The forces led by Sōsuke Aizen had departed from the Soul Society.
The Gotei 13 had failed to both apprehend and defeat the arch-traitors. It was an unprecedented, crushing defeat in the history of the Seireitei, one that left many scars in its wake.
"Captain Aizen... Ms. Hinamori..."
In the Squad 5 barracks.
Inside the now-empty captain's office, the 3rd Seat of the squad, Hotaru Kanisawa, stood in a daze. Her two superiors, who had occupied this room until just a few days ago, were now enemies of the Soul Society, wanted as the worst criminals in its history, with a special general mobilization order issued for their capture. It was a truth she still couldn't believe.
For Hotaru, Momo Hinamori had been her goal.
She first learned of her during her academy days, when a well-informed friend told her about a new student, a genius in Kidō who had studied under the princess of the Shiba clan. At first, she was just interested as a fellow female student who also excelled in Kidō, but with every rumor she heard, she began to see her as a rival, thinking, "I can't lose to her."
They met in person during a training exercise in the World of the Living, where Hotaru served as a proctor. She had found Hinamori's name on the roster for Class 1-1 and had immediately volunteered for the assignment. The girl she met was just as cute and kind-hearted as the rumors said, and a genius who surpassed them.
A first-year student who, without flinching at the swarm of giant Hollows that appeared during the exercise, had sacrificed herself to save everyone. Hotaru, whose duty it should have been, had been knocked unconscious by a single blow from the enemy and had woken up to find it all over. The gap between herself and her savior, who had put up such a fight against an insurmountable foe, was humiliating and pathetic.
It was the man who would become her idol, Sōsuke Aizen, who illuminated the darkness in Hotaru's grieving heart.
—Fear is a shackle, but it is also nourishment.
—Only those who know fear can support those who do not.
To her, who felt inferior in every way, he taught her that the "fear" they possessed was a precious thing. Hotaru was deeply moved by the handsome man's profound and gentle words. Even when Hinamori surpassed her in rank, even when she heard of her accomplishments in the Kidō Corps, it was Aizen's words that allowed her to look forward without becoming bitter.
"It's thanks to both of you that I am who I am today..."
Her mentor and her rival, her benefactors.
Having lost both of these important people at once, all Hotaru Kanisawa had left was a document titled "On Squad Command and Leadership," which had been neatly placed on Hinamori's desk. It was an illustrated manual, detailing the actions a squad should take in an emergency when the command structure was absent. It felt like both a desperate apology from her and the bare minimum of a clean break, like a bird leaving no trace as it takes flight.
"Couldn't you have stayed, instead of leaving me this...?"
A single tear traced a path down her cheek.
This is no time to cry. She had to pull together the squad, whose chain of command was now in chaos, just as this booklet, entrusted to her as the 3rd Seat, instructed.
But the clamor of confusion echoing through the barracks only seemed to grow more distant as Hotaru Kanisawa found herself completely overwhelmed by the unbearable reality.
***
On the way back to the Squad 3 barracks.
Vice-Captain Kira Izuru, dead drunk after being dragged out for drinks by his colleagues from Squad 10, was busy committing the nuisance of leaving a yellow stain on a roadside wall.
"Aah... it wasn't... a dream, was it..."
The young man looked up at the sky, his face flushed and his eyes glazed over. Burned into his mind were the faces of a man and a woman.
His absolute superior, Gin Ichimaru, had become an enemy of the Soul Society, and Kira himself had been made an accomplice in several of his evil deeds. He had mainly served to buy time for the conspiracy, such as by altering the guard orders for the Central 46 and luring in the Vice-Captain of Squad 10, Rangiku Matsumoto, who was rushing around trying to uncover the truth.
But the result of all that was the lonely young man he was now.
"...Is this, too... my fault for just blindly following my superior...?"
Kira deeply regretted that his obsession with his duties as a vice-captain had ended up endangering the Soul Society.
And above all.
"—Hinamori..."
The young man clutched at his chest, which ached as if it had been gouged out, and squatted on the ground. It was the name of his greatest regret.
