(T/N: Second Chapter!)
Thanks to her Divine Armant, Saitō Furuofushi possessed the ability to communicate with Hell. That ant she might know a thing or two about it.
Katori Nanatsuki really wanted to et her, to see if he could dig up any intel related to Hell.
But Saitō Furuofushi was currently imprisoned in Muken, so seeing her wasn’t exactly easy. Nanatsuki figured he’d start by asking around her clan first.
He found Azashiro Kana, who was in the middle of explaining matters of the dojo and the Shin’o Spiritual Arts Academy to Sajin Komamura with so others.
"Hey Kana, that Saitō lady you all ran into during your graduation test—she still with Squad 3?" Nanatsuki asked.
"Saitō-neesan is still the Fourth Seat of Squad 3. She’s always looked after . Does Sensei need sothing from her?" Azashiro Kana replied.
"Is she part of the Saitō Clan? I have a few things I’d like to ask soone from the clan," Nanatsuki said.
"Yes, she is." Azashiro Kana nodded. "She’s actually this week’s on-duty officer, so she should be around. I’ll take you to her."
Kana led Nanatsuki to Squad 3.
The atmosphere there was tense. Many Shinigami were moving briskly through the corridors.
Upon seeing Azashiro Kana, a Squad 3 mber quickly approached. "Azashiro-san, perfect timing! Vice-Captain Iba is calling everyone to assemble!"
Azashiro Kana scratched her cheek. "What’s going on? My Denreishinki didn’t receive any ssage."
"It’s an ergency mission. Are you off-duty today? Vice-Captain Iba might not have contacted those on leave yet."
"It’s probably an order from Captain-Commander Yamamoto," Nanatsuki mused, stroking his chin.
Yamamoto had ended his study tour early to organize a sweep of Rukongai.
Now that the Will of Hell had figured out how to open the Gates of Hell in Soul Society, letting spiritually tainted Reishi Shells roam Rukongai was a major risk.
So Yamamoto planned to mobilize a full-scale removal operation.
’I wonder if Aizen has finished optimizing the Reishi detectors...’ Nanatsuki thought. Ti was tight, and he wasn’t sure if Aizen could pull it off in ti.
"We should head over too," Azashiro Kana said. "Saitō-neesan must be there already."
They followed the Squad 3 mbers to the main assembly hall—and sure enough, there was Saitō Akane.
"Kana? Aren’t you on leave this week? Vice-Captain Iba hasn’t summoned the off-duty yet, has he? What brings you here?" Akane said with a smile. "Good to see you again, Katori-sensei."
"Sensei wanted to ask you sothing, so I brought him along," Azashiro Kana replied. Then, curiously, she asked, "Is there so kind of ergency? So many people are here."
"There’s a mission. We’re heading out with Squads 8 and 13 to investigate the shrines and followers in the Fuwai District and surrounding areas," Akane explained.
Since Reishi detectors were limited, and most Shinigami lacked the ability to distinguish Reishi Shells, sweeping all of Rukongai quickly was impossible. That’s why Yamamoto assigned them to focus on the shrines first.
"Investigating shrines and followers... Is the Seireitei intervening in Rukongai’s religious beliefs now?" Azashiro Kana asked, surprised. She rembered the Gotei 13 never used to care about such things.
"I heard so followers have been manipulated by the shrines and could pose a threat to Soul Society," Akane replied, then turned to Nanatsuki. "What would you like to ask, Sensei?"
Thanks to the trust built during their joint mission to Hueco Mundo years ago, Akane was more than willing to help Nanatsuki.
Nanatsuki asked, "Saitō-san, are you familiar with the first captain of Squad 6, Saitō Furuofushi?"
"Saitō Furuofushi..." Akane raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear that na from Nanatsuki. "Of course. She’s my aunt."
"That close?" Nanatsuki blinked in surprise.
Akane nodded. "But honestly, I don’t rember much about her. She was sent to Muken when I was still very young."
Nanatsuki didn’t beat around the bush. "I heard from Batsu’unsai that Saitō Furuofushi once had a Divine Armant called ’Sound of Hell’ that allowed her to communicate with the souls in Hell. I’d like to know where it is now."
That was what Batsu’unsai had told him—the artifact could allow direct contact with the damned souls trapped in Hell.
"’Sound of Hell’?" Akane thought for a mont. "Yeah... I vaguely rember it. I tried to play with it when I was little, but my father stopped . He was afraid I’d be corrupted. The souls in Hell are all terrible criminals after all."
Akane didn’t know that the Soul Burial Ritual sent Captain-class Shinigami to Hell. She believed only evil souls ended up there.
"But it’s not at our house anymore," she continued. "After Aunt Furuofushi was imprisoned in Muken, the Prison Corps took all her belongings. She always carried ’Sound of Hell’ with her, so they confiscated it too."
"So it was taken by the Prison Corps... That’s unfortunate. I was hoping to borrow it from her," Nanatsuki said, understanding.
"Sorry I couldn’t help more, Sensei."
"Not at all. I appreciate your help, Saitō-san. I won’t take up more of your ti."
Nanatsuki left Squad 3, while Azashiro Kana stayed behind to carry out the mission.
Although he learned the whereabouts of ’Sound of Hell,’ it was now in the hands of the Prison Corps.
’A thousand-year sentence for Saitō Furuofushi... After so long, borrowing sothing of hers might not even be noticed...’ Nanatsuki thought, scheming a little.
Since this involved Hell, if he told Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the Captain-Commander could likely retrieve the artifact through official channels.
