Keep Thy Eye on the Path, and Look Not Around

Keep your eye on the path, and don't look around. -- William Blake, Milton (1804-1810)

Renji lay sprawled on the broken stone slab, a burning pain shooting through his back.

The Snake Man's tail was like a thick steel whip, lashing his back again and again. Each lash made his body involuntarily bounce up and then slam heavily back to the ground.

His Shihakusho had been ripped to shreds, with pieces of fabric stuck to the torn flesh on his back. Blood trickled down the contours of his ribs, pooling into a small dark red puddle beneath him.

"It hurts! It hurts so much!"

Renji's muscles tensed from the pain, his fingers digging so hard into the cracks in the stone slab that his nails cracked and splintered, but he felt no pain in his fingers because the excruciating pain in his back felt like a red-hot iron pressing down on his spine, crushing all other senses.

Another whip lashed down, striking Renji squarely in the lower back. Renji's knees snapped back, and he arched his body like a shrimp whose shell had been stepped on, his forehead slamming against the stone slab with a dull thud.

Am I too weak?

The Snake Man's tail rose again, drawing an arc in the night sky, and slammed between his shoulder blades with the force of a gust of wind. The bones made a very faint creaking sound, as if something was spreading in the cracks, Renji's whole body bent back like a bow.

Renji was ruthless to himself; even so, he gritted his teeth and suppressed the scream in his throat, with only a muffled groan escaping from between his teeth.

"Is it still not working?"

Renji's vision began to blur, blood trickling from the wound on his forehead, seeping into the corner of his eye, staining the whole world a dark red.

Through the dark red blood membrane, he saw the Monkey Woman standing a few steps away, her arms crossed over her chest, with her Zabimaru hanging at her sides.

She lowered her head, looking down at herself lying in a pool of blood, her cold, hard face filled with the purest discontent.

It's the kind of dissatisfaction that arises only after having expectations of someone and being let down time and time again; it's the Monkey Woman's resentment and lack of Renji.

"Even my own Zanpakuto is leaving me. What am I doing?"

The Snake Man's tail fell down again.

"It hurts! It hurts so much!"

This time, the blow landed on his shoulder blade with such force that he rolled over on the ground, going from lying on his side to lying on his back.

The night sky was reflected in his increasingly unfocused pupils; the moon was mostly obscured by dark clouds, leaving only a very faint halo.

As the Snake Man passed by Renji and walked towards the Monkey Woman, Renji saw the Snake Man's disappointed and helpless look in his eyes.

Renji's pain surged up in waves like a Tide:

"So that's it. What's causing me pain isn't this body that's been constantly whipped, but my own heart?"

The Snake Man, probably tired of the act, wrapped his tail around his ankle, lifted him upside down, swung him halfway through the air, and then slammed him hard to the ground.

Renji's back slammed against the stone slab, and he let out a muffled groan as the air in his lungs was squeezed out. The Snake Man released his tail and turned to walk towards the Monkey Woman.

"Monkey Woman, what do we do with this guy?" The Snake Man's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible weariness.

The Monkey Woman lowered her head, looking at Renji lying in the rubble, covered in blood, his eyes vacant, his fighting spirit utterly gone. After a brief silence, she Renji:

"It's okay, just kill him."

The Monkey Woman seemed to have completely lost faith in Renji and decided to give up on this Soul Reaper who was unworthy of being her partner.

The Snake Man turned to the fallen Renji, his right hand clenching in mid-air, and the blade of the Zabimaru reformed in his palm. The segmented blade of the snake belly sword gleamed coldly in the moonlight, its tip aimed at Renji's chest.

Renji lay on his back, looking at the Zabimaru raised high.

The tip of the knife reflected the moonlight that had pierced through the dispersed clouds, and also reflected his own disheveled face.

"In the end, am I still the same as always? Just saying I want to become stronger, but still recklessly charging ahead without considering anything else?"

His consciousness began to fade, and his body felt extremely heavy, but his mind became exceptionally clear at that moment.

"Ichigo said he was fighting to protect..."

The image of the orange-haired boy standing in front of him, carrying Zangetsu, flashed into his mind.

"Amber too."

