Скоро во тьму

Beginning of the revive of Tomorrow

The story starts by describing Central 46. Central 46 is the highest judicial organ in Soul Society, only second to the Soul King office. It consists out of 40 sages and 6 judges. Amakado Nayura, a young noble girl, is one of those sages and ranks high among them. She inherited her father’s position — he was killed by Aizen — and his pride, believing it’s their right to judge the fate of the Shinigami. She believed that’s how the “world” should be, but her “world” slowly started changing after meeting a certain Shinigami.

Nayura is trapped under rubble in the underground assembly hall. A Quincy is coldly staring down on her. Why is this happening? Other injured sages around her curse how twisted the world has become. But Nayura knows that’s not true. The world has not become twisted. It’s simply Central 46 which has always been twisted. She starts remembering the past.

— “Are those your answers? Hisagi Shuuhei! Kira Izuru!”

The angry shout of a judge rings through the assembly hall which also works as court. The two men are suspected of assisting Tousen Kaname and Ichimaru Gin in their betrayal. Aizen had already been sent to Muken but all other cases had been postponed until the massacred Central 46 had been reformed.

Hinamori was seen as the victim of brainwashing and would only receive temporary monitoring. At first, Shuuhei was also seen as a “victim” but ended on trial due to his sympathising comments towards Tousen. Furthermore, he worsened his chances by bringing up unrelated matters such as Central 46’s questionable judgment in the case of Tousen’s friend’s murderer.

Most sages felt Shuuhei was a fool for his actions, but he caught Nayura’s interest. But Kira caught her interest even more. She could understand Shuuhei’s actions as loyalty towards Tousen. But Kira spoke about his relationship with Gin in a detached manner. He admitted Gin worked with Aizen, but he said something strange. Kira said he wasn’t ordered to point his blade at Hinamori or Matsumoto. That action is his own sin. He asked this action to be removed from Gin’s list of crimes. Kira admits Gin is a criminal, nothing could excuse his actions, but he also protected Soul Society for hundreds of years.

Nayura calls Kira’s words sophism. She admits Gin’s final actions support the hypothesis that he intended to betray Aizen all along, but that doesn’t erase his crimes. Kira is momentarily surprised to see a child among the sages, but quickly retorts he doesn’t intend to erase Gin’s crimes. But he doesn’t want Gin to carry his (Kira’s) crimes either. The other sages are enraged by his comments, but Nayura is intrigued. Kira’s eyes tell her:

— “Don’t take away my sin.”

In the end, Kira and Hisagi received a reprimand but weren’t demoted or discharged. The main reason being the lack of captain-level personnel. The Gotei 13 needed to return to normal operations as quickly as possible, and their powers were deemed necessary. Behind the scenes, several captain-class officers also requested their return, although the duo was never informed of this fact. Furthermore, Central 46 had other important cases, such as the question of Vizards captains and Kurotsuchi’s murder of his own men, to deal with and didn’t have any more time to spare on the case.

Thus, Kira and Hisagi were released from trial and returned to work as proxy captains at Captain Commander Yamamoto’s discretion.

— “Wait, Kira Izuru.”

Finally free, Kira heads to the stairs but is stopped by Nayura. He addresses her casually at first, but corrects himself once he realises who she is. Nayura says there is no need for formalities. And as if talking to herself, she lists Kira’s educational history, his parents (Kira Kagekiyo and Kira Shizuka), his favorite foods, his hobbies…

— “…Are you a stalker?”

— “Recently the words and actions of Shinigami are much like those of the Human World. Is this the influence of Kurosaki Ichigo?”

Nayura proceeds to introduce herself. She is the administrator of the Great Spirit Book Gallery. The Gallery forcefully collects and stores all information of Soul Society. It is said one of the reasons Aizen massacred the sages in Central 46 was to get information on the Hogyoku.

Kira understands it’s no surprise she could have information on him. He asks her if the Gallery investigates people to such an extent. Nayura answers it’s only natural to do so, considering they can’t cut corners when judging Shinigami in name of the Soul King.

With a mischievous smile, Nayura says Kira’s Seireitei Communications’ serial novel “I want to apologise to you” is quite the masterpiece. He asks her what relevance that has and she answers it doesn’t have no relevance. Kira asks what she could possible need to ask him if she already knows everything. She argues the Gallery doesn’t know everything. They can’t collect people’s inner thoughts and hidden information. If they could, the whole Aizen ordeal would have never happened. Kira admits that’s true, but states:

— "I don’t think things like my inner thoughts are very interesting, though.”