Fifty years had passed since they first met. When he saw the lovely girl who had taken the top spot at the Soul Reaper Academy entrance ceremony, surpassing him, what Kira felt was not frustration, but a sweet fluttering in his chest. From then on, he had fought off the hordes of other men to sit next to her in class, and though he was often flustered by her complete lack of guard around the opposite sex, he had succeeded in becoming her friend. He was confident that, for fifty years, he had watched her more closely than anyone else.
Of course, she was the girl who had continued to reign—unbeknownst to her—as the number one girl the academy students wanted to date. The names of his rivals were all formidable foes: Sōsuke Aizen, Toshiro Hitsugaya. But his half-century of love, which had driven him to continue improving himself without being daunted by the towering walls before him, was undoubtedly real.
And yet...
"...If I had noticed... would Hinamori have relied on me...?"
The events at Sōkyoku Hill, which he had heard about from his colleague Rangiku, were just as hard to believe as Sōsuke Aizen's betrayal. Kira still hadn't been able to process it as fact.
—That Hinamori had been hiding her true strength to match those around her.
—That Hinamori had been an accomplice in Aizen's evil deeds.
—That Hinamori had defeated Toshiro and taken Aizen's hand.
Stated as facts, many of these were grave crimes under Soul Reaper law. But countless voices from the Gotei 13 were calling for her rescue and a reduced sentence, and if he could, Kira would do the same. He simply could not believe that the lovely, kind-hearted girl was a villain.
But.
"...My duty as a vice-captain, and my feelings for Hinamori..."
Whether he chose one or the other, he knew he would regret it. When he returned to the barracks, a mountain of paperwork would be waiting on his desk. He should take care of that first.
At times like this, Kira Izuru was thoroughly disgusted with himself for his inability to make a decisive choice, for being able to do nothing but escape into his work.
***
"—What was I supposed to do...?"
The woman, Rangiku Matsumoto, sat lost in thought on a simple chair in the Squad 4 infirmary.
Her gaze was fixed on the sky where her childhood friend and her best friend had disappeared, now dyed a sorrowful crimson.
He had been important to her.
Even though they had been distant ever since graduating from the academy, she had never once forgotten her memories of him. When he became the captain of Squad 3, leaving Squad 5, she had congratulated him, but she had felt a sense of loneliness as his back grew more distant, as he didn't choose her to be his vice-captain.
She had been important to her.
She had watched over her since their academy days, a girl who was like a younger sister to her, one she had looked after and been looked after by. When she became a fellow vice-captain, she had teased her, saying it was too soon, but deep down, she had been overjoyed.
From the invader disturbance to Sōsuke Aizen's faked assassination. When those two important people became entangled in an unsettling relationship, she had felt her heart would break.
And then.
"Those idiots..."
A sigh escaped her, and with it, a curse.
—Sorry, Rangiku...
She had hated that idiot. For always going off somewhere on his own, without ever telling her where he was going.
—I'm sorry... Ms. Rangiku...
She had come to hate that idiot. For keeping everything to herself, for hiding her tears and shouldering the burden all alone.
No, that wasn't right. The idiot was.
"Me..."
Rangiku buried her face in her hands.
She, who had cherished him, but had been too afraid to ask his true intentions. She, who had been too dense to notice her friend's suffering.
She, who had lost them both and could now do nothing but be crushed by regret. Rangiku couldn't stand herself.
"...Haaah! Enough of this. If the vice-captain is like this, the squad can't function."
Rangiku slapped her cheeks and stood up. She took a deep breath to steel herself and, in one smooth motion, brought her heavy fist down on the lump in the bed before her.
"Don't you agree, CA-PTA-IN?"
"—Aaahhh!?"
A pathetic cry escaped from under the covers. It was her superior—Toshiro Hitsugaya—who had been moping like a caterpillar ever since the incident, even more deeply depressed than she was.
"Y-You, Matsumoto! Is that any way to treat an injured person!?"
"If you have the energy to shout like that, then hurry up and finish your paperwork! And besides, this room is too depressing! You've got mushrooms growing on your head, Captain, look! Should I ask Captain Unohana to make us some 'Toshiro Cultivation' mushroom hot pot?"
"They're not growing! And don't take my blanket, don't open the window, close the curtains, and you get out too!"
"Ow! Violence, Captain, that's mean!"
The pale, snot-nosed brat with huge bags under his eyes threw a pillow at her. As she teased him, Rangiku felt her heart ache at the sight of her superior's utter exhaustion.
