Tokoyo Misao, Absent from the Records / This Will Only Make You Look Weak
Misao headed toward the little river on the outskirts, but after walking for a while, he noticed that the Spirit Ribbon that should not have been there had not followed him. He was a little puzzled.
That Spirit Ribbon from earlier had been red with a hint of pink, and frighteningly solid.
It definitely belonged to someone Captain-level or above.
He just did not know which captain had secretly come to watch the new students train.
After thinking it over, he figured the most likely possibility was one of Aizen's subordinates.
He had already seen the person's Spirit Ribbon. The next time he had a chance to meet the captains, he would naturally be able to match it to its owner, so there was no need to keep dwelling on it.
Misao took a leisurely stroll along the river to digest his meal.
Chapter 9: Tokoyo Misao, Absent from the Records
The moon shone brightly among sparse stars, its light mingling with starlight as it fell upon a cliff on Kobushi Mountain in Rukongai's third district.
It cloaked the person standing at the cliff's edge in a hazy, silvery-white glow.
The man's gaze rested on Tokoyo Misao, beside the pitch-black river on the outskirts of Junrinan.
"Are you that interested in the kid, Captain Aizen?"
A voice that rose and fell in pitch came from behind him. To anyone, the tone would have sounded mocking.
But Aizen paid it no mind and replied gently, "Did you know, Gin? I'm afraid that boy's talent surpasses even yours."
"Oh? For this junior of mine to earn such high praise from Captain Aizen, he must be impressive."
A man with silver-white hair, narrowed eyes, and an upturned smile came to a stop half a step behind Aizen, wearing a Captain's Haori.
He, too, faced the outskirts of Junrinan.
"But talent alone shouldn't be enough to make Captain Aizen pay him so much attention, should it?"
He was Gin Ichimaru, Third Division Captain of the Gotei 13 and the holder of the fastest graduation record since the founding of the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts—a genius among geniuses.
Even he had gone to considerable lengths before he succeeded in becoming Aizen's subordinate.
Aizen raised his head to look at the bright moon and replied softly, "Tokoyo Misao wore a strange glove on his right hand. It looked rather old.
"And the pattern on it was probably a noble family's crest."
"A noble family's crest? Could that junior of mine be a great noble?" Gin Ichimaru was a little surprised.
He was surprised that Aizen would be so interested in a noble. Could the boy be a descendant of a reclusive noble family?
Aizen reached up and adjusted his glasses, their lenses reflecting the moonlight.
"It's precisely because I don't know which noble family that crest belongs to that I'm interested."
Realization dawned on Gin Ichimaru, and he nodded. "I see. Then, Captain Aizen, would you like me to visit the Great Spirit Book Gallery? It contains every piece of information about Soul Society."
"I've already been, Gin. That's why I concluded that I don't know where he came from. Do you know what the strangest part is?"
Aizen's voice remained gentle and calm, yet it carried a hint of eager curiosity.
It nearly made Gin Ichimaru open his narrowed eyes.
In all the years he had followed Aizen, he had seen him show fluctuations in emotion only when a few experiments had made breakthroughs.
At all other times, Aizen's emotions remained perfectly steady and impossible to read.
Yet now, Aizen was showing signs of excitement over a noble brat. It was the first time Gin had ever seen it.
He thought for a long time but could find no answer, so he simply grinned and said, "Captain Aizen, I don't know."
Aizen turned his gaze toward the outskirts of Junrinan once more.
"The Great Spirit Book Gallery is said to record everything in Soul Society. Even if a bird lays an egg in the woods or a fish lays eggs in a river, it records them all.
"But when I went to look through it earlier, I found that there wasn't a single record concerning Tokoyo Misao."
"What?" Gin Ichimaru blurted out.
He had visited the Great Spirit Book Gallery himself and knew just how meticulously detailed its books were.
Anything known to have happened in Soul Society was certain to be recorded, whether it concerned a person or an object.
Yet the fellow named Tokoyo Misao had appeared in Soul Society and entered the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts to study without leaving a single record. That alone showed how unusual he was.
Only now did he understand why Captain Aizen was so interested in the boy.
After a moment's thought, he asked, "Should I make contact with him, then?"
Aizen turned around and casually tore at the air before him, pulling the space open as if it were gauze.
He replied gently, "There's no need, Gin. Tokoyo Misao is only a minor interruption. For now, we should focus on our own affairs."
With that, he stepped through the torn space.
Gin Ichimaru followed him, still smiling.
Before long, the two arrived in the World of the Living.
The space Aizen had casually torn open had been a passage between worlds.
He had opened it with great ease and traveled from Soul Society to the World of the Living.
They were now in Karakura Town, a place of concentrated spiritual energy in the World of the Living.
After arriving, Aizen casually raised a finger toward the sky and drew a vertical line. A black rift appeared once more.
But this time was different. One after another, strangely shaped creatures with white masks on their faces emerged from it.
They were Hollows, formed when the souls of dead humans fell into corruption.
The Hollows let out eerie, hollow howls as they emerged.
Ignoring Aizen and Gin Ichimaru beside the rift, they scattered in every direction, ready to hunt souls and humans.
Suddenly, a blue arrow made of Reishi shot out from the darkness of the street and struck one of the Hollows as it was about to scatter, reducing it to dust and killing it instantly.
