"Soul Society?"
The boy sat up in bed and gazed out at the still-dark sky, something indistinct in his eyes.
He had suddenly gone from an ordinary person to another ordinary soul. The boy's name was Jun Shimizu, the name he had after transmigrating and the one he would use from now on.
The good news was that it didn't sound bad, and the surname was decent enough. After all, there were those bizarre Japanese surnames, like "Inukai" and "Inuzuka," meaning someone who raises dogs and someone who tends a dog's grave, but which looked to us like "raised by dogs" and "dog's grave"—surnames you hardly knew what to say about. Then there was "Abiko," meaning "my grandchild," right?
The bad news was that there was a whole lot of it.
"Sigh... Is that all the memory I get?"
The boy had received all of the original Jun Shimizu's memories, but there wasn't much useful information in them. He turned his head and saw a girl a little younger than him sleeping beside him. She was his younger sister, Kiyoshi Shimizu.
"Thanks for your hard work, young lady."
Jun gently brushed aside his sister's bangs. Even in her sleep, the little girl's eyes were visibly red and swollen. In fact, Jun's own eyes were swollen too, the aftereffect of a bout of sobbing. And why had they cried? That was one piece of bad news: Jun and Kiyoshi's parents had just died.
Jun tiptoed out of the bedroom so he wouldn't disturb his sister, who had finally managed to fall asleep. He still didn't know how to deal with having a sister, so leaving things as they were was a very good choice.
Jun's thoughts were simple for now. First, stay alive. Second, become a Soul Reaper.
Those were the most basic choices for an adult who had watched Bleach and come to Soul Society. He wanted to stay alive because Soul Society was dangerous. In the original story, some major event happened every other day, to say nothing of Aizen's earlier schemes and the past events Kubo himself had revealed. In short, Soul Society had never been peaceful.
Could he survive those events? That was a basic question. Of course, staying out of them was best, but how could he survive if he got caught in the crossfire? He would have to rely on himself. Becoming a Soul Reaper would provide a basic guarantee of safety, though even Soul Reapers weren't necessarily safe.
The real-life evidence was right in front of Jun. He went downstairs from the second floor, turned left at the foot of the stairs, and entered the front hall. Incense and candles were laid out there, along with an incense burner and, most importantly, two memorial tablets. The names written on them were:
Shimizu Mokuto
Shimizu Nanami
These two were Jun and Kiyoshi's parents.
"Heh... Soul Reapers, huh? They can die too."
Jun really didn't know what to say. He bowed and offered incense to the two tablets, an ordinary gesture of respect for the deceased. Then he looked at the furnishings in the hall. Three rows of chairs were divided between the two sides, leaving an aisle in the middle. Black funeral banners stood against the walls on either side, and white mourning cloth hung from the beams. It was a perfectly ordinary funeral arrangement.
Jun sat down on the nearest chair and looked at the two tablets. The atmosphere was somewhat creepy, perhaps, but Jun wasn't afraid of that. He was alone in the room, and the only sound in the silence was his own muttering.
"Both parents dead, a sister and a house to my name. That's every otaku's ultimate dream, isn't it? Sigh... So why did it have to be Soul Society? If only it were the world of Oreimo or something. Damn it!"
"And I arrived right at the funeral. That's rough enough. Luckily, I don't have to worry about arranging any of this. All I had to do was cry, but I can't even do that anymore."
"Let's think about the future. Soul Society, huh... Sheesh."
"Shimizu! Doesn't ring a bell. In other words, it's a surname that never appeared in the original story. Maybe we're on the level of background characters, or maybe not even that."
"And the current era isn't very clear. Don't they even have photos of the deceased with the tablets? So what time period is this? It should be before the original plot begins! That should count as good news. After all, protagonists are trouble magnets. An era before the protagonist is born should be relatively more peaceful."
"Eighth Division?" Jun knew from his memories that the deceased couple had been Soul Reapers in the Eighth Division. "Shunsui Kyōraku's division, huh? Wait... Is Shunsui Kyōraku the captain right now? But even if Kyōraku is captain, I still can't tell how far away the original story is. Why isn't that in these memories? Damn it!"
