Chapter 35

The reason Haruto asked was all too obvious.

"I've never betrayed you, boss!"

Faced with Haruto's question, Inukai answered without hesitation.

"The house?"

Rather than dwell on Inukai's loyalty, Haruto moved on to his next question: why had the house he had entrusted to Inukai's care ended up in its current state?

"If I hadn't done that, the treasure inside your house..."

Inukai glanced at the Buddhist altar room, which was still wreathed in thin smoke.

"Too many people had their eyes on it. I wasn't confident I could keep it safe, so I had no choice but to... lead the remaining brothers in surrendering to that guy."

"..."

Inukai's answer took Haruto by surprise.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"Being able to wait until you came back made it all worthwhile, boss!"

"..."

He had put the gang's petty affairs behind him on the day he left.

Compared with the bustling Seireitei, the goings-on in Rukongai's East 66th District, tucked away in a remote corner of Soul Society, were as childish and dull as a game of make-believe to Haruto now.

Faced with the expectation in Inukai's words, Haruto's silence was the best response.

Volume one: 023, You're up

The disappointment in Inukai's eyes vanished in a flash.

But that was all... He knew perfectly well that he could never show any unusual emotions in front of Haruto.

As an orphan Haruto had rescued from a rival gang, he had once sworn to devote everything he had to the man before him.

However.

Time wore away at things with tremendous force. His days were uneventful, and he had no worries about food or clothing; by village standards, he was even considered well-off. But for someone like him, who was used to excitement, it was undoubtedly a painfully unbearable choice.

"No need to look so glum."

Haruto broke the silence between them:

"I really don't intend to concern myself with the gang's petty squabbles anymore. But they dared to butcher my old friends without any regard for me... No matter what, I'll remember that grudge."

"Tell me."

Haruto motioned for Inukai to find a place to sit.

"What happened within the gang?"

"If it was just outside pressure... with how hard you guys can fight, that old bastard might not have dared set foot on our turf."

Since Haruto had been one of the two top dogs, there had naturally been a rival who could stand on equal footing with him. Compared with the young gang Haruto had built and brought together himself, the old man and his men had, as Haruto recalled, been extremely cautious.

"Boss..."

"Keep it short."

Seeing Inukai look ready to reminisce about the glorious old days, Haruto hurriedly cut him off.

"..."

"A Hollow appeared near the village well."

With no further hesitation, Inukai dropped a bombshell.

"Go on."

Haruto nodded for him to continue.

"At night, that Hollow would lie in wait by the well, so our people could only fetch water during the day..."

"That way, at least they had a thirty percent chance of survival."

Hollows were not particularly rare in a remote part of Rukongai like the East 66th District, but from what Inukai was saying, this Hollow was clearly not the usual kind that wandered about hunting: it was quite intelligent.

After all.

Unlike the Hollows in the World of the Living that had only just transformed from humans, most Hollows that appeared in Soul Society came from Hueco Mundo after being accidentally swept into naturally formed Garganta. Long periods spent surviving and obeying had reduced their intelligence to that of beasts.

"Did a Soul Reaper come?"

"Yes. We reported the Hollow in time, and a Soul Reaper did come here, but..."

"It's still there."

Inukai's expression darkened as he spoke.

"Is that why there are fewer and fewer people in the village now?"

After all this time, the Hollow was still in Rukongai?

By rights, whether the Soul Reaper assigned to the matter had succeeded in killing the Hollow or been killed by it, the Gotei 13 should have had a corresponding record. If it was the latter, they should certainly have sent a stronger Soul Reaper to eliminate it.

"...Yes."

Inukai's confirmation made Haruto frown slightly. Something about this was clearly not right.

The gang had originated in this nameless village, and the well was vital to the entire village's survival. If a Hollow they had absolutely no chance of defeating occupied it, the village would naturally lose its reason for existing, and the gang's roots would effectively have been torn out.

Its decline would only have been a matter of time.

But!

By the time Haruto left, the gang controlled a considerable expanse of territory and had far more wells than just the one in the village. How could it have ended up like this in only five years?

"There was another reason, wasn't there?"

"If it was only the well that the Hollow had occupied, you could have moved the whole village to another area with a well."

"I don't remember when the young people in the gang became such inflexible old fogeys," Haruto said, voicing his doubts. "And when I came back, the house had already fallen into this state of disrepair... Don't tell me most of the gang chose to stay and defend the little patch of land where I got my start."

"...No, that wasn't it."

