For a long time, dark clouds had hung overhead. Then, with the flick of a small stone, faint ripples of light were stirred across them.
Asano Kiyoshi's words seemed to have grown wings, rapidly spreading throughout the entire Seireitei. In barely half a day, everyone's conversations had become filled with curiosity and doubt over the public trial scheduled for the following day.
Most ordinary people held a certain degree of skepticism toward the matter. It was not because they were dark-hearted by nature, but because they had simply seen too many cases of commoners standing against nobles.
Although Asano Kiyoshi's status was also quite extraordinary, as he belonged to the Soul Society's core direct line, compared to the nobles—a group fundamentally set apart by class—he was still somewhat inferior.
But no matter what, the Gotei 13 had issued an official announcement. Regardless of the outcome, it at least showed the people an attitude.
If Asano Kiyoshi won in the end, then regardless of his identity, as long as he could punish Yamada Unko, it would be a tremendous blow to the status of the noble class!
And that was precisely what the masses, long oppressed by the nobles, needed to see.
They needed to feel and receive one message—nobles who committed crimes would be punished just like ordinary people!
Such a simple point carried the greatest hopes of most commoners in the Soul Society. Some held boxes of ashes, some dragged along their mutilated bodies, and some carried bloodstained garments as they staggered toward Sōkyoku Hill. They... were the victims of the nobles' grim rule!
Before the Omaeda Family estate, impoverished people gathered from all directions had filled the area. Their faces were sallow and their clothes tattered, yet not one of them made any noise or caused any disturbance.