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"Hmm hmm~ hmm hmm hmm~~ hmm~"
Under the bright sun, Ishikawa Katori lay lazily on a lounge chair outside the Everything Store on the second floor of the tavern.
Compared to winter, he still preferred spring and summer; the feeling of lying on a lounge chair bathed in sunlight was incredibly comfortable.
Comfortable!!
"Ah~ I feel like it's been a long time since I've been this idle."
As Ishikawa Katori's business scope expanded, his customers also increased. Especially in the past six months, he hadn't taken a single day off. At most, some non-urgent commissions were even scheduled for a week later.
Today, with no commissions at all, was the first time in half a year!
Of course, despite being busy, Ishikawa Katori hadn't neglected his cultivation, setting aside a few hours each day for practice.
He was simultaneously training all four combat techniques of Zankensoki, still mostly using experience points only when encountering bottlenecks, as he always had. The only difference was… after the battle with Genji, Ishikawa Katori placed even greater importance on Reiatsu.
Whenever he had free time, he would go to the Shiba to use the Kukaku training hall. When he accumulated enough experience points, he would allocate a portion of them to Reiatsu.
Genji had personally made Ishikawa Katori realize the truth of the saying, 'A Shinigami's battle is a contest of Reiatsu.' No matter how strong his combat techniques were, without strong Reiatsu as a backing, he couldn't even break through the Reiatsu defense on Genji's body.
But blindly pursuing powerful Reiatsu while neglecting technique would also lead to being easily killed by Ishikawa Katori, just like Genji, when Reiatsu was similar or even inferior.
The most suitable method was like Aizen: reaching the pinnacle in both Reiatsu and combat techniques.
However…
Reiatsu: Advanced (9840 / 100000)
Looking at the string of zeros after the required experience points, Ishikawa Katori felt his future was bleak.
As for reaching Aizen's level, where both his Reiatsu and Zankensoki reached the limit for a Shinigami, this wasn't just about having strong talent. It required extreme talent combined with continuous, insane cultivation over a long period of time to even possibly reach his level.
And his obsession with 'getting stronger' had reached a demonic level!
Thinking of Aizen, Ishikawa Katori's expression subtly turned grim. After defeating Genji, the name Aizen Sōsuke had barely left Ishikawa Katori's mind.
Although the calm of the past six months suggested that his defeat of Genji hadn't attracted Aizen's attention.
He was also well aware that his current strength wasn't enough to warrant his attention.
But…
That guy was too cautious, too fond of planning in the shadows. Who knew if he had already set his sights on him.
Ishikawa Katori couldn't even be sure if he might have already fallen under Kyōka Suigetsu's spell at some point.
He had to be on guard, but it was impossible to guard against!
For the past six months, Ishikawa Katori had been contemplating methods to break Kyōka Suigetsu.
There were ways to break it, at least three that Ishikawa Katori knew of.
Being blind like Tōsen Kaname;
Touching Aizen's Zanpakuto before his Shikai, like Ichimaru Gin;
Or grabbing his true body when Aizen wasn't paying attention.
All three methods had incredibly difficult prerequisites. The simplest was ironically the first one: blinding oneself and remaining blind forever.
As for closing his eyes during a fight with Aizen, Ishikawa Katori had considered it.
But once Kyōka Suigetsu was activated, whether it was pedestrians walking by, buildings and trees on the street, or even cats and mice in corners, any of them could be the true body of Kyōka Suigetsu. These mediums were practically unsolvable, and people often found themselves hypnotized without even realizing it.
What was the difference between closing one's eyes for life and blinding oneself?
Compared to being blind for life, Ishikawa Katori would rather hide until Aizen was sealed… This was Ishikawa Katori's initial plan: to honestly not provoke Aizen. But there was a prerequisite: that he hadn't been targeted by Aizen. If he had been targeted, then he had to prepare beforehand!!
As for the second and third methods…
Even setting aside whether he could even grasp him, Ishikawa Katori wasn't confident he wouldn't be cut down by Aizen with a single strike if he got close.
Kyōka Suigetsu was indeed terrifying, but the truly terrifying one was Aizen himself; rather than saying Kyōka Suigetsu created Aizen, it was Aizen, a master who had reached the pinnacle in intelligence, Reiatsu, and even Zankensoki, who made Kyōka Suigetsu so terrifying!
