The disturbance didn't last long.
In a setting that had gathered nearly the strongest batch of Shinigami currently in Soul Society, trying to cause any major losses with nothing more than a single fukutaichō's manifested Zanpakutō was basically spitting in the faces of all those taichō.
"Taichō, I really don't know what's going on!"
After the manifested Zanpakutō was subdued, the Ninth Division fukutaichō, Shiya, hurriedly explained to his taichō, Tōsen Kaname.
"Don't worry. No one's going to pin this on you. We all know what your Zanpakutō's abilities are like—there's a high chance it was used by someone else."
Once he finished checking the outside of the venue and confirming there were no other threats, the Tenth Division taichō, Shiba Isshin, walked over and patted Shiya on the shoulder.
At this moment, only the Gotei 13's taichō and fukutaichō remained inside the venue—along with Higashino Shuuichi and the members of his Katana-gari-shū (Blade-Hunting Corps), as well as Yamada Seinosuke, who had just taken office as Director-General of the Shin'ō Shiyakuin.
As for the nobles, they'd already been escorted back to their respective residences by the Thirteenth Division fukutaichō and the Second Division taichō, Soi Fon—together with the Second Division fukutaichō, Ōmaeda Marechiyo.
"Still… being able to force a Shinigami's Zanpakutō to manifest like that is a pretty terrifying ability."
Higashino Shuuichi sat alone off to one side of the venue, leaning back in his chair with a faint smile.
"Using that kind of shortcut to grasp Bankai (Final Release) is disgraceful. It's also an extremely harmful method for a Shinigami's future growth. If you don't go through the process of communicating with and understanding your Zanpakutō, you can't truly master your own power!"
Kyōraku Shunsui—who was inspecting Shiya's Zanpakutō—glanced at Higashino Shuuichi. He immediately caught the hidden meaning in Higashino Shuuichi's words and bluntly cut off any crooked thoughts forming in the minds of certain fukutaichō nearby.
Everyone knew: if a Shinigami wanted to master Bankai, the first step—and the hardest step—was to manifest their Zanpakutō by understanding and communicating with it.
And this ability that could manifest a Shinigami's Zanpakutō on demand could obviously help a Shinigami skip a massive chunk of that hurdle.
But in the eyes of Kyōraku Shunsui—and the current Sōtaichō, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni—this kind of opportunistic shortcut was nothing less than strangling a Shinigami's future. Mastering Bankai without thoroughly understanding one's Zanpakutō would make it extremely difficult to ever break through and evolve one's power again.
Higashino Shuuichi understood that too. Urahara Kisuke—still in the World of the Living—understood it. Aizen did as well.
That was why Aizen had looked down on Urahara Kisuke's Tenshintai (Soul Separation Device). And why Urahara Kisuke never tried to widely spread it in the first place—there was probably that kind of deeper concern at play.
When Soul Society wasn't lacking taichō, and hadn't run into some life-or-death crisis yet, forcing growth by pulling sprouts was nothing but harm.
Even so—principles were one thing. A special incident like this was still enough to draw the full attention of the entire Gotei 13.
Especially because it happened right at the inauguration ceremony where the former Fourth Division fukutaichō was taking office as Director-General of the Shin'ō Shiyakuin.
In front of so many taichō…
This felt like—
"Provocation! Sōtaichō, this is provocation against us!"
The Seventh Division taichō, Komamura Sajin, looked toward Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni with visible anger.
"Sōtaichō, I request that this matter be handed to our Seventh Division! I will investigate this thoroughly in the shortest time possible!"
After Komamura Sajin finished, another taichō spoke up with a low hum.
"If possible, Sōtaichō, I would like this matter to be handed to our Sixth Division."
The one who spoke was the head of the Kuchiki clan—one of the Five Great Noble Houses—and the Sixth Division taichō: Kuchiki Byakuya.
"Kuchiki-taichō? Your Sixth Division wants to take this?"
Komamura Sajin asked, confused. In his impression, the Sixth Division rarely involved itself in the Gotei 13's routine affairs.
As a division that originally existed to serve the nobles, the Sixth Division's duty had always been noble affairs first.
That only began to slowly change after the sudden rise of the Katana-gari-shū.
Even so, the Sixth Division still primarily handled noble business.
In Komamura Sajin's memory, situations like this—where Kuchiki Byakuya proactively asked to take a case—were extremely rare.
"The mastermind behind this is clearly provoking the entire Gotei 13 and all nobles. By duty and by reason, as the Sixth Division taichō, I should pursue this matter."
Kuchiki Byakuya's words were perfectly righteous—so much so that anyone who didn't know better might truly believe he was stepping up out of pure responsibility.
But Higashino Shuuichi watched Kuchiki Byakuya's eyes and caught the faint twitch at the corner of his eye as he spoke.
A telltale sign of guilt.
"Heh… still too young."
Higashino Shuuichi smiled to himself.
Kuchiki Byakuya's succession had simply been too rushed.
Whether it was a clan as massive as the Kuchiki, or the weight of being a division taichō—Kuchiki Byakuya hadn't been given enough time to be tempered.
