Chapter 18: Fear

The power of the Soul King, that is the power of Fullbring.

But apart from being conveniently grouped together as Fullbring, the forms of the abilities are vastly different.

If you look at Orihime, Chad, Ginjo, Tsukishima, and other Fullbring users one by one, you can’t find any common ground other than that they are fragments of the Soul King.

Manifesting and perfecting it is also a separate domain.

That’s why I thought it might be possible, but I didn’t expect it to be this easy.

“You are………….”

I raised my sword and pointed it at Aizen.

“Not a Shinigami, not a Hollow, nor anything else.

Then there’s only one possibility left.”

“…..”

“You had that too.”

At this, Aizen, who had been looking at me expressionlessly, slowly began to raise the corners of his mouth.

Aizen is the only person here who knows that Ichigo has the powers of Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy.

And no matter how you look at it, I don’t look like a Shinigami or anything else, and since he knows about the existence of the Soul King and created the Hogyoku, he must also know about the power of Fullbring.

Naturally, he seems to have easily guessed my identity.

But I was startled by Aizen’s appearance.

“F*ck!

Don’t make that face at a guy!

It’s creepy?!”

Honestly, it’s f*cking perverted.

Despite my outburst, Aizen continued to wear a relaxed expression, and my expression naturally crumpled.

Aizen said.

“I see.

This is a rare opportunity, so shall we have a little chat?”

“F*ck you!”

I immediately charged at Aizen with Getsugatensho imbued in my sword.

But Aizen casually blocked my attack by raising his Zanpakuto.

I frowned again at that.

Although it’s hidden by his Shikai, Aizen is a monster whose physical prowess without his Zanpakuto is in the top five in the Gotei.

Even though I’ve come out, it’s hard to win, even if I don’t lose easily.

I was pushed back and retreated, positioning myself to protect Ichigo.

Aizen smiled again.

“Don’t be like that.

Unlike the others who exist only as fragments of power, remnants of consciousness, you are the first to move with a proper will.

Honestly, I’m intrigued.”

“……”

“Do you protect Kurosaki Ichigo of your own volition?

Or is it a defensive instinct to protect the host?

Perhaps there is another reason that you yourself are not aware of.

I’m also curious if there is another reason.”

I quietly met Aizen’s gaze at that.

Fullbring is a power derived from a fragment of the Soul King.

And if you think about what kind of being the Soul King is, it wasn’t difficult to guess what Aizen was saying.

Unlike the current Soul King, who is no different from a corpse, the Soul King in his prime was literally an omnipotent god.

I sometimes think.

Did I really reincarnate into this world?

Am I really maintaining my previous self?

Just as there is a philosophical question of whether I from 10 years ago and I from 10 years later are the same person, can I say with certainty that I, who have reincarnated, and I, before reincarnation, are the same?

Growing up means changing, and changing means becoming different.

In fact, the actions of me before reincarnation and the current me will be completely different.

I sometimes have delusions, wondering if I might be a soul who is mistaken in thinking that I have reincarnated.

It sounds like nonsense, but to me, who understands the truth of this world, it can’t be dismissed as mere nonsense.

What am I, what have I become, and what am I trying to become?

If you go through them one by one, it becomes a very philosophical story that can’t be defined in one word.

My answer is………….

“I have one answer.”

“What is it?”

“That kind of sh*t has nothing to do with my life!”

The meaning of life, reincarnation, questions about it.

They definitely exist.

But I have no intention of getting bogged down in them.

My reason for living?

Meaning?

To put it bluntly, how many people live thinking about that kind of thing?

You’re just born, so you live, and what more meaning is there to life than that?!

“I protect Ichigo.

And I’ll blow away that f*cker you.

Nothing more, nothing less!”

“I see.

It’s not the answer I was hoping for, but this is a meaningful conversation in its own way.”

“Fck, you’re a pedophile bstard who gets a thrill from harassing immature children!”

….?

As I was talking, I paused for a moment.

I just said that because Rukia looks like a middle or high school student on the outside, but suddenly another possibility struck me.

Aizen attacked Rangiku when she was a child.

He attacked her to get the fragment of the Soul King, the Soul King’s nail, from Rangiku and use it as an ingredient for the Hogyoku.

Because of that, the bad relationship with Ichimaru Gin next to him was created.

The problem doesn’t end there.

While acting as the captain of the 5th Division, Aizen conditioned (?) his lieutenant, Hinamori Momo.

He made her into a person who can’t live without him, which honestly sounds quite meaningful even if you just hear it.

In addition, he stabs her in the front with his Zanpakuto, and during the invasion of the fake Karakura Town, he openly uses her for bait and backstabbing.

What’s even more vicious here is that he didn’t kill Momo several times when he clearly could have.

Considering Aizen’s abilities and intelligence, it’s more likely that Aizen intentionally didn’t kill her, rather than Momo surviving with cockroach-like vitality.

And this time, he’s causing all this ruckus to extract the Hogyoku from Rukia’s body.

In this regard, Urahara is more to blame than Aizen, but anyway.

The young Rangiku, Momo, and Rukia who were harmed by Aizen.

What do these three have in common?

It’s that they have the appearance of immature children.

Is it said that the first is a coincidence, the second is intentional, and the third is inevitable?

When I got to that point, I couldn’t help but take a few steps back and ask in a voice trembling with fear.

“Uh, sir?

You’re not really a perverted b*stard who gets sexually excited by harassing immature children, are you?”