Jun and Isuzu stood at the door, looking at each other. Smiling, Jun smoothed his wife's long hair and bent down to kiss her. Isuzu wrapped her arms around his waist with practiced ease and rose onto her toes. After a long while, their lips parted.
"I'm off~"
"Mm~"
Isuzu gave Jun's clothes one last adjustment and watched him leave home.
This was a minor noble's residence on the outskirts of the Seireitei. It had originally belonged to a noble family, but during the Shiba Clan incident a hundred years ago, many noble families had been wiped out or imprisoned, leaving their residences vacant.
Since they were sitting empty anyway, they might as well be put to use. Jun submitted the suggestion to the Captain-Commander and Central 46. After that incident, Jun's status as a hero meant that Soul Society could not ignore any opinion or position he expressed, but the things he did were all minor matters of everyday life.
There was the question of the residences, for example, and the question of finding partners for the many men of the Twelfth Division. In the eyes of many, they were all trivial matters, quite beneath a hero.
Jun didn't care about any of that, and no one dared bring it up in front of him or in public. At most, they joked about it over drinks, because Jun had already slapped plenty of faces during his time at the academy.
After the residence proposal passed, Jun received an elegant noble home, and then he and Isuzu got married. Perhaps it was something inherited in the soul of a Chinese person, getting married only after owning a house. A man had to buy a house—fight!
Jun's wedding was a grand affair. Just look at who attended.
Everyone from the Tenth Division came, except those out on missions. Even their captain, Isshin Shiba, who had long since announced he was taking sick leave, came. That was pretty damn impressive.
Then there were the captains: Second Division Captain Yoruichi Shihōin, Third Division Captain Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, Fifth Division Captain Nambu Nobuyasu, Sixth Division Captain Kuchiki Ginrei, Seventh Division Captain Love Aikawa, Eighth Division Captain Shunsui Kyōraku, Ninth Division Captain Sorachi Murozō, 11th Division Captain Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, Twelfth Division Captain Kirio Hikifune, and Thirteenth Division Captain Jūshirō Ukitake.
Just look! Every captain except the Captain-Commander and Captain Retsu Unohana came. But that didn't mean those two weren't showing him respect, because look at the lieutenants.
First Division Lieutenant Chōjirō Sasakibe, Second Division's Marechiyo Ōmaeda, Third Division's Kibune Hakuzō, Fourth Division's Kojima Kintarō, Fifth Division's Shinji Hirako, Sixth Division's Sōjun Kuchiki, Seventh Division's Aikō Tairō, Eighth Division's Tōdō Takuma, Ninth Division's Kensei Muguruma, 11th Division's Aramaki Shinobu, Twelfth Division's Kinkō Ryō (congratulations on getting a name), and Thirteenth Division's Suzuka Kiyohara (congratulations to you on getting a name too).
The lieutenants of all thirteen divisions were present, and the most impressive thing was that Chōjirō Sasakibe had come. When did you normally get to see the First Division lieutenant? He was someone even more impressive than an ordinary captain.
There was no need to say much about the Third Seats, lest this pad the word count. Virtually every other single-digit Seated Officer in the thirteen divisions came, unless they had a mission. Even those on missions made sure to have their adjutants bring congratulations.
As for the remaining nobles, Teru Clan head Teru Shinrin, Tachikawa family head Kōda Tachikawa, and branch family head Tachikawa Kiyokiri all came. Everyone from the original Five Great Noble Clans came except the head of the Shiba Clan's main family. Jun's wedding truly became the biggest event in Soul Society at the time.
Now, as for those captains and lieutenants: the previous Third Division captain had died, and his lieutenant, Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, had Bankai and immediately took his place. The Ninth Division captain had also died, but Lieutenant Kensei Muguruma didn't have Bankai at the time, so Sorachi Murozō had to be transferred in from the First Division to take the captain's position.
The Third Division lieutenant had also died in the Shiba Clan incident, so Kibune Hakuzō, the Sixth Division's Fourth Seat, was promoted and sent to the Third Division as lieutenant. The rest of the Third Division's top ten seats were also filled by promotions from other divisions. The Seventh and Ninth Divisions likewise promoted a large number of people on short notice.
But Jun's wedding had been over eighty years ago, and in those eighty-plus years, time had spared few. Old Shiba Kazato had passed away in the end. Sixty years ago, Isshin Shiba officially became captain of the Tenth Division, and Jun moved up in turn to Sixth Seat.
Then, over twenty years ago, Twelfth Division Captain Kirio Hikifune received an invitation from the Zero Division. 11th Division Captain Kuruyashiki Kenpachi received one too, but their responses were completely different. Captain Kirio Hikifune went to the Zero Division, while Kuruyashiki Kenpachi stayed in his post.
The sudden vacancy in the Twelfth Division captain's position gave Soul Society some trouble, because it wasn't an easy position to fill. Those who didn't do research simply didn't do research, so there was no way to choose someone from another division. The Twelfth Division lieutenant didn't have Bankai, so he couldn't fill the position either.
The position was about to be left vacant for the time being when Yoruichi suddenly recommended the shopkeeper to the First Division. After an assessment, Shopkeeper Urahara went to the Twelfth Division to take up the captaincy.
The circumstances behind it were extremely frustrating. Yoruichi had been completely stripped of her authority in the Second Division. With the shopkeeper's help, she had still been able to get a few things done, but both of them were exhausted and miserable. Now Yoruichi had sent the shopkeeper away, and he could no longer help her, while she couldn't leave. She could only shoulder it alone.
