Yoruichi Shihōin left, leaving Higashino Shuuichi behind.
Shuuichi's eyes were filled with confusion.
"She's already long gone—are you still going to keep acting? No one's here to appreciate that flawless performance of yours anymore."
All of a sudden, Aizen Sōsuke emerged from who-knew-where, smiling as he looked in the direction Yoruichi had departed.
"Isn't Aizen-sama still here to appreciate it?" Higashino Shuuichi's eyes instantly cleared. He strode over in two quick steps and stopped beside Aizen Sōsuke. "Besides, I don't have Aizen-sama's keen spiritual perception. What if Yoruichi-taichō sensed something and suddenly came back? When you're putting on a show, Aizen-sama, you know me—I like to do the full set~"
"There are only two of us here," Aizen said, flicking his gaze toward Shuuichi. "Do you still need to be this modest in front of me?"
"I do," Higashino Shuuichi said calmly, hands in his pockets. "Just like how I'm addressing you right now, Aizen-sama. Even if I have my own thoughts, I've never once forgotten your guidance. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had this cooperation between the two of us today, would we?"
"If I were you," Aizen said, "I wouldn't waste a piece like Entetsu Kumoi and choose something so strenuous and unrewarding instead. Urozakuro's ability is indeed convenient, but in the end, it's merely a Zanpakutō that has left its master. To make it bring out Entetsu Kumoi's true power is still far too difficult. If Yoruichi-taichō hadn't chosen to escape through the opening you 'sold' her, and instead had directly forced her way through that fake Entetsu Kumoi… wouldn't your plan have collapsed from the very start?"
Aizen reviewed it with a composed tone.
No matter what, he still felt Higashino Shuuichi's operation had been far too risky—no, "aggressive" was the more accurate word.
If Aizen had been the one arranging it, he would have split Shuuichi's plan into two steps, not one.
"If I had an ability as convenient as Aizen-sama's Zanpakutō," Higashino Shuuichi replied, "I wouldn't need to do this either. Unfortunately, I don't. The more steps I split it into, the more I end up owing Aizen-sama, don't I? And for me, that's not necessarily a good thing."
Of course Shuuichi knew what Aizen was pointing at.
From the very beginning, Shuuichi had never intended to let Entetsu Kumoi truly confront Yoruichi.
On one hand, Shuuichi couldn't fully trust Entetsu Kumoi's side of the story. If those two really were in league with each other and joined hands to bite back at him, it would become a case of trying to steal a chicken and losing the rice instead.
On the other hand, Shuuichi didn't think Urahara Kisuke's approach was wrong. A first-generation captain with a powerful self-will who refused to go along with others was indeed a hidden danger. If so, then better to give Soul Society's captains something to do—pad Kurotsuchi Mayuri's achievements while drawing as many captains as possible to the Human World.
So in Aizen's eyes, dealing with Yoruichi and resolving Entetsu Kumoi could have been done in two phases—or simply bundled together and wiped out in one net.
But in Shuuichi's eyes, the best method was to split them apart.
And doing so had another benefit: it let Shuuichi apply his next series of plans to Yoruichi alone.
He had named that plan—
"Inception."
That was why everything Yoruichi saw at the start really was a space created by Yushima Ōko—yes. But the "Entetsu Kumoi" and "Higashino Shuuichi" inside it were both fake, both replicas created by Urozakuro using its ability to fuse Reishi.
And that was also why, in the first layer, Yoruichi's Shunkō: Raijū Senkei (Thunder Beast Battle Form) had been able to forcibly tear apart "Entetsu Kumoi's Bankai ability."
It had been Reishi that hadn't fully fused with Entetsu Kumoi's reigai (spirit body), and Urozakuro's unfamiliar manipulation had caused the flaw.
All appearance, no substance.
If, at that time, Yoruichi had focused her attention there, she might have noticed something.
But Shuuichi was certain she wouldn't.
That was why, from the start, he had created oppressive pressure by having Yushima Ōko, Kisaragi Shūsuke, Kabuma Sayako, and the others all appear together.
Shuuichi was sure Yoruichi didn't have the kind of iron heart that stayed unshaken by anything.
