"...This was unexpected.. Such behaviour...”

Tokinada groaned. Aura answered casually.

“Oh? This was unexpected? You’re the one who says that you trust no one, Tokinada-sama.”

Aura bore no particular hatred towards Tokinada. She did not really want to kill him either. She would be satisfied with just stopping him. However, since it was impossible to stop Tokinada without killing him; Aura was prepared to move in for the kill, in order to save Hikone. Therefore, she was also prepared to die in Tokinada’s hands should she fail. In the worst case scenario, they would both fall, taking each other down with them-

“What are you talking about? I knew from the very beginning that you would betray me.”

“...?”

Simultaneously, Aura’s soul was aware of physical disorder, as Tokinada spoke these words.

“When I said ‘unexpected’, I only meant the timing. It was only a question of when you would betray me.. You would have done so sooner or later anyway.”

“...?”

Then, when Tokinada was supposed to be tied up, a single blow was struck by him towards Ginjo.

“!”

Ginjo realized that the restraint was ineffective. He sensed Aura sinking to her knees.

“What’s wrong?”

Ginjo asked her urgently, but Aura couldn’t speak, it was difficult for her to even breathe.

“Ugh...ugh..”

“Strange, isn’t it? That you cannot escape by turning your body into wisps of smoke? That your reiatsu is rapidly disappearing?”

Tokinada looked down at Aura with a smile as he beheaded the tentacles trying to touch his zanpakuto.

“I see. Touching Enrakyoten was a good strategy, but I wonder what will happen if I turn it into a blade of ash? Or into a living creature?”

Tokinada continued.

“The Seireitei has all kinds of zanpakuto..”

Tokinada turned his gaze towards one Shinigami in particular.

“You might just find that one single zanpakuto; belonging to some lower ranked officer; the one with the worst possible compatibility for you. Don’t forget that.”

The Shinigami in question who heard these cryptic words narrowed his eyes.

-There’s no mistaking it.

He could feel it from Tokinada’s gaze upon him. He stared back at Tokinada with a murderous glare.

Usually, it is not possible to distinguish the reiatsu of a zanpakuto; but the story is different once you call out its name and become its partner. A reiraku of the same colour as the zanpakuto in his own hand was certainly felt from Tokinada’s side.

{t/n: reiraku=spirit ribbon}

-Yes, the symptoms were the same.

He didn’t know what kind of person Aura was and why she was doing what she did. But he did know that she was being attacked by ‘Ruri’iro Kujaku’.

A zanpakuto with the ability to suck out all of the reiryoku of the opponent; weakening them. No wonder Aura could not turn her body into mist; that skill of hers was still connected to her reiryoku.

“This Kido-type zanpakuto has promptly set to work. With a bit of Kido added in, It becomes practically invisible.”

Although Enrakyoten could reflect the abilities of most zanpakuto; with the exception of a few rare cases; Tokinada did not know the abilities of every single zanpakuto within Soul Society. But he knew enough to be able to pick and choose according to the situation. For example, he knew of a certain zanpakuto known as ‘Uro Zakuro’, used by an inmate of the Muken. He had obtained the idea of using Yumichika’s zanpakuto because Aura’s power was as close as one could get to ‘Uro Zakuro’, and because ‘Ruri’iro Kujaku’ was an effective countermeasure against such an ability. Tokinada had been saving its usage for Aura when she had finally gotten around to betraying him.

“My dear girl, if you had wanted to betray me, you should have done so right at the start. That way, you could have joined Kyoraku’s group and prevented them from falling under Kyoka Suigetsu’s spell. It is a little late at the moment; now that Hikone’s powers are getting close to perfection.”

Tokinada spoke in a pleasant tone to Aura, looking down fondly at her. Aura was gasping; shedding sweat from her forehead. Aura slowly raised her face, her expression vacant.

“Why...did...I...betray you?”

“It’s only natural that you did. When you created Hikone with your own hands, didn’t feelings of maternity well up within your chest? Didn’t you start embracing your maternal instincts?”

“...”

“I knew this would happen. I thought it would be great fun if I could develop an emotion within you and then trample on them... Such a shame that you’re not showing me an appropriate expression.”

In order for her to betray him, he had planted the seed of emotion from early on. Ginjo, who heard that; frowned. This extreme level of irrationality on Tokinada’s part angered him.