A young man with somewhat white hair and glasses stepped out onto the street.
He looked to be in his twenties or thirties. As soon as he appeared, he drew the attention of all the Hollows that had been about to scatter.
The Hollows roared and charged at him with bared claws and teeth.
The young man, dressed in a white uniform, opened his left hand toward the sky and clenched it. A longbow made of Reishi abruptly appeared in his hand.
He then hooked two fingers of his right hand around the Reishi bowstring and pulled it back, and a pale blue spirit arrow appeared.
He aimed at the charging Hollows and released his fingers. The spirit arrow whistled through the air, piercing and killing them in an instant.
There were rather a lot of Hollows this time, however, and after he had killed several, others had already drawn close.
The next moment, he vanished from where he stood and appeared behind the approaching Hollows, drawing his bow and shooting again to destroy them.
Aizen and Gin Ichimaru watched in silence.
"Oh my, this Quincy is fairly strong," Gin Ichimaru said with a smile. "But he still seems a little lacking to serve as nourishment."
Aizen's gaze remained fixed on the young Quincy.
"Indeed. The power he possesses is far too weak."
Gin Ichimaru followed up from beside him, "Should we give up, then? With his power alone, there's no way he can contend with the power of those unfinished products."
Aizen watched calmly as the young Quincy struggled to kill the last Hollow, then dropped straight to his knees, gasping for breath.
"If Quincy power of this degree were incorporated into the work, it would only be devoured instantly. It couldn't possibly produce an interesting reaction."
He shook his head, a little disappointed. "It seems the Soul Reapers were too ruthless with the Quincy last time. Come, let's go back."
"Of course, Captain Aizen." Smiling, Gin Ichimaru followed Aizen back into the spatial rift.
Before leaving, he turned his head slightly and glanced at the young Quincy kneeling in the street, as if he wanted to remember what he looked like.
Then he disappeared into the rift.
The man below had not noticed at all that two Soul Reapers had watched his entire fight.
"There were so many Hollows today. I'm exhausted."
Sōken Ishida murmured under his breath, then got up and went home.
Chapter 10: This Will Only Make You Look Weak
Today, as soon as Misao and the others arrived at the training ground, Renji Abarai grew rather excited.
His gaze kept darting toward Tokoyo Misao, who stood at the very front. His brows and the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably, and it was clear he was delighted.
His unusual behavior made Izuru Kira, who stood beside him, ask, "What's with you? Did something good happen today?"
Renji Abarai parted his lips, showing his teeth, his gaze fixed on Misao's back.
"Today's Zanjutsu lesson."
Izuru Kira tilted his head, and it took him a moment to catch on.
He said nothing, merely glancing at Rukia in front of him and Tokoyo Misao ahead of her. He could not help sighing inwardly.
Renji Abarai probably liked Rukia, but had never dared express it.
He was the same in that regard.
At the thought, he stole a glance at Momo Hinamori, then quietly asked the person beside him, "You seem pretty confident in your Zanjutsu?"
Renji Abarai huffed. "I grew up in Inuzuri, Rukongai's seventy-eighth district. You should know that the higher the district number, the more chaotic it gets. We learned to fight from childhood.
"Don't let Rukia's small size fool you. She's really good in a fight. Of course, I'm strong too."
Izuru Kira nodded in agreement. "The seventy-eighth district is a very chaotic place."
He vaguely remembered Brother Misao saying in the cafeteria that the place he had lived before had neither water nor food.
Even Zaraki, the most vicious eightieth district, had water and a certain amount of food.
It was quite possible that Brother Misao came from somewhere even more remote and barren.
He looked at Renji Abarai beside him and opened his mouth, intending to warn him.
But seeing how happy Renji was, he ultimately closed his mouth again and said nothing.
Instructor Ōunabara Gengorō clasped his hands behind his back and spoke gravely.
"You're very lucky today. Your Zanjutsu lesson will be taught by a Captain-level member of the Gotei 13.
"Be sure to seize this opportunity and study hard."
"A Captain-level member?" The students immediately stood even straighter.
Only after the lessons they had received during this time did they understand just how remarkable Sōsuke Aizen, the Fifth Division Captain who had attended their entrance ceremony, really was.
And now another Captain-level figure had come and was even willing to teach them Zanjutsu personally. Naturally, they had to take it very seriously.
Instructor Ōunabara Gengorō immediately raised his voice, opened his mouth wide, and shouted with all his might, "Please welcome the Gotei 13's Tenth Division Lieutenant—Rangiku Matsumoto!"
As his words fell, a flash of gold swept into the training ground from the corridor.
When the figure had fully crossed the corridor and entered the training ground, every student drew a sharp breath.
Rukia murmured in shock, "How is that possible? What did she eat growing up?"
Momo Hinamori lowered her head and took a quick look, then looked back up at the newcomer. "Do we still have a chance?"
Hearing that, Rukia whipped her head around and shouted at her, "What do you mean by 'we'?"
Momo Hinamori turned to look at Rukia as well, then shrugged.
Her meaning was perfectly clear—they were both the same kind of person.
"Damn it... The difference is just too big."
Even Rukia, who had the highest Rei'i Grade in their class, could not help feeling deeply defeated when she saw Rangiku Matsumoto.