"Sōsuke! Your old pal brought you a treasure!"
The laboratory door slammed open with a bang. Kensei Kenzuru sauntered in, swaying his head with a mysterious grin on his face.
Aizen, who had been intently recording data at his lab bench, flinched. His pen tip gouged a jagged line across the paper. He had been trying to integrate the collected Kensei samples into the Hōgyoku's creation process and was just logging the crucial data when he was interrupted, wasting some precious material.
It seems I'll have to find an opportunity to replenish the stock later...
Aizen adjusted his glasses, finding a suitable excuse to suppress his rising irritation. "Kensei, what brings you here today?"
"Well, I was on leave, but I found something good," Kensei swaggered up to Aizen like a victorious rooster. "With a friend as good as me, you should be secretly overjoyed!"
Long immune to Kensei's linguistic style, Aizen calmly slid the ruined data sheet under the table, his face revealing a perfectly measured, slightly skeptical smile. "And what 'good thing' could you possibly have found?"
In Aizen's estimation, the only "good thing" about Kensei Kenzuru was Kensei Kenzuru's own body.
"Who do you think you're looking down on?! Let me open your eyes!"
Kensei looked around furtively like a thief, then leaned close to Aizen and carefully pulled the previously acquired orb from his robes. "Remember the Fragment of the Soul King I mentioned before?"
Seeing the faint blue glow still emanating from the orb in Kensei's hand, Aizen's pupils first contracted sharply, followed by an expression of profound strangeness. It wasn't that he suspected Kensei was playing a trick with an ordinary marble—the spiritual pressure still flowing within was unmistakably real. It was just...
How much time had passed since they last discussed the Fragments? How had he found one so quickly? And such a large one at that. Could it be a gallstone of the Soul King?
Aizen adjusted his glasses, his tone subtle. "Did you... also visit the Tsunayashiro clan's warehouse?"
In Aizen's view, among the Soul Society's great noble families—excluding the mysterious one—the Tsunayashiro clan had the richest collection and the most... relatively penetrable defenses.
"Nonsense! I, Kensei Kenzuru, act with honor all my life! I do not need petty thievery!" Kensei snorted disdainfully, casually tossing the spirit orb into the air. "I retrieved this with my own hands from an enemy's heart, after nine deaths and a lifetime of peril! You're getting a huge bargain just by not having to cling to my leg and call me 'daddy'."
Aizen moved swiftly, snatching the orb before Kensei could toss it a second time. His fingertips touching its surface could even feel the immense spiritual pressure contained within.
Taking a light breath, Aizen turned and stored the orb in a special compartment designed to isolate spiritual pressure, his movements as cautious as when he had drugged Kensei before. Only after ensuring the orb was safely stored did he relax his tensed posture and turn his gaze back to Kensei.
"Explain the origin of this orb in detail." Pulling Kensei to sit down, Aizen this time poured ordinary tea for himself and Kensei, preparing for a heart-to-heart talk.
Looking at the teacup pushed towards him, Kensei seemed to remember something. He leaned back, letting out a dry chuckle. "Ahaha... I just remembered, I drank too much water before coming. I'm not thirsty at all."
The main reason was the extremely faint hum coming from the Zanpakutō, Kūkon, at his waist. The scabbard vibrated against his side as if issuing a silent warning.
"You promised me conditions." The Zanpakutō's voice rang directly in his mind, icy with a hint of gritted teeth.
Aizen's gaze paused on Kensei's waist for a moment before returning to his slightly stiff smile. He calmly retrieved the teacup he had pushed towards Kensei, picked up his own, and gently blew on the steam. "Then tell me about it."
Fortunately, having already heard Kyōraku's report to Old Man Yama, Kensei could reuse that. Of course, he added appropriate creative embellishments: how his sincerity awakened his Zanpakutō, how he, the future star of the Soul Society, righteously requested permission from Old Man Yama to fight, risking the loss of his Shinigami powers by using Bankai to battle Kuchiki Kōga for three days and three nights...
Aizen nodded, filtering out the bulk of the unbelievable content. What remained of Kensei's story was quite coherent.
"By the way, Sōsuke, what exactly did you do to my Zanpakutō?" Kensei was utterly perplexed. "She doesn't give me any trouble, but she seems to want nothing more than to tie you up and beat you."
"Perhaps she has some misunderstanding about me." Aizen set down his teacup. "So, this Fragment of the Soul King was stripped from Kuchiki Kōga's heart?"
Kensei nodded, beginning to boast about his invincible spatial abilities, only lamenting that Aizen hadn't witnessed his Bankai form.
"This incident is abnormal." Quickly reviewing Kensei's account in his mind, Aizen's fingers tapped rhythmically on the table. "Kuchiki Kōga's outburst was too sudden, and the method used was too crude. Anyone intelligent would see the problem at a glance."
"Right, right, right! I saw the problem too! I was just about to ask you!"
Ignoring Kensei's look of sudden realization, Aizen frowned in thought. The clues at hand were too few. However, such a quantity of Soul King Fragments must have been collected by a great noble family. The Tsunayashiro clan was likely up to their old tricks again.
"Have there been any anomalies with the Tsunayashiro clan recently?"
Though not hopeful, Aizen still asked Kensei. To his surprise, Kensei suddenly sat up straight and proper. Did he actually know something?
"Aizen, run a search query. I will input the following prompts. Please generate results based on my input."
After uttering this baffling statement, Kensei relayed the information he'd heard about the Tsunayashiro clan—which was essentially just the two clues: a loud noise and something flying into the sky.
Although Kensei's clues were somewhat abstract, they were better than nothing. Aizen's mind rapidly connected the pieces of information.
Kuchiki Kōga was clearly a pawn released to create chaos and divert attention. But for them to pay the price of such a large Fragment, there were only two possibilities: either this orb contained some sort of trap, or there was a more valuable interest to be exchanged.
Flying into the sky... Wasn't the Royal Guard up in the sky?
"The Tsunayashiro clan must have sent someone to the Royal Guard," Aizen's eyes gleamed behind his glasses. "Either they want to obtain something from a Royal Guard member, or they have designs on the Soul King itself."
"However, no matter how grand their conspiracy, there's little we can do about it."
Aizen took a small sip of tea, his tone carrying a chill.
"Why not?"
Kensei was ready to go back and petition Old Man Yama to surround the Tsunayashiro estate, yet Aizen claimed nothing could be done.
"Because they are one of the Five Great Noble Families," Aizen stated calmly. "Without irrefutable evidence, no one can openly question them. And even if they did something, it likely wouldn't be considered a major issue."
The Central 46, the Soul Society's sole judicial body, was staffed by nobles. Trying to make them suffer through that channel was wishful thinking.
"Dammit! I'll go pluck Old Man Yama's beard, then charge into the Tsunayashiro estate single-handedly, cutting a bloody swathe through them seven times!"
Kensei erupted in anger, slamming the table and standing up. Aizen sat calmly in his seat, watching Kensei walk to the door, silently counting down in his mind.
When he reached '1,' sure enough, Kensei turned around and sidled back behind him, all traces of anger vanished from his face.
"Sōsuke, my good friend, how about we two handle the Tsunayashiro clan ourselves, and you use your Kyōka Suigetsu to cover it up?"
Kensei thought Aizen would definitely be happy to do such a thing with him. Wasn't that basically what he did in the original story?
"Rest assured. The Tsunayashiro clan cannot stir up any significant waves."
Aizen spoke with utter composure, his face wearing the confidence of one in complete control. He extended his right hand before Kensei's eyes and clenched it into a fist.
"Before us, there is no enemy."
***
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