“Well, it can’t be helped if you’re not displaying any of my desired emotions over Hikone; but you have to admit, it is refreshing to watch children grow up as you want them to. Even I understand Aizen’s and Yhwach’s feelings; as they had closely monitored Kurosaki Ichigo-“

Before he could complete the sentence, a metallic sound was heard. Ginjo had stepped in to attack Tokinada.

“Hah! I don’t think I need to inform you that two of your comrades have already fallen! And.. well.. you’ve just met this woman today. So you can get rid of your misplaced compassion.”

As he spoke, Tokinada tried to activate ‘Kyoka Suigetsu’; but once more; he could not perform Shikai.

“...?”

“What’s wrong? Is that a chink in your armour that I see?”

Tokinada flew backwards as Ginjo’s attacks increased in both speed and force.

“Impossible.. Are you still suppressing it? Aura...”

Even though more than half of her reiatsu was sucked away, a part of Aura’s body was still kept diffused in all directions; continuing to touch the various blades of Tokinada. One of the blades was ‘Ruri’iro Kujaku’; but Aura had not let go of it even when it continued to absorb her reiatsu.

“Why are you still touching it? You wish to just die meaninglessly here?”

Then Aura responded, standing up.

“There is meaning.”

“What is it?”

“Perhaps I am... it’s strange...”

Whilst Tokinada kept Ginjo’s attacks in check, Aura seemed to pour all her life force into stopping the invocation of ‘Kyoka Suigetsu’.

“You don’t only see me, Tokinada-sama. Seven hundred thousand believers have placed their faith in me...”

Feeling the reiatsu of Hikone clashing against Kenpachi high up in the sky, Aura smiled from the very bottom of her heart. A true smile.

“I do not even care about myself, I’m just trying to hang on till the very end for the sake of one little child.”

The smile of a loving parent.

-When I was young, did my father smile at me like this?

-Ah... I can’t remember..

-I wonder if Daddy loved me...

-What about Mummy? Did she love me? I never met her...

As her consciousness began to slowly fade, Aura continued to exude reiatsu to all the surrounding space. She broke down her own cells to transform them into reiatsu. The emotions she had never embraced thus far began to slowly explode out of her.

Upon seeing Aura in this way, Tokinada spoke one word, in fascination.

“Interesting..”

He smiled. His voice was more joyful than ever. He surrounded Ginjo with Ryujin Jakka and Gagaku Kairo, and spoke to Aura.

“Well then.. How about this? When the very person, whom you have been trying to protect by sacrificing your own life, slays you... What kind of expression would you have on your face?”

“...”

Tokinada went on addressing Aura, who was so weak that she could no longer respond.

“Oh, I know! I’ll tell you right away! Perhaps I’ll have Hikone kill you, then!”

He immediately tried to call out to Hikone overhead, so as not to let his excitement go cold-

“I won’t let you do that!”

Ginjo’s voice rang out, loud and clear.

The Fullbringers began to mobilize upon hearing his command. Giriko swept away the creatures of Gagaku Kairo; his body muscular and inflated. Tsukishima flipped his bookmark into the flames; rewriting the past as: ‘the fire was extinguished ten seconds ago’. And so, that obstacle disappeared, allowing Ginjo to pass through.

He looked different. His hair had turned white. His black and white clothes had taken on a different form; like that of a skeletal armour. His sword had changed shape in an instant; with a skull upon it. His reiatsu escalated.

“Such mastery over your Hollow powers! Yes... I expected nothing less from a Rei-o candidate such as yourself! So, do you wish to kill Hikone and myself and then claim the throne of the Rei-o for yourself?”

Tokinada asked Ginjo. Ginjo asked back,

“Oh? Me, the Rei-o? Claiming the throne isn’t some kind of special bargain sale, you know!”

“That’s not what I mean. Do you know how Fullbringers are born?”

“I think I can guess. A fragment of the Rei-o, am I right?”

Why is the Fullbringer targeted by the Hollow at the foetal stage?

Ginjo had predicted that the reason had to be because of something that was mixed into the Konpaku from before it was born. Although it was not clear what kind of influence this fragment of the Rei-o would have; Ginjo had assumed that just like Mimihagi-sama had taken possession of a Shinigami; if this fragment were to be fused with human beings, then it would bring about an effect similar to that of the Hogyoku.

A device that manifests the desires of those around it; something that could change the world.

The Hogyoku.

It would not be surprising if the fragment of the Rei-o acts as its substitute and activates Fullbring that can turn attachment into an ability.

