The one most confused by all of it was Sode no Shirayuki herself.
For years she had waited patiently for Rukia to awaken her.
Yet one year passed after another, and the moment she'd been anticipating never came.
Just when Sode no Shirayuki had resigned herself to waiting indefinitely, something unexpected happened.
Her vast, unchanging world of ice and snow suddenly began behaving strangely.
Without warning, nine dazzling stars appeared in the frozen sky, as though they'd fallen from the heavens.
Sode no Shirayuki's first reaction was fear.
This strange, powerful energy clearly hadn't come from her, and the instinctive terror of something unknown immediately threw her into confusion.
She tried everything she could think of to drive out the unwelcome power.
She drew on her own strength, commanded the surrounding ice and snow, and even wore herself out exploring unfamiliar corners of her inner world in search of an answer.
Every method she could imagine ended in failure.
The nine stars seemed to have become part of her world itself, impossible to remove or even disturb.
As time passed, something even more astonishing happened.
The starlight began quietly seeping into Sode no Shirayuki's body.
Little by little, her entire form took on a dreamlike glow, as though countless tiny stars had been set inside her like glittering jewels.
At first, Sode no Shirayuki thought she was about to die.
Then she discovered that the power caused no discomfort at all.
She could command it freely, and it felt almost indistinguishable from her own natural strength.
Since resisting had proved useless, she could only accept it.
Besides, becoming stronger was hardly a bad thing.
While Sode no Shirayuki was still reflecting on her strange transformation, a remarkable sensation suddenly stirred within her.
After all those years of waiting, Rukia had finally formed a connection with her.
A faint disturbance rippled through the frozen world, and a blurry human figure gradually appeared before it became clear.
"Brr… it's freezing."
The instant Rukia stepped into the mysterious realm, she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself against the bone-deep cold.
"So this is my Zanpakutō's inner world?"
She looked around curiously.
Nothing but endless white stretched in every direction, as though the whole world had been buried under a thick blanket of snow.
The silver landscape was beautiful, but it also inspired a kind of solemn awe.
Most striking of all were the nine brilliant stars hanging in the frozen sky.
They shone like jewels, standing out sharply against the otherwise colorless world and looking strangely out of place.
"You finally came."
A mysterious, ethereal voice sounded beside Rukia's ear like a call from another world.
Her heart jolted.
She quickly looked around, trying to find whoever had spoken, but saw nothing beyond cold moonlight spilling across the snow in silver patches.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
Rukia's voice trembled slightly. The sudden situation had clearly unsettled her.
"Who else could possibly be here besides you and me?"
The voice came again, now carrying a trace of helpless amusement.
A soft wind brushed across Rukia's cheek and left behind a faint chill.
She frowned and forced herself to calm down before turning toward the source of the voice.
Her gaze settled on a shadow not far away.
A woman slowly stepped out of it.
She wore a long-sleeved white kimono, and her snow-white hair drifted gently in the wind, giving her an otherworldly beauty.
Her jewel-like blue eyes seemed to see through everything, while an elegant flower-shaped star ornament rested near the upper right of her hair.
Starlight shimmered across her whole body, deepening her air of mystery.
"Are you… my Zanpakutō?"
Rukia stared at the beautiful yet unfamiliar woman in disbelief.
"This makes no sense at all."
For the first time, a faint crack appeared in Sode no Shirayuki's usually cold, unchanging expression.
She was carefully studying the reiatsu radiating from Rukia.
Its strength had already reached the fourth tier.
What made that so baffling was that Rukia had yet to achieve Shikai.
Normally, anyone with reiatsu this powerful should have mastered Shikai long ago.
The situation completely defied common sense.
"What must I do to earn your recognition?"
Rukia wasted no time and asked directly.
She had no interest in riddles, elaborate trials, or pointless games. She wanted to improve far too badly to dance around the real issue.
Sode no Shirayuki paused, caught slightly off guard by her bluntness.
Then she swept one arm outward, and a gleaming Zanpakutō appeared in her hand as though summoned from thin air.
