SEVERAL CENTURIES AGO, SEIREITEI GOVERNMENT DISTRICT
“WHY? WHY WON’T YOU EXECUTE HIM?” It was a cry of desperation. “Please let me have an audience with the Central 46! I beg you!” The lone
young man continued to raise his voice despite the obstruction of the sturdy guards bearing steel staves.
The young man’s eyes were colorless, and one could infer from their subtle movements that they saw nothing. He seemed to grasp the situation around himself solely from sounds and sensations and likely sensed the brusque attitude of the guards in front of him. The guards, who were possibly related to the nobility, had clear contempt in their eyes for the young man, who appeared to have come from the Rukongai. But the young man was not timid as he tried to stretch toward the inner reaches of the gate.
Cries for a judgment of guilt came flying out of the blind young man’s mouth
—a genuine entreaty for a just execution. The gate guards would not lend him an ear, however, and swung their staves at him.
The young man heard the sound of fabric being grazed, of air swishing and the flow of footsteps. He perceived all of it and surmised that the guards were going to pummel him without mercy.
But he did not try to evade them. Was it despair or sadness that appeared on his face? He showed not even the faintest flinch of fear. He had been prepared to risk his own life from the moment he had arrived.
The guards didn’t notice his resolve, and believing that his blindness prevented him from evading them, they brought their weapons down on their
defenseless opponent without hesitation.
The sound of a harsh collision rang out, and the guards’ strikes were sent flying back!
A still-sheathed zanpaku-to appeared before them. The guards’ expressions froze the moment they recognized who wielded the weapon.
“There’s no need to be so rowdy. He’s still mourning Kakyo.” “Y-you’re…”
“I will talk to him. You should return to your posts.” “Y-yes sir!”
The young man couldn’t figure out what had happened. His thoughts were overrun by the name his savior had uttered.
Kakyo.
The reason he had risked his life in coming there. The name of his irreplaceable friend with whom he had spent his youth in the Rukongai.
The man who had said her name spoke gently to the blind man. “I know who you are. You came to Kakyo’s funeral, didn’t you?”
“Did you know her…?”
“We were colleagues of a sort. I’m a Soul Reaper too. But I suppose I failed in my duty the moment I wasn’t able to protect her.”
The man spoke with a sorrowful air and offered a hand to the blind man. “Let’s go elsewhere. You have nothing more to say to those pigheaded guards, do you?”
“I see, so you’re Kaname Tosen. She occasionally talked about you in the barracks. That’s probably why you received a special invitation to the company funeral.”
The blind man—Kaname Tosen—was a resident of the Rukongai. Since he was not a Soul Reaper, he normally would not have been able to come and go freely in the Seireitei. He had been allowed to enter by special arrangement.
“Kakyo wrote out a will when she enlisted as a Soul Reaper. The Shinoreijutsuin Academy actually recommends it. She had no way of knowing when she might die during a battle with a Hollow, after all.”
According to the Soul Reaper who claimed to know Kakyo, her will had stipulated that she be buried in the Rukongai. “Apparently she said she wanted to be buried at the foot of a hill where she could see the stars, and that her close friend Kaname Tosen would know where she went.”
“Yes, I think I know that hill.”
Memories of looking up at the night sky with his friend, near a village that had once been on top of a hill, flooded Tosen’s mind.
“I love the night sky, Kaname. It reminds me of the world. Everything’s covered in darkness. There are tiny points of light everywhere, but the clouds try to cover them up.
“You see, Kaname, I want to clear away those clouds so that not a single light is hidden. I’m going to clear away those clouds, Kaname.”
The woman who had looked up at the stars and said those words had eventually fulfilled her dream. She had obtained the power and position to protect the world’s light as a Soul Reaper.
Soul Reapers were the foundation of everything in the Soul Society—they led the inhabitants of the world of the living here and maintained the cycle of souls. They drove away the evil souls called Hollows. They were the people’s hope.
She had been given the right to literally protect the stars. But although her dream had come true, she had not been able to take her next steps.
“I heard that it was her husband who killed her.”
“Yes, that’s right. Her husband killed a colleague in his company over a trivial dispute and then killed her when she tried to protest. That is the truth.”
“Why did she… Why did someone like her have to die?”
“This is only a guess, but she was more honest than anyone, and I think it’s because she kept justice and peace close to her heart,” the Soul Reaper replied to Tosen, whose fists were clenched in frustration.
