Chapter Ten: The Interrogation

Yamamoto noticed one of the new Soul Reapers had remained in the room. "What do you want?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could answer some questions I had about Soul Society. I tried to ask Renji—"

"You mean Lieutenant Abarai," Yamamoto corrected.

"Yeah, that dude. Anyway, I tried to ask him, but he told me to go away. So I was wondering if I could ask you instead."

Yamamoto scrutinized the Soul Reaper. He had black hair gathered in a spiky ponytail, small loop earrings, and a bored look on his face. "What's your name?"

"Shikamaru Nara."

"Well, Nara, go ahead and ask, but make it quick."

"First off, Renji—"

"Lieutenant Abarai," Yamamoto interjected, for the second time.

"Whatever. He said there are a set number of souls that are either in Soul Society or on earth. When souls die on earth, they come to Soul Society, and when they die in Soul Society, they are reincarnated on earth. Therefore, the number of souls in the universe stays the same. Correct?"

"Correct."

"Well, why are more people born than die? Why is the population growing? And if some souls also go to Hell, that means the number of souls doesn't stay the same, it decreases. So, to make up for this, are new souls created or what?

"Renji also mentioned the Quincys, who destroyed Hollows instead of purifying them. There seemed to be a lot of Quincys at some point, if their work was significant enough that Soul Reapers had to exterminate them. So what happened to all those destroyed souls? And if destroying souls is so bad, why is there the Sokyoku, an execution instrument that can destroy souls, in Soul Society that is used sometimes?

"I heard there's a king and a royal family in Seireitei, but they live in a separate dimension or something. If they don't make laws, then what do they do?

"Why are only Soul Reapers hungry?

"Why haven't the 'missing' captains been replaced? And why—"

"Enough!" Yamamoto's eye twitched. In truth, he had never thought of what this Soul Reaper had mentioned, and was at a loss for how to answer the questions. But, unwilling to appear dull-witted to this infuriating newcomer, he only boomed, "Get out!"

Shuffling out the door, Shikamaru thought, These Soul Reapers are really touchy about the illogical things in Soul Society. He sighed. And I still don't have my questions answered. What a drag.