The Shimizu Family, a Lower-Rank Noble House

The factional system in Soul Society is rather strange right now; it appears to consist of three main forces.

The first faction is the aristocratic Main-house faction. This faction comprises all the main families of the nobility, with the former Five Great Noble Clans now being the four leading them. Upper-ranking noble families such as the Kyōraku and Nanbu also belong to this faction, along with middle and lower-ranking noble families like the Ukitake Family who provide support.

This faction's advantage lies in its high status and significant influence, making it a key force within the Gotei 13. Its disadvantage is its limited political power, with only seven positions held by the Central 46.

The second faction is the aristocratic Retainer faction, which consists of the retainers who caused trouble back then. Some people say, weren't they all sold out? Those were just some fools. There were also many families that contributed but weren't caught red-handed. And aren't those cancerous members of the Shihoin Family living quite comfortably?

This faction's advantage lies in its vast political power; they hold virtually all the positions in the Central 46 and can influence many policies within Soul Society. Their disadvantage is their inability to fight, and they only control the Second Division.

However, although they can't fight, many people belong to them. These people are of unknown identity; they are usually good teammates, but at crucial moments they turn into assassins—it's utterly disgusting.

The third faction is the Yamamoto faction. The Captain-Commander's faction has some administrative power because the First Division has control over the Gotei 13, but this faction is very loosely organized.

The reason they are considered to be in the same faction is that they are all members of the Gotei 13, and they do not participate in the current factional struggles; they are all under the command of the Captain-Commander.

In the current factional struggle, the Main-house faction a strategy: to promote new nobles. This power to promote nobles rests with the Four Great Noble Clans, and the upper and middle-ranking nobles vote on the decision. Lower-ranking nobles have no such power and cannot participate.

The Retainer faction forced to accept the challenge passively. Among them were only a few mid-ranking nobles, since only a handful of exceptionally powerful retainers of the Five Great Noble Clans were mid-ranking nobles; the rest were lower-ranking nobles. Therefore, they currently lacked any overt power to stop the attack.

As for the two newly promoted families, they are a newly emerging power, but they have become too close to the nobility. One hundred and fifty years ago, they quelled a rebellion of retainers and became heroes of Soul Society.

My younger sister is the adopted daughter of the Ise Clan family, a traitorous clan among retainers. She is on good terms with the upper-class noble family, the Kyōraku Clan, and has connections with Four Great Noble Clans.

And now he's taken on an apprentice who's about to graduate, and after graduation, he'll immediately become the son-in-law of the Kuchiki Clan. The relationship is that close, isn't it? Even I couldn't have imagined it would turn out like this.

Then there's Sōya Azashiro, who's even more Kongbu. We've previously discussed Sōya Azashiro's past; his family was ruined by nobles, and some of those nobles are now part of the Retainer faction.

After all that mess back then, they're actually going to promote him back? Are you kidding me? Absolutely not! His return would be a ticking time bomb.

Furthermore, what are the Retainer factions afraid of now? They can't be drawn into either of these two factions. Moreover, the previous war made Soul Society aware of a powerful and dangerous force within Hueco Mundo, and that more than one major war might ensue. This would lead to the emergence of many new and meritorious figures.

Will these newcomers become new nobles? Will they join their faction? Joining would be ideal, but if they don't, they risk taking away positions from the Central 46, weakening the Retainer faction's current greatest strength—that would be absolutely unacceptable.

The root of all this lies in this proposal—the first promotion since the First Thousand-Year War. If this is blocked, even the sole heir of Soul Society hero and a long-established noble family will be unable to become a noble, making the chances of others even slimmer.

So the reason why the Tenth Division and the 11th Division are dying so many times is this: to lower Jun and Sōya Azashiro's evaluations, making the resolution fail to pass, or better yet, to prevent it from even being put on the agenda. However, they overlooked one problem.

Seeing this problem, the Main-house faction in, dividing the entire Soul Society in two: the Tenth Division was responsible for the South, and the 11th Division for the north. To completely isolate the two divisions, the Third Division and Fifth Divisions were also involved, with a separate territory allocated to each Third Division on the east and west sides, effectively preventing the Tenth Division and Fifth Division 11th Divisions from ever meeting.

If more people die like this, it just won't do.

As soon as Jun got home, he collapsed onto the tatami mat. Isuzu knew her husband was unhappy again, so she obediently sat down and helped Jun change his clothes.

"Hey~ Lingling, look, this is Soul Society."

"Hmm, I don't like it either, look up~"

"How many do you like? Didn't you see that Captain Shihoin is about to fall asleep?"

"Hehe, yeah, raise your arm," Isuzu giggled. "I still remember when the head of the Tachikawa Family said he approved of the squadron thing, Captain Shihoin suddenly raised his hand and shouted 'I agree!' Hehe, it startled everyone. Raise your butt~"

"Jūshirō Brother doesn't like it either, but what happened to Shunsui Brother? His involvement is so strong," Chun said, lifting his leg and finally taking off his formal attire.

Isuzu took the clothes back to the dressing room and hung them up, saying, "Brother Shunsui was probably angered by the Retainer faction before, wasn't he?"

"Ugh, so annoying!"

"Yes"

"I don't think Brother Shunsui will focus on this for too long. He'll just be playing around with it and get bored of it soon."

"Well, you are right, I think so too, but isn't Brother Chun Shui too decadent?"

"Don't worry, Brother Shunsui is just returning to his true nature."

"Oh? I'm relieved to hear that. Get up and change into your pajamas."

Chun got up and put on her pajamas. "If Brother Shunsui doesn't care about this anymore, who else in the Main-house faction can be considered respectable?"

"Former captain of the Nanbu?"