Jun was a little worried about the timing. He had determined that it was before the original story, but how long before it was that? How much time did he have to develop? This was a serious problem, because once the original story began, anyone whose strength didn't reach captain level was basically no different from cannon fodder.
So Jun had to reach captain level before the original plot began. It was a must!
But Shunsui Kyōraku was a poor marker for determining the time, because Kyōraku was one of the oldest captains. Of all the characters who appeared in the original story, Kyōraku ranked among the oldest.
The oldest, of course, was Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the strongest Soul Reaper, who had lived for two thousand years. Next were his lieutenant, Chōjirō Sasakibe, and the Fourth Division Captain, Retsu Unohana. It wasn't clear which of those two was older, but all three were old relics who had lived through the first Thousand-Year War, meaning they had fought against Yhwach's invasion.
The Gotei 13 came into being, and Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto rose to prominence, after the first Thousand-Year War.
Then came Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake. They were Yamamoto's disciples. Kyōraku was the first person from Shin'ō Academy to become a captain, and Ukitake was the second. By a conservative estimate, those two had been captains for over eight hundred years, since the Gotei 13 had only been founded a thousand years ago.
(The original author revealed that Kyōraku became a captain a little over two hundred years ago, but there are some problems with that timing. Given Kyōraku's ability and age—he really is seven or eight hundred years old—that would mean that, during the thousand years between the first and second Thousand-Year Wars, the most promising Shin'ō Academy disciple, the first Shin'ō Academy student to become a captain, actually took nearly six hundred years to do it! That really does Shunsui Kyōraku dirty. So in this book's secondary setting, Shunsui Kyōraku became a captain around eight hundred years before the plot, about fifty years after graduating from the academy. Jūshirō Ukitake became a captain about fifty years after Kyōraku.)
So if he used Kyōraku to determine the time, there was only one useful point of reference: when Kyōraku had yet to become a captain, meaning less than a hundred years after the Thousand-Year War had ended. If Kyōraku had become a captain, the possible time span was far too large.
Just as Jun's thoughts wandered, a voice sounded behind him.
"Aren't you scared, Jun?"
"Uncle Imari."
The newcomer was a man who looked to be around forty. He was a colleague of Jun's parents and a neighbor of the Shimizu family, Imari Kintarō, a Soul Reaper who also belonged to the Eighth Division.
Incidentally, Jun's home was in the Eighth Division barracks, just behind the division's administrative area. The other divisions were the same: their barracks were behind their administrative areas, where ordinary Soul Reapers lived.
"Aren't you scared?" Uncle Imari came up to Jun, patted him on the head, and asked again.
Of course Jun wasn't scared now, but after his brief contemplation, he already had some ideas. So he looked up at Uncle Imari and put on a brave face. "I'm not scared anymore! I'm the man of the Shimizu family!"
Uncle Imari was visibly startled. Then, admiration and relief in his eyes, he burst out laughing and rubbed Jun's head again. But he realized that wasn't appropriate and quickly took his hand away. Then he spoke to the two tablets with a hearty laugh.
"Haha! My friends, your child has grown up! Rest easy and move on to reincarnation!"
Listening from the side, Jun learned something important: Soul Reapers entered the cycle of reincarnation after death, meaning they were reborn as babies in the World of the Living. That was good news, wasn't it? So Jun offered a few more sticks of incense.
Uncle Imari also bowed and offered incense. Then he drew Jun aside, sat down with him, and began explaining a few things.
The Shimizu couple had died yesterday. Uncle Imari and some other friends from the Eighth Division had come to help the Shimizu family set up the funeral hall, but the formal funeral hadn't been held until today. So Jun had a lot to do today. Uncle Imari had come early to tell him about it, expecting it to be troublesome, but Jun had become so sensible overnight that everything went smoothly.
There really wasn't much trouble on Jun's end. After all, only two children were left in the Shimizu family, and the Eighth Division's Soul Reapers had taken care of all the actual funeral arrangements. Jun and Kiyoshi—mainly Jun, as the eldest son—only had to bow and thank the guests when they offered incense to the Shimizu couple. If Jun got tired, Kiyoshi could take over for a while. There was nothing else.
"I understand!"
"Mm."
Uncle Imari didn't waste any more words. After a period of silence, Jun suddenly asked, "Uncle, what will happen to Kiyoshi and me from now on?"
