Captain's Meeting

"Teacher Unohana, do you even hear what you're saying?"

"How could I possibly resemble Aizen Sōsuke? I'm a good person!"

Chiba Makoto was the first to furiously hand himself over a dozen good-person cards. Wearing the smile of a purebred good person, he said somewhat sheepishly.

"Teacher, how could I possibly compare to Vice-Captain Aizen? Even if you wanted to build up my confidence, that would be far too exaggerated."

Unohana Retsu's beautiful eyes remained fixed on Chiba Makoto. Certain of her judgment, she said, "No, there are indeed some similarities. However, there is one very obvious difference between you and Vice-Captain Aizen."

Chiba Makoto asked in surprise, "What is it?"

Unohana Retsu parted her lips and said, "Loneliness. A loneliness that sometimes makes one seem utterly out of place with the world..."

Chiba Makoto was somewhat stunned.

Loneliness?!

Having had something deep within him struck, even Chiba Makoto's smile became somewhat forced as an intense sense of loneliness suddenly radiated from him.

A trace of pity flashed through Unohana Retsu's eyes, but she did not continue questioning him. Instead, she rose and left the courtyard to attend the monthly Captain's Meeting.

For an individual, loneliness was the curse one could never completely escape!

One arrived in this world alone, and would ultimately leave it alone...

Between those two solitudes, everyone was a lonely soul wandering in confusion.

Especially for Shinigami with long lifespans, that loneliness was stretched countless times longer by time itself. It required countless "differences and similarities" to fill or soothe it.

Once, Unohana Retsu had chosen slaughter as her way of fighting that loneliness. Amid endless slaughter, she had felt her true self, becoming utterly obsessed with it and using it to replace her loneliness.

Now, in Unohana Retsu's view, Chiba Makoto had yet to truly find a way to belong in this world and soothe his loneliness...

Although the loneliness Chiba Makoto displayed sometimes seemed a little too intense, Unohana Retsu, in her gentleness as a teacher, did not disturb him.

A short while after Unohana Retsu left, Chiba Makoto let out a slight breath and slowly readjusted himself.

Loneliness...

He had not expected Teacher Unohana's powers of observation to be that meticulous. Or had he unconsciously revealed it?

Chiba Makoto thought silently, unconsciously pressing his lips together.

Still, Chiba Makoto understood where his sense of loneliness came from: he had no peers. He was lonely because he had no "kindred spirits" in the truest sense.

The memories he retained from his past life made Chiba Makoto understand that, in a sense, he was an outsider in this world.

However, Chiba Makoto did not actually care too much about such things. Time... would smooth everything over. Being sentimental was not in his nature.

Instead, a grin spread across Chiba Makoto's lips, and he found himself looking forward even more to his future in the Gynecology Department.

With Unohana Retsu, an authority, singing his praises, patients would surely gradually begin coming to him for consultations. In other words... after more than two months of silence, he could finally find an opportunity to begin "sowing seeds" again.

As for how to give his patients bleeding wounds, Chiba Makoto had already come up with an idea: needles.

Of course, Chiba Makoto meant acupuncture. Sick or not... he would give them a free needle first.

At the thought of his "Seed of the Forest" soon taking root and sprouting throughout the Seireitei, Chiba Makoto's mood soared, and the loneliness in his heart immediately seemed to dissipate considerably.

Sure enough, perhaps I've been so lonely and depressed these past few months because I haven't been able to sow seeds. My Reiryoku accumulation rate hasn't improved at all...

Give someone a needle, sow a seed—what loneliness could possibly remain?

There is no emotion but happiness.

Chiba Makoto muttered to himself. After quickly finishing breakfast, he hurried toward the Gynecology Department, ready to welcome a brand-new day.

Elsewhere, as it was the Seireitei's monthly Captain's Meeting day, the division captains throughout the Seireitei, accompanied by their lieutenants, had gathered at the First Division early in the morning.

As the First Division's gates slowly closed, the meeting—second only to the Central 46 Chambers in authority within the Seireitei and capable of influencing the course of the entire Soul Society at any moment—was about to begin.

Inside the spacious and imposing conference room, captain-class Shinigami clad in different Captain's Haori stood facing one another in two rows. Different division numbers were inscribed upon the Captain's Haori draped over their backs.

A total of twelve different figures stood within the conference room, each one faintly exuding a terrifying spiritual pressure that ordinary Shinigami could scarcely endure.

At last, an ancient meeting bell sounded outside the conference room, announcing the start of the meeting.

At the head stood an aged man of imposing authority. A vicious cross-shaped scar marked the right side of his head, a waist-length silver-white beard was bound at his chest with a purple sash, and the simple pure-white Captain's Haori draped over him bore the character "One." He opened his narrowed eyes and swept his gaze over the eleven captains before him.

With all the other captains present save for the still-vacant position of Tenth Division Captain, he slowly spoke.

"Captains, the meeting shall now begin..."

In the lieutenant waiting room near the Captain's Meeting chamber, the dreadful spiritual pressure faintly leaking from the neighboring room gradually subsided. Only then did the many lieutenants who had accompanied their captains to the meeting begin to relax.

"How terrifying. As expected of the Captain-Commanders—just the spiritual pressure they inadvertently leak through their words and actions fills me with awe."

Kuna Mashiro, the Ninth Division Lieutenant, had short wavy green hair and wore a red scarf. Looking exceptionally lively, she patted her small chest, let out a long breath, and muttered to herself.

Iba Chizuru, the Third Division Lieutenant, was tall and powerfully built, exuding the air of a yakuza. She nodded and said reverently.

"Of course. That is the Captain-Commander. He exists on an entirely different level from ordinary Shinigami. Even if we wished to attend the meeting, we likely could not remain standing before the Captain-Commander."

However, Kusajishi Yachiru, who was attending the meeting alongside her captain for the first time as a lieutenant, could not help smacking her lips and calling out, "Man, man, man... this is so boring. How long do I have to stay here?"

Chōjirō Sasakibe, the First Division Lieutenant, had striking short white hair slicked back and a small black mustache. He replied in a rigid, formal manner.

"Please be quiet, Eleventh Division Lieutenant. The duration of the meeting shall be determined by the matters requiring discussion. As those entrusted with the duties of lieutenants, we need only wait here patiently for our captains' instructions and provide the appropriate assistance."

Yet after Chōjirō Sasakibe finished speaking almost reflexively, he looked at the little pink girl with short legs before him, whose large confused eyes blinked repeatedly. His stiff expression nearly cracked.