And since the Konpaku of the unborn child has this special reiatsu mixed in, it gets targeted by Hollows, who sense this reiatsu.

Conversely, there may be cases in which the Rei-o factor gets inherited through generations and blooms via defensive instincts when faced with Hollows. Two examples would be Inoue Orihime and Chad.

Ginjo was not sure whether or not his speculations were correct, but Tokinada smiled at him.

“If you know all that, then how about it? If you become the Rei-o; with the powers of a Fullbringer, a Shinigami and Hollow, then you can either destroy this world or change it, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I’m not interested. If we need to turn the world around; then we can do it in our own way.”

“Then why are you lending a hand to Aura? Your former comrades were killed on orders; but that was not me; it was the work of those from the main family.”

Regardless of whether Tokinada’s words were true or false, Ginjo replied,

“That doesn’t interest me either.. Even if I knew who did it, the fact that I became an enemy of the Shinigami will not change.”

Ginjo swung around his sword as he narrowed his eyes.

“I only have one grievance to speak of.”

Recalling the face of a single Shinigami, the words tumbled out of Ginjo’s lips.

“That I never got to hear the truth from Ukitake.. Not even when I was right in front of him.”

{t/n: in the first book, it was stated that Ginjo had gone to see Ukitake, but Ukitake was already dying then}

“Hahahaha! So did you hear about it from Aura? We have surveillance bacteria, but what kind of method did you use to share information? And besides, didn’t you think that she could have lied to you?”

“We had a different modus operandi.”

As a matter of fact, Ginjo had not heard anything at all from Aura. That is why the surveillance bacteria controlled by Tokinada had not detected Aura’s betrayal.

However, Ginjo knew everything. That was because of Yukio and Tsukishima. Via these two Fullbringers, the will of Aura was transmitted to Ginjo, disregarding the flow of time.

What Aura had done to Yukio was simple. Using her unique ability to rearrange even the elementary structure of her own body, she had engraved a certain pattern on to the back side of the business card that she had handed to Yukio.

It was a myriad of QR codes encrypted in grey; closer to white, not black. There was also the thinness of the colour; and at first glance, it looked just like the texture of the paper. But Yukio had been able to easily read the information written upon the business card.

{t/n: QR code- Quick Response Code. A matrix barcode. Developed for usage by the Japanese car companies, such as Toyota, Subaru, etc, in 1994. Nowadays, you see them practically everywhere}

-In exchange for information on the Shinigami clan responsible for killing Ginjo’s friends, Yukio had agreed to play the part of forming an alliance for the sake of Tokinada’s cause.

It was a little unbelievable for Yukio at first, but upon obtaining information that Aura had several powerful business conglomerates amongst her followers, he realized that it provided him with sufficient business profit. Yukio did not know whether that information would be of any use to Ginjo; nevertheless, he formed a real alliance with Aura.

After that, it was an easy matter for him to convert the rest of his comrades to his side, since he was so familiar with their habits. First of all, he knew very well that Tsukishima would invariably try to interfere with his ‘past’. When Yukio had mentioned ‘I placed a virus in my past’ to Tokinada, he wasn’t exactly lying. Tsukishima had not actually altered Yukio’s past, and thus the surveillance bacteria had not reported anything. Since Tsukishima already knew about Ginjo’s circumstances, he had looked into Yukio’s past and had conveyed the message to Giriko and Ginjo by bookmarking them, leaving Yukio’s past as it was.

“I’d say that ‘time is money’, but Tsukishima-san, you ought to thank the god of time for giving you that power.”

Tsukishima shook his head at Giriko’s words.

“Unfortunately, I am not a very religious person.”

“Just as tea leaves turn black and fruit wine darkens with the passage of time; so does all things. Our prayers may begin only on the surface, but eventually, time matures all things.”

Yukio covered his mouth, pretending to be profoundly impressed by those words.

“You totally sound like a suspicious religious fraud, Grandpa Giriko!”

Amidst this light-hearted banter, the three of them watched the battle between Ginjo and Tokinada. Because they knew. Knew that this was a necessary battle for Ginjo to come to terms with his past.

Ginjo answered Tokinada’s earlier question as he lashed out with his blade.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have doubts at first; but your actions just now and your words were satisfactory enough to have me convinced.”

“Hahaha! I see! Then your desire to kill is most justified. But make no mistake. You didn’t have me dancing on the palm of your hand. It was I who had placed the monitoring mechanism within the substitute badge. It was I who made the decision to be your enemy. It was my will. Your agonizing efforts went to waste since you were deceived by falsehoods.”

