Led by a Wise men whose face was still pale, Yanagawa and Isshin Shiba passed through several heavy stone doors sealed by intricate Kidō barriers.
At last, they arrived at a detention chamber deep beneath Central 46.
The walls were made of smooth, cold special stone that allowed almost no light through.
Only a few dim blue reishi lamps embedded in the walls provided faint illumination.
The air was thick with oppression and loneliness.
At one cell door, the guards stepped aside.
The door slid open soundlessly, revealing a small, bare room.
A small boy sat on the edge of the bed, knees drawn close, head lowered as he stared at the cold floor.
It was Tōshirō Hitsugaya.
He did not react to the door opening, as if he had lost all awareness of the outside world.
His entire being was wrapped in despair and confusion.
Until a familiar loud voice, filled with undisguised concern, rang out.
“That’s not the Tōshirō Hitsugaya I know!”
Hitsugaya jolted and looked up.
When he saw Shiba standing at the door with his usual hearty smile, though mixed with worry, disbelief flashed in his eyes.
It quickly dimmed again, but the deathlike gloom around him had been broken.
“Captain… Shiba?” he said hoarsely.
“Why are you…”
His gaze then shifted to the young man beside Isshin, dressed in a white haori and wearing a calm expression.
Hitsugaya had a good memory.
He recognized that face.
Someone connected to Momo Hinamori, whom he seemed to have seen a few times before.
“…Yanagawa… senpai?” Hitsugaya murmured uncertainly.
“You still remember me, Hitsugaya,” Yanagawa said gently, easing his confusion.
He did not explain further, merely gesturing toward Isshin.
Isshin strode into the cell, completely ignoring its oppressive atmosphere, and plopped down beside Hitsugaya on the bed.
The bedframe creaked under the strain.
He roughly ruffled Hitsugaya’s soft white hair and grinned. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“So, kid, how’s the food here?
Anyone bullying you?
Tell me and I’ll beat them up for you!”
The utterly inappropriate greeting left Hitsugaya at a loss.
Still, that rough concern seemed to send a faint warmth into a corner of his heart that had been frozen shut.
He shook his head and said quietly, “No… it’s just…”
“Just what?
Get your spirit back!”
Isshin slapped him hard on the back.
“Here’s some good news.
I already prepared your squad application.
Once you graduate, I’m saving the Tenth Division’s Third Seat for you!
Don’t sit around looking so defeated!”
“That’s enough, Captain Isshin.
You’ll scare him,” Yanagawa said at the right moment, cutting off Isshin’s overly enthusiastic encouragement.
He walked to the small table and leaned lightly against it, looking calmly at Hitsugaya.
“Hitsugaya, we can catch up later.
We’re here to investigate the ‘Twin Hyōrinmaru’ incident.
I have some questions, and I need you to answer truthfully.”
His tone was calm, but it carried a convincing force that made Hitsugaya straighten unconsciously and nod.
“First,” Yanagawa said, looking into his eyes, “what is your relationship with Sōjirō Kusaka?”
At the name, Hitsugaya’s body trembled almost imperceptibly.
The pain and confusion in his eyes deepened.
After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke in a hoarse voice.
“Kusaka was my best friend at Shin’ō Academy.”
He paused, as if remembering, or calming himself—then continued, speaking slowly, each word heavy and clear.
“We met not long after entering the Academy.
Unlike many others, he didn’t distance himself because of my hair color or talent, and he didn’t deliberately try to get close to me because of them either.” The source of this chapter is novelping . com.
“We just naturally ended up together.
We attended class together, trained together, discussed Kidō and swordsmanship together…”
“Trained?” Isshin interrupted, his tone becoming more serious.
“You sparred often?”
“Yeah.” Hitsugaya nodded.
“We often trained against each other.
At Shin’ō Academy, he was the person I trusted most.”
“Then, before your Zanpakutō first awakened, before Hyōrinmaru’s call appeared, did either of you sense any special connection or abnormality between yourselves, or with your Zanpakutō?”
Yanagawa pressed further.
Hitsugaya frowned and thought carefully.
“If we’re talking about a connection… our Zanpakutō awakened at the same time.”
Yanagawa listened silently, his mind rapidly analyzing the information Hitsugaya had given.
Close friends.
Long-term training partners.
Zanpakutō awakening at the same time…
Under extremely rare conditions, could these factors have unexpectedly interacted with the deeper rules governing Zanpakutō awakening?
“Next, take us to see Sōjirō Kusaka,” Yanagawa said to the Wise men waiting outside, his tone allowing no refusal.
Kusaka was a tall young man.
His long black hair was tied neatly behind his head, with a few longer strands falling loosely along the right side of his face.
He wore the white uniform of a Shin’ō Academy student.
It was somewhat wrinkled now, but his seated posture still carried a deliberate uprightness.
Under the dim reishi light, his violet eyes revealed complicated emotions: vigilance, confusion, a barely noticeable stubbornness.
And even a faint trace of resentment and hurt.
Yanagawa and Isshin asked similar questions, and the answers they received were essentially the same as Hitsugaya’s.
By then, Yanagawa had already formed a vague hypothesis.
But he needed more information to support it.