Led by a sage whose face remained pale, Yanagawa and Isshin Shiba passed through several heavy stone doors sealed by complex Kidō barriers.
They finally arrived at a “Confinement Chamber” deep beneath Central 46.
The walls here were made of smooth, cold, special stone that was almost opaque, with only a few dim, ghostly blue Reishi lamps embedded in the walls providing faint light, and the air was filled with oppression and loneliness.
At the entrance of one of the cells, the guard stepped aside, and the door slid open silently, revealing a small and simple space inside.
A small boy was sitting on the edge of the bed with his knees hugged to his chest, head bowed, looking at the cold floor; it was Tōshirō Hitsugaya.
Hearing the door open, he showed no reaction, as if he had lost all perception of the outside world, his whole being shrouded in a layer of near-despairing dejection and confusion.
Until a familiar, booming voice filled with undisguised concern rang out:
“This isn’t the Tōshirō Hitsugaya I know!”
Tōshirō jolted and looked up.
When he saw Isshin appear at the doorway with a hearty yet worried smile on his face, a flash of disbelief erupted in his eyes, only to quickly dim, but the deathly dejection had been broken.
He opened his mouth, his voice sounding dry:
“Shiba…
Captain?
How did you…”
His gaze then fell upon the calm-faced young man in the white haori standing beside Isshin.
Tōshirō had a good memory; he recognized this face.
Someone related to Momo Hinamori, whom he seemed to have met a few times—it seemed his name was…
Yanagawa?
“Yanagawa…
Senpai?” Tōshirō whispered uncertainly.
“You remember me, Hitsugaya-kun.”
Yanagawa’s voice was calm, breaking Hitsugaya’s shock and suspicion; he didn’t offer much explanation, simply signaling to Isshin.
Isshin strode into the cell, completely ignoring the oppressive environment, and sat down on the bed board next to Tōshirō, causing the board to creak under the weight.
He vigorously ruffled Tōshirō’s soft white hair and grinned:
Is the food here okay?
Is anyone bullying you?
Tell me, and I’ll beat them up for you!”
This greeting, completely inappropriate for the occasion, left Tōshirō feeling at a loss, but the frozen corner of his heart seemed to be infused with a faint warmth from this crude display of concern.
He shook his head and whispered:
“No…
it’s just…”
“What do you mean, ‘just’?
Cheer up!”
Isshin slapped his back hard.
“I’ve got good news for you; I’ve already prepared your application to join the squad!
I’m just waiting for you to graduate.
The Squad 10 Third Seat position is reserved for you!
Don’t give me that moping look!”
“Alright, Captain Isshin, don’t scare him.”
Yanagawa spoke up at the right moment, interrupting Isshin’s overly “enthusiastic” encouragement.
He walked over to a small table, leaned against it, and looked calmly at Tōshirō.
“Hitsugaya-kun, we can exchange pleasantries later.
We are here to investigate the ‘Twin Hyōrinmaru’ incident.
There are some questions I need you to answer truthfully.”
His tone was calm but carried a convincing power, causing Tōshirō to involuntarily straighten his posture and nod.
“First of all,” Yanagawa said, looking into his eyes, “regarding Sōjirō Kusaka, what was the relationship between you two?”
Upon hearing that name, Tōshirō’s body trembled almost imperceptibly, and the pain and confusion in his eyes deepened.
He was silent for a moment before saying slowly in a somewhat hoarse voice: This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“Kusaka is my best friend from Shin’ō Academy.”
He paused, as if recalling memories or trying to steady his emotions, then continued, speaking slowly, but every word carried clear weight:
“We met not long after we enrolled.
Unlike many others, he didn’t distance himself or try to get close to me just because of my hair color or talent.”
“We naturally gravitated toward each other, attending classes together, training together, and discussing Kidō and swordsmanship…”
“Training?” Isshin interrupted, his tone becoming more serious.
“Did you often spar together?”
“Yes.” Tōshirō nodded.
“We often sparred; he was the person I trusted most at Shin’ō Academy.”
“Then, before your Zanpakutō initially awakened and the call of Hyōrinmaru appeared, did you ever feel any special connection or abnormality between each other, or with your Zanpakutō?”
Yanagawa pressed on, his questions digging deeper.
Tōshirō frowned and thought carefully.
“If we’re talking about a connection, we awakened our Zanpakutō at the same time.”
Yanagawa listened quietly, quickly analyzing the information Hitsugaya provided: best friends, long-term joint training, Zanpakutō awakened at the same time…
Could these factors, under some extremely rare conditions, have combined in an unexpected way with the deeper rules of Zanpakutō awakening?
“Next, we go to see Sōjirō Kusaka,” Yanagawa said to the sage waiting outside, his tone brooking no argument.
This was a tall young man with long black hair neatly tied in a bun at the back of his head, with a few longer bangs hanging loosely over his right cheek.
He was wearing the white uniform of Shin’ō Academy, which looked a bit wrinkled now, but his sitting posture still carried a sense of deliberate uprightness.
His violet eyes, under the dim Reishi light, revealed complex and difficult-to-read emotions: vigilance, confusion, and a hint of imperceptible stubbornness.
There was even a faint trace of resentment or grievance.
Yanagawa and Isshin Shiba also asked similar questions, but the answers they received were basically consistent with Hitsugaya’s.
By now, Yanagawa already had a vague guess, but he needed more information to support it.