Tosen also understood that.
Kakyo, his best friend, had loved peace more than anyone. She had prized justice more than anyone. That was why she had been prepared to stain her hands with the blood of Hollows she slew herself.
“I was concerned that this would happen to her someday. She loved peace too much to carry out justice. If she had rejected love and peace and lived only for harsh justice, she probably would have killed her husband instead. But she wasn’t capable of that.”
“Are you saying that her dreams were wrong?! I heard her killer isn’t even being charged with a serious crime!”
“Is that why you sought an audience with the Central 46?” The Soul Reaper breathed out a small sigh and continued as if hesitant. “Do you know about the Five Great Noble Clans?”
“I don’t know their names, but aren’t they the highest-ranking families in the Seireitei, even among the aristocrats?”
“The man who killed Kakyo is a member of the Five Great Noble Clans.”
Though he had known she had married a Soul Reaper, he hadn’t heard she had married into a family as distinguished as one of the five noble clans.
The Soul Reaper kept talking to the bewildered Tosen. “He isn’t part of the main family, just a descendant from one of the branches. So he doesn’t have any significant authority. But a man can get a reduced sentence for murder if he is an aristocrat. Had he been part of the main family, they might have just pretended no one had died or claimed that Kakyo had been executed for treason.”
“But! But… That’s preposterous…!” Tosen unintentionally raised his voice.
In his heart he had considered the possibility the moment he had heard that the man who had killed his friend would receive nothing more than a slap on the wrist. But he hadn’t wanted to believe that the organization his friend had proclaimed “power for the sake of justice” could let something like that happen. That was why—because he didn’t want it to be true—he had risked his life and ventured all the way here for a personal audience with the Central 46.
“Isn’t a Soul Reaper—aren’t the Thirteen Court Guard Companies meant to protect the peace of the Soul Society and the world of the living?! Aren’t the Central 46 meant to embody the world’s logic?!”
“They did protect the peace. The nobles are a part of the world, and they protected their peace. The current Central 46 symbolizes that absurd world.” “What?!” Tosen froze in bewilderment at the Soul Reaper’s declaration.
The Soul Reaper’s face contorted with regret as he said, “I am painfully aware of how you feel. No matter how you look at it, charging the man who killed her with a minor crime makes no sense. But that’s the Soul Society. The Central 46 are the five noble clan’s yes-men, especially when it comes to the powerful Tsunayashiro house.”
The man spoke sorrowfully and clenched his fists just as Tosen did. After he made sure no one was near them, he asked in a quiet voice, “Based on all of that, there’s something I’d like to ask you specifically, since you were her closest friend.”
Though Tosen’s heart had been incessantly gnawed at by anger, he closed his mouth and listened to the man’s words as though overawed by the man’s earnest tone of voice.
“If either of us had the ability to seek revenge, should we actually go through with it?”
“That’s—”
“It’s an issue of how we treat her wishes and what we do to honor her. Do you
think that she ever wanted you to seek revenge, Tosen?”
Though Tosen could not see the other man’s expression, he could sense violence creeping into the Soul Reaper’s words. Oddly, it allowed him to regain his composure.
He was barely able to suppress his own anger as he strung together a sentence while recalling his friend’s words. This world was far from what she had wanted if her colleague spoke with that kind of hostility in his voice. He desperately tried to reach an understanding within himself as he replied to the Soul Reaper’s question. “I don’t think she would want revenge. And if that’s how she felt, then I…”
But he stopped there. Then I don’t want revenge either.
He couldn’t manage to say it, even to himself. He knew she would never have wanted another person to sully their hands seeking revenge for her. But the emotions pulsing deep in his gut wouldn’t accept that as justice.
Her wishes have nothing to do with this. Seek revenge for yourself.
The lump of darkness that bubbled up within him was appealing, but Tosen could not follow that voice. Because he knew. The moment he or anyone else chose to follow that hatred, she would die again.
It would be like trampling on all the proof that she had ever lived. He would be snuffing the life out of her wishes with his very own hands. He could not do that. By purging his own emotions, Tosen was able to string together his next words. “I…would like to respect her wishes for peace and justice.”
“I see. You’re right. She certainly did love peace. That is exactly why she lost her life, but… But I don’t believe she was weak because of that.”
