In return, he would end up half-dead as well, though as a Soul Reaper, that was perhaps something he was more than willing to abide if it meant that the enemy’s defeat was guaranteed.
It was a prerequisite that Hisagi would need friends around, and there were some other conditions that Hikone could guess at. First, though Hisagi’s new wounds were healing, the wounds he had sustained before the bankai developed weren’t. Therefore that black sun wasn’t fully healing his wounds; it was simply an ability that returned things to the state they were in when it was activated. If that were not the case, he would have connected Aura and the other critically wounded people with the chains in order to heal them using Hikone’s spiritual pressure.
There was one other thing Hikone could assume—they had come up with a method of overcoming this situation.
“Mr. Hisagi, would you please release this ability?”
“You think I would?”
“Until you release it…I’ll torture you.”
“Well, I thought it’d come to this.”
It wasn’t as though pain would disappear.
It wasn’t as though he wasn’t in agony.
Given that, Hikone could probably drive Hisagi to exhausted pain and force the Soul Reaper to release them.
Once Hikone came upon that idea, they faced Hisagi with a serious expression.
I need to torture him… But how? How can I make Mr. Hisagi feel more pain than when he stood again after I cut him in half and bisected his body diagonally from his shoulder?
Had Tokinada rather than Hikone been in this position, he likely would have come up with many methods for torturing Hisagi, maybe even several dozen, and mirthfully executed all of them. However, Hikone didn’t know how to do that. Hikone, whom Tokinada had always instructed to simply eliminate the enemy, could not come up with a way to torture their opponent on their own, no matter how they tried. Because of that, all Hikone could do was lash out and hit Hisagi with all their effort or simply continue killing him.
“I’m…very sorry.”
As he spoke, Hikone continued to kill Hisagi.
Unexpectedly, Hisagi put up no resistance.
Had he put his mind to it, he could have at least interfered with Hikone’s endeavors by cutting off their arms or legs as he had earlier. Or, had he manipulated the chains connected to his fingers, he could have easily immobilized Hikone.
Of course, Hikone had no plans to allow Hisagi to easily defeat them, but there were methods for Hisagi to significantly delay Hikone’s attacks. However, Hisagi didn’t attempt to do so.
“I’m…sorry.”
Hikone punched with brute strength, gouging through Hisagi’s flesh, breaking his rib cage, and easily rupturing his internal organs. Though he immediately recovered, if this continued forever, it would become an agony that surpassed normal injury. Regardless of that, Hisagi stood up again.
Hikone could not understand it. Why was it that Hisagi would get back up no matter how many times he was killed?
“Please…forgive me.”
Hikone attempted to swing their sword again, but Hisagi smiled cynically and said, “If you’re going to apologize for it, then don’t do it. It’s not like I’m a masochist.”
“But I need to do it for Lord Tokinada…”
“So you’re blaming hurting me…on Tokinada?”
“…Oh!”
Hikone’s arm halted.
Obvious distress coursed over Hikone’s face.
“You understand that hurting somebody who isn’t putting up any resistance is a bad thing, don’t you?”
“I…”
When Hikone was ordered by Tokinada to hurt someone, they did so without the slightest hesitation. When they were told to kill, they would, and when they were told to let someone live, they would do that as well.
Tokinada would decide the right and wrong of it. If someone were to interfere with Tokinada’s orders, Hikone wouldn’t hesitate to attack and eliminate that person.
However, what was happening now was different.
They themself needed to determine what was right or wrong.
They were hurting Hisagi because they had to in order to fulfill Tokinada’s orders. Though Hikone tried to think about it that way, at the same time, they also began considering whether there was an easier option.
As though Hisagi had seen Hikone’s thoughts, he said, “See, you’ve got a sense of right and wrong in you. Hurting somebody who’s not putting up a fight isn’t something you really want to do, right?”
“…”
“Or are you gonna put the blame on Lord Tokinada and say it’s for his sake?”
“No…” Hikone paled as they replied.
Hikone, who believed that Tokinada could do no wrong and was right about all things in their world though others called him a villain, still couldn’t bear to hear their lord being called evil due to their own actions—though they did not know whether what they were doing was right.
“Why…would you say something so terrible? What should I do then?”
“Don’t rely on someone else for every little thing. You can’t assume everyone in the world will be kind to you.”
“But Lord Tokinada…Lord Tokinada would have…”
Hikone pulled from their clothes a tool that seemed to be used for communication, but Tokinada did not answer.
