"Ha, hahaha..."
As Araki's words fell, the atmosphere throughout the teahouse became incomparably strange. The captains of the 8th Division, 9th Division, and 13th Division all wore extremely ugly expressions.
After a long while, the three captains suddenly burst into laughter.
"Captain Araki, you really know how to joke with us..."
The captain of the 8th Division looked at Araki and spoke through a livid face.
Though the captain of the 8th Division's fury had already rushed to his head, he still maintained basic restraint before Araki and did his best to offer him a smile...
After all, Araki's status was right there. Publicly, Araki was a member of the Royal Guard's Division 0. Privately, he was the prized disciple of Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the founder of the Gotei 13, and had close ties with both the Shihoin Clan and the Shiba Clan among the Five Great Noble Clans! No matter which of those identities it was, none was something he could afford to offend.
"So it was a joke..."
Upon hearing this, the captain of the 9th Division silently gave the 8th Division's captain a thumbs-up in his heart, then continued along with his words. At that moment, the captain of the 9th Division only hoped Araki would have the sense to take the out they had given him and let the matter end there, without causing any further trouble...
"Hahaha..."
"To be honest, Captain Araki's joke was truly rather frightening! It nearly scared me to death! For a moment, I thought those rumors about Captain Araki were all completely true! But I've always said that Captain Araki isn't that kind of person."
The captain of the 13th Division immediately tried to smooth things over as well, continuously "praising" Araki.
In truth, the captain of the 13th Division said