It was a sunny afternoon more than twenty years ago.
The Kasumiooji clan still stood, and Ichimaru Gin had yet to enter Seireitei.
12th Division's taichō was still Hikifune Kirio, and Higashino Shuuichi was serving as fukutaichō of 4th Division.
"Aizen-dono, with your strength you should have already mastered bankai (Final Release), right?
I've followed you for so long, but I don't think I've ever seen you use your bankai."
Standing atop a high mountain in South Rukongai, District 37, Higashino Shuuichi breathed in the clean air at the summit and asked in a tone that sounded almost casual.
"Indeed. But my bankai's ability is actually inferior to my shikai (Initial Release). It really doesn't inspire me to use it."
Aizen Sōsuke answered him like a friendly companion making small talk.
"Is that so? Maybe it's because your Zanpakutō's shikai is already so powerful, Aizen-dono. Compared to Kyōka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon), any bankai ability is bound to look less impressive."
Higashino thoughtfully helped patch the explanation for him.
"Yes. If it could activate instantly the way Kyōka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon) does, it would be quite an interesting ability.
Unfortunately, it isn't."
Aizen nodded, acknowledging Higashino's words.
His bankai, "Mugen Hōka (Illusory Blossom Collapse)", was stronger than his shikai in terms of raw effect, but it was also more troublesome and far less "fun."
Given his reiatsu, Kyōka Suigetsu alone was already enough to solve more than ninety percent of Soul Society's problems. He'd never really had a reason to use bankai.
"So then, Aizen-dono, what exactly does your bankai do…?"
Higashino asked further.
This time, Aizen had little reason to hide anything from him. At this point in the timeline, Higashino was still responsible for keeping the Kasumiooji family misdirected and steering them down the wrong path.
And in any case, Aizen had no intention of using his bankai. Revealing part of its contents to Higashino wasn't a big deal.
After listening, Higashino quietly summed it up in his heart.
Aizen's bankai, "Mugen Hōka (Illusory Blossom Collapse)", and his Zanpakutō's shikai, "Kyōka Suigetsu (Mirror Flower, Water Moon)", were two extremes.
If Kyōka Suigetsu specialized in turning the real into the fake—
Then "Mugen Hōka (Illusory Blossom Collapse)" specialized in turning the fake into the real.
The catch was that "Mugen Hōka" had a precondition:
the target struck by this bankai had to believe in the illusion the user constructed.
Only if the opponent believed it—only then could the illusion Aizen created become reality.
And that was precisely why, during his battle with Baraggan this time, Higashino Shuuichi had wasted so many seemingly pointless words.
He needed Baraggan to believe in what he was showing him.
In the end, Baraggan did believe. Even though that belief only lasted a very short time thanks to Atedis's sudden appearance, there was a brief moment when Baraggan truly accepted the "world" Higashino had built for him.
And that was enough.
Higashino calmly invoked the bankai he had borrowed from Aizen right in front of Baraggan.
Bankai (Final Release), Mugen Hōka (Illusory Blossom Collapse)!
Compared to the absolute five-sense domination of Kyōka Suigetsu, "Mugen Hōka" seemed quite weak at first. Initially, it only allowed Higashino to deceive a single enemy's vision.
But once that enemy believed the fabricated scene—
That dreamlike bubble became reality.
So when Higashino released his Zanpakutō again, in the next instant, the body that had been ravaged by Baraggan's aging truly recovered.
The decay Baraggan had inflicted within him was purged at once, and all reishi within Las Noches was suppressed, just as Higashino had "bluffed" earlier.
Baraggan's cherished aging ability really did fail in that brief moment.
And this time, it wasn't a joke.
Baraggan soon realized it wasn't just his ability being suppressed. Because the surrounding spiritual power was pinned down, even his breathing, his steps, his movements—everything became heavy and stifled.
It was a completely different sensation from before.
But clever as he was, this time Baraggan would not let himself be fooled by Higashino again.
"Real or fake—what does it matter, Higashino Shuuichi?
Your life ends here."
He leveled his gaze at Higashino as he spoke.
If this had remained a pure one-on-one between Higashino and Baraggan, there would have been no turning point.
