4-2...

Let me ask you something else, then. Where's the exit? What exactly is this place?

This is the guarded throne.

In order to protect Lord Hikone from enemies, only Lord Hikone and Lord Tokinada may enter and exit this room.

Although, I can enter because I have the ability to pass through walls.

So you really are planning on making a Hogyoku and making Hikone the new Soul King.

That is what Lord Tokinada desires.

You're going to attack the current Soul King with the power of the Hogyoku, just like Aizen.

Ah, forgive me. I forgot you didn't know what kind of being the Soul King is.

Hm?

No, I do. The previous Soul King was cut down by Yhwach.

But thanks to Mimihagi, the right hand of the Soul King who once resided in Captain Ukitake, he was spared.

............

What? Am I wrong?

That isn't entirely incorrect.

However, what would you do if I told you the world would become a more stable place with Lord Hikone as the Soul King?

That's not something a guy like me can make a simple judgment on.

But even if Hikone said himself that he wanted to be king, I would try and stop him.

Why is that?

Because...he still doesn't know anything.

Hikone told me something.

That all he has is the world that Tokinada gave him.

If he decided to be king himself after seeing the whole world, I would keep my mouth shut.

If he saw everything and still wanted to become an enemy of Soul Reapers, I would be prepared to fight against him.

But he only knows the world through Tokinada.

That just means Tokinada is pulling the strings.

That's why...I need to teach him. That there are other worlds out there.

Or maybe it's the opposite. I want to understand the world he sees, too. Only then could I make a judgment.

............

To do that, I have to meet with Tokinada face-to-face.

Are you speaking as a journalist? Or as a Soul Reaper?

It's everything together. Those are the words of me, Shuhei Hisagi.

Knowing this vast world doesn't guarantee happiness.

Huh?

It is sometimes happier to live and die inside of a tiny fishbowl without knowing anything.

Some people see the outside world and learn that they are unhappy.

Are you talking about yourself?

Do you not think this is true of Hikone Ubuginu?

I thought that could be true until earlier. But he has his own will.

Still, there's one thing that he's lacking. I just want to tell him what that is.

............

If you're here to kill me, I'll resist with all my might.

However, if I win, you have to let Kisuke go.

............

Hey, what do you think you're doing?

Please don't misunderstand. I simply had one request of you.

Request?

............

Huh?

Hey, where...

A door? Where did that come from?