The next morning—
The first rays of sunlight in Soul Society passed through the window lattice and spilled across the floor of the 13th Division captain's office.
Ichigo opened his eyes groggily, his mind still wrapped in the hazy confusion left behind by last night's drinking.
He subconsciously rolled over, intending to stretch, but his gaze accidentally swept across the floor beside the bed.
In the next second, it was as if an invisible iron hand had seized his heart.
Ichigo's half-drowsy pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints in an instant.
What entered his sight was not the familiar wooden pattern of the floor.
Instead, it was a pair of legs as smooth as milk, yet completely lifeless.
They lay sprawled across the floor in a grotesquely twisted posture.
On skin that should have been pure and flawless, blotches of blood stood out in shocking contrast. Orange hair completely covered the face, making it look like the corpse of a female ghost who had died not long ago.
And on the tatami pressed beneath that body, the dark red bloodstains had already dried into a large, nauseating patch.
"What the hell?"
A chill shot from his tailbone straight to the top of his head. Almost instinctively, Ichigo let out a shout and sprang off the bed like he had been shocked by electricity, scrambling backward until he hit the doorway.
His right hand reflexively grabbed the Zanpakuto at his bedside, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
Anyone who woke up in the morning to see a scene like this wouldn't feel the slightest hint of sensuality.
Only terror.
'Is this a dream? Or so kind of prank?'
He panted heavily, staring fixedly at the thing lying on the floor. His heart slamd wildly against his ribs like a war drum.
"Ahhhh!"
When he finally forced himself to calm down and used the sheathed Zanpakuto to gently lift the curtain of orange hair away from the face, it felt like all the strength had been drained from his body.
His mind went blank.
That face.
Even though it had turned pale as paper from the loss of blood.
Even though ssy strands of hair still covered half of it.
There was no way he could mistake it.
"In… Inoue?"
Ichigo's voice trembled, filled with disbelief on the edge of collapse.
Lying not far from his pillow was the very person who had disappeared a few days ago, the one he had searched for across the entire Seireitei without success. Orihi Inoue.
Except now, she would never show that shy smile again.
She would never run toward him calling "Kurosaki-kun" anymore.
She simply lay there silently, her skin taking on the bluish-gray tint of the dead under the morning light. Her body was already stiff and cold.
The most horrifying part was the large pool of blood beneath her that had already congealed into a purplish sludge, along with the fatal piercing wound in her chest. Though soone had deliberately tried to conceal it, black blood still seeped from the wound.
"How… how is this possible?"
Clang!
The Zanpakuto slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a sharp sound.
Ichigo's legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
He wanted to crawl forward.
He wanted to confirm it was just a lifelike dummy.
But his body refused to obey him, paralyzed by overwhelming fear and grief.
'How could this be real?'
Last night, he and Rukia had still been speculating that she had probably been taken to Hueco Mundo by Ukitake Jushiro in order to treat his illness.
Even if it had been a kidnapping, at least she would still be alive.
So why… Why had she now beco a cold corpse, appearing in his bedroom?
And in such a miserably state?
"Ichigo! What happened?"
Just as Ichigo was teetering on the brink of ntal collapse, Rukia from the next room heard the commotion.
That scream of pure terror made her rush over without even putting on slippers, kicking the door open and charging inside.
Her Zanpakuto was already drawn, thinking it was an enemy attack.
"What's wrong? Is sothing happening—"
Her voice stopped abruptly.
Her gaze passed over the motionless Ichigo kneeling on the ground and landed on the corpse lying in the pool of blood.
Her pupils shook violently.
"This is… Inoue?"
The enormous shock brought by Orihi's corpse made Rukia freeze for a mont.
But as a vice-captain who had crawled out of piles of corpses, her professional instincts quickly forced down the horror in her heart.
Without hesitation, she used Shunpo and appeared beside the body.
Kneeling on one knee, she reached out with trembling fingers to feel for Orihi's carotid pulse while sending spiritual pressure into her body.
One second.
Two seconds.
Rukia's hand fell limply.
She silently shook her head.
"There's no saving her."
Her voice was low and hoarse, carrying suppressed emotion.
