The most dangerous place was the safest place. Jun now understood the meaning of those words deeply.
In Hueco Mundo, there was currently nowhere more dangerous than where Jun sat: beside Starrk and Lilynette. Since the two had become Arrancar on their own, they had effectively shown that the correct evolutionary path for a Vasto Lorde was to become an Arrancar.
At the same time, this was also the most dangerous place. Starrk was so powerful that he couldn't live alongside other Hollows at all. But come to think of it, did Hollows really live together? Didn't they devour one another to evolve? In any case, as long as Starrk didn't kill you, his side was without question the safest place in Hueco Mundo.
Looking at the evolution of Hollows as a whole, ordinary Hollows had nothing but instinct. Evil Spirit Hollows were no different from ordinary Hollows, except that their instincts were stronger.
Once they reached the Menos Grande stage, Gillians already had some brains and could understand human speech. Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde could control them perfectly, making them do whatever they were told, while ordinary Hollows could only be herded like cattle or sheep at best.
Adjuchas, the next stage, already possessed stable intelligence. They could seek good fortune and avoid danger, running when they knew they were no match for a Vasto Lorde. When facing another Adjuchas, they would also assess their relative strength. They knew their own limits, unlike ordinary Hollows, which would gnaw at each other whenever they met, the winner eating the loser.
At the Vasto Lorde level, apart from still being unable to speak, their physical capabilities and intelligence were essentially no different from those of Soul Reapers. Baraggan had commanded countless Hollows to build Las Noches while he was still a Vasto Lorde. That ability was damn impressive. How many Soul Reapers knew how to build a palace?
Then, after becoming Arrancar, whether it was Starrk now or those Arrancar in the future, they were no different from Soul Reapers. In other words, they were people.
"What exactly are you two?"
"I'm Lilynette, and he's Starrk!"
Jun chatted with Lilynette for fun. Starrk wasn't very interested. He had been a lazy fellow in the original story, and he was the same now. He paid Jun no attention at all and only reacted when Lilynette spoke to him.
"No, that's not what I mean. I'm asking if you're Hollows."
"Hollows? What are those?"
"Uh, the beings that exist here. The ones with masks who only know how to eat."
"Oh~ Starrk, Jun says we're Hollows."
"No, we aren't anymore."
"Did you hear that, Jun? We aren't Hollows anymore."
"Is that so?" Jun continued, "I'm a Soul Reaper. Soul Reapers divide Hollows into several kinds. The kind that only eat are called Hollows. Then there are the big ones, the really enormous ones, called Gillians. The ones stronger than Gillians are called Adjuchas, and the ones stronger than Adjuchas are called Vasto Lorde. What are you?"
This was too much for Lilynette to process. Her little processor didn't have that much capacity. It seemed that Starrk had only recently split, and Lilynette had none of the willfulness she'd shown in the original story.
"Starrk, what are we?"
"I don't know."
"Huh? You don't know either, Starrk? No, no, I want to know!"
Lilynette shook Starrk wildly. Bothered beyond endurance, Starrk said, "Do you know which is which among the things you just mentioned?"
"What do you mean?"
Starrk didn't understand what Jun was saying, and Jun didn't quite understand what Starrk meant either. Starrk and Lilynette still had no systematic way of expressing themselves, and their humanity was still relatively low. They hadn't come into contact with people, either.
Just as Jun was wondering how to answer, he was carried away. The tremendous Reiatsu weighed down on him, making him miserable. Then Jun felt himself being tossed aside again and heard a tremendous crash.
Jun adjusted his posture and landed, then looked toward Starrk. The dust was slammed to the ground by the Reiatsu, and Jun saw Starrk and Lilynette standing atop a rhinoceros beetle. It struggled with all its might, but it didn't do a damn thing.
"What is this guy?"
"Is this guy strong?"
"What's strong?"
"Uh..." Jun was at a loss for words. Strength was relative. In front of these two, what counted as strong? Jun tried to put it into words. "Are there any guys about as powerful as him? Compared with those big black guys, how many of them would this thing be a match for?"
That was a difficult question. Starrk looked up at the sky, then finally made a circle with his hands for Jun. "This many."
"???" But Jun was no slouch either. He made a circle with his arms. "Are there any like this, then?"
"Oh~" Starrk looked as if to say, You get it. "There are~"
"Are there lots of ones like this too?"
"Ah~ How many is lots?" Starrk cutely counted on his fingers, then spread both hands and waved them a few times. "This many."
Jun couldn't make out a specific number or understand it, but however he looked at it, it was more than one. So Jun said, "The one under your feet is an Adjuchas. The ones this many are Vasto Lorde."
"Oh~~~" Lilynette watched the two communicate, her eyes shining. "You're both amazing."
Jun also thought the way the two of them had just communicated on the same wavelength was impressive. "What about you two~? Are you Vasto Lorde?"
"No, we're this many Vasto Lorde."
Jun saw the circle Starrk made with his hands. Just like the relationship between Adjuchas and Gillians, an Arrancar equaled a circle's worth of Vasto Lorde. As for how many that actually was, only Starrk knew.
Soul Society, in front of the Senkaimon.
The Senkaimon stood right next to the Twelfth Division, so the division was the first to hear that the expedition team had returned. Isuzu ran out excitedly, only to find that the person she wanted to see wasn't there.
Only then did Isuzu remember that the expedition team's normal assignment lasted half a year. It had only been a little over two months, so an early return was hardly good news.
