Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 166 - A Multitude of Opinions

Chapter One Hundred Sixty-Six

Wayne didn't know how long it had been when his consciousness finally began to return. He opened his eyes. The bright moon was still there, but this time, it hung far more distant than before. And at the edge of the sky, stars had appeared.

He sat up. The endless sea of sand stretched out before him, unchanged. But this time, he felt it, the presence of life.

On a rock not far away, a figure sat at ease. Barely recognizable as human, still wrapped in shifting mist. The dusky yellow haze swirled and thickened, and Wayne still couldn't make out the face beneath it.

But at least he could see him now. And seeing him meant seeing hope.

"Hah. You really put me through a lot." Wayne stood and brushed the sand from his clothes. "Finally. My Zanpakuto."

The figure didn't answer. It rose quietly, dropped down from the rock, and walked toward him step by step.

Even standing face to face, Wayne couldn't pierce the mist to see what lay beneath.

"...Unite." The voice came from within the fog, low, hoarse. Wayne blinked.

"Unite?"

"...Qualified." That single word made Wayne's eyes flash. But an instant later, he was hurled from heaven straight back into hell.

"But... not enough."

"Not enough? What's not enough?"

"...Awa... power... not enough." The hoarse voice came in broken fragments, as if those few words had drained every ounce of strength it had.

"Awa... power?" Wayne parsed the incomplete words. "Not enough... power not enough... strength not enough?"

The mist-shrouded figure said nothing more. It simply extended the one part of itself visible beyond the fog, a skeletal claw, and pointed at Wayne. Wayne seemed to understand instinctively. He raised his hand to touch it. But the invisible wall that had always kept them apart rose again, and his hand couldn't reach.

"Increase... your Reiatsu." The skeletal figure's voice was barely a whisper. "Shape... me... then..."

The fragmented voice cut off. The mist burst apart and scattered, and the figure within vanished with it.

The next second, the world collapsed. Countless fragments dissolved into a sky full of Reishi, and the force of it ejected Wayne from his Zanpakuto's inner world.

His eyes opened. He stared at the Zanpakuto standing before him and sank into thought. It hadn't changed at all, still the form of an Asauchi. The cave door had long since opened on its own.

"Time ran out. No wonder the world collapsed before it could finish." Wayne gave a bitter smile, picked up his Zanpakuto, and walked out.

"Well... that's the whole story." After Wayne gave an abridged account, carefully omitting any description of Hueco Mundo, Mizusue had a rough picture of why he'd failed.

"Not enough strength..." She pressed a hand to her forehead. "If you unleashed your Reiatsu at full force, I doubt even Lieutenant Kotetsu could beat you. And with Reiatsu like that, you're still being told it's not enough?" Just how powerful was that Zanpakuto? Even lieutenant-level Reiatsu couldn't satisfy it. But then again, that also meant one thing, as long as Wayne kept accumulating spiritual power, he would awaken it someday.

She let out a slow breath. She could buy some time with her captain.

"Alright, alright. I'll let you off this time." She waved a hand. "I heard from Yagami China that you agreed to go to her successor ceremony?"

"Yeah." Wayne nodded. "The Yagami family put in a lot of work maintaining my residence. They charged me the bare minimum for everything. I owe them for that."

Mizusue was satisfied with his answer. She knew Wayne was the type to repay kindness, whether to her or to the Yagami family. She'd helped him initially because of his abilities, and later discovered the kid had solid character. Talent worth shaping. "Coincidentally, she happens to want you to repay that favor."

Wayne blinked. "Hm?"

"Before she left, she told me she wants to be the first to see your Zanpakuto. She's hoping you'll wait for her at the Senkaimon on the day she returns."

"That... counts as repaying a favor?" He frowned slightly.

"That's what she said. Maybe for her, it's enough?" Mizusue's smile turned playful. "And I'm curious too — if she finds out your awakening failed, what kind of reaction will she have? Hahaha, that'll be interesting. Young people should act their age." She was already pushing him toward the door. "Go on, get back. Think about how you're going to face Yagami when the time comes."

"Hai hai." Wayne let himself be shoved out.

"Remember to buy flowers! I'll come by that day to watch the show." Half her body leaned out the doorway as she waved at his retreating back. Wayne didn't turn around, just raised a hand, called out a see-you-later, and left.

After parting ways with Mizusue, Wayne headed back to the dormitory. Students whispered and pointed at him the whole way. He didn't care. He walked through the murmuring crowd without so much as a glance.

"Tsukishiro big brother." Yū Nakai was already on his feet the moment Wayne walked in, hurrying to pour tea. As the assistant assigned by Shin'ō Academy, Nakai always did his job thoroughly. "I was just worrying about you. The rumors lately have been getting worse." After Wayne's return, Nakai had learned about the failed awakening. He'd been so shaken his whole body trembled, muttering over and over that it couldn't be, there had to be some mistake.

"It's fine, Nakai." Wayne's tone was calm. "Don't pay attention to outside talk. Awakening a Zanpakuto was never easy. The failure rate is high. I don't mind it, so you shouldn't either."

"But..." Nakai hesitated. Wayne had been training at his villa these past few days and had no way of knowing what was being said at school. That he'd seduced a daughter from a Kidō Corps family. That he'd climbed the ranks by riding Soul Reaper officers' coattails. Even his solid combat performance in the Ranking Tournament was being dismissed as Soul Reapers cheating on his behalf. Every time Nakai heard talk like that, he'd jump in to argue, only to get sneered at and walk away defeated.

"It doesn't matter." Wayne clapped him on the shoulder. "You don't get into Shin'ō Academy with a sharp tongue. You get in by training — constantly improving yourself. Spiritual power, combat technique, administrative work, whatever it is. Only by sharpening yourself over and over can you become the keenest blade."

