"Tsunayoshi, you're here? The captain isn't inside the barracks right now. I'll take you to him."
Just as Tsunayoshi reached the entrance of Squad Ten, Rangiku Matsumoto greeted him with a cheerful smile. As she waved, the two "mountain peaks" on her chest swayed dramatically—perfectly illustrating what people meant by earth-shaking movement.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the training camp?" Tsunayoshi asked curiously.
After handing the Lieutenant Training Camp over to Madarame Ikkaku, he hadn't paid much attention to it. After all, he didn't know how to teach Bankai anyway—going there would only get in the way.
"Our head instructor is about to come back," Rangiku replied. "So Yumichika gave us a day off."
The moment she mentioned the training camp, exhaustion was written all over her face.
Since when had the Seireitei become so competitive that even Lieutenants were expected to learn Bankai?
She had even considered asking her captain to demote her to a seated officer position—but it was just a fleeting thought. Her captain would obviously never agree.
"No problem," Tsunayoshi said. "So where's Shirō-chan?"
"When the captain trains, the cold he releases is overwhelming. Obviously he can't do it inside the barracks," Rangiku explained as she led the way. "He's usually by the river."
Then she quickly changed the topic back to training.
"Tsunayoshi, could you remove me from the training roster? I'm exhausted!"
She walked slightly hunched over, practically radiating the miserable aura of an overworked office worker.
From Rukia and Hanatarō, she had learned that Tsunayoshi had the authority to determine the list of training participants. She had been waiting at the gate specifically for this reason.
Tsunayoshi immediately saw through her.
She wasn't unable to continue.
She simply lacked motivation.
So he decided to give her some.
"If you learn Bankai with Ikkaku and the others," Tsunayoshi said casually, "I'll make sure that idiot fox Gin Ichimaru doesn't end up dying somewhere. What do you think?"
Gin and Rangiku were one of those tragic pairs. If either of them had expressed their feelings earlier, that tragedy might never have happened.
Rangiku stopped complaining.
Slowly, she straightened her back.
She didn't ask what Gin was doing. Ever since Ichimaru Gin defected, even mentioning his name had become taboo in the Seireitei. Tsunayoshi could say it—but she could not.
Soon, after leading Tsunayoshi to Hitsugaya Tōshirō's training spot, Rangiku left.
Her eyes burned with renewed determination.
If she could master Bankai quickly… someone as powerful as Tsunayoshi might really be able to bring that idiot back.
The river at the training ground had been completely frozen by Hitsugaya.
Ice crystals covered the area, releasing an intense chill.
"Hey, Shirō-chan! I'm here!" Tsunayoshi shouted toward the small figure practicing sword swings on the frozen river.
Well… to be fair, Tsunayoshi wasn't that tall either.
But instead of a friendly greeting, Hitsugaya responded with a dragon of ice.
He had done it on purpose.
He was determined to teach this guy a lesson for constantly calling him Shirō-chan and ruining his authority as a captain.
Tsunayoshi calmly summoned the CAI System to form a defensive barrier.
The ice dragon slammed into the shield, instantly blooming into a massive frost pattern. Just as Tsunayoshi prepared to lower the barrier—
The frozen structure suddenly exploded.
A burst of frost and sharp ice spikes detonated outward.
Fortunately, the CAI System's barrier was dense enough. Otherwise, Tsunayoshi might actually have been caught off guard.
"So? What do you think?" Hitsugaya asked proudly as he walked over with Hyōrinmaru in hand.
He caught the slight surprise on Tsunayoshi's face and felt rather satisfied.
Several days of training had not been wasted.
"Interesting," Tsunayoshi said. "A delayed ice explosion. That could catch some opponents off guard."
"I got the idea from Captain Isshin Shiba… I mean, former captain," Hitsugaya admitted.
The explosion technique had been inspired by Isshin's fireworks-like attacks. To develop it, Hitsugaya had suffered quite a bit over the past few days.
"But the power feels a little lacking," Tsunayoshi added, glancing at the scattered ice fragments.
If the explosion had truly contained enough Reiatsu, the CAI System's barrier wouldn't have blocked it so easily.
"I think something's wrong too," Hitsugaya said, raising Hyōrinmaru. "But I feel like the problem is with Hyōrinmaru."
He wasn't trying to shift blame.
It was simply a strange feeling.
He felt like he couldn't bring out his full strength. After all, the strongest Ice-type Zanpakutō shouldn't be limited to just summoning ice dragons.
"Oh, right. Did you come here to give guidance today?" Hitsugaya asked.
He had heard some stories about Tsunayoshi when he returned to the barracks the previous night.
"Originally, I wanted to fight the strongest version of you," Tsunayoshi said. "But now I've changed my mind."
"The strongest version… of me?"
"The one after your Bankai ice flowers completely bloom and fade."
"I want to see your Four-Step Ice Formation."
"You'll also get a better understanding of your strongest state. Don't worry—I'm here, so you won't get hurt."
