It was an incredibly tempting proposal.
To flee this Soul Society that was on the verge of becoming a battlefield, to go to the peaceful World of the Living, and to live like ordinary people...
With their special constitutions and powers, they could even live a happy life far beyond that of ordinary people.
For the Ubuyashiki family, who had suffered through a lifetime of war and curses, this was simply a dream come true.
But after hearing Asuka's proposal, Kagaya merely offered a gentle smile.
"Thank you, Asuka. I appreciate your kindness."
"Why?" Asuka furrowed his brows in confusion. "Once the war breaks out, I won't be able to spare the attention to protect you."
"With your current strength, you won't even be able to protect yourselves in a battle of that scale."
"I know," Kagaya said, smiling as he looked around the small courtyard, his eyes full of deep affection. "But I still want to stay here."
"I don't understand," Asuka pressed.
"Because this is already our home."
Kagaya's voice was soft, peaceful yet firm. "Although we haven't lived in luxury during our years in the Rukongai, and we've witnessed much injustice and tragedy..."
"...it was here that we planted the cherry blossom tree in the yard with our own hands. We watched Hinaki and Nichika run and grow up in this very courtyard."
"This place holds the traces of our lives, the neighbors we've befriended, and every ordinary yet genuine day and night we've spent together."
His eyes revealed a calm acceptance that had seen through life and death. "Asuka, we have already died once. We won't be afraid anymore."
"Although our abilities are limited, Mr. Gyomei and I want to protect these weaker neighbors, to protect our own peaceful daily lives."
"Furthermore, I believe in you, Asuka, and I believe in the swordsmen of the Gotei 13."
"While you warriors are still fighting on the front lines, what reason do we ordinary people have to flee just to cling to life?"
Asuka looked into Kagaya's fearless eyes and remained silent for a long time.
He finally understood that the man before him, despite lacking immense Spiritual Pressure or a sharp Zanpakuto...
...possessed an inner resilience and strength that was in no way inferior to any Soul Reaper.
He was still the same master of the Demon Slayer Corps who could calmly face life, death, and the unpredictable.
"I understand."
Asuka did not try to persuade him any further.
He knew that for someone like Kagaya, once a decision was made, any further words were superfluous.
Besides... this guy was too good with words; Asuka couldn't out-argue him anyway.
"Since you feel that your current life is good, then live well here."
Asuka stood up and poured the last remnants of his sake into the soil of the courtyard.
"However, if you ever change your mind, or if you encounter any trouble you can't solve, let me know at any time."
"Then I will be relying on you, Asuka," Kagaya said, nodding with a smile.
Early the next morning, as the first rays of sunlight pierced through the thin mist of the Rukongai.
Asuka had already quietly left the Ubuyashiki family's small courtyard.
He didn't wake the sleeping Shinobu Kocho. Instead, with Lady Amane's help, he left a simple note by her pillow, telling her that he was going to handle some personal matters and would return soon.
Today, there was a place he had to go.
The starting point where all his nightmares were buried.
District 78 of the Rukongai—Inuzuri.
Asuka walked alone on the path leading deep into the Rukongai.
As he ventured further, the surrounding scenery began to change significantly.
In the first few districts close to the Seireitei, such as Junrinan.
The streets were wide and flat, houses were lined up neatly, and the pedestrians were dressed cleanly, wearing peaceful smiles on their faces.
There were bustling commercial streets, high-end restaurants, and even entertainment venues catering specifically to Soul Reapers and nobles.
Life there was hardly any different from a bustling city in the World of the Living, the only exception being that it wasn't quite as modernized.
However, once Asuka crossed the boundary of the fiftieth district, it was like stepping into a completely different world.
The smooth stone-paved roads turned into uneven dirt paths, and the buildings on both sides gradually became dilapidated.
Simple shacks built from wooden boards replaced the machiya houses with their black tiles and white walls, and the air began to fill with a foul stench—a mixture of sour sweat, rot, and excrement.
The wandering souls here were mostly dressed in rags, their faces sallow and emaciated.
Their eyes had lost the spark of life, leaving only numbness and vigilance.
When Asuka walked through these blocks wearing his black Shihakusho, which had already been self-repaired by his Reiryoku.
The surrounding souls reacted as if they had seen a plague god, fleeing in terror to the sides of the road and secretly watching him with complex gazes filled with awe and hatred.
Slaughter.
Deep within the Rukongai, Soul Reapers did not represent protection and salvation.
For these souls struggling at the very baseline of survival, the appearance of a Soul Reaper often meant forced labor or merciless slaughter.
People like Aizen or Azashiro, who used the residents of the Rukongai for experiments, were considered small-scale disasters.
There was once a Soul Reaper Captain who, purely for amusement and to find an existence that could arouse his desire to fight, had nearly slaughtered an entire district empty...
Prying eyes.
Asuka turned a blind eye to these gazes.
It wasn't just because the murderous intent and malice radiating from him, which turned the surrounding air ice-cold, made him completely indifferent to this level of scrutiny.
More importantly.
This used to be his real home.
He was already used to it.
District 60, District 70...
The deeper he went, the harsher the environment became.
Corpses began to appear, scattered haphazardly on both sides of the road.
They were wandering souls who had died from starvation, brawls, or disease.
Their bodies hadn't yet had time to break down into Reishi, left to the mercy of a few scrawny wild dogs gnawing at them...
Asuka even saw with his own eyes several grown men slaughtering each other over half a moldy rice ball. Their eyes gleamed with a beast-like ferocity as they went so far as to tear out each other's throats with their teeth.
He watched this scene coldly, his mind involuntarily bringing up the years he had spent struggling to survive in this very place.
"...Was I this pathetic back then too?" he murmured softly.
'[You were even more pathetic. You were usually the one getting beaten.]' the voice in his mind said.
At that time, he didn't even know his own name.
He was just a wandering ghost who didn't know where he came from or who he was.
To survive, he had fought these wild dogs for food. To avoid being bullied by those strong thugs, he had learned to break his enemies' bones using the most ruthless methods.
In this corner completely forgotten by the Soul Society, kindness and weakness were catalysts that accelerated death.
Violence was the only rule of survival here.
Finally, when the sun reached its zenith, Asuka stopped in his tracks.
Before him lay an endless, sprawling slum built from various discarded wooden boards, iron sheets, and torn rags.
On a dilapidated wooden sign planted crookedly in the mud, two words could barely be made out in faded red paint:
Inuzuri.
District 78 of the Rukongai, one of the areas with the worst public order and the harshest environment in the entire Soul Society.
It was also the place where Asuka had first awakened in this Soul Society.
Asuka took a deep breath.
That familiar scent, a mixture of blood and despair, instantly filled his nostrils.
"It really hasn't changed a bit, this disgusting mud pit."
He stepped forward, walking into the maze-like slum.