Bleach: Reborn as Hinamori

When had she become so accustomed to this spiritual pressure that she would collapse if she let her guard down for even a moment?

Click, click. Following the footsteps echoing across the desert of melted, charred obsidian, Ichimaru Gin walked behind his superior, observing the figure before them.

Swords were for battle, but the koto was for music.

A girl whose appearance seemed utterly out of place in such a brutal purgatory stood face-to-face with the strongest and most ruthless man in the history of the Gotei 13. A delicate, fragile young woman whose beauty could captivate anyone who laid eyes upon her. Yet the young man who should have been struck by such an impression found himself utterly captivated by the girl named Hinamori instead.

She was smiling. In the presence of Aizen Sousuke.

"...How long have you been watching?"

Intrigued by her unusual composure, Aizen, who would normally dominate any conversation in such circumstances, allowed her to speak.

Ichimaru was certain it was the best choice he could have made.

"From the very beginning, Hinamori-san. It was truly a remarkable battle."

"Ah, no—I already know about today."

"...Hm."

Despite being subjected to spiritual pressure so intense it could knock even a captain-class fighter off balance, Hinamori's face showed no trace of the instinctive danger that should accompany such a situation.

As if she had anticipated this outcome from the start, the girl asked with a playful smile:

"What I'm wondering is, did you prepare a place like this long beforehand? Maybe even a hundred years ago, when I first started training my spiritual power?"

Huh... Ichimaru couldn't help but mutter in admiration under his breath, hiding it from his superior.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you seem like the type who could do something like that." With a hint of amusement, the girl continued, "Because..."

"The Soul-Eating Incident from about fifty years ago... wasn't that when the captains of the Gotei 13 turned into Hollows and there was a strict information lockdown? You were the one behind that, weren't you?"

...

Ah, this is something Aizen would find interesting. Ichimaru's smile deepened, drawn in by her words. However, his superior beside him remained unfazed, maintaining his usual smile.

"That's an intriguing theory. Could you share your reasoning?"

"My master is Shiba Kuchiki."

"I see. Shiba Kuchiki."

Her deduction was extremely simple. She had accidentally found Shiba Kuchiki's diary and, out of curiosity, peeked at a page containing questions about the incident and the trial, as well as concerns for a friend who had been wrongfully accused and disappeared. This time, Hinamori herself had been dragged into the Hollow World, and after her heroic efforts, a captain-class Shinigami with ties to the Hollows had appeared. It was more than enough circumstantial evidence to establish a connection.

Aizen, who had been listening to the deduction, nodded as if it were obvious. This conversation was likely meant to test her basic intelligence.

However, the question the girl asked immediately afterward caused a slight distortion in her superior's constant smile.

"Making a Shinigami into a Hollow, making a Hollow into a Shinigami, breaking down the walls between opposites—it's like a story from a 'myth' I read somewhere, the kind written on a scroll kept in a very secure place."

Aizen's eyes widened.

It was a change so subtle that his lieutenant, Ichimaru, could barely notice it. However, because of that very subtlety, the young man felt astonishment beyond admiration for the girl before him.

"...Hmm."

"When I was taught Onmyodo at the Kuchiki house in Rukongai, I was amazed by how large the estate was. The Kuchiki family was once part of the Five Great Clans, which were said to be connected to the Four Great Clans."

Her smile as she spoke of her memories with her master seemed somehow insincere. The real topic wasn't supposed to be such childish ramblings.

"...And when I found out why I was expelled from the Soul Society, I was even more shocked."

"I see. So you learned the truth about the world while in the Shiba family."

"Yes."

Both the girl's and Aizen's smiles changed.

A brief silence. The two exchanged glances without speaking. It was a terrifying game of tug-of-war, as if they were trying to pull something out of each other with invisible threads.

Or perhaps it was just a delusion, but Ichimaru felt a chill run down his spine, as if his heart were being gripped by an eagle's talons.

It was unclear which side held the upper hand. But regardless of the outcome, after a tense moment, the girl finally parted her small lips.

"As someone of equal strength, do you want to change this shameful situation where someone with the name and title of king is being used as a human sacrifice for the convenience of the weak? And do you want to eliminate the Spirit King and become the true king yourself?"

To become a transcendent being who has broken through the barrier between the Spirit King, who has no barrier between himself and death, and the Shinigami themselves.

Silence. That strange moment, which felt like a second or a year, might have been the result of the metaphysical spirit stretching time to delay the impending disaster as long as possible.

However, immediately afterward, a spiritual pressure so intense it felt like the heavens and earth had inverted engulfed the world.

"...I'll be honest."

—You surpassed my expectations.

"...!!"

The earth groaned, the sky trembled, and everyone cowered before the power of a single man. Even Ichimaru, the lieutenant, had never felt such spiritual pressure before.

No, what was truly unprecedented was the emotional turmoil that Aizen had been forced to experience. Ichimaru was captivated by the miracle that a single girl had achieved, surpassing even Aizen's demonic imagination.

Hinamori Momo, her elegant beauty drenched in sweat, seemed anxious at Aizen's transformed appearance.

However, at the root of her anxiety, the emotion that should have been there was still missing. She was lamenting her own carelessness, not the inevitable fate that awaited her as she faced the absolute being before her.