Actually, there was another relatively simple method…
That was to disregard everything, not converse with the opponent, and continuously launch a wide-range offensive, covering everything except himself. However, this method required incredibly powerful spiritual pressure and Kido, and at the same time… it could only be used when the opponent attacked.
Otherwise, the opponent could simply temporarily exit the range, and once his Reiatsu was depleted, come back for the final blow.
If Kyōka Suigetsu only controlled the five senses, it would be fine, but the victim's Reiatsu perception would also be controlled, which rendered existing investigative Bakudo almost useless.
Even Bakudo No. 58: Kakushitsuijaku, which Ishikawa Katori had studied the most in the past six months, was no exception.
Kakushitsuijaku could sense the opponent's Reiatsu and track their location, but it required drawing Spiritual Crests beforehand and conducting a wide-range search to pinpoint a person. However, for those who concealed their Reiatsu or altered their spiritual energy characteristics… no, strictly speaking, those who altered their spiritual energy characteristics in Ishikawa Katori's perception, this Bakudo would not work.
And in battle, Ishikawa Katori wouldn't have time to draw Spiritual Crests.
Unless…
Based on this, he created a new type of Bakudo.
This Bakudo had to be instantaneous and have stronger investigative capabilities, capable of tracking the opponent even if their spiritual energy properties changed.
Ishikawa Katori's research direction was singular: a targeted Bakudo.
In short, it was to create a rudimentary Bakudo specifically for Aizen. Once this Kido prototype was created, he could then teach it to the system for deduction, completing it entirely.
This method was the one Ishikawa Katori believed had the highest chance of success.
But 'targeting' was not something that could be done based on impressions alone; it required long-term, close contact and detailed understanding of the intended target.
"…Is this what they call fighting wits with air?"
Ishikawa Katori's mouth twitched slightly. He hadn't even met Aizen once, yet he was already racking his brain trying to figure out how to counter him.
And…
It was so unrealistic.
Still, the same old saying: the person is terrifying, not the Zanpakuto.
To contend with Aizen, merely deciphering his Zanpakuto's ability was far from enough; he himself needed to possess comparable strength. Otherwise, Aizen wouldn't even need a sword to kill him.
"Hmm?"
Ishikawa Katori, who had been lying on the lounge chair, suddenly sat up, looking out at the distant street from the second floor.
Almost as he looked, a figure clad in black appeared at the end of the street. Pedestrians around him all made way; the reason was simple: this person was wearing the shinigami uniform, which only Shinigami wore.
What was a Shinigami doing here?
A hint of doubt flashed in Ishikawa Katori's eyes. Although Shinigami from the Fourth Squad often secretly came here to learn Kido, they always came in casual attire, even Kotetsu Isane was no exception.
Looking at me?
The next second, a hint of vigilance flashed in Ishikawa Katori's eyes, because the newcomer immediately fixed his gaze on Ishikawa Katori, who was on the second floor.
As he gradually approached, he walked directly to the Everything Store downstairs and ascended the stairs.
Ishikawa Katori sat up from the lounge chair and looked at the Shinigami coming up the stairs.
The newcomer appeared to be in his thirties, with an ordinary appearance, the kind who would be completely unremarkable in a crowd, making Ishikawa Katori feel quite handsome by comparison.
"Hello, are you Big Bro Ishikawa?"
Ignoring Ishikawa Katori's scrutinizing gaze, the man directly stated his purpose for being there: "I have a commission that requires a trip to Seireitei. Can you accept it? Of course, temporary passes will be issued by our Second Division, but you will need to be monitored during the work. Can you accept this?"
The man did not display the arrogance Shinigami usually showed towards Rukongai residents. Instead, he gave off a very humble, even somewhat fearful, impression.
Although they had been monitoring Ishikawa Katori for a long time, this was their first close-up encounter. Furthermore, the other party was rumored to be someone who killed without batting an eye. He was genuinely afraid that he might say something wrong and be killed by Big Bro Ishikawa.
Why did he have to come when this job was assigned to Da 前田?
The man's mouth twitched slightly. On one hand, it was an order from his superior, and on the other…
He offered too much.
Ishikawa Katori was stunned.
A commission to Seireitei?
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