A classroom at Shin’ō Academy.
Today’s lesson was calligraphy.
Even though the overwhelming majority of students at the academy came from the Rukongai and had never had any formal education, every single one of them had shown up for this lesson.
Because the one teaching it was none other than Sosuke Aizen, Captain of the Gotei 13’s Fifth Division.
He knelt properly at the low table at the front of the room, back perfectly straight, holding his brush in his right hand with textbook-perfect form.
Stroke by stroke, he wrote out the character for “sky.” He set the brush down gently beside the table and spoke, gentle as ever.
“Calligraphy isn’t without its use for a Shinigami, either.
It helps steady your mind and keeps you calm.
That way, in the heat of battle, you’re able to make the sharpest possible judgment calls.
Why don’t you all give it a try.” The moment he said it, the students all picked up the brushes on their desks and began practicing.
Even Renji sat properly for once, his eyes full of genuine focus, not a trace of his usual restlessness.
Over the past several days, the more he’d practiced Kidō, Zanjutsu, training, and Reishi control, the more clearly he’d come to understand something.
Just how strong Moriyasu really was across all of these skills.
Catching up to him was proving to be an incredibly difficult thing to do.
Even now that his reiatsu rank had climbed to thirteen, the gap between them hadn’t shrunk at all, because Moriyasu had already reached rank fifteen himself.
Every time he’d challenged Moriyasu on the training grounds, it had ended the same way: a humiliating loss.
So now, whatever might help him improve, calligraphy, flower arranging, anything at all, he threw himself into it wholeheartedly.
The room fell into near-total silence, nothing but the faint scrape of ink stones and the soft touch of brush to paper.
Sunlight spilled in through the windows and settled over the students, carrying the quiet, unhurried feel of a summer afternoon nap.
Before long, Captain Aizen rose to his feet and made his way past each student’s desk in turn, bending to look over their work.
When he reached the second row, the seat by the window, he stopped, his gaze settling on the paper on Moriyasu’s desk.
It, too, had the character for “sky” written on it.
Aizen tucked his hands into his sleeves, folded them in front of his stomach, bowed slightly, and let his gaze settle on the Eternal Eyes emblem on Moriyasu’s right wristguard, asking softly: “Moriyasu, that pattern you’ve got on your right arm guard is a curious one.” Moriyasu set down his brush, turned his head to meet Aizen’s eyes across the lenses of his glasses, and answered with an equally gentle smile.
“Captain Aizen, this is my clan’s crest.” “Is that so?
Seems I’m a bit out of the loop, then.
I had no idea Soul Society had a noble clan by the name of Tokoyo.” Aizen asked again, the sunlight catching his glasses in a white glare that made his expression impossible to read.
In Soul Society, only noble clans were entitled to a crest.
Even the smallest, most minor clan would have one designed for itself.
It was a mark of status.
Moriyasu opened his mouth and let out a sigh.
“My clan probably just doesn’t mix much with outsiders.
That’s likely why you’ve never heard of us, Captain Aizen.” He grinned as he said it.
“But I’m sure you’ll be hearing the name Tokoyo plenty from now on.” “If the opportunity ever arises, might I be permitted to visit your family’s estate as a guest?” Aizen asked again.
The Great Library of Souls held no records at all concerning the Tokoyo clan or Moriyasu Tokoyo himself.
That was strange, admittedly, but not entirely without precedent.
The library had always been kept under the watch of the great Tsunayashiro clan, and anything watched over by people was bound to have its gaps.
At the very least, plenty of history concerning the Tsunayashiro clan itself, and the other great clans, had been quietly erased from the Great Library of Souls.
What made Moriyasu Tokoyo’s case unusual was something else entirely.
Even things happening right now, in the present, within the Tsunayashiro clan still got recorded in the Great Library of Souls.
They just cleaned the records out periodically.
But Moriyasu Tokoyo had not one single entry, as if he didn’t belong to Soul Society at all, as if he were nothing more than a phantom.
But Aizen didn’t for a second believe the Moriyasu standing in front of him was any kind of phantom.
Any great clan should have left some trace in the Seireitei, and yet he hadn’t managed to find one.
Which was exactly why he’d decided to come test the waters today, on the chance he might dig up something useful from this hidden noble family.
“Right now I’m just living in the dorm the academy assigned me.
I don’t have any estate to speak of.
Once I’ve reclaimed the old family home, I’ll invite you over for tea.” Moriyasu answered with a smile.
He made no attempt whatsoever to hide the fact that he had no noble estate of his own.
And he felt no shame at all about living in a school dormitory, either.
He kept smiling the entire time he answered.
Aizen looked surprised.
“Are you saying someone’s seized the Tokoyo clan’s estate?” Moriyasu’s mouth curved into a smile, and he kept his eyes locked on Aizen’s without answering the question.
Whether the Tokoyo clan even had any property left in Soul Society, he genuinely had no idea.
The old man had handed Eternal Eyes over to him and then simply dissolved into black smoke and drifted away.
But being one of the five great clans, on equal standing with the other four, surely meant that at some point they’d been powerful, with an estate to match.
Having taken on the old man’s legacy, Moriyasu figured he owed it to him to reclaim the Tokoyo name’s standing and whatever property it had once held, every bit of it.
“I see.
Well, best of luck with that, Moriyasu.” With that, Aizen straightened up, returned to the front of the room, knelt properly once more, unrolled a fresh sheet of paper, and picked up his brush to write again in silence.
In Soul Society, it was hardly unusual for a noble clan to fall into decline and have its estate seized by others.
Plenty of minor clans had been wiped out entirely, every last member, family lines ending without so much as a trace, let alone any property left behind.
So-called nobility, in the end, wasn’t so different from starving wolves and wild beasts.
Still, this angle was worth pursuing.
Aizen picked up his brush and wrote out the character for “family” on the paper.
Aizen didn’t take everything Moriyasu had said entirely at face value.
With his abilities, he could easily tell that Moriyasu hadn’t lied outright.
But not lying didn’t necessarily mean everything he’d said was true.
He found himself more curious than ever now.
This Tokoyo clan Moriyasu spoke of, and that eye-shaped crest, were they real, or something else entirely?
Had they ever actually existed?
Aizen had always believed he understood Soul Society inside and out.
But it seemed there were still plenty of dark corners left, plenty of things he didn’t know.
The thought brought a smile to his lips.
Down among the students, Momo caught sight of that smile, chin propped in both hands, not blinking once.
Moriyasu simply turned his head to look out the window, a small smile of his own on his face.
He had no leads at all on the Tokoyo clan, didn’t even know what that dark space he’d once been trapped in actually was.
But now, he could put Aizen’s curiosity to work doing some of that digging for him.
When it came to Aizen’s abilities, Moriyasu trusted them completely.