A month passed in the blink of an eye.
The presence of the surveillance network still brought significant trouble to Suō Tsukasa's life. It wasn't due to any substantive threat—the tiny biomimetic surveillance organisms possessed no offensive capabilities. Rather, it was a pervasive sense of being watched, silently blanketing his daily routine like a spider's web.
This feeling of being observed was more unpleasant than he had imagined. For Tsukasa, whose spiritual awareness was becoming increasingly acute, this low-intensity discomfort was constantly magnified. His senses warned him incessantly that "something was staring," while his reason told him "there was no need to overreact" to such small things.
During this period, Tsukasa began consciously fine-tuning his movements and actively sensing the distribution of these abnormal nodes. Gradually, he identified several areas with high surveillance density within Squads 1, 4, 10, and 13. A map of a fragmented surveillance network became clear in his mind.
Inside the barracks of Squad 1, the surveillance density was highest. Those tiny observers were nearly everywhere: in the shadows beneath the eaves, within the crevices of stone lanterns in the garden, and even on the back of leaves in corner potted plants. They maintained a regular distribution pattern, appearing like a precisely calculated grid covering every corner the Captain-Commander might traverse. This was logical; the movements of Captain-Commander Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto were undoubtedly among the most vital pieces of intelligence Aizen sought.
The secondary concentrations were near the Captains' offices and duty rooms of various squads. As for public areas like the library and the commercial district where Tsukasa often went, some surveillance existed, but it felt more like a broad background coverage—far less dense and precise than the core areas of the squads. Its purpose seemed more about capturing accidental anomalies or tracking the public movements of specific individuals.
After several rounds of observation and deduction, Tsukasa discerned Aizen's intent. The goal of this recently birthed biomimetic surveillance network was to monitor the core activity zones of the various Captains, aiming to master their movements and meetings.
Consequently, things became simpler. Since Aizen's focus was on the upper echelons of the Gotei 13, Tsukasa only needed to maintain a certain level of disguise and patience when near a Captain.
Most fortunately, Tsukasa's group had always adhered to low-profile, secluded routes. Their daily path to the Hill of Sokyoku did not overlap with these monitored zones. All their routes avoided the main squad thoroughfares, consisting only of bare walls and floors—places where Aizen would not waste surveillance resources.
Focusing on spiritual awareness training was definitely the right move, Tsukasa thought as he sat in the duty room, organizing documents on his desk. His eyes were lowered, his mind considering how to proceed with the next step of his training after work.
Back when he had started blind-combat training, it had only taken a few days for him to hold his own against Toshiro. That feeling of judging attack trajectories through other senses in the dark, once mastered, could never be forgotten. By now, the pressure Toshiro provided during training had become limited.
It wasn't that Toshiro had become weaker. On the contrary, his progress never ceased. The problem was that Tsukasa's progress was faster, and he knew Toshiro too well. He had accompanied the current Toshiro from a fresh academy student to the reliable Third Seat of Squad 10 he was today, witnessing every single step of his growth. More importantly, Toshiro's combat style was heavily influenced by Tsukasa, with his techniques bearing the mark of Tsukasa's combat philosophy. Although Toshiro had formed his own style after learning and absorbing these lessons, the root remained there. This wasn't Toshiro's fault; it was simply that they were too familiar with one another, making it inevitable that they would soon hit a new plateau.
I must introduce new variables to increase the training intensity, Tsukasa decided silently.
However, with his current abilities, he could only manage to shut off his vision. He had no leads yet on how to block his other five senses. Hearing, touch, smell, and taste weren't like sight; he couldn't simply use his Light to create an optical film over the surface of his eyeballs to block them painlessly and harmlessly.
Tsukasa's thoughts churned as schemes surfaced and were dismissed one by one. To temporarily deprive himself of these senses without causing self-harm, he needed a more professional method.
The moment this thought appeared, Tsukasa's eyes brightened. Right, why not ask an expert? Retsu Unohana's knowledge of combat and medicine was unfathomable; perhaps he could find inspiration from her.
Tsukasa pondered for a moment, and his path forward suddenly became clear. With a direction set, all that remained was execution.
The afternoon's work ended in tranquility. Tsukasa organized his things, bid everyone farewell, and left the duty room.
"Taking a break for some business," he sent a message to Toshiro via his Soul Pager before detouring toward Squad 4.
Upon reaching the Squad 4 barracks, Tsukasa headed straight for the duty station. He happened to encounter Isane Kotetsu walking along the corridor, carrying a massive stack of medical records. The files were piled so high they nearly blocked her vision, causing her to walk with great care.
"Isane-san. Let me help you with some of those," Tsukasa greeted, stepping forward to take half the load.
"Tsukasa? Thank you! Is something wrong at the cultivation room?" The weight in her arms lightened suddenly, and her field of vision opened up. Isane looked at him in surprise, her tone full of concern.
Since being invited to the underground space for that lively dinner and the gathering under the stars, the relationship between the two had indeed made significant strides. In the Seireitei, there weren't many people with whom one could share secrets and relax comfortably; that experience had naturally drawn them closer. However, unlike other squads, the duties of Squad 4 were far too heavy, and as a Lieutenant, her daily time was extremely limited. So far, the number of times she had visited the underground space could be counted on one hand. Her last visit was a few days ago, specifically because the cultivation of the Purple Reishi had entered the critical primordia formation stage.
Tsukasa shook his head while holding the documents. "No, everything is normal over there. I just have some professional questions I'd like to ask Captain Unohana."
"I see." Isane breathed a sigh of relief, followed by an understanding smile. "The Captain might still be in her office. Should I take you there now?" She glanced toward the end of the corridor.
"No need, it's not that urgent. Let's handle what's in your hands first." Seeing how busy she was with overtime, Tsukasa didn't feel right making her drop everything and offered to help instead.
"Alright, the records room is just around the corner. Thank you for the help," Isane replied, her smile deepening.
The two walked side-by-side toward the records room. The subsequent filing process was slow but orderly. Isane was extremely familiar with the procedure, knowing exactly which file belonged to which area. Tsukasa simply assisted by organizing and handing her the documents, acting as her assistant.
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