The sudden ceasefire between Higashino Shuuichi and Kyōraku Shunsui twisted the field at once. What had been a taut standoff deflated until only one clown—Dordoni—was still performing onstage.
Feeling the lock on him vanish, Dordoni sensed the turn and immediately poured on speed, using Sonído (Sound Step) to flee the field.
Ichimaru Gin feinted as if to give chase—only for Shuuichi to block him with a single cut.
"What do you want to do?"
Kyōraku questioned Shuuichi even before Gin did.
"This guy and Tōsen Kaname framed me into Hollowfication. What do you think I want?"
Shuuichi's gaze was cold on Gin.
"Don't jump to conclusions before we know the facts, Shuuichi.
Sometimes what you see isn't what's real—like with Kisuke."
Kyōraku stepped to Gin's side.
There were things he couldn't say outright—like how he knew the Tsunayashiro clan's divine artifact, the Kyūten Kyōkoku (Nine Heavens Mirror Ravine), could pull off such tricks in theory.
"Don't jump to conclusions? I saw it with my own eyes—how would that be fake?"
Shuuichi challenged.
"Even what you see with your own eyes isn't always true, Shuuichi-dono."
Gin echoed Kyōraku smoothly.
Shuuichi didn't answer. He only leveled his blade's tip at Gin to make his distrust plain.
The air tightened—until a man barged in.
"Hey. You done jawing yet? Weren't we here to grab Shuuichi and take him back? If you aren't gonna move, then get outta my way!"
Zaraki Kenpachi dropped between Kyōraku and Gin.
"The mission's changed, Kenpachi. Let me talk to Shuuichi alone—"
Shunsui hadn't finished when Zaraki burst past him straight at Shuuichi.
"Like hell I care! Shuuichi—take this!"
Annoyed that Kyōraku's meddling had spoiled their fun, Kenpachi swung first and asked no questions.
But without Kyōraku's side assists, and with Gin and Unohana content to watch, Kenpachi as he was now simply wasn't enough for Shuuichi. In under ten minutes, Shuuichi had cut him down and left him gravely wounded, unable to rise.
Staring at the grinning Kenpachi lying in a widening pool of blood, Shuuichi could only regret he couldn't finish it. Kyōraku and Unohana would never allow it. Which only meant that the next time they met, Kenpachi would be stronger—more troublesome.
"Talk?"
Kyōraku took one glance at Kenpachi—already under Unohana's healing—and let his eyes settle on Shuuichi.
"Fine."
Sheathing his blade, Shuuichi hesitated a moment, then agreed.
Truth be told, he was curious about Kyōraku's zigzagging. A long haul from Soul Society with two captains, a fight that looked lethal—then, after deciding Shuuichi posed no immediate danger, a lofty raise-and-light put-down. There was no way to read Kyōraku's true intent from that.
Kyōraku's first words blew the floor out from under him.
"Huh? You're serious? You want me to help look after the Soul Society investigation team you're sending to the World of the Living?"
Even with Shuuichi's experience, this was whiplash—trying to kill him one breath, asking for help the next. Maybe a bit—
"Not you—plural, you. The best case would've been running into Urahara Kisuke and the others here. I brought Kenpachi and Gin mainly to prevent too many Hollowfied captains from going wild.
As it is, only you're here—so I changed the plan."
Kyōraku corrected him, to avoid the wrong impression.
"Mm… So if I understand, whether I'm stable or the other Hollowfied captains are stable, you were going to seek Urahara Kisuke's help either way?"
Shuuichi got it. So he'd just… been collateral this time?
Not entirely. He glanced at Unohana, far off, working on Kenpachi. If Shunsui hadn't cut in, who knew how far Unohana would've pushed him. Knowing her, she wouldn't have stopped until she'd forced out his dual Bankai. And that price would have been far too high.
"Right. A batch of Asauchi were stolen recently. My lead says they may have been smuggled to the World of the Living, so I'm coordinating with Thirteenth's captain Ukitake to send an investigation team."
Kyōraku nodded.
"And the real reason?"
Shuuichi asked.
Stolen Asauchi were a huge deal, but not enough to push Kyōraku to seek help from fugitives like Urahara.
Kyōraku smiled lightly, tilting his hat with one hand.
"If you insist on a reason: the team's acting captain is the current Thirteenth's fukutaichō, Inada Tsukasa. But his acting fukutaichō—that one's the kicker."
"Who?"
"Like the current Third's taichō—hailed as a once-in-centuries genius. Graduated Shin'ō in one year, then in under two more became Thirteenth's Third Seat: Shiba Kaien."
Shunsui watched Shuuichi's stunned face and remembered he'd worn the same look himself.
"One of the Five Great Noble Houses—the Shiba clan?"
That day, Shunsui had stood before Ukitake Jūshirō and said the same—adding:
"If I remember right, the Shiba clan head won't last much longer. His chosen successor is…"
"Mm. Shiba Kaien."
Ukitake nodded.
Silence fell, then Kyōraku went on.
"Jūshirō, you know how dangerous this is. Since the Kasumiooji rebellion seven years ago, the leftovers have been restless. More recently, I have word that the Tsunayashiro clan—one of the Five—quietly approached Kurotsuchi Mayuri and took some technologies that had been sealed as forbidden."
