33. Calm before the day (2)

We entered Szayelaporro Granz's lab.

The spacious room was filled with round arrancars. There were conic crystals, each containing colorful liquids attached to various beeping machines.

Cirucci and Sung-sun looked around, the former with a predatory smile, and the latter with a bored expression.

They had finished dressing after a few minutes of a heated discussion I decided to ignore and now we had arrived here.

Cirucci caught the eye of one of the assistants, who looked up and immediately cowered at the sight of her. "Don't worry, I won't bite... unless you give me a reason to," she said with a smirk.

Sung-Sun rolled her eyes at Cirucci's typical bluster. "Can we please focus on the task at hand? We're here to discuss a deal with Granz."

Cirucci pouted but nodded in agreement. "Fine, but can we at least take a look around first? This place is so interesting."

I ignored their bickering and approached Granz, who was standing by a large machine that seemed to be emitting a faint humming noise.

"Granz, we need your help with something." I said, cutting through the chattering of Cirucci and Sung-Sun.

Granz turned around, his face breaking into a sly smile. "Ah, I figured you'd come to me sooner or later for our meeting. What did you want to talk about?"

"You see, I have noticed a big problem." I opened my arms to add emphasis. "I had heard that female arrancars desire to have children, yet they seem to be unable to do so."

Granz's glasses glinted with interest as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Ah, I see. According to my research, a few female arrancars may have the capability to bear children, but the majority are indeed infertile." He said, his tone laced with a hint of intrigue.

"And that's a big problem, if we ever were to lose the hogyoku, our race would face a gradual decline in numbers." I explained with a tense tone.

Granz arched an eyebrow, his gaze sharp and calculating. "And what solution do you propose?"

"You see, a few days ago I remembered a story I read as a human." I gathered my breath. "It was about an alien race that created robots designed to be the perfect lovers for individuals."

"I see where you're going with this," Granz interrupted, his glasses flashing with interest.

Ignoring Granz, I continued my explanation. "But that created a problem where the birth rates dropped to zero. So, they created artificial wombs, exact replicas that could nurture and sustain their offspring until they were born."

Granz raised an eyebrow in interest. "That's an idea I had researched in the past, but it was not interesting so I abandoned it."

Cirucci and Cyan Sung-sun exchanged a quick glance, but remained quiet, not wanting to interrupt the conversation.

"It would be simple to come up with a prototype."Granz continued, arms crossed.

"But you want something in exchange." I said.

Knowing his weird requests from our past interactions, like that time with the hundred-armed Hollow he asked me to hunt, his request would probably be something annoying.

Granz chuckled at my remark and clapped his hands. The floor in front of us opened up, and a large screen rose up. He pulled up a remote controller from his sleeve, and the screen lit up.

I could feel Cirucci and Sung-sun peering over my sides at the screen, their curiosity piqued.

Granz smiled as the image of Ichigo battling a grotesque hollow with an oversized head and a human girl dangling from his mask appeared.

It was unmistakably Grand Fisher, the infamous killer of Masaki Kurosaki.

"You see, a few hours ago, we were observing Kurosaki Ichigo when we saw him fighting this hollow," Granz said, his smile tinged with a hint of madness.

"It was quite a surprise when we witnessed a group of hollows destroy Grand Fisher's mask after his return to Hueco Mundo."

As Granz spoke, the image on the screen zoomed in on Grand Fisher's arrancar form, revealing a tattooed man with his mask remnants consisting of his entire lower jaw, which obscured half of his face, and a hollow hole on his chest.

"He managed to become a complete and natural arrancar, right?" I said, realizing where this was going.

Although, I was surprised that he managed to become a perfect arrancar unlike the one from the original story. This was the first deviation from canon that has not been caused by me directly.

His smile became deranged. "Yes, I want him. A natural arrancar is rare and I have not had the opportunity to experiment with one."

"So you want Grand Fisher in exchange for the production of the artificial wombs." I sighed, feeling annoyed by the task.

Granz turned around, looking at a crystal that started leaking. "I can only build a prototype, I would need a bigger budget for an entire production line. But if you bring me Grand Fisher, I can guarantee you'll have the prototype within a week."

I frowned, not liking where this was going. "And how do you expect us to capture him?"

Granz turned back to me, his eyes gleaming. "That's your problem, not mine. But if you want those artificial wombs, you'll find a way."

I could feel frustration building up inside of me. "Fine. We'll figure it out."

As I turned to leave, I could feel the eyes of Cirucci and Sung-sun on my back. They were probably thinking the same thing as me: "Would Aizen care if I killed his favorite researcher?"

Omake: Parkour

Asguiaro was lying on the ground of the training grounds, feeling pleased with his progress when suddenly a shadow loomed over him.

He opened his eyes to see an angry-looking Cirucci standing over him.

"Get up, lazy ass!" She yelled. "We have a mission to accomplish."

Asguiaro groaned and tried to sit up, but before he could say anything else, Cirucci grabbed him by the collar, yanking him backwards.

"Let's go, Asguiaro!" Cirucci thundered, her eyes flashing with impatience. "We don't have all day!"

Asguiaro stumbled backwards, his legs dragging on the ground as Cirucci pulled him along.

"Wait, what the hell is going on?" he shouted. "I can walk alone, you crazy woman!"

But the excited arrancar was already running towards the horizon, leaving a trail of dust behind them. Asguiaro couldn't help but wonder what kind of crazy mission was in store for him.