Chapter 177: Something's Wrong With You
Matsushita Yusuke came back on time and walked through the Squad 11 gates.
Soifon was at her desk working through administrative documents when she caught sight of him returning. The memory of his inexplicable parting remark resurfaced immediately, and the expression she turned on him was unmistakably uncharitable.
He says something completely baffling on his way out, then strolls back in like nothing happened. Does this man do anything sensible from one end of the day to the other?
Matsushita Yusuke came humming a tune through the door, documents in hand, and found her before she could escape.
"Soifon! I've got two forms that need to go to..."
"Handle it yourself! I'm busy!"
"...???"
Thoroughly told off for no reason he could identify.
He watched her retreating back with a thoroughly confused expression, rubbed his cheek, and let out a short puzzled sound.
Hm.
Did I do something to upset her? Or is she just having a rough stretch lately?
No idea. Either way, the sensible move was to stay out of her way for now.
He dealt with the documents himself, then settled into the captain's office and stared at his stat panel with a vaguely dissatisfied expression.
Huh. Stronger again.
And yet somehow it didn't quite feel like much.
He had expected the fight with Zaraki Kenpachi to be a proper all-out affair. The kind of brutal, life-and-death clash that left both sides thoroughly wrecked. What he had gotten was something almost startlingly clean. After the opening barrage, Zaraki had gone down almost exactly like the big dog in the source material: one heavy crash, face down, done.
"Am I actually super strong?"
Of course, that was only half a joke.
Because Matsushita Yusuke understood his own strengths clearly, and he knew exactly what the actual key to this win had been.
At its core: adequate preparation and the right plan. Against an opponent of that particular type, having the correct countermeasures in place was the most efficient approach available. Several times the result for the effort. That was the whole principle.
This fight had given him a lot to think about.
It had also, somewhere along the way, given him a clearer read on Aizen's operating logic. Regardless of whether you can win outright, using your brain first and working through your countermeasures is never the wrong move.
You can't account for everything. But reasonable prevention, the kind that handles the most likely problems before they arrive, was always worth doing.
That said.
He had gone into this expecting to find the floor of what he was capable of. What he had gotten was essentially a freebie. Which raised the obvious question: at actual full output, everything on the table, nothing held back, what could he actually pull off?
He rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression and let the question sit.
At that exact moment, a familiar presence began moving toward him in complete silence.
Before long...
A figure materialized beside him, apparently assembled out of the surrounding air. An entrance that defied reasonable explanation.
Tosen Kaname.
No trace of the disheveled state from earlier. Dressed neatly now, and his voice carried a more serious note than usual.
"Matsushita. Aizen-sama wants to see you."
Given that Tosen had been watching the fight, this development was entirely expected.
Matsushita Yusuke acknowledged it without hesitation and stood.
"Let's go, then."
He had his own captaincy to attend to, and the administrative load, while light, was never completely absent. But with Kyoka Suigetsu running, a convincing stand-in could cover the necessary functions for a stretch. At close range, over a short window, the resemblance could hold at ninety percent or better. More than enough to eliminate the vast majority of exposure risk.
The two left Squad 11 and moved directly toward Squad 5.
Even with Kyoka Suigetsu as cover, there were still hard limits on what they could get away with.
Shunpo was off the table for travel. The old man was in a different category from the rest of the Gotei 13 roster. Even with the illusion running, Yamamoto had the kind of seasoned instincts that would register the reiatsu fluctuations regardless. Reiatsu shifts were simply too difficult to fully mask. Walking was the safer call.
On top of that, they still had to watch for squad members who had slipped through the net.
Kyoka Suigetsu's effect only applied to specific individuals who had witnessed the release. There were always people who hadn't been in the room. The full assembled captain and vice-captain roster at the ceremony had been covered, but a stray third or fourth seat stumbling across two captains moving together in an unexplained direction was a different problem entirely. Explaining that afterward, or cleaning it up, was unnecessary overhead for the Club. Aizen had always been careful about exactly this kind of thing, and Yusuke and Tosen followed that standard.
Both of them moved with appropriate care.
Once inside Squad 5's territory, they allowed themselves a marginal degree of ease.
Aizen had spent enough time here that his domain was effectively airtight by now. Within these grounds, they could move with slightly more freedom. To the squad members here, the two of them registered as perfectly ordinary, unremarkable faces with nothing worth remembering.
They made their way to the captain's office without incident.
Yusuke raised his hand and knocked.
Three times.
"Come in."
Inside, Aizen Sosuke sat behind his desk with a warm smile already in place as the two of them entered.
"Welcome. My two most capable assistants."
Flattering, but a quick mental pass at the statement revealed its obvious problem.
Boss, do you actually have a third person to round that out with?
You don't. There is no third.
Setting that aside, Matsushita Yusuke rubbed his chin and noticed Aizen watching him with a smile that was carrying rather a lot of intent behind it.
"Aizen-sensei. What did you need?"
"Matsushita-kun."
He stood abruptly and crossed the room at a quick pace, stopped directly in front of Yusuke, and looked him over for a moment before dropping his voice.
"I had formed some expectations regarding your strength. I admit I hadn't anticipated you reaching this level."
"You're too kind. It really came down to preparation."
"Preparation is strength. Don't undersell it, Matsushita-kun." The smile held. "In fact, given where your strength sits right now, I find myself with a plan in mind. One that is, I will admit, somewhat unrealistic."
"...???"
Hold on.
Everyone who had spent any time around this man understood one thing clearly.
Aizen Sosuke was, by nature, meticulous. Careful to an almost compulsive degree. He weighed every action against risk and return, worked through the options, and found the path with the lowest exposure and the highest payoff. That was simply how he operated.
Taking that as a given.
For Aizen to be the one using the words "somewhat unrealistic"...
What exactly was happening here?