Just think about it: facing at least four captain-class combatants at once—two of whom absolutely wouldn't be weaker than yourself, and might even be stronger—who could remain calm enough?
That Yoruichi managed to find the "opening" Shuuichi deliberately sold her was already the best result of her forcing herself to keep thinking.
After that came the second layer Shuuichi constructed.
No—strictly speaking, it wasn't a space constructed by Shuuichi.
Because before Yoruichi "met" the Muguruma Kensei that Shuuichi was impersonating, and the other two replicas Urozakuro created, everything she saw was real.
Just as Yoruichi analyzed, with Yushima Ōko's ability, he couldn't stack a new space atop the one he had built.
Even if he could, he couldn't make it realistic enough to pass for truth.
So Yoruichi truly had already arrived above the sea.
And the information Kurotsuchi Mayuri obtained in Soul Society—was indeed received because of the alarm triggered at that time.
So, strictly speaking, Yoruichi had achieved her objective.
She wanted to give Shuuichi a headache, and she succeeded.
It was just that she probably hadn't expected Shuuichi had long since prepared to have Entetsu Kumoi—already caught under Kyōka Suigetsu—and Soul Society's captains cause a grand uproar in the Human World.
So her move simply let Shuuichi ride the wave, go to Aizen early, and kick that portion of the plan into motion ahead of schedule.
As for Yoruichi herself, under Shuuichi's convincing "performance," plus the assistance of the Hirako Shinji replica created by Urozakuro, she had been successfully tricked into stepping into it.
He made her believe that what she'd just experienced was a world meticulously woven by Higashino Shuuichi.
And that this "new world," revealed after Shuuichi was supposedly exposed by Hirako Shinji's power, was the true Human World.
But in reality, the "world" Shuuichi exposed was precisely a new space that Yushima Ōko—after taking time to recover—had recreated according to the rehearsal from earlier.
"Even so," Aizen said, "I still don't understand your purpose. If you wanted to control Yoruichi Shihōin, let alone me—even you alone could do it, couldn't you? As long as those two kids, Kisaragi Shūsuke and Yushima Ōko, help you. You went around in such a huge circle, and in the end you still let her go. What exactly are you trying to get from her?"
Aizen Sōsuke, rarely, asked Shuuichi a genuine question.
And Shuuichi wasn't particularly surprised.
After all, there weren't many in the Shinigami world who seriously studied psychology.
Shinigami were also people. And to Shuuichi, if someone was a person, then they had mental weaknesses that could be exploited.
Shuuichi knew that with his current means and situation, trying to find a Urahara Kisuke who was deliberately hiding somewhere in the vast East Administration was simply impossible.
So Yoruichi was his only breakthrough.
He wanted to know what Urahara Kisuke was really plotting behind the scenes.
Clearly, a large portion of what was happening in Soul Society now—things that did not belong to the "plot" in Shuuichi's original memories—was connected to Urahara Kisuke's actions over in the East Administration.
Even if, in the original story, Urahara Kisuke proved himself an executor of the Soul King's will… what about Urahara Kisuke's true intent?
No one knew.
So Shuuichi needed to pry Yoruichi's mouth open.
But against a veteran captain like Yoruichi—especially the former head of the Shihōin clan—she knew far too much. Too much for her to fear mere threats of death.
Ordinary methods would never make Yoruichi give up even a shred of information about Urahara Kisuke.
Shuuichi had already given her a chance before.
She simply hadn't taken it.
So now, what Shuuichi wanted to do was to "drive Yoruichi insane," until she could no longer distinguish reality from falsehood.
Then, through repeated attempts, he would find the piece of truth closest to what was buried in her heart.
For example, the "Muguruma Kensei" Shuuichi had impersonated earlier—when Yoruichi saw him, her face showed no surprise at all.
That meant, deep down, she accepted the reality that Urahara Kisuke might send people to meet her.
It was only that what Shuuichi and the others said afterward made her suspicious. Shuuichi didn't care about the specifics—he only needed to confirm this reality: Yoruichi believed someone would come to pick her up.
That was why, afterward, Shuuichi made the on-the-spot decision to have the Hirako Shinji replica created by Urozakuro "rescue" Yoruichi from him.