Since Rukia wanted a direct answer, Sode no Shirayuki would test her in the most direct way possible.
A contest of strength.
Rukia stepped back, drew her Zanpakutō, and slashed.
One strike.
Sode no Shirayuki never even saw the blade move.
A deep cut appeared across her shoulder, though no blood flowed from it. Only shards of ice scattered out.
"What…?"
Sode no Shirayuki had never imagined Rukia's Zanjutsu would be so terrifying.
She'd been wounded the instant the fight began.
"That's enough. You're worthy of learning my name."
Sode no Shirayuki was no fool.
She'd failed to see Rukia swing her sword and had still been injured. There was no reason to continue a battle she clearly couldn't win.
"Huh? That's it?"
Rukia blinked.
"I hadn't even put any strength into that swing."
The remark was incredibly hurtful, but unfortunately, Rukia was telling the truth.
Sode no Shirayuki stared at her in silence.
'That was you holding back? If you'd actually tried, were you planning to cut me in half?'
Did this woman have to be so brutal?
...
"Listen carefully. My name is — Sode no Shirayuki."
Sode no Shirayuki drew a deep breath and tried to calm the excitement swelling within her.
Her beautiful blue eyes stayed fixed on Rukia, as though she wanted to carve that name directly into her soul.
Rukia stood quietly and listened with complete attention. The moment she heard the name, she gave a solemn nod and committed it to memory.
At long last, she had obtained the power of Shikai!
...
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!"
Rukia's eyes snapped open as she called out the release command.
The ordinary-looking Zanpakutō in her hand transformed in an instant.
The blade, guard, and hilt all turned a flawless white, as pure as freshly fallen snow.
Nine brilliant stars appeared along the blade, their faint light shimmering like jewels scattered across the night sky.
The guard became an elegant oval with six delicate openings carved into it, while graceful patterns decorated the upper portion of the hilt.
From its pommel trailed a long white ribbon that fluttered through the air like the sleeve of a dancer.
The released Zanpakutō radiated a bone-chilling cold, and even the surrounding air seemed on the verge of freezing.
Beneath that cold lingered a faint but unmistakable killing intent.
It didn't come from Rukia herself, but from the mysterious Nine Stars of the Northern Dipper set within the blade.
Kazuma's Zanpakutō carried the vast, balanced majesty of the stars — lofty, righteous, and overwhelming.
Rukia's star power was entirely different.
It overflowed with judgment and slaughter, as though it had been born to cut down every evil beneath the heavens.
"Captain… are you certain that's only Shikai?"
Tetsuzaemon tilted his head so sharply that his sunglasses nearly slid off his face.
The instant Rukia released her Zanpakutō, he lost the ability to sense her reiatsu entirely.
His own reiatsu had already reached the upper fifth tier and was close to entering the fourth.
If he could no longer perceive hers, then Rukia had to be at least in the upper fourth tier — or perhaps already standing at the threshold of the third.
"What kind of question is that?" Kazuma replied. "If it isn't Shikai, do you think it's Bankai? Besides, whose Bankai would be this underwhelming?"
He certainly wasn't insulting Madarame Ikkaku or Muguruma Kensei.
He was merely stating an objective fact.
"Captain, am I supposed to take that as mockery?"
Tetsuzaemon could no longer keep his composure.
This was supposed to be a Shikai?
Even Kurosaki Ichigo's power hadn't been this absurd!
And what were those nine mysterious stars glowing along Rukia's blade?
There was no point claiming they were a second power that naturally belonged to Rukia.
When a person possessed two separate Zanpakutō powers, their Shikai normally manifested as two blades, just like Captain Kyōraku and Captain Ukitake.
They didn't appear as two completely different powers fused into a single weapon.
Kazuma was an exception, naturally, but Kazuma was an exception to nearly everything.
That only made Tetsuzaemon more suspicious.
Why did Rukia's Zanpakutō share the same dual-natured structure as Kazuma's?
There could be only one answer.
She was definitely the captain's secret daughter!
Tetsuzaemon's gaze toward Rukia immediately became far more cautious and respectful.