"But Tsukishiro big brother, is this really okay?"

"If it comes down to it, I'll just go home and train." Wayne shrugged. "Oh, right — I brought you something from home. A spirit plant that releases spiritual power." He pulled a glass test tube from his sleeve. Inside floated a small plant with pale blue petals.

"It absorbs light and releases Reishi. Put it in your room and it'll raise the Reishi density in the whole space. Should help you a lot."

After all, Wayne had taught Nakai a heavily diluted version of Soul Absorption. Dense Reishi would let him progress faster. "I came back to grab some new textbooks. Break starts in a few days, and I'll be heading back to my own residence. Decide for yourself whether to stay at school or go home."

"Ah... alright, Tsukishiro big brother." Nakai took the transparent test tube, but his face showed no excitement, just concern, his eyes fixed on Wayne as he began tidying the desk.

He says it doesn't matter, but it has to hurt inside, right? That was what Nakai thought. He made a silent vow then and there: in the days to come, he would find a way to do something for Wayne.

After gathering all his books, Wayne returned to his villa. In the courtyard, Shiro-chan sat on the veranda tatami eating watermelon. Beside him, Momo was curled up tight, legs drawn in, face buried in the crook of her arms, looking utterly crushed, as if she were the one who had failed to awaken.

"Momo. Don't mope." Wayne sat down beside her and ruffled her hair. "Fail this time, succeed next time."

"Exactly." Shiro-chan spat out a watermelon seed. "Tsukishiro big brother already said it — his strength just isn't enough yet. Once he's built up enough, he'll awaken it. Think about it: a Zanpakuto that even his Reiatsu can't subdue — how strong must that thing be? No need to worry about him."

"But I just feel so wronged." Momo's face drooped, eyes red-rimmed. "Yesterday at school, so many kids were mocking him. 'The Ranking Tournament runner-up, and now he can't even awaken his Zanpakuto.' I tried to explain, and they said they didn't believe me. It made me so angry!"

Wayne had given the same explanation to everyone close to him, and they'd all reached the same conclusion, he'd failed because his strength wasn't enough yet, and once he'd accumulated enough, the awakening would come naturally. But to everyone else, that had become just another punchline.

Spend a hundred years at the academy and even a child will have awakened. And you're still waiting?

Wayne couldn't care less. They weren't family. They weren't friends. Why should he need their understanding?

He soothed Momo's wounded feelings a little longer. Then the family of four sat down for dinner. Granny's cooking had always been excellent, and with their circumstances improved, she put together a delicious meal every day. Ever since Shiro-chan had started sleeping in a separate room, Granny's energy had noticeably recovered.

Shiro-chan's growth was remarkable. His Reiatsu compression wasn't as strong as Wayne's, but he could already draw his leaking Reishi back into his body. It still seeped out when he slept, but it was far better than before. One thing hadn't changed: the chilled watermelon was still perfect.

After dinner, Wayne returned to his room and descended into the underground base. If his Zanpakuto said his strength wasn't enough, then he'd keep using Soul Absorption to build his spiritual power. Aizen's strength had long since climbed to heights Wayne could only stare up at. If he didn't advance now, how would he face what was coming?

Training was tedious. Wayne didn't stop. Momo called him for meals now and then, but mostly he sat cross-legged in that underground space and cultivated. Time slipped past, and before he knew it, the last day of the sixth-year graduation exam had arrived.

Since he could repay that so-called favor, Wayne arrived early at the Senkaimon designated for the sixth-year trial. This Senkaimon connected to Hueco Mundo.

Normally, students took their exams in the World of the Living, where rescue teams and Thirteenth Division garrison members were stationed. But this year's class was exceptional, all standout candidates, so the assignment had been changed at short notice. The exam location was shifted to Hueco Mundo, and the students were tasked with investigating the region's recent upheavals.

Years ago, a Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande named Ace Wayne had vanished without explanation. A massive power had collapsed overnight, and no one knew why. To maintain balance, Soul Society had been forced to take countermeasures, the three worlds couldn't be allowed to destabilize. When a large organization crumbles, it leaves traces. The sixth-year mission: travel to the western reaches of Hueco Mundo and search for clues about that Vasto Lorde-class king's fate.

When Wayne heard all this from the Senkaimon guard, he was dumbfounded. Aizen hadn't reported any of it. He'd always assumed Aizen would claim credit for going to subjugate Hollow beasts and wiping them out en masse, something to that effect. But Aizen had never taken the credit at all. If he had, Ichimaru might already be a captain by now.

Of course, the sixth-years actually completing this mission was obviously impossible, because that Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande was currently attending Shin'ō Academy as a first-year student.

But that didn't matter. The real focus was still combat: fighting Hollow beasts, sharpening technique, building teamwork and individual capability. As long as they weren't swarmed, there would always be one or two who could run back for reinforcements. And the Twelfth Division's monitoring room had Reiatsu detection equipment that could track danger levels through the signal sources on each Soul Reaper.

The actual search mission fell to the Fifth Division. Its true purpose, of course, was to let Aizen use Kyōka Suigetsu to funnel Hollow beasts one by one into the underground levels of the Fifth Division, into Aizen's laboratory. Aizen was the rescue team captain. If he wanted to test his experimental subjects, he only needed to bring his prey to the hunting grounds and wait for the Hollow beasts to arrive.

And this time, Captain Aizen had prepared a grand gift for each combat zone: several Adjuchas apiece. His goal was to thoroughly test what these students were made of.

➤ Next: An Unexpected Emergency