Building a Base

The three of them arrived at the tavern, the Dream Tavern where they often drank. As soon as the owner saw Ye Yang and the others come in, he hurriedly said, "Young Master Shihoin, the room you reserved is inside. I've prepared everything you asked for."

Ye Yang nodded. "Mm, all right. You can leave us now."

Inside the room, more than a dozen dishes covered the table. There was no need to worry about whether they could finish the food. As Ye Yang put it, Yoruichi's stomach led to a mysterious alternate dimension. With her there, they didn't have to worry about any food going uneaten.

Two enormous cakes sat beside the food. Yoruichi turned to Kisuke Urahara. "Kisuke, come light the candles and make a wish."

The three of them scrambled to stick more than a dozen candles into the cakes. Kisuke Urahara sat down, closed his eyes, muttered something, and blew out all the candles. Like a curious child, Yoruichi asked, "Kisuke, what did you wish for?"

Kisuke Urahara grinned. "Don't ask, Yoruichi. It won't come true if I say it out loud."

Yoruichi didn't mind. "All right, then let's drink. We're staying up all night!"

And so the three began drinking. By eleven that night, they were all hazy with drunkenness. Ye Yang hadn't used his Spiritual Pressure to evaporate the alcohol, either. It was rare for him to have such a good time. In his drunken state, he couldn't help thinking of his master and his fellow disciples from his previous life. Filled with emotion, he recited, "When life brings joy, make the most of it; never let a golden goblet stand empty beneath the moon."

Hearing the lines, Kisuke Urahara clapped his hands. "Well said! 'When life brings joy, make the most of it; never let a golden goblet stand empty beneath the moon.'" He picked up his cup, raised it toward the moon outside the window, and said, "I raise my cup to invite the bright moon; with my shadow, we become three."

Ye Yang clapped in approval as well. "Let us cook sheep and slaughter cattle, and make merry; we must drink three hundred cups in one sitting. Again!" This was the first time Ye Yang had drunk to his heart's content in this world.

They drank until the midnight bells rang, then went outside. People were cheering the arrival of the new year, and at the same time, brilliant fireworks burst across the sky. These were the fireworks Kaien had promised Ye Yang he would set off.

The three watched the fireworks in the sky. Kisuke Urahara turned to Ye Yang and said, "Such splendid fireworks. Do you like fireworks?"

"Someone once asked me that question."

"Oh? How did you answer?" Kisuke Urahara looked curious.

"I told him that fireworks are beautiful, but they don't last, and I don't like that kind of fleeting beauty," Ye Yang said.

Kisuke Urahara smiled. "Really? It seems we think alike. Fleeting beauty may be beautiful to the utmost, but it's still fleeting. As time passes, who will remember it?"

"Heh heh"...

After watching the fireworks, the three returned to the room. This time it was Ye Yang and Yoruichi's turn to make wishes and blow out the candles. Ye Yang silently wished to be with his family forever, while Yoruichi said hers aloud: "I want a secret base that belongs to the three of us."

"A secret base? That's an unusual wish, Yoruichi," Kisuke Urahara said honestly.

Ye Yang said, "It's not impossible."

Yoruichi smiled. "Then let's work on it together"...

A few days after the new year, Shin'ō reopened. One day after school, Kisuke Urahara stopped Ye Yang and Yoruichi. "Yoruichi, I have an idea about that secret base you mentioned."

At the mention of the secret base, Yoruichi immediately perked up. "Huh? What idea?"

Kisuke Urahara said mysteriously, "Just come with me. I won't disappoint you." With that, he led them running toward Rukongai.

As he led them along, Kisuke Urahara said, "Ever since Yoruichi suggested a secret base, I've been tempted by the idea. Maybe we really do need a training ground that belongs to us alone. To be honest, I know you both hold back during our usual training. You don't need to explain, because I hold back too. But if we build a secret base, there'll only be the three of us, and we won't have so many concerns."

Kisuke Urahara paused, then continued, "Since it's a secret base, of course we can't let anyone find it. No matter how good a barrier is, there's no guarantee it won't be discovered. So I thought of going underground. If we build a training ground underground, wouldn't that keep it from being discovered?"

After saying this, Kisuke Urahara suddenly stopped and pointed at a stretch of wasteland ahead. "It took me more than ten days to find this place. What do you think? Pretty good, right?"

Ye Yang looked around. It was a desolate place, with no buildings nearby. It could be called a place where even birds wouldn't shit. At the same time, Ye Yang had to admire Kisuke Urahara. He had solved every problem Ye Yang had been worried about, and had even found this place in such a short time.

But then Kisuke Urahara looked troubled. "There's a problem, though. How do we build a secret base underground? If we dig it out, how long will it take to finish?"

Hearing this, Ye Yang burst out laughing. "Haha, Kisuke, you're clever all the time, yet muddled for a moment!"

Kisuke Urahara looked puzzled. "Oh? What do you mean?"