But if that happened, Nanatsuki might not get to handle it himself—and he was quite interested in this device that could connect to Hell.
So, he decided to "borrow" it personally.
Now that his students were scattered across the Gotei 13, his network was broader than ever.
The Prison Corps belonged to Squad 9, and Muguruma Kensei was currently an officer in that squad. Nanatsuki planned to ask him where Furuofushi’s items might be stored.
The Next Day – Squad 9
Muguruma Kensei was in the records room, flipping through old ledgers.
"Saitō..." Kensei muttered as he sifted through scrolls. "Not this one either..."
He was helping his teacher search for any docuntation related to Saitō Furuofushi.
But the records were ancient, and anything from that far back was hard to locate.
"Seriously... the Prison Corps’ docuntation is a total ss. These things should be organized by year," Kensei grumbled, frustrated. Decades—even centuries—of data were stuffed randomly into single scrolls.
"You know, Kensei... it’s not necessarily a good thing to have records this well-organized."
A sudden voice from behind made Kensei jump.
He turned to find a middle-aged Shinigami standing there.
"Uncle Udate! Don’t sneak up like that!" Kensei exclaid.
"You were just too focused," Udate Kōji chuckled. "What are you digging through so seriously?"
"Ah, nothing much. Just trying to reorganize so of the old records. They’re way too ssy," Kensei deflected, not wanting to ntion his teacher’s request.
"Hmm. But having ssy records isn’t always a bad thing." Udate’s tone turned a bit more serious. "ssiness leaves more room for... flexibility."
"...What do you an?" Kensei frowned.
"You’re still young," Udate said, patting him on the shoulder. "These records list all the personal items confiscated from prisoners."
"Yeah... and wouldn’t it be better if those were detailed? That way, if soone ever gets released, it’d be easy to return their stuff."
"Well, yes... in theory," Udate smiled. "But so of these people are locked up for hundreds—thousands—of years. You think they’re getting out?"
"Fair point," Kensei admitted. "They’re sealed with Sakkise restraints, which suppress Reiatsu constantly. Living that long would be... unlikely."
"Exactly. From the mont they’re locked up, those belongings are basically unclaid."
He gave Kensei another paternal pat. "Squad 9 hasn’t had a proper captain in a long ti. If one suddenly drops in from above, and everything’s too tidy? They might dig up things that shouldn’t be uncovered."
Kensei scowled. He didn’t like that logic—but it made sense. Those long-term prisoners weren’t expected to survive.
"But... what if soone does survive? And they can’t get their stuff back?"
"Then we dig harder, find the old records, maybe return the items... or compensate them based on estimated value," Udate shrugged.
"...Fine," Kensei muttered, flipping another page. "Still, I’m gonna at least sort by year."
"Don’t touch anything belonging to inmates with less than 200 years on their sentence. We never ss with short-term prisoners’ stuff," Udate warned.
"Got it," Kensei nodded.
Udate left after his inspection, and Kensei resud combing through the oldest scrolls.
Two hours later, he finally found what he was looking for:
"Saitō Furuofushi... sentenced to 1,000 years... items stored in Warehouse 176..."
Kensei read aloud from the scroll.
"One Zanpakutō confiscated..."
"One Captain’s Haori..."
"Standard uniform..."
"One Reishi Pocket..."
"Thirty-six travel novels..."
"A bag of mixed nuts..."
"A bag of dried dates..."
"...What the hell is all this?"
Kensei was stunned. The list of snacks alone took up an entire page.
"Maybe they were stored inside the Reishi Pocket," he muttered. "Makes sense to stash food in a space like that..."
But when he turned the page—more snacks.
"Was the whole damn pocket full of junk food?!"
He was baffled—but then his brows furrowed.
"...Why isn’t ’Sound of Hell’ listed?" he thought.
He double-checked. No ntion of the Divine Armant.
"One entry’s been erased..." he noticed. One line had clearly been wiped away using Reishi manipulation.
"Sothing’s off... Warehouse 176, huh..."
Kensei put the scroll away and decided to check the warehouse himself.
As a Squad 9 officer, he had access.
And thanks to the "relaxed atmosphere" of Squad 9, his entry raised no alarms.
Inside Warehouse 176, he located Saitō Furuofushi’s items: only a single Reishi Pocket. Everything else was stored inside it.
He opened the pocket—and just as he expected, the ’Sound of Hell’ was nowhere to be found.
"...It’s not here," Kensei’s eyes narrowed.
Due to the disorganized records, he couldn’t even tell who had altered the scroll—or who took the item.
"Damn it... I couldn’t help Sensei. But if I ever beco Squad 9’s captain, I swear I’ll sort out the records room and warehouse once and for all!" Kensei thought hypocritically—considering his own easy access just now was thanks to the chaos.
"Was the scroll tampered with?"
"Yes. I checked the warehouse myself. ’Sound of Hell’ isn’t there," Kensei reported back.
The news caught Nanatsuki off guard.
He hadn’t expected Kensei to retrieve the Divine Armant—only to confirm where it was so Nanatsuki could "borrow" it personally.
But it was already gone.
"No worries. Thanks anyway," Nanatsuki said with a light smile.
"Records are a ss in the Prison Corps. Hard to know who took it," Kensei added. "I asked around—stuff like that usually goes missing thanks to the officer or squad mbers who processed it. But that was too long ago. The officer and two squad mbers involved are no longer in the corps."
’Looks like I’ll have to talk to Saitō Furuofushi myself... She held onto "Sound of Hell" for a long ti—she must know a thing or two about Hell,’ Nanatsuki thought.
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