"From now on?" Uncle Imari looked at Jun. "If you don't mind, would you like to come to my house? Or you could go to the Tōdōs. Your Uncle and Auntie Tōdō have Masami there too, so you'd have company."
The Tōdō family Uncle Imari mentioned was another family of Soul Reapers in the Eighth Division, and they were also close to the Shimizu Family. They had a daughter named Tōdō Masami, who was a hundred years old. To mention Jun's age here, he was a hundred too.
Souls in Soul Society grew up very slowly. Ten years were equivalent to one year in the real world, though of course time passed at the same rate. In the original story, Isshin Shiba, also known as Ichigo's father, Isshin Kurosaki, had defected twenty years earlier. At the time, Tōshirō Hitsugaya looked about thirteen or fourteen, and twenty years later, when the plot began, Tōshirō looked only fifteen or sixteen. That was how quickly souls in Soul Society grew.
(Of course, the original story didn't say much about this. Its timeline is actually quite confused and unclear, so this book uses a secondary setting for many matters of timing.)
Souls grew slowly, and the intellectual development of children's souls was slow as well. It was basically equivalent to the real world: a hundred-year-old child in Soul Society had roughly the same intellectual development as a ten-year-old child in the real world. Some might be far more advanced, but didn't child geniuses exist in the real world too? So they were basically the same.
Jun was a hundred years old, while Kiyoshi was sixty, equivalent to a six-year-old child. Neither of them was an adult. In a place like Rukongai, they would have had to wander at that age. Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, as well as Gin Ichimaru and Rangiku Matsumoto, had all lived through that.
But Jun and Kiyoshi were the children of Soul Reapers, so they had more choices. With their parents dying while they were this young, the two children would generally be adopted by other Soul Reapers.
"I see. I'll think about it some more."
"Mm, that's fine too. You can go to another family as well. Whichever one you want is fine. We were all friends of your parents, and your uncles and aunties will raise you."
"Yes. Thank you, Uncle."
Time passed. It had been around three in the morning when Jun got up, and Uncle Imari had arrived before five. Not long afterward, the Tōdō couple mentioned earlier arrived as well. After they tidied up the funeral hall, guests began arriving one after another at six.
Jun began his work then. Whenever a guest bowed, Jun bowed to the guest from the side and said, "Thank you." The guest would reply, "My condolences." Then Jun would hand over incense for the guest to offer. That was the procedure.
Most guests sat for a while afterward. Some shed tears of grief, while those close to the Shimizu Family came to comfort Jun and Kiyoshi for a while. Kiyoshi had been woken by then, and the little child, her eyes blurred with tears, was truly a pitiful sight.
There were fewer than thirty chairs, but a great many guests. Not only did members of the Eighth Division come, but some people from other divisions came too. Some had been the Shimizu couple's classmates at Shin'ō Academy, while others were friends who had once partnered with them on missions.
Around eight, a large group from the Tenth Division suddenly arrived. The Tenth Division was Tōshirō Hitsugaya's division, but Tōshirō was not its captain at this time. The one leading the group was the Tenth Division lieutenant, Fujikawa Shinji.
After the large group arrived, they knelt to pay their respects and then bowed to Jun and Kiyoshi, leaving Jun utterly bewildered. Lieutenant Fujikawa also read a eulogy and a letter. Jun's head spun from the heap of formal language, but at the end, he heard the title "Captain of the Tenth Division, Shiba" perfectly clearly.
The Tenth Division captain's surname is Shiba? Isshin Shiba? Ichigo Kurosaki's dad? Or someone else? Jun wondered silently.
Then the Tenth Division group knelt and bowed once more before withdrawing together. At that point, Uncle Imari came to clear things up for Jun.
As it turned out, the Shimizu couple had died in battle, and in Soul Society itself. Their enemy had been a Gillian-class Menos Grande. The Shimizu couple had been the first to discover it, and the Gillian had appeared very close to Rukongai. So the couple, who had been on patrol, confronted it and held out until fighters from the Tenth and 11th Divisions arrived, dying in battle when they did.
Why had the Tenth Division come to apologize? Although all Soul Reapers had a duty to fight Hollows, the Tenth Division was responsible for security in Soul Society and was the division in charge of situations like this. Thus, the Shimizu couple's deaths in battle were proof in themselves that the Tenth Division's response had fallen short, so they had to come and apologize.
