The Second Division barracks, underground training ground.
The four walls were polished black stone. A few Reishi Lamps hung overhead, their light turned low, leaving the entire ground lit by their faint glow.
Stone steps rose in tiers around the arena, with room for a hundred or so spectators. Today, fewer than a third of the seats were occupied.
Everyone in the stands was a Seated Officer of the Second Division whose name carried weight.
From the Third Seat and Fourth Seat through the Fifth Seat and on to the Fifteenth, they were all High-Ranking Seated Officers. Commanders from several Onmitsukidō units were scattered among them.
Ordinarily, these people were posted throughout Seireitei. Some served in the Punishment Force, some oversaw the Supervision Tower, and others hunted missing Soul Reapers in distant places. They might not all gather in one place even once a year.
Today, their new captain had called them back.
Yoruichi sat on a stone step in the front row, one foot planted on the step below and one hand resting on her knee. Her posture could hardly have been more casual.
Someone stood beside her.
He had messy, pale-yellow hair cut somewhere between short and medium length, and he looked utterly listless.
"Is that Kisuke Urahara?"
A Seated Officer asked the person beside him in a low voice.
The other person whispered back:
"I heard Kisuke Urahara never competed for a seat. Now the captain's suddenly appointed him Third Seat."
The current Third Seat said nothing. He only let out a breath through his nose.
Yoruichi stood and brushed off her clothes. "Everyone, Kisuke Urahara takes the Third Seat today."
"Third Seat?" someone below repeated.
Yoruichi pretended not to hear.
The current Third Seat rose and walked onto the platform at the center of the ground.