Gaoyu, You Know Too Much

People weren't heartless.

Although Gaoyu had deliberately been raising other people's favorability toward him, feelings inevitably built up over time.

Of course, he had some affection for Toru Tanimoto. It wasn't as strong as Toru's eighty points of favorability toward him, but by his system's assessment, it was probably around sixty.

But when facing Aizen, he had to act this way!

That was what he knew about Aizen, and it was also the instinctive choice his Game Master ability had led him to make.

He had to remain indifferent to everyone else if he wanted them to have any chance of surviving.

If he begged Aizen not to kill anyone, Aizen might end up killing everyone instead!

So he had to maintain this nonchalant attitude. Perhaps it would even make Aizen feel a little bored.

Especially where Toru Tanimoto was concerned. If Gaoyu showed a strong reaction to Toru, Aizen would think he was nothing special and lose interest in him. Toru's life would be forfeit all the same.

Better, then, to remain completely indifferent to whether Toru lived or died. With that indifference, he might save the other two as well, and his only reasons would be "my own amusement" and "I'm not interested."

It was an infuriating answer, but Aizen probably liked that sort of thing.

Sure enough, after hearing Gaoyu's response, Aizen said nothing more.

He strolled through Hueco Mundo with Gaoyu. In this world, there was no sense of time passing.

The scenery was monotonous, and though they walked for a long time, it felt as if they were still standing in the same place.

As they walked, Gaoyu realized he couldn't keep wandering aimlessly. This was a test from Aizen. If he failed it, things might not end well for him.

Even if Aizen didn't kill him, he might pin all the blame for this incident on Gaoyu.

But if he passed, he could successfully join Aizen's inner circle!

He had already seen Aizen's favorability toward him change.

Before, it had been zero, like a god's casual indifference toward a human. Now it had started to rise, and by no small amount: from zero to ten!

It was still low, but compared to zero, it was a significant breakthrough.

So he needed to press his advantage.

"Captain Aizen, this may sound presumptuous, but I personally think you're all that's needed to subdue the King of Hueco Mundo."

Gaoyu narrowed his eyes in imitation of Gin Ichimaru, then smiled. "If possible, let me return to the Seireitei. I won't say a word."

Aizen kept walking ahead of him. "What else do you know?"

"A lot, I suppose..."

Gaoyu replied just as casually. "For example, that you want to obtain the Hogyoku."

"Or that you're dissatisfied with the Soul King's rule?"

Aizen's steps slowed for an instant. Then he gave a soft laugh.

"Gaoyu."

Aizen said mildly, "You know too much."

"Whether I know or not... it doesn't matter." Gaoyu turned his head, not looking at Aizen but gazing out over the seemingly endless sands of reishi.

He even crouched and scooped up a handful of white sand.

The sand quickly slipped through his fingers. Soon, only a single grain remained in his palm.

"Just like this reishi sand, I only care about the things that interest me. Even if something else looks no different from it, to me, they're worlds apart."

"What I'm saying may sound harsh, but... your plan, Captain Aizen, really does fall into the category of things I'm 'not interested in.' It's no different from 'protecting the Seireitei' or 'being loyal to the Soul King'..."

"So I won't interfere with your plan. What difference does it make whether I know about it or not?"

Gaoyu carefully put away the grain of sand, then gazed ahead, his eyes somewhat vacant.

"You want to use this purge to make room for Vice-Captain Gin's promotion, don't you?"

"And there are also the students about to graduate from Shino Academy. Without a purge like this, they'd have little chance of advancing quickly in the Gotei 13, where the hierarchy rarely changes."

"Let me guess: the Captain you want to lure out is the Captain of the Third Division, right?"

Aizen turned to look at Gaoyu again. This time, his face was expressionless, no longer showing the faintly interested look from before.

Gaoyu's guess was exactly the same as his plan.

Aizen really was interested in Gaoyu.

He had first noticed the young shinigami in his division when Gaoyu began teaching Renji at night.

Gaoyu was only an ordinary low-ranking officer, yet he was remarkably skilled at teaching Renji, Kira, and Hinamori. Aizen had to admit that even if he had taught the three of them himself, their progress probably wouldn't have been much faster.

So Aizen had sent Metastacia to test Gaoyu, and the test had confirmed that Gaoyu Kouun was unusual.

Metastacia was merely a failed experiment, but he still possessed formidable abilities. Even shinigami at the level of a Vice-Captain would have trouble dealing with him.

That was because his abilities were specifically designed to counter shinigami!

Yet when Metastacia attacked, Gaoyu had killed him with a single blast resembling a Hado spell!

Gaoyu's calm composure and effortless ease had made Aizen start observing him closely.

That was why he had promoted Gaoyu to a seated officer, and why he had made his appearance this time.

Of course, even without Gaoyu, Aizen would have planned an incident to leave the Gotei 13 badly weakened.

Otherwise, the people he valued would have no way to rise to higher positions.

Take Gin Ichimaru, for example. He had served under Aizen for far too long. It was time for him to transfer to another division and become its Captain.

Then there were people like Hinamori. After graduation, they would join his Fifth Division, and naturally, there would need to be room for them to rise through the ranks.

It was only because of Gaoyu that Aizen had made a slight change to the plan he had devised long ago.

Just as Gaoyu had guessed, if Gaoyu failed to discover Metastacia, Aizen would have no reason to keep an eye on him. If he died, so be it.

But if Gaoyu discovered Metastacia's parasitic possession, there would be two possible paths.

The first was that he would expose Metastacia's identity out of "concern for his companions," only to fall into Aizen's trap and gradually find himself isolated, with everyone doubting him.

The other was to remain "indifferent." In that case...

Aizen would appear!