It was hard enough for her, an adult. A boy who was still a child couldn't possibly have the strength of heart to bear such a tragedy...
"...I'm quitting as captain."
And so, Rangiku couldn't bring herself to blame Toshiro for his quiet murmur.
"...What are you talking about, Captain? Who's going to lead the squad if you're not here?"
"You can do it."
The boy's voice was filled with genuine belief.
"You were always higher in rank and years of service. I only became captain because of Captain Shiba's favoritism. It would be better for you to take over than a kid like me."
"...That pervert told me the squad would fall apart if I was in charge."
With Gin having followed Aizen, Rangiku no longer had a reason to aim for the same captain's seat as him.
And the same was likely true for Toshiro, who had had Hinamori taken from him. The earnest boy had only wanted to attain a rank higher than hers, all for the sake of being acknowledged by her.
That was why Toshiro could say something so irresponsible.
"—I don't care. Let it fall apart."
Silence fell in the two-person infirmary.
The boy, with his dull eyes cast down, was a pitiful, heart-wrenching sight. Rangiku, unable to bear the rising ache in her chest, immediately lashed out with anger.
"...Enough is enough—Toshiro!"
Perhaps if she used his old name, her words would get through to him now.
"Look, everyone has bad things happen to them in life! Sometimes you regret things so much you want to die! But everyone keeps on living miserably! They find a way to deal with it and go to work with a smile on their faces!"
"..."
"You can't be the only one to run away! Being a captain, being a strong Soul Reaper, means you have a duty to bear more unpleasant, humiliating, and painful things than anyone else, just by being what you are!"
Preaching wasn't her style, but Rangiku rattled off the strong words she still told herself as a comfort.
But.
"It was because of that stupid duty that I lost her!!"
"...!"
Perhaps it was the raw spiritual pressure riding on his scream, or perhaps it was the words themselves. Rangiku flinched at the boy's cry.
"Because of that duty... I took my eyes off her."
"...That's not true."
"It is! I became a captain because I wanted to be a man who could protect Hinamori... because I wanted her to acknowledge me as a man who could protect her... and look what happened..."
Toshiro confessed, as if in repentance.
When he had challenged Aizen in the Sanctum, the boy's Bankai had been sealed by a simple binding spell. As he said, that monster was probably capable of such a feat, Rangiku thought, biting her lip. To have that done to him by the man he saw as a rival in love... it would be enough to easily shatter the pride of an innocent child.
"And what's more... you saw it, didn't you? I'm the kind of man who gets taken out in one hit by a single Hadō from the very woman I thought I was protecting..."
"Tch, that was...!"
"She had a hole in her stomach, you know. Her mind and body were on the verge of death, she was bleeding and staggering... and even then, she was that strong..."
A Hadō in the nineties.
The spell Hinamori had used at that time was an ultimate form of Kidō that a genius might only reach after a lifetime of dedication. It was a domain that included many forbidden spells, and in fact, only a handful of Gotei 13 captains could use it. It was said to be even more difficult to master than Bankai, not a power that a young girl who had only been a Soul Reaper for fifty years or so should have been able to wield. It should have been impossible.
"She was always like that. Usually she's so air-headed, but when it really mattered, she always protected me... she was always one step ahead of me..."
Toshiro stared off into the distance, as if recalling the past.
He must have been thinking of his memories with Hinamori. The "unusual reliability" she was said to have shown from time to time... perhaps for her, it was an expression of her desire to protect her childhood friend, even if it meant letting him glimpse the secret she wanted to hide.
And in the end, he had been unable to realize her secret until it was too late.
"There's no way someone like me... can get her back from Aizen..."
I'm weaker than the person who asked me for help.
Toshiro, who spat out those words, looked so small. His usual confidence, the bottomless talent of a prodigy, were nowhere to be seen in him now. All that was left was a broken, pitiful, empty shell.
"—Is that so. Then you're giving up."
But at Rangiku's words, the empty shell twitched.
"Miserably protected by the girl you love. Quitting as captain and retreating from the front lines so you don't cause her any more trouble. You're just going to leave your childhood friend to suffer for your sake."
"Tch...!"
