Restricted Death

Chapter 223 The Secret of Tachikawa
A few days later, Kyoraku Shunsui's application to enter the Great Spiritual Book Corridor was approved, of course, after discussing it with Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni and changing the reason.

Meanwhile, the First Division's archives remained quiet.

The air is filled with the unique, slightly dusty smell of paper, and letters have become a regular feature here.

On this day, Ise Nanao suddenly arrived here and saw Shin sitting in front of a bookshelf, flipping through a book.

The slightly slanted afternoon sunlight streamed through the high windows, dividing the rows of enormous bookshelves into a long corridor of interwoven light and shadow. Xin sat in one of the shadows, leaning against the bookshelves, his legs casually stretched out. Several stacks of books and files, half a person's height, had piled up around him, like a fortress growing around him.

She took the initiative to go over and greet him: "Captain Tachikawa?"

Shin seemed to be startled from his deep thoughts, looked up at her, blinked, and focused his gaze: "It's Vice Captain Ise, are you here to look up information too?"

"Um……"

She nodded slightly; she didn't need any reason to enter the squad's archives.

Ise Nanao also squatted down, picked up a book from the pile next to her, and flipped through it briefly, only to find that it was related to the Quincy.

Feeling puzzled, she asked, "Captain Tachikawa, do you want to know about the Quincy?"

“I suppose so,” Xin Ying replied. “However, the records here are still not detailed enough. I applied to enter the Great Spiritual Book Gallery, but was refused.”

Ise Nanao thought it would be normal to refuse, since only two people in the entire Gotei 13 had the authority to enter such a place.

Moreover, even members of the Central 46 are not allowed to enter, since the Great Book Gallery contains too much top-secret information that cannot be made public.

More than a decade ago, after she learned that Shin had met Yadomaru Lisa, she had been concerned about the matter for a long time. However, Shin's "investigation" came to nothing. She later took the initiative to ask Shin indirectly, but Shin only told her that the clues had suddenly gone cold.

She had heard that Xin had been searching for information recently and thought he was starting to investigate the truth of the incident from decades ago again.

Seeing that it was related to the Quincy, she felt somewhat disappointed.

She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Our Eighth Division also has a records room, and I remember there are records about the Quincy..."

Xin's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this: "Really? May I go in?"

Ise Nanao nodded: "Okay."

As an intelligence unit, the Eighth Division has a lot of classified information in its archives. However, truly top-secret documents are stored separately, while the normal archives only contain some ordinary documents for daily reference.

This ordinary archive room is also open to the public.

Shin immediately put down the book in his hand, grasped Ise Nanao's hand, and said gratefully, "Thank you so much!"

Ise Nanao asked curiously, "Why did you suddenly become interested in Quincy?"

Xin just smiled and said, "I just want to know the truth about some things."

The answer was too vague, so Ise Nanao stopped asking questions after hearing it.

#
First team team building.

Shortly after Kyoraku Shunsui came out of the Great Spirit Book Corridor, he came here to meet Captain-Commander Yamamoto. At the same time, he also informed Ukitake in advance using the Hell Butterfly.

“I searched through all the information about Tachikawa recorded in the Great Spirit Book Corridor and indeed discovered some things we didn’t know.” Kyoraku’s voice was much lower than usual, carrying the weariness of being overwhelmed by information.

The Great Spiritual Library can record all events that occur in Soul Society on its own, regardless of the will of the Shinigami. In other words, as long as something happens, even if the person involved keeps quiet about it and never reveals it, it will still be recorded by the Great Spiritual Library.

Ukitake asked, "Is it all cleared up?"

Kyoraku Shunsui's expression was complicated, but he said, "No, his motives haven't been clarified, but..."

He sighed and said, "Let me address each point one by one. First, let's talk about the Spirit King's right hand."

Upon hearing this, Ukitake was taken aback. The Spirit King's right hand originally resided in his body, but Shin managed to remove it from his body and place it in Shin's Zanpakuto.

"This also involves Tachikawa's real Zanpakuto."

A real Zanpakuto?

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni slightly raised his heavy eyelids, his cloudy yet sharp gaze piercing through the thick fog like a searchlight, staring directly at Kyoraku: "What do you mean?"

