One week ago.
"We are already full-fledged Shinigami."
Azashiro Sōya stood atop the watchtower of the outer city of Nariki, overlooking the entire district.
The noble-built walls of the inner city were taller than the watchtower—he couldn't even see the inner city from where he stood.
Still, while these towering walls could block ordinary human civilians, they couldn't block Shinigami.
Sōya had been to the inner city before. Its atmosphere was much like the noble district of Seireitei—nothing particularly interesting.
"Is that so?"
Tōsen, lying lazily on a rooftop, replied slowly. "But I think… a real full-fledged Shinigami wouldn't be late for patrol duty."
"Sorry! I misread the duty roster..." Sōya scratched his cheek awkwardly. "I thought we were assigned to patrol the outer suburbs today. I was waiting for you over there..."
Sōya had already passed the exam administered by the Kidō Corps' examiners. Now, all that remained was to receive grading from Isshin, and his graduation assessment would be complete.
Today's patrol duty was to be completed independently—no supervising Shinigami. Just the two of them.
Still, patrol missions weren't particularly difficult. As long as they followed the procedures, everything would be fine.
"Let's begin the patrol!" Sōya was in high spirits—it wasn't often he got to visit the World of the Living.
"That little shrine maiden is coming," Tōsen sat up slowly.
The young shrine maiden from the Yamaka Shrine, who lived near the outer city, often wandered around the area.
Shinigami on patrol would frequently run into her. Both Sōya and Tōsen were already quite familiar with her.
"Your spiritual perception really is sharp. I haven't sensed her yet!"
Sōya sighed in admiration.
The shrine maiden had the ability to see spirits, but her Reiatsu was so faint that Azashiro Sōya had to be standing directly in front of her to sense it at all.
"Divine One!"
The shrine maiden came running up.
"Miss Yakumo, have you discovered anything today?"
Sōya asked kindly.
She had almost become a de facto informant for the Shinigami, regularly providing information on souls that needed Soul Burial.
Sōya had once asked her to look into something, knowing she had extensive local connections in the Nariki region.
"Divine One! I've found something about the matter you asked me to investigate!" she said eagerly.
"You asked her to investigate soul disappearances?" Tōsen frowned. "She's just a little girl. Why would you have her looking into Hollow activity? That's too dangerous."
"Of course I wouldn't have her get directly involved." Sōya shook his head. "I just asked her to ask around—talk to residents who are in the know and find out which families experienced the same thing."
Lately, strange incidents had occurred in Nariki.
Normally, when a human dies, their soul—before moving on to Soul Society—would linger where they died or roam places familiar from their lifetime.
But the shrine maiden had encountered several exceptions recently: souls that disappeared not long after death.
Sōya suspected a pattern.
He feared there was a Hollow hunting human souls within the city, one that had yet to be discovered by the Shinigami.
"Divine One, I found twenty-one locations where similar incidents occurred. Each involved missing souls." The shrine maiden pulled a scroll from her waist pouch.
"Miss Yakumo really has a way with people—getting so much information in just a day or two." Sōya praised her.
"To help the Divine One is my greatest honor!"
Beaming from the compliment, the shrine maiden nearly jumped with joy.
Sōya unrolled the scroll. A rough map was drawn on it, marking the twenty-one places where souls had gone missing.
"Kaname, let's check these places out today—see if we find any clues."
"Since we're patrolling anyway, this route works fine."
Tōsen had no objections.
"Thank you, Miss Yakumo. There may be a 'monster' hiding in the city that devours souls. You should return to the shrine for now," Sōya said with a smile.
Humans didn't understand the nature of Hollows. To them, they were just 'monsters' from folklore, so he used that term when speaking to civilians.
Sōya and Tōsen followed the map through the city, searching each marked location.
"Something's wrong… I haven't sensed a single Hollow's Reiatsu," Sōya said with a troubled expression. "Souls don't just vanish like that."
"Must be a Hollow skilled at hiding itself."
Tōsen also believed a Hollow was responsible.
"Hollows don't just stay in one place." Sōya stared at the rough map, then his eyes lit up. "Kaname, did you notice? All these people died in water!"
"Hmm… you think the Hollow is hiding in the water?" Tōsen asked.
"I think it's in the underground river! Humans draw well water from it, and the city's drainage connects to it too." His voice grew more confident. "Those people who drowned—their souls were hunted by a Hollow hiding in the underground river!"
"It's possible," Tōsen nodded. "If the Hollow is in the underground river, it makes sense that we couldn't sense it above ground."
"Let's find a way in."
The city had several wells. The two found one and jumped in.
Following the water flow, they soon discovered the well connected to the underground river.
It was pitch black.
Sōya conjured a Kidō spell to illuminate their surroundings.
"Didn't expect the underground river to be this wide."
They continued deeper.
"If a Hollow really is here, that light will make us sitting targets."
Tōsen warned him.
"Good point..."
Azashiro Sōya quickly extinguished the light and focused his spiritual perception.
But he was a moment too late—the light had already drawn something lurking below.
"A Hollow!"