“But…”
Hikone wore an expression like a child about to cry. Hisagi’s tone was stern, but his words were gentle as he said, “You’re not a villain and you’re not a puppet who has to do whatever Tokinada tells you. You’re somebody who can walk the path of your own soul.”
Hisagi moved one of his fingers to manipulate one of the chains, pulling a zanpaku-to that was the same shape as his shikai from the shadow on the ground.
“If you can’t fight somebody who isn’t putting up any resistance, then I’ll battle you.”
“Huh?”
“There’s a mountain of things I’ve got to teach you. I’m saying I’ll train you. Don’t worry about it.”
Hisagi blurted out that offer regardless of the fact that Hikone was by far the more powerful of the two.
Though Hikone was bewildered by what Hisagi was saying, Hisagi thrust out Kazeshini’s blade.
“Don’t hesitate. If I were an enemy, you would’ve died because of that opening just now.”
“…”
“When you fight an enemy, always keep half a step away from them. You never know what’ll happen.”
Hisagi gave Hikone the exact advice Tosen had once delivered to him without amendment.
Hikone couldn’t understand the meaning of Hisagi’s words and, in order to keep from becoming more confused than they already were, rejected Hisagi’s advice by sweeping away Kazeshini’s blade.
“Ugh…agh. Stop…please stop talking!”
They once again promptly killed Hisagi, but of course he regenerated.
Turning the tables, Hisagi’s blade stopped right at Hikone’s neck.
“Oh…”
“See, you would’ve been a goner right then. Aren’t you supposed to be way stronger than me? You’re full of openings.”
Hikone might have been a prodigy when it came to combat, but they didn’t have nearly enough experience. Taking into account Hisagi’s accumulated training, Hikone’s agitation, and this peculiar situation in which neither could die from being cut, Hikone’s skills could certainly be improved upon.
“No, this is…this is wrong. I became strong so that I could be useful to Lord Tokinada…”
“You need to have more fear. That’s what you’re missing.”
“Ah…ahhhhhhhhhh!”
As though to reject Hisagi’s words, Hikone emitted a scream that was close to a sob and cut Hisagi down multiple times in a tantrum. Hisagi endured the pain and thrust Kazeshini, always stopping just before reaching Hikone’s throat, heart, eyes, and countless other vital spots. The scene resembled an adult Soul Reaper training an admiring child Soul Reaper.
Remembering his younger self, when he wasn’t as powerful and cried after being attacked by a Hollow, Hisagi allowed himself to be cut down countless times and continued to stop his blade before hitting Hikone, giving the child pointers all the while.
This scene playing out as the castle in the air threatened to fall from the sky was almost comical, but Aura, who was keeping the structure from falling, endured the agony and seemed to find satisfaction in watching them.
Shuhei Hisagi was neither a prophet nor all-knowing and naturally had no way of foretelling his future.
He was not a hero that would go down in history like Ichigo Kurosaki,
nor was he a manifestation of brute strength like Kenpachi Zaraki,
nor was he wise like Kisuke Urahara,
nor was he skilled like Mayuri Kurotsuchi,
nor did he have the status of Byakuya Kuchiki,
nor did he have the talent of Toshiro Hitsugaya,
nor did he have the experience of Genryusai Yamamoto,
nor the brilliance of Shunsui Kyoraku,
nor the drive of Sajin Komamura,
nor the courage of Kensei Muguruma.
Because of that, specifically because of that…
The only thing supporting him was his pride as a Soul Reaper.
He only had his feet, which walked the path of justice that Kaname Tosen had shown him.
Specifically because of that…
…because he had continued to walk that path with honest integrity…he was capable of withstanding the repeated death, pain, and intermittent nihility that assaulted him.
Though only a small amount of time had passed, in those moments Hisagi revived from over a hundred deaths.
Hikone breathed raggedly as they fell to their knee.
Hikone’s spiritual pressure, which was once huge enough to rival Kenpachi’s, seemed to have emptied to its lowest point. That meant that Hisagi’s spiritual pressure was likewise almost empty. As Hisagi continued to stand in front of the collapsed Hikone through sheer willpower, he spoke to the child with simple self-admonition in his voice. “This world isn’t kind. Just being alive is terrifying.”
Recalling his past self, then the face of the man who had taught him how to live in this world, he continued in his own words.