Rukongai, somewhere underground.
In the damp, chilly air, even the last candle flame seemed to feel the suffocating weight bearing down on the room. No bigger than a bean, it thrashed against the rim of a chipped clay bowl.
A copy of Seireitei Communication lay open on the table.
[Sixth Division Lieutenant Sōjun Kuchiki steps down due to illness; Third Seat Kōga Kuchiki appointed his successor]
The disgraced nobles who had been raging helplessly over their failed rumors now stared at the glaring name in the notice. Color drained from their faces. Only their heavy, trembling breaths could be heard in the cellar.
"...Lieutenant."
A deeply wrinkled old man finally broke the silence. His teeth chattered, and veins bulged on the withered hand he pressed against the stone table. "Damn it... Damn it! That stray dog really climbed that high!"
Bang!
A middle-aged disgraced noble beside him could no longer contain his spite. He slammed his fist onto the stone table, his face twisting into a savage grimace.
"What the hell has gotten into that stubborn old Kuchiki Ginrei? No matter how frail Sōjun is, he's still the Kuchiki Clan's eldest son and direct heir! Even a pure-blooded son from a branch family should come before some outsider bastard who married into the clan!"
"Isn't it obvious?"
In the corner, a disgraced noble with a sinister face clenched his molars. His voice was icy with fear.
"Sōjun is too sickly to hold the family together. Kuchiki Ginrei intends to put the Sixth Division captain's haori on that bastard!"
"Let a son-in-law... take command of the Sixth Division?"
The words struck everyone in the cellar like a thunderbolt.
What was the Sixth Division? It was the nobles' guard. When Yamamoto first established the Gotei 13, the Sixth Division had no fixed