The hostility had ebbed from the Soul Reaper’s voice, and he spoke now with detachment. “If we can prove that her dream was a strength rather than a weakness, how will you live your life from now on?”
“…”
“Please take up the torch and uphold her dream. Make sure no more blood is shed in vain.”
Tosen could not accept the Soul Reaper’s words at his core, but he realized that this man had understood his friend the same way he had and was thankful to the man for preventing his heart from being permeated by hatred. “Thank you very much.”
“No, I need to thank you since you are upholding her wishes.”
“I don’t think I have it in me to do that.” He wasn’t capable of protecting her dreams when even now he was desperately suppressing the rage and hatred that
bubbled within him.
Even as the thought settled in Tosen’s mind, the Soul Reaper spoke to him with a kind smile. “You don’t need to have it in you to uphold her dream. She once said, ‘My hope isn’t anything special. It’s just a paltry wish to protect something that continues to shine like the stars in the sky.’”
“…”
If she had spoken of that, she must have truly given her hopes to her Soul Reaper colleagues to embrace, this man included. Having determined that, Tosen was relieved that there were Soul Reapers who respected her virtues.
“Um…if you would be so kind, what is your name?” He asked so that he could etch into his heart the thought that the world wasn’t cruel. There were others who had seen her for what she really was, and the world was not merciless.
The man gave his name in a calm voice without hesitation. “Yeah, my name is Tokinada. Tokinada Tsunayashiro.”
“Yes, so…Mr. Tsunayashiro…?” Tosen’s mind froze for a moment. He had a strong sense of something amiss. He remembered hearing that name earlier from this very man.
No, it can’t be. I must have misunderstood.
When the man saw Tosen’s expression as he tried to ask his question again, the man shook his head. “You haven’t misunderstood or misheard, Kaname Tosen.”
“Huh…?”
“Of course you wouldn’t find my face or my voice familiar. Well, I suppose it’s fortunate you didn’t ask for my name from the start. I don’t like using false names.”
“Um, what are you trying to do…?” Though Tosen was bewildered, his gut instinct kept shouting conflicting commands at him.
Kill. Run.
Hatred and fear jumbled together in his body and began to circulate through his blood. But his ability to reason was unable to catch up with instinct, and Tosen could not go through with either action.
The man dispassionately reminded Tosen of his position. “I’ll tell you again. I am Tokinada Tsunayashiro. Although at this point, I suppose I should call myself your closest friend’s nemesis.”
“…”
“I’m so relieved you don’t want revenge. It’s much more terrifying to be hated by a Rukongai urchin with nothing to lose than by another aristocrat who thinks
twice about how to protect themselves,” the man said. He placed his hand on Tosen’s cheek. His smile remained unwavering, and Tosen was assaulted by a chill he had never felt the likes of before.
His whole body was penetrated by heavy, persistent, ominous spiritual pressure of a completely different nature than what he had felt from his friend. It paired with his internal impulses through brute force. It outstripped his fear and even eradicated the instincts yelling at him to run.
“I was planning to kill you if you had answered that you wanted revenge for Kakyo. Talking with a fool who didn’t understand her would have been quite unpleasant. It would be one thing if you were another Soul Reaper, but I won’t get in trouble no matter how many Rukongai inhabitants I kill.”
Tosen realized that the hostility he had felt in the man’s earlier words had been aimed at him, but that didn’t matter anymore. He couldn’t even understand what the man was saying. He didn’t want to understand. But the man had made Tosen’s emotions explode, and that was more than enough to liberate him from the fear that weighed down his body.
The man who declared himself to be Kakyo’s nemesis was right there in front of him. Tosen didn’t care whether it was true or not. He couldn’t forgive a man who was willing to harbor such a sinister intention against another human being for even mentioning her name.
The negative emotions he had suppressed in his depths burst forth and he attacked the Soul Reaper Tokinada Tsunayashiro.
“Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgh!” His scream was no longer human. With a cry like a beast, Tosen grabbed at the man in front of him. However—
“Good friend of my wife, why do you rage so?”
Tosen’s world flipped forcefully upside down. His back hit the ground and he couldn’t move. The taste of blood spread through his mouth, and he realized his limbs were paralyzed from intense pain. Even so, Tosen tried to get up.
From above him a calm voice continued to resound. “My wife Kakyo would have forgiven me.”