So, for a long time, the people of the Twelfth Division believed their new captain, Kisuke Urahara, had a terrible temper. That belief persisted into Mayuri Kurotsuchi's time. In short, Kisuke Urahara in Soul Society and the comical shopkeeper he later became were like two different people.
Now that we've covered everyone else, let's talk about the family.
Over the past hundred years, Jun had basically completed his Kidō training. He could already cast Hadō #99: Five Dragon Destruction, had learned a great deal of Kaido, and had also learned a little Sōdō.
Kaido was a power unique to members of the Fourth Division, though it was actually a type of Kidō. One of the requirements for joining the Fourth Division was that one's Shikai had to be a Kaido-type Zanpakuto. If someone joined the Fourth Division and their Zanpakuto turned out not to be a Kaido type after they achieved Shikai, they would be sent to another division.
Sōdō was one of the powers that made up Soul Society. Where did all the Twelfth Division's advanced technology in the original work come from? Was it bought in the World of the Living? Of course not. That was the power of Sōdō.
Jun shared these things with his wife as well. Isuzu said that they did have to learn Sōdō in the Twelfth Division, though they weren't allowed to teach it to outsiders. But it was the first time she had heard of Kaido.
Jun told Isuzu about his mentor. That was the Shimizu Family's greatest secret.
Then, thirty-four years ago, his younger sister Jing was promoted to Ninth Seat of the Eighth Division through a seat challenge. Congratulations, congratulations~ She chose a young girl in the division as her adjutant. The girl's name was Lisa Yadōmaru.
Lisa Yadōmaru had never attended Shin'ō Academy. She had started in a special position within the division called an attendant, serving a captain or high-ranking Seated Officer of noble birth. Attendants were generally selected from the children of retainers. The Yadōmaru family was another retainer family of the Kyōraku Clan, though of course it was no longer one now.
Nobles had their own ways of becoming Soul Reapers. If someone became an attendant and the family head was particularly good, he would also train the children of his own family. Kyōraku was just such a good family head. Lisa Yadōmaru was essentially his personal disciple, and their relationship could be described as that of father and daughter.
Another piece of good news was that Jing had gained a younger sister. Ise Clan head Ise Rikudō had a daughter and named her Nanao Ise. Our adorable Little Nanao had finally arrived in Soul Society.
There was one more member of the family, Nana Onibe. When she returned from the World of the Living, she was completely stunned to find that, for some inexplicable reason, she had gone from a seat in the seventies to one in the fifties. Then, after a hundred years, she finally reached the 33rd Seat and married the Sixth Division's Seventh Seat.
That was basically all the changes in personnel.
Returning to our protagonist, Jun stepped out of his home. Starting today, he would be on a teaching assignment for three months. Jun had once again taken teaching assignments for two consecutive years, and he planned to take one whenever he had the chance over the coming decades, because he had discovered an interesting person at Shin'ō Academy.
That person was Kōga Tatara. Jun didn't care about his surname, but he couldn't help caring about his given name, because it felt very familiar.
There was someone with that name in the original work, but unfortunately, his appearance was original to the anime. He wasn't in the manga.
His anime-original arc was very interesting, though. His name was Kōga Kuchiki, the son-in-law of current Sixth Division Captain Kuchiki Ginrei and the husband of Byakuya Kuchiki's aunt.
His Zanpakuto, Muramasa, had the ability to manifest and appear in human form. The sword could also make other Zanpakuto manifest in human form, and they could even disobey their masters.
That ability was so interesting that Jun had remembered him particularly well. Now that Jun had seen the name, he couldn't help paying attention. He observed the boy and found that he was very likely the future Kōga Kuchiki.
In that case, he had to have some fun with the little fellow.
Jun first found Kōga's records and discovered that the boy came from District 52 of Rukongai. He had already possessed spiritual power when he enrolled, perhaps because of some fortunate encounter in Rukongai. After all, there were plenty of retired Soul Reapers in Rukongai, so it wasn't unusual to run into one or two.
But because he already had spiritual power, he had a considerable advantage in his studies at Shin'ō Academy. On top of that, the kid was smart and talented, so he was quite a handful and very arrogant.
His attributes were: spiritual pool 33, Reiatsu 231, spiritual reach 197, spiritual flow 245, and spiritual sensitivity 277.
They were truly excellent.
After Jun arrived at the academy, his first class was bound to be a public lecture. Which of the instructors who had arrived at the academy with him would dare compete with Jun for the first class? It wasn't a question of courage; they simply couldn't compete, because whenever Jun taught, the whole academy came to listen, instructors included.
This public lecture was no different. Looking at the sea of people below, Jun was already completely unperturbed. He lectured fluently from the front while searching for his target in the crowd.
Sure enough, he found Kōga in a corner of the back row, looking impatient. Jun smiled faintly and continued lecturing, but the second time he looked at the boy, he discovered that Kōga had noticed him.
He really is a perceptive little fellow. Interesting. Jun continued the lesson without being affected, as though he had only glanced at him by accident.
Meanwhile, Kōga Tatara's heart began to pound. Did that guy notice I wasn't listening? Do I stand out that much? Why are you idiots all paying so much attention!? Is this guy really such a good teacher!? Damn it!
So the third time Jun looked at him, Kōga pretended to listen attentively too. At the lectern, Jun was laughing inwardly.
This kid is far too interesting! No, I can't have all the fun by myself. I have to introduce him to Aizen. Hahahaha!