The petite figure behind the screen froze, and the world fell into silence. Su Li's gaze sharpened, piercing as though it could cut through the carved panel itself, fixed firmly on the girl beyond. She did not speak, nor did he. Only stillness lingered, heavy and suffocating, blanketing heaven and earth.
At last her voice drifted out, faint yet carrying a trace of resentment beneath the indifference. "You lied to me first."
Su Li frowned, puzzled. "When did I ever lie to you?"
"You said not to disturb my rest. Yet you broke your promise."
Her words, quiet yet sharp, left him at a loss. A scene flashed in his mind—sparring in kendo with Unohana Retsu, when in desperation he had drawn his Zanpakutō.
"I only drew you to scare her," he protested quickly, his face flushing with shame. "I didn't truly use you."
The girl's reply was mercilessly cold. "Is there any difference?"
Su Li fell silent. For one asleep beneath the covers, dragging her out or waking her outright was the same violation. In that instant he realized the gravity of his mistake. Regret welled, but the deed could not be undone.
"Then I apologize," he said at last, voice sincere.
"If an apology were enough, why would there be police?" Her retort cut clean, laced with arrogance.
Su Li exploded. "The police?! Can they even handle this?" His anger cracked the silence, yet she did not answer. Time stretched thin until her indifferent voice rose again. "Regardless, it was your fault first."
His patience thinned. "Didn't I already apologize?"
"Not enough."
Her curt dismissal left him grinding his teeth. He snapped, "Didn't I even let you cut me into sashimi?"
"Still not enough."
Her blunt reply, devoid of emotion, stoked the fire in his chest. "You're still angry? Then what else do you want?"
The fury burning in him had not flared this high since arriving in the Shinigami world. Against enemies, he could crush bone and flesh without hesitation. But here, against the egg he had raised forty years, his hands were tied. He could not strike, he could not scold, and the helplessness gnawed like poison. For the first time he understood how thankless fatherhood could be. No padded jacket against the cold—this one leaked air, and stabbed sharper than winter wind.
Behind the screen silence deepened until her voice returned, soft yet firm. "Not ready yet."
Su Li's rage surged. "You truly mean to push me? You really dismiss all my effort, all I've poured into you these years?" His fury broke past reason. In a single step he thrust his hand toward the screen, determined at last to tear it aside and look her in the face.
But the moment his fingers brushed the carved wood, light flared. The intricate patterns blazed, and in a sudden puff he was shattered into white mist.
"Speak properly if you have something to say. Do not use your hands." The girl's voice carried pride.
Reforming in place, Su Li stood stunned, grief and disbelief warring across his features. Shameless. Utterly shameless. Was he truly the only one at fault? No. It had to be her.
"You…" His voice trembled with sorrow. "Forty years…" His eyes burned crimson, grief pouring out in his roar. "Do you know what it cost me? With the faintest scrap of spiritual power I raised you, step by step, day by day! And this is how you treat me?!"
His shoulders shook as he turned, walking toward the edge of the platform.
"Where are you going?" For the first time her tone wavered.
"None of your business." His voice cracked with coldness.
"You don't want to know my name?" she asked quickly, the icy calm breaking.
"I used to. Now I don't." His words were like frost, each syllable sharpened with disappointment.
He neared the brink, the endless white sky stretching before him.
"If you leave today, don't even think about coming back!" her voice rang out, laced with rare panic.
"If I don't return, then I don't return." His feet pressed to the edge. The boundless void called.
"Su Li! Come back to me!" Her voice rose, angry and desperate, as the screen behind her toppled with a sharp snap.
"I'm not going back." His body leaned forward into the void.
"Is there a father like you, abandoning me like this?! You… you're a stinking, stupid man!" Her furious cry rang in his ears, but he stepped on.
"Wait!" she shouted, frantic now. He halted, balanced on the precipice, a breath away from vanishing.
"You… don't you just want to know my name? Beg me once more, and I'll tell you." Her tone was stiff, unyielding.
Su Li's reply was colder than ice. "I was never a dog that licked boots, and I won't start now. And your name—" he paused, voice dropping to a knife's edge, "I don't want it anymore."
He lifted his foot to step into the void.
Her scream split the silence. "You don't want to know, so you don't?! Then I'll force you to! Listen—my name is—"
The heavens trembled as her voice rang out. From the depths of the boundless mist a dragon's cry surged forth, shaking the white world.
Su Li froze, every fiber of his being trembling. Slowly, his foot drew back from the void, and when he turned his head his face bloomed with joy.
She stood revealed at last: a girl with luminous eyes and snowy skin, clad in plain black dress, beauty radiant yet fierce with anger.
Emotion swelled in him, unstoppable. "As I thought… to face rebellion, you must be more rebellious. To face indifference, you must be colder still. To defeat magic, one must answer with magic."
Su Li gazed upon the girl's face, his heart alive with triumph and relief. "Master Patriarch… I have understood the door."
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