The training hall was silent again.
The kind of silence that didn't feel empty — it felt aware, like something inside the walls was listening. Watching. Waiting.
Ethan stood barefoot on the polished wooden floor, chest still aching from the "warm-up" session that had left two copies of him dead and Unohana smiling sweetly as she healed him for the third time.
She stepped across the room with her usual elegant grace, braid swinging lightly behind her, reiatsu pressed so thin and precise that it felt like a needle resting on his throat.
"Ethan," she said warmly, as though she wasn't the most terrifying creature he had ever met, "it's time we address the matter you've been trying to hide."
Ethan's fingers twitched.
He knew what she was talking about.
So did the panel.
> [WARNING: Zanpakutō Resonance Detected]
[Spiritual Interference Reaching Threshold Levels]
[Recommendation: Establish Direct Contact With Inner Spirit]
He swallowed.
That message had been popping up since before Karakura. Before Ichigo. Before Rukia's suspicion. And now, standing in front of the First Kenpachi, there was no more running from it.
Unohana tilted her head. "Your sword is trying to speak to you. But you've been ignoring it."
"I'm not ignoring it," Ethan muttered. "I'm just… not ready."
"Then I will make you ready."
Her reiatsu flexed.
The air cracked.
Ethan didn't even see her draw her blade — he only felt steel kiss his throat, a single drop of blood sliding down before he even realized she'd moved.
His knees almost buckled.
"You will enter your inner world," Unohana said pleasantly, "or I will carve it open."
Ethan's breath hitched.
That wasn't a metaphor.
She meant it literally.
---
She Forces His Spirit to Respond
Unohana stepped back, giving him space — which only made the room feel more dangerous.
"Sit," she ordered.
He sat.
"Close your eyes."
He obeyed.
Her hand pressed lightly against the center of his spine, gentle… until her reiatsu surged like a tidal wave.
Ethan screamed soundlessly as his consciousness was yanked downward, spiraling, dragged into the depths he'd been refusing to enter.
And then—
---
He Falls Into His Inner World
White.
Endless, blinding white.
But not empty — more like fog-covered ground beneath a sky with no color and no horizon.
Ethan staggered forward.
"Okay… okay, this is happening," he mumbled. "Please don't let my Zanpakutō spirit be some weird eldritch—"
A voice echoed behind him.
"You took long enough."
Ethan spun around.
A figure stood there — tall, wrapped in layered white garments that rippled like mist, face hidden behind a smooth, expressionless mask with two black slits for eyes. The mask was cracked down the center, as if held together by force of will alone.
Ethan's heart dropped.
"You're my Zanpakutō spirit?" he whispered.
The spirit didn't answer, only tilted its head… the same way Unohana often did before she began a lesson he wouldn't survive.
Great.
He had a type.
---
The Spirit Speaks
"Why did you avoid me?" the spirit asked. Its voice sounded layered — one tone soft, the other deep, like two voices speaking in sync but slightly misaligned.
Ethan forced a smile. "Because every time I get stronger, something awful happens?"
"You fear power?"
"No. I fear what power demands."
The spirit stepped closer, the mask cracking a little more.
"Yet you stepped into Soul Society. You train under the one who mastered killing. You interfere with a timeline that should be impossible. And you still pretend to fear me?"
Ethan froze.
The spirit leaned in.
"Stop lying to yourself."
The panel lit up violently.
> [Zanpakutō Resonance: 64%]
[Spirit Synchronization Increasing]
[Warning: Emotional Evasion Detected]
[Advice: Tell the truth]
"I'm not lying," Ethan whispered.
The world shook.
The spirit's voice deepened. "Speak the truth. Why did you avoid calling my name?"
Ethan clenched his fists.
"Because if I say it… everything changes. I won't be some outsider anymore. I'll be part of this world. And I don't know if I'm ready to belong to a place where people like Unohana exist."
Silence.
Then the spirit chuckled — a soft, chilling echo.
"You finally take one step forward. Good."
It lifted a hand and touched his forehead.
"Next time we meet… you will call my name."
Ethan opened his mouth to ask — but the spirit shoved him backward, reality shredding—
---
Back to the Real World
He gasped awake, collapsing forward onto his hands.
Unohana knelt beside him with a serene smile, as though she hadn't nearly exploded his soul from the inside.
"Well?" she asked sweetly. "Did you meet them?"
Ethan nodded shakily. "Y-yeah. They… talked."
"Good," she said, smoothing her robes. "Then our real training begins."
His heart dropped through the floor. "Wh–what do you mean real training—AAAH—"
Her blade whistled past his cheek.
"Get up, Ethan. If your Zanpakutō spirit is awake… you no longer have the luxury of being weak."
The panel chimed again.
> [NEW PANEL OBJECTIVE UNLOCKED]
[Forge Connection: Achieve 100% Resonance]
[Failure Consequence: Spirit Instability]
[Trainer Assigned: Captain Retsu Unohana]
[Note: Try not to die.]
Ethan groaned.
Unohana smiled.
Training had begun.
For real this time.