"Shunsui—you don't understand. That's exactly why Kaien volunteered to join the investigation."
Ukitake turned to the window. Outside, Shiba Kaien was passionately coaching Thirteenth's members. He blended effortlessly with the rank-and-file, laughing, talking—nothing like the heir of a Great House.
Maybe only someone like that, knowing the path was a mountain of blades, would climb anyway.
"Reality in the World of the Living isn't Soul Society. Support won't come easy—or quickly. And after the upheaval two years ago, captain-class we can deploy on a dime are few. If a captain joins the team, our intent is too obvious."
Shunsui thought beyond Ukitake. Jūshirō saw Kaien's courage and resolve and was moved. Shunsui saw the fallout if anything happened to Kaien. There was one thing he left unsaid: as long as Kaien stayed inside Soul Society, no one would dare. But once he left—without the Great Spirit Book Corridor to guarantee the truth, and with only the Eizō Hall's recordings—some people would cross lines.
For example: kill Shiba Kaien.
If Kaien were captain-class, Shunsui would worry less. He wasn't. Genius like Gin? No—and even Gin had needed under three years to hit captain-level Reiatsu and under five to master Bankai. After nearly three years, Kaien's Reiatsu was only upper-mid vice-captain. That crushed ninety-nine percent of Shinigami—but real danger didn't care how fast you'd grown.
Silence again in the hut.
Ukitake knew he had a problem. As captain, he couldn't just break his word a minute after giving it—even to pull Kaien off the team, he needed a reason that wasn't the clumsy "I'm worried he'll get hurt."
"Honestly, on paper, our people in the World of the Living aren't much weaker than today's Soul Society."
Ukitake broke the hush.
"You mean Urahara Kisuke and the rest?"
"You thought that night was fishy too, didn't you?"
"But they're Hollowfied. Even if they were captains—"
Shunsui's mind flashed to seven years prior, when he'd cut down members of the Bakkōtō group with his own hands—some of them retired from his Eighth Division.
"Kisuke said, before he left: a Shinigami can master Hollowfication."
"That's his word. No one knows—"
Before he could finish, Ukitake cut him off. "Then try it, Shunsui."
Shunsui blinked. That wasn't like Ukitake. In his mind, Jūshirō had always been resigned—his tragic childhood and lifelong illness leaving him shut in a small room—inside and out.
Ukitake only smiled faintly, remembering the day two years ago he obeyed the Head Captain's order and went to seize a man who, despite Hollowfication, had kept ironclad reason.
"Give it up. Alone, you can't stand against the four of us."
He'd told the man in the fight.
The answer had been unshakable:
"Captain Ukitake—some things you'll never know unless you try. I'll try—and regret nothing!"
What followed was now legend: that man alone launched Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), stood against four captains, and walked away.
So Ukitake couldn't vouch for other Shinigami—but if it was that man, he believed it: he would master Hollowfication.
The memories ran like water through Shunsui's head—that was why, the moment he saw the abnormal Garganta, he made today's call.
"Shiba Kaien must not fall—especially not while serving on a Soul Society team in the World of the Living."
Kyōraku told Shuuichi, solemn.
Shuuichi studied Shunsui's face. It didn't look like a lie. He tapped a finger on his hilt.
With a fox like Shunsui, he wouldn't swallow the pretty reason whole. He felt they were the same—saying half, hiding half.
Protect Shiba Kaien? A good reason. He knew Kyōraku, among the nobles, aligned with the Shiba in many ways.
But not enough.
By itself, that didn't justify Shunsui releasing Shikai. Kyōraku's Shikai was a rules arena—if Shuuichi couldn't break it, someone would die. In raw Reiatsu, that someone would be Shuuichi.
Without the "favor" afterward, Shuuichi would have believed his own earlier guess and Shunsui's explanation: that this had been a danger test.
Now he didn't.
Would a man like Shunsui not know how repellent it is to beat someone to the brink and then ask a favor?
He knew.
And he did it anyway.
Intriguing.
What, exactly, did he want to test?
A possibility struck Shuuichi.
A test of obedience to Soul Society?
Kyōraku wanted to see, under heavy pressure and a domineering rationale, whether Shuuichi would truly move in opposition to him—as the face of the Gotei 13.
Not "Soul Society"—the Gotei 13.
He wanted to confirm Shuuichi's absolute loyalty.
Suddenly, Shuuichi saw it.
And why would Shunsui dare—and want—to push like this? Likely tied to how Shihōin Yoruichi had sealed Shuuichi's blade. From Shunsui's angle, even sealed, Shuuichi had accepted without complaint; later, for Shunsui's and the other captains' sake, he chose to flee with them. That proved Shuuichi's loyalty to the Gotei and to Yamamoto-sōtaichō.
Now he wanted to confirm it again—under extreme stress.
Confirm it… for what?
Shuuichi felt it. Shunsui was playing a long game. And he, Shuuichi, might be a critical piece.
But when a piece knows it's a piece—it might not stay a piece.
"I'll tell Kisuke."
Shuuichi gave Shunsui his answer.
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