Chapter 47: Fairness, Fairness, and More Fairness!
Splash.
A burst of hot spring water hit Hinamori Momo in the face, jolting her out of her daze. She puffed up her cheeks and glared at Matsumoto Rangiku.
"Miss Rangiku, what are you doing?"
"I should be asking you that. What are you spacing out for? I called you so many times and you did not respond at all. I thought you had fainted from soaking too long."
"...No, I was just thinking..."
Momo tilted her head and glanced toward the direction of the men's bath.
"I wonder what Captain Aizen, Shimiya kun, and Kurosaki are talking about. They would not be having weird conversations like Miss Rangiku, would they?"
"What do you mean by 'weird'? You had better explain yourself clearly, or else... take this!"
"Ah!"
Rangiku scooped water with both hands and splashed Momo over and over, forcing her to raise her arms and shield her face.
"Hey, you two… that is enough."
Soi Fon finally could not stand it anymore. She spoke up only because Rangiku was splashing so wildly that the hot water was hitting her face as well. Combined with Rangiku constantly moving around, it was making her feel dizzy.
"Yes, yes. You got away this time, Hinamori. I was actually planning to check on your development."
"Eek!"
Though Rangiku quieted down, her predatory gaze swept over, scaring Momo into immediately swimming behind Soi Fon's back.
"Why did you come to my side...?"
Soi Fon felt a subtle sense of malice.
"But anyway... men's conversations, huh?"
Rangiku looked up at the sky, thought for a moment, then waved her hand dismissively.
"It is either dreams or what they want to do in the future. What else could it be? They are like children."
"Sometimes I really do not understand what goes on in their heads."
…
"A dream, huh? Asked that out of nowhere, I really do not have an answer."
In the men's bath, Ichigo folded his arms and tilted his head, thinking hard.
"It does not have to be anything grand. Focusing on the present is fine. There should be one or two things you feel you must hold on to until the end of your life."
Aizen, perfectly embodying the patient teacher, guided him gently.
"Until the end of my life... that already sounds pretty grand, you know. But now that you mention it, there is one thing I feel I absolutely have to do."
Ichigo muttered, after grumbling a little.
"I want to protect a lot of people."
"What is that supposed to be, some save the world hero? Did you not say you were not interested in that kind of thing back when you enrolled?"
Takeru cut in lazily with his eyes still closed.
"Shut up. When I first came to Soul Society, I was completely lost and living on edge. How much of an idiot would I have to be to start yelling about saving this and saving that?"
Ichigo snapped back, sounding half angry and half embarrassed.
"Besides, I am not that great of a person. I know very well that even right now, somewhere I cannot see, people are getting hurt, maybe even dying. Knowing that, how could I have the nerve to say such hypocritical stuff as saving the world or protecting all of humanity?"
"So I never intended to protect everyone."
"But at the same time, I cannot just focus on the handful of people I can physically hold in my arms. I am not so cold blooded or narrow minded that I would abandon someone who is about to die right in front of me. Of course, heinous criminals who will only hurt more people if they survive are not included."
"Taking reality into account, I want to protect as many people as I reasonably can. If I have to put it into words, that is the dream I want to pursue until the very end."
"Hey, Shimiya. If you think that idea is stupid, then show me what you are really made of."
At that, Takeru slowly opened his eyes. He was not riled up by the provocation at all. He adjusted his posture first, then met Ichigo's teasing gaze and answered calmly.
"Let me say this first. I do not look down on you."
"After all, the thing I want to pursue for my entire life might be even more naive and ridiculous than yours. I am very aware of that."
"No... is there really any need to put yourself down like that?"
"This is not self denial, Kurosaki kun."
Aizen interjected before Takeru could continue, his voice filled with interest.
"Naive and ridiculous, in this sense, are not labels you give yourself. They come from how others see you. But often, when something is considered naive and ridiculous by many, that is precisely when it is closest to greatness."
"If it can be achieved one day, all those opinions will be overturned and turned into fervent admiration."
Ichigo still did not fully grasp what he meant, but Takeru's next words made him absolutely certain that at least in this moment, Aizen's theory was correct.
"A man, even if only once in his life, wants to become the strongest. That is my dream."
"But simply getting stronger for its own sake is boring."
"And after becoming the strongest, you are inevitably saddled with tremendous influence. It is unrealistic to think you can do nothing with it."
Takeru looked up at the evening sky. The afterglow of the sunset painted his face red, and the flickering torchlight around the bath made the hidden turmoil in his expression feel like a power simmering beneath the surface, ready to change the world.
"Brother Kurosaki and I are the same. We do not think of ourselves as great people. Saying we would use our power to create a utopian world or a perfect system is absolutely impossible."
"But somewhere out there, in places I have not seen, someone might be dying unjustly. A kind person might be killed precisely because of their kindness. The incompetent might be sitting above everyone else. The greedy might be plundering what they do not deserve. Those ruled by selfish desires might be shattering the peaceful lives of others. Evil might be pushing good aside, while unbelievably foolish and naive idiots act recklessly..."
"There are too many things like that. So many that it makes it feel like good people deserve to have guns pointed at their heads. So many that it makes it seem like honest people deserve to be bullied. For things like that, I cannot even be bothered to talk about good and evil, right and wrong, justice or injustice. I can only say this.
"I cannot stand it."
"So if you ask what my dream is, what I want to keep doing until the day I die..."
"It is to become so strong that no one can stop me, and then erase everything I cannot tolerate."
"I will become the true Shinigami, the true balancer, the adjuster. Wherever I pass, there will be fairness, fairness, and still fairness."
His words hit Ichigo's heart like bullets.
Ichigo suddenly felt his mouth go dry.
Maybe it was because those words were too intense, too fierce, too blazing, as if boiling blood had evaporated the moisture in his body. He could only force out a dry laugh and lean on a joke to vent his emotions.
"Shimiya, you sound like you want to become the God of a new world."
"Gods cannot do those things."
Before Takeru could reply, Aizen spoke first.
His expression was disturbingly serious, and his tone was just as grave.
"Good or bad, God does not care about such things. In the eyes of God, there is only the world itself. The rise and fall, fortune and misfortune of a few lives are never taken to heart."
"What people long for is not God. They want an existence that possesses omnipotent power and grants their wishes."
"But ironically, God exists, while that kind of existence does not."
"The two have never stood on the same ground from the very beginning, so conflict that can never be reconciled is inevitable."
"This is why even the most beautiful era is already built on a mistake from the very start. If things keep developing in that direction, destruction is guaranteed in the end."
Gulp.
Ichigo swallowed unconsciously. An indescribable chill climbed up his spine. He felt a vague sense of unease, but he did not know how to put that unease into words.
Was it because Aizen's presence was simply too overwhelming? Or was there something dangerous hidden inside those words?
"Teacher."
At that moment, Takeru spoke up, breaking the suffocating mood.
He seemed completely unbothered by it all as he asked casually,
"We have both finished talking. It is your turn now."
"You started the topic. You cannot dodge it."
"A philosopher in the World of the Living once said that never talking about yourself is a very noble kind of hypocrisy."
"Teacher cannot set a bad example."
Ichigo perked up too, grinning.
"Yeah, what is Sensei's dream? Knowing you, it is probably something really upright and beautiful. Go on, say it. Takeru and I definitely will not laugh."
"Yes, it is my turn to speak..."
Aizen showed a gentle smile. Out of habit, he raised his hand to push up his glasses, only to find nothing there. His fingertips paused for a moment, and his smile subtly thinned.
He closed his eyes and said quietly,
"Although I am sorry to disappoint you, Kurosaki kun, I am actually not as good a person as you seem to think."
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