Even if he was doing everything he could to learn and absorb experience, some things couldn't be trained overnight.
Even Higashino Shuuichi had spent hundreds of years being honed under Aizen before he gained this kind of composure—steady as a mountain even when the sky collapsed in front of him.
Not to mention the other old hands present—
After Kuchiki Byakuya finished, Kyōraku Shunsui set his kasa back on his head, turned away, tucked his hands into his sleeves, and smiled without saying a word.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni let his seemingly cloudy eyes rest on Kuchiki Byakuya for a long moment.
Anything that's abnormal has a reason. Even someone as straightforward as Komamura Sajin can sense something off—did you really think that just because you found a plausible excuse, you could fool everyone?
Higashino Shuuichi very much wanted to say that to Kuchiki Byakuya.
Compared to the steady "Byakuya-niisama" of decades later, the Kuchiki Byakuya of now really did look like a child in Higashino Shuuichi's eyes.
He didn't even need to watch Yamamoto and Kyōraku's reactions to know—Kuchiki Byakuya's move had already drawn their suspicion.
Of course, suspicion was all it could be.
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, the most classic representative of the conservative faction, and Kyōraku Shunsui of the reformists—
Neither of them would launch any serious investigation into Kuchiki Byakuya over something like this.
At this point in time, the head of one of the Five Great Noble Houses still carried massive intimidation.
Besides, Higashino Shuuichi suspected Kuchiki Byakuya might not even be fully informed.
Otherwise, with Kuchiki Byakuya's personality, no matter the reason, he would never have allowed what just happened to occur.
"I support Kuchiki-taichō. And if, during the investigation, Kuchiki-taichō needs anything at all, he can come to me—our Fifth Division will gladly provide any help we can~"
After Kuchiki Byakuya spoke, the Fifth Division taichō—"Aizen Sōsuke," or rather, Ichimaru Gin—openly voiced his support.
And that, as if setting a good example, was quickly followed by support from the Ninth Division taichō, Tōsen Kaname, and the Eleventh Division taichō, Zaraki Kenpachi.
Kenpachi hadn't planned to comment at all, but under the intense interference of his fukutaichō, Kusajishi Yachiru, he unwillingly stated his stance.
"Yachiru-chan, you're this enthusiastic… don't tell me you've got your eyes on the Kuchiki clan's empty rooms?"
As an "outsider," Higashino Shuuichi tactfully avoided offering any opinion on internal Gotei 13 arrangements. While the others fell into discussion, he quietly moved over beside Kusajishi Yachiru and teased her.
"Wah?! Shuuichi-chan, how did you know?! Don't tell me you can read minds?!!"
Yachiru's eyes instantly lit up. She looked utterly shocked, then in one motion sprang from Zaraki Kenpachi's shoulder onto Higashino Shuuichi's head. Her little hands grabbed his head firmly, and she even used the top of his head like a chin-rest—hanging there like a cheerful gremlin.
"What's so hard about it? I heard from Soi Fon that your Shinigami Women's Association still hasn't found a suitable headquarters, so every time you meet, you have to temporarily borrow the Fourth Division barracks.
Back then, I thought: you're the Eleventh Division fukutaichō, right? With your relationship with Kenpachi, clearing out a space in the Eleventh Division barracks would be absurdly easy—so why do you still go out of your way to use the Fourth Division?
There's only one answer: as the president of the Shinigami Women's Association, you're picky about the meeting location. The Eleventh Division's barracks, full of that combat atmosphere, isn't even in your consideration.
But I used to be in the Fourth Division too. If even the Fourth Division's quiet atmosphere doesn't satisfy you, then it's easy to imagine that, in all of Soul Society, there really aren't many places left that meet your standards.
And it just so happens I also know the Kuchiki estate's environment is genuinely excellent.
So, you see, Yachiru-chan—wasn't that easy to guess~?"
With nothing else to do and as the main person responsible for venue security, Higashino Shuuichi couldn't leave for the time being anyway, so he patiently explained it all to her.
Instead, that only made Yachiru even more impressed.
"Come on—this is only 'easy' for you, Shuuichi-chan! How could a normal person analyze that much in one shot?!
I don't think you should be called Shuuichi-chan anymore!"
"Haha, then if you're not calling me Shuuichi-chan, what are you going to call me?"
After constantly chatting with people full of schemes and careful thoughts, talking with someone as simple as Yachiru felt unexpectedly fun to Higashino Shuuichi.
"Mmm… I'll call you Little Mystic-Swindler!
All that explaining—why didn't you just say you pinched your fingers and divined it?!"
Yachiru remembered a novel she'd picked up from the World of the Living recently. The "mystic charlatan" in it suddenly felt like a perfect match for Higashino Shuuichi, so she happily declared it.
Then she lifted both hands.
And her body dropped.
Just barely—just barely—she almost embarrassed herself straight into legend.
Luckily, she caught Higashino Shuuichi's thigh in the middle and hugged it for dear life. Otherwise, she would've become the first fukutaichō in history to get so excited on someone's head that she fell face-first onto the floor.
"Hahaha!"
To be fair, Higashino Shuuichi really did get a good laugh out of it.
