A Gaze

"Diezuka Hiroe! I'll kill you!"

At the graduation ceremony, Kao Susumu shouted with bloodshot eyes, raising his Zanpakuto and charging at Hongjiang, who stood not far away. Just moments ago, he had been kicked out of Squad 1. From joining the squad to being expelled, not even ten minutes had passed! And the reason was nothing more than a single sentence from Hongjiang: "Squad 1 has me. It doesn't need him!"

When Hongjiang said that, everyone present had laughed at him. Squad 1 had always been impartial. Even as Yamamoto's favored disciple, he couldn't openly bully someone like this—especially not a young Soul Reaper with boundless potential.

Even Urahara and Yoruichi wondered if Hongjiang had gone mad with anger. They knew he would stop Kao Susumu from joining Squad 1, but neither had ever imagined he'd do it this way. It would've been hard enough to succeed by working behind the scenes. Now he'd put it all out in the open. How could it possibly work?

"Then so be it."

But Vice-Captain Sasakibe's response was completely unexpected. Had they heard him wrong? Even after Sasakibe pointed at Kao Susumu and told him to choose another squad, everyone still hadn't quite processed what had happened.

In fact, even Kao Susumu himself hadn't understood. As far as he was concerned, Hongjiang's words were just the impotent howls of a loser. The Head Captain would surely be thoroughly disappointed in him now, and Kao Susumu would take his place as the next successor to the position.

But why had Chojiro Sasakibe said, "Then leave the squad"? Why was he pointing at me? I'd only just joined Squad 1, and now I was being kicked out?

A flurry of questions flashed through Kao Susumu's mind. By the time he came to his senses, he was met with the pitying looks of those around him and the unmistakable, mocking smile on Diezuka Hiroe's face. So he hadn't misheard. Squad 1 really had chosen between him and Hongjiang—and he was the one they'd cast aside!

The blow of seeing his wish come true only to have it shatter in an instant drove Kao Susumu completely mad. He forgot every law and prohibition. He was going to kill that man, who was smiling and waving at him. He had to!

Kao Susumu wasn't the only one who thought Hongjiang had gone too far. Most of the vice-captains were frowning at him. But disapproval didn't mean they would tolerate Kao Susumu's actions. In the Seireitei, harming a fellow Soul Reaper without cause was strictly forbidden.

The one who stepped in was Nishikido Yumi, the Fifth Division Vice-Captain, a slender woman with long brown hair. Just as Kao Susumu was about to strike Hongjiang, she knocked the Zanpakuto from his hand with a precise blow, then struck him with the edge of her hand and knocked him unconscious.

"I assume the Head Captain will hear about this, Sasakibe?"

"This is an internal decision made by Squad 1. The Head Captain will naturally be informed."

"..."

Sasakibe's reply left the 2nd Division Vice-Captain beside him speechless. Selecting new members was the responsibility of each squad, and even the 2nd Division, which handled punishment, had no authority to interfere.

"Then we'll take him into the 5th Division!" Nishikido Yumi cut in bluntly. "I trust Vice-Captain Sasakibe has no objections."

"Then make sure the 5th Division nurtures him well. Don't let a promising young man go astray."

The three vice-captains stood on the verge of a confrontation, while the other ten each had their own thoughts. Yamamoto could be the one in charge of Squad 1, but Squad 1 could never be his private property.

So had Diezuka Hiroe's outburst been a mere accident, or had Yamamoto, standing behind him, deliberately orchestrated it? Was Yamamoto, after a thousand years of indifference, now trying to seize power? If so, the Seireitei was probably in for a upheaval.

The new recruits who chose their squads afterward weren't especially excited, even those who'd joined the squads they'd wanted. The vice-captains were even more distracted. Thanks to Hongjiang's actions, the graduation ceremony ended on a distinctly sour note.

In the study of the Shihoin family estate, only the current head of the family and Yoruichi, who had just completed her studies at the Spiritual Arts Academy, were present.

"Yoruichi, do you think Diezuka Hiroe was genuinely jealous of that young man?"

"Jealous? He could never feel that way!" Yoruichi replied firmly.

"People change when they fall from the clouds to the valley, especially the young." The family head offered a quiet warning, then spoke again in a booming voice. "From now on, you need to keep your guard up around him!"

Yoruichi wanted to argue, but her father wasn't wrong. From the outcome, Hongjiang had fallen from grace, and this blatant act of exclusion really had been absurd.

Yet for some reason, she still thought Hongjiang would rise again. She even had the absurd suspicion that he'd done all of this on purpose. But she'd keep those thoughts to herself for now. She believed that one day, Hongjiang would prove himself.

Meanwhile, in the Fourth Division Captain's residence, Unohana Retsu was listening to her vice-captain's report.

"That boy used to come running to me all the time~" Unohana said with a squint and a smile. "I can't believe he's already graduated from the Spiritual Arts Academy. Time really does fly!"

"Captain, that's not the point you should be focusing on!"

"Our Fourth Division only needs to do its own job. Still, so many people joined the Fourth Division this time. You should go recruit again next time!"

