"Captain, you really do love giving me trouble!"
Urahara Kisuke sighed helplessly.
He had already noticed the malice in Mayuri Kurotsuchi's gaze.
'This guy's not here to play nice…'
A sharp man like him quickly realized—Katori Nanatsuki must've told them something along the lines of "whoever's most capable gets promoted!"
"Don't worry about the little details," Nanatsuki said with a relaxed smile. "Didn't you always complain about having too much work? Now with these two as your assistants, your workload just got lighter!"
Urahara let out a small sigh. With someone eyeing him like a tiger, he really didn't think things would get easier.
Still, having two capable people in the Tech Bureau would allow him to offload some of the development tasks and focus more on researching Hell Reishi.
If Nanatsuki had chosen them, he likely didn't have to worry about their abilities.
Urahara carefully observed Mayuri and Akon, trying to analyze them.
"Vice Captain Urahara, I'm Akon," Akon introduced himself nervously.
"Mayuri," Mayuri said offhandedly while lightly shaking a cultivation container.
Mayuri's attention was no longer on Urahara—he was far more intrigued by the traces of Hell Reishi inside the container.
He was a native-born Soul Society resident. Though he had visited the World of the Living before, he'd never witnessed the opening of the Gate of Hell, so this was his first time encountering something related to Hell.
"What kind of Reishi technologies have you both worked with before?" Urahara asked.
He was planning to delegate some research tasks so he could focus on developing Kidō and Reishi tools using Hell Reishi.
"I used to work for the Mizutani Merchant Guild, mostly developing drugs—mainly for health, and for stimulating latent spiritual potential," Akon replied honestly.
The Mizutani Guild was involved in many industrial chains. Akon had been a research chemist for their pharmaceutical department.
"A researcher from the Mizutani Guild, huh… That's quite the résumé," Urahara commented.
After rifling through a desk buried in books and papers, he pulled out a stack of notes. "Then I'll assign you to the development of the Reishi Ration Pill."
"Reishi Ration Pill?" Akon repeated as he accepted the documents.
"It's a medicine designed by Captain Nanatsuki. It's a highly concentrated, easily absorbed Reishi pill. Try to find a way to improve Reishi absorption efficiency," Urahara explained.
Spirits with spiritual potential needed to consume large amounts of Reishi-based food during their developmental years. Nanatsuki's goal in developing the Reishi Ration Pill was to make spiritual nourishment more accessible, especially for impoverished areas in the Rukongai.
"Some areas in the Rukongai are so barren they can barely find food. If we can supply them with Reishi Ration Pills, more people would have a chance to become Shinigami. The pills could also be given to Shin'ō Academy students to improve their spiritual intake. This would benefit all of Soul Society. Captain Nanatsuki truly has a far-reaching vision!" Akon was clearly doing his best to integrate himself into the bureau.
Urahara stared at him for a long moment.
He actually had been awake the entire time Mayuri and Akon entered the lab.
He remembered clearly that Akon had shown interest in the Bakkōtō earlier.
Assigning Akon the Reishi Ration Pill project was partly a way to test his character.
Urahara suddenly realized that this young man might pose a greater threat to him than the eccentric Mayuri.
"Deputy Captain Urahara… did I say something wrong?" Akon asked, confused.
"It's nothing... The Reishi Ration Pill project is yours. It's not difficult, but it involves tedious soul-body tests. A perfect opportunity to mentor others and train research assistants," Urahara said as he shook his head, turning to Mayuri.
Mayuri was still examining the Hell Reishi inside the container. He had even removed the lid and was letting some of the Reishi out.
'Troublemaker, just as expected…' Urahara twitched at the corner of his eye and sighed.
Hell Reishi, when exposed to the Soul Society environment, dispersed quickly.
After just a short while of Mayuri playing with it, most of the Reishi inside the palm-sized container had already dissipated.
"Fascinating... It neutralizes when interacting with the ambient Reishi," Mayuri grinned. "Vice Captain Urahara, if you're assigning tasks, give me the Hell Reishi research."
"Ah, well… I didn't expect you to be interested in Hell materials too," Urahara scratched the back of his head. "But that's what I'm working on right now…"
Urahara had finally found a research subject he was passionate about—he wasn't eager to hand it over.
"You two could collaborate—share progress and research together," Nanatsuki interjected. "But the most important thing right now is setting up and refining our researcher training system. The current class at Shin'ō Academy is about to graduate, and I plan to recruit a batch of newcomers. I hope you'll both mentor them properly."
He could sense a bit of tension forming between the two and stepped in to smooth things over.
Although honestly, Nanatsuki was pleased to see this.
If Urahara and Mayuri got along too well and started teaming up to challenge their captain, it would be Nanatsuki himself who'd be in trouble.
"Captain has a point. We could share our progress every so often," Urahara gestured to a stack of papers on a nearby desk. "All that data over there is related to Hell Reishi."
"Heh..." Mayuri scoffed, not even glancing at the stack. He simply took a container holding a Hell Reishi sample from the desk. "This is all I need."
Half a month later.
All the captains of the Gotei 13 had gathered in the 1st Division courtyard.
Today was the day of Shihōin Yoruichi's captaincy assessment.
After returning from Hueco Mundo, she had declared her intent to become a captain via formal assessment.
Although she had just mastered her Bankai, she still harbored a bit of anxiety about challenging for captaincy.
The assessment didn't require a victory—only recognition from three captains.
But since nearly all captains and lieutenants were present to observe, she couldn't afford to make a fool of herself.
That's why she'd been regularly sparring with her teacher lately to get used to her Bankai.
Yoruichi's opponent today was none other than the current 2nd Division Captain.
That captain was Hōmukage Sa, the head of the Feng Clan.
She was an elderly woman known as the current Sui-Fēng.
Only the most exceptional members of the Feng family were granted the title "Sui-Fēng."
After the Shihōin Clan lost its captain-level strength, it was this elder who had carried the 2nd Division on her shoulders.
But now, she was aging and declining in vigor.
In recent years, she had left most of the 2nd Division's affairs to Shihōin Yoruichi.