What happened inside that frozen world of time didn't even last the span of a blink to the outside. It was as if Urahara Kisuke and Tsukabishi Tessai had vanished in an instant.
No one else even knew that Higashino Shuuichi had once broken free from that stopped-time world.
All they knew was the outcome: Urahara Kisuke and Tsukabishi Tessai got away, leaving behind Muguruma Kensei and Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō.
Could that be called a mistake? Or a deliberate abandonment?
Higashino Shuuichi leaned toward the latter.
Just like Aizen Sōsuke's attitude toward Urahara Kisuke, Higashino Shuuichi didn't believe Urahara would make that kind of error—unless he did it on purpose.
But if that was the case, then what Urahara Kisuke truly wanted became even more baffling.
From Shihōin Yoruichi's entrance to Urahara and Tessai's exit, the entire incident felt chaotic to Higashino Shuuichi.
Like a headless fly—improvising from scene to scene, with no plan of his own at all.
And yet every sign kept reminding him: Urahara Kisuke did have his own intent, and he had been acting according to it the whole time.
"What a headache… right now I really want a Zanpakutō ability that can read minds."
Higashino Shuuichi shook his head to himself.
He wasn't a worm in Urahara Kisuke's stomach—and even in the original story, all the way until the end, Urahara remained a mystery. Even when Yhwach slaughtered nearly ninety percent of Soul Society's shinigami, Urahara still sat as steady as a mountain.
From beginning to end, he kept himself hidden behind layers upon layers of fog. No one truly knew what he wanted, and no one had ever really seen him go all-out.
Even his battle against Aizen with the fully formed Hōgyoku—throughout it all—carried that same effortless ease in both body and mind.
A man like a riddle.
A man who wrapped himself in countless shackles to protect himself.
Even now, he was someone Higashino Shuuichi couldn't see through at all.
Across Tokyo-dō, the fighting was still ongoing. In the distance, the First Generation Captain Entetsu Kumoi was already facing the current captains rushing in from Soul Society one after another—his defeat was only a matter of time.
A few bold Menos tried to come over and take a bite out of this "feast" made of so many captain-class shinigami, but Higashino Shuuichi didn't even need to move. Matsumoto Rangiku and Kabuma Sayako alone were enough to handle it.
Yushima Ōko naturally wasn't waking up anytime soon. In fact, the fact that he wasn't dead already meant his luck stat was maxed out.
And Muguruma Kensei stood there awkwardly, his face practically spelling out embarrassment.
He didn't know what he was supposed to say.
Urahara and Tessai's sudden escape made every line he'd prepared evaporate into nothing.
Even someone as thick-nerved as Kensei could vaguely infer from Higashino Shuuichi's instant change in position that, inside that frozen time just now, Higashino Shuuichi had definitely used some special method to clash with Urahara Kisuke and Tsukabishi Tessai.
Because those two didn't have the bad taste to just relocate Higashino Shuuichi for fun.
So the only possibility was that Higashino Shuuichi did it himself.
"…Let's go back~"
In the end, it was Higashino Shuuichi who, in front of everyone, let out a soft sigh and spoke first.
"We're not going to the Ishida house to take another look?"
"And what about me and Rōjūrō?"
Kabuma Sayako and Muguruma Kensei asked almost at the same time.
Higashino Shuuichi only turned his head, glancing at each of them, feeling worn out.
"No. There's nothing left at the Ishida house that I want to know.
As for you two—Kensei and Rōjūrō—if you're not coming back with us… are you planning to stay here and get arrested?"
That was obviously good news for Kensei, yet he still asked uneasily,
"Shuuichi… you're not going to ask me about what happened?
Like… why this even happened in the first place?"
Higashino Shuuichi gave a faint smile.
"No need. What I should know, I've already learned from Urahara Kisuke. What I shouldn't know, you and Ōtoribashi Rōjūrō don't know either.
And whatever you know that I don't… that's something Urahara Kisuke wants me to know.
I'm not interested in that right now.
If I'm ever in the mood, I can ask you later."
Higashino Shuuichi hated the feeling of being led around by the nose. He'd had enough of that over the first few hundred years after coming to this world. Now that he'd finally broken away and established himself, he wanted to be the one moving the pieces—not the piece being moved.