“You…you… You…!” Though Tosen tried to yell in the direction of the voice, his throat, now filled with blood, would not allow him to form words.
“Don’t you remember how you answered earlier? You said you’d respect her wishes. If you care for my wife, shouldn’t you forgive me, forget your hatred, and live your days in the peace that we Soul Reapers protect?”
“Guh!”
“I think that’s what my wife would wish you to do. Try to understand for her
sake.”
Tokinada pressed his sheathed zanpaku-to to Tosen’s neck as the young man tried to get up. He pushed Tosen to the ground, crushing his throat. “Although it’s not like someone who can’t even use a single form of Soul Reaper combat even has the means to seek revenge.”
Then he called to the guards who had gathered at Tosen’s shouts. “Hey, all of you. I’ve got a job for you. A resident of the Rukongai tried to raise his hand to me. Get him out of here—quickly.”
“Y-yes sir!” The guards felt something like dread when faced with a smiling member of the five noble clans ordering them about, although they still followed his directions.
As though trading places with the guards, Tokinada left Tosen’s side. Then, as though he had just thought of something, he said, “Oh, let me spell this out for you so you don’t have any misconceptions. Nothing I said was a lie. It really is a strange world where a man like me doesn’t get punished. I do think it’s unfortunate that Kakyo couldn’t be protected from the unreasonableness of the world, and I understand that her dreams were noble.”
“—”
Tosen tried to yell something through his crushed throat as he glared at Tokinada. Even blind, he could clearly see the atrocious smile filled with joy and malice fixed on the face of the departing Soul Reaper.
“It’s just that I found her dreams so loathsome they sickened me.”
More than anger at the man, Tosen felt a deep despair at the world that had trampled on his friend’s dreams. The stars that she had gazed up at hadn’t illuminated her at all. She had been the one bringing light to the world, and now she was forever lost. The guards’ staves rose once more over Tosen, who was engulfed in intense misery and rage.
This time, there was no one to stop them.
≡
PRESENT DAY,
SOMEWHERE IN THE SEIREITEI
“Hm…”
Somewhere in the Seireitei, a man awoke.
“Ah, I just had the most nostalgic dream.” He stretched in a luxurious, throne- like armchair and turned his eyes toward his gloomy surroundings.
The petite figure of a child immediately came into view. Eyes glittering brightly, they raised their voice to ask, “Are you awake, Lord Tokinada?!”
“Yes, I had a lovely dream. A sign of good things to come.” “A dream? What kind of dream, Lord Tokinada?!”
Prompted by that childlike voice, Tokinada Tsunayashiro considered his recent dream, “Hm.” A wicked smile twisted his mouth as he answered. “It was a nostalgic, pleasant dream. It’s vivid even now. The instant someone else’s heart is filled with despair is the instant my chest clears. I never grow bored of the moment I strangle the boundless hatred for me out of someone, no matter how many times I experience it. Even when it’s just a dream.”
“Do you? I don’t really get it, Lord Tokinada!”
“That’s fine. You don’t need to understand. You’re still young.”
The child wore black garments that bore a striking resemblance to the shihakusho uniform of a Soul Reaper but no armband designating a company. They also behaved unlike any other member of the Soul Society.
They were probably around fifteen, if measured in the way of the world of the living. And while no one would argue that the child was a beauty, their androgynous face made it impossible to determine their gender.
“What were you doing, Hikone? Surely you weren’t just standing there until I woke up.”
Hikone smiled innocently as they responded. “Yes! I did just exactly as you told me, Lord Tokinada! There were people who came to kill you, so I made sure they couldn’t move!”
Tokinada once more surveyed the scene around him. There were several people in black clothing collapsed around Hikone, many of them twitching with pain because all the bones in their limbs had been broken.
Based on their attire, Tokinada deduced that they were assassins hired by the nobility for their covert abilities. Tokinada slowly stood from his chair and gave Hikone a light pat on the head. “I see, very good. You did well.”
“I did! I did! Thank you so much, Lord Tokinada!”
Paying Hikone no mind, whose eyes glistened like a puppy’s, Tokinada slowly approached the assassins and stood in front of one who appeared to be still conscious. He asked casually, “Can’t you tell your clients are all dead? Why are you still trying to be faithful to your assignment?”