With the Tenth Division's visit over, the remaining guests continued to arrive in waves. At around nine, an announcement suddenly rang out from outside the door.
"High-ranking noble! Captain of the Eighth Division! Lord Kyōraku has arrived!"
All the guests stood at once. A tall man led the way through the main entrance. Jun looked up, but Uncle Imari pressed his head down. Jun strained to look around and saw everyone bowing to the man at the door.
"No need for formalities. I'm here to offer incense and pay my respects."
The voice sounded young. Jun was released then, and since the man had come to offer incense and pay his respects, Jun had to thank him. Seeing him bow, Jun hurriedly bowed too and offered him the lit incense. Taking the opportunity, he finally got a good look at the man.
Jun recognized him at first glance. It was definitely Shunsui Kyōraku, though the current Shunsui Kyōraku was still very different from the one in the story. The man before Jun had a handsome face, an upright bearing, and an air of righteousness. His hair was neatly groomed, and he had no beard, only faint stubble. Everything about him gave an impression of neatness.
But his face hadn't changed much. Though his bearing was different, Jun could still recognize him as Shunsui Kyōraku.
"What is it? Is something wrong with me?" Shunsui Kyōraku asked when he saw Jun staring at him.
Shunsui Kyōraku had an unfamiliar seriousness about him, and Jun was a little dazed, but he quickly came to his senses and asked, "Are you my dad and mom's captain?"
"Yes, I am. I'm sorry I didn't take better care of your dad and mom." Kyōraku crouched down and looked at Jun seriously.
Looking at Kyōraku, Jun realized he hadn't yet used many of the things he had thought of earlier, but the best possible opportunity had suddenly presented itself. So Jun shook his head. "No. Dad and Mom did what they had to do, and I'm proud of them. So, Captain, sir, I have a request! I want to become a Soul Reaper!!"
"Uh..." Kyōraku was stunned. Then he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Heh... You're still too young."
But Jun couldn't let the opportunity right in front of him slip away. His expression hardened, and he shouted, "I'm the only man in the Shimizu family! I have to become a Soul Reaper! I'm already grown up!"
"Jun!" Uncle Imari was badly frightened. Jun had actually shouted at Kyōraku, which was highly disrespectful. Shunsui Kyōraku wasn't just a captain; the Kyōraku Clan he belonged to was also a high-ranking noble family, and Shunsui Kyōraku himself was its heir and young master. Disrespecting him was a grave offense!
But Kyōraku didn't mind. After all, Jun was still a child. Instead, Kyōraku admired Jun greatly. Smiling, he patted Jun on the shoulder. "All right! You really are a fine son of the Shimizu family! As long as you're not afraid of hardship, I'll send you to Shin'ō Academy even if you're too young. What do you say? Will you go?"
Jun nodded emphatically. "Yes! I'm not afraid of hardship! I want to go to Shin'ō Academy!"
Jun's plan had succeeded, and the boy felt a surge of excitement. But at that moment, little Kiyoshi, whose presence had been barely felt by Jun all this time, spoke up.
"Big brother..." The little girl suddenly ran out and threw her arms around Jun's waist, tears streaming down her face. "Don't you want me anymore, big brother?"
"No." Jun held his little sister, suddenly at a loss. Comfort her? There was no way around it. This was Jun's best opportunity, and he couldn't give it up. As for this sister, Jun felt he still hadn't had enough time to think and couldn't give her a good answer.
But Kyōraku came to Jun's rescue. He asked Uncle Imari, "Imari, Seventeenth Seat, are these two children all that's left of the Shimizu family?"
"Reporting, Captain! Yes, that's right."
Kyōraku looked around the funeral hall, then at the brother and sister holding each other, and sighed. "Jun, was it?"
"Yes!" Jun answered quickly.
"If you're willing, leave your sister in my care for the time being. You can go to school without worrying. Remember! You're the only man in the Shimizu family!"
This outcome was far beyond what Jun had imagined. He immediately pressed his sister, who still didn't know what was happening, down to kneel before Kyōraku with him. For the sister he had gained without effort, he would pay with this bow.
"Thank you so very much!!!"