Listening to Aizen, Asano Kiyoshi set down his teacup. His eyes, almost godlike, turned toward Aizen as he said seriously,
"If that is the case, then, Captain Aizen, I hope you will keep watching. If one day I become someone you do not wish to see, you are welcome to kill me."
"Ah, naturally."
Looking at the man before him, Asano Kiyoshi slowly extended his hand and said softly,
"But before that, I hope we can stand on the same side. At the very least, neither you nor I wish to see this world return to its primordial state of chaos, do we?"
Aizen put his glasses back on, and that gentle expression returned to his face. He took Asano Kiyoshi's hand, his voice as refined as ever.
"Yes, Captain-Commander. Until then, I will play the role of Fifth Division Captain well."
"After that, though, you will still have plenty of prison time to serve. Of course, killing every last one of those Central 46 bastards does not count as a crime."
"I will quietly watch the world you lead from within my cell."
Watching Aizen's departing figure, Asano Kiyoshi felt something indescribable in his heart.
When he had first crossed into the world of Shinigami, he had once believed that he was bound to fight Aizen.
But as events gradually unfolded, he realized that when facing the darkness festering to the bone within Soul Society, he and Aizen could actually stand on the same side.
Sometimes, even his own growth had followed paths Aizen had laid out for him.
How should he put it? People truly could not be judged simply as good or evil.
The Captain-Commander of Soul Society occupied a gray area. He could not, and should not, handle matters based solely on personal likes and dislikes.