After Kagaya died, I buried his body and returned home, replaying the things he had said over and over in my mind.
Spiritual power that vanishes as one repeats the cycle of death, replaced by a filling void of grudges. The chains that appeared along with those grudges.
"Did the original story say the chains represent lingering attachments? That if attachments remain, you're bound to that place?"
Looking at them one by one makes you tilt your head, but putting them all together brought something to mind.
"Recycling."
Kagaya said his spiritual power shattered and scattered every time he died. Over the course of 108 years, Kagaya had truly died countless times.
I was the one who killed him a few times at first, but after I made the barely-human Kagaya somewhat decent, I didn't kill him with my own hands again. When I look at the statistics of what caused Kagaya's deaths over those 108 years, my share was only about thirty percent. Barely over twenty percent, to be precise.
I can't calculate down to the decimal points of units like pun or ri, but since I remember how Kagaya died, this should be roughly correct.
Most of Kagaya's deaths were due to the environment of Hell. Things like the ground giving way while walking so he fell into magma, or getting hit in the head by a volcanic bomb from an eruption and dying.
Anyway, if Kagaya's words were true, it means the spiritual power of a sinner who falls to Hell is decomposed and flows somewhere every time they die.
Like how processed plastic is shredded into tiny bits because it can't be reused as is. But why does Hell have such a function? For what purpose exactly?
"...Hmm."
Wait a second. Just... one second.
"Ah... Ah, what was that again?"
Dammit, I feel like I'm about to remember... No, it's... Ah... No, ah, fuck, ah, what was it, the, that thing...
"God-fucking-dammit!!"
Seriously, move your ass, you shitty hippocampus!! Just remember it already!! It's only been a thousand years!! They say the brain's capacity is 2.5 million gigabytes!!
I grit my teeth and scratched my head aggressively before letting out a long sigh and lying down on the ground. I sighed repeatedly out of a frustrating internal heat, but nothing came to mind.
Phew... Whatever, what's the point of getting angry? Getting anxious because I can't remember will only make me tired.
"Should I go check on the rookies..."
Feeling the spiritual presence of exactly 321 people swarming together in the distance, I stood up from my spot. These were the first new arrivals in 108 years.
"That rotten bastard, he should have at least seen his successor's face before leaving..."
Feeling petty, I looked at the patch of ground where I'd buried Kagaya and let out another deep sigh. Recalling that it was a pointless act, I began to walk.
The first rookies in 108 years. That means for 108 years, not a single person had lived a life of sin.
Not ten or twenty years, but over a hundred. Actually, it wasn't particularly surprising.
Just as a child stops crying when told a tiger will come take them away. If they're told they'll fall to Hell (literally) if they commit a crime, who would dare to sin?
—The moment I died and became a soul, the Head of the Tsunayashiro Clan dropped me into Hell on the spot.
They even personally witnessed a sinner being dropped into Hell. Of course, no one is immune to the passage of time. The sense of caution created by seeing a sinner fall to Hell surely weakened as the years went by.
—Did anyone else go to Hell after that? —Does Hell even actually exist? —What's the criteria for a sinner? There must be a standard for falling into Hell. —This much should be fine, right?
The reins must have loosened bit by bit like that. That's likely why they all came pouring in at once.
"It's not like you're dumping volume-rate garbage. Why the hell are you all swarming in at once?"
With my hands clasped behind my back, I arrived in front of the gathered sinners in a single bound. I slowly scanned the crowd, who were buzzing as they looked at me.
They were quite diverse—ranging from those with fierce faces that screamed 'I'm dangerous' to those who looked so gentle at a glance that you'd wonder, 'Why is that person here?'
"Who the hell are you!!"
The first to step forward was a hoodlum who looked like a typical enforcer. How unexpected. I thought the most ferocious-looking fellow would step out first.
Are the big bosses staying still because they're just figureheads? I suppose it would be a bit of a letdown if the guy meant to look heavy-duty opened his mouth too lightly.
Regardless...
"Yeah, I was wondering when that question would come out."
"What are you muttering to yourself for!! Get down here and speak properly!!"
I nodded with my arms crossed. Still, he has less impact than Kagaya's first impression.
'Why are you butt-naked, you pervert?' He definitely said something like that. I smirked at the memory that remained vivid despite 108 years having passed, and swept my gaze over the crowd.
"Welcome, you criminal leftovers. Welcome to Hell."
As I offered a casual greeting, the crowd began to stir. From those panicking and asking if this was really Hell, to those denying reality, those raging that this couldn't be happening, and those wailing about injustice...
They say if there are a hundred people, there are a hundred thoughts, and truly, all sorts of reactions popped out.
