Twenty years had passed since graduating from the Shinigami Academy.
The same amount of time had elapsed since being assigned to the Fifth Division, and looking back, some fairly significant changes had become apparent.
In my immediate circle, Renji had abandoned the Fifth Division's "integrated sword, fist, movement, and demon arts" philosophy and transferred to the Eleventh Division with their sword-only approach. Meanwhile, Kira had somehow gone through the Fourth Division before ending up in the Third Division. Within the Fifth Division, ugly rumors circulated that Renji—whose demon arts were, well, lacking—had basically been kicked out, but behind the scenes, you could catch glimpses of Captain Aizen's dark smile in this seemingly meaningful transfer. Incidentally, Rikichi followed Renji, so now the only original characters left in the Fifth Division were myself and Captain Aizen.
As for my own situation, I'd just been promoted from Fifth Seat to Third Seat in the Fifth Division.
After working hard to master my Bankai in Hueco Mundo, I'd also improved at controlling my Shikai's power output, so I could finally demonstrate a "mini Tobiume" here in the Soul Society without turning the ground to glass. Now that I'd become a senior officer, I figured I should show off my release at least a little.
Rising from Twentieth Seat to here in just ten years was pretty impressive, but actually, Kira had already released Wabisuke and become Third Seat in the Third Division. Meanwhile, Renji was apparently still Sixth Seat and feeling a bit down about it. Stop complaining, your childhood friend is still an unseated officer thanks to her overprotective siscon brother!
There was actually a thoughtful arrangement by Captain Aizen behind both my and Kira's rapid promotions. Of course, that was because...
"—Hey, quit screwing around! Why does my promotion automatically mean your rank goes up too?! That bearded geezer of ours isn't conspiring with your Captain Aizen, is he...?"
"What?! Captain Aizen would never promote his subordinates for such unfair reasons! It's all my skill, sorry to disappoint!"
"Hehe, congratulations to both of you. Will you stay for dinner tonight?"
"Yes!"
Here we were again, having a rare day off together at Granny's house, my childhood friend and I butting heads. Yes, Captain Aizen's thoughtful arrangement was his cooperation in this ongoing competition between Shiro-chan and me.
—When I become stronger than you...
Seventeen years had passed since that declaration and subsequent chickening out. The prodigy of his generation, Shiro-chan, had now reached the same Third Seat position as me in the Tenth Division. Despite losing four years of basic training time due to skipping grades and getting caught up in troublesome squad duties and missions, he'd still achieved this high-ranking position. The results were certainly worthy of pride, but... it seemed like he could only see me (grin).
Of course, in the original story, Hitsugaya Toshiro would become Lieutenant-equivalent in just four years through his partnership with Matsumoto. Since Captain Aizen's faction was the cause of that, it meant Shiro-chan would continue satisfying my... entertainment for the foreseeable future. In gratitude, I'd put extra beef in his bowl.
"Here, Shiro-chan, growing boys need to eat plenty!"
"Tch, treating me like a kid again... You're short too, damn it."
"That's mean! I'm not short, I'm petite!"
Even while complaining, he properly accepted the food, which showed his affection and made me happy. Incidentally, while in my previous life Orihime had been my type appearance-wise, now that I'd been reincarnated as a girl, I preferred Hinamori's delicate body that inspired protective instincts. Especially her slender neck, arms, and legs, they were absolutely beautiful. If I wore something like a mini-skirt with knee-high socks showing absolute territory with this body, it would probably break Shiro-chan's sexual preferences, so I kept my casual clothes to normal kosode for modesty.
Muttering "Why do all the guys like someone like this..." and complaining about others' aesthetic sense, you should just accept that I'm the most beautiful girl in all of Soul Society.
But getting back to the topic, those were the changes in the Gotei 13, though there had actually been major progress in the Demon Arts Corps as well. In fact, I should probably mention this first.
Yes. I, codenamed "Crimson Swallow," had recently been promoted to Squad Leader of the First Corps, Seventh Squad of the Demon Arts Corps. And being squad leader meant—finally! After twenty years, at long last...
—I could use Black Coffin!
