A little earlier.
Just before Natsuki and Kyoraku Shunsui arrived near the Government Office District.
At the entrance to Central 46 in the Government Office District.
A young man dressed in shabby clothes, his head wrapped in a cloth and his skin darkened by the sun, stood with vacant eyes. It was immediately obvious that he was blind. Several wardens were blocking his way with six-foot-long iron staves.
Faced with their refusal to let him pass, the blind young man cried out, staking his life on his plea. "Please let me see Central 46! I beg you!"
But his request fell on deaf ears.
The guards remained unmoved. Worse, their eyes held a hint of mockery and scorn.
That was not only because they were all relatives of nobles, but also because they had recognized at a glance that the blind man before them was a Commoner.
In the Outer Court of the Seireitei, many Soul Reapers came from humble backgrounds, and the people there were close to them. As a result, nobles rarely looked down on Commoners. The Inner Court was different. It was where the nobles lived, and those who resided there naturally carried themselves with an air of arrogance. They looked down on Commoners, considering them lowly, and even held Soul Reapers of lower rank in contempt.
Only Soul Reapers who had earned the rank of Seated Officer were worthy of their regard. And if someone was a captain in the Gotei 13, they would never dare show them scorn, even if they came from a Commoner background. On the contrary, they would treat them with the utmost respect.
But the blind man before them clearly wasn't a Soul Reaper. He was just an ordinary Commoner. They didn't know why he had come here, but that did