Another figure appeared—black hair and silver eyes, always wearing a black stand-up collar coat, with a Zanpakuto in a dark red scabbard hanging at her waist. Although Amber's hair turned more and more white as her strength increased, Renji was still most familiar with Amber when she had black hair.

That was when Kou was still interning at the Feimou Corps. The two of them took a break from their busy schedules to have a late-night snack at a ramen stall. They both drank a few extra cups that day, and Renji couldn't remember why they were talking about this.

I only remember that Hu's face was as red as an apple, and with her chopsticks still stuck in the noodle bowl, she waved her arms and loudly announced:

"Renji- senpai, you know what? I can't stand tragedies. That's why I must become stronger, strong enough to break free from any tragedy. No matter who directed this mess, I'll tear it all apart!"

Renji laughed at him for talking big when he was drunk, but now that I think about it, Kou's eyes were perfectly clear when he said those words, and even though they were spoken under the influence of alcohol, there was no falsehood in them.

"Is this the reason for their strength?"

"And what about me? What do I have? What am I doing all this for...?"

At that moment, Byakuya's face surfaced from the depths of his memory—that perpetually cold, almost expressionless face, the one he had vowed to surpass.

"Is it to catch up with Captain Byakuya?"

Indeed, Renji had considered Byakuya Kuchiki his role model long before joining the Gotei 13. He wanted to catch up with him, to surpass him, but...

"Wrong..."

Renji himself rejected this answer.

He had been chasing that figure for far too long, so long that "surpassing Byakuya Kuchiki" had become an ingrained habit. But if it were only to surpass Byakuya, he should be lying on the ground now, his mind filled with scenes of fighting Byakuya, not with countless other noises.

"... My privilege!" A stuttering sound gradually became clearer.

"Why did that phrase come to mind now? But—what was it about exclusive privileges again? I remember he was so happy when he said it."

With Amber's vague words, a scene that seemed like it had happened a long time ago suddenly surfaced in Renji's mind.

It was at a noodle stall outside the Second Division training ground. The moonlight was bright, and the night breeze was refreshing. He and Kou were exhausted from Byakuya's training and their bodies ached all over.

At that moment, Hu was holding a bowl of noodles, slurping them down while proudly showing them off to him:

"Oh, you didn't know? Shaoling is Soi Fon, that's Captain Soi Fon's real name. I've never changed my title, and Shaoling has never objected." He pointed his chopsticks at his chest, chin held high, "My exclusive privilege!"

Renji's memories gradually became clearer. That night, they talked a lot, about his past with Rukia in Rukongai, and how Koko was found by Fon Shaoling in Bamboo Creek Plain.

"That kid always calls me 'senior,' but he never really treats me like one."

Thinking back to how Amber grinned slyly at the time, "Renji- senpai, you should do your best too! Don't you like Rukia- senpai too?"

Renji nearly choked to death on his noodles. He coughed for a long time, his face turning bright red, and he couldn't even utter a complete sentence.

"Speaking of which, this guy actually likes Captain Soi Fon. We're kind of in the same boat, aren't we?"

"Over there is the Fon Clan subordinate to the Shihoin family, and over here is Rukia the Kuchiki Clan of the Four Great Noble Clans."

Renji thought about this, a self-deprecating smile appeared on his lips:

"They're just a newbie who hasn't been in Soul Society long, and this guy's a thug from the Inuzuri district—we really have some nerve."

"However... Captain Soi Fon cried very sadly at Amber's Konsō Ceremony."

Renji recalled what happened that day.

It was raining heavily that day. When Fon Shaoling stood on the execution platform and finished all the ceremonies, everyone thought she would walk down the steps with a cold face as usual.

But she bent over, pressed her hands to her eyes, her shoulders trembled violently, and tears mixed with rainwater streamed down her face, accompanied by painful screams.

Yoruichi and Sakiro rushed to help her up, Marechiyo Ōmaeda stood not far away, seemingly at a loss as the Lieutenant of Fon Shaoling. Clearly, he had never seen a captain like this before.

Renji remembers standing in the crowd, raindrops dripping from his hair and running down the hilt of Zabimaru. At that moment, he felt a little envious of Koko, but for some reason, he felt a little melancholy along with his envy. He didn't know what caused his melancholy at that time.

