"Is this the reason you said you wield your blade?"
Asuka jolted awake from boundless chaos, his heart still pounding. He instinctively touched the wounds on his body, only to find them completely healed.
No, not healed.
Because the space he was in now was not the living world.
Without even looking closely, he could tell he was sitting on a street in the Inuzuri District. This could only be his inner spiritual world.
He turned his head and, sure enough, saw the gaunt boy who had appeared before, sitting coldly at the entrance of a small house.
Where was Nugata? Why was that raccoon-wolf nowhere to be seen?
"It's disappointed in you. It doesn't really want to see you."
The boy saw straight through Asuka's thoughts. Or perhaps he didn't even need to look—he simply understood what Asuka was thinking.
Asuka felt a wave of dryness in his throat, and the boy silently handed him a portion of Reishi rations.
Reishi rations was an emergency ration formed from spirit particles and moisture in the air.
As a departed soul, a resident of Rukongai did not need solid food to survive, but they still required Reishi rations to replenish their consumed spirit particle energy.
Otherwise, as their spirit particles withered away, they would first feel hunger. Later, even the sensation of hunger would disappear. In the end, they would completely dissipate from the world.
Under normal circumstances, Reishi rations was a public resource, enough at least to prevent residents from starving to death.
But starting from the Inuzuri District, the farther one went, the more chaotic it became. Even Reishi rations would be monopolized and sold as a commodity.
In the past, Asuka had suffered countless beatings and ambushes just to barely survive on Reishi rations.
Now, seeing it here in his inner world, he couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.
Gulp.
Asuka swallowed what had once been his most precious resource. He felt the withered spirit particle energy slowly replenishing, and his body grew a little more comfortable.
"Can you tell me what you were thinking?" The boy leaned against the door, his gaze calm and unruffled. "You told me you found something more important than barely clinging to life. Was it just to take a blade for someone else?"
Asuka did not refute him.
In truth, he himself wasn't entirely sure why he had acted that way.
It felt as though his body had moved before his mind could catch up, blocking the fatal blow for the Flame Hashira.
After thinking for a long while, he finally spoke. "…Maybe I was overconfident. I believed I wouldn't die."
"I thought so too." The boy gazed at the gray sky, unsurprised by Asuka's answer.
If not for Nugata forcibly seizing life force from a Demon to sustain Asuka's mortally wounded body, he would have already fallen.
Asuka stood and drew the Asauchi at his waist.
The Nichirin blade had returned to its colorless state.
"So the power back then—was it Nugata, or you…"
When his Zanpakutō had turned scorching hot like raging fire, Asuka had guessed that Nugata had plundered Akaza's demonic power and ignited the spirit particles within it.
If the Upper Rank Three hadn't repeatedly severed his own limbs, that searing energy would have nearly completely suppressed his regeneration.
"Asuka, what is your wish, exactly?"
The boy continued looking at the sky, interrupting his question. "You once told me with such certainty that you wanted to escape that dreadful place. And now you want to go back?"
He turned in confusion, meeting Asuka's eyes. "I once believed your wish was to live."
"Whether escaping that place or fighting Demons, it was all tightly bound to that wish…"
"But returning to Soul Society for revenge? I think that's no different from seeking death."
The boy's gaze was deep and concealed. Even when Asuka tried probing with his spiritual pressure, he felt as though there was no bottom to it.
"So, Asuka—what is it that you truly desire?" (T/N: Lucifer is that you? xD)
At those words, Asuka's inner world began to destabilize. The bricks and tiles of Rukongai trembled with the boy's questioning.
Asuka frowned, but did not hesitate long before replying, "Those two things were always the same."
"Really? I don't think so."
"I wanted to escape that sunless laboratory precisely so that one day I could return and end everything with my own hands."
"…You're far too confident in yourself, Asuka."
"I don't believe in myself. I believe in you."
For the first time, the boy's expression changed.
Asuka's gaze remained calm. "So many things have happened that even I can no longer tell who I truly am. But I know that you and Nugata have always been there."
"With your help, I was able to grow stronger. Only then did I have the possibility of fulfilling my wish."
"You asked if my wish has changed. I can tell you clearly—it never has."
The boy fell silent, listening to the voice within Asuka's heart. The answer he received matched exactly what he had heard.
They stared at each other for a long time, their breathing almost imperceptible.
Finally, the boy let out a heavy sigh.
"…I hope our choice isn't wrong. Or perhaps we should simply treat it as fate."
He raised his hand, reaching across space to gently place his palm against Asuka's chest.
Ugh—
A sudden, excruciating pain struck.
Asuka looked down to see blood gushing from his chest. His bones had caved inward completely.
"This is…"
He remembered. This was the spot where he had taken Akaza's final Destructive Death attack—a fatal wound.
As a soul, if he failed to recover from such grievous injuries, would he truly die? Was this physical body something Aizen had prepared for him? Or something he had created? Asuka didn't know.
"…Asuka, if you were to give up on this wish, no one can force you."
The boy murmured as waves of pure, domineering spirit particle energy flowed from his hand, continuously pouring into Asuka's body. "Think it over."
Before his eyes, bones regrew. Muscle tissue stitched itself back together. Even the blood flowed backward into his veins.
In the blink of an eye, the fatal injury had completely healed.
Asuka felt the overwhelming power in disbelief and looked at the boy uncertainly.
"I've always wondered… who exactly are you? Why can you speak to me within my heart?"
"…You'll understand, Asuka. Believe in me. Believe in yourself."
Buzz—!
As the boy's voice fell, Asuka's inner world began to collapse.
He knew this was a dismissal. The other party intended to send him back to reality.
"Remember my words, Asuka. You can abandon this wish at any time."
In the darkness, those were the last words he heard.
When Asuka regained consciousness, he was lying in a familiar tatami room.
There were ornaments, incense, and the rustling sound of garden trees.
The Butterfly Mansion…?
Clatter!
Something had fallen.
Asuka struggled to lift his head and saw the twin-tailed girl at the doorway, holding medicine. Kanzaki Aoi stared at him in shock.
"Oh my god! Mr. Asuka is awake! Hurry, call Sister Shinobu!!!"
That cry instantly stirred the Butterfly Mansion in the night.
In an instant, the familiar attendants rushed in, checking his vital signs.
"Temperature is normal!"
"Heart rate is normal!"
"The bones... heavens, they've actually grown back! It's a miracle!"
Seeing their stunned expressions, Asuka could roughly imagine that his abnormal recovery speed had frightened them again.
Enduring the dizziness in his head, he slowly asked, "What time is it now?"
"Mr. Asuka! You've been unconscious for three months!"
Three months?
He had expected to have slept a long time, but not that long. Anxious to sit up, he felt waves of soreness all over his body.
So even though that guy healed his wounds, he couldn't erase this lingering pain…
Bang!
The door was shoved open once more, and a figure stumbled in.
He didn't need to look. From the distinct fragrance alone, he knew.
Shinobu Kocho had arrived.
Trembling, he pulled his hand from beneath the blanket and raised it high, extending only his little finger.
"As promised, I came back."
Imitating Tanjiro, Asuka forced out a smile. "I protected everyone. No one died…"
"You idiot!"
Shinobu Kocho had so much she wanted to say, but seeing Asuka in such a miserable state, she burst out laughing in anger.
At the corners of her smiling eyes, faint tears shimmered.