"She died about four hours ago. Her heart was pierced directly. She's been dead for a long ti."
In truth, she didn't even need to check.
From the stiffness of the corpse alone, anyone with basic knowledge could tell it was already dead.
But since it was their friend, she couldn't make that heartbreaking conclusion without confirming it.
"Who did this?"
Ichigo didn't react to her conclusion.
He simply repeated the question chanically as he slowly pushed himself up from the ground and staggered forward with heavy steps that felt like his legs were filled with lead.
Step by step, he moved toward Orihi's body.
He wanted to reach out and touch that familiar face.
But he was afraid of disturbing her.
In the end, his hand stopped midair and clenched into a fist. His nails dug deeply into his palm, blood dripping through his fingers.
"WHO DID THIS!!!"
A heart-wrenching roar exploded inside the room.
Ichigo's eyes instantly filled with bloodshot fury, turning red as a terrifying wave of spiritual pressure nearly blew the roof off the building.
"Calm down, Ichigo!"
Rukia grabbed his trembling shoulder, her voice stern though it trembled as well.
"Now isn't the ti to vent! We have to find the killer! If your spiritual pressure explodes like this, every clue here will be destroyed."
Hearing that, Ichigo imdiately wilted like a frostbitten eggplant and could only pound the floor weakly.
Rukia was far calr than Ichigo.
She had already witnessed too many separations between life and death.
She knew exactly what had to be done at a ti like this.
Ignoring Ichigo beside her, she began carefully examining every mark on the corpse.
A few minutes later, she raised her head and looked at Ichigo.
"For now we can't determine the exact killer, but several things are certain."
With each sentence, Rukia's voice grew colder.
"First, before her death, Inoue suffered prolonged inhuman treatnt. Judging from the wounds, it didn't happen only once. She was most likely treated like this from the mont she disappeared."
She pointed to the purple bruises and torn injuries and sighed painfully.
"Those thods… are sothing only beasts would do."
"Second, the killer managed to transport the body into the 13th Division resting room and place it beside your bed without either of us noticing. Anyone capable of that must have unfathomable strength. At the very least, it's soone skilled in stealth at the captain level, or perhaps Kyoraku Shunsui himself."
Kyoraku Shunsui's ability to manipulate the five senses was a widely recognized fact in Soul Society.
"Third…"
Rukia closed her eyes and held her palm above Orihi's body, carefully sensing the lingering traces of spiritual pressure.
After a mont, her eyes snapped open, a look of confirmation flashing within them.
"After confirming twice, I can say for certain that two completely different spiritual pressures remain on Inoue's body."
"One of them is extrely faint, almost impossible to detect because it's mixed with the other one. But I know it too well. That's definitely Ukitake Jushiro."
"That matches the speculation we made last night. Inoue really was taken away by Ukitake Jushiro."
Ichigo's body shook violently, and murderous intent burst from his eyes.
"So it really was him. That hypocritical bastard. What about the other one? Was it that scumbag Kyoraku Shunsui?", Ichigo asked through clenched teeth.
"The other one… probably not."
Rukia frowned and moved her hand again toward the fatal wound in Orihi's chest.
"This residual pressure is concentrated mainly around the wound. It should be spiritual pressure left by a Zanpakuto. But it's strange."
"It's extrely faint. Almost nonexistent. Not because the wielder is weak, but because they deliberately erased the traces. That thod is very skillful. It's clearly ant to conceal sothing."
"My ability to sense spiritual pressure traces is limited. I can only detect this much. If soone from the Second Division who specializes in forensic examination, or…"
She paused, "Or soone at the level of a veteran captain ca to examine it, they might discover the killer's trail."
"Other than Aizen-sensei, who else can we trust right now?"
Ichigo clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked loudly.
It felt like a burning coal had been shoved into his chest, scorching his organs.
To be honest, even though he had just been promoted to captain yesterday, he had very little affection for this place.
The reason he accepted the position was mainly because he couldn't return to the World of the Living.
If he wanted to go back, he needed the help of Soul Society.
And if he wanted that help, he had to hold a certain position here.
Otherwise, he didn't expect those captains full of selfish motives to care about repairing the passage between the two worlds.