She says she’s merely asking half out of curiosity. Kira frowns. Having been told there’s no need for formalities, he flatly tells her he doesn’t appreciate his inner workings being picked apart for someone else’s amusement. She refutes it’s only half for amusement. Her smile disappears and she says the other half is for Central 46.

Central 46 are the Soul King’s limbs, they are the gatekeepers of the law. To fulfil this role, they need to understand Shinigami more deeply. Not doing so will result in being killed by Shinigami. Her father might still be alive if Central 46 had understood the Shinigami better. No… Aizen would still have done so. But maybe things would’ve turned out slightly different.

Central 46 has made several irrational decisions in the past. Pitting Shinigami against each other, favoring nobles and forcing blame on common men, to name a few. Their irrational decision to execute Rukia, despite several captain’s objections, was accepted as just another Central 46 whim. Actually, rather than accepting, the Shinigami may have simply “given up”.

— “I see…”

Kira remembers the first time he set foot into Central 46. First he was greeted by Aizen’s illusion, but when it dispelled, he saw a sea of dead bodies. Her father must’ve been among those. Finally she asks him her question:

— “Why didn’t you blame everything on Ichimaru Gin?”

Kira remains silent and Nayura continues speaking. Everything was set up from the beginning. From the moment Kira joined the 3rd Division. No, even before that. Even the Hollow attack during the Academy training session is believed to have been set up. Wouldn’t it be easier to shift the blame of the hostility he showed his colleagues completely on Gin?

— “…It’s the opposite. The complete opposite. Forcing everything on him, that’s a heavy burden. ….A burden I can’t possibly carry.”

Nayura asks him a few more questions before letting him leave. She doesn’t understand him completely, but knowing there were things Kira himself couldn’t process properly either, she decides not to dig further. Instead, Nayura will try to learn more about Shinigami and the Human World than before.

She visited a tea house in Soul Society. Kira, knowing her true identity and seeing her be taught bad games by Kyouraku and Matsumoto, quickly tried to stop the situation, but it turned out Kyouraku already knew her identity.

Nayura learned more about the Rukongai and Human World, surprising her peers who confined themselves to the noble blocks. Still, she made sure to remain neutral, not backing the Shinigami and Rukongai citizens too much. She was only one person but she was determined to try and change Central 46 over time.

After spending her days quietly like this, she was informed of two things. First, the Vandenreich has started attacking Seireitei. And secondly, Kira has been killed in action by a Stern Ritter.

Current location: the underground assembly hall

Central 46 was in a precarious position. The 2nd attack by the Vandenreich - an empire created in the shadows of Seireitei - overturned Seireitei into Vandenreich itself. Such an invasion had been beyond the imagination of the Central 46 sages.

In the previous war, a thousand years ago, the Quincies had never stepped into the Central 46 assembly hall and living quarters, hidden deep underground. Therefore, those places had escaped the corrosion by “shadows”. That said, they were still powerless to a direct attack.

Kyouraku had offered the services of the 1st Division, but Central 46, in their arrogance, turned down the offer because they trusted their personal guards the most. Maybe Kyouraku’s mumbling of “Can you protect yourselves?” made them stubborn. Maybe the milder sages like Nayura felt it was more important to protect the Soul King Palace. Whatever the case, most sages believed their guards and seals would protect them. It was common sense to them. But this “common sense” was torn to pieces by merely one attacker.

A bespectacled Quincy with leopard-print tattoos on the right side of his face stands among the fallen. He’s surprised there’s not even a single captain protecting the place. Maybe they’re all body doubles?

— “I thought I could make myself look good by taking down a captain or something, but I guess I was too naive, huh.”

One sage calls him a fool: these guards are among some of the best. The Quincy is disappointed. What? They’re not even Gotei 13 soldiers? He calls the guards and sages bourgeoisie who are ignorant about the real world. The sage is offended. Ignorant? Us? You came here to squash us because we are the centre of Seireitei, didn’t you? The Quincy stabs the old man as he corrects him: he wasn’t ordered to attack them. He simply came to gain information on the Hogyoku from the Gallery, of his own accord.

