In the real world, women were the largest consumer group.
Of course, Yamabuki Chidori only wanted to make money. He definitely didn't have any ulterior motives.
But the most urgent matter right now was dealing with this little runt!
So arrogant! He'd been sick of the sight of her for ages. While she still wasn't familiar with his abilities, he needed to mess with her properly.
Tenjirō Kirinji tossed over a set of clothes. After Yamabuki Chidori changed into them, he went with everyone to the training grounds.
"Three seconds? I'd like to see how you're going to beat me in three seconds." Saitō Fubōfu rested her sword on her shoulder, her face full of disdain.
A wicked smile spread across Yamabuki Chidori's face. One look told him this little girl had never been beaten down by society. No problem—big brother would teach her a good lesson!
"Oh, right, a reminder, so you won't call me underhanded later. The Sekienton I just developed is poisonous, so don't touch it." Yamabuki Chidori smiled.
"Poison?" Saitō Fubōfu was utterly baffled. You could poison people with Kidō?
"And my Zanpakuto's ability—I should tell you that too, so you won't say I'm playing dirty later." Yamabuki Chidori said with extreme confidence, "My Zanpakuto's ability also involves poison. As long as my blade pierces you, your body will go numb! It's not too late to back out now."
Saitō Fubōfu looked completely disdainful.
As the two of them squared off, the other Captains watched with eager amusement. Some cracked sunflower seeds, some ate popcorn, and some cheered from the sidelines. They loved nothing more than watching things blow up!
Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu stood on the training grounds, staring at each other.
"Saito, want to raise the stakes?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.
"Sure! If you lose, how about you become my slave for a month?" Saitō Fubōfu said.
"No problem. If you lose, you'll agree to do one thing for me." Yamabuki Chidori immediately sweetened the wager.
Hmph. Let's see if I don't scam you senseless!
Zendouji Yuuhin waved a large flag and shouted, "Match start!"
Yamabuki Chidori slapped one hand against the ground. "Bakudō #21, Sekienton!"
In an instant, the entire field was filled with red smoke.
Remembering what Yamabuki Chidori had said earlier—that the smoke was poisonous—Saitō Fubōfu immediately covered her mouth and nose and backed away. Then she cautiously stared into the smoke, searching for Yamabuki Chidori's whereabouts, afraid that the brat would charge out from some tricky angle.
Just as Saitō Fubōfu focused all her attention on the front, a cold blade extended from behind her and lightly rested against her neck.
"The fight's over! You lost!" Yamabuki Chidori said smugly.
Everyone present was dumbfounded. What had just happened?
Saitō Fubōfu immediately guessed what was going on.
"Your Zanpakuto's ability isn't paralysis at all! It's silent movement?" Saitō Fubōfu demanded furiously. "You actually dared to lie to me?"
"How could you trust an enemy's words? All's fair in war. Now then, what should I make you do?" Yamabuki Chidori rarely got to hold his head high, and he was feeling downright inflated.
He had claimed at the beginning that Sekienton was poisonous, then lied about his Zanpakuto's ability, all to make Saitō Fubōfu lower her guard. He had then used Sekienton to obscure her vision, teleported behind her with his space-control ability, and silently placed his blade against her neck.
That sequence had been perfect! He had taken down a powerful enemy without spilling a drop of blood!
"You bastard! You actually tried to play dirty with me!" Reiatsu erupted from Saitō Fubōfu's body. Her crimson Reiatsu swept out like a tornado as she turned and slashed.
Yamabuki Chidori showed no fear and met her blade head-on.
Their blades clashed, their Captain-level Reiatsu colliding. The slightly weaker members were crushed to the ground on the spot.
Saitō Fubōfu's brow twitched. If she remembered correctly, when she had fought this brat a little over a month ago, he had been fleeing all over the place like a monkey under her pursuit. How had his strength improved so much in barely a month?
As the first Captain of the Sixth Division, losing to this little monkey would be far too humiliating!
With that thought, anger rose in Saitō Fubōfu's chest, and her swordplay grew faster and faster until it became a blur.
But everyone watching was an expert among experts. At a glance, they saw the flaws in Saitō Fubōfu's swordsmanship.
She was too eager to win, attacking fiercely and relentlessly. Her offense looked sharp, but in truth, it was riddled with openings.
Clang!!!
Blades collided with a deafening crash!
Saitō Fubōfu's sword stopped less than two inches from Yamabuki Chidori's neck, while the tip of Yamabuki Chidori's sword was pressed tightly against Saitō Fubōfu's chest!
"Can't accept defeat, little runt? It's not like I'd make you do anything weird. After all, nobody would feel desire for a washboard. Let's call off our bet, then. Sigh!" Yamabuki Chidori went straight for the kill.
