Kazuma raised one hand and murmured quietly under his breath.
A faint light flowed from his fingertips and spread outward, forming a clear, dome-shaped barrier around him and Ishida Uryū.
The barrier wasn't large, but it blocked all sound and sight from the outside, making sure no one else could overhear them.
"What are you doing?"
Uryū's eyes widened as he watched Kazuma warily, tension rising in his chest.
He didn't understand why Kazuma had suddenly used a technique like this, and he was afraid something unpleasant was about to happen.
"Relax, Uryū. It's only an ordinary barrier. I'm doing this for your sake. Do you really want Inoue and the others hearing everything about your parents?"
Kazuma gave him a meaningful look, as if trying to see straight into his thoughts.
"Then start talking."
When Kazuma stayed silent, Uryū began to suspect he was being toyed with again.
"You haven't asked me anything yet. What exactly am I supposed to talk about?"
Kazuma stared at him as if he were an idiot.
Had this brat's brain stopped working?
"Oh…"
Uryū paused before asking the first question that had troubled him for years.
"How did my mother actually die?"
Back then, his mother had suddenly fallen unconscious and stayed that way for several months before passing away.
For a long time, Uryū had suspected someone had poisoned her.
Considering what Ishida Ryūken did afterward, he'd eventually begun to suspect his own father.
"That question? Your mother was killed by Yhwach, the ancestor of the Quincy."
After thinking briefly about how to put it, Kazuma dropped the bombshell on him.
"That's impossible! You're lying! Why would the ancestor of the Quincy kill his own descendants? Besides, my mother suddenly lost consciousness. I never saw anyone attack her!"
Uryū reacted violently, refusing to believe it.
"I'm not making this up. On the same day your mother lost consciousness, Kurosaki Ichigo's mother, Kurosaki Masaki, suddenly lost her powers too. The difference is that she didn't die right away. Once you return to the World of the Living, you can ask the Kurosaki family yourself."
Kazuma ignored Uryū's furious denial and went on calmly.
"Maybe you think the Kurosaki family would lie for me because we know each other. In that case, ask your father. He and I have a grudge between us, so he certainly wouldn't cover for me."
"Then why didn't Kurosaki's mother die while mine did?"
Uryū slowly calmed down.
He half-believed Kazuma now, though not completely.
Once he got back to the World of the Living, he intended to confront his father and confirm it all himself.
"Before I answer that, tell me something. How well do you actually understand the Quincy?"
Kazuma's question went straight to the heart of it.
Unless Uryū clearly understood this one point, anything else would be meaningless.
"Quincy can gather reishi from the surrounding environment. Once that ability is developed enough, they can break down and absorb anything made of reishi."
"All Quincy trace back to Yhwach, and nearly every Quincy carries his blood. According to the surviving records, nine hundred years after his death, Yhwach would regain his heartbeat. After another ninety years, he would regain his mind. And after another nine years, he would recover his former power."
Kazuma nodded slightly and gestured for him to continue.
"On top of that, depending on their lineage, Quincy can broadly be split into two groups: pure-blooded Quincy and mixed-blooded Quincy—"
"Stop."
Kazuma cut him off just as he was about to go further.
"That is why your mother died."
"Why?"
Uryū didn't understand how being a mixed-blood Quincy could have killed her.
"You know what Auswählen is, don't you?"
Kazuma kept questioning him.
"Auswählen lets Yhwach take the power of mixed-blooded Quincy and claim it for himself, using it to restore his lost heartbeat, consciousness, and strength. Any Quincy whose power is taken through Auswählen dies immediately."
Uryū had been explaining almost by rote when the truth hit him.
His eyes went wide as he stared at Kazuma in disbelief, his voice shaking.
"Are you saying… my mother died because Yhwach used Auswählen?"
"Correct. Congratulations! Someone as intelligent as you finally got there."
The corner of Kazuma's mouth lifted slightly as he nodded.
"Why…? Why?! Why would he do that?! Just because he's the ancestor of the Quincy, does that give him the right to trample us and take away our right to live?!"
Uryū's face flushed red, his eyes wide and the veins standing out on his forehead.
His handsome features twisted under the weight of rage and grief.
His voice came out like the roar of a wounded animal, full of fury and despair, as if he wanted to tear the whole world apart.
To complete his so-called resurrection, Yhwach had slaughtered his own descendants without mercy.
How could anyone do something like that?
He was nothing but an insane, inhuman executioner.
The rage inside Uryū burned hotter.
His hands clenched into fists so tight that his nails cut into his palms and drew blood, yet he didn't seem to feel it at all.
Kazuma sat quietly nearby and watched the nearly hysterical boy with calm eyes.
He wasn't surprised by the reaction.
Anyone who learned something this cruel and absurd would likely break down in anger and despair.
A long time passed before Uryū began to recover from the shock.
His face had gone pale, his body trembled faintly, and his hollow eyes showed the agony tearing through him.
Even so, he held back his tears, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to accept the brutal truth.
"Then… why did my father dissect my mother's body?"
When Uryū finally spoke again, his voice no longer carried the anger and accusation from before.
It had gone frighteningly flat, almost empty of feeling, as if only a shell of him remained.
"Your father wanted revenge against Yhwach. He searched your mother's body for something that could kill him. That's why, grieving as he was, he performed the autopsy."
Kazuma finally laid out the whole chain of events.
"How do you know all this?"
Uryū stared straight at him.
Did Kazuma have something like the Almighty too?
"That's none of your concern. Naturally, I have my own ways of finding things out."
Kazuma had already told him everything he meant to reveal. He wouldn't say another word about his sources.
"Fine. Once I return to the World of the Living, I'll ask my father again. I hope you haven't lied to me."
Uryū silently tried to take in everything he'd learned.
It would take him a long time to recover from this.
"Why would I lie to a little brat like you? I'm not bored enough to joke about something like this."
Kazuma had no interest in explaining further.
He waved his hand and removed the barrier around them.
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