Chapter 131: Deceptions of the Heart

“Thomas, prove your loyalty to His Majesty,” Yamabuki Haruto said, his voice cold as a winter blade. “Kill those two. Wash away their insult to Yhwach with their blood.”

The two surviving Quincies paled, their reishi bows trembling. “Thomas, don’t listen!” one pleaded. “He’s lying! He’s not one of us!”

“Let’s go to His Majesty together,” the other urged. “Yhwach wouldn’t order this!”

Thomas’s grip tightened on his bow, his teeth grinding. “My loyalty to His Majesty is absolute. No one insults him and lives!” With a snarl, he loosed a Heilig Pfeil, its azure light piercing the dim warehouse.

The Quincies retaliated, and chaos erupted. Haruto watched, his expression unreadable, as the three fought with desperate ferocity. Their reishi signatures were modest—comparable to seated officers, far below a Gotei 13 lieutenant. Thomas, bloodied but relentless, emerged victorious, his arrows reducing his comrades to ash.

Panting, he turned to Haruto. “We’ll see His Majesty together. He’ll know my loyalty—” His words choked off as Haruto’s Heilig Pfeil pierced his chest, the reishi arrow glowing with lethal precision.

“You… lied?” Thomas gasped, his eyes wide with betrayal. “You’re not… His Majesty’s?”

Haruto faced a choice: reveal the truth and gloat—I’m a Shinigami, you fool, and you fell for it—or maintain the ruse, letting Thomas die in confusion. The latter was crueler, and in Bleach’s world of deception, cruelty was a weapon.

“You’re dying, so I’ll be honest,” Haruto said, his tone mockingly solemn. “I am His Majesty’s agent. But Yhwach is disappointed in you. You failed him in that matter.”

Thomas’s face contorted. “What… matter? I completed every mission!” His voice cracked, his life fading as he grasped for answers. What had he done to earn Yhwach’s wrath? Was it a past oversight? A forgotten slight?

With a final, anguished cry, Thomas collapsed, his reishi dissipating into the Rukongai night. Haruto’s lips curled. Riddle-makers don’t die well, he thought, echoing the chapter’s title. To ensure no surprises, he fired another Heilig Pfeil, reducing the bodies to dust. Even a Hollow’s regeneration couldn’t undo that.

Villain? Haruto mused, shaking his head. No, I’m the hero here. But the Quincy incursion was a wake-up call. Their ability to infiltrate Rukongai undetected exposed Soul Society’s vulnerabilities. A thousand years before the Technological Development Bureau’s sensors, Seireitei was blind to such threats. If the Quincies had struck the Gotei 13 directly, the morale damage would be catastrophic.

Chiyo, Haruto remembered, his focus snapping back. That black-bellied loli was tough—her seated-officer-level reiatsu and cunning made her a survivor. Good people die young, but calamities like you last forever, he thought wryly. She’d hold on until he could reach her. First, he had to warn the Gotei 13.

Using Shunpo, Haruto raced to the First Division barracks, finding Captain Commander Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni in his office, his presence as imposing as Ryūjin Jakka’s flames. Haruto recounted the Quincy incursion, the warehouse base, and their audacious plan to assassinate Yamamoto.

The old man’s eyes narrowed, his reiatsu flaring like a furnace. “Quincies invading Rukongai undetected? This is a grave threat.” In war, an enemy that could materialize behind your lines was a nightmare. While captains could handle such incursions, rank-and-file Shinigami would falter, and morale would crumble.

“Summon Zenjoji Arihime,” Yamamoto ordered, calling for the Twelfth Division captain. Zenjoji arrived, her scholarly demeanor masking a keen intellect, her robes adorned with subtle scientific tools.

Yamamoto relayed Haruto’s report. Zenjoji’s brow furrowed; her expertise lay in experimental Kidō and early reishi analysis, not spatial technology. “I’ll investigate,” she said cautiously. “But spatial detection systems are beyond my current research. It’ll take time.”

“Do what you can,” Yamamoto said, dismissing her.

Haruto lingered, his thoughts turning to his incomplete Bankai. The great war loomed, and Yhwach’s Almighty—his omniscience and omnipotence—was a near-insurmountable foe. Haruto’s Gin’ei Tenshi held untapped potential, possibly tied to his Soul King fragment, but its Bankai remained elusive. If the Soul King’s words were true, it could counter Yhwach. He needed guidance.

“Captain Commander,” Haruto said, hesitating, “I need advice… about a girl.”

Yamamoto’s eyebrow arched, his stern gaze softening slightly. “Speak, boy. This old man has seen much.”

“It’s my Zanpakutō spirit,” Haruto admitted, sheepish. “I’ve asked about Bankai, but she refuses to share it. We were close before, but now she’s holding back. With the war coming, and the Soul King saying my Bankai could restrain Yhwach… can you help?”

Yamamoto’s expression turned exasperated, as if Haruto had asked for dating advice. “Your spirit has her reasons,” he said gruffly. “Communicate with her. Earn her trust. I can’t force a Zanpakutō’s will.”

Haruto sighed, nodding. As he left, his mind churned. Chiyo was still out there, the Quincy threat was growing, and his Bankai remained locked away. Time was running out.