By the way... 'That guy over there is exceptionally quiet.'
His presence was much thicker than the others. More than anything, he maintained a composed expression even after realizing he had fallen into Hell.
I don't know about anything else, but I should keep an eye on that one. While I was thinking that, an old man who looked like a sleazy rat (he really looked like one) pointed a finger at me and shouted.
"Hell!? Don't make me laugh! You! You must be using forbidden arts to show us an illusion!? There's no way a man as pure and upright as me would fall to Hell!!"
A one-sided display of anger devoid of logic. If I were a normal person, I would have brushed it off as some lunatic, but everyone gathered here was a criminal bastard.
The stirring crowd immediately joined in the old man's shouting and began pointing fingers at me alongside him. Of course, none of them were truly innocent; they had simply chosen me as a scapegoat to project their own sense of injustice and rage upon.
Right, they had designated me as their emotional garbage bin. It was a type of witch hunt.
If this were anywhere in the Three Worlds instead of Hell, one of them would have died a miserable death by now. Even now, since I wasn't reacting, a few of the more proactive guys were coming toward me to seize me.
In their heads, they probably thought I was frozen in fear. I was planning to see how far these bastards would go, but...
"I guess there's no need."
Just one person. I judged that everyone except that one man who had been watching silently from the start was definitely a criminal.
'Or maybe that guy is some kind of mastermind figure.'
Should I deal with these guys first? I reached out my hand toward the fierce-looking man who had come right up to my nose.
"Now, my fierce friend. Shall we have a handshake?"
As expected of the Bleach world, the man standing before me was an enormous brute, seemingly well over three meters tall. Was his name Jidanbo or Ome-jidan? Is he an ancestor of that guy?
"Gwahahaha!! You had plenty of nerve insulting this great one as leftovers, but now that you're facing me head-on, have you finally gotten scared!? Don't worry! I happen to be a meticulous man!! As the price for insulting me, I'll skin you from head to toe, pickle you in saltwater for about a week, and then kill you!!"
"I can't tell if you're just stupid or what. Well, it doesn't matter. I don't see what being meticulous has to do with torturing someone to death."
"Your head is held too high." As I said that, I threw a light jab into the man's abdomen.
Bang! With a thunderous sound, the man's upper body literally exploded.
The torso that connected his head, both arms, and lower body burst like a balloon, causing his head and arms to scatter across the floor with a thud.
"He was all bulk and no bite."
"What the..."
In a situation where everyone was frozen, unable to grasp what had just happened, the only one to react was the man I'd had my eye on. When our eyes met, the man flinched and tried to hide behind another sinner.
Hiding like that is meaningless, though. Well, whatever. I have plenty of time to spare anyway.
"Let me introduce myself again, you criminal leftovers. I'm the landlord of this place, and the master who's going to reform you from now on. Look forward to it."
"Aa... Aaahhh!! Run!!"
The shifty-looking man shouted that and tried to flee. As soon as one person started running, a mood to escape naturally began to spread.
"Fat chance. Where do you think you're going?"
I picked up a stone from the ground and smashed the skull of the one inciting the escape. With the instigator gone, those who were wavering naturally froze like stones.
"From now on, anyone who tries to run or makes a sound louder than my voice dies. Anyone who tries to open their mouth without my permission dies. Anyone having other thoughts internally also dies. Nod if you understand."
Perhaps because there were no truly rebellious spirits left, everyone nodded their heads. They truly were criminals; they bowed thoroughly to the logic of power.
As I was thinking that, the man I had been watching since earlier slowly raised his hand.
"May I speak?"
"Sure. By the way, what's your name?"
"I am Shiba Hozuki."
"Shiba clan? What, are you from the direct line?"
"Yes. That is correct."
"There's no way that bastard Shiryu's clan would produce a sinner, though?"
The guy who bowed his head first in apology when the Soul King was being sealed wouldn't have raised his children so poorly. As I blinked at the truly unexpected name, Hozuki nodded.
"As you say, sir, I did not commit any sins in my previous life. Could you explain what is going on?"
Gaining a clue from Hozuki's words, my hippocampus finally spat out information forgotten from the distant past. I had forgotten because everyone calls it Hell and treats it as a pot for confining sinners.
'Even those who aren't sinners can be bound to Hell.'
In the Bleach movie Hell Verse, Yuzu was struck by the Miasma of Hell and died, causing chains to form. And from the No Breaths from Hell chapter, even Szayelaporro and Captain-level Soul Reapers, who were thought dead, ended up bound to Hell.
Why am I only remembering this now?
"For now, you, step over to my side."
I should probably have a talk with him.