Tsunayoshi didn't really have a plan for Hitsugaya.
From the Thousand-Year Blood War, the only memorable things were Hitsugaya's zombified form after being toyed with by Giselle, and the moment when adult Hitsugaya unleashed Shikai Hyōketsu—the Four-Step Ice Formation.
In truth, Hitsugaya's Daiguren Hyōrinmaru wasn't a normal Bankai.
The three ice flowers behind him were actually timers.
When the flowers fully melted, the immense Bankai Reiatsu would surge into Hitsugaya's body, forcing it to mature into an adult form.
That was his true Bankai state.
But because the power was too overwhelming, Hitsugaya had sealed part of it away. Forcing it out prematurely could even harm himself.
However, with Tsunayoshi's Sun Attribute healing, that danger could be mitigated.
His original plan had been to help Hitsugaya adapt to that completed Bankai form.
After hearing Tsunayoshi's words, Hitsugaya froze.
No one knew about his complete Bankai.
During the very first time he used Bankai, he had frozen himself into an ice statue for half a day. After that incident, he chose to seal part of its power.
This was his personal secret.
Yet Tsunayoshi knew.
Now Hitsugaya finally understood why Urahara Kisuke trusted this man so much.
Tsunayoshi had already changed his approach.
Logically speaking, the strongest Ice-type Zanpakutō shouldn't require Bankai just to perform properly.
Maybe something else was wrong.
He activated Demon Spade's Magic Lens.
Through the monocle-like illusion lens, he examined Hyōrinmaru.
A dense blue Reiatsu gathered around the blade.
At first glance, everything looked normal.
But it wasn't.
Tsunayoshi quickly noticed something strange.
The Reiatsu surrounding Hyōrinmaru seemed… unstable.
Normally, the Reiatsu of a Zanpakutō mirrors the shape of the blade.
But Hyōrinmaru's Reiatsu drifted like the cold mist it produced.
The icy blue energy fluctuated like waves—sometimes gathering at the tip, sometimes drifting back toward the hilt.
It felt like something was missing.
And Tsunayoshi arrived at a conclusion he could barely believe.
Hyōrinmaru was incomplete.
"When you fight in Shikai," Tsunayoshi asked casually, "does your Reiatsu output change unpredictably? Like it's hard to maintain a steady flow?"
"How did you know?"
Using Shikai had never been easy for Hitsugaya.
Based on how much Reiatsu he could output at different moments, he had developed different techniques.
This was also why he sometimes felt Hyōrinmaru didn't deserve the title of the strongest Ice-type Zanpakutō.
He couldn't reshape the environment with a single swing like Ryūjin Jakka.
Because of this, when facing powerful enemies, Hitsugaya preferred using Bankai.
But since his Bankai had a time limit, he was often forced to adopt risky combat strategies.
For example, the technique Ryūsenka—a direct thrust toward the enemy.
Instead of creating massive ice structures for offense, he focused all his power into the blade's tip and struck directly.
"I suspect your sword isn't complete," Tsunayoshi said.
"It's like part of it is missing. The Reiatsu inside feels like a half-filled bucket—sloshing around everywhere."
That description fit Hyōrinmaru perfectly.
"Has it always been like this since you obtained your Asauchi?" Tsunayoshi asked. "Did anything strange happen back then?"
"No… Ever since I received my Asauchi, Hyōrinmaru has always been with me…"
Hitsugaya suddenly stopped.
His expression changed.
A possibility flashed through his mind, and sorrow slowly surfaced in his eyes.
"Looks like something did happen," Tsunayoshi said softly. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
After all, it was Hitsugaya's private matter.
Even if Hyōrinmaru had a flaw, Hitsugaya still eventually achieved complete Bankai.
"No," Hitsugaya replied quietly. "I'm not certain yet. I need to check old records in Central 46."
These days, Central 46 had practically become synonymous with an archive.
All the documents from past judgments were currently being reorganized.
Even so, accessing them wasn't easy.
Still, it was far better than before.
Back when Central 46 still ruled Soul Society, even raising your voice near them could be considered a crime.
"Alright," Tsunayoshi said. "Are you still training today? I can spar with you."
With seven different elemental attributes, any Gotei Thirteen Captain would gain something from fighting him.
"…No."
"I want to investigate what happened back then."
Hitsugaya's mood had clearly dropped.
He had no interest in training anymore.
The image of someone he had long buried in his memory resurfaced once again.
The disappearance of Central 46 really was a good thing.
Now he could finally find out why they had targeted him and his best friend back then.
Even compared to his childhood friend Momo Hinamori, that person held a special place in his heart.
His death had haunted Hitsugaya for a long time.
It wasn't until he joined Squad Ten and met his carefree yet warm-hearted captain and lieutenant that he gradually escaped the shadow of that tragedy.
But today's conversation with Tsunayoshi had brought the memory back again.
I'm sorry.
And… I miss you.
Sōjirō Kusaka.
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