Footsteps echoed as Aizen Sōsuke stepped into the underground chamber beneath Central Room 46.
It was the Great Spirit Book Corridor.
Massive-dark-limitless.
It stretched outward like the cosmos itself, filled with what felt less like data and closer to fate. The space wasn't bound to personal will-its laws were older, deeper. Every action, every event, recorded without error or bias. Words weren't how it remembered; knowledge here was crystallized into meaning and translated into text when called forth by the Shinigami who entered.
Wooden stairs extended forward like the edge of a diving board into somewhere bottomless.
He walked to their end. Beneath him was the ocean of knowledge-glimmering, inconsistent, waiting for instruction.
As he peered into it, the stars collapsed into solid shape, forming the narrow hexagonal hallways lined from floor to ceiling with ancient texts and stacked stone monoliths that hummed with age. Some felt older than Soul Society itself.
He wasn't here for history.
"Yuta," he said aloud.
With just that name and one subtle motion of his hand, the corridor responded. A book floated into view-a catalog. He skimmed down until the name emerged. Once located, the summary sank away as if dismissed by gravity, and another book surfaced in its place.
Fingers brushed the cover before opening it carefully.
"Yuta first appeared in Area 80 of Rukongai. He transformed spirit particles into water to quench his thirst... condensed spirit particles into swords to kill..."
Page flip-sharp silence.
His pupils contracted slowly. The manipulation of Reishi-that was Quincy power. Clear as anything he'd ever studied at Shin'ō Academy. And Yuta had done this instinctively?
Possession of both Shinigami and Quincy traits in one body shouldn't be possible. They were opposite forces by design-life and unmaking made flesh and intent. The idea that both powers lived side by side in Yuta opened doors Aizen had only approached through Hōgyoku experimentation-and those doors were sealed shut to most souls forever.
And this boy had done it naturally?
He smiled without thinking-sharp.
"Yuta," he whispered. "Just how far have you already gone?"
His eyes dropped back to the book.
"Later demonstrated high spiritual pressure... was introduced to Seireitei by Kyōraku Shunsui and Hitsugaya Tōshirō... entered Shin'ō Academy…"
Abilities listed beneath in fragments-standard notes-but then came the gap:
No recorded history before Area 80.
Nothing at any level of depth-even the Spirit Book Corridor couldn't track that kind of void unless it was deliberately erased or blocked by measure beyond divine decree.
"Even here…" Aizen's jaw tensed slightly. "Yuta… what exactly are you?"
No wonder the Hōgyoku stirred restlessly around him. And if even this place failed to catalog his origins…
He turned the page again slowly.
"Learned Bakudō #66 after observing Kyōraku Shunsui cast it once… Later demonstrated Kaidō and Shunpō techniques in succession-"
Impossible comprehension speed?
He flipped again-faster now-
"Yuta watched Aizen Sōsuke demonstrate Kyōka Suigetsu... later hypnotized two library guards using identical technique…"
Thud-the book closed in his hands softly from gravity alone as his fingers went slack for half a second of stunned disbelief.
"...he picked it up just from watching?"
His fingernail tapped once on the cover's edge before his mouth curved again into that same underlying grin.
"He even learned my release technique…"
Hōgyoku's desire made sense now.
He placed the book back and turned toward the stairs again slowly.
"Kurosaki Ichigo may stand there someday-but you, Yuta... you already do."
Each step clacked beneath his sandals as he returned toward the door frame now glowing faintly from white light spilling out beyond it-then-
Bang-the door of the Spiritual Book Corridor slammed shut behind him on exit.
Back in Room 46 aboveground-
Ichimaru Gin leaned off the wall and smiled slightly as he watched Aizen emerge calmly from the corridor below.
"Captain Aizen," Gin asked lightly, "is it really worth diving into the Great Spirit Book for just one name?"
"Only to confirm it."
Gin narrowed his eyes behind his usual smile-the glint of curiosity not quite hidden this time. "And who could possibly draw that much interest?"
"You'll meet him tonight."
Evening fell quick over Seireitei-
At the Shin'ō Academy square, dozens of sixth-year students had already gathered in formation by the boundary gate, prepped for soul burial training deployment.
Among them stood three leaders awaiting dispatch: two male instructors flanking one female figure at their center. Her posture was upright-her silence heavy with authority that needed no proof through action or word. The two beside her handled most instruction while she offered only clipped nods in acknowledgment-never speech.
"Present your student ID cards for inspection and pick up your denreishinki," one of the instructors called out.
Yuta stepped forward without hesitation. A single glance from her narrowed his way instantly-the ponytail behind his head, student blade at his hip-it was unmistakable.
Kurenai frowned sharply.
"What's this? Why is there a first-year listed among upperclassmen assigned to practical burial work?"
Choji sighed audibly from just behind her shoulder. "Want me to send him back?"
Nagisa replied first instead. "He's either bold or stupid-let him prove which."
Kurenai checked her list again-his name was there undeniably. Marked correctly too. She clicked her tongue under her breath but turned toward Yuta anyway with narrowed eyes.
"You'll stay close to me," she said curtly. "Don't act unless I tell you to-understood?"
Yuta gave no response-not even the courtesy of acknowledgment.
Kurenai didn't press it. She turned back toward deployment prep just as another student stepped aside with tension in their shoulders from seeing what lay ahead beyond the gate-
Black slime framed with dim violet glow. Bone fragments drifted inside its folds like insects caught mid-swim under tarwater. It pulsed as if alive-breathing death instead of air.
Seeing it directly induced reactions far stronger than lectures ever managed within academy walls.
"Move fast," Kurenai warned flatly as she stepped forward across the threshold first. "Don't get caught by gate drag."
Students moved fast-packs forming instinctively for protection even before they were told to do so-
Yuta stayed behind momentarily longer than needed-his gaze on Kurenai's back-and reached out impulsively toward her shoulder without thinking-
Cold fingers grabbed his wrist before contact could be made.
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