Chapter 270: Gears turning

Chapter 270: Gears turning

(Ryoto's pov)

Traveling is usually fun. You go to new places... meet the locals... eat new food. I should travel more when I return because the way I'm traveling at the moment isn't ideal. Hollows like to attack me the moment they see me. I am a snack, of that I'm aware. Yoruichi was very vocal about that on many occasions, but what's happening right now is just too much.

Not to mention that there aren't a lot of breathtaking sights in Hueco Mundo. Just a lot of sand, dead trees, a moon in the sky, and rarely some ruins.

Speaking of locals, I just met someone... a pair? I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but it must be one or the other.

The pressure he is exuding is enormous, and it's not even his full power. It's just his passive power that is able to kill weaker Hollows if they get too close. There was evidence of this happening quite often since the only thing surrounding the mysterious man and child were the corpses of said Hollows.

While I didn't get any problem getting closer, I could feel that fighting him would be challenging, and I'm not sure if I would come out uninjured.

Thankfully, I didn't come here to fight.

As I stopped in front of the pair in tattered rags, they looked up.Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

"Who are you?" The man asked in a monotone voice. He seemed bored with life.

"Just a traveling Shinigami. Got a bit lost, and here I am." I answered.

"You... seem strong..." He said after a short evaluation.

"For some, maybe, but I still lack the power that I need for my goal."

"And what is your goal?"

That doesn't need to be said, but for the Hollows in front of me who don't know me, I vocalized my thoughts.

"All I want in life is for my family and friends to be safe."

It could mean only one thing... Ryoto didn't wear a mask in front of his family and friends. But there was an inconsistency with that. Akio was sure of what he saw. Multiple times at that. While it was when he was much younger, he wouldn't be able to mistake it for anything else.

Before he made another assumption, there was one more person he needed to talk with. His mother.

---

Akio was nervous, very nervous. For a good reason, one might add. From what he learned, his father wasn't what he thought he was, and if his father wasn't abusive or manipulative as he believed, it would mean that he had done many unforgivable things, which included villainizing his parent, criminalizing Yoruichi, Urahara, and others and many more without any justification.

This scared him. All he believed in, all his motivation, for nothing. Not only that. If he was mistaken, if somehow his eyes were mistaken, if what he saw was somehow a lie, it would mean that he did something he promised himself never to do.

Harm his family.

Some of Akio's actions can indeed be categorized as hurting his family, but mostly, there was a reason for that.

He criminalized Yoruichi so she could be as far from Ryoto as possible. In other words, safe.

He antagonized his siblings primarily because of frustration, but he was hoping that they'll realize how blind they were. Maybe he was just mad at their ignorance, but he wasn't actively harming them.

As much as Akio wanted to be calm, calculated, and composed, he wasn't. It was a problem from the beginning. Even when he was younger, he was jealous of his older brother's composure, skill, and decisiveness, and this issue wasn't resolved when he got older. It could be why he was so frustrated at Masaru. Why he, who in his mind was inferior, could notice something that his older brother couldn't.

But thinking about it won't help him with his issue. Whatever his mother will tell him will be a deciding factor. No matter what he learned in the past few days, it could still be an illusion created by his father, but Isane was part of the event that was the cause of all his decisions. She would be a deciding factor. He didn't want to ask about it before because he didn't want to upset her or remind her of a reality that would better be forgotten, but he couldn't afford it right now. He needs to know the truth no matter what. That's why he will talk with his mother.

It was finally time to learn the truth.

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END

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