"Damn it! Why have these stupid Hollows been showing up so often lately? There's another one already?"
With an irritated complaint, a Shinigami stationed in Karakura Town finished purifying a Hollow that had only recently transformed.
He barely had time to catch his breath before the Soul Pager at his side began ringing again, its shrill alert shattering the brief silence.
"Another Hollow this soon? What the hell is going on? Has this place become some kind of prime hunting ground for them?"
The Shinigami didn't dare delay and immediately raced toward the location indicated by the Soul Pager.
"What…?"
When he arrived, however, he found nothing unusual.
The surrounding area was completely peaceful.
"Is this damn thing broken?"
Frowning, the Shinigami tapped the screen several times and checked the device for faults.
No matter what he tried, however, he could find nothing obviously wrong with it.
"This is seriously weird. Whatever. Once my assignment here is finished, I'm taking this thing back to the Department of Research and Development and making them fix it properly."
Still grumbling, he turned around and began heading back toward his post.
On the way, however, his foot came down in an unremarkable puddle beside the road.
The moment he stepped into it, the water suddenly came alive.
It surged upward with terrifying speed and transformed into a solid prison of water, completely enveloping the unprepared Shinigami.
An overwhelming sensation of suffocation struck him at once.
He struggled desperately, thrashing against the strange prison in an attempt to break free, but nothing worked.
Within only a few seconds, the unfortunate Shinigami died in agony and confusion without even managing to cry for help.
"Not bad, Ban."
A voice of approval drifted from a dark corner beside the street.
A small boy slowly stepped out of the shadows, staring excitedly at the result of their ambush.
Meanwhile, the mass of water that had appeared so ordinary moments before began undergoing another strange transformation.
It stretched and twisted as though it possessed a life of its own, gradually taking on a humanoid shape.
Even more surprisingly, the figure it formed bore an unmistakable resemblance to the young boy who'd just emerged from the darkness.
The two boys were still enjoying their successful first kill when a broad-shouldered man wearing headphones suddenly appeared from deeper within the shadows.
Without saying a word, he walked over and delivered a hard knuckle to each of their heads.
"Ow!"
"That hurts, Uncle Koga!"
Hō and Ban simultaneously grabbed their heads.
Large bumps had already begun rising where they'd been struck, and both boys looked at Koga Go with obvious resentment.
As far as they were concerned, they'd done extremely well.
This had been their first real battle, and they'd managed to eliminate a Shinigami without much trouble.
"Ban."
"Hō."
Koga looked down at the twins.
A brief trace of approval flashed through his eyes before his expression turned stern again.
"You two did reasonably well this time, but don't start getting full of yourselves over one small victory. Never forget what we're dealing with."
"Shinigami."
His gaze sharpened.
"You managed to kill this one because you caught him completely by surprise. That means you were fortunate, nothing more."
"If you encounter a Shinigami with more combat experience next time, things won't be nearly this easy. They aren't all going to walk straight into your trap like this one did."
"So wherever you are and whatever you're doing, stay alert. Keep your heads clear and never let your guard down."
Koga stared firmly into the twins' eyes.
"Understand?"
"Yes, Uncle Koga…"
Hō and Ban answered dejectedly.
They'd been looking forward to receiving praise for completing their first mission so smoothly.
Instead, they'd gotten lumps on their heads and a lecture.
Their shoulders drooped, all their earlier excitement gone.
"Come on. It's getting late. We should head back."
Koga patted each boy on the shoulder before taking the lead.
Hō and Ban exchanged glances, sighed helplessly, and followed after him.
Under the hazy moonlight, the three figures gradually faded into the distance until they disappeared completely into the darkness, leaving the street as quiet as though nothing had ever happened.
"Right… I almost forgot about these guys."
High above them, Kazuma stood atop a building and watched the three disappear.
He'd witnessed the entire incident from beginning to end, yet he'd shown no intention whatsoever of interfering.
Those three belonged to a group of beings known as the Bounts, strange existences accidentally created during Soul Society's experiments into eternal life.