She was the captain's daughter, after all.
He didn't know why Kazuma had chosen to hide her true identity, but that wouldn't stop a loyal subordinate from trying to understand his superior's hidden troubles.
Perhaps the captain had reasons he couldn't speak of.
Yes, that had to be it.
Everything fit together perfectly.
Rukia turned Sode no Shirayuki over in her hands and soon noticed the same strange detail.
Why were there nine stars on her sword?
She'd seen nine enormous stars in Sode no Shirayuki's inner world, but at the time she'd assumed they were merely part of the scenery.
Now she could clearly feel the power inside them.
It was the power of judgment and slaughter.
"Teacher, what exactly happened to my sword?"
Rukia immediately concluded that Kazuma had done something.
"I dunno."
Kazuma put on the expression of a completely innocent bystander and even started whistling.
"I haven't congratulated you yet. Your Zanpakutō actually has two attributes! How rare and amazing!"
"Seriously?"
Rukia stared at him suspiciously.
Her teacher had never been reliable. He constantly dragged her into trouble and nearly worked her to death.
She'd sooner believe pigs could fly than accept he had nothing to do with this.
"Is that any way to question your teacher?"
Kazuma narrowed his eyes.
"Are you feeling restless again? Should I hang you from the ceiling and bring out the bamboo switch?"
Rukia's pupils shrank.
The smile vanished from her face at once.
She had absolutely no desire to experience that horrifying punishment a second time. The memory alone was enough to make her whole body ache.
Rukia wisely kept her opinion to herself.
That didn't mean she believed for a second that her Zanpakutō had coincidentally developed star power on its own.
...
First Division
"Chōjirō, come with me to the Seventh Division."
Captain-Commander Yamamoto looked up at the sky, where nine stars shone brightly in broad daylight.
"It appears someone has achieved Bankai. The younger generation truly is producing remarkable talents."
The reiatsu erupting from the Seventh Division had unmistakably reached the third tier.
At last, suitable candidates might have appeared for the two vacant captain positions.
...
"Rukia has already learned Bankai?"
Over at the Sixth Division, Kuchiki Byakuya looked equally doubtful as he headed toward the Seventh Division with Renji.
"Had she not yet failed to achieve even Shikai?"
Rukia was his sister-in-law, and he knew her reiatsu too well to mistake it for someone else's.
"I need to train harder."
Renji had completely lost his usual cheerfulness.
"At this rate, Rukia really will surpass me someday."
Among the students of their generation, he'd been the first to learn Bankai, and he'd admittedly felt rather proud of himself.
Yet hardly any time had passed before Rukia apparently skipped straight over Shikai and reached Bankai.
That was crushing enough to make a man question every choice he'd ever made.
...
"What exactly is this?"
Yamamoto and Sasakibe Chōjirō were the first to arrive.
After hearing Kazuma's explanation, both stared blankly at Rukia's Shikai, which was radiating power on the level of a Bankai.
"You tampered with it, didn't you?"
Yamamoto narrowed his eyes, the meaning behind the question perfectly clear.
Anyone with even a basic understanding of Zanpakutō knew that Rukia's current state should have been impossible.
"Did I? What exactly did I do?"
Kazuma had chosen a very simple strategy.
Deny everything.
What were they going to do, eat him?
"You expect this old man to believe you know nothing about the blatant star power covering Rukia's Zanpakutō?"
Veins bulged across Yamamoto's forehead as he neared the edge of his temper.
"Captain-Commander, you should speak with a clear conscience. How can you accuse an innocent man without evidence?"
Kazuma continued shamelessly.
"Look carefully. Does Rukia's star power come from the same source as mine? Hers is full of killing intent. How could they possibly be the same?"
No matter what anyone said today, he was never going to admit it.
"Heh."
Yamamoto grew so furious he laughed.
Had some unrelated element appeared within Rukia's Zanpakutō, he might have accepted it.
But it just happened to be star power.
Anyone who dared claim there was no connection could step forward, and Yamamoto would personally twist their head off.
---------
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