Chapter 212: Oh Hey, Isn't That a Bull-Head?
With a mindset built on that foundation, and with sufficient focus and specialization in the work...
Matsushita Yusuke's experimental efficiency had long since surpassed even Tosen's level.
"Next report."
He settled into his seat and started working through the accumulated items. The lab he had established in Hueco Mundo could run independently at a baseline level, but anything important, any judgment call on experimental results, ultimately still required him to personally sign off.
One by one he worked through the backlog until it was nearly cleared.
Then, partway through this particular session, Matsushita Yusuke stopped in a way he rarely did — as though something unexpected had caught his eye.
"Hold on. Wait."
He called a halt to a file that had been about to leave the table, pulled it back, and went through it carefully again.
"..."
He appeared to make some kind of decision. He stood up abruptly.
"This test subject. Take me to see it."
His territory, his call. The request was relayed without delay, and a few minutes later he was standing in front of what looked like a reinforced isolation cell.
The Arrancar beside him held the file with both hands and relayed the specifics in a clear, careful voice.
"This test subject was brought in about half a year ago. Its condition is extremely unstable — it shows sudden violent attacks on its surroundings without warning. It displays very strong aggressive characteristics and is suspected of having no cognitive function whatsoever..."
While briefing, the Arrancar was stealing sideways glances at Yusuke.
They had been working together for years now. He knew his boss's disposition as well as anyone.
'This type of specimen is exactly what Matsushita-dono usually has the least patience for... so why specifically hold this one back?'
No idea. But it didn't really matter.
Work-wise, first priority was to follow the boss's lead. That way if anything came back to bite him later, at least he had a clear answer: the boss told me to, so I did it. Not my call.
Meanwhile, Matsushita Yusuke's gaze was fixed hard on the figure in the cell, his expression cycling through several things before settling into something between a smile and not quite.
"Seriously? A coincidence like this actually exists..."
"Matsushita-dono, did you say something?"
"Nothing. Put the file down and go handle your own work. You don't need to stay."
The Arrancar was more than happy to hear that. He set everything down and was gone before the sentence had fully landed.
Though Yusuke hadn't been at the job all that many years himself, taking opportunities to slack off now came as naturally as breathing. Work aged you.
With that idle thought, Matsushita Yusuke stood in place for a long moment, looking the Hollow in the cell over from every angle, not moving his gaze for quite some time.
His expression was complicated.
Happy, but also carrying a slight edge of apprehension. And the source of that complicated mix of feelings, when it came down to it, was the thing in front of him's appearance.
Humanoid form. White base color. Bull-head Hollow mask. Poor at communication or anything resembling speech.
You. You wouldn't happen to be the original prototype for White Ichigo, would you?!
Because the White Ichigo from the original story was not a simple entity by any standard.
He had been shaped by Aizen Sosuke through forced modification, infused with the soul of a Shinigami. Alright, that part made sense from a research standpoint.
But you had to consider what came after.
By the time the story began, White Ichigo had gone a step further. He had absorbed a Quincy soul, forcibly corroded it, and occupied it from within.
In the original story, Isshin had thrown everything he had into trying to extract White Ichigo from his wife's body.
Urahara Kisuke had helped.
Between the two of them, they hadn't been able to find a solution.
There isn't a word for how stubbornly White Ichigo held on. "Impossible to remove" doesn't come close. Not within a thousandth.
It could endure. Really, genuinely endure.
These thoughts rolled through Matsushita Yusuke's mind and settled toward a more concrete conclusion.
'Aggressive, but also extraordinarily stable. Needs to be resilient enough to withstand conditions that would break almost anything else...'
Not every specimen could bear the pressure that kind of experiment required.
In fact, across years of experimental work, the number of individuals who had managed to achieve fusion and hold a stable balance was no more than a handful. Five at most.
Just that first tier of selection was already a problem with no obvious answer, and then on top of that you still needed the Quincy element to factor in. In a certain sense, describing it as nearly impossible was not an exaggeration.
No wonder that in the original story, after witnessing what eventually became of White Ichigo, even Aizen Sosuke, watching from the sidelines, had been moved to say something aloud.
This was beyond what words like "miracle" could account for.
The only framework Matsushita Yusuke could reach for at this point was the Soul King's personally written script.
There was no other way to explain this many "coincidences."
Ahem. Back to the point.
Making rash judgments based on appearance was irresponsible, he was aware of that. But for the current situation, Matsushita Yusuke figured there was nothing to lose in trying.
After all, this test subject's file basically categorized it entirely under defective. Something slated for full disposal.
If I don't run an experiment first, it gets destroyed anyway. Might as well take a chance and see whether the timeline is really designed the way the old man intended.
With that thought settled, Matsushita Yusuke made his decision quickly.
He was going to pull this bull-headed thing out of here and send it to Aizen's side to participate in the main experiment.
Of course, before that, he had his own considerations to work through.
'Under conditions that allow it, try not to touch the plot's trajectory. So given that... what exactly can I do here that actually benefits me?'
Matsushita Yusuke didn't do free labor. Even when he was working for Aizen's benefit, he had to make sure he was carving out something for himself in the process.
After all, if you had no real foundation under you, surviving the showdowns at Karakura Town and the Soul King's Palace was only the beginning. After that came the Thousand-Year Blood War, and nine times out of ten, Yhwach would be taking a close look at you.
That old monster was even more devious than Aizen.
At least Aizen ran a small operation. He worked his people hard, but he never handed out genuinely impossible suicide assignments.
Yhwach was a different matter entirely.
Can't kill Yamamoto? Then you die with him.
To defeat a villain who was simultaneously formidable, devious, and cunning beyond measure — what did you need most?
Matsushita Yusuke found the answer quickly.
'I have to be more devious than him. More careful. And completely shameless.'