The power Higashino had obtained via Aizen's bankai, "Mugen Hōka", was truly unsolvable for someone like Baraggan.
But there was now a third party in this battlefield inside Las Noches.
The Arrancar Baraggan had pulled in as reinforcements.
"Fall silent, An'ya no Mori (Forest of the Dark Night)!"
Even with the ambient reishi suppressed by Higashino's ability, Atedis—this Arrancar engineered specifically to target shinigami—still managed to complete his Resurrección (Return to the Blade).
"You didn't expect that, did you? Atedis's spiritual power can self-recover without relying on ambient reishi. Those tubes on his back aren't just decoration…"
Far away in Hueco Mundo, in a vast, empty laboratory, Szayelaporro Granz chuckled with pride as he watched everything inside Las Noches through a special device installed on Atedis.
See? This is my masterpiece.
If Aizen can't see Atedis's value, that's his loss.
This way, Higashino Shuuichi's death could at least serve as a little lesson—reminding Aizen not to ignore Szayelaporro's painstaking research whenever it doesn't fit his mood.
A moment later, Higashino felt Baraggan's aging field settle over him again.
His Zanpakutō's ability—was gone.
And that was only the beginning of his breakdown.
Very quickly, the true core of his sustained combat, the Kuniku (Bitter Flesh) capability, also failed. All the injuries that were supposed to be paid back slowly with "future time" detonated on his body in a single instant.
He fell.
As Higashino's body collapsed, he finally remembered where Atedis had come from.
Ultimately, this was on him.
If he hadn't, back when he was still in 4th Division, personally provided Aizen with a large variety of shinigami reiatsu samples—most of them shinigami capable of releasing their Zanpakutō—Szayelaporro wouldn't have had such a rich library of source material to work with.
Worse, it had been Higashino himself who'd broadened Aizen's horizons. Over a hundred years ago, he'd pioneered the idea of using targeted reiatsu output patterns to efficiently absorb and block a shinigami's spiritual attacks.
Back then, following that suggestion, Aizen had created a Hollow ability called Shiketsu (Death Knot) for their Menos.
But as the old generation of Menos died off, with only Baraggan and Starrk remaining—and neither of them willing to use Shiketsu—even Higashino had nearly forgotten about his early "contribution."
Someone else hadn't. In fact, that person had fully embraced it and taken the concept even further.
That person was Szayelaporro Granz.
With the abundance of shinigami samples Higashino had furnished—not to mention the power of the Hōgyoku (Breakdown Sphere)—Szayelaporro had little difficulty designing and producing Atedis: an Arrancar built specifically to counter shinigami.
His Resurrección's effect was simple:
by simulating a shinigami's reiatsu pattern, Atedis could use his massive stored spiritual pressure to cancel out that shinigami's output one-to-one, in a way that looked stupidly straightforward but was brutally effective.
Unfortunately, yet unsurprisingly, Higashino's reiatsu pattern was one of many stored in Atedis's "shinigami library."
If he remembered correctly, Atedis had originally been commissioned by Aizen as a countermeasure against Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni—a targeted-type Arrancar.
In the original storyline, that role was filled by Wonderweiss Margela, whose Resurrección specialized in devouring flames.
But in this world, which Higashino Shuuichi had already altered beyond recognition, Szayelaporro clearly wasn't content with creating a weapon to counter just Yamamoto.
With bigger ambitions and higher aspirations, Szayelaporro had set his sights on all shinigami from the very beginning.
So the trump card Baraggan and Szayelaporro had prepared together for Yamamoto Genryūsai—
Ended up being the one Higashino Shuuichi ran into by sheer bad luck.
And, even more unfortunately, it just so happened to be perfectly effective against him.
"I really did get… carried away."
Higashino was unwilling to accept it.
He still had so many trump cards left unused—his Quincy abilities, his Hollow powers, even Hell's strength.
He hadn't even let Baraggan taste his Jigoku: Shokeikyoku (Hell: Execution Aria).
But no matter how much unwillingness he felt, it didn't matter now.