In his eyes, aside from a few familiar faces, most of the people here were demons wearing human skin.
Just look. Even soone like Ukitake Jushiro, who always wore a gentle smile and was known as a kind old man, had secretly done sothing so monstrous to an innocent girl just to prolong his own life.
And from Aizen's hints, that newly appointed Captain-Commander Rosse, although he appeared fair and strict, was actually a cold-blooded person willing to sacrifice everything for so-called righteousness.
Since he didn't care that Inoue had been used as bait, he certainly wouldn't care whether she lived or died.
Even if this matter were reported to him, Rosse probably wouldn't pay much attention.
After all, they currently had no way to deal with people like Kyoraku Shunsui.
As for the other captains, people like Kenpachi Zaraki might look straightforward, but they lacked investigative ability.
People like Ichimaru Gin or Unohana Retsu might look capable, but they couldn't be trusted at all.
"If you don't want Captain Aizen involved…"
Seeing the despair and anger in Ichigo's eyes, Rukia thought for a mont and proposed another idea.
"How about asking my brother for help?"
Deep down she still leaned more toward asking Aizen for help.
But she also understood Ichigo's concerns.
In three days, Aizen would begin the Hogyoku fusion experint to gain new power in preparation for the crisis brought by people like Kyoraku Shunsui.
Disturbing him now might distract him.
The fact that Ichigo hadn't gone to Aizen imdiately probably ca from the sa consideration.
"Then let's ask Captain Kuchiki first."
Ichigo took a deep breath and forced down the urge to grab his sword and chop Ukitake Jushiro into minced at.
He nodded.
Although he had always had a bad impression of the cold-faced Kuchiki Byakuya. That man had nearly killed Rukia in the World of the Living and always carried himself like an arrogant noble.
But after interacting with him during this ti, especially during the battle that day when Byakuya had used his own body to block a blade to protect Rukia, Ichigo's view of him had changed.
A man who valued family honor and rules more than his own life, yet still had a clear bottom line, at the very least, he didn't seem like the kind of scum who would harm won.
"Alright! Stay here and guard the scene. Don't let anyone co in!"
Rukia made the decision instantly without hesitation and ran toward the door.
"I'll personally go to the Sixth Division! Sothing like this isn't safe even to send through a Jigokucho!"
Watching Rukia disappear through the doorway, Ichigo turned back and looked again at the cold corpse.
He slowly crouched down, trembling as he reached out to gently close Orihi's hollow eyes that refused to shut in death.
Then he picked up the captain's haori lying nearby and carefully covered her body.
"I'm sorry… Inoue…"
A burning tear fell onto the floor, shattering into countless fragnts of sorrow.
"I swear, no matter who the killer is, no matter where he's hiding…"
"I, Ichigo, will tear him into pieces!"
———
The process of fetching help was faster than expected.
Less than twenty minutes later, steady, rhythmic footsteps echoed down the corridor outside the resting room.
Rukia Kuchiki arrived at the door in a hurry, bringing a solemn-faced Byakuya Kuchiki with her.
"Captain Kurosaki."
Byakuya Kuchiki stopped at the doorway instead of entering imdiately.
The haori he wore was still the sa one from last night's banquet, showing how hurriedly he had co. Yet the garnt remained perfectly neat.
He inclined his head slightly. His calm eyes revealed no emotion, but his voice lowered a little.
"If you are ntally prepared, then I will go in. The examination process that follows may cause so offense to your friend and to you," He was a smart man.
From Rukia's explanation earlier, he had already guessed what kind of scene awaited inside.
For the deceased, especially a woman who had suffered such misfortune, he showed the greatest respect.
"Thank you for the trouble, Captain Kuchiki."
Ichigo's voice was hoarse, as if filled with sand.
He gripped the doorfra tightly, his knuckles turning white from the pressure, but he still forced down the grief and rage in his chest.
"Inoue is already gone. Right now, I just want to know which animal did this."
This wasn't Byakuya's fault.
If there was anyone to bla, it was himself for being useless.
Having to let outsiders dissect the body of his close friend was itself a second wound.
But he had to endure it.
For the truth.
For revenge.
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