Dusk. A dying sun.
From within Seireitei, the sky burned red.
So did the barracks of Eleventh Division.
This captain-class clash had raged for nearly an hour. What began as Kenpachi vs. Higashino Shuuichi had turned into Kenpachi vs. (Higashino Shuuichi + Kensei), and now it was Kenpachi vs. (Higashino Shuuichi + Kensei + Kamikawa Renzosuke).
If you also counted the former Eleventh Division Captain Kiganjō Kenpachi, whom Kenpachi had already KO'd, that made it a clean one-against-four.
On paper, it was the kind of feat ordinary Shinigami could brag about for generations.
Yet from the corner of Higashino Shuuichi's eye, he caught Retsu's flat expression—no ripple at all—and guessed she was disappointed.
Set aside Higashino Shuuichi, that Schrödinger-captain whose strength swings between god and ghost.
Kensei—everyone's favorite "captain-power measuring stick"—his joining barely moved the needle.
Kamikawa Renzosuke—the current Third Division Captain who'd held that post for centuries—was old and riddled with injuries. Twenty years ago, during the joint expedition against Hueco Mundo, Baraggan's aging ability wounded him; since then, his strength had fallen to the point even Kensei could just about go arm-wrestling with him.
As for Kiganjō Kenpachi—don't even start. Slay the weakest Kenpachi in history, let Gozu Kenpachi take the seat, and you barely get something like "ten Kenseis" worth of strength out of it.
Add those four together, and only then could they fight the current Kenpachi to a draw.
Kenpachi going all out showed no sign of defeat, but no sign of victory either.
"You've kept yourself suppressed too long, Kenpachi. Have you forgotten who you were?"
Through this war of attrition, Retsu confirmed the suspicion in her heart.
Was the Kenpachi before her strong?
No doubt. Strong.
But still far from what Retsu hoped to see.
The boy from that day—high-spirited, edge laid bare, the killing stroke from the shadows that carved a scar across her chest she refused to erase—was gone.
Turning away in disappointment, Retsu lost all interest in how this would end.
The Kenpachi standing here was not the one she had waited for.
After Retsu left, the fight wanted to continue.
"Wanted," not "did," because Kenpachi was still itching, while the Captain-Commander was not.
"Enough nonsense!"
Genryūsai Shigekuni merely stepped between them, and his overwhelming presence crushed everyone flat.
Higashino Shuuichi had the sense to stop. Kenpachi, though, tried to test his blade on the old man.
The result needs no telling.
Even past his peak, Genryūsai Shigekuni was not someone this self-sealed Kenpachi could provoke.
Crushing defeat.
If Retsu hadn't publicly acknowledged Kenpachi as a captain—and the other captains hadn't tacitly accepted it—Kenpachi wouldn't be headed to Muken, but he'd at least take a stroll through the Maggot's Nest.
Even so, after the Captain-Commander left, while receiving necessary treatment from Higashino Shuuichi, Kenpachi still tossed out a request.
Find a time and a remote place, drag Kensei, Kamikawa Renzosuke, and Retsu along, and let them all have another round.
Higashino Shuuichi shot Kenpachi a merciless side-eye.
He could accept himself, Kensei, and Kamikawa Renzosuke.
Retsu?
No amount of remoteness would be enough for those two. Unless you opened Muken and threw both Kenpachi and Retsu in together.
But that was fantasy.
In the original timeline, with Yhwach looming, Retsu only agreed to Shunsui's request under duress. Why would she ever sacrifice herself like that otherwise?
And what was with Kenpachi's line, anyway?
"I feel like I've seen your captain somewhere."
She'd been waiting for you for centuries, you know.
Ambiguous as it sounded, the reality was just that—she even learned to "heal" better only to savor the fight with Kenpachi more.
As for the Kasumiooji Shinigami Kenpachi killed, and the ones he "accidentally" cut down on his way into Seireitei—
"Huh? That happened?"
"Wasn't it so-and-so who killed them? Those guys who just got thrown into the Maggot's Nest!"
The strong always have privileges.
In Soul Society, most of all.
—One day later, Kasumiooji estate, in the head's study.
"Which of you is going to tell me why that Kenpachi is that strong! Why he's inherited the title and become the Eleventh's Captain!! Why!!!"
Kasumiooji Masasuke, livid, hurled anything at hand to the floor.
Opposite him stood Kumoi Gyoukaku and Higashino Shuuichi.
"Masasuke-dono, Kenpachi's strength did exceed my expectations. When I fought him, I never imagined he had that much held back," Higashino Shuuichi answered.
"And he should be just an ordinary soul from Rukongai. For someone like that to wield this level of power is truly unheard of," Kumoi Gyoukaku added in Higashino Shuuichi's defense.
It was, in fact, Kumoi Gyoukaku's own confusion.
Where did Kenpachi's terrifying power come from? Talent?
Could a soul really have talent that monstrous?
If so, then aside from the current Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni, Kenpachi would be the most gifted Shinigami Kumoi Gyoukaku had ever seen.
"And now what? After we lost so many Shinigami, that old fossil Genryūsai actually persuaded Central 46 to tell me to drop it?!"
At that thought, Kasumiooji Masasuke's gut twisted with humiliation.
It was the worst slight he'd suffered since taking the seat of family head.
"With respect, Masasuke-dono, if that's truly Central 46's stance, then for the short term, we may have no way to move against Kenpachi."
They couldn't beat him head-on. If they tried something underhanded and got caught, with the way Kenpachi swaggered yesterday, he might just kick their front door down in return.
Apply direct pressure, and you couldn't bypass Central 46 and Genryūsai Shigekuni anyway.
So what was left?
Even Higashino Shuuichi saw no path.
But it was exactly what he'd expected.
Powerless rage—nothing but powerless rage.
For the first time, Kasumiooji Masasuke tasted deep helplessness. And in his eyes, Higashino Shuuichi also saw a deeper hunger for power.
"That's right. Only anger and denial can make a person lose reason."
Satisfied, Higashino Shuuichi left the study with Kumoi Gyoukaku.
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