The window of this room had been opened.
The hairs tied to the door and window were merely to attract the attention of someone meticulous. The real hidden detection method was the position in which the window and door were latched.
He had built this wooden house himself. By his careful design, the latches were different from ordinary ones.
After closing the window, if one lifted it slightly, it could be pulled a little further, creating a gap of about half a centimeter. When he closed it himself, he always lifted it to close it completely.
But right now, the window was latched in the normal position. That meant the person who closed it hadn't lifted it first!
And that person had also managed to avoid breaking the hair, covering their tracks. They clearly had ill intentions.
Katori Sora watched Aizen demonstrate the mechanism and stroked his chin. "Sōsuke, it seems you've been targeted as well. Your caution was correct."
"Without being careful, it's hard to survive in a place like this for long," Aizen said.
"However, I believe it was my departure that drew their attention. I never revealed my spiritual aptitude in front of Katō. He must have come looking for me and, not finding me, alerted them."
Sora nodded. "I want to meet this Katō, but we can't meet him directly, lest we startle the snake in the grass."
He wanted to see the so-called "divine sword" for himself and place some "monitoring points" near Katō.
Aizen suddenly suggested, "I can find an excuse to meet with him. That might give us a chance to probe the person behind him."
Now that he had joined the Katori Dojo, he wanted to quickly gain his Professor's trust to learn more from him. If he could learn some of the professor's trump card techniques, it would be very beneficial to his growth.
But Sora shook his head. "The water here runs deep. A 'divine sword' that feeds on spiritual bodies is very likely to involve the upper nobility. I don't want you to get involved in this."
As a Professor, he didn't want his disciples, who had not yet grown strong, to be drawn into his feud with the Kasumiōji family. A Professor should shelter his students from the wind and rain, not send them into danger.
Hearing this, Aizen was slightly taken aback.
He had spent a long time in the more dangerous areas of the Rukongai, where people were either skilled fighters or deep schemers.
Katō was a friend he had made during a fight, and he had more than one friend like him, but they were all only surface-level friends. That day, Katō had shown him the sword merely to show off his "fortuitous encounter."
This was the first time someone had genuinely considered his well-being like this.
Aizen didn't say much more, simply nodding. "I know where Katō lives. I will take you there now."
Sora waved Kagehime, and shadows enveloped the two of them. Although he couldn't pull Aizen completely into the shadow to hide his form, he could use the shadow to obscure him.
At night, this method was almost as good as invisibility.
A short while later, they arrived on another street. The area was not much different from where Aizen's house was, lined with wooden shanties.
However, this street was built earlier, and the wooden houses on both sides are clearly more dilapidated.
"The residents on this street were mostly born in the Inuzuri district," Aizen explained in a low voice. "The residents on my street were mostly souls from the World of the Living."
"We're here. That's the house," Aizen said, pointing to a hut. "It seems Katō is not home."
There was no Spiritual Pressure fluctuation inside. Katō was not the type to be skilled at hiding his energy, so Aizen judged he wasn't home.
"If he hasn't hidden his spiritual fluctuations, we can find him through the residual aura he left here," Sora said. He entered the house directly through the shadows.
The Katori Style had many ways to practice controlling one's own Spiritual Pressure, and he had naturally mastered the method of scouting through "Reiraku" (Spirit Threads).
Carefully sensing the spiritual particles in the house, a moment later, the auras materialized in his perception as multiple fluttering ribbons. "Found it," Sora said, reaching out and grabbing a white thread tinged with red.
The spirit thread of a human soul was white, while a Shinigami's was red. Katō's was in the process of turning red; he had clearly acquired some of the characteristics of a Shinigami.
"What determines the color change?" A thought flashed through Sora's mind. He suddenly remembered that a Quincy's spirit thread was also white.
The elite Quincy he had met were certainly stronger than ordinary squad members, so the color couldn't be based on strength. "Perhaps the birth of a Zanpakutō causes a change in a Shinigami's soul. If so, that suspected Bakutō has also changed Katō's soul," he guessed.
Sora sank back into the shadows and returned to Aizen's side. "Let's go. I've found his location."
Katō was quite far, in a distant forest, but at their speed, they could reach it within ten minutes.
By the time they arrived, however, Katō's spiritual fluctuation had already vanished. The scene was chaotic; it looked like a fight had just taken place.
Sora was surprised to see one of his 6th-year students here: Homura Kudanoki, the one he had punished with after-class training for his bad attitude!
And the sword in his hand was undergoing a drastic change.
A few minutes earlier—
The sound of clashing swords echoed through the forest. Including Katō, a total of four youths were fighting with real swords.
The battle did not last long. Soon, only Homura Kudanoki was left standing. The other three, including Katō, were lying on the ground.
"I won—hahaha!" Homura panted heavily. He could feel the divine sword in his hand continuously absorbing his Spiritual Pressure, but at the same time, it was feeding him a steady stream of power.
So what if he didn't have a Zanpakutō! He was already stronger than many of his classmates! As long as he continued to nurture this divine weapon, he could become even stronger.
Just then, the three youths on the ground suddenly let out agonizing screams. "AHHH!!!"
Homura turned and saw them desperately trying to let go of their swords, but the blades seemed to be stuck to their hands.
Flames of spiritual energy erupted from their bodies, and their spiritual forms began to melt at a visible rate.
A few seconds later, all three of them had dissolved into spiritual particles, completely consumed by their swords.
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