It took only three days—or to be exact, two and a half days—for Urahara to achieve his Bankai using the Tenshintai. No danger occurred during this period, leaving Kōe, who had been fired up and ready for action, to watch helplessly from the sidelines. It made him feel completely irrelevant.
However, upon returning to Squad 1, Kōe suddenly realized that sometimes, having no presence was actually quite a blessing.
"Lieutenant Shihouin, have you not finished this month's squad budget allocations yet?"
"I finished them. Wait, where did I put them?" Kōe rummaged through the mountain of documents piled up in front of him. Finally, under the skeptical gaze of the visitor, he found this month's squad budget allocations at the very bottom of a stack of papers near his feet.
He never expected to relive the feeling of his past life's first post-graduation job here in Soul Society. The worst part was that his responsibilities were incredibly tedious and complex, yet he didn't even have a computer, let alone office software, to support him. The daily grind of a lieutenant's duties over the past few days had made his head spin!
"Um, Lieutenant Shihouin..."
"What else is there?" Kōe clutched his head and groaned in despair. "Can't you just say it all at once?!"
The middle-aged Shinigami standing before him looked helpless. He pointed at Kōe's desk and gently suggested, "What I mean is, you might want to tidy up your office a bit..."
"That's all, right? If there's nothing else, you can leave!" Just as the middle-aged Shinigami turned to leave, Kōe's voice rang out from behind him again. "Wait a minute. I think you have a point, so why don't you help me tidy this place up!"
"I'm counting on you. Make sure to be thorough!"
"..."
*'Now this is the kind of life a lieutenant should have!'* Stepping out of the office, Kōe felt the stifling frustration of the past week instantly vanish. With his hands clasped behind his back, he leisurely strolled out of the Squad 1 barracks. As for where he was heading next? He already had a destination in mind.
...
Meanwhile, a massive white tower located in the central area of the Seireitei welcomed a new arrival.
The giant tower was named the Senzaikyū, the place where the Seireitei imprisoned major criminals. Of course, the Shinigami were generally more accustomed to calling it by its alias—the White Tower.
Though the White Tower appeared fragile, it was actually constructed entirely of Sekkiseki. Attempting to destroy it with brute force was an incredibly difficult task in itself, not to mention that the Squad 13 barracks were situated just below the high ground to the north of the tower. Even if someone possessed the power to forcibly break it, trying to break someone out from inside was sheer delusion.
From within the Shishinrō—the Deep Prison—inside the White Tower, one could look through the room's sole window and see the Seireitei's famous execution ground not far away: Sōkyoku Hill. Throughout history, countless Shinigami sentenced to heavy punishments had spent their final, tranquil moments accompanied by this very view.
Inside the Shishinrō, the newly arrived Azashiro Sōya leaned against the wall, turning his head slightly to examine the scenery outside the window from the corner of his eye. No emotion could be seen on his face—at least, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, standing outside the cell, couldn't discern any.
As the instigator of the Seireitei's internal rebellion, Azashiro Sōya had been locked up in Muken—a prison even more secure than the Senzaikyū—ever since his arrest. It wasn't until today that he was transferred here.
However, this did not mean the Seireitei had reduced his sentence. On the contrary, he was scheduled to be executed on Sōkyoku Hill in one week. Perhaps transferring him to the Senzaikyū was the Seireitei's final act of mercy? At least, that was what Central 46 believed.
"Tell me. If someone were here a thousand years ago, would the view they saw be the same as mine?" Azashiro Sōya's voice was as soft and faint as ever, but the Senzaikyū was simply too quiet—or rather, deathly still. Kuruyashiki Kenpachi heard every single word clearly.
He heard him clearly, but Kuruyashiki Kenpachi didn't know how to respond. In truth, Azashiro had been extremely cooperative after his arrest. He had helped Central 46 quickly clear the names of uninvolved nobles, thereby preventing a meaningless internal conflict.
Yet even with such an attitude, he couldn't secure a path of survival for himself or his clan. He must be feeling deeply disappointed right now, right?!
Just as Kuruyashiki was sighing inwardly, Azashiro's voice rang out again like a wind chime. "I suppose it would be the same. This place truly hasn't changed in far too long."
"Haa!" Kuruyashiki let out a long breath, organizing his words before speaking. "I will try to save Kōzō again, but as for you... I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."
Hearing this, Azashiro turned his head for the first time. His narrow eyes met Kuruyashiki's sincere gaze, but his expressionless face made one wonder if he actually cared about his clan's survival at all.
Sure enough, he stepped forward slowly and uttered a single sentence to Kuruyashiki. "Passing through the long years without a single change... don't you find it boring?"
"Is there any point in saying this now?"
"There is no point, but consider it idle chatter. After all, I won't have many more opportunities to talk with you like this in the future," Azashiro replied. Seeing Kuruyashiki's downcast, uncomprehending look, he smiled and continued, "Tell me. Just humor a dying man?"
Looking at him, it was truly hard to tell who was actually the dying man. Kuruyashiki smiled and shook his head, his usual hearty demeanor slowly returning.
"If things truly never changed, then I would definitely find it boring. But that's not the case here, is it?"
Kuruyashiki spread his arms wide, his booming voice seemingly echoing throughout the entire White Tower. "Watching new squad members grow stronger bit by bit until they can stand on their own. Drinking to our hearts' content after fighting fiercely side by side, looking at their familiar or unfamiliar smiling faces. People change, and so the Seireitei changes. Those are the scenes I love to see the most, the ones I enjoy the most! Even if I watched them for a lifetime, it would still be incredibly interesting. I could never get tired of it!"
"What a pure man you are." Seeing Kuruyashiki's enraptured expression, Azashiro shook his head, a rare smile gracing his face.
"Is it so bad to be a pure man, Sōya?"
"It seems rather nice. At the very least, you look happy," Azashiro said. Suddenly thinking of someone, he continued to ask, "What about Kōe Shihouin? That young man who made a fool out of me. What kind of person is he?"
"Him? I haven't interacted with him much!" Kuruyashiki patted the back of his head, recalling what he knew about Kōe before continuing. "To be able to spend over a hundred years cooperating with Captain-Commander Yamamoto's plan... he's a meticulous and ruthless character who knows how to bide his time. But normally, he makes a fool of himself and acts like a child! I really don't know which one is his true self."
"Is that so? How interesting." Azashiro turned around, lifting his head to look out the window at Sōkyoku Hill once more. He spoke softly, "I would quite like to meet that little guy. At the very least, before I die, I want to see for myself exactly what kind of presence this genius has—the one who made Central 46 abandon me."
"Your sentence wasn't because of him, Sōya."
Azashiro raised a hand to stop Kuruyashiki from saying anything further. He had his own judgment regarding this matter.
"I'm a bit tired. Let's leave it at this for today." Azashiro slowly walked to the window at the end of the cell. The midday sun was a bit glaring, making him instinctively close his eyes. "I'll have to trouble you to invite him to meet me on my behalf, but don't force it. As for Kōzō, there's no need to push too hard for him either. Both he and I prepared ourselves long ago for the price we would have to pay in the event of failure."
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