"Judging from Captain Soi Fon's expression, they're probably mutually in love. If that guy had lived a little longer, maybe he would have gotten what he wanted."

In Renji's pupils, Zabimaru's blade was slowly descending.

Renji watched the approaching, cold light and slowly closed his eyes.

"And what about Rukia? Will she weep for my death?"

Rukia's face flashed through his mind—the Rukia standing in the Kuchiki Clan mansion, dressed in fine clothes, dignified like a true noblewoman, and also the little girl from many, many years ago, on the muddy path of Rukongai, who was so hungry she could barely stand, yet stubbornly shook off his hand and said, "I don't want your pity."

"What would her reaction be if she heard I was dead?"

Will she cry?

Will she cry for him like Captain Soi Fon cried for Amber?

"If only I could..."

The moment this thought crossed his mind, Renji suddenly saw a scene— Rukia kneeling on the ground, her hands covering her face, tears welling up between her fingers, her white clothes soaked with tears.

Like Fon Shaoling at the Konsō Ceremony, she cried her heart out, her usual strength and stubbornness completely gone.

"Renji! Renji!"

Just imagining Rukia's cries made Renji's pupils contract sharply, as if an electric current surged up his spine and reached the deepest part of his consciousness.

The reflection of Zabimaru's approaching blade in his pupils was no longer visible, but there was no longer any confusion in his eyes.

"Yeah, right!"

He doesn't want it!

He absolutely did not want Rukia to cry like that; he did not want Rukia to experience the same pain as Fon Shaoling.

He didn't want her tears—he wanted her to smile, to be safe, to find a place of her own in the cold, impersonal mansion of the Kuchiki Clan, and to never have to cry for anyone's death again.

A surge of power, seemingly from nowhere, rushed into his limbs, and his unfocused eyes ignited once more. His fingers tightened around the knife, making a cracking sound.

Just as Zabimaru was about to strike, Renji sprang up from the ground, his Zanpakuto horizontally in front of him, blocking Zabimaru's blade.

Sparks exploded between the two knives, illuminating the astonished faces of the Monkey Woman and the Snake Man.

I may indeed be very weak.

Renji gritted his teeth, exerted force with both arms, and pushed Zabimaru upwards inch by inch:

"Thanks to you all, you reminded me of my original aspirations!"

His body was covered in blood, and he could barely stand, but the light in his eyes shone brighter than ever. "Sometimes, having too many geniuses among your friends can easily lead to your downfall! Right, Zabimaru!"

His arm, which should have been heavy and powerless to swing, tensed, muscles bursting with a final, defiant Zanpakuto and swung it at Zabimaru—

Clang!

The moment the blades clashed, sparks exploded between the two men.

A look of astonishment flashed in the Snake Man's vertical pupils, and his entire body was jolted back several steps by the sudden force.

"I almost forgot—I'm not like Ichigo or Koko, geniuses who can rival the captain in just a few months." Renji loosened his muscles. "So, I don't have time to waste on such trivial matters!"

The Monkey Woman frowned. "Such a... trivial matter?"

"Of course it's a small matter." Renji straightened up, Zanpakuto horizontally in front of him. "Compared to the people I want to protect, what's the big deal about admitting my weakness?"

There is someone I must protect no matter what—for her, I must become strong, strong enough that no tragedy can get near her!

He Zanpakuto high, and a wild, crimson Reiatsu erupted from his body like a volcanic eruption, turning the entire ruins crimson with its light.

"For this, I absolutely cannot lose! -- the Roar, Zabimaru!"

A crimson Reiatsu the Roar out, enveloping his Zanpakuto. In that blinding light, the Zanpakuto's blade lengthened, and segmented structures began to appear, eventually transforming into a snake-belly sword identical to the Serpent's Zabimaru in the Monkey Woman's hand.

Renji gripped the Zanpakuto that had finally answered his call once more, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Isn't this the power you wanted, the power I sought within myself?" Renji's smile was disheveled—blood still clung to the corner of his mouth, his cheeks were covered in dirt and bruises, and even his eyes were uneven from being bloodshot—yet he remained incredibly relaxed. "Then let's continue. Next up is the Second Round!"