So there was only one thing he wanted to do now.
While Urahara Kisuke, Shihōin Yoruichi, and the others had withdrawn—and while most of Soul Society's usable captains were being tied down by Entetsu Kumoi.
But before that, Higashino Shuuichi used Shunpō (Flash Step) to appear in front of Kabuma Sayako, reaching out and pressing his hand against her Zanpakutō.
"Sorry to trouble you, Captain Kuruyashiki. Leave the rest to me."
He looked straight into Kabuma Sayako's eyes.
The Kenpachi Kuruyashiki within her consciousness understood without words. He didn't speak—he simply controlled Kabuma Sayako's head and gave Higashino Shuuichi a small nod.
Then, in an instant, the immense reiatsu surrounding Kabuma Sayako vanished.
"Hah… hah…"
Kabuma Sayako panted heavily. Even if it only consumed lifespan, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki's overpowering reiatsu was still a burden on her body.
But Kabuma Sayako had been enduring pain and torment since childhood—things most shinigami would never endure in an entire lifetime. Compared to that, this burden wasn't much.
"Next time something like this happens, just call me right away~"
Higashino Shuuichi pulled Kabuma Sayako into his arms, gently stroking her cheek with one hand, his voice full of ache.
"I thought you might still be—"
Sayako lightly pressed both hands over the hand touching her cheek, trying to explain softly, only to feel Higashino Shuuichi tighten his hold around her.
"There's nothing more important than your safety!
Sayako… I promised you: as long as I'm here, I won't let you endure that kind of pain again—nor lose your lifespan again!
Seyabasa is only your last-resort way to stay alive when I'm unable to fight. If you do this, it only makes me hurt more… and regret more. Do you understand?"
Higashino Shuuichi looked at the girl—someone who was a head of the Five Great Noble Clans, yet whose experiences were more tragic than any shinigami's. Without him, she might have already died under the torment of Hell's power.
His heart overflowed with tenderness and love.
For Higashino Shuuichi, if a plan failed, he could redesign it.
But if Kabuma Sayako lost lifespan… that was forever.
"So this is love, huh?
I'm so jealous…"
Matsumoto Rangiku watched the scene, filled with an indescribable envy.
Honestly, she wished the person in Higashino Shuuichi's arms right now was her.
But then—if she thought about the "price" being that she'd have to train day and night like Kisaragi Shūsuke, and even quit her bad habit of drinking…
Ugh… now it suddenly felt hard to decide again.
Far away, at the villa by the Tokyo-dō beach.
Kisaragi Shūsuke stayed behind here, responsible for looking after and protecting Urozakuro, who had exhausted herself to the point of collapse… yet was still enjoying it.
Watching the surveillance footage—those replicas she'd molded wreaking havoc everywhere, the civil war between the first generation captain and the current captains, and the entire process of Higashino Shuuichi gaslighting and mentally controlling Shihōin Yoruichi—
Urozakuro was practically blissed out. She was even starting to feel impatient, eager to return to Soul Society, to her own turf, and find some lucky person to test things on firsthand.
Higashino Shuuichi really was an unbelievably interesting shinigami. Urozakuro almost wished Higashino Shuuichi were her true master.
But even this cooperative arrangement wasn't bad for her.
At the doorway, Kisaragi Shūsuke immediately tensed when he saw Aizen step out of the room.
"Aizen-sama… you're leaving?"
"Yeah. The grand show in the World of the Living has ended. What's left is just petty, trivial junk—there's no value in staying here any longer~"
Aizen Sōsuke glanced at Kisaragi Shūsuke's tightly wound posture and found it a little funny.
He couldn't understand how Higashino Shuuichi had taken a liking to someone this blank—this… honestly kind of dumb.
Kisaragi Shūsuke didn't have Tōsen Kaname's kind of attribute that could counter Higashino Shuuichi's abilities, either.
The only thing worth mentioning might be Bakkōtō—yet even that had been handed to Kisaragi Shūsuke by Higashino Shuuichi himself.
"Actually, you don't need to be so nervous around me. I'm not interested in a Zanpakutō."
"Besides, Shuuichi leaving you here… I'm guessing it was just to guard against Urahara Kisuke, hoping you could delay him until Shuuichi returned."
