A Game Between Master and Cat

Compared to Kurosaki Ichigo's impassioned fervor, Kurosaki Isshin remained incomparably calm, stepping into Tōsen Kaname's path.

"This feeling of spiritual pressure..."

Tōsen Kaname tilted his head slightly, sensing that familiar spiritual pressure, and said with a smile, "Kurosaki Isshin? No, I should call you Captain Shiba Isshin."

"It's been a long time, Captain Tōsen," Kurosaki Isshin replied.

"No, it hasn't actually been as long as Captain Shiba imagines..."

After a pause, Tōsen Kaname said, "I was there on the day Captain Shiba first met his wife, Kurosaki Masaki."

Isshin's expression shifted slightly at those words, and he instantly understood.

"So that Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande called 'White Ichigo' was Sōsuke Aizen's test subject? And that day, you deliberately lured me to the World of the Living?"

"That's right," Tōsen Kaname answered.

"Originally, Lord Aizen merely wanted to use Captain Shiba's life to test White Ichigo's combat ability. We never expected Kurosaki Masaki to appear, much less that Captain Shiba would give up all his status, power, and strength for the sake of a Quincy woman."

By the end, a faint trace of... envy had entered Tōsen Kaname's voice.

Yet when this old matter was brought up, Kurosaki Isshin showed no annoyance or anger. Instead, he burst into laughter and said, "Come to think of it, I really ought to thank you and Aizen. Otherwise, I probably would never have had the chance to meet Masaki in this lifetime. The days I spent with her were far happier than anything in the Seireitei."

Though Tōsen Kaname was blind and could not see the happiness overflowing from Isshin's face, that tone reeking of love... undoubtedly stabbed deeply into his heart.

Why did Tsunayashiro Tokinada get to take away my childhood sweetheart, only to murder her afterward...

While Kurosaki Isshin was not only