The information that Ai Hayasaka uncovered about Ren left her deeply surprised.

He was the definition of a genius.

From elementary to junior high to high school, he had aced every exam with perfect scores. In middle school, he had already earned his first sizable fortune.

Then, writing light novels, he debuted professionally and became a well-known author, making a great deal of money—only to withdraw from the industry once he reached a certain financial goal.

Later, investing his earnings in various enterprises, he doubled his assets. To this day, he owned wealth in the tens of millions if not billions yet had again chosen to stop.

He could have gone on and achieved even more but decided not to. Purchased a house, started enjoying life. That part was surprising, yet not enough to make her wary.

The real reason Hayasaka was paying close attention to him came from an incident some time ago involving the Spencer family. Four days earlier, Kaguya Shinomiya had asked her to investigate the Spencer family's day-to-day activities and abnormal footage, to figure out the true cause of their patriarch's death.

Initially, she didn't read too much into it—since that person was a diplomat, it was natural for her lady, Kaguya, to show concern.

Then Kaguya asked her for advice on how to approach a particular man. That shocked Hayasaka—her mistress wanted to get close to someone? Probing here and there, gathering intel, she deduced that Ren was involved. And sure enough, once she dropped a few hints, Kaguya herself revealed his name.

From that day on, the Shinomiya heiress had pestered Hayasaka for advice on all sorts of topics—every single one about Ren. She realized her lady had fallen in love.

Immediately, she began a thorough investigation into who this Ren was. What she found astonished her. He was extraordinarily accomplished.

But one specific detail made her frown. The Spencer incident seemed to involve that man. Was that the reason her lady had personally tasked her with investigating? As someone who looked into the Spencer story firsthand, Hayasaka knew it was brimming with oddities. The Spencer patriarch had behaved in ways that defied normal logic. It was nothing like the official explanation.

"Ren…"

Hayasaka fixed her gaze on a photo of him, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

…

After school.

As usual, Ren did a sweep of the wide region around his home, eliminating any evil spirits or yokai he came across. He noted how yokai were becoming more numerous; before, he rarely ran into them, but now their numbers were gradually rising. This was proof that the apocalypse was still progressing. Fortunately, for now it was only lesser creatures like evil spirits and small yokai. Whatever might emerge in the future, he couldn't control. All he could do was keep getting stronger.

Upon returning home, he was surprised to see both Eriri and Sayuri there. Earlier, he had given Eriri a key to his house, telling her to treat it as her own place and come and go as she pleased.

"Eriri, Sayuri-san… what's this?"

He spotted bowls and plates on the table, with steaming dishes ready to eat.

Sayuri smiled and gave him a playful wink. "I thought, if I'm cooking anyway, I might as well make extra for you too. Cooking for two or three people isn't much different, so why let you fend for yourself?"

Her twinkling eyes hinted at a deeper meaning. We'll be one family soon, after all.

"Aah, Mom, stop it already. Ren must be starving. Come on, try what I just learned!"

With that, Eriri tugged Ren over to the table and sat close beside him, piling food into his bowl.

"…"

Inwardly, Sayuri felt both comforted and a bit empty. Comforted because, overnight, Eriri had matured. Her usual tsundere attitude was diminished, replaced by new warmth. She'd even pressed her mother for cooking lessons so she could be a proper wife. But that night had been… complicated and rather long.

Empty because the two of them sat there side by side, feeding each other lovingly, while she could only watch from across the table—an outsider in her own scene.

…

After dinner.

They cleaned up the dishes, and then Eriri and Sayuri returned to their own place. Eriri would've liked to stay, but her body couldn't handle it yet.

Ren, not yet ready to sleep, passed the time by summoning a sword out of thin air. It looked like a simple, sheathless longsword—his Zanpakuto, or at this stage, one might call it an Asauchi. To awaken a Zanpakuto's power, he had to discover the blade's true name.

Grasping the hilt, Ren closed his eyes, letting his breathing settle into a steady, tranquil rhythm. Soon it felt as though he slipped into a voidlike dimension. When he opened his eyes again, golden light shimmered, revealing two colossal golden hands in that infinite emptiness, stretching out as if to seize the entire void.

Right then, realization came, his Zanpakuto originated from his own soul. And in that instant, he understood its name.

"The Dominator."

He murmured the Zanpakuto's true name unconsciously, and the vision shattered.

Back in reality

The Zanpakuto immediately began its initial release! The sword in his hand disintegrated into particles of golden light, merging with his eyes. When Ren opened them, his golden irises now bore a star-like pattern, and he grasped the nature of the blade's power.

[Dominator: to rule and subjugate all.]

He opened his palm, and the furniture around him began to float—yet this time not through Vector Manipulation, not by controlling currents of air to keep them aloft. Rather, it was dominion. He was commanding the air itself to lift the table and chairs, an act fundamentally different from the vectors he'd manipulated before.

At present, Dominator was still only Level 4. But Ren sensed that if he achieved Bankai—further evolution—he could eventually wield true dominion over all things with these eyes.