Both sensed it at once: the approaching pressure of a Hollow's Reiatsu.
A water snake, several meters long, lunged toward them.
Tōsen drew his Zanpakutō, slashing a beam of Flowlight toward it.
Whoosh! The serpent twisted effortlessly in the water, dodging the strike.
"Hadō #4: Byakurai!"
Sōya fired a bolt of lightning.
Crackle! The water serpent didn't dodge—it welcomed the attack.
Lightning coiled around its body, but didn't harm it.
Instead, the serpent surged forward faster.
"Kaname! It absorbed my lightning!" Sōya shouted.
The electrified serpent lunged again. Tōsen, thanks to his sharp senses, had already raised his Zanpakutō to block.
Boom! He was slammed into the cavern wall.
While the serpent attacked Tōsen, Sōya saw an opening.
"Hadō #58: Tenran!"
A tornado spiraled from his palm, expanding rapidly.
The fierce winds churned the entire river like a washing machine.
The serpent was caught and flung around violently.
Screeeeech! It let out a shriek as the current tore its body into pieces.
Once the serpent was silent, Sōya remembered—Tōsen was in that direction too.
He immediately cut off the Kidō spell.
As the turbulence settled, he found Tōsen embedded in the rock wall.
"Kaname! Are you okay?"
"I'm not okay." Tōsen pulled himself out of the rock. "Next time, could you not use a technique that hits your own allies?"
If he hadn't been slammed into the wall earlier, he might've been shredded too.
"I was trying to save you!" Sōya scratched his cheek again.
"It was just a normal Hollow. Even if it could control water and lightning, it wasn't that strong," Tōsen said quietly.
"I'll be more careful next time. This serpent Hollow is probably the one behind the twenty-one disappearances. Now that it's gone, let's go—this place is too dark to see anything."
"Looks the same to me as the surface," Tōsen replied calmly.
He walked to the serpent's corpse, confirming it was truly dead.
Its body slowly disintegrated into Reishi, fading away.
They retraced their steps and exited the underground river.
A short while later, the flow of the river changed oddly in a quiet corner.
The current parted like a curtain, revealing two figures previously hidden.
"Those two Shinigami are much more tempting than ordinary humans. If I absorb them, I'll definitely grow stronger!"
A woman in a floral kimono grinned.
"That would attract the Gotei 13's attention—not worth it," said a silver-haired man beside her. "You've already drawn attention by acting too frequently."
"I turned some souls into Hollows. That way, the Shinigami will think it was the Hollows that devoured them."
The woman—Izumi—seemed unconcerned.
She had taken every precaution. The Shinigami wouldn't discover her movements.
By inducing extreme emotions in souls, she could hasten their Hollowfication.
While the Shinigami were distracted by the Hollows she created, she continued preying on human souls.
"You're walking a tightrope," the man—Kariya Jin—shook his head. "I only assign one or two companions per hunting ground because we need lots of souls to evolve. This has to be a long-term plan to avoid notice."
Kariya Jin was the leader of the Bounts.
Izumi, his companion in Nariki, had always acted recklessly—absorbing many souls in a short time wherever she went.
Though she made some efforts to cover her tracks, Jin still believed she would eventually be discovered.
Ordinary souls gave very little Reiatsu. Evolving required absorbing many.
This was a long game. Izumi's actions were ruining the environment of their hunting grounds.
"Humans are everywhere. If this place's blown, I'll just find another~" Izumi giggled.
"Not like I'll go hungry."
She was good at hiding and didn't believe the Shinigami could catch her.
"Suit yourself. I've warned you."
Jin turned and left.
He had his own goals to pursue and couldn't waste time babysitting her.
Jin had grown strong—but he'd hit a ceiling.
Ordinary souls no longer benefited him.
With the Gotei 13 watching the World of the Living, they couldn't hunt openly.
If things continued at this slow pace, he might never gain the strength to strike back at Soul Society.
But if he could absorb souls with Reishi potential, their Reiatsu would be hundreds or thousands of times greater.
Those were his true targets—high-quality food that would speed up his evolution immensely.
—
Sōya and Tōsen returned to their base and handed their report to Isshin.
"Amazing! You discovered a Hollow that even the full-fledged Shinigami missed!" Isshin laughed. "Looks like you're both real Shinigami now!"
"Heh… Kaname, you got to ride my coattails this time!" Azashiro Sōya puffed up, patting Tōsen's shoulder. "It was my brilliant deduction that found the Hollow hiding in the underground river!"
Tōsen didn't argue—Sōya had indeed contributed the key insight.
"Both of you did excellent work. Kaname's earlier missions were also strong. I'm giving you both full marks." Isshin stamped the evaluation forms.
"Your assessments are complete, but I'll be stationed in Nariki a while longer. You should both stay with me for now," Isshin added. "You'll be treated like active-duty Shinigami and get World of the Living hazard pay."
Shinigami stationed in the World of the Living received higher stipends than those in Soul Society.
"No problem!" Sōya nodded quickly. He was glad to stay longer.
Tōsen didn't mind either. Of the three, he was the poorest—he welcomed the extra pay.