"As for having you guard against me… I doubt Shuuichi is stupid enough to do that~"
As he passed Kisaragi Shūsuke, Aizen reached out and patted him on the shoulder, casually exposing Higashino Shuuichi's tactical arrangement.
Obviously, Higashino Shuuichi had been worried Urahara still had a hidden move.
But it seemed Urahara didn't even know this place existed.
Aizen's own judgment was similar to Higashino Shuuichi's. That was why, after Zommari Rureaux was defeated, Aizen—who should have gone personally to watch the battle between Urahara and Higashino Shuuichi—didn't go. Instead, he stayed here, quietly waiting for Urahara to arrive.
Unfortunately, both he and Higashino Shuuichi had miscalculated.
Urahara Kisuke didn't have that kind of intent at all.
In other words, on the surface, Urahara's goal seemed to be nothing more than disgusting Higashino Shuuichi a little—and baiting him out into the open.
But beneath the surface…
"There's definitely a deeper meaning, isn't there, Urahara Kisuke?"
Aizen walked confidently out of the villa, murmuring as he looked toward the West Administration.
That way, this world wouldn't become dull and meaningless.
With two opponents who were at least qualified—Higashino Shuuichi and Urahara Kisuke—his path to "becoming a god" could finally have the faintest hint of challenge.
Kisaragi Shūsuke didn't understand Aizen's mindset, but Aizen's arrogant, self-assured attitude—acting like Shuuichi-sama didn't matter at all—still made him feel extremely irritated.
A man who had already lost to Shuuichi-sama, that's all you are. Shuuichi-sama was just too kind and too sentimental—that's why he still called you "Aizen-sama" up to now.
And you, Aizen Sōsuke, actually took it seriously?
What a clown—so arrogant and overbearing.
If Kisaragi Shūsuke weren't unable to defeat Aizen, he would've absolutely "educated" him in private, making sure Aizen showed proper respect in front of Shuuichi-sama from now on.
And besides—Aizen had been wrong about one thing. Kisaragi Shūsuke knew perfectly well he couldn't be Aizen's opponent. Just Kyōka Suigetsu alone—praised to the heavens by Shuuichi-sama—was enough for Kisaragi Shūsuke to understand that if he faced Aizen alone, there was only one outcome: being toyed with.
So everything he'd shown in front of Aizen… was an act, performed specifically for Aizen to see.
Kisaragi Shūsuke still remembered Shuuichi-sama praising him in front of Yushima Ōko—saying that this "blank, dumb" image was something only Kisaragi Shūsuke could portray almost without pretending, while Yushima Ōko and Matsumoto Rangiku and the others couldn't pull it off at all.
Look at that!
What an insanely high evaluation Shuuichi-sama had given him!
The only one among so many people!
And yet Yushima Ōko still wanted to compete with him for the position of Shuuichi-sama's top disciple—what a delusional dream!
"Come out!"
After confirming Aizen had fully left, and after exchanging several prearranged signals with Urozakuro to confirm she wasn't Aizen in disguise and that Aizen hadn't used Kyōka Suigetsu, Kisaragi Shūsuke opened a hidden compartment in the room and shouted down the long corridor.
A man stepped out, Zanpakutō in hand, with two red windflower gauze ornaments pinned into the hair by his left ear.
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
It was the question every bewildered person asked.
"Change the status quo. Stop what the Tsunayashiro clan has been doing. And if possible… even change Soul Society's existing structure, to give everyone in Soul Society a fair and just environment."
Kisaragi Shūsuke answered.
Those weren't Higashino Shuuichi's exact words—rather, they were Kisaragi Shūsuke's "reasonable" inference based on Higashino Shuuichi's past words, his actions so far, and the plans ahead.
Even so, Kisaragi Shūsuke still felt that with his limited perspective, he was probably missing a lot. The new world Shuuichi-sama wanted to create surely had far more details!
The man fell silent for a moment, then continued.
"Then what do you want me to do?"
Kisaragi Shūsuke smiled.
"Simple, Kōga-kun—deliver the final blow to the First Generation Captain Entetsu Kumoi, who's already caused huge trouble for Soul Society."
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