Higashino finally understood why Aizen had become so arrogantly reckless after obtaining the complete Hōgyoku—so different from the cautious schemer he once was.
Because when power surges all at once, the heart swells with it.
He was no different.
If this had been him a hundred years ago, he would never have marched straight at Baraggan like this. At minimum, he would have gone to Hueco Mundo first, scouted out whether Baraggan had gained any new strength, and what trump cards he'd prepared.
At worst, he would have opened with full firepower from the start, instead of holding back trump cards and trying to "fight slowly" like some cautious grinder.
But there is no medicine for regret in this world.
Higashino's consciousness grew heavy and blurred.
If you asked him what his last words would have been, it would probably be this:
If he ever got another chance, he would definitely retrieve his Quincy body in the World of the Living before Baraggan pulled Las Noches into Seireitei, unleash Jigoku: Shokeikyoku (Hell: Execution Aria) together with everything else, and never give Baraggan the slightest chance to turn the tables.
Then Baraggan thrust a hand into Higashino's heart.
A torrent of aging force poured in. Even with unlimited regeneration, Higashino's battered body, his exhausted stamina, and his nearly depleted reiatsu simply couldn't cope.
Death seemed to be the end of his road.
But at the exact instant Higashino's consciousness finally went dark—
A hidden switch inside him was triggered at last.
Far above Seireitei, in the Royal Palace, a bald, plump monk sat on a gigantic pillar, spacing out as usual.
That was his daily routine. Every day was like this.
But today was different.
Because suddenly, a name surfaced in his mind.
Higashino Shuuichi.
To him, it was a name that wasn't quite unfamiliar, but not exactly close either.
He remembered that Higashino Shuuichi was a subordinate of the man he'd once set his hopes on as a potential Soul King replacement—Aizen Sōsuke.
And recently, thanks to the Soul King's two eyes and a piece of fingernail being gathered within Higashino's body, the man had qualified to be considered as a Soul King candidate himself.
So it was impossible for Hyōsube Ichibē not to know this name.
But in his eyes, that was all Higashino's name represented for now.
This shinigami was still far from worthy of deeper attention.
So why had that name suddenly surfaced in his thoughts—accompanied by a voice that seemed to be his own, calling out to him?
Hyōsube Ichibē was the one who named everything at the very beginning of Soul Society.
His "calling" was not just calling—it could, by invoking a name, cause something that had already vanished from Soul Society to appear again.
Put in more modern terms, he was like a data recovery master who could restore files that had supposedly been deleted from a computer.
Some data might be lost in the process, but overall, the file would be recovered.
"An interesting fellow…"
Hyōsube Ichibē suddenly chuckled.
He didn't know why he felt that way, but by projecting his sight down into Soul Society, he could see clearly that the moment this inner voice appeared—
Was the very moment Higashino Shuuichi died.
To say there was no connection between the two? He didn't believe that.
What surprised him was that he hadn't sensed anything beforehand.
That was truly beyond his expectations.
Still, he figured once he called Higashino back, everything would become clear.
Surely this shinigami named Higashino Shuuichi understood the reason.
Hyōsube stepped down from the pillar and dropped into his palace.
The vast hall was utterly quiet. He lived there alone.
"Awaken, Higashino Shuuichi."
With a hard-to-read smile on his face, Hyōsube spoke as he gazed forward.
At once, countless reishi gathered before him, slowly reconstructing into the form of Higashino Shuuichi.
And at the instant Higashino appeared, space behind him split open. From the pitch-black rift, a gray-black arm thrust out.
"That won't do. I've taken an interest in this shinigami.
I can't hand him over to you just yet."
Hyōsube Ichibē wasn't the least bit surprised by the arm's appearance.
He swung his brush-like Zanpakutō in front of him.
Thick, black "ink" streaked through the air, severing space.
The arm was sliced in half. The part on this side dissolved in an instant, while the part still inside the rift let out a furious shriek before retreating and grudgingly sealing the tear.
"You're… Hyōsube Ichibē?"
Only after Hyōsube finished all of this did the newly revived Higashino Shuuichi speak, still somewhat dazed.
Then, several forgotten fragments of memory surged into his mind.
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