Ichigo leaves and takes up residence in Soul Society!

"Gentlemen, Captain Aizen wants you to go to his room. It's an emergency!"

"?"

Shinomiya-sama and Ichigo exchanged a glance, their sleepiness instantly vanishing.

When they arrived at Aizen's room.

They discovered that Aizen was also in his pajamas, clearly about to go to sleep, but had been disturbed by something important—and that important matter was closely related to the Hell Butterfly resting on his finger.

"Since you're here, there's no need for formalities. I'll get straight to the point..."

Aizen's expression was solemn.

"Just now, news came from the 46th Chamber... The sentence for 13th Division member Rukia Kuchiki has been changed."

"The sentence has been changed from one hundred years imprisonment to... a double death sentence, to be carried out one month later. This is the final verdict and will not be changed again."

"what?!"

Ichigo's expression changed drastically.

Shinomiya-sama glanced at him, puzzled, and asked, "Logically speaking, the 46th Chamber wouldn't easily overturn its own decisions... What happened in between, Master?"

"A dozen hours ago, the Third Division Captain, Gin Ichimaru, submitted a letter of complaint."

Aizen spoke in a low, detached tone, his words utterly astonishing.

"It is claimed that Rukia Kuchiki possesses a dangerous substance within her body, capable of destroying the order of Soul Society; this substance is called... the 'Hogyoku'."

"After investigation, Room 46 confirmed the facts and therefore decided to use 'Bipolar' to destroy it."

Testimonials

The book is going to be released tomorrow, and the pressure is overwhelming. My editor wants me to write a few hundred words, so I'll just pick out the parts you want to hear.

I've noticed that some readers have misconceptions about the content of this book.

The main story of this book is purely about Bleach. The protagonist is a transmigrator who transmigrates twice. The first time, he went to a slice-of-life anime crossover, and later he was hit by a truck and ended up in the world of Bleach.

There are no crossover characters in the real world, nor will the characters on the cover appear.

The cover is just something I did to amuse myself. I used it because I thought it looked good, and I'll change it to something else when I get tired of it. That's all.

I've also patched the protagonist's Zanpakuto.

The fact that the initial release ability is the fission of spirit particles remains unchanged can be understood as the ability of the sword to create such supernatural phenomena.

The Demon Power Recovery Room of the Fifth Division was mentioned in an interview with 98, not something I created myself.

Actually, many of my inspirations come from the Q&A sessions between 98 fans. If you're interested, you can search for "Demon Array Team Captain" on Bilibili.

Forget about bounties for now. I need to adjust my mindset; I'm feeling quite mentally drained. I don't have the energy to offer bounties for at least this month, but I'll try to increase my daily updates to three chapters a day.

Finally... although I don't have the guts to offer a bounty, I do have the guts to ask for some monthly votes under the guise of requesting updates!

Chapter 49 Teacher, are you going to kill me to silence me?

"Why?!"

The Sixth Division's barracks, the captain's room.

Renji slammed his fist on the desk, disregarding the hierarchy, and launched into a furious and shocked interrogation of his captain.

Why does it have to go this far?

"You ask why?"

Byakuya stood by the window, his back to Renji. Though his expression was unseen, his voice was heavy with emotion.

"Because that's the 'Hogyoku'."

"So what the hell is that thing?!"

"A hundred years ago, the culprit behind the soul disappearance cases that broke out in Rukongai was Kisuke Urahara, the first director of the Technology Development Bureau and captain of the 12th Division, who developed a special product."

Ignoring Renji's loss of composure, Byakuya slowly recounted the truth he knew.

"Its ability is... to grant Shinigami greater power through Hollowfication, that is, to break the boundary between Shinigami and Hollows, causing Shinigami like you and me to fall into the evil of Hollows."

"Kisuke Urahara treated the civilians of Rukongai as experimental subjects. Later, the Seireitei discovered this and sent as many as eight captain-level strongmen to investigate, but they never returned and were all killed by him."

"The 46 Chambers originally intended to strip Kisuke Urahara of his spiritual power and exile him to the human world, but unexpectedly, they had an accomplice of the same rank who helped them escape Soul Society and their whereabouts are unknown."

Poof.

Renji plopped down on the sofa, too shocked to speak.

Both the captain and vice-captain belong to the captain's rank.

Even if it were just eight vice-captains, the complete annihilation of them would be an extremely terrifying disaster, not to mention that the culprit was a captain, and the other captains had defected to the enemy camp.

Given what has happened, it wouldn't be surprising if the Gotei 13 were to fall apart as a result.

It's more surprising that they didn't disband.

"Now you understand, don't you? Just how dangerous Kisuke Urahara and the 'Hogyoku' he created truly are."

Byakuya turned around and looked at Renji.

"...Ah, but I can't figure out how that thing got into Rukia's body. They shouldn't have had any chance to come into contact...Wait a minute, could it be after they went to the mortal world!?"

"It's highly likely. The prosthetic body that the Technology Development Bureau removed has been confirmed to have been made by hand, and Captain Kurotsuchi said that it has the effect of depleting spiritual power. In other words, the person who gave Rukia the prosthetic body never intended for her to use it to restore her Shinigami powers, but rather hoped that she would become completely human... As for what benefit this would bring to Kisuke Urahara, and why it had to be Rukia, these are currently unknown, and even Rukia herself is completely unaware of them."

"hateful!"

Renji clenched his fists, wishing he could immediately take a knife and go to the real world to find that bastard and tear him to pieces.

He had already overcome the toughest hurdle, and during the day he was smugly boasting that he would find a way to shorten his sentence. But in the blink of an eye, not only did he not shorten his sentence, he also lost his life.

"By the way, Ichimaru... how did Captain Ichimaru know that the Hogyoku was inside Rukia?"