— “Yes, the great Shaz Domino, will do the Hogyoku a favor and make good use of it.”

Shaz Domino was originally a fake V made by the V Sternritter Gremmy Thoumeaux, The Visionary. In other words, he was nothing more than a “imaginary product” like Guenael Lee, The Vanishing Point. However, thanks to his ability The Viability, Shaz was able to transform himself into an existence with a physical body. He can absorb Reishi from his surroundings and repair his own body. In other words, he has regeneration powers that surpass those of a Vollständig or Hollow.

Whenever Shaz lost parts of his body during fights, parts created by Gremmy’s imagination would regenerate as parts created by Reishi. In the end, all imagined parts were replaced by physical body, allowing him to escape Gremmy’s control. Gremmy didn’t care and left things up to Yhwach. Yhwach gave him, maybe on a whim, the Greek letter Stigma and welcomed Shaz as a Sternritter. His power The Viability was simply renamed Stigma (lit. Holy Scar) to fit the letter. Even so, from a Quincy standpoint, his undying existence could really be seen as a “holy scar” carved into the world.

To repay his debt to Yhwach, Shaz had attacked the Research and Development Institute with Pepe, but had to flee from Kurosaki Ichigo’s attack. He was surprised by Kurosaki’s power. If Shaz had stayed, he would’ve been too busy regenerating and would’ve risked being sealed by the researchers in the meantime.

In any case, Shaz was determined to prove he wasn’t some byproduct. He’d gain a power bigger than Gremmy’s. The Hogyoku was a power fit for his “undying body”.

The Hogyoku eliminates the border between Hollow and Shinigami and allows them to fuse. If Shaz had such power he could even become a Hollowfied Quincy. Shaz conjectured his undying body could suppress the Hogyoku’s rejection and the to-a-Quincy-poisonous Hollow elements. He couldn’t find any traces of the Hogyoku in the Research and Development Institute. Reclaiming the existing Hogyoku from Aizen was probably next to impossible. So, his next plan was learning how to create a new Hogyoku from information in the Great Spirit Book Gallery database.

And that’s where he stands now, in the Gallery. Shaz asks which one of them is the head librarian, knowing the materials were heavily sealed by the librarian after the Aizen incident. An old man points to Nayura, hoping to be spared himself.

— “Thanks. You’re one hell of an asshole for selling out your own comrade. Go die.”

Shaz stabs the man in his neck and walks towards Nayura. He’s surprised to see a young girl among all the elderly and mockingly asks her if she’s also “playing” judge. Trapped under rubble, Nayura looks around. Many sages are injured but even those without injuries are curled up scared like children. She thinks to herself:

— “….Yes, maybe we were really only playing judge. The Shinigami were quite the adults to play along with our ridiculous games.”

She starts laughing.

— “Hahaha… This really takes the cake. I have no objections.”

Shaz asks what’s so funny.

— “I simply just realised how stupid we look. Finally realising why we are powerless while on death’s door is just too ridiculous.”

Nayura continues talking to herself while Shaz looks on.

— “Yes, we were simply scared. We were simply frightened. Not of the Quincies, mind you. We were simply scared of the Shinigami.”

— “We, Central 46, were scared of changing values. We were terrified of being left behind by the Shinigami who kept evolving and interacting with the Human World. That’s why we tried to stop the evolution of the Shinigami by declaring our thoughts to be absolute. Really, it’s laughable! Calling ourselves the eyes of the Soul King!? Although the Soul King continued to accept the changing world without punishing it!”

Shaz shrugs his shoulders, thinking fear made her lose her mind. He wants her to undo the seal. How? Do I need your finger print? Your veins? Your retina? Your blood? Your soul? Laughing, he readies his dagger, preparing to cut off her legs which are stuck under the rubble to make her easier to carry.

Nayura closes her eyes and braces herself for the pain. But the pain doesn’t come. She opens her eyes and sees Shaz’s surprised face and a Shinigami that sliced off the Quincy’s dagger carrying arm.

Shaz registers the pain and jumps back. He quickly starts healing himself by absorbing Reishi from his surroundings. Rubble and walls turn to dust. His arm is regenerated in a few seconds.

The Shinigami speaks, saying Shaz’s regeneration is truly like a Hollow’s, just as the Research and Development Institute researchers said.

— “Tch… Who the hell are you?”

Shaz realises the Shinigami is in a different league from the Central 46 guards and asks his name.

