2-4 A World Without Light

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

(Grasping the enemy's location based on the voice and Spiritual Pressure alone...)

(Did Captain Tosen really keep fighting under these conditions?)

(No, I can still sense some light every time I blink. Captain Tosen probably didn't have even that.)

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

It scares me.

I've been scared of assimilating with you Soul Reapers and dying as one of you for a hundred years.

If someone were to join an organization for revenge and lose sight of his true purpose and become complacent in his new life, wouldn't that be depraved?

Tell me what justice is! Is it to forgive those who murdered one's beloved friend?!

That certainly would be virtuous! It's beautiful! Blindingly beautiful! But is virtue justice?!

No! To live in peace without avenging the dead is vice!

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

Tell me one thing.

Hm? A commoner wishes to ask me something? Oh! You're gathering material for the Seireitei Bulletin, aren't you? Well, I'll make an exception in your case. Go on.

You saw it too, right? Our fight with Captain Tosen in the world of the living.

Did you hear about that from Aura or Hikone? Yes, I learned a lot from that battle. I watched it many times over.

I did break a sweat sneaking in a surveillance Spirit Bug into the Department of Research & Development, though.

In that case, you must've seen Captain Tosen's last moments.

You must've heard his screams!

Yes, that was too bad for him. I regret more than anything not being there in person.

What?

If I was there, in the time between you piercing his brain and then Aizen pulverizing him,

I could've told him that his friend screamed much louder when she died.

You bastard!

His scream reverberated in my very soul! How comical it was! He was so pitiful it almost made my eyes overflow with tears of laughter!

The seeds I planted for my own amusement grew splendidly. Your friend died without even being able to raise his blade against me!

Oh, I suppose I should be thanking you, Shuhei Hisagi. You did a splendid job killing the lowlife traitor who wished to take me down!

Ngh!

What's more, I noticed there was something he was hiding.

I didn't know that he was working with Aizen, but I was certain that Kaname was one of the true culprits when Kisuke Urahara and the others were driven out.

I didn't bother to inform the Central 46, though, as that would've been more trouble than it was worth.

You should be thankful.

At the very least, Squad 9 was saved by him on many occasions because you all remained ignorant of his rage.

He saved lives, and sometimes even hearts.

Is that why you won't tell Hikone anything either?

Is that a problem?

He still doesn't know anything, so when he comes up against a wall, all he can do is retreat to the tiny world you've shown him.

Captain Tosen never would have allowed him to be raised in such a crooked way.

Don't just parrot other people's morals. How about putting it in your own words?

Fine, I'll say it. You're a coward.

Everything you've taught that kid has been for your own benefit. You're just trying to raise him in a tiny, confined world that's only convenient for you.

Are you trying to say not expanding his horizons is the same as running away? That it is cowardly of me not to teach him more? You, a Soul Reaper?

What are you suggesting? You're a Soul Reaper yourself.

Now I see! There's certainly a reason you're the one editing that Seireitei Bulletin, or whatever it's called.

How arrogant can one be, thinking that exposing secrets and knowing everything is justice!

You've all lived your lives unknowingly on the backs of those five sinners, after all.

What?