Having said that, Tokinada raised his voice again and continued to talk pleasantly,

“I just did not tell the truth about the Fullbringers and the violence of the House of Tsunayashiro after the decision was taken by Ukitake. As a result of his judgment, he settled down to an agreement that benefits me now as well as the House of Tsunayashiro. So I am grateful to Ukitake.”

Even though Ginjo’s superior reiatsu had the upper hand, Tokinada went on relentlessly,

“Oh, Ukitake opposed the nobles’ idea of eavesdropping and monitoring via the substitute badge more than anyone else. In the end, I had to throw in my final word. Even after he was left with no choice but to surrender, he said, ‘Ginjo’s suspicions will fade away and Central 46 will definitely understand soon enough’. He had always believed in you.”

“So your family used the tracking device in the badge to hunt down my friends and then killed them in order to collect the ‘fragments of the Rei-o’... is that right?”

{t/n: Now we know why Soul Society wanted to get a hold of Ginjo’s dead body. The nobles wanted the Rei-o fragment}

“I spoke to Ukitake, telling him ‘Ginjo was so distraught that he killed the Shinigami as well as his friends’. Ukitake didn’t want to believe it but I showed him the data from the Visuals Department. And thus, you were labelled as an ‘enemy of the Shinigami’. Later, you even killed Ukitake’s subordinates in a fit of rage; so it amounted to the same thing in the end. Such a pity that he believed in someone such as yourself!”

{t/n: In case the narrative is puzzling; Ukitake and Ginjo’s relationship was one of tragic misunderstanding; orchestrated by Tokinada. Ukitake didn’t know why the nobles wanted to spy on Ginjo; he protested, hoping that Ginjo would forgive him. However, the murder of Ginjo’s friends was something that was unknown to Ukitake. Tokinada made it sound like Ginjo was distraught over the eavesdropping incident only; leaving out the bit about Ginjo going mad with rage over the unfair death of his friends. Ukitake only got to know one side of the picture. Tokinada also lied to Ukitake, stating that Ginjo had killed his own friends. It was easy enough for him to lie; seeing as his family was in control of the Visuals Dept. Ginjo, on the other hand, believed that Ukitake had initiated this event; since he was the one who had given him the badge. Remember how Ginjo described Ukitake? ‘The most peace-loving man within Soul Society’. This showed that Ginjo really respected Ukitake, and thus he was even more upset that this same peace-loving man had betrayed him}

As he kept on provoking Ginjo, Tokinada increased the sharpness of his movements step by step. He was stalling for time with his narration of this story, as ‘Ruri’iro Kujaku’ went on sapping Aura of her reiryoku.

“I wanted to tell him the truth and then hush him up by taking his younger brothers hostage, but as Kyoraku says, it is bad to incur the wrath of the fearful Mimihagi-sama once you drive him to that point... He is the flesh of the Rei-o after all..”

To Tokinada, who spoke in a forlorn tone, Ginjo replied,

“I only regret not immediately doing what I came here to do..”

Poising himself for an attack, his emotions awry, he said,

“...Slaughtering this Shinigami standing in front of me!”

Ginjo released a massive ‘Getsuga Tensho’ comparable in power to Ichigo’s own. But the red flash emitted by Tokinada diverted its direction. It struck a faraway rocky mountain, greatly altering the terrain.

“Tch! He still had that kind of trick up his sleeve!”

The red flashes were from ‘Hisagomaru’. They had been released by converting the wounds absorbed by its normal ability into its attacking ability. A slash created by accumulating all of Tokinada’s wounds up till then was not successful in offsetting his opponent’s attack, but it did manage to change the attack’s direction at the last minute.

-Hmm.. So what should I use next?

-Let’s see..

As Tokinada tried to select a zanpakuto suitable for Ginjo’s power, he noticed Aura’s reiatsu being almost extinguished.

“Oops.. It’ll be boring if she died of weakness.”

Distancing himself from Ginjo, keeping him restrained with ‘Tsuchinamazu’ and ‘Senbonzakura’, Tokinada turned his attention towards the sky.

-Hikone! Leave him alone! Kill Aura first!

-These words were what Tokinada wanted to shout out-

“Hiko...”

The next instant; he sensed a gust of wind cut right through a part of his body.

“...?”