The admiration for Haruto within the gang had dwindled year by year after he left. Even so, a small group still believed they had to kill the Hollow and reclaim their "roots," even at the cost of their lives—

Most of them were people Haruto had brought out of this village.

The bitterness in Inukai's smile deepened.

"The problem was the Soul Reaper who came to eliminate the Hollow."

"He wasn't killed by it?"

That was a little surprising.

Haruto had assumed the local Gotei 13 had dealt with the matter perfunctorily. After all, they were ostensibly an armed force meant to "protect the court," and carrying out a mission so far from Seireitei was itself beyond the duties laid down when they were founded.

"He only came to the village and had all the villagers leave temporarily after nightfall... We don't even know whether he fought the Hollow."

"And then?"

Haruto pressed.

"And then..."

"The next time we saw that Soul Reaper, he was already... the other side's commander-in-chief."

"...I see."

A Soul Reaper involved in local gang warfare?

There was no need to guess; there had to be something in it for him.

Most of the time, the Gotei 13 turned a blind eye to that sort of thing. Coming out to some far-flung corner of Rukongai on a mission was already a thankless job nobody wanted; without a little extra profit, it would be even harder to get anyone to do it.

"We'll talk about the Soul Reaper later."

"As for the Hollow..."

"Take me to the well to have a look tonight."

Inukai knew Haruto's way of speaking well; what he had just said was already a dismissal.

"Boss Haruto?"

However.

Inukai didn't quite understand what Haruto meant. Boss Haruto was still a student at Shin'ō Academy, so he surely couldn't match a full-fledged Soul Reaper. Even if he wanted to get involved in gang affairs again, he couldn't deal with the other side's commander-in-chief.

In that case.

There really was no need for him to get involved in the gang's affairs again. That was also why Inukai hadn't told him the truth outright at first.

But the Hollow...

Although Hollows were, on the face of it, on the same level as Soul Reapers, as far as Inukai knew, it took many Soul Reapers working together to kill one.

And now Boss Haruto wanted him to go along at night to the well where the Hollow was active...

"Don't worry."

Haruto put Inukai's fear to rest.

"I saw a living Hollow while I was studying at Shin'ō Academy. Even if I can't beat that thing, I can still get you away."

"In any case."

"We have to make sure whether that Hollow is still there at night... don't we?"

"..."

"Boss Haruto, I'll do whatever you say!"

The sun turned red.

As darkness swallowed the last few rays of sunlight, night fell on Soul Society once more. Unlike the brightly lit Yoshiwara District, people in remote areas like District 66 truly did rise at sunrise and rest at sunset.

Clang.

The last length of blade still exposed outside the scabbard slid back in. Haruto laid the Asauchi flat across his knees, bringing his Jinzen to an end for the day.

It had only been a short while since morning when Haruto returned home, but now daylight had given way to darkness.

"Zanka no Tachi."

"By repeatedly injecting Reiatsu into the Zanpakuto and releasing it, like circulating energy through a full cycle in a cultivation novel, I really can strengthen my communication with my soul and Zanpakuto. I've never felt anything like this before."

The secret technique old man Ise had developed had some truly distinctive features.

Rather than teaching him an advanced Kidō technique, it was more a special method of training for the release of a Zanpakuto.

Haruto wasn't sure whether his exceptional talent for Kidō had played a part, but while practicing Zanka no Tachi, he had indeed realized that if the secret technique could be disseminated, the Gotei 13 might have to raise its standards for selecting high-ranking Seated Officers by several notches.

But Haruto snuffed out the thought as soon as it surfaced.

It wasn't that he was stingy or anything; it was simply because of Zanka no Tachi's requirements... Haruto also remembered at that moment that Soul Reapers capable of casting Hadō number seventy-eight apparently didn't need to worry about releasing their Zanpakuto.

After all...

For most people, the advanced Hadō above number seventy-five were at least as difficult to master as Shikai.

"That's not all."

"The Heavenly Bedding Pill is still consuming my Reiatsu, but aside from the noticeable drop when I first took it, the rate at which my Reiatsu is growing..."

A trace of puzzlement appeared on Haruto's face.

"Not only hasn't slowed down, it's even thirty percent faster than before."

Haruto had to admit that the effects of the Heavenly Bedding Pill he had taken differed greatly from what Byakuya had described in all sorts of ways.

"Did the benefits of my improved physical condition outweigh the medicine's side effects?"

"..."

"For now, that's the only explanation I can come up with."