Learned, bespectacled, and male. Only one man in the Gotei 13 met all three conditions.
Sōsuke Aizen.
The Fourth and Fifth Divisions were close neighbors, so it was nothing unusual for their captains to speak with each other.
But wasn't the timing a little too convenient?
A trace of suspicion arose in Shiraishi's heart. A Gillian Menos Grande, the likes of which hadn't been seen in years, had suddenly appeared. Retsu Unohana had just happened to be nearby, and she had gone out on Aizen's advice.
It was hard not to read more into it.
"What's wrong? Your heart is beating awfully fast."
Retsu Unohana tilted her head. She wasn't leaning against his shoulder to create an intimate mood; it was simply that, with her head resting there, she could sense how fast his heart was beating.
Combined with his facial expressions, that let her tell whether Shiraishi was lying. It was a little skill she had acquired over many long years.
Shiraishi came back to his senses and smiled. "Nothing. I'm just a little jealous of the man who gets to work with you and Kotetsu every day. He must be very happy."
That was a lie.
Retsu Unohana's almond-shaped eyes narrowed into crescents, but she didn't expose him. From their brief conversation, she had learned what kind of man he was: he wasn't particularly evil, and he had a certain sense of justice.
And that sense of justice might one day put him at odds with the Soul Reapers.
As the world's mediators, Soul Reapers sometimes took a stance that people considered evil in order to maintain the world's balance.
But that was all a matter for the future.
Retsu Unohana stood up in the hot spring, water sliding down her arms, waist, and stomach, then along her thighs. She held out a hand. "Would you like to come with me to West District Twenty-Six to gather herbs? You haven't answered yet."
"Yes. How could I refuse a beautiful woman's invitation?"
Shiraishi took her hand and stood up in the hot spring. It wasn't just for their sake; more than that, he was curious whether Aizen had set anything in motion ahead of them.
If he really had, then from what Shiraishi knew from watching the anime, Aizen probably wouldn't act personally. Nine times out of ten, he would send his subordinates.
He was looking forward to it. How much experience could an Adjuchas, or even a Hollow modeled after an Arrancar, give him?
Hueco Mundo, outside Las Noches.
An oval Garganta opened, and Aizen strode out. His curly brown hair was full, and he wore square-framed glasses. The gentle smile usually on his face had been replaced by a cold expression.
Here, he didn't need to maintain his good-natured persona at all times and could show another side of himself.
"Nnoitra, judging by the way you're gazing at the moon, did you fail to challenge the Third Espada again?"
In the endless sea of white sand, a tall stone pillar lay broken. A lanky man sat on its broken end as if it were a stool, gazing up at the crescent moon in the sky.
A gigantic crescent-shaped blade was planted upside down in the sand. A chain of rings ran from the end of its shaft to his waist, where it was fastened, with part of it trailing into the white sand.
Hearing that magnetic voice, Nnoitra looked away from Hueco Mundo's crescent moon and straight ahead. "Did you come all the way to Hueco Mundo just to mock me?"
Aizen paid no mind to his rudeness. He had never needed his subordinates' loyalty, only for them to be useful.
He didn't care in the least how they addressed him.
"I came specifically to give you an important assignment. Go to Soul Society."
Nnoitra asked in confusion, "Don't you usually forbid us from showing ourselves in Soul Society?"
"There's someone I'm very interested in. I want you to test him."
Aizen reached into his robes, took out a photograph, and tossed it forward.
Nnoitra caught the photograph and glanced down at it with his right eye. The man in it wore his silver-white hair in a ponytail, dressed in the style of the World of the Living, and had a Zanpakuto at his waist.
"What's so special about this guy?"
Aizen pushed up his glasses and launched into a lengthy explanation. "I don't know. He's a mysterious figure who appeared seemingly by chance.
"According to my investigation, he appeared in West District Three four years ago. For the first three years, he maintained a cold, taciturn image. Then, in the fourth year, his personality suddenly changed. He liked proposing to beautiful women, and was also keen on playing with children, gambling with adults, and drinking."
It was clear that Aizen had investigated Shiraishi in great detail. Nnoitra said impatiently, "Just tell me why he caught your attention."
His restless Reiatsu swept up the white sand.
Aizen's expression didn't change. "He was able to hide his Reiatsu from me, detect me while I was concealing my presence, and attack in time."
"Interesting!" A fanatical look appeared on Nnoitra's face. "Is he stronger than you?"
"No. That's precisely why I'm curious about his secret. How could he be weaker than me and still elude my spiritual senses?"
As Aizen spoke, he recalled what had happened not long ago.
To obtain Kaien Shiba's remains without a hitch, he had donned a Reiatsu-concealing cloak infused with a little Kidō, approached the coffin, and made it appear as though the remains had dissolved into Reishi.
As he was leaving the scene, he thought the sword at Shiraishi's waist looked too much like a Zanpakuto. Unable to sense any Reiatsu from him, he had wanted to take a closer look.
Who would have thought his presence would be discovered? Fortunately, his Shunpo was fast enough to keep him from being struck by the blade.
Otherwise, if the cloak had been torn and his figure exposed, it wouldn't have been easy to extricate himself.
"Tch. I don't share your curiosity. I just want to kill him."
Nnoitra clenched his hand, crushing the photograph. Its fragments scattered down from his fingertips like grains of sand.
"It doesn't matter." Aizen smiled faintly. What he looked forward to was the unknown.
When Shiraishi was pushed to his limit, would he erupt and transcend it, or die in silence?
Aizen was simply too curious. "First, go to West District Twenty-Six in Soul Society and meet Takehiko Tsunayashiro. He'll arrange a hiding place for you.
"When your fight with Shiraishi begins will depend on when that hiding place is discovered."
"Huh? Why make it so complicated?"
Nnoitra hated enduring and waiting.
Aizen explained, "I've recently been conducting a very important experiment, using the souls of Captain-level Soul Reapers and transforming them into Hollows, thereby achieving the Hollowfication of Soul Reapers.
"The location is in the World of the Living.
"I can conduct the Hollowfication Experiment there while also luring the Visoreds, the failures from the previous experiment, into taking the bait."
"Boring." Nnoitra interrupted his explanation and exhaled impatiently. Whether they were Visoreds or Soul Reapers, couldn't he just kill them?
Aizen raised an eyebrow and offered a condition enough to make him fight with all he had. "Once you've completed the assignment successfully and returned, I'll arrange a real fight to the death between you and Nelliel, and grant your wish."
"Haha." Nnoitra laughed, his laughter full of mockery.
If the assignment failed, he would die. If it succeeded, he would die too.
Just as he thought, there was no meaning to it.
There was no salvation for Hollows.
Nnoitra picked up his weapon with one hand and slung it over his shoulder. "When do I leave for Soul Society?"
"Tesla."
Instead of answering, Aizen called toward an intact stone pillar. "You'll go with Nnoitra to Soul Society on this assignment. Leave now."