— “…I’m no longer anyone. Raise… Wabisuke.”

Nayura recognises the man is Kira. She’s happy he didn’t die, but his skin looks eerily pale. She can feel his Reiatsu but it’s surprisingly quiet, almost dead.

— “…Sorry. I didn’t came here to save you. Even so, I’m happy I came in time.”

Nayura asks if he’s really Kira. The man shakes his head.

— “That man died. …He died. I’m simply a… Shinigami.”

The Shinigami lifts the rubble covering Nayura with one arm and swings it towards Shaz as if it weighs nothing. Shaz hastily avoids. Nayura is shocked. She asks if he always had such physical strength. Kira remains silent and simply pursues the Quincy.

The past — Research and Development Institute: Captain Room

Kira wakes up. The last thing he remembers is being in a situation he would not survive. Was he healed by Inoue-san? Or Captain Unohana? But he hears a voice opposite of those women: Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

— “Can you hear me? Kira Izuru.”

Kira realises he can’t move his body. He can’t feel any life from his body.

— “You are definitely dead. You have no pulse. But rest assured. That’s all according to plan. You really do make a great test subject. You continue to reject your own value as naturally as breathing. Yet you pathetically cling to this world. That’s why you accept all changes to your body.”

Mayuri states he increased Kira’s reiatsu, and also his physical strength and toughness. It’d be boring if broke right away, right?

Kira indeed can’t feel his pulse, and can feel his stronger reiatsu. But where is the reiatsu coming from? Mayuri answers this question before he can even ask. Normally Mayuri leaves the vanishing souls of fallen soldiers alone, but this time, so many soldiers died, it would upset the balance. He fixed Kira’s body with the souls of fallen seated officers scattered around Kira.

— “I heard you like carrying burdens. Inherit their lives as much as you like. You don’t need to thank me. You can pay me back by working.”

The present

Kira tells Shaz he has a message from the Research Institute President: “Did you think you could disguise as the dead with that human body?” Shaz is confused and assumes Mayuri means he wants to avenge his fallen subordinates. Kira knows better but can’t be bothered to explain.

Mayuri told Kira he’s already done studying Quincies. He has no interest in someone whose only ability is being difficult to die. Shaz will serve as Kira’s trial run. Kira is free to do as he sees fit.

Dead yet moving, carrying the souls of the subordinates he couldn’t protect, even so, Kira decides to fight. In order to protect the only shard of dignity left in his dead body. In order to strike down the enemies of Soul Society - as Shinigami of the Gotei 13.

Kira blasts Shaz away, into the Central 46 living quarters, with the kido spell Hado #58 Tenran. Shaz is surprised by Kira’s power and assumes he’s a captain. Shaz throws his daggers at Kira, but Kira reflects them with his zanpakutou. One dagger lands next to Shaz, but it’s much heavier than normal when he tries to pick it up.

— “I see, your zanpakutou makes everything it slices heavier?”

— “…That’s why it’s a pain to fight opponents who use projectile weapons.”

Kira heaves a sigh and Shaz smiles, thinking he’ll win as long as he doesn’t get too close. But then Kira uses kido spell Hado #31 Shakkahou. Shaz evades the fire balls but reflects the last one with a reishi-filled dagger and the fire ball explodes. Suddenly Kira is right in front of him. Kira hid in the smoke and shunpo’d closer, not caring if he’d get burned in the process. Shaz desperately tries to avoid being cut. Kira unleashes another Tenran spell. The room is full of flames. Shaz loses sight of Kira, but then senses him above him.

Surprised by Kira’s suicidal-like actions as he dives straight into the Tenran tornado, Shaz reacts too late and Kira cuts his arm. Shaz manages to protect his arm with Blut Vene but knows each cut will make his arm heavier, until he can no longer stand. He chooses to cut off his own arm. Kira is caught off guard and Shaz manages to kick the back of his zanpakutou. Shaz’s arm is already healing. Shaz is ready to strike the finishing blow, but suddenly his and Kira’s bodies are pierced by countless pieces of something.

Shaz feels like he’s been stepped on by a giant. He tries to heal but his body is being forced to the floor by the countless pieces of something. He looks at Kira who stands up, coughing up blood, and realises Kira used his gravity weapon on pieces of rubble: The previous Tenran spell had created a tornado, lifting rubble into the air, and Kira had cut those pieces of rubble in the meantime.

