Terrible News! Killing Intent! (1)

Fourth Division Barracks, medical room.

The air was filled with a complex mixture of disinfectant, herbs, and Reishi medicine. Wearing gloves, Liu Ziyun carefully treated an unlucky Soul Reaper's wound. The man had gotten carried away during training, swung his sword wide, and cut a long gash in his own thigh.

"Come on, man," Liu Ziyun said as he stitched him up. "Did you learn swordsmanship from a Hollow? Going after your own people?"

The Soul Reaper grimaced in pain. "S-stop talking and hurry up!"

"What's the rush? It's not like I'm a tailor." Liu Ziyun threaded his needle at a leisurely pace. "But don't worry. I learned to stitch from Senior Tazawa. The people he's sewn up could circle the Seireitei three times. They call him 'the Fourth Division's finest needleworker.'"

No sooner had he finished speaking—

"Bang!"

The medical room door flew open.

Tazawa Kentarō rushed in, his face grim and his breathing ragged, as though he had just run a marathon.

"Ziyun! Something happened!"

Liu Ziyun didn't look up. "Someone else cut himself? An arm or a leg this time? If it's his third leg, I'm not dealing with it. Send him to Captain Unohana."

"No!" Tazawa Kentarō said urgently. "It's those classmates of yours! Shinji Hirako and the others! At the Trial Grounds—they've lost contact!"

Snap.

The suture needle in Liu Ziyun's hand broke.

He slowly raised his head, the teasing expression gone from his face. "What... did you say?"

Tazawa Kentarō took a deep breath, struggling to calm himself. "Shin'ō Academy just sent an emergency report. Of the fourteen teams that entered the Trial Grounds, four suddenly lost contact about two hours after entering."

He stressed each word. "Those four teams were Shinji Hirako's, Love Aikawa's, Kensei Muguruma's, and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi's."

Liu Ziyun narrowed his eyes, his voice frighteningly calm. "What about the other teams?"

"The other six teams are fine. Their trials are proceeding in an orderly manner," Tazawa Kentarō replied. "But those six teams... are made up mostly of noble children."

Liu Ziyun fell silent.

A few seconds later, he smiled.

His smile... was icy.

"All four commoner teams wiped out, while the six noble teams are safe and sound. What a masterstroke."

He stood and removed his gloves, his movements slow, each one carrying suppressed anger. "Were there any nobles... on those four teams?"

Tazawa Kentarō was taken aback. "Yes. Each team had a few, but not many."

"That explains it," Liu Ziyun said coldly. "Those noble members... were either expendable pawns or traitors."

Tazawa Kentarō's expression changed. "Traitors?! You mean..."

"I'm saying," Liu Ziyun said, stressing each word, "this was a meticulously planned hunt."

He walked to the window and looked in the direction of Shin'ō Academy. "Tsunayashiro Shigure... neither the captain nor I paid that little lackey much attention. We didn't think he could stir up much trouble."

He paused, his voice growing colder. "I didn't expect him to teach us a lesson in what 'a noble's methods' meant."

Tazawa Kentarō frowned. "Even so, the Hollows in the Trial Grounds were strictly screened. They aren't very strong, so their lives shouldn't be in danger..."

"That's why the problem is even bigger," Liu Ziyun interrupted. "If the Hollows aren't strong, why did those four teams lose contact?"

He turned around, a cold glint in his eyes. "There's only one explanation—something that shouldn't have been in the Trial Grounds got in."

Tazawa Kentarō drew a sharp breath. "You mean... a Menos Grande? Or even an Advanced Hollow?"

"Or," Liu Ziyun added, "someone tampered with things inside—blocked the teleportation markers, cut off communications, or even... altered the barrier's parameters."

He clenched his fists. "That Tsunayashiro Shigure... no, the people behind him set up an enormous scheme."

His voice was mocking. "Are they trying to wipe out every promising commoner Soul Reaper in this class in one fell swoop? Or are they making an example of them, telling everyone from Rukongai, 'You can't afford to cross the nobles'?"

Tazawa Kentarō's expression changed completely.

"Th-then what do we do now?"

Liu Ziyun took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Contact Captain Unohana immediately. Have her ask the captains of the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Divisions to approach the Sixth, Eighth, Tenth, and Thirteenth Divisions and request that they send people to rescue them."

Tazawa Kentarō stared. "Why make it so complicated? Can't we just send the Fourth Division?"

"Because nobles are involved," Liu Ziyun explained. "There are noble members on those four teams. They might only be expendable pawns, but their families won't care about that. If anything happens, all the blame will be pushed onto the commoner students."

He paused, then continued, "The captains of the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Divisions are all from Rukongai or close to the commoner faction. If they step forward, they'll be representing the commoner faction's demands."

"The Sixth, Eighth, Tenth, and Thirteenth Divisions all have noble backgrounds, or their captains are nobles themselves. Having them rescue the students would be like making the noble faction slap itself in the face. After all, the nobles on those teams are their people."

He looked at Tazawa Kentarō, his expression serious. "That way, even if some nobles want to make trouble afterward, the other nobles will hold them back. 'You rescued them yourselves. What more do you want?'"

Tazawa Kentarō listened, dumbstruck.

He stared at Liu Ziyun for a long while before murmuring, "Ziyun... are you really a student? With that political mind of yours... you'd be more than qualified to be a captain, wouldn't you?"

Liu Ziyun gave a wry smile. "I didn't want to learn any of this. I was forced to."

He gave Tazawa Kentarō a shove. "Go! Any later and it really will be too late!"

Only then did Tazawa Kentarō come to his senses. He turned and ran. "I'll go find the captain right now!"

Fourth Division captain's office.

Unohana listened quietly to Tazawa Kentarō's report, her face expressionless.

After a long while, she sighed softly. "Oh dear... this really is troublesome."

She picked up her teacup and took a small sip. "I didn't expect a minor noble lackey to be capable of setting up such a scheme."

She paused, then added, "Though it was a little small-minded in the end. If it had been Ziyun... I'm afraid all ten teams would have lost contact, wouldn't they?"

Tazawa Kentarō: "..."

Captain, is this really the time to be praising him?!

Unohana set down her teacup and stood. "All right, I'll go find the Captain-Commander. Take Ziyun and wait at the entrance to the Trial Grounds. The rescue team will set out soon."

"Yes!" Tazawa Kentarō replied.