Tōsen's Past

Deep within the Seireitei lay a secret room shrouded by multiple isolation barriers.

The room was dimly lit, with three figures seated around an ancient stone table.

At the center sat the captain of the Fifth Division, Sōsuke Aizen.

He had already shed the gentle, refined smile he wore during the day. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his eyes were deep and calm.

Like a frigid pool with no visible bottom, his fingers idly traced the smooth surface of the stone table, as though calculating an invisible game of chess.

To his left was Gin Ichimaru, captain of the Third Division, still wearing that foxlike smile that seemed permanently fixed upon his face. His narrowed eyes occasionally flashed with a sharp glint in the darkness.

He lounged against the back of his chair, chin propped on one hand while the other toyed with the guard of Shinsō at his waist.

To Aizen's right sat Kaname Tōsen, his posture perfectly straight. Though blind, the Bankai earrings trembled faintly, showing that he sensed everything around him through means beyond sight.

"...The Royal Seal," Aizen slowly said, breaking the silence.

His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried a peculiar magnetism, echoing clearly through the enclosed space. Every word seemed carefully considered.

"The Royal Seal's power truly cannot be underestimated."

Gin Ichimaru gave an inscrutable chuckle.

"My, my, that sounds dangerous~ If that power hadn't fallen onto Hyōrinmaru, but onto the head of some unlucky fellow in the Seireitei, or... happened to be caught by someone with ulterior motives, that'd be quite entertaining, wouldn't it, Captain Aizen?"

There was meaning behind his words as his narrowed eyes turned toward Aizen.

Aizen neither confirmed nor denied it, merely saying flatly, "There may be people with ulterior motives, but catching and controlling power of that level would be no easy task."

It was clear that Aizen wasn't particularly interested in the Royal Seal.

After a pause, he shifted the subject to another key figure in this incident. "As for that newly appointed Zero Division reserve, Liu Chuan... Gin, what do you think?"

Gin Ichimaru's fingers stopped playing with Shinsō's guard. The smile on his face remained unchanged, but some of the frivolity left his tone.

"Liu Chuan, huh~ He's certainly an unexpected one. He spent ten years as an unknown member of the Kido Corps, then caused such a tremendous stir the moment he acted."

Yet Kaname Tōsen, seated to Aizen's right, unusually didn't respond at once. Nor did he signal compliance with his usual silence or brief affirmation.

He lowered his head, sinking into deeper thoughts.

Kakyō.

That name surfaced in his dark "field of vision" like a stone that had rested at the bottom of an icy lake for years.

That gentle, kind woman who believed in the duties of Soul Reapers and the order of the Seireitei—his most important friend, and the pain in his heart that would never fade.

She had died in the line of duty, slain by a Hollow. That was the official record, the cold and simple conclusion given by the Seireitei.

But he knew the truth was far more complicated, far darker.

What had killed Kakyō was the deep-rooted corruption and injustice within the Seireitei, carried out in the name of "rules" and "privilege."

What punishment had the true culprit behind Kakyō's death received—the man from the Tsunayashiro Clan, one of the five great noble families that stood so high above all others?

No severe sentence, no fair trial, not even much public accountability.

Simply because he was a member of the Tsunayashiro Clan, his crimes had been casually covered up and downplayed until they ultimately came to nothing.

So-called "justice" and "law" seemed so pale and powerless, so hypocritical, before noble privilege.

Could such a Central 46 truly represent "justice"?

Was the "order" and "rules" they constantly claimed to uphold truly for the stability of Soul Society, or to protect the vested interests and elevated status of themselves and the privileged classes behind them?

That question had been buried in Kaname Tōsen's heart like a poisoned thorn for many years.

And this Twin Hyorinmaru incident was like a mirror, once again reflecting Central 46's disgusting face.

For the sake of eliminating an anomaly and maintaining stability, they had been willing to order two innocent, immensely promising young Soul Reapers into a duel to the death without hesitation.

The victor would live, while the loser would be completely erased.

Had Liu Chuan not abruptly intervened as an unexpected variable bearing the identity of Zero Division—

Toshiro Hitsugaya and Sojiro Kusaka's fate was easy enough to imagine.

Liu Chuan's intervention shattered the script Central 46 had prepared.

Not only had he saved those two boys, but in a sense, his actions had mocked Central 46's supposedly irrefutable rules and authority.

Though Liu Chuan himself might not have intended it, what he did and the result it produced had truly placed a weighty counterbalance upon the scales in Kaname Tōsen's heart, the scales of justice and injustice.

In a certain sense, Liu Chuan's actions had touched that sensitive nerve in Kaname Tōsen's heart—the one that longed to resist injustice.

Though their methods, positions, and purposes were completely different, Liu Chuan's willingness to confront authority and break an unjustly predetermined outcome resonated secretly with the justice Kaname Tōsen yearned for deep inside.

"Tōsen?" Aizen's calm voice rang out, seemingly noticing Tōsen's unusual silence.

Kaname Tōsen suddenly awoke from his thoughts. He raised his head again and faced Aizen's direction, though he couldn't see him.

"Yes, Lord Aizen. Liu Chuan's actions this time were indeed unexpected."

Aizen gave Kaname Tōsen a deep look. His gaze behind the lenses seemed to have seen through something, yet he didn't expose it.

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