Doyaaaaaaa! It was truly a long, bitter struggle worthy of the phrase "many years of hardship", a battle against my dark history. Apparently this was the fastest anyone had ever reached the nineties-level spells in the Demon Arts Corps. As expected of the genius Hinamori Soul—yahoo!
Though I could only barely manage something resembling it with full incantation, so the power was completely lacking, and incantationless casting was still a pipe dream. Still, it was far better than my rookie days when I couldn't even dream of it. Twenty-four more years until the original story begins—practice, practice, practice in Hueco Mundo! Increase the power and aim for incantationless captain-level instant kills! Now then, who should I have as a sacrifice when I defect? (counting chickens)
So those were the changes in my public position, but I'd like to mention the behind-the-scenes changes too.
First, the Arrancar army in Las Noches. For some reason, I'd been saddled with the completely original position of "General of the Espada" that never existed in the original story and whose purpose I couldn't really understand. Basically, I think Captain Aizen decided that since I was the most free among his top agents, I should manage the Hollows and Arrancars. So I had anyone who wouldn't listen participate in stress relief sessions with Tobiume, and eventually everyone started obeying me on the surface. For example, even though we've spent twenty years searching for just Ulquiorra, everyone's still diligently hunting for him, that's how obedient they are. Thanks to this, the boss has placed even more trust in me, saying "good work maintaining order." About half the work of the "Hueco Mundo Administrator" seems to be getting dumped on me...
That aside, this "General of the Espada" position, despite its grandiose name, doesn't have very clearly defined authority. Captain Aizen is probably more interested in what I'll use it for than the position itself. What for? To recreate the original story, obviously.
So I'm currently in the middle of collecting the original story's Espada and Fracción characters and sticking them in their proper positions. Someone praise me when I get them all together.
...Well then. I'd enjoyed the rare family gathering, so it was time to get up.
"—Demon Arts Corps work?"
Shiro-chan, who'd come to see me off at the entrance, asked with a slightly lonely expression. Geez, if you want me to entertain you that badly, just say so. I guess I have no choice...
"Nope, helping Captain Aizen. The Lieutenant is on a mission today, so I'm staying by his side until lights-out instead!"
"...At this hour? Just the two of you?"
Now Shiro-chan frowned suspiciously. A girl of marriageable age and her admired handsome superior, alone together at night. Under one roof. There's no way nothing would happen... (evil scheming)
Of course, Hinamori was incredibly dense about herself, so she'd miss this completely.
"Yeah, Captain Aizen is busy so he's working even at this hour. Hehe, his casual clothes have such a gentle atmosphere, he looks wonderful!"
"! Wha...!"
"Well, I'm off!"
"Wait, Hinamori!"
Right now I was in pure maiden mode, finding special meaning in getting to see my admired man's private side. I bid farewell to the flustered Shiro-chan and used flash step to race through the nighttime Rukongai. I could sense his spiritual pressure growing distant behind me. Really, this is why you'll always be "Shiro-chan" to me—you don't have the guts to chase after me at full speed at times like this.
And Hitsugaya Toshiro would regret for the rest of his life that he couldn't stop Hinamori Momo at this moment... (flag)
Suddenly jumping topics, but as mentioned earlier, the current timeline is twenty-four years before the original story begins.
The major original story events I'd been involved with so far were three: the Huge Hollow attack during the Academy's living world training, the subjugation of Baraggan and occupation of Las Noches in Hueco Mundo, and the Metastacia—now Tentaclus, experiment that led to Shiba Kaien's death. Especially that last one, where I'd prepared almost the entire event scenario to properly recreate it, making me completely the root of all evil.
From Rukia's perspective, I was an incomprehensible great evil, while from my perspective as someone with original story knowledge, it was more like "without that event, you wouldn't feel as much attachment to Ichigo as in the original." There was a huge gap in perspective between the person involved and someone with meta-knowledge, which was hard to describe, but what I was about to attempt was truly an insanely ambitious plan that could only be described as a god's-eye view.
...I'm sure many of you have already realized. Twenty years before the original story began. The biggest event that occurred during this period was undoubtedly that.
—Ichigo's origin: The White Experiment.
This was arguably the most important event in the original Bleach, where Captain Aizen's scheming mastermind nature was displayed in full force. The protagonist's birth and all the abilities he would wield began here.