Kyoraku said, "The sword that Tachikawa always carried with him, which was also the sword that housed the Soul King's right hand, was just an ordinary Asauchi. It was not his true Zanpakuto, and his sword was not of the Hodo school. Instead, it was a sword that could manipulate the concept of time... or rather, two swords."

"Dual swords?" Ukitake himself was utterly astonished when he uttered this conclusion. He instinctively looked at his Kyoraku, "Like you and me?"

His Zanpakuto, along with Kyoraku Shunsui's Sogyo Koi and Katen Kyokotsu, are the only two-blade Zanpakuto ever recorded.

“No.” Kyoraku shook his head. “It’s different. Our Zanpakuto only appear as two swords on the outside. In reality, it’s still just one sword. But Tachikawa’s Zanpakuto is a real pair of swords, and each sword has a unique ability.”

Upon hearing this, Ukitake gasped in astonishment; this was something he had never heard of before!
He glanced at Captain-Commander Yamamoto and asked in surprise, "Then...why did he hide it?"

Kyoraku came up with a plausible excuse: "I don't know. Maybe he's aware of the special nature of his Zanpakuto and doesn't want to attract too much attention..."

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni pondered, "You mean, his Zanpakuto has the ability to manipulate time?"

Kyoraku nodded and said, "That's right. According to the records in the Great Spirit Book Corridor, Tachikawa has the ability to completely stop the human body's state and revert it to its previous state. He is able to 'heal' the wounded by relying on this power. He only needs to revert the injured person's physical state to the state before the injury. It can be said that the wounded people 'healed' by his Zanpakuto ability are more advanced than any other method."

"Truly..." Ukitake was about to exclaim "terrifying," but abruptly stopped himself, abruptly changing his words, "...powerful ability!" The essence of this ability completely transcended the realm of conventional Shinigami and even most Kido, touching upon forbidden territory! A deeper, deathly silence fell upon the room. Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni remained silent, like a deep ocean gathering a storm. Merely concealing the form and ability of his Zanpakuto? Under the rules of Soul Society, this certainly wasn't a heinous crime. Whether a Shinigami chooses to report the details of their ability after learning their Shikai at the Shinigami Academy largely depends on their own discretion; the Seireitei didn't enforce it. But Tachikawa Shin didn't choose not to report some details; he completely disguised himself as another sword! Considering the subsequent events, this concealment itself is worthy of in-depth investigation.

There are actually many Zanpakuto among the 13 Squads of Shinigami that are not recorded, which is perfectly understandable. It is only when a "special" or "powerful" Zanpakuto appears that the Seireitei pays extra attention to it.

For example, Hitsugaya Toshiro's Hyōrinmaru is hailed as having the potential to become the strongest ice-type Zanpakutō.

Kyoraku continued, "Now, let's talk about the Soul King's right hand. Tachikawa handed over the Asauchi sword, which houses the Soul King's right hand, to Captain Kurotsuchi for research. This is why he hasn't worn his Zanpakuto in recent years, and... Captain Kurotsuchi has already made some progress in his research."

Upon hearing this, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's face visibly darkened: "I remember warning him about the matter concerning the Spirit King's right hand, and yet he took such action on his own without a word?!"

Kyoraku said helplessly, "It's not over yet. The reason why Tachikawa handed the Asauchi over to Captain Kurotsuchi was because they made a deal. Besides the Asauchi, the bargaining chips were some Quincy."

Quincy?!

Upon hearing Kyoraku finally mention the Quincy, Yamamoto and Ukitake immediately took it seriously.

“There are some surviving Quincy in the present world. They are survivors of the war more than two hundred years ago. Our Soul Society has always only monitored them. However, Captain Kurotsuchi used them as research subjects, causing many of the already few Quincy survivors to die in his experiments. Tachikawa’s request is that Captain Kurotsuchi stop using the Quincy in the present world as experimental subjects.”

"Furthermore, Captain Tachikawa has recently been attempting to smuggle himself across the Transcendental Gate, relying on the power of his Zanpakuto to evade detection. I suspect that Captain Tachikawa's smuggling across the Transcendental Gate to the human world was to make contact with the Quincy there. However, what happens in the human world is beyond the authority of the Great Spiritual Library."