The boy bit his lip at Rangiku's merciless words.
Even as he said such pathetic things, it seemed his century of love was deeply rooted.
For some reason, watching him was starting to irritate Rangiku. A tragedy born from mutual feelings should be the stuff of a passionate love story. Compared to her, who knew nothing about Gin, he knew so much more about the other's circumstances, yet he was allowing himself to wallow in such luxurious self-pity.
"I'm going to fight."
The boy's shoulders jumped.
"Aizen is strong? Everyone who was there knows that."
"..."
"But I'm still going to fight. Whether I lose, whether I die in vain, everyone who had something more precious than life stolen from them by that man will fight."
Friends, lovers, family, and honor. Everyone had honed their skills to protect those things and had become who they were today. Toshiro wasn't the only special one. Rangiku conveyed this without saying it.
And then, the woman took a deep breath and declared her own resolve.
"—I'm going to tell Gin. 'I love you.'"
"!"
The boy's head shot up. His eyes were wide, his breath caught in his throat.
Finding his reaction amusing, Rangiku puffed out her chest with a shy smile.
"I'll definitely tell him when this is all over. I'm sick of a life where all I do is watch from afar, sucking on my thumb."
What a grand thing to say. Reflecting on her own life, the woman inwardly scratched her head in embarrassment.
"I'll make it so you don't have to cry, Rangiku."
She had become a Soul Reaper to chase after that idiot, who had entered the academy saying such incomprehensible things. But he had joined the Gotei 13 on his own after a year, and she had been left behind ever since. No matter how much she chased him, the gap only widened, and at some point, she had resigned herself to being sad, thinking, "He's probably forgotten all about me."
But she didn't have the courage to hear the answer from his own lips, and so the Soul Reaper known as Rangiku Matsumoto lived her days with that pent-up frustration smoldering in her heart.
But no more of that.
Rangiku made up her mind.
—If I'm going to regret something, I want to regret the results of having tried my best not to have regrets.
"...Aren't you going to tell Hinamori, Toshiro?"
She asked the boy with the trembling eyes.
"You worked so hard to climb to the rank of captain at your age, are you going to give up and throw it all away after just one setback? Isn't rescuing a girl in distress who's asking for your help a huge chance for a confession? Can't you get fired up as a man?"
It was her own way of cheering him on. An adult woman's meddling for her snot-nosed junior, who was also regretting his inability to confess.
He and she were very similar.
They were both proud, cowardly, and more than anything, hated to lose.
So surely, if she fanned the flames of his self-loathing...
"—It's Captain Hitsugaya."
See, this boy could get back on his feet just fine.
"If I just sit here and listen, you'll say whatever you want... Don't talk about work when you're a slacker, acting all high and mighty."
"Wow, you're really going to say that now?"
He was still as narrow-minded as ever with people he was close to, but perhaps that was his own way of showing affection. The trembling in his eyes vanished, and the prodigy, now with a light of determination in his eyes even stronger than before, led the way to the infirmary door with his small, yet large, back.
"...Follow me, Vice-Captain Matsumoto."
"!"
"Let's finish this work quickly and get back to training Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō...! We're going to kick Aizen's ass!"
Toshiro clenched his fist, unleashing a reliable spiritual pressure.
If only he could do that in front of Hinamori, she'd be head over heels. With a sense of pride, as if watching her own son's growth, Rangiku regarded the boy with gentle affection and was about to give the most powerful reply she could...
"!—Yes, s—"
"That will not do."
"Eek!?"
Suddenly, another female voice, filled with a calm pressure, interrupted them.
"C-Captain Unohana!?"
Rangiku and Toshiro jumped and spun around. There stood a graceful Japanese beauty with a lovely smile.
"You ignored my warning and charged at Aizen alone, and now you intend to ignore the rules of my barracks as well?"
"Uh, no, I mean—"
"Injured people need to rest, you see?"
"Hic..."
And so, Rangiku and Toshiro, who had just gotten back on their feet.
But their reboot, brought to a halt by the queen's authority, was a rather anticlimactic one, just like them.
"...I'm not going to thank you."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep your mopey Toshiro side a secret from Hinamori~"
"...If you tell her, I'll seriously kill you!?"
***
10 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon!
https://patreon.com/Well_being