"Washboard?" Saitō Fubōfu lowered her head and glanced at her chest. It wasn't completely flat, but compared to Katoru Hatsunoya's majestic peaks, it was painfully lacking!
"To hell with your washboard!!!" Saitō Fubōfu slashed down hard. Yamabuki Chidori once again activated the teleportation ability of Silver Angel, instantly appearing behind her and placing his blade at her neck again.
"I already said our bet is off. You don't need to be so nervous." Yamabuki Chidori said with a faint smile.
Saitō Fubōfu was so angry that she threw her sword to the ground. "You think it's void just because you say so? Fine, I'll agree to do one thing for you. Anything at all. Even if you tell me to draw my blade and cut my own throat, I'll do it willingly!"
Yamabuki Chidori was overjoyed. Sure enough, provocation was perfect for dealing with an arrogant, hot-tempered brat like this.
"I haven't decided yet. I'll tell you when I do." Yamabuki Chidori looked thoroughly pleased with himself.
It really wasn't easy to finally hold his head high!
After lying low for more than a month, he had finally gotten back on his feet!
Gen'en Kinra lightly pushed up his glasses. "This brat wandered around Hueco Mundo once, and I never expected his strength to improve this quickly. His Reiatsu is still immature, but it won't be easy for us to defeat him casually anymore!"
Yamamoto had witnessed everything that happened on the training grounds.
He nodded in great satisfaction.
"Yamabuki, come here. I have something to tell you," Yamamoto said.
Yamabuki Chidori hurried over.
Yamamoto did not ask why Yamabuki Chidori had mastered other powers. Instead, he got straight to the point. "Yamabuki, with your current strength, you are more than qualified to serve as a Captain. Do you want to become the Captain of the First Squad?"
"Absolutely not. You don't even pay me a salary, so why would I become a Captain? Being your Staff Officer is pretty good." Yamabuki Chidori refused without hesitation.
"Honestly." Yamamoto smiled with a hint of indulgence. Since the brat was unwilling, he would not force him. "You can come find me anytime if you change your mind. With your current strength, being a Lieutenant truly wastes your talent. By the way, what do you think of Chōjirō Sasakibe and Hachisato?"
Yamabuki Chidori did not understand what the Captain Commander meant. Why had the topic suddenly shifted to those two brats?
"They're good people. What's wrong?" Yamabuki Chidori asked blankly.
"Nothing. Haven't you always been clamoring for more manpower? I'll transfer those two under your command for now. You may order them around as you please," Yamamoto said.
If Yamabuki Chidori had revealed even the slightest distrust of those two in his tone just now, Yamamoto would have immediately eliminated any future trouble and made them physically disappear.
As he had said before, Yamamoto did not trust Chōjirō Sasakibe and Hachisato, but he trusted Yamabuki Chidori's judgment.
"Since that's settled, you can head back. Oh, right. You worked hard this time too, so I'm giving you half a month off to rest properly," Yamamoto said.
"Captain! You're the best Captain in the whole world!" Yamabuki Chidori was so moved that tears nearly fell. Ever since joining the Gotei 13, he had needed to complete huge amounts of work every day and had never even considered taking leave. Now he was getting half a month off at once. Perfect! Absolutely perfect!
He could use those two weeks to accomplish something major.
After leaving the Captain Commander's office, Yamabuki Chidori went to a tailor shop in the Seireitei that made clothes for nobles.
The shop was run by a Low-Ranking Noble. Low-Ranking Nobles received far fewer resources than High-Ranking Nobles, so they often had to run small businesses to support their households.
But people in Soul Society lived very long lives, so century-old shops were nothing unusual.
"The Chief Strategist is here? Are you looking for clothes?" The tailor shop owner greeted him with a smile.
"Just looking around. Just looking around." Yamabuki Chidori chuckled.
He looked around the shop and found that the clothing styles were all conventional, without much character.
There were certainly no stockings he had been longing for.
Yamabuki Chidori vaguely remembered that stockings had been invented in the fourteenth century in the real world. At first, they had not been made for women, but for Knights, to increase friction with their horses. Later, the trend had gradually spread to the royal court and nobility.
That was why one could often see ancient European nobles in famous paintings, wearing high heels and stockings to attend high-society gatherings.
"Oh, sorry for the trouble, but how much would it cost to open a clothing shop like this?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.
"The Chief Strategist wants to open a shop too?" The tailor shop owner looked astonished.
"My title sounds impressive, but my pay isn't much. I want to do a little business to help support myself," Yamabuki Chidori said with a smile.
"It actually doesn't cost that much." The tailor shop owner named a figure. After doing the math, Yamabuki Chidori found that it was about five years of his salary.