Just as he was about to turn and reach down to pick Yachiru up from his thigh, Soi Fon—who had gone to escort the nobles—suddenly returned to the venue.
"This is bad—everyone! It's not just the Ninth Division fukutaichō Shiya's Zanpakutō that got manifested. Now, throughout the entire Seireitei, the Zanpakutō of the vast majority of Shinigami have been manifested!"
The moment she came back, Soi Fon delivered the bad news.
"What?"
Komamura Sajin looked completely incredulous. Zaraki Kenpachi moved even faster—he laughed twice and then bolted out of the venue.
Lately, there hadn't been any blind Hollows daring to run into Soul Society to cause trouble. Most days he could only bully his own Eleventh Division seated officers, and only occasionally get the chance to be abused by Higashino Shuuichi—he'd been itching for a real fight for a long time.
In contrast, Kuchiki Byakuya—who had just received formal assignment from Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni—looked more restless than anyone.
The panic in his eyes could no longer be hidden.
Because Kuchiki Byakuya knew that this ability to manifest Zanpakutō felt eerily similar to the Zanpakutō ability of someone he was very familiar with—
Only, in Kuchiki Byakuya's memory, that "uncle by marriage" of his seemed to have mastered only Shikai (Initial Release).
But this was Soul Society. If a Shinigami secretly mastered Bankai, that wasn't strange at all.
So from the very start, Kuchiki Byakuya had never truly held onto hope.
And now, instead, he found himself praying for a sliver of luck.
After all, manifesting a single Shinigami's Zanpakutō to cause trouble, and targeting all Shinigami—that was an entirely different level of severity.
If—if—this really was done by his uncle, Kuchiki Kōga…
Then Kuchiki Byakuya was certain that even he wouldn't be able to protect Kuchiki Kōga.
Worse still—he would have to coldly cut ties, or else that noble bloc led by the Tsunayashiro clan would absolutely seize the chance to stomp on the Kuchiki while they were down.
So after Zaraki Kenpachi left, Kuchiki Byakuya offered no further explanation.
He simply became the second taichō to leave the venue.
Some things, he needed to confirm with his own eyes.
After that came the Ninth Division taichō Tōsen Kaname, the Fifth Division taichō "Aizen Sōsuke," the First Division taichō Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, and the Second Division taichō Soi Fon…
Before long, only Higashino Shuuichi and his Katana-gari-shū subordinates remained at the venue.
Even Yamada Seinosuke hurried off.
"Shuuichi-sama, should we…?"
Kisaragi Shūsuke walked up beside Higashino Shuuichi and asked.
To be honest, this escort duty left a bitter taste in his mouth.
It wasn't that he disliked working for nobles—it was that from start to finish, someone else had stolen all his work.
Even when an incident happened, the nobles they should've escorted were instead taken by Soi Fon—someone who used to specialize in exactly that.
For Kisaragi Shūsuke, who had finally returned and wanted to help Higashino Shuuichi build something real, it stung a little.
In fact, if the taichō who volunteered to escort them hadn't been Soi Fon, Kisaragi Shūsuke might've even tried to step in and snatch the job.
But because it was Soi Fon, Kisaragi Shūsuke knew something very clearly:
In all of Soul Society, the only one Shuuichi-sama called by such an intimate nickname—there was only one.
In other words, this taichō who looked like a little girl… was not someone Kisaragi Shūsuke could afford to offend.
So he swallowed his regret.
Now that something even bigger seemed to be happening, Kisaragi Shūsuke wanted to prove himself.
Or rather—he desperately wanted to declare the Katana-gari-shū's strength to all of Soul Society.
"No need. Our duty is to protect the nobles. This matter—we don't interfere."
Unfortunately, Higashino Shuuichi shook his head and rejected Kisaragi Shūsuke's suggestion.
He understood what Shūsuke was feeling, but he also knew he couldn't act rashly right now.
Because unlike the others, Higashino Shuuichi could be sure: behind this, it was Kuchiki Byakuya's uncle, Kuchiki Kōga.
In all of Soul Society, only that man could pull something like this.
If this were still the original timeline, Higashino Shuuichi wouldn't care—whether Kisaragi Shūsuke participated would be his own choice.
But not long ago, Higashino Shuuichi had met Kuchiki Kōga in person. The man's dissatisfaction toward him had practically overflowed.
Higashino Shuuichi had even once suspected Kuchiki Kōga had forged orders—faked authority.
Only at the time, Higashino Shuuichi had been far more interested in the Koizumi Izakaya matter, and hadn't pursued it.
But now that these two incidents were linked together, Higashino Shuuichi's keen instincts had already smelled the stench of being set up.
Everyone knew: when you're in the light and your enemy is in the dark, the best move is to stay still and respond with constancy.
As long as you don't lose your footing, the enemy will inevitably expose themselves.
That was why Higashino Shuuichi had no intention of letting Kisaragi Shūsuke and the others get involved.
He wanted to see, for himself—this Kuchiki Kōga, who because of Higashino Shuuichi's butterfly effect hadn't caused trouble up until now…
What kind of "surprise" he'd prepared this time.
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