"Smack~"
Just as Yūshirō Shihōin gave a textbook villain speech and grinned wickedly while looking at Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi's fist came crashing down on Yūshirō's head.
"Ow! Sis!"
"Why'd you hit me?"
Yūshirō looked up at Yoruichi with a pitiful expression, like a hundred-year-old child sulking.
"Idiot! What's with all that nonsense about marrying in? You're still a kid! Don't talk rubbish! I already told you—Kisuke is my underling! My underling! Once I become a captain, he'll be my vice-captain!"
Yoruichi scolded angrily.
"But Sis, you'll eventually get married~"
"I mean, that guy Kisuke looks like he's totally submissive, no way he could bully you. He'd fit in just fine with our family… I think the Shihōin clan would be happy too."
Yūshirō rubbed his chin thoughtfully, sizing up Kisuke Urahara.
"Aren't you blind?"
"And what do you mean I look submissive?"
Even Kisuke's normally composed demeanor cracked under Yūshirō's bluntness.
"Ara~"
"So even the 'uke' gets angry sometimes~"
"Learning new things every day~"
Yūshirō nodded seriously, like he had discovered a new continent.
"I'm really mad now!"
After all, this Kisuke Urahara wasn't yet the seasoned shopkeeper who had lived through Aizen's betrayal—by Soul Reaper standards, he was still a teenager, prone to mood swings.
"Yūshirō isn't actually blind, you know~"
"He has excellent vision, really long eyelashes, and his eyes are super pretty—like gemstones~"
Yoruichi chimed in while the two bickered.
"Then why wear that weird blindfold?"
Kisuke looked puzzled.
"Wanna see?"
Yūshirō didn't answer directly. He reached up and grasped the black cloth covering his eyes, as if ready to remove it if Kisuke said yes.
"I…"
Kisuke hesitated, then slowly nodded.
"Don't you dare, Yūshirō!"
"Are you trying to kill Kisuke right here and now?!"
"He's the most talented subordinate I've ever found—it'd be impossible to find another like him!"
Before Kisuke could say anything else, Yoruichi smacked Yūshirō's head again.
"Smack~"
"Ow! Sis! That really hurt!"
Yūshirō clutched his head again, looking even more wronged than before.
"You totally deserved that." Yoruichi tilted her chin at him and turned to Kisuke. "You can never look at Yūshirō's eyes. That black cloth isn't just ordinary—it came from the Zero Division. The Soul King himself gave it to us to suppress Yūshirō's spiritual pressure."
"What 'Soul King'? He's just a glorified battery."
Yūshirō interjected.
"I said shut up!"
Yoruichi gave him a look that said don't test me.
"I'll stop. Please, carry on."
Yūshirō immediately covered his mouth.
"Good." Yoruichi nodded and continued to Kisuke, "You wanted to see the Shihōin clan's greatest secret treasure, right? Well, it's standing right in front of you."
"You mean... the legendary Shihōin treasure that could destroy the Soul Society is a person?"
"That's... genuinely surprising."
Kisuke rarely got shocked—but this was the first time in his life he felt truly stunned.
"Don't believe I could destroy the Soul Society, kid?"
"I'm invincible, you know!"
"How about it, wanna play with me, little genius?"
Without warning, Yūshirō, who had been in front of Kisuke, appeared behind him and draped an arm over his shoulder with the demeanor of a smug villain.
"When…?"
Kisuke's eyes widened—he hadn't even noticed when Yūshirō had used flash step.
"Yūshirō."
Yoruichi clenched her fists as she saw Yūshirō teasing Kisuke.
"Okay, okay! I surrender, Sis!"
Yūshirō quickly raised his hands in surrender, so naturally it was as if he'd done it countless times—almost like he was French in a past life.
"Kisuke, I'm sure you've noticed something strange about this courtyard, right? The incredibly dense spiritual particles in the air?"
"Even a vice-captain would feel like drowning here. And that's with Yūshirō's spiritual pressure suppressed to just one-third of its full strength. This aura leaking out of him is still enough to crush any soul below vice-captain level. That's why I waited until now to bring you to meet him—anyone weaker would've been torn apart instantly."
"So this courtyard… isn't protecting those inside—it's containing what's inside, to protect the outside world?"
Kisuke understood everything now. The light defenses around the area weren't to defend Yūshirō, but to contain him. This seemingly ordinary boy truly did possess the power to destroy the Soul Society. That wasn't an exaggeration. If he wandered around freely, he'd cause countless casualties.
"Exactly. This is a cage. A small cage within a larger one~" Yūshirō nodded toward Kisuke, then turned to Yoruichi. "Sis! Don't be fooled by this guy~ His spiritual pressure is already near captain level. If he trained his Bankai now, it'd be easy as pie."
"Huh?"
"Is that true, Kisuke?"
Yoruichi turned to him.
"Ara~ I've been exposed~"
Kisuke stood tall, completely unaffected by the heavy spiritual pressure, looking entirely at ease.
"So you're not just a submissive little uke after all. You're a sneaky little uke. That won't do—what the Shihōin clan needs is an obedient puppet. A puppet!"
Yūshirō shook his head in mock disappointment, clearly rejecting Kisuke as a candidate.
"I told you—he's my underling! Underling!"
Yoruichi punched Yūshirō in the head again.
"Sis, if you keep hitting me, your dear little brother's gonna turn stupid~"
Despite being protected by spiritual pressure and feeling no pain, Yūshirō clutched his head and acted like he was in agony.
"Hey, I've got an idea," Kisuke spoke up, changing the subject. "What if we carved a restriction seal on Yūshirō to keep him from entering the human world? Along with the blindfold, if his spiritual pressure is suppressed to 80%, shouldn't that be enough?"
"You're smart," Yūshirō replied, rolling up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo-like seal. "That's exactly what Kirio and Senjumaru did together—this seal suppresses almost 90% of my spiritual pressure. So combined with the blindfold, I'm down to one-third of my full power. And even then, just being near me can crush anyone below vice-captain level. Get it now?"
"…Are you a monster?"
Kisuke asked, dead serious.
"I already told you."
"I'm invincible~"
Yūshirō flashed a wicked villainous grin.