"Those who withdrew are just so-so; in reality, this Main-house faction isn't very capable."

Isuzu stopped what she was doing, thought for a moment, and said, "Now that you mention it, I think that's really true."

Jun was taking the opportunity to admire his lover's beautiful figure when Isuzu saw him and yelled, "You pervert!"

"What's wrong with looking like a scoundrel when you love your partner? It's beautiful."

"Whee"

"Darling~", Jun took Isuzu's small hand and smiled, "Let's not think about anything else. Now I want to ask you, you're about to become a noblewoman, what are your thoughts?"

"Hmm, it really can work?"

I'm absolutely certain it's going to happen.

Isuzu chuckled sheepishly, "I don't know."

Look how happy you are!

"Ugh~ Why aren't you making me happy yet? Nobles! From now on, the Shimizu Family will be a noble family!"

"Yes, yes, nobles, hehe."

Isuzu pinched Jun's nose, "You think you're so great, so high and mighty, you look down on even nobles."

"Sigh," Chun sighed, "I really don't like it."

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye. This time, the Main-house faction was determined to teach the Retainer faction a lesson. Moreover, the Retainer faction's actions had touched the hearts of many. Dozens of lives were lost in an instant. Why? Just because of factional infighting? That's too much! This is the Retainer faction's Achilles' heel!

So the First Division immediately approved the change of patrol area, and the Retainer faction couldn't go too far, so the assassins quieted down. Then, a few days later, under the auspices of the Four Great Noble Clans, the noble promotion meeting was held in the large conference room of Central 46.

This was Jun's first time in a place like this. He saw many people, but unexpectedly, Captain-Commander Yamamoto wasn't there. Just as Jun was about to bring Isuzu inside, he was stopped.

"Master Shimizu Family, your wife cannot enter."

Isuzu was taken aback, and Jun realized at that moment that this large conference room was not open to anyone who wasn't from the Seireitei, not even Yamamoto Genryūsai.

Chun hugged his wife, kissed her gently, and whispered in her ear, "Go back first. It's not your fault that the Captain-Commander won't let you in. I told you so. You wait, I'll change all these things for you sooner or later."

Isuzu's eyes were red. She had been preparing for this day, eager to witness her husband's ascension to nobility. However, all her preparations were in vain; she wouldn't be allowed in simply because she came from Rukongai.

But she couldn't disobey, nor dared to disobey; yet the pain in her heart was real. Isuzu hadn't understood Jun's words before, but now she seemed to understand some of them.

"Then I'll head back now."

"Um"

Jun was unhappy too. Watching Isuzu's departing figure, he felt a pang in his heart. Jun really wanted to explode right now, to wreak havoc right here and now in Soul Society.

But it's just a thought, after all. Why make a scene over such a trivial reason? After the commotion, people will only say, "How childish of you!" and nothing else. They'll even look down on you.

Jun isn't afraid of that, of course, but it's not worth it. He might feel good after making a scene, but Isuzu still won't get in, and Jun probably won't either, losing his noble title in the process. The idea that making a scene and fighting can change the rules is unrealistic unless you can completely wipe out the old ruling class.

"Head of the Shimizu Family, please come in," the person reminded Junichi.

Chun smiled gently, remembered this person, and said, "Thank you."

Regardless of who he is, what his background is, or whose orders he's following, Jun doesn't care that this is due to the rules of Soul Society; Jun only wants this person to die.

Isn't this retaliation? And it hasn't even targeted the key figures yet. No, it's just that some things were done in advance. Those key figures will come after them sooner or later, so there's no rush.

"Yes! No rush, I can't rush," Chun silently repeated to himself.

Jun found her seats; they were two separate seats with nameplates in front of them, indicating where Jun and Sōya Azashiro sit. Jun sat down and waited for the meeting to begin.

Soon after, Sōya Azashiro arrived. He glanced at Jun, the two nodded to each other, and Sōya Azashiro sat down.

Chun glanced at the thin, handsome man. It was said that his undoing of his technique, while impossible to reverse, left him with the aftereffect of being unable to train physically. Therefore, he had remained this thin and weak ever since, with very low physical strength; he probably wouldn't even be a match for a student at a Shin'ō Academy. However, his combat prowess was enough.

In the original work, Sōya Azashiro never regained his noble status. However, it seems that there was no such faction of the head of the family in the original work. After all, the Four Great Noble Clans in the original work fared rather poorly after that rebellion, Kuchiki Ginrei should have completely sided with Captain-Commander Yamamoto, but things are not like that now.

This also explains why Kuchiki Ginrei persisted in her sorrowful post even after her daughter, son-in-law, son, and daughter-in-law had all died. Later, when Byakuya finally grew up, she directly passed the position to Byakuya and then retired, disappearing without a trace.

So this guy benefited from my fame, and Chun could only feel smug inside, since he couldn't say it out loud. But then, Sōya Azashiro suddenly said...

"Thank you so much, Shimizu. I never imagined I would become a nobleman again in my lifetime."

"Uh, you're too kind, I didn't do anything."

"No, it's you. I owe you a favor, and I'll do whatever you ask of me."

Chun remained silent. This person wasn't one to listen to others; once they made up their mind, they had to do it. They were difficult to get along with, but their word was their bond.

Soon the Four Great Noble Clans arrived, followed by lengthy speeches and a voting process. Throughout the entire process, Chun and Sōya Azashiro were treated like props, and then it was announced that their promotion was successful.

Jun and Sōya Azashiro received a special plaque from Kuchiki Ginrei, a symbol of nobility.

He offered words of thanks, but his heart wasn't as passionate as before, because the person he most wanted and cared about this thing, the woman he most wanted to share it with, wasn't here.