already ended, the atmosphere of the New Year had not fully faded. The night air was still cold, but the crowds were dense enough to drive the chill away.
Riruka emerged from the flow of people carrying bags full of new clothes and cosmetics, only to realize, just as she was about to catch a taxi, that her phone was gone.
So she had to turn around and look for it.
As it turned out... the one who had picked it up was a Hollow.
"Damn you! What do you even want with that? It's not like you know how to use it!"
Riruka nearly exploded on the spot.
She tossed her carefully selected purchases into a flowerbed, rolled up her sleeves, and chased after it.
Before long, she cornered it in a secluded section of the parking lot behind the plaza.
Yet the Hollow did not panic at all. Instead, it smugly showed off the modern electronic device in its hand.
"If I didn't have this, how else would I have lured you here so obediently? Now then... hand over that delicious soul overflowing with spiritual power!"
With that, it casually tossed the phone aside like garbage.
Then, under Riruka's horrified gaze, it smashed onto the pavement. The screen shattered instantly, and its cute design was overlaid by the merciless ugliness of broken glass.
"Aaaaah...! I'm going to kill you!"
"It's useless! I've already set a trap here. You...!"
This Hollow, which looked something like an octopus and clearly leaned more toward cunning than brute force, sent tentacles hidden underground lunging toward Riruka from all directions.
But before either the sentence or the tentacles could reach her, a heart-shaped mark struck its forehead.
In the next instant, the Hollow turned into an octopus plush toy.
"Hmph. Did you really think that after that monster showed up, I didn't start secretly training so I wouldn't get left behind?"
"Sure, the forced transformation doesn't last very long. But it's more than enough for me to teach you a lesson."
"Wait! I was wrong! I'll give it back! Let me go!"
"You already broke it! Give what back? Your life, maybe!"
"Ahhh!"
The Hollow trapped inside the plushie was stomped brutally beneath Riruka's heel.
Fullbringers were human, yes, but they needed considerable physical ability in order to make proper use of their powers. That meant their bodies were naturally far tougher than ordinary people.
With spiritual pressure reinforcing the blow, the plushie was trampled to pieces. In the end, it burst apart in a puff of smoke and left behind only the maimed octopus Hollow itself.
"Phew!"
After venting her anger, Riruka should have felt better.
Instead, the sight of her phone with its shattered screen only made her rage boil up all over again. For a moment, she wished she could drag that Hollow back and kill it a hundred more times.
"Forget it. I'll just go back and buy the newest model... Eek!"
She had only just come to that resigned conclusion when she turned around and discovered that someone was already standing behind her.
Her heart nearly stopped.
"You you you... where did you even come from?!"
"I just walked over," Takeru said calmly. "While you were busy venting."
Riruka stared at him.
"Are you stalking me?!"
"...No. I was simply looking for somewhere deserted so I could return to the Soul Society."
He slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat.
"And while I'm here, I wanted to ask you for a favor."
"?"
Before Riruka could react, something invisible passed between her ear and her ponytail with the force of a bullet or spear, leaving a transparent trail in the air.
Snap.
Something behind her broke apart, the sound exploding right beside her ear.
"!?"
She turned around in shock and saw the octopus Hollow's head pierced clean through. A section of what had seemed to be a tentacle poised for a sneak attack... no, a barbed tongue... fell from the air, bounced twice across the pavement, and lost all life.
"Octopi are hard to kill," Takeru said, watching the Hollow dissolve into reishi. "Even if this one wasn't a real octopus."
Then his attention returned to Riruka.
Perhaps it was simply the pressure in his gaze, but she felt her body tense instinctively. She tightened her grip on her Love Gun and looked at him warily.
"Are you... a Shinigami?"
"Obviously."
As he answered, he started walking toward her.
The clothes on his body seemed to blur and melt, gradually changing into a shinigami uniform and a captains haori.
This was not just a matter of reishi forming clothing.
Rather, the layer of gigai visible to ordinary humans had dissolved away, turning back into reishi and returning to his body.
The sensation was eerily similar to how Shunko Susanoo deactivated.
"!?"
Riruka watched the black-haired youth approach.
Because of her nearsightedness and the dim lighting, his face had not been completely clear before. Now that he had drawn closer, his features finally came into focus, and her eyes widened involuntarily.
At first glance, he gave off the same feeling as Tatsuki had experienced before. A dangerous, untouchable aura.
Yet combined with those sharp, elegant features, it became something beyond simple good looks.
He looked less like an idol and more like a noble scion from the underworld, someone in whom refinement and ferocity somehow coexisted.
For a moment, her body locked up as if struck by electricity.
And then, without the gigai masking it, the spiritual pressure he had not bothered to suppress spread naturally outward.
The instant he passed by her, the impact hit even harder.
In her perception, what had brushed past her was not really a humanoid spirit body at all, but a vast mass that merely happened to resemble one.
Something that could shatter her like building blocks with the slightest touch.
"The favor I wanted to ask is this," Takeru said as he continued walking. "If you ever come across a Hollow that looks like a mole and uses the appearance of a woman as bait, capture it for me."
Riruka blinked.
"A Hollow like that?"
"It likes to lure spiritually aware women into traps and devour their souls. So given who you are, I think the odds of you running into it are relatively high."
He kept walking as he spoke.
"If you do encounter it, defeat it, imprison it, and then notify the Shinigami stationed in the area. Have them relay the message to me and transfer the Hollow into my custody."
"In exchange, I'll owe you a favor."
Then he raised a hand.
"Well then. Goodbye."
A light not belonging to the mortal world slowly lit up.
Takeru waved once, then strode through the opening senkaimon without the slightest hesitation.
"..."
Riruka stood there blankly, watching his back vanish into the portal.
It took quite a while before she finally came back to herself.
"So... it was you."
The spiritual pressure had changed somewhat, but it was still recognizable.
And that, combined with the captain's mark on his haori, immediately brought back the image of the battle over Naruki City, as well as the torn piece of fabric she had once unintentionally collected.
"Calm down. Calm down...!"
She slapped both cheeks.
"He's just a Shinigami. I'm not some lovestruck idiot, and he's not some idol. There is absolutely no reason for me to get this worked up!"
Yet her heart was still pounding wildly, and her ears still felt hot.
Riruka took several deep breaths, patting her chest in an effort to calm herself.
"By the way... what was that guy's name again?"
She froze.
"He asks me for help without even leaving his name? That's way too casual, isn't it? And 'I'll owe you a favor' is so vague. It's not motivating at all."
Her brows knitted together.
"But still... a Hollow that specifically preys on women with spiritual power really is disgusting. If I run into it, I'm definitely not going easy on it."
"So where is it, exactly?"
"I'm not about to start wandering around the streets out of vanity just because I think I fit the bait profile... but a disgusting creep like that does need to be dealt with as early as possible."
At that thought, she folded her arms and huffed.
"Fine. I'll go out more often from now on."
"Fullbringers have plenty of experience getting targeted by Hollows anyway."
Then, after a brief pause, her lips curved slightly.
"Hmph. I guess that guy really did pick the right person after all."
.....
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