……

"—This is all my fault."

Amidst the rustling of insects outside the window, Aizen sighed and said:

"I was the one who reported the incident. At the time, Gin Ichimaru graduated early from the Spirit Arts Academy with the highest score, taking only one year. Although he was a genius, I felt he was dangerous the first time I saw him. He was as cold-blooded and cruel as a snake."

"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was a boy born evil."

"I kept him by my side, trying to guide him onto the right path, while also serving as a supervisor. I thought that after witnessing such a cruel event, he would have some kind of awakening, so I strongly advocated recommending him to become the captain of the 3rd Division of the 'Support Team,' so that he could use his own strength to protect everyone."

"It now seems highly likely that he was blinded by the power of the 'Hogyoku,' so he devoted himself to investigating and collecting relevant information, and ultimately stumbled upon the whereabouts of the 'Hogyoku.'"

"I don't know what he's up to, but there must be some ulterior motive behind this report."

"Visible betrayal is not terrible; what is terrible is invisible betrayal."

The Four Palaces Venerable sighed.

Ichigo couldn't help but ask, "Isn't there any way to remove the Hogyoku? If it can be put in, there's no reason it can't be taken out, right?"

Why take it out?

The Four Palaces' expressions grew increasingly indifferent.

"If it is a divine artifact that can bring positive benefits to Soul Society, even if its origin is unknown, as long as there are no terrible side effects, the 46 will do everything they can, at any cost, even if it means sacrificing Rukia, to get their hands on it."

"The effect of the 'Hogyoku' is to cause Shinigami to become Hollows. Once obtained, it doesn't have much practical value. Letting it exist will only add an unstable factor to the Soul Society."

"So there's no need to hesitate. Just destroy the person and the items together. After all, that person... was just a criminal anyway."

"..."

Ichigo gritted his teeth, trying his best to suppress the anger in his heart.

He knew this wasn't the idea of ​​the Four Palace Master, but rather the idea of ​​the group of judges.

Therefore, the fire of anger burned brighter and brighter, and could not be quelled no matter what.

The highest judicial body in Soul Society is actually a group of cruel and ruthless dictators.

This completely shattered his previous impressions of Soul Society.

"Yes."

Aizen also gently adjusted his glasses.

"That's the style of the 46th Chamber. It doesn't matter if they're a bit rough or cruel. Everything is for the sake of the Soul Society. Everyone should consciously uphold the law. Anyone who dares to object must be a treacherous person... That's what they declare to the outside world. They also ordered the Secret Service to secretly arrest Shinigami they believe to be harboring evil intentions."

"Regardless of whether this approach is correct, there are clearly better options for handling some cases in my opinion. Furthermore, when nobles are involved, their attitude becomes ambiguous."

"That's right! Nobles...!"

Ichigo suddenly remembered something.

"Rukia isn't from the Kuchiki family. Can someone from one of the four great noble families be so easily discarded?"

"As far as I know, the Kuchiki family has not raised any objections so far, and the 'Golden Seal Society,' the alliance organization among the nobles, has also remained silent. If both sides protest together, I think this verdict will not be easy to pass, which would leave room for maneuver..."

Aizen's answer made Ichigo frown, utterly puzzled.

"How could this be... Never mind what that 'why' is for now, isn't Kuchiki Byakuya Rukia's older brother? They're both family members of the Kuchiki family, how can they not care about him?"

"Rukia was adopted."

The four palaces seemed to be offering a well-intentioned reminder.

Ichigo was at a loss for words.

"Since things have come to this, we can only accept the result. I originally wanted to keep it from you, but I felt that this was not something a teacher should do. Only by correctly understanding everything in the world can we grow."

Aizen's face showed a look of guilt.

"No, the teacher doesn't need to apologize. It was right for him to tell us immediately. We are not so fragile as to be defeated by such a trivial matter. I said it when I was at the bathhouse. I have seen enough of that kind of thing in the real world. Compared to that, I think the 46th Chamber is just a bunch of old-fashioned, pedantic and incompetent guys... They are simply bandits, even worse than bandits."

After speaking, Shinomiya-sama turned to look at Ichigo, who remained silent.

"Brother Kurosaki, just tell me straight, are you going to do it or not?"

"...One month from now, right?"

Ichigo raised his head, his gaze resolute.

"As I said when I was soaking in the hot springs at the public bath, I will do my best to protect as many people as possible."

"Rukia's tragic fate happened right before my eyes, and I simply couldn't ignore it."

"Besides, I promised Inoue that I would definitely help if I could."

"I don't want to be seen as a coward who talks big but then backs down."

"So in the next month, I must learn Bankai... and then use my own strength to save people."

The Fourth Palace Master raised an eyebrow: "From what you're saying, it seems you're planning to do it all by yourself?"

"No, it's two people... After all, you definitely wouldn't approve of this kind of thing, so we didn't exclude you."

Ichigo's attitude was exactly the same as when he went to the human world, when the Four Lords saw through his thoughts and waved him away, speaking with righteous indignation.

"...Should I be moved by your understanding, or should I angrily rebuke you for dragging me into this?"

The Four Palaces Venerable remained silent.

"I have no objection if you want to quit."

"Yes, that guy is someone I just met by chance. It's really not worth taking such a big risk to help her. But if it's because I can't stand what those people are doing, then it's a different story."

"I knew you would say that. I was even worried that you were more radical than me."

Upon hearing this, Ichigo revealed a spirited smile.

“I have sensed your will, so count me in as well.”

Aizen suddenly interjected.

"what?"

"..."

Shinomiya-no-Mikoto and Ichigo both looked at him simultaneously.

Aizen's smile remained unchanged, his gaze deep and unfathomable.