This girl harbored no fundamental fear of Aizen Sousuke, the ultimate being.

"Revealing the true culprit behind the Soul Disappearance Incident would be possible for anyone once I revealed myself to you in this void. Understanding the origins of the Five Great Noble Families and discerning my ambitions, or analyzing the spiritual classification of the Spirit King—with the information you have obtained, it would not be impossible for someone of average intelligence."

With a bitter smile, Hinamori's gaze wandered wildly, and Aizen bestowed upon her praise that sounded like a song.

"But to connect all of that, to pinpoint the spiritual rank I seek, I never thought anyone could do it."

With those words, Ichimaru realized the reason for his superior's excitement.

It was taught at the Spiritual Academy that the Spirit King was an existence that had existed before the world was divided into the Spirit World, the Hollow World, and the Human World. It was also recorded in the Shiba family archives that the Spirit King was a relic from the ancient world where the concepts of life and death did not exist.

However, there was one word in the girl's story that had no connection whatsoever. It was something even the young man himself did not know, something he had almost dismissed as childish nonsense. But Aizen knew that it held great significance, and he had unprecedented expectations for her, who had arrived at the answer.

"I will answer all three of your questions from earlier. I heard from my subordinates that you had been repeatedly asking the gatekeeper of the White Path Gate about the Demon Path. I manipulated him to injure Shiba Kūkaku, one of the Five Great Nobles connected to him, forcing her into retirement, and made her your master. You must have felt uneasy that she, who was so responsible and had suffered severe injuries in her mission, would so easily teach you, a young girl, the techniques to become a Shinigami, one who stands side by side with death."

—And you have fulfilled my expectations by learning the original sin of this world within the Shiba family.

Aizen narrowed his eyes as if praising a dog that had learned a trick. But the next moment, his gentle smile transformed into a dark, joyful grin.

"Your analysis of the Spirit King's spiritual rank was indeed surprising. The fact that you mentioned the name of that race from your own mouth was also unexpected. And you may be the first to realize that the purpose of my research to remove the barrier between Shinigami and Hollows is not simply to gain power, but to transcend the Spirit King in a racial sense."

Aizen's cold smile turned into a vicious laugh. The spiritual pressure bearing down on them was now crushing the Hollow World with physical destructive force akin to the water pressure of the deep sea.

"...But why did you exclude that power from the spiritual rank I desire to achieve?"

"Exclude that power?"

"Huh? Ah..."

"If you follow your reasoning, I should have obtained the same power as the Spirit King. The ultimate goal of spiritual rank is achieved by unifying the three powers. But—"

Yes, she had intentionally excluded the power of the Quincy from that equation. It was no accident; there was clear intention behind it.

—You knew from the start about the nature of that race's power.

"Why? All information linking the Quincy and the Spirit King was recovered by the Zero Squad a thousand years ago. It shouldn't have remained with the Shiba family. Where did you learn this?"

"Ah..."

"At first, I thought you were born with divine wisdom, but you were summoned to Soul Society and spent a hundred years there. Even if you suppressed your spiritual pressure to some extent, it's impossible for someone who possesses a fragment of the Spirit King to continue deceiving the perception of the Hollows. Therefore, there is no logical reason why you could have reached that conclusion using any means currently available in this world."

—I don't understand, which is why it's interesting.

Aizen took a step closer to her, as if he couldn't help himself. It was as if he had been presented with the finest jewel.

"You are a truly fascinating person, Hinamori Momo. I am feeling a deep and profound emotion toward you, who has reached the correct answer without going through the proper process, a feeling I have never experienced before."

In response to his emotional fluctuations, pressure like a tsunami engulfed Hinamori. Even the legendary Kirinji would have grimaced in pain at Aizen's spiritual pressure, which was rising skyward.

"What's wrong? You look pale. It is unacceptable for the first person to acknowledge defeat to me to be overwhelmed by such spiritual pressure. Smile like you did earlier."

"Huh? No, defeat...?"

"Defeat. To be surpassed by something you couldn't predict means you're defenseless against the unknown. And the unknown is the source of fear. Let's praise you. Let's cheer for you. Tonight, a new powerhouse has been born into the world."

"No, that's not it!"

No one believed the girl's words as she clutched her head and tried to explain, "It was just a guess!"

Aizen must have seen through her as well. Despite being fully aware that her own power still lingered within the realm of the weak, she felt an odd familiarity toward the spiritual pressure monster before her, a sense of recognition so profound it seemed as though she were admiring something she loved. That was the "rank" of her soul.

"—Well. This has been a very... very meaningful conversation, but it's time to get down to business."

"If you can grant mercy to Shiro-chan and everyone at Junrinan, please use me however you like!"

Hinamori Momo immediately voiced her request at her own pace and bowed down. Seeing this, Ichimaru felt he had vaguely understood her true nature.

A being whose phase was out of sync with the world they lived in, embodying the love of a god.

How to interact with this spiritual transcendent being, surpassing even Aizen Sousuke, and how to utilize her for his own purposes. Pushing aside the bottomless fear he felt toward her, Ichimaru decided to focus solely on that matter.

"I won't do that. From today onward, you are—"

Thus, under Aizen's banner, a young prodigy joined the ranks of the strong...

—You're my comrade, Momo.

***

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