Under Momo Hinamori's confused gaze, Sōsuke Aizen pulled out his Zanpakutō and flicked his wrist, shaking the blood from the blade. "Let's go, Gin."
"Yes." Gin Ichimaru replied. "Captain Aizen."
The two had just stepped out of the assembly hall when they ran into Tōshirō Hitsugaya, who had just arrived.
Breathing heavily, Tōshirō Hitsugaya stopped and stared at the two figures walking out of the hall. "Ichimaru... and Aizen?"
"Hi." Sōsuke Aizen raised his hand and waved lightly. "Hitsugaya."
"How... you..." Tōshirō Hitsugaya's thoughts became a tangled mess. "What is going on... Where's Hinamori?"
Sōsuke Aizen shifted slightly to the side, revealing Momo Hinamori lying in a pool of blood behind him.
Tōshirō Hitsugaya rushed to her side at once and checked her condition. "Hina... Hinamori!"
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you," Sōsuke Aizen said while looking at Tōshirō Hitsugaya's back. "Perhaps I should have destroyed the body. If you couldn't see it, you wouldn't feel quite so sad."
Tōshirō Hitsugaya bent down and lifted Momo Hinamori into his arms, pressing on the wound to stop the bleeding while giving emergency treatment. "When... did you two start working together?"
The moment he saw Sōsuke Aizen and Gin Ichimaru acting together, Tōshirō Hitsugaya realized he had been misled by the performance those two had staged earlier.
"From the very beginning," Sōsuke Aizen answered.
"Before you faked your death...?"
"You misunderstand. By beginning, I mean from the moment I became a captain," Sōsuke Aizen corrected calmly. "Other than him, I never considered anyone else for the position of lieutenant."
"So all this time... not just Hinamori and me, but your subordinates and every other Shinigami..." Tōshirō Hitsugaya glared at Sōsuke Aizen through clenched teeth. "Were we all just being deceived by you?"
"That isn't quite accurate. It's not that I deceived you. It's simply that none of you could understand... what I truly am."
"Couldn't understand?!" Tōshirō Hitsugaya's voice trembled with a low growl rising from his throat. "Hinamori joined the Gotei 13 because she admired you. She worked desperately to become a lieutenant just so she could help you. Don't tell me you didn't know that!"
"Of course I knew. That's exactly why I chose her as my new lieutenant." The smile on Sōsuke Aizen's face looked almost the same as usual, but now it carried a chilling coldness. "There's nothing easier to control than someone who worships you."
Tōshirō Hitsugaya gripped Momo Hinamori's limp shoulders tightly, the anger in his eyes burning even brighter.
"This is a rare opportunity, Hitsugaya. There's something you should remember." Sōsuke Aizen spoke as if he had returned to the role of a teacher, patiently giving instruction. "Admiration... is the emotion furthest from understanding."
Boom!
A roaring wave of sword pressure tore through the walls of the assembly hall, which were famous for their sturdiness. Tōshirō Hitsugaya gently set Momo Hinamori down as wings of ice spread open behind him.
"Bankai!"
The head of an ice dragon formed over his right hand, clamping down on the sword hilt. The icy wings behind him released waves of freezing air, while a long dragon tail of ice lashed through the air. Three ice flowers floated behind him, releasing a sharp and biting cold.
"Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!"
The mere cold radiating from him froze the moisture in the air into countless blades of ice that shot toward Sōsuke Aizen.
"Aizen." Fury and hatred burned together in Tōshirō Hitsugaya's eyes. "I'm going to... kill you."
"Don't sound so vicious." Sōsuke Aizen chuckled softly as his Reiatsu easily crushed the incoming ice blades. "It only makes you seem unsure of yourself."
Tōshirō Hitsugaya said nothing more and swung his sword.
A series of crisp cracking sounds rang out as the thick ice surrounding his body suddenly shattered and fell away, stained with his own blood.
"How... how is this possible..." Even as his body collapsed helplessly to the ground, Tōshirō Hitsugaya still could not understand it.
How could it have happened in just a single instant...
"Hah..." Sōsuke Aizen exhaled a faint breath of white mist. Everywhere he looked was ice. The power of Daiguren Hyōrinmaru was impressive, but to him... "Quite a nice view. It's not even winter yet, but seeing this much ice at this time of year isn't bad."
The tip of his blade slid lightly across the frozen surface as Sōsuke Aizen spoke.
"Alright, Gin. Let's go..."
"So you really are here."
Retsu Unohana appeared with Isane Kotetsu at her side. "A rebel who has turned against Soul Society... Sōsuke Aizen."
"Good evening, Captain Unohana." Sōsuke Aizen greeted her with a calm smile. "I expected you would discover it eventually, but I didn't think you would arrive this quickly. It seems you have great confidence in the battle on Muten Natsu's side."
Isane Kotetsu looked completely confused, unable to understand what was happening.
"You used the sentence passed on Rukia to lure Muten Natsu here, letting them draw the attention of Seireitei. By moving the execution date forward, you made several captains notice something unusual and sowed suspicion among them. Then you used a carefully prepared corpse puppet to fake your death and act in secret," Retsu Unohana explained calmly. "As for your goal, it could only be the Daireishokairō beside the assembly hall, the place where all phenomena and information of Soul Society are forcibly gathered."
The information stored in the Daireishokairō was extremely complex. Even the librarians of the scholarly Amakado family needed considerable time to locate specific records.
With the Ryoka invasion underway, Captain Sōsuke Aizen could not remain absent for long without raising suspicion. Faking his death, a method that would also throw Seireitei into further chaos, became the only practical choice.
"While treating numerous wounded at the same time, you still managed to notice the subtle irregularities in my corpse and even deduced my objective." Sōsuke Aizen spoke calmly. "Although your conclusion contains a few errors, considering that you are already under my complete hypnosis, I should still offer you my praise, Captain Unohana."
"That is..." Isane Kotetsu stared at Sōsuke Aizen's hand. "A corpse puppet?!"
At some point, Sōsuke Aizen had been holding another Sōsuke Aizen in his hand.
"This isn't a corpse puppet. It's my Zanpakutō." Sōsuke Aizen released it. "Shatter... Kyōka Suigetsu."
The sound of glass shattering rang out as a Zanpakutō appeared stabbed into the ground.
"Complete hypnosis. That is the ability of Kyōka Suigetsu." Sōsuke Aizen clasped his hands calmly, completely at ease. "It can fully control a person's five senses, causing them to misjudge appearance, form, mass, texture, even taste. It can make someone see a mosquito as a giant hand, mistake a swamp for a garden, and... see a sword as a corpse."
"How can that be..." Isane Kotetsu recalled the explanation Sōsuke Aizen once gave. "As a water-type Zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu was supposed to disturb the enemy using the chaotic reflections of mist and flowing water, making them fall into infighting... You even demonstrated it to us."
"That demonstration..." Retsu Unohana revealed the truth.
"...was the ritual of hypnosis."