Therefore, it remains unclear what Tachikawa Shin's purpose was.

Although Kyoraku said some things that surprised them all.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni asked expressionlessly, "What do you think happened between him and the Quincy?"

Ukitake spoke first: "This kind of thing can't be concluded. The Quincy are just some remnants of their bloodline, they can't cause any trouble. Captain Tachikawa may just be interested in the Quincy."

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni's expression was cold and hard.

It's normal that his students don't understand the Quincy race. In the current Soul Society, besides himself, only Chojiro Sasakibe and Unohana truly understand them.

The records of that war a thousand years ago are now only fragmentary, and those who have not truly experienced it firsthand do not know how terrifying the Quincy are.

Shin's current actions have precisely touched a nerve with Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni.

He seemed to know why he had been having a bad feeling all along. It was because it was related to the Quincy, which reminded him of things from a thousand years ago, and also reminded him of... that terrible enemy.

It's also his own fault for not being able to completely end that person's life a thousand years ago, which is why he has become a nightmare that has always existed in his heart.

"Changjiro."

Upon hearing the sound, Chojiro, the captain of the Sparrow House outside the door, immediately pushed open the door, knelt down at the entrance, and bowed his head to await orders.

"Go and call Tachikawa."

"Mr. Yamamoto!" Kyoraku Shunsui interrupted Captain-Commander Yamamoto's order at this moment. "I don't think we should rush to talk to Captain Tachikawa about this. Since he's keeping it a secret, he probably won't say much when he comes to see you. We all know his personality, don't we?"

"..."

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni frowned and remained silent.

Kyoraku Shunsui said slowly, "Perhaps, I'll go and meet those Quincy first, and see if I can learn anything from them."

Go see the Quincy?
Captain-Commander Yamamoto lowered his gaze and remained silent.

Ukitake then said, "I'll go too, Captain-Commander. I believe Captain Tachikawa wouldn't do anything to harm Soul Society. It's just that some past events have been brought up, leading to some unpleasant speculations. However, you can punish him for smuggling himself across the Kakaimon."

Ukitake is still speaking up for Shin. How serious can the punishment be for smuggling across the interdimensional gate? When the Shinigami of the Thirteenth Division go to the human world to carry out missions, quite a few of them linger and play around. If you really want to investigate, it's just a matter of being confined to their quarters.

What needs to be done now is simply to investigate what Tachikawa Shin and those Quincy discussed.

In fact, both Ukitake and Kyoraku felt that Captain-Commander Yamamoto was making a mountain out of a molehill. If they had to say something, it was just that Shin's sudden application to enter the Great Spirit Book Corridor brought the matter to the Captain-Commander's attention. In the past, even if they knew that Shin was investigating Quincy and had contact with Quincy, they wouldn't have reacted too strongly.

It's strange that Xin suddenly had the audacity to request entry into the Great Spiritual Library.

Kyoraku was inwardly grumbling, but just as he was thinking this, something suddenly flashed through his mind.

After some thought, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni said, "Alright, you can go ahead then."

Kyoraku and Ukitake walked out of the room together. Seeing Kyoraku deep in thought, Ukitake asked, "What do you think Tachikawa is trying to do right now?"

Kyoraku shook his head silently and said, "I don't know. I suddenly feel like I know absolutely nothing."

Ukitake was surprised by his strange words: "What do you mean?"

Kyoraku was silent for a moment, then said, "You probably also think that Tachikawa's application to enter the Great Spirit Book Corridor is quite absurd, right?"

"..."

Kyoraku said softly, "Tachikawa has been a captain for over ten years. Doesn't he know about this kind of thing? Yet he still made such a hasty decision, and without even telling Yama-san his purpose. If he's not a fool..."

Ukitake suddenly understood and looked at Kyoraku in surprise: "You mean... Tachikawa did this on purpose?"

“I don’t know.” Kyoraku shook his head again. “I can’t be sure of anything. Tachikawa tricked us a long time ago. I was just thinking about why he would do something so stupid, and then I suddenly realized, how could I think of him as a stupid person?”

(End of this chapter)