— “You… bastard… if you slipped up… you would’ve died too…”

Kira walks up to the struggling Shaz and stabs him a few more times. Shaz yells in pain as his body breaks under its own increased weight.

— “…I’m already dead.”

Shaz keeps regenerating, but the weight doesn’t disappear, making it an endless cycle of healing.

— “It seems you never die… In this case, it’s hard to tell who is worse off.”

Maybe the weight would disappear if he could destroy and regenerate his entire body, but right now Shaz is only automatically regenerating the same flesh over and over again.

Shaz sinks further and further into the ground. Because of his weight, but mainly because he’s constantly absorbing reishi from the ground underneath him to repair his body.

— “In the Human World, it seems there’s something called the mantle below the ground. …But I wonder if there’s anything underneath the ground of Soul Society.”

Shaz curses Kira, swearing revenge on him and all Shinigami. Unable to move and constantly absorbing the ground underneath him, Shaz sinks deeper and deeper. Although Kira called himself “no one” earlier, he looks at Shaz and says:

— “…I’m Kira Izuru. If you’re going to curse someone, please only curse the man named Kira Izuru.”

Nayura calls out to Kira after Shaz has sunk so deep his shouts could no longer be heard.

— “You’re gravely injured…”

— “…It’s alright. I’m already dead, and Captain Kurotsuchi made me very tough.”

Nayura doesn’t understand. What does he mean, dead? And why did he come here to save the likes of them? Kira repeats he didn’t come here to save them. He says she shouldn’t refer to herself and the Central 46 in such a self-depreciated way. She refutes they are worthless, unable to do anything at a time like this.

— “…You might be able to do something in the future. Isn’t that enough? The one without worth is me. Even so, I cling to the Gotei 13. The only thing I can do now is protect those that do have worth. …That’s all.”

Nayura responds by saying Kira does have worth. Kira starts to leave and Nayura asks where he’s going. He says he’s going to fight. She asks why.

— “I’ve lost everything, only the fact that I am a Shinigami remains. No matter what else might be taken from me, that fact won’t change.”

Nayura understands she has no right to stop him, especially being a sage from Central 46. That’s why she only allows herself one selfish wish as a young girl.

— “…Come back alive. Or else I won’t forgive you.”

— “I keep telling you, I am already dead. …I won’t ask you to understand. This is my sin towards you. I would never ask you to forgive me.”

Kira speaks as if to say he will never forgive himself. Hearing those words, Nayura feels she understands Kira a little. Sin is the one thing tying him and the world together. By continuing to carry sins, he manages to tie himself to the world. That’s why…

— “No, I’ll forgive you!”

— “…What?”

— “Even if you do not come back unharmed, I will forgive you under jurisdiction of Central 46. I’ll raise you as a hero who risked his life to protect us, higher than Kurosaki Ichigo! I’ll put you on the cover of Seireitei Communications! Be prepared! If you don’t like it, you’d better come back alive!”

— “…I feel I’ve truly experienced Central 46’s arrogance just now…”

Izuru lets out a heavy sigh.

—"I’ll see what I can do. …Being treated like that, is something I really wouldn’t allow over my dead body.“

A few hours pass. Kira has left and Nayura has healed her own legs with healing kido. The ground has been shaking for a short while now. It’s like the world itself is crumbling.

— "Perhaps the Soul King is…?”

If the Soul King was defeated by the Quincy King, then Soul Society, the Human World and even Hueco Mondo would crumble. The sages were scared. Some were screaming this must be a dream. The world they believed in would turn to dust. Central 46 has no power in such a situation. Even so…

— “This is no time to despair!”

Nayura stands up and shouts in a thunderous voice.

— “If we don’t act at a time like this, what’s the point of the nobles!? What’s the point of Soul Society’s laws!?”

The sages look at each other but don’t have any strength left to oppose her.

Nayura says they’ll order the remaining citizens to evacuate. They’ll open up the large Central 46 living quarters as evacuation site.

We have to change. We have to move forward with the Shinigami. To signal Kira that the people he protected indeed had worth. To prove his actions and therefore his existence is not worthless.

Central 46 will start moving as a new system. Even though the world might end in the next few seconds.

To prove that the people the Shinigami protected were definitely not worthless. To prove to the world that their actions indeed held meaning.

THE END