"Simple." As Ye Yang spoke, he leaped into the air, crossed his hands, and chanted toward the ground, "O sovereign! Mask of flesh and blood, all creation, that which bears the name of man! Truth and temperance, upon this dream wall that knows no sin, stand with claws alone! Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!" Blue explosive flames erupted from Ye Yang's hands and struck the ground. The incantation greatly increased their power, blasting a large crater into the earth.

"Can't we just blast it out with Kidō?" Ye Yang said.

Kisuke Urahara slapped his forehead. "Right! How did I forget that? But Kidō can only blast through the ground. What about the space inside? If we use Kidō there, it could easily collapse."

Ye Yang replied, "It's fine. I just checked, and the ground here is very hard. When we expand the underground space, we can just control the power of the Kidō. Wouldn't that solve it?"

"All right, let's do that. But Sōkatsui is a little slow. Ye Yang, Yoruichi, don't tell anyone what happens next. This should be the biggest Kidō I can use right now. Stand back. Don't get caught in it by accident," Kisuke Urahara murmured.

Then Kisuke Urahara leaped into the air as well and chanted, "Beast bones scattered everywhere! Spire, red crystal, wheels of steel. What moves is wind, what stops is heaven. The sound of clashing spears fills the empty castle! Hadō #63: Raikōhō!" A massive pillar of lightning shot downward, as though it meant to swallow the earth. When it struck the ground, thunder boomed again and again. The shock wave sent Yoruichi and Ye Yang flying, leaving a cloud of smoke at the site.

The smoke gradually cleared, revealing an enormous, bottomless hole, a testament to the power it had displayed. Kisuke Urahara was off to the side, panting and looking weak, as though that last attack had drained all his strength.

Ye Yang and Yoruichi exchanged a glance, each seeing shock in the other's eyes. Raikōhō, number sixty-three, was not part of Shin'ō's curriculum. Kisuke Urahara had learned the incantation from a book, and being able to master it without anyone teaching him was beyond what could be described as talent. He was a monster!

What was more, advanced Hadō like that required powerful Spiritual Pressure to back it up. That meant Kisuke Urahara's Spiritual Pressure was at least on the level of an ordinary Seated Officer's, perhaps no lower than Ye Yang's. Ye Yang's current Spiritual Pressure was definitely equivalent to that of an officer of sixth seat or higher.

After her initial shock, Yoruichi grinned. "Well, Kisuke, you were hiding a trump card like that? Even I didn't know. That's not very nice of you."

Kisuke Urahara said weakly, "I only mastered it recently. Can't you see how worn out I am after using it? Besides, that move drained almost all my Spiritual Pressure. I can't use it against an enemy at all."

Ye Yang thought that made sense. If a Shin'ō student could casually unleash advanced Kidō, that would be far too crazy. Still, Kisuke Urahara's talent was beyond doubt.

Ye Yang added, "As expected of a Kidō genius. With that move alone, I'm afraid the Gotei 13 would all be fighting to recruit you."

Kisuke Urahara said, "What genius? Hey! I've shown you my trump card. Are you two still going to keep hiding yours?"

Ye Yang smiled. "Kisuke, it's not that we're hiding anything. What we're good at just isn't suited to breaking open the earth and digging. So, Kisuke, we'll leave this job to you from now on."

"Ah... no! This is going to kill me," Kisuke Urahara complained.

Yoruichi cut in. "All right, enough talk. Let's go down and take a look."

The three of them jumped down the hole Kisuke Urahara had blasted. It was pitch-dark inside, and they couldn't see a thing. Ye Yang chanted, "Hadō #22: Shōtenkyū." A palm-sized ball of light appeared above his hand, its dazzling glow illuminating the passage.

The walls and floor inside were scorched black, evidently from Raikōhō. The space inside was roughly the same width as the entrance, about three meters in diameter and around twenty meters deep.

Ye Yang asked, "Twenty meters isn't enough, is it? How deep do we need to go?"

Kisuke Urahara lowered his head and thought for a moment. "At least a hundred meters, I'd say."

Ye Yang gave a knowing smile. "So that means we need at least four more Raikōhō?"

Kisuke Urahara answered without thinking, "Mm, theoretically, yes."

As soon as he spoke, Kisuke Urahara realized something was wrong. He was just about to speak when Ye Yang interrupted him. "Kisuke, we'll leave this to you. You have a heavy responsibility and a long road ahead. Yoruichi and I will be cheering you on. Right, Yoruichi?"

Yoruichi knew perfectly well how devious her little brother could be. Now he had quietly tricked Kisuke Urahara again. How could Yoruichi pass up free labor like that? So she said, "That's right, Kisuke. The capable should do more work, as they say. Thanks for the effort."

Kisuke Urahara said helplessly, "Do I have a choice?"

"No."

"Then that's that. But I can only use the move I just used once a day at most. Let's stop here for today and work on the rest later. Let's aim to finish building it within five years," Kisuke Urahara said.

"All right, let's go home for now."

"Let's go"...