Before long, a messenger from the 1st Division delivered an order to Yuko.
An emergency meeting had been called.
Momo Hinamori hesitated. "Captain, is this...?"
"I'll tell you when I get back. Hopefully it isn't what I think it is... though that seems unlikely."
Yuko grabbed the Captain's Haori hanging on the wall and hurried to the 1st Division.
By the time Yuko entered the meeting room, the atmosphere was already grim.
Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto stood at the head of the room, stooped over with his eyes closed.
Apart from Soi Fon of the Second Division and Toshiro Hitsugaya of the 10th Division, nearly every captain was present, including Shūsuke Amagai, who was temporarily serving as Third Division Captain.
Yuko gave everyone a slight nod and took her place beside Sister Hana.
Once Yuko had settled in, Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto brought his cane down with a dull thud and slowly opened his eyes.
"Now that everyone is here, I shall explain."
"Just now, the 10th Division was attacked by unknown enemies while carrying out a mission to transfer the King's Seal, a royal treasure."
The meeting room erupted into a clamor.
"The King's Seal?"
Many of the captains present did not know exactly what the King's Seal was, but anything called a royal treasure could hardly be treated as ordinary.
Yuko frowned slightly. So something had happened after all?
She had not been joking when she voiced her ominous suspicion, but she had not truly believed it would come to pass, either.
Others, such as Kyoraku and Jushiro, knew more.
That did not mean they had known about this transfer mission, only that they knew what the King's Seal was.
Its storage location changed every few decades. For all anyone knew, they might even have carried out a transfer themselves.