"These guys actually dared to pull this off right under Seireitei's nose." Kyōraku Shunsui frowned.
The Junlin'an District sat right next to Seireitei, and the fact that the Gotei 13 hadn't noticed any of this until now was… embarrassing, to say the least.
Just then, noise came from the corridor outside.
A white-haired Shinigami entered through the door, followed by several others.
Nanatsuki instantly recognized the white-haired man—it was Sasakibe Chōjirō, vice-captain of the 1st Division and assistant to the Head Captain.
"Vice-Captain Sasakibe, you sure got here fast." Kyōraku Shunsui raised an eyebrow.
Clearly, Sasakibe had been sent by the Head Captain.
"Captain Kyōraku, looks like you've uncovered quite a bit. However, the Head Captain is not pleased with your unauthorized actions," Sasakibe said.
"If he's unhappy, then so be it. I'm a captain now, old man Yama can't exactly throw me in solitary confinement, can he?" Kyōraku replied casually.
Sasakibe didn't say much more—he simply helped Kyōraku take the evidence away.
With this evidence, they could continue the investigation and eventually unmask the mastermind behind it all.
…
A few days later, Nanatsuki headed to the 8th Division to check on the investigation's progress, only to be told by a squad member that the captain hadn't returned for days.
After asking around, he learned the real reason: after Kyōraku's brazen comments that day, he was promptly thrown into solitary by the Head Captain.
The Head Captain had suddenly taken an interest in evaluating his disciple's training, so Kyōraku had no choice but to accompany him down memory lane and relive their "training days."
As for the evidence they had uncovered that day—it had already been submitted to the Central 46. The matter was being taken very seriously and had been handed over to the 6th and 10th Divisions for a joint investigation.
However, Nanatsuki soon received shocking news.
That "Ōtsuka Workshop"... turned out to be a forging facility run by the Azashiro Clan!
The entire Azashiro household had been arrested!
Even Azashiro Kana was taken away in the middle of a lecture!
Muguruma Kensei, Hirako Shinji, and Kobane Jin'emon all skipped class and rushed to inform their teacher.
After calming his students down, Nanatsuki went with Batsu'unsai to the prison to visit Azashiro Kana.
The prison guard recognized Batsu'unsai and let them in without issue.
Azashiro Kana hadn't been physically harmed, but after rounds of interrogation, she looked exhausted. However, upon seeing Nanatsuki, she perked up again.
"Teacher!"
"Kana, I brought you some sweets," Nanatsuki said, handing over a food box.
"Teacher… is the Azashiro family… finished?" Kana asked, dejected, as she opened the box. "The prison guards said… we're being charged with treason."
Nanatsuki tried to reassure her. "Don't worry. I'll find a way to get you out."
"Kana, is Ōtsuka Workshop owned by the Azashiro Clan?"
"Yes. Do you remember, teacher? At the start of the semester, there was a problem with the wooden swords provided by the Academy. I brought a new batch from Ōtsuka to replace them—it was a bit of free advertising for the new shop," Kana explained.
"Ōtsuka Workshop is newly opened?" Nanatsuki's brow furrowed.
"Yes, just a month or two before the semester started. I even spoke with Mr. Ōtsuka when picking up the swords. He oversaw everything from construction to opening."
"Do you know much about Mr. Ōtsuka?"
"Not really. He seemed like a retainer-type who managed business affairs."
Kana wasn't too familiar with the inner workings of her family, nor could she say for certain whether the Azashiro Clan was guilty of treason. One thing led to another, and she'd been locked up without even understanding what had happened.
With little else to gain, Nanatsuki left after soothing her mood.
He had wanted to question Kana's parents as well, but they were under even stricter confinement—not even Batsu'unsai's influence could get through.
"Seems like the Kasumioji Clan didn't act on impulse this time. We just happened to walk into it."
Nanatsuki suspected this entire move against the Azashiro Clan had been planned for a long time.
"This reeks of something deeper. If it were just the Kasumioji Clan, there's no way they could've taken down the Azashiro so quickly," Batsu'unsai said with a frown.
The Azashiro Clan had been rising steadily for nearly a century. Their reach wasn't trivial. Yet they were swept away and jailed in just a few days?
Fortunately, Nanatsuki still had one trump card.
He'd been using shadows to monitor the Kasumioji household and had discovered they were keeping records of successfully forged Bakkōtō.
And he just so happened to know where the Kasumioji Clan stored their scrolls.
If he could retrieve those scrolls, he could prove the blades were forged by the Kasumioji family.
…
A few days later, Kyōraku Shunsui was finally released.
"Damn, even at his age, the old man's grip still hurts like hell. My shoulder's still sore!" Kyōraku grumbled, rubbing his shoulder.
The moment he left the 1st Division, he was dying to find a drink.
Spending the past few days "training" with Old Man Yama meant no alcohol—and it had nearly driven him mad.
"Captain Kyōraku, I've been waiting for you."
The sudden voice startled him. He glanced around, but no one was in sight.
He focused his senses and finally noticed something strange in the shadows of the corner.
Kyōraku's hand instinctively went to his sword hilt.
"Relax. It's just me."
The shadow peeled away, revealing the figure of Katori Nanatsuki.
"Katori-kun? Is that your Zanpakutō's ability?" Kyōraku looked at the fading shadows with interest. "That's some serious stealth. I didn't notice a thing…"
"My shadow lets me conceal my Reiatsu," Nanatsuki explained briefly. Then he asked, "Captain Kyōraku, have you heard what happened to the Azashiro Clan?"
"I wasn't completely out of the loop during my time in the 1st Division. I heard about it… Can't believe that forging shop we found turned out to be run by the Azashiro." Kyōraku sighed. He remembered Nanatsuki had a student from that clan.
He'd heard that the 6th and 10th Divisions found a ton of incriminating evidence at the Azashiro estate. The so-called "Bakkōtō"—evil weapons—had already been forged in large numbers, and many of the clan's guards and retainers were equipped with them.
Combined with a stack of letters, it painted a clear picture of the Azashiro Clan recruiting troops for rebellion.
"The Azashiro were framed. After several days of investigating, I found that those blades were actually made by the Kasumioji family," Nanatsuki said.
"Whoa, hold on. You can't say stuff like that lightly. Do you have proof?" Kyōraku asked. He, too, had found the whole case suspicious—mainly due to how fast everything was moving.
In his experience, noble-related cases always dragged on for as long as possible.
In big cases like this, there should have been countless obstacles. Only once a scapegoat was found would things suddenly progress.
But the Azashiro case was strange. Evidence popped up in mere days. The entire clan was locked up. They were already preparing for public execution.
Clearly, some powerful hand was pushing things forward.
"I have the proof—but we need to retrieve it ourselves."
Nanatsuki had come to Kyōraku specifically because of his status.
It wouldn't be enough for him to simply present a scroll and claim it belonged to the Kasumioji family. Scrolls could be forged.
He needed someone with clout to witness the retrieval—someone whose testimony would carry weight.
And as the Head Captain's disciple and current captain of the 8th Division, Kyōraku Shunsui had more than enough weight to throw around.