— — — — — —
"Welcome back, Ryo-Sama."
The moment Ryo stepped out of the garganta and into Las Noches, he saw Nemu Kurotsuchi waiting for him—short-skirt shihakushō, hands folded neatly in front of her, every movement precise.
Standing among a crowd of white-cloaked Arrancar, her Shinigami uniform looked almost out of place, but Nemu's looks made up for any sense of awkwardness. It felt like spotting a stunning beauty in the middle of a herd of trolls; Ryo's eyes felt instantly refreshed.
Nemu's calm, unreadable eyes slid briefly toward Orihime Inoue before she spoke.
"Lady Orihime's room has been prepared. The research data on Hollows that you requested has been retrieved from the Octava Espada, Szayelaporro Granz. It's been placed in your quarters."
"And in twenty minutes, the meeting time you agreed upon with Aizen-Sama will arrive."
Looking at the picture-perfect little secretary in front of him, Ryo nodded.
"Orihime, go with Nemu and check out your room. I'll catch up in a bit."
"Alright." Orihime nodded. The Hollow-filled surroundings clearly made her uneasy, but with Nemu—a familiar face—beside her, she wasn't completely out of her element.
Once they disappeared down the hall, Ryo turned and headed straight toward where Aizen was waiting.
After passing through one unnecessarily wide corridor after another, he stopped at a certain door.
"Well, long time no see."
The silver-haired fox, Gin Ichimaru, leaned against the doorframe, giving Ryo a lazy wave.
"Looks like you brought back your little snack."
He said "snack" with a smile so narrow it barely counted as eyes, obviously referring to Orihime.
A man who looked this similar to Aizen suddenly taking interest in Orihime? Gin couldn't help wondering what Ryo was really after.
Maybe he planned to sweet-talk her, win her trust, get her to the point she'd even have his kid—then stab her in the heart three times?
Possible. Aizen would absolutely do that sort of thing. And if Aizen would do it… Ryo Yagami probably could too.
Hearing the implication in Gin's tone, Ryo arched a brow and replied naturally. "Orihime's definitely a tasty snack. But in my opinion, there are two others who could match her bite for bite."
"For example—Harribel. Or…" Ryo met Gin's gaze with meaning. "Or Rangiku Matsumoto."
Gin's slit eyes twitched open a fraction before narrowing again. His smile never dropped.
"So, Ryo-san likes the... uh… generously proportioned type."
Ryo gave him a slightly surprised look. "I don't recall saying anything like that."
"…"
Gin fell silent, stepping aside to let him pass. Had he… just exposed one of his own fetishes? A bit embarrassing.
Ryo shot him a sideways glance and walked into the chamber.
Las Noches' décor was extremely bare.
Snow-white walls, snow-white pillars, a mostly white floor—pure white everywhere, cold and empty. But somehow, it matched perfectly with the man sitting at the round table, face resting lightly on one hand—Aizen Sosuke.
The palace's pale emptiness felt like a reflection of his inner world.
Aizen straightened slightly at Ryo's approach, a faint smile touching his lips.
"You're here."
Ryo nodded, took the seat across from him, and got straight to the point. "Did you get it?"
Aizen raised a hand. A file appeared in it, which he slid across the table.
"This was sent by our contact inside the Soul Society. Urahara Kisuke contributed a lot—he's the one who found it for us."
"Oh?" Ryo took the file as he spoke. "So your insider got discovered that easily."
"...If he failed to notice something like that, he wouldn't be Urahara Kisuke," Aizen replied. "And besides—that was the plan from the start. I wanted him to notice, so he'd deliver the file exactly where it needed to go."
Then he lifted his gaze slightly, a faint smile forming. "What I didn't expect was that you'd be this interested in Mayuri's research."
"I found something interesting."
Ryo finally lowered his eyes to the title on the file.
{—The Sleep Project}
During his lifetime, Mayuri Kurotsuchi had poured most of his energy into an attempt to artificially manufacture souls.
He jokingly called the project "dreaming while awake is impossible," hence the name Sleep Project.
Nemu was the seventh test subject—and the only successful one.
Ryo flipped the file open, interest flickering across his face.
"Fascinating. So it really is research into soul intrusion."
Human biological composition had long been fully understood; anyone who'd watched Fullmetal Alchemist could list the elements of a human body.
But the only thing humanity still hadn't unraveled was consciousness—the mysteries of the soul.
In other words, artificial souls.
Mayuri's achievements in this field were clearly far ahead of most others.
And for Ryo, the study of the soul wasn't just necessary for advancing his saint techniques—it was essential for achieving the Eighth Sense.
The Eighth Sense dealt directly with the power of the soul.
Beyond that, crafting the proto-Zanpakutō, Asauchi, also required souls.
Aizen could freely use human souls to make them. Ryo, in Little Garden, could not.
So he turned his attention to Nemu—and to Mayuri's Sleep Project.
If he could use artificial souls to craft Asauchi, or even improve the method to produce them outright, the cost-efficiency would be far better for Arcadia's Gift Games.
"This file—no matter how long I searched, I couldn't find it in Mayuri's lab. Urahara just waltzes in and picks it up. Figures. Old friends, huh?"
Ryo shrugged, a trace of amusement in his voice.
Aizen remained calm. "The schedule needs to be advanced."
Ryo's expression shifted subtly as he looked at him.
"So it seems you're ready?"
"It's not that I'm ready." Aizen smiled. "It's that you can't wait any longer."
Ryo made no effort to deny it.
With the methods for crafting Zanpakutō secured, and with Kugo Ginjo—an early prototype of the Soul King—already in hand, all he needed next was Quincy techniques, the real Soul King, and the combined powers of Shinigami and Hollows.
And aside from Quincy techniques, everything else was within reach here in Hueco Mundo—or in the Soul Society's massive archives.
Now that he'd brought back Orihime and had Nemu's research, there was no reason to delay anything further.
"Then let's end this within three days."
Aizen showed no surprise. He simply said. "It should begin any moment now."
Right as he finished speaking, a polite knock sounded at the door. Tōsen Kaname's voice drifted in.
"Aizen-Sama, Unohana Retsu and Isane Kotetsu have breached Las Noches. They are currently confronting Ulquiorra. It seems they wish to speak with you and Ryo-Sama."
Aizen's lips curved slightly as he looked toward Ryo. "Interested in hearing what the first Kenpachi has to say?"
"Absolutely." Ryo smiled back.
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