Tokinada glanced behind himself as he spoke, where several aristocratic
figures were seated in chairs around a long table. Their robes all bore the same family crest. It was the same crest Tokinada himself wore, and so they must be part of the Tsunayashiro family. Yet none of them moved. Every person at the table had either their throat or their stomach slit open, and all it took was a glance to determine that they were dead.
“Assassinate Tokinada Tsunayashiro. Normally you’d expect an order like that to come from the other leaders in the Tsunayashiro family. But as you can see, they’re dead. Why couldn’t you have taken this opportunity to simply abscond with your advance?”
The assassin remained silent. He might have been trying to avoid revealing even the slightest bit of information about himself or his colleagues, but Tokinada realized when the assassin didn’t attempt to commit suicide that he was still looking for an opportunity to hit his mark.
Having made that determination, Tokinada happily let his mouth relax and slowly brought his hands together as he clapped in admiration. “Amazing! My respects to your tenacity in carrying out a mission regardless of whether your client is dead. I would absolutely never do that.”
As the assassin continued to glare at him, Tokinada said, “Yes, and as your reward, I’ll let you in on something. Your client is still alive. In other words, your actions were not in vain.”
The assassin scowled from his heap on the floor. Though it had come through an intermediary, the assassin had assumed that the order to assassinate Tokinada had come from a member of the family who shunned him.
But he had the strange sense that something was off after Tokinada completely contradicted his earlier statement that “Can’t you tell your clients are all dead?” He waited for Tokinada’s next words and an opportunity to kill him.
A smile, as if he were humoring a child, settled on Tokinada’s face. “It was me.”
“…?”
“I gave the order for my assassination.” “…?!”
Tokinada continued to explain to the bewildered assassin. “I turned the tables on the assassins sent to murder the Tsunayashiro family, only to discover that they were all already dead! I’ve found a wonderful way to gain sympathy, haven’t I?”
“Impossible!” The assassin’s face contorted at Tokinada’s claim that he had made them all dance on the palm of his hand.
The intermediary had always been the same man—a protégé of the Tsunayashiro family. He wasn’t aligned with Tokinada, whom the family viewed with the same affection they would show a tumor.
Tokinada’s next words seemed aimed at mocking that assumption. “You seem confused. Well, I don’t care if you believe me or not. Assassins like you are often full of despair already. It’s a lot more fun to confuse you.”
“What…are you…?”
Tokinada laughed as the assassin tried to squeeze out his words. “Why am I going on about all this? Doesn’t it strike you as foolish for me to tell anyone my plans, even if no one can bring the Twelfth Company’s rokureichu recording spirit bugs into the residence? Do I look like a fool?”
Then Tokinada put his foot down on the assassin’s fingers and crushed them. “Gaah…!”
Tokinada smiled, laughed, and cackled happily at the sound of the bones breaking. “But I just can’t help myself! I suppose it’s a bad habit. Even at the risk of being overheard, I just needed to see it! I needed to see the bewilderment on the face of a prideful assassin like you! That expression on your face!”
Methodically and leisurely, Tokinada smiled as he stamped on and broke every bone in the assassin’s body over and over again.
Suddenly the grin wiped from his face, and he calmly shook his head and spoke to himself. “Though if you think about it, you would never have become an assassin for the aristocracy if you’d had any pride.”
He breathed a small sigh and pulled his zanpaku-to from his hip.
The glitter in Hikone’s eyes didn’t waver as they said, “That looks like fun, Lord Tokinada!”
Tokinada smiled back at Hikone as he slowly thrust his zanpaku-to into the assassin’s spinal cord. “Yes, it is quite fun. Trampling on a person is fun. It’s easy to grow tired of it, but after a short time you crave it again.”
Tokinada spent several hours making sure all of the assassins were dead before wiping the blood off his zanpaku-to and speaking to Hikone. “Now then, let’s go, Hikone. I must go announce to the Seireitei that my grand uncle has been murdered by thugs and that I have succeeded him as the head of the Tsunayashiro family.”
“Yes, Lord Tokinada! Or should I call you Lord Tsunayashiro now?” “Don’t worry about that. Between you and me, Tokinada is fine.” “Really, Lord Tokinada?!”
Hikone’s innocent smile glowed among the dozen or so scattered corpses.
Tokinada patted the child on the head as a malicious smile spread across his face. “Why would I mind? After all, you’re going to become the Soul King, Hikone, so we should treat each other as equals.”
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