Shin’s Target

For the Seireitei at present, the death of even a Fourth Seat was no small matter.

Squad 1 had thoroughly inquired into the incident, but since Shin had already slain the Hollow responsible, the matter had to be put to rest.

Because of the unique nature of the Division Funeral Rites, and the need for clearance from above, Shin could only hold an extremely simple ceremony in the 10th Division for Fourth Seat Hoshino Tōru and the two other squad members who had died alongside him. Besides the 10th Division members, a few friends from other squads also came to pay their respects.

Aizen came too. That wasn't unexpected—Shin felt that, given Aizen's public persona, it would've been more suspicious if he hadn't come.

He walked over to Shin with a solemn expression and spoke some regretful words about Fourth Seat Hoshino.

Shiba Kaien also arrived.

"What brings you here?" Shin greeted him first. "Did you know Hoshino and the others?"

"Not well," Shiba Kaien replied. "Just heard what happened and came to check on you."

Shin let out a soft, wordless chuckle.

After the ceremony ended and all arrangements were handled, Shin finally approached Shiba Kaien and said, "Buy me a drink."

"Sure."

Shiba Kaien didn't say much more. He figured Shin had to be grieving, even if it wasn't visible on the surface—after all, these were his subordinates.

"You owe me a life."

At the table, Shin said it out of nowhere.

Shiba Kaien laughed. "Oh? How do you figure that?"

Shin shook his head. "Actually, make it two."

Including Shiba Kūkaku's.

Kaien raised his cup with one hand and leaned on his cheek with the other, replying casually, "Fine. If you say I owe you, then I owe you."

He said slowly, "For people like us, death always feels far away. But beyond that, it's the loss of comrades that hits. Shin, you're still too young. Even if you're powerful, you haven't lived through enough. Some things can't be understood without experience."

Shin shot him a sidelong glance. "Are you lecturing me?"

Kaien gave a light laugh. "What can I say? I'm your senior. I'm just giving you some advice."

"Do I look like the kind of guy who can't deal with things?"

"A little."

Shin rolled his eyes.

The izakaya wasn't busy at this hour. They sat near the window, occasionally glancing out. Neither of them had much to say today.

Outside, the rain poured down in sheets.

Because of Shin's interference, this world was already diverging in many ways—Shiba Isshin had stepped down early, Shiba Kaien had become the Captain of Squad 3, Hinamori had transferred to Squad 10, and so on.

There was no telling what else the future might hold, but suddenly, Shin felt like he'd fallen into some kind of trap in his thinking. He had assumed there were still decades until the original timeline's Aizen rebellion. That should've been more than enough time to grow stronger.

But he wasn't some reclusive master training in seclusion—thanks to the system, he'd already become deeply involved with many in the Seireitei.

"How much do you know about Ichimaru Gin?" Shin suddenly asked.

"Why are you asking about him all of a sudden?" Kaien looked surprised, thought for a moment, then said, "Not much, really. That guy's always smiling, but honestly pretty aloof. We're from around the same era, but different graduating classes. People just like to compare us."

"Nothing," Shin said, changing his mind.

Squad 10 barracks.

Though the funeral was over, the mood in the 10th Division was still heavy.

After taking over the follow-up matters for the ceremony, Rangiku Matsumoto returned to her office and sat staring blankly at the stack of unfinished paperwork on her desk.

After a long time, she suddenly ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

At that moment, Hitsugaya pushed the door open and entered.

"What is it?"

"It's about patrol duty. Captain hasn't issued any clear orders lately, but we still have work to do, so I came to ask you," said Hitsugaya.

"You handle it," Rangiku replied.

Hitsugaya sighed, "Why is it always me handling it? I'm just the Third Seat, you two are teaming up to exploit me now?"

Unusually, Rangiku didn't argue. She stared off again, then suddenly asked, "Tōshirō, why don't you take the Vice-Captain seat?"

Hitsugaya froze at her words.

"No," he said.

Rangiku chuckled. "You didn't even hear my reasons—how can you reject me outright? Weren't you always nagging me to hand it over sooner?"

"True," Hitsugaya said. "I did say that. Because I think I'm already stronger than you. But that's only in terms of raw strength. In other areas, you might still edge me out. So I'm not in a rush. And honestly, it kinda feels like you're just trying to dodge responsibility."

Rangiku fell silent, then suddenly shot him a glare. "You brat, so full of yourself!"

"I'm just stating the facts." Hitsugaya shrugged.

Rangiku sighed deeply and leaned back in her chair.

"When's the Captain coming back?" Hitsugaya asked.

Rangiku answered slowly, "He's not in the mood. Let him have a few days. If anything comes up, talk to me."

Hitsugaya looked surprised. "Wow. That actually came out of your mouth?"

Thwack!

A pen flew straight at Hitsugaya's face. He caught it with a hand.

"Then I'll leave you to it."

In the days that followed, Shin didn't do anything unusual—he seemed to shake off the "grief" of losing subordinates quickly.

He promoted the former Fifth Seat of the 10th Division to Fourth Seat.

Aside from that, the only odd thing he did was to pay a visit to Captain Ukitake of the 13th Division.

But during that meeting, they merely chatted casually.

Gradually, the deaths of Hoshino and the others seemed to fade from everyone's minds, as if forgotten.

In truth, Shin had hesitated—should he do more in planning for the Aizen situation?

But after careful thought, he temporarily shelved the idea.

Leaving aside what kind of upheaval it might cause in the Soul Society if he revealed even a sliver of the truth about Aizen—he couldn't even be sure that someone like Shiba Kaien could be relied upon. Let alone Ukitake.

If Ukitake caught even a whiff of suspicion, he'd inform Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni immediately. And the Head Captain was far more trustworthy than Shin himself.

Even though they would inevitably end up on the same side in the fight against Aizen, Shin was far from fully prepared.

Compared to all those tangled concerns, the most important thing was mastering his Bankai as quickly as possible.

[Zanpakutō Unlock Progress: 59%]

Bankai… One step closer.

Shin studied the system's interface carefully, scanning the many familiar names listed on the rankings, calculating who might be easiest to approach next.