"Where's Junjun?"
"Lingling~" Nana threw herself into her arms and burst into tears.
Isuzu, however, couldn't cry. She still couldn't believe that this was the truth. Yet no one in the entire expedition team dared face her. At that moment, Kensei Muguruma, still somewhat unsteady on his feet, came before Isuzu.
Kensei dropped heavily to his knees before Isuzu and knocked his head hard against the ground, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"I failed in my duty! As captain of the expedition team, I lacked the ability! I'm an incompetent man! I couldn't bring Mr. Shimizu back! I'm terribly sorry!!"
Isuzu could no longer hear anything. In an instant, the whole world was gone.
"Lingling~! Lingling!!"
She collapsed in Nana's arms.
Jun's funeral was soon held in Soul Society, and what Jun had done on the expedition gradually came to light.
A new Adjuchas-class Hollow had been discovered, along with a new being suspected of being Vasto Lorde-class. To save Soul Society at the last moment and spare it from a Vasto Lorde invasion, Jun had decided to stay behind in Hueco Mundo and close the Senkaimon.
The child of heroes, a living hero, had now become a dead hero. Jun's whole life had embodied the meaning of the word "hero."
As Jun's wife and the only remaining member of the Shimizu Family, Isuzu failed to do what she was supposed to, but no one blamed her.
Jing cried herself unconscious at the funeral. She had always been frail, and her tears hadn't stopped since she learned of Jun's death.
Guests came in great numbers and departed in great numbers, one group after another, without a break for several days. It was as though all of Soul Society had come to see Jun off.
Isuzu gradually began to act again. She mechanically did what a widow was supposed to do, like a cold machine. Eventually, all the guests had been received, and the Shimizu residence grew utterly deserted.
Jing was also taken back by the Ise Clan, leaving only Isuzu kneeling motionless on her cushion.
At that moment, someone came to the funeral hall. Isuzu rose, bowed, and took out burning incense to offer the visitor, but he didn't take it.
"It's me."
Isuzu raised her head. The visitor was Aizen.
"Senior Aizen, you're here again."
Aizen took the burning incense, only to press it all out. "Do you really think Jun is dead?"
"What do you mean!?" Isuzu asked in shock.
Aizen put the incense back. "I don't think he's dead."
Tears instantly streamed down Isuzu's cheeks. She had thought Aizen might have some useful information, but it was only an attempt at consolation. "I-I don't want him to be, either. Sob~~"
"You're his wife. Didn't he tell you about his Kidō instructor?"
Those words instantly rekindled hope in Isuzu's heart. "Instructor Hanazawa!?"
"So you do know. Then you should know Jun can use spatial Kidō, and you should know about the Kidō called Space-Breaking World."
"You mean!? Jun, he..."
Aizen pinched his brow. "I don't think even a Vasto Lorde could interfere with Jun's Kidō. He can always run away. In any case, I don't believe he'll die before his dream comes true."
"Can Jun really..."
"Keep hoping. I don't know when he'll come back, but I keep feeling that he can. Maybe he's trapped in the Dangai. You should know that time passes much faster there than it does for us."
Isuzu's tears became unstoppable once more, but this time they were tears of hope. "Thank you, Senior Aizen. I feel much better now. I feel like Jun really can come back."
"He won't die so easily. You should know that while his status as a hero is real, he isn't a hero. If he did this, he must have been sure of himself!" Aizen spoke with absolute conviction, but his tightly clenched hands showed that his heart wasn't quite so certain. "I believe that if he really faced a life-or-death crisis, he'd abandon everything! He would never throw away his own life for someone else's!"
"Yes! I know! I believe it! He isn't that kind of fool! He's not a real hero!"
"Very good! Your Reiatsu circle has gotten a little smaller again. Well done!"
In Hueco Mundo, Jun was coaching Starrk in controlling his Reiatsu. Starrk had great talent, and he had already begun to slowly shrink his Reiatsu circle.
Lilynette ran back and forth, measuring the size of the new Reiatsu circle.
"Starrk, Starrk, you're amazing~ It's already twenty-five steps smaller, yahaha~"
Meanwhile, Jun began teaching the two of them speech and arithmetic, and they learned both very quickly.
During this time, Jun played with the two of them. Although he mainly played with Lilynette, the one who was truly lonely was actually Starrk, but he was a stubborn tsundere.
While spending time with them, Jun had Starrk take him to observe other Hollows. They were mostly Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde, because Hollows at the Gillian level died almost instantly upon encountering Starrk. His Reiatsu circle could kill them outright.
That was also why Starrk didn't venture into the Forest of Menos, but for Lilynette and Jun, he went back.
And, prompted by Jun's curiosity, Starrk took him to the other side of the Forest of Menos—the actual other side. Jun saw what lay outside Hueco Mundo.
It was a vast ocean.
Jun was very curious about this place. He saw Hollows in the sea, but Starrk couldn't clearly explain what this place was. From there, Jun also went to another other side of the Forest of Menos.
It was a grassland.
How could there be two other sides? Jun was a little baffled.
But Starrk took Jun from the Forest of Menos to Upper Hueco Mundo, then to the other side of Upper Hueco Mundo. There lay a world of stone.
"I've only been to these places. A long time ago, before I had clear memories, I lived in the place you call the grassland. I don't know what happened, either. By the time I was the way I am now, I was in this desert."
"I see. Let's keep playing, then."