Before he could grasp the identity of that sensation, Tokinada saw his own detached right arm; still holding the zanpakuto, flying up, making a high arc in the air.

“Wha-?”

Even before the pain was transmitted to his brain, Kazeshini had wrapped itself around his right arm a moment earlier and had peeled it away from his body in the blink of an eye.

“No...way...”

The pain of losing his right arm shot through his entire body; but the doubt that rose within his mind somewhat pushed aside the pain momentarily.

Standing before him was Hisagi Shuhei, looking straight at him with blazing eyes.

“You.. you were supposed to be under ‘complete hypnosis’...”

Aura had stopped the further initialization of the Shikai, but Kyoraku’s group was still under its influence. Hisagi, who had also seen it before it was sealed, but after Kyoraku’s group saw it, should have been even more strongly hypnotized. The scenery reflected in his eyes, fluctuations in reiatsu, even the sound of the wind, ought to be misidentified.

Hisagi was no longer operating in the dark, he was looking straight at Tokinada. But his visual, auditory and olfactory senses as well as reikaku should not be functioning properly. Therefore it should have been impossible to grasp Tokinada’s exact location from just his conversation with Ginjo and Aura. It was impossible to attack unless one could cancel out the hypnosis by releasing reiatsu of Aizen’s level.

There were other reasons as to why Tokinada had been caught completely off guard by Hisagi.

A piece of cloth fluttered between Tokinada and Hisagi. It was the mantle that completely masks reiatsu; the one which he had worn earlier and then thrown aside.

-Did you wrap Kazeshini in it before throwing?

-So that I wouldn’t feel its reiatsu?

-So you began rotating the blade just before wrapping it up?

-Is that how you cut off my arm?

Tokinada couldn’t understand. He had made sure that the cloak had been misidentified as sand.

Was it possible that Hisagi had not actually seen the Shikai of Kyoka Suigetsu?

But surely I had shown it to him the instant his eyes opened.

I did see Hisagi’s astonished look and subsequent confusion.

-...Wait.

-Confusion?

It took him just one second to understand. Tokinada turned his face towards one Shinigami. Hirako Shinji.

Hirako was exhausted and he could barely hoist himself on one knee. Despite his condition, he was grinning confidently.

“You know.. I was actually saving this for when Aizen showed his Shikai to Ichigo. But I never got a chance to do it since Aizen never used Kyoka Suigetsu on Ichigo.”

“But perhaps Aizen did it deliberately.”

It was Kyoraku who spoke. He and Nanao appeared beside Hirako and picked up the handle of ‘Enrakyoten’ that had fallen to the ground.

“We were saved because you were so prompt, Captain Hirako. And Lieutenant Hisagi himself, who was so quick to respond, even though he did not know about it then.”

“Well... it would have been a lot more difficult to pull off this kind of stunt against someone like Aizen.”

Hirako said so fairly, while swinging Sakanade from his wrist. It was in its Shikai state, but Tokinada did not remember Sakanade being able to reverse the visibility and hearing of illusions.

Then, whom did he use that power on?

As the answer came to Tokinada in a flash, Hirako told him,

“Oh, you poor simpleton!”

Hirako had not used Sakanade on Tokinada; he had used it on Hisagi instead. At the exact moment when Tokinada had shown Hisagi the release of Kyoka Suigetsu.

Since the front and back were reversed, Hisagi had not actually seen the release of the Shikai. His look of astonishment was because he had been shocked and confused that everything before his eyes was inverted; front, back, left, right, above, below. It was all upside down.

When Tokinada finally understood what was going on, he turned his eyes towards Kyoraku to take away the zanpakuto from his hand. But before he knew it, the hilt disappeared from Kyoraku’s hand; and it could not be found anywhere.

“Sorry about that. But Okyo has already hidden your zanpakuto away.”

{t/n: Okyo is Kyokotsu. Term of endearment. Shunsui uses ’Ohana’ for Katen and ‘Okyo’ for Kyokotsu}

Kyoraku informed Tokinada sweetly.

“Hey now... You don’t want to keep me waiting, do you?”

The voice was heard from behind Tokinada. It was already too late by then.

A Getsuga Tensho released by Ginjo struck Tokinada’s body obliquely.

Red blood blossomed like flowers as it danced high up in the sky of the Kyogoku.

{t/n: A really awesome feat by Shinji. And kudos to Shuhei for being able to function so well while mentally adjusting to Sakanade’s inversion. Oh, and PS. Tokinada is still alive and kicking}

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