Shuuichi believed that as long as he kept correcting in real time like this—and when critical moments came, when one space couldn't smoothly connect to the next, Aizen would step in and use Kyōka Suigetsu to stabilize Yoruichi—
There would come a moment when Yoruichi's mind would collapse completely.
Until she fully believed that the person she would see next was Urahara Kisuke.
Or—until she fully believed that the person she would see next was not Urahara Kisuke.
Either shore was acceptable to Shuuichi.
The facts proved that Yoruichi had, at first, maintained enough vigilance.
When she saw that Hirako Shinji replica, and after she recovered from Hirako Shinji's Bankai, Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari, Yoruichi immediately noticed the problem.
Because Shuuichi's reiatsu was stronger than hers. With Hirako Shinji's reiatsu, it would already take effort just to hypnotize her—so how could he hypnotize Higashino Shuuichi?
Yoruichi had no doubt that with Hirako Shinji's strength, he couldn't possibly apply his Bankai's effect onto Shuuichi.
So…
"Raiōken (Thunder King Fist)!"
Yoruichi hesitated for a moment—then attacked Hirako Shinji.
"Yoruichi-sama? You—"
Staring at the "Hirako Shinji" who was filled with shock, completely unguarded, and was killed by her own hand… Yoruichi felt dizzy and unreal.
"Am I being too jumpy…? If this Hirako Shinji…"
"No. Impossible! This Hirako Shinji must be fake!"
Yoruichi forced herself to believe that.
But then she realized another issue.
If this Hirako Shinji was fake, then it meant Shuuichi hadn't been affected at all—so how had she escaped?
And why would Shuuichi let her go?
Had she been wrong?
Had she really just—
Yoruichi didn't dare continue.
Because that possibility was something she could never accept.
Very soon, after breaking out of the island nation and arriving over the sea, Yoruichi encountered Muguruma Kensei and Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō—who had also come to support her.
Muguruma Kensei's casual question—
"Yoruichi-taichō, have you seen Hirako Shinji?"
—almost shattered her heart.
Looking at these two companions, who she had "personally" shattered not long ago…
Yoruichi's mind was already losing the ability to make basic judgments.
"Are they enemies?"
"They should be, right?"
"Hirako Shinji earlier was, so they must be too!"
"Right… they're still Higashino Shuuichi's disguises!"
"Shunkō: Raijū Senkei (Thunder Beast Battle Form)!"
After a torturous struggle inside her own head, Yoruichi finally attacked Muguruma Kensei and Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō.
The result was exactly what you'd expect—
Both widened their eyes and, without any resistance, fell beneath Yoruichi's lightning, turning into charred black husks.
"Hah… hah… hhh—!!"
She didn't know how long had passed.
She didn't know how many Muguruma Kenseis, Ōtoribashi Rōjūrōs, and Hirako Shinjis she had killed—those who kept rushing over to "save" her.
Yoruichi gasped for breath.
She realized she no longer had the ability to tell whether the approaching Hirako Shinji, Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō, and Muguruma Kensei were real or fake.
Because the further it went, the more those people resembled the three Shinigami in her memories.
At some point in the middle, whether she had truly killed the real three of them with her own hands…
Even Yoruichi didn't dare confirm.
Right now, she only wanted to find somewhere to rest.
She didn't want to kill Muguruma Kensei and the others anymore…
Yoruichi found an uninhabited island. There was a massive rock by the sea, and she leaned against it, letting the waves roll in again and again, soaking the hem of her clothes.
She was truly exhausted.
Suddenly, Yoruichi didn't know whether it was an illusion, or whether she was dreaming.
She thought she saw Urahara Kisuke.
"Is that you… Kisuke…"
Her eyes were unfocused as she spoke.
Urahara Kisuke shouldn't be here.
Normally, that would be true.
But nothing about her situation was normal anymore.
All Yoruichi wanted was to rest.
And if Urahara Kisuke was by her side…
"Mm. I'm here, Yoruichi."
Those simple words instantly shattered Yoruichi's last line of mental defense.
"I want to rest a little, Kisuke~"
Yoruichi forced out a faint smile.
Then she fell into the "Urahara Kisuke" she was seeing, and sank into sleep—deep and heavy.
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