The experiment had ended in catastrophic failure.
A massive explosion unleashed an enormous quantity of mutated spirit particles, which spread outward like floodwaters and eventually reached all Three Worlds.
When those abnormal spirit particles fused with human bodies, they gave birth to peculiar beings who looked human yet possessed powers far beyond ordinary humanity.
The Bounts.
Their existence was tragic in its own way.
They appeared no different from humans, but the spiritual power contained within their bodies could rival that of the Shinigami living in Soul Society.
Unfortunately, fate had given them tremendous power without granting them the refined techniques Shinigami possessed for controlling spiritual energy.
As a result, Bounts were forced to wield their power largely through instinct, producing abilities that were often unpredictable and wildly varied.
Their place in the world was equally awkward.
Soul Society, which had inadvertently created them, refused to recognize them as one of its own.
Yet blending into ordinary human society was equally impossible.
Bounts didn't age and were effectively immortal.
They possessed strength far beyond that of normal humans, but maintaining their existence required them to consume human souls.
From the moment they were born, those contradictions condemned them to struggle painfully in the narrow space between two worlds, never truly belonging to either.
Over time, centuries of rejection and isolation steadily corroded their minds.
Frustration accumulated into resentment, and resentment eventually twisted into hatred.
Gradually, the scattered Bounts sought one another out for comfort and support until they eventually formed their own organization.
And now, united by their bitterness, they intended to take revenge upon the Shinigami who had created them and then abandoned them.
Kazuma found the whole thing ridiculous.
'What kind of backwards nonsense is this? The kids actually want to beat up their parents? Are they tired of living?'
Of course, that was only how the Bounts themselves viewed the situation.
The truth was considerably colder.
Soul Society's upper ranks had never cared enough about them to deliberately abandon them in the first place.
To those standing at the top, the Bounts were nothing more than an accident produced by a failed experiment.
Would an elephant stop and concern itself with a few fleas that happened to fall off its body?
Of course not.
...
"Boss! We killed a Shinigami today!"
Hō and Ban burst excitedly into an underground base, their faces practically glowing with pride.
A sizable group had already gathered inside, apparently discussing yet another scheme they didn't want anyone else knowing about.
The twins hurried straight toward the man seated at the head of the room and eagerly reported their achievement.
"Well done."
Jin Kariya leaned back in his chair, the corner of his mouth lifting into a satisfied smile.
"It was only an ordinary Shinigami, but every enemy we eliminate brings us one step closer to our goal. As long as we continue, the day will eventually come when we wipe every last Shinigami from Soul Society."
He reached out and gently rubbed Hō and Ban's heads, an almost affectionate look in his eyes.
Yet beneath that seemingly warm expression lurked a deeply unsettling trace of bloodlust.
Jin Kariya was a complicated man, practically a walking contradiction.
Long ago, when he was still a child, he'd lived peacefully alongside the other Bounts.
Then fate shattered that peace without warning.
The Shinigami began hunting them down.
Many Bounts died in the bloody purge, with only a handful managing to escape.
Among those survivors was the still-young and bewildered Kariya.
From that day onward, he began a long life of wandering.
He could never understand why.
The Bounts had been created because of Soul Society, yet the very Shinigami responsible for their existence were now slaughtering them without mercy.
Carrying that question with him, Kariya spent years hiding from place to place like a hunted animal.
He had to avoid relentless Shinigami pursuit while also remaining constantly alert for Hollows, since one careless mistake could easily turn him into their next meal.
During one such Hollow attack, Kariya unexpectedly awakened the power of his Doll and killed the creature hunting him.
Ironically enough, the object that helped awaken his power was a protective charm.
And that charm had been given to him by Ran'Tao, the Shinigami researcher whose work had led to the creation of the Bounts in the first place.
After reaching adulthood, Kariya attempted a completely different path.
He became an advocate for peace.
Naively believing coexistence was possible, he worked tirelessly to reconcile the Bounts with Soul Society.
Fate responded by slapping him across the face.
Nothing changed.