By Soul Society's standards, five years was not very long. The problem was that he did not want to wait.
"Thanks! If anyone dares bully you in the future, just mention my name and see how I deal with them!" Yamabuki Chidori said cheerfully.
But the moment he left the tailor shop, his face turned bitter.
"No money! No skills! No workers! How am I supposed to open a shop?" Yamabuki Chidori looked miserable. He had originally thought doing business would be easy, surely no harder than venturing into Hueco Mundo, but now it seemed the two were equally difficult.
"Wait, skills... Isn't there a god-tier tailor in Soul Society?" Yamabuki Chidori recalled a legendary figure: Shūtara Senjumaru.
The creator of the Shinigami Uniform, and one of the future members of Zero Division.
The Shinigami Uniform had not yet appeared, which meant Shūtara Senjumaru had not joined the Gotei 13 yet. Perhaps he could find her and discuss the technical side of things.
Soul Society had developed for a million years, yet its technology tree was badly skewed. It had no ordinary means of transportation, but had invented Zanpakuto, Modified Souls, all kinds of biochemical bacteria, and other bizarre things. So technical barriers did not really exist.
Before Shūtara Senjumaru joined the Gotei 13, he might as well talk her into working for him. Shūtara Senjumaru from a thousand years ago should not be very old either, just a young girl. Tricking a young girl would be easy.
Hmph, this was something he was good at!
Yamabuki Chidori immediately contacted Hachisato. He was not good at finding people, but Hachisato had been an assassin and surely possessed a relatively mature intelligence network.
Hachisato did not ask why. Once he accepted the assignment, he went directly to carry it out. That was his best quality—he never asked for reasons, only delivered results.
In less than half a day, Hachisato returned.
"Chief Strategist, I found information on that woman. She has opened a tailor shop in Rukongai's West 14th District. Should I tie her up and bring her here?" Hachisato asked.
Tie up your head!
Could you even beat her?
Even Shūtara Senjumaru from a thousand years ago was definitely not someone to underestimate.
"Give me the address. You don't need to worry about the rest. Sorry for the trouble this time," Yamabuki Chidori said.
"Chief Strategist, feel free to give orders whenever you need anything." Hachisato spoke respectfully.
He was a smart man. How could he not understand the Captain Commander's intentions? The Captain Commander had tied him and Yamabuki Chidori together. If there was anything suspicious about him, he would vanish from the world—physically.
After getting the information, Yamabuki Chidori hurried to Rukongai without stopping. West 14th District ranked fairly high, so public safety was quite good. At least bandits did not jump out while you were walking down the street.
Yamabuki Chidori headed directly to Shūtara Senjumaru's little tailor shop.
"Welcome." A rather cool voice called out. Yamabuki Chidori looked up and saw a beautiful woman in a kimono with a slender, bony figure. She appeared to be around twenty, tall and thin as she walked slowly toward him.
Sure enough, she was different from the scheming beauty she would become a thousand years later. Perhaps because she had not yet experienced much of the world, Shūtara Senjumaru seemed purer now. Perhaps her dream at this time was simply to become an ordinary tailor.
But the Reiatsu on her body gave her away.
Though it did not compare to that of the current Gotei 13 Captains, it was at least Lieutenant-level. With that strength, she could more than protect herself in Rukongai.
"I'm just looking around." Yamabuki Chidori's mind raced as he considered how to talk her into it.
Shūtara Senjumaru smiled faintly.
"Business seems rather quiet here. The quality of these clothes looks pretty good, doesn't it?" Yamabuki Chidori asked with a smile.
Shūtara Senjumaru revealed a helpless expression. "It's precisely because the clothes I make are too durable. They won't wear out even after ten years. Over time, naturally fewer and fewer people come here to buy clothes."
Especially in this era, ordinary Rukongai residents struggled just to fill their stomachs. Where would they find so much money to buy clothes?
"Can I commission some custom clothing?" Yamabuki Chidori asked. "The craftsmanship requirements may be fairly high. I've found many tailors, but they all said they couldn't do it. Of course, if you think it's too difficult, you can give up."
Shūtara Senjumaru raised an eyebrow. Boy, are you challenging my profession?
Yamabuki Chidori took two design sketches from his robe.
The first sketch depicted a rather exquisite maid outfit, modeled after the one Tohru wore in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.
The second sketch showed the stockings Yamabuki Chidori had been longing for. But it was difficult to convey the essence of stockings with brush and ink alone, so he could only draw while explaining.
"So you want to make a thin silk garment worn on the legs. It needs elasticity and transparency, and it can conceal imperfections in a woman's legs? Not a bad idea. I can give it a try!" Shūtara Senjumaru said seriously.
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