To briefly recap the original story's development: Ichigo's dad (Shinigami) and mom (Quincy) met, Captain Aizen's experimental Hollow "White" happened to parasitize his mom, and as a result, Ichigo was born as a hybrid super-protagonist with all three powers: Shinigami, Quincy, and Hollow. Plus Fullbring somehow too. A perfect example of a modern Jump hero hitting all the marks: bloodline, talent, victory!
To start the original Bleach story with that Ichigo as protagonist, this White Experiment absolutely had to result in White parasitizing Kurosaki Masaki and her marriage to Shiba Isshin. If these weren't reproduced perfectly, not only would the foundation for the protagonist's strength disappear, he wouldn't even be born in the first place.
...I had no choice. This was the original story's most important event—the protagonist's origin.
If worst came to worst, I'd have to reveal some of my original story knowledge to Captain Aizen before it was too late and force the canonical development.
"—A parasitic-type Hollow equivalent to an ultimate-class Vasto Lorde, created from the souls of multiple Shinigami..."
And so, here I was once again visiting the research lab of our resident Hollow researcher, Tosen Kaname.
"The large-scale enhancement of the Hogyoku was recently completed, and we succeeded in bringing the Arrancar closer to Shinigami. But those are merely spiritual bodies possessing characteristics of both Shinigami and Hollow. It's like mixing paints—the spiritual power increased, but they haven't reached a higher dimension."
"I understand what you're getting at. I also don't believe those beings are anywhere close to the 'pinnacle of spiritual evolution' that Captain Aizen desires. They're far too fragile."
"Exactly. So we need more data. Didn't Captain Aizen previously research giving Shinigami souls to the Hogyoku? I suggest we reference that and conduct new experiments applying the research results from strengthening Hollowfied Shinigami souls through kodoku methods to the Tentaclus Project. By combining the highest-grade research materials, we can observe changes at the limits of soul development."
I shamelessly suggested to the boss that "we might find some breakthrough." The point about creating a powerful parasitic ultimate-class Vasto Lorde using Shinigami souls as the base was absolutely non-negotiable. If we used a weak parasitic Hollow instead, the power Ichigo would later inherit could be drastically weakened.
Ichigo had already suffered enough in the final arc when the enemies abandoned the traditional "overwhelming power" approach for "different manga's ability supremacy" battles that he couldn't adapt to, leading to defeats, getting turned into a carpet, and his new Bankai breaking instantly. If the source of his power, White, was too weak and he became even more ordinary than that, he'd go from carpet to tarp. And I definitely didn't want to see a Bleach where Ichigo couldn't be active. Ichigo looked best not with a gloomy expression, but with the bright smile of someone who could save his friends, he was a stylish guy.
I waited intently for the boss's reaction. Right now, his excellent researcher's mind was probably running various calculations.
After thinking for a moment, Tosen looked up and fixed his gaze on me.
"...I heard about your... unique nature from Captain Aizen just once before."
His spiritual pressure was leaking out. Combined with the conversation topic, I instinctively straightened my posture.
"It was something I could never comprehend... but I was also ordered that if you taught me about it, I should grant whatever you strongly desired. I suppose this is that time?"
"!"
I was surprised. I had no idea Captain Aizen had said such a thing...
"...Very well, I'll cooperate fully."
"Captain Tosen...!"
"A parasitic Hollow equivalent to an ultimate-class Vasto Lorde, created from multiple Shinigami souls, what level of power specifically are you hoping for? Given how passionate you are about this plan, I assume it's not merely Harribel-level."
I swallowed audibly at Tosen's words.
When it came to passion, you were the same, I thought, seeing his upturned mouth corners and couldn't help but smile. The ultimate goal of the parasitic Hollow experiments that began with Metastacia-turned-Tentaclus. Having secured the aid of my reliable Hollow researcher partner Tosen Kaname, with whom I'd worked hand-in-hand so many times, I hid the slight pain in my chest from our conflicting dreams and answered with a full smile:
"Obviously. Our former greatest fighting force..."
—A Vasto Lorde equivalent to the former Cero Espada, Szayelaporro Grantz.
...Listen here, Ichigo.
After I've set up this much for you, if you break down saying "it's over..." in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, I'll never forgive you, got it? (tsundere)