The Shinigami continued carrying out operations to exterminate the Bounts as before.
Eventually, another devastating conflict erupted. The Bounts were nearly wiped out entirely, leaving only a small number of survivors — including Kariya himself.
After witnessing the brutality of that war, whatever belief he'd once had in peaceful coexistence disappeared.
Kariya gathered the surviving Bounts and resolved to destroy Soul Society instead.
With a new purpose driving him forward, he became their leader.
He even developed a groundbreaking method for deliberately awakening Dolls, opening a new path for his people.
That path came at a terrible cost.
Many Bounts died during the process, leaving only the strongest and most capable survivors at Kariya's side.
At the same time, his message spread outward.
Other surviving Bounts from across the world gradually sought him out and joined the organization, united by a single ambition:
To eradicate the Shinigami.
"Boss, killing them one at a time like this is way too slow!"
A tall young man with bright blond hair stepped out from the group.
His name was Mabashi, one of the organization's most battle-hungry members.
"At this rate, who knows how long it'll take before we finally kill all those damn Shinigami? We need a faster way."
Mabashi was particularly obsessed with slaughtering Shinigami.
Every successful kill gave him an almost intoxicating sense of pleasure.
Calling him psychologically disturbed would have been putting it mildly.
"Leader, according to my investigation, there's a group of high school students living in Karakura Town who seem to have unusually close connections with Soul Society."
Another man stepped forward while the others were considering Mabashi's words.
This was Ugaki, a middle-aged man who served as one of the organization's more calculating strategists.
A pair of glasses rested on his nose, and his thoughtful expression immediately gave the impression of someone who preferred schemes over brute force.
"If we start with those students, we may be able to use them as a breakthrough point and accelerate our campaign against the Shinigami."
He pushed his glasses higher and calmly waited for Kariya's answer.
"You want to use those children as bait to draw the Shinigami out?"
Kariya rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
His gaze flickered as he seriously considered whether Ugaki's proposal was practical.
"I believe the plan is workable."
A hunched old man with a heavily wrinkled face finally spoke.
This was Sawatari, one of the organization's oldest and most experienced members.
He'd survived several Shinigami purges over the years, which alone said enough about how dangerous he was.
"Sawatari, you also believe there won't be a problem?"
Kariya frowned slightly.
He still had reservations, but Sawatari's experience meant his opinion couldn't simply be dismissed.
"What's wrong?"
Sawatari regarded him with open disdain.
"Don't tell me you've suddenly developed sympathy for them."
"They're only ordinary humans, and they already have ties to the Shinigami. The fact that we aren't simply killing them outright should already count as mercy."
Despite his elderly appearance, Sawatari had never been anything resembling a gentle old man.
In the past, he'd blatantly ignored the Bounts' own restrictions and devoured tens of thousands of human souls.
The enormous number of souls had greatly increased his strength, but the practice came with a severe consequence.
His body rapidly aged as a result.
"I also believe the proposal is worth pursuing."
A neatly dressed man in refined Western-style clothing nodded in agreement. A carefully groomed patch of facial hair decorated his chin.
His name was Ryō Utagawa.
Utagawa was an exceptionally ambitious man who'd been waiting for an opportunity to kill Kariya and seize leadership of the organization for himself.
Loyalty was not exactly his strongest quality.
"I agree as well."
A clear female voice followed.
The speaker was Yoshi, one of only two women among their group.
She showed no hesitation whatsoever in supporting Ugaki's proposal.
"What about you two?"
Kariya finally looked toward the only members who'd yet to voice an opinion — Yoshino Sōma and Go Koga.
Everyone else who'd already expressed support turned toward them as well.
For a moment, the atmosphere grew strangely heavy as the entire room waited for their answer.
"I agree."
"So do I."
Both ultimately cast their votes in favor.
Whether that decision truly reflected their feelings or merely resulted from the pressure of everyone else already agreeing was another matter entirely.
Either way, the outcome was settled.
Every member of the organization had approved the plan.
Now only two questions remained.
Who would carry it out?
And exactly how would they do it?