"..."

In the 8th Division barracks, two captains sat facing each other with their legs crossed.

"Our junior really doesn't do things by the book. I'd love to call him over for a drink!" Kyoraku Shunsui said with a hearty laugh. "Though he probably doesn't have time today~"

"I'm telling you, how can you still talk about this at a time like this?" Ukitake Jushiro said, rubbing his forehead in exasperation.

"Why are you worrying so much?" Shunsui tipped his head back for a drink, then continued. "If Sasakibe let Hongjiang make such a scene, Old Man Yama must have approved."

"That's exactly why I'm worried. I don't know what our teacher is thinking."

"If Old Man Yama wanted power, he would've made his move long ago. Why go to all this trouble? So I reckon the reason has to do with our junior!" Shunsui replied seriously.

Ukitake thought it over. What Shunsui said made sense. If his guess was right, Yamamoto might be trying to keep Hongjiang hidden. But everyone had seen the test results: Hongjiang hadn't grown in six years. That wasn't something that could happen just by not training.

There was only one possibility: Yamamoto had used some method to fool the Spirit Pool. But was that even possible?

Ukitake Jushiro wasn't the only one thinking about the Spirit Pool. Urahara Kisuke, who had just joined the 12th Division, was also asking about it. The woman before him, with violet hair and a curvaceous figure, was the one who had created the Spirit Pool: 12th Division Captain Hikifune Kirio.

"The Spirit Pool tests spiritual power levels—in other words, spiritual power purity. It works by breaking down a tiny amount of spiritual power until it produces an effect equivalent to that of the lowest level. The Spirit Pool then represents the result as a quantity."

"Is there a way to fool the Spirit Pool? For example, by controlling the spiritual power fed into it?" Urahara continued.

"In theory, it's possible, but I've never met anyone capable of doing it." Seeing Urahara still had questions, Kirio explained in greater detail.

Simply put, the Spirit Pool tests a Soul Reaper's unconscious spiritual-power defenses. To prevent anyone from deliberately controlling their results, the attacks from the Spirit Pool's platform were so weak that they were imperceptible. The automatic defenses they triggered used so little spiritual power that they reached the absolute minimum. Regardless of its purity, the body could release only that tiny amount. Kirio called it a unit of spiritual power.

To fool the Spirit Pool, one would first need to consciously control the body's self-defense mechanism, then find a way to break that unit of spiritual power down even further.

Both requirements were incredibly difficult. A handful of top-tier Soul Reapers might be capable of the first, but even Hikifune Kirio, who had studied spiritual power more deeply and controlled it more expertly than anyone, couldn't manage the second.

It seemed that Hongjiang had either grown beyond all imagination or simply fallen into decline. But that man had always been full of surprises. Perhaps this time would be no different. Urahara thought as his smile deepened.

"Is that all? I understand. You can go now," said Hirako Shinji, the 5th Division Captain, waving his hand.

"Yes!" Nishikido Yumi bowed and left the captain's quarters, though she still had somewhere else to go.

A few minutes later, Nishikido arrived at another squad's barracks and knocked. After receiving permission, she opened the door and went inside.

The man in the room seemed pleasant at first glance. He wore black-rimmed glasses, and a gentle smile was always on his face. His brown, curly hair lent him a touch of laziness as well. He was the 5th Division's Third Seat, Aizen Sosuke.

"Vice-Captain, you seem troubled."

"Just call me Yumi. That Kao Susumu really is quite good, so I brought him into the squad." Nishikido thought for a moment, then decided to tell Aizen what had happened that day. "But something unpleasant happened too."

Aizen poured Nishikido a cup of tea and listened quietly as she recounted the day's farce.

"It seems Diezuka Hiroe really thinks of himself as Squad 1's crown prince," Aizen said with a teasing smile.

"Tell me about it! And Sasakibe actually agreed. I have no idea what he was thinking!" Nishikido grew angrier the more she spoke, then drained her cup in one gulp.

"Perhaps the Head Captain agreed as well." Seeing the heavy expression on Nishikido's face, Aizen quickly changed the subject. "If I'd been there, I might not have saved Diezuka Hiroe. I'd have let him suffer a little and learn his lesson."

"I imagine everyone there thought the same, which is why I was the only one who stepped in. Like you said, Kao Susumu is promising. It would've been a shame for him to be punished over something like this."

"You waited until the last moment to act. He must've been terrified."

"Not at all! He probably knew Sasakibe would save him, so he stayed calm," Nishikido answered with a pout, then asked, "Do you think the Head Captain intends to hand Squad 1's future over to Diezuka Hiroe?"

"We'll have to see what punishment he receives. That'll show us the Head Captain's true attitude." Aizen answered absentmindedly, gazing into his teacup as if something had occurred to him.

A countless number of eyes were fixed on Squad 1 now, not just Aizen's. All across the Seireitei, people waited to see how Yamamoto would deal with Hongjiang.

When news of the decision regarding Hongjiang spread the next day, an invisible storm began to fan out from Squad 1 across the Seireitei. It was like a signal that a great upheaval was about to arrive.