Death Is Knocking!

"I'm not guessing. If you want to say it, say it."

Aizen's face was expressionless. He had no interest in playing word games with anyone.

Although Kisaragi Akira hadn't given him a direct answer,

based on what Aizen knew of the man, he was probably capable of doing it.

Gathering the Reishi of the dead, making them reappear in this world, and then speaking with them.

Could this be Mimihagi's power?

Or was it somehow connected to Kisaragi Akira?

Countless thoughts swirled through his mind, until his attention was drawn back to the other man.

"Heh. You don't think dying settles everything, do you?"

As Aizen watched in astonishment, Kisaragi Akira carried a red offering table right up to the Shinigami's corpse.

He lit the incense and candles, gently rang the Ritual Bell, and filled a teacup with clear water.

"By the name of Kisaragi Shrine Priest, I offer this sacrifice to the One-Eyed Great Deity, Mimihagi..."

Kisaragi Akira's fingers fluttered like butterflies, forming one strange, sacred hand seal after another. As he murmured the words of the ritual, he also pictured the recipient of the offering in his mind.

Aizen watched calmly, trying to understand this unique ritual in his own way.

He released his Reiatsu, covering the entire area.

At that moment, Aizen's perception of Reiatsu expanded to its limit, sensing for the slightest change that might occur in the air.

The Reishi flowed like water, like a gentle breeze, like moonlight...

Wait!

Aizen's eyes widened slightly as he sensed something unusual.

As the ritual proceeded, some invisible force seemed to freeze the deceased's disintegrating Reishi in its current state, then gather it all within the clear water in the teacup.

He tried to pinpoint the source of this force.

But when he followed the faint fluctuations back to their origin, he was astonished to discover that his Reiatsu couldn't trace them to their end.

The force stretched on like a thread, reaching all the way to the distant east.

Aizen narrowed his eyes slightly and gazed in the direction the force had vanished. He had a general idea.

Nikkotsu District, One-Eyed Deity Shrine.

While Aizen was trying to trace the force, Kisaragi Akira had already finished gathering the renegade Shinigami's Reishi.

A face full of terror and disbelief appeared on the surface of the water. It darted about like a headless fly, trying to escape its prisonlike confinement.

But no matter what he tried, he couldn't get out.

"I'm curious. What drove you to commit such a heinous crime?"

Kisaragi Akira dipped a finger into the teacup.

It took only a moment for his brows to furrow, then furrow further, until they nearly met.

"So it really was..."

"Utterly deranged."

Kisaragi Akira shattered the cup with a casual flick, dispersing the gathered Reishi and ending the scar-faced man's life for good.

"He killed an entire family over nothing more than a verbal dispute."

Aizen raised an eyebrow, but didn't look surprised.

In his view, this world was full of evil deeds.

The Soul Society's records contained plenty of cases like the scar-faced man's, where someone killed an entire family over a minor disagreement.

When people gained power that didn't match their character, their state of mind often changed in subtle ways.

Good or evil could be decided in a single thought.

"All right. Now that we know what happened, and the culprit's been dealt with..."

Kisaragi Akira clapped his hands and began packing up his ritual tools.

The incense, candles, and Ritual Bell were all rewards from his daily sign-ins. They weren't very useful, but compared with similar products on the market, they were definitely top-quality.

It was worth mentioning that rewards like these could be stored in the system's exclusive space.

Of course, that only worked for inanimate objects.

The wild rabbit he'd drawn a few days ago couldn't be stored at all.

With no other choice, he'd had to kill it, then eat several bowls of rice with tears in his eyes.

Aizen was already used to Kisaragi Akira's antics.

Storing the incense, candles, and Ritual Bell in his pocket without so much as making it bulge was nothing special.

He'd once even seen Kisaragi Akira pull a brand-new bed out of his pants.

Though he had no idea how the man had stuffed it in there, Aizen had already decided never to touch Kisaragi Akira's belongings.

Who knew where the deranged man had been keeping them?

After retrieving the scar-faced man's Zanpakuto, the two tidied up the scene and prepared to head back the way they'd come.

This mission hadn't been difficult. Even the other elite students could have handled it, with only a little more trouble.

The gap between ordinary Shinigami and elite students wasn't all that large.

Of course, the gap between them and Kisaragi Akira and Aizen was absurdly vast.

Just the force of their Reiatsu alone was beyond what ordinary Shinigami could withstand.

"Sosuke, let's go."

Kisaragi Akira glanced at Aizen, who was still observing their surroundings, and urged him on. "Time waits for no one. If we get back soon, we can still make it to dinner at Shin'o Cafeteria."

"They're serving a special tofu dish tonight!"

Aizen glanced at Kisaragi Akira, said nothing, and turned to follow him.

The man couldn't remember his class schedule or his theoretical lessons, but he knew the weekly menu at Shin'o Cafeteria by heart.

Maybe that was his talent.

"I don't know if it's just me..."

Aizen walked alongside Kisaragi Akira down the empty street and spoke calmly.

"But this mission didn't seem as simple as it looked."

Kisaragi Akira waved his hand and slapped Aizen on the shoulder, speaking boisterously.

"You're overthinking it."

"People dying in Rukongai isn't exactly rare."

"Only the first ten districts can maintain a stable way of life."

At that, Kisaragi Akira's lips curved up. "And that's what the common folk yearn for most..."

Aizen nodded at this.

Like Kisaragi Akira, he was a commoner born and raised in Rukongai, so he understood the "rules" here.

Compared with the areas where the Nobles lived, the outer districts of Rukongai were more like Hell...

Yet when the two figures had vanished at the end of the street,

a faint glimmer appeared across the empty ground. The place that should have been completely bare now looked hazy and indistinct.

It was as if someone had covered the scene with a layer of white mosaic...

The two weren't walking slowly.

If anything, they were moving faster than they had on the way there.

Aizen was a little puzzled, but could only assume that the man beside him was eager to get back and grab a bite to eat.

As they left Zenteiji District, Kisaragi Akira's pace abruptly slowed.

He clenched his hands slightly and glanced warily at Aizen beside him, speaking in a low voice.

"You noticed it too, right?"

"The abnormality in the Reishi?" Aizen asked, frowning at the unfamiliar expression on Kisaragi Akira's face.

Kisaragi Akira shook his head and looked back toward Zenteiji District.

"No!"

"It's the scent of death..."