He had black hair, regular features, wore a white Captain's Haori over a black Shihakushō, Zanpakuto at his waist, and straw sandals on his feet.
His facial expression wasn't as fervent as it usually was, nor was it as amiable; his stern face instilled a strange sense of oppression in everyone who witnessed it.
"Is this the animated Shiraishi- sama?"
"Even from this distance, I can feel a sense of oppression; such powerful Reiatsu."
The low murmurs of the crowd converged, forming a wave of sound that crashed against the wall.
Shiraishi thought to himself, "Are all these people so free?" He had assumed that many people would choose to watch the live broadcast at home, but it turned out that everyone had come to watch it live.
Hundreds of millions of people filled what should have been empty spaces, creating a dense, dark mass that even bordered the distant Steel Shell City.
Shiraishi stepped forward and said into the microphone, "Good morning, I'm Shiraishi."
"Ah"
A woman screamed and fainted.
Long live Shiraishi!
"Our Heroes"
"Hero"
"Hero"
Cheers erupted from near and far, almost simultaneously, the sound waves vibrating the air itself.
"?"
Shiraishi was a little confused, feeling that someone was deliberately arranging for people to cause trouble. He turned his head to look at Sora Inoue, his eyes asking a silent question, "Aren't you guys exaggerating a bit?" Sora Inoue gently shook his head, indicating that he had not done anything underhanded.
People had suffered from Aizen for so long that they could no longer see any hope, their spines were broken, and just when they were resigned to their fate, they suddenly discovered that the mountain had disappeared.
The mountain movers would naturally receive their fervent support.
"Excuse me, everyone, please be quiet."
When Shiraishi said another word, the cheers suddenly stopped.
It was so quiet that even a pin dropping would have made a sound, as if the frenzied shouts just moments before had been an illusion.
The pressure from this silence was greater than that from words, making Shiraishi clearly aware of the heavy burden on his shoulders.
So this is how heavy the world is on the Old Man Yama's shoulders.
It's incredible. Shiraishi used to get tired carrying the life of just one person, but now he carries the entire world, hundreds of millions of people, and he doesn't seem to have any problem at all.
Shiraishi took a deep breath, suppressing his surging emotions, and looked at the speech manuscript.
No wonder leaders like to prepare speeches before going on stage.
Without a script, relying solely on improvisation, it's easy to get carried away and overthink things when faced with so many people looking up from below.
Standing in this position, even a small action can have a huge impact.
He said with a serious expression, "Today is August 17th, 8:50 AM. This is a map of the present World of the Living that I got from the Divine Realm. I've drawn a circle on it and divided it into twenty-five equal parts."
Shiraishi spread the map out on the table. "From one to twenty-five, whoever holds a particular number must develop in that direction."
A blonde woman sighed, "Such a big matter, is it really going to be decided in such a childish way?"
"Isn't it great? Success or failure depends entirely on luck."
"That's right"
I agree.
If more than half of the people agree, the remaining dissenters are forced to agree as well.
This is democracy.
The minority submits to the majority.
"Then I'll start writing."
Before they could turn around, Shiraishi, with lightning speed, had already written down the words and shuffled the order, then raised the pen holder and said, "Who draws first?"
"I'll go first."
Sora Inoue was the first to step forward. Without choosing, he reached out and pulled out a piece of paper. It read "Thirteen," and after looking at the position, he said, "Not bad, not good."
The others followed suit, each taking one, their expressions a mix of joy and worry.
Shiraishi saw everything and said, "Now that the area has been designated, don't cross the boundary arbitrarily. If you need anything and want to trade, you can contact us for transshipment."
"Okikiba, and give each of them a cell phone."
"Yes"
Genshirō Okikiba distributed cell phones to them.
" The Soul Society won't interfere too much in human affairs. In fact, all, no, to put it bluntly, all dead humans will be transferred to the Soul Society for unified management."
Upon hearing this request, Sora Inoue couldn't help but say, "Due to Aizen's influence, the remaining human population is sparse. If we lose our soul inhabitants, restoring the world to its previous state will be delayed by at least a hundred years."
"I understand. The Soul Society currently doesn't have the capacity to accept so many people either. We plan to guide the souls to the Soul Society in batches over a period of a hundred years."
At this point, Shiraishi solemnly emphasized, "This is the final bottom line: too much contact between the living and the dead will not be a good thing."
Sora Inoue frowned and said, "A hundred years is too short. Could it be a little longer?"
Shiraishi shook his head and said, "No, the Reishi of the World of the Living will gradually dissipate. The Reishi that originally belonged to the Soul Society will eventually return to the Soul Society, and the World of the Living will slowly return to the world composed of Kishi."
What does this mean?
"The world is a cycle like this. Aizen didn't change the world; he merely used his stored power to create another world to replace Soul Society."