In Soul Society, All I Want Is to Coast into Retirement

In the Human World, women were the biggest consumer demographic.

Of course, Yamabuki Chidori only wanted to make money. There definitely wasn't any ulterior motive involved.

But the most urgent matter now was dealing with this little runt!

So arrogant! I've been sick of the sight of you for ages. While she still doesn't understand my abilities, I'll mess with her properly.

Tenjirō Kirinji tossed over a set of clothes. After Yamabuki Chidori changed into them, he headed to the training grounds with everyone else.

"Three seconds? Let's see how you beat me in three seconds." Saitō Fubōfu carried her sword over her shoulder, her face full of disdain.

A sinister smile appeared on Yamabuki Chidori's face. It was obvious this little girl had never been beaten down by society. No problem—big brother would teach her a good lesson!

"Oh, right, a little warning, so you don't call me despicable later. The Sekienton I recently developed is poisonous, so don't touch it." Yamabuki Chidori grinned.

I Really Stood Tall This Time

"Poison?" Saitō Fubōfu was completely baffled. You could poison someone with Kidō?

"And my Zanpakuto's ability—I should warn you, so you don't call me despicable later." Yamabuki Chidori said with extreme confidence, "My Zanpakuto also uses poison. If its blade pierces you, your body will go numb! It's not too late to back out now."

Saitō Fubōfu looked utterly disdainful.

As the two competed against each other, the other captains watched with expressions of eager amusement. Some cracked sunflower seeds, some ate popcorn, and some waved flags and cheered. They loved a spectacle and weren't afraid of making it bigger!

Yamabuki Chidori and Saitō Fubōfu stood on the training grounds, staring at one another.

"Saito, want to raise the stakes?" Yamabuki Chidori asked.

"Sure! If you lose, how about being 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 raised the wager.

Hmph, just watch me fleece you dry!

Zendouji Yuuhin waved a large flag and shouted, "The match begins!"

Yamabuki Chidori slapped one hand against the ground. "Bakudō #21, Sekienton!"

In an instant, the entire arena filled with red smoke.

Remembering Yamabuki Chidori's earlier words, Saitō Fubōfu knew the smoke was poisonous. She immediately covered her mouth and nose as she retreated, then carefully watched the smoke for Yamabuki Chidori's whereabouts, afraid that the brat would rush at her from some tricky angle.

Just as Saitō Fubōfu focused all her attention ahead, a cold blade emerged from behind and lightly rested against her neck.

"The battle is over! You lost!" Yamabuki Chidori looked unbearably smug.

Everyone present was dumbfounded. What had just happened?

Saitō Fubōfu immediately guessed the truth.

"Your Zanpakuto's ability isn't paralysis at all! It lets you move silently?" Saitō Fubōfu shouted in shock and anger. "You actually dared to lie to me?"

"How could you believe an enemy's words? All's fair in war. Now let me think... what should I make you do?" Yamabuki Chidori rarely got to hold his head high, and his ego swelled immensely.

He had claimed that Sekienton was poisonous and lied about his Zanpakuto's ability solely to make Saitō Fubōfu let down her guard. Then, he had used Sekienton to obscure her vision before using his space-controlling ability to teleport behind her and silently place his blade at 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 pull underhanded tricks on me!" Reiatsu exploded from Saitō Fubōfu's body. Scarlet Reiatsu swept out like a tornado as she turned and slashed.

Yamabuki Chidori showed no fear and swung his blade straight at her.

The two blades met, and captain-level Reiatsu collided. The slightly weaker members were directly crushed to the ground.

Saitō Fubōfu's eyebrows twitched. If she remembered correctly, when she fought this brat a little over a month ago, he had been chased around by her like a monkey, leaping all over the place. How had his strength increased so much in just one month?

As the first captain of the Sixth Division, wouldn't it be too humiliating to lose to this little monkey?

With anger surging into her head, Saitō Fubōfu's swordsmanship grew faster and faster until her blade became a blur.

Yet everyone watching was an expert among experts, and they spotted the flaws in Saitō Fubōfu's swordsmanship at a glance.

She was too eager for victory, attacking fiercely and relentlessly. Her offense looked sharp, but it was actually full of openings.

Clang!!!

The blades collided with a deafening crash!

Saitō Fubōfu's sword stopped less than two inches from Yamabuki Chidori's neck, while Yamabuki Chidori's blade tip pressed tightly against Saitō Fubōfu's chest!

"Can't the little runt afford to lose? It's not like I was going to do anything weird to you. After all, no one would feel desire for a washboard. Let's just call our bet off, shall we? Sigh!" Yamabuki Chidori went straight for the kill.

"A washboard?" Saitō Fubōfu glanced down at her chest. It was not completely flat, but compared to Katoru Hatsunoya's majestic peaks from every angle, it was far too lacking!

"To hell with your washboard!!!" Saitō Fubōfu slashed down fiercely. Yamabuki Chidori activated Silver Radiant Angel's teleportation ability again, instantly appearing behind Saitō Fubōfu and placing his sword against her neck once more.

"I already said our bet is off. You don't need to be so nervous!" Yamabuki Chidori said with a faint smile.

So furious that she threw her sword to the ground, Saitō Fubōfu snapped, "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 told me to draw my sword and slit my own throat, I'd do it willingly!"

Yamabuki Chidori was secretly ecstatic. Sure enough, provocation worked perfectly on a tsundere, hot-tempered brat like this.

"I haven't decided yet. I'll tell you once I have." Yamabuki Chidori looked pleased with himself.

It was so hard to finally hold his head high!

After lying low for more than a month, he had finally stood tall!

Gen'en Kinra lightly adjusted his glasses. "That brat took a stroll through Hueco Mundo, and I didn't expect his strength to improve this quickly. His Reiatsu is still immature, but it probably won't be easy for us to defeat him anymore."

Yamamoto also watched the scene on the training grounds.

He nodded in satisfaction.

"Yamabuki, come here. I have something to discuss with 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 a division?"

"Absolutely not. You don't even pay me a salary, so why would I become some captain? Being your strategist is quite nice." Yamabuki Chidori refused without hesitation.

"Honestly." Yamamoto smiled with a trace of indulgence. Since the brat was unwilling, he would not force him. "If you change your mind, you can come find me anytime. With your current strength, serving as a Lieutenant is truly beneath you. By the way, what do you think of Chōjirō Sasakibe and Hachisato?"

Yamabuki Chidori did not understand the Captain Commander's meaning. Why had the topic suddenly turned to those two brats?

"They seem like good people. What's wrong?" Yamabuki Chidori asked blankly.

"Nothing. Haven't you always been asking for more manpower? I'll assign those two to your command first. Feel free to order them around whenever you need something," Yamamoto said.

If Yamabuki Chidori had shown even the slightest distrust toward them in his tone just now, Yamamoto would have eliminated the future trouble at once and made the two physically evaporate.

As he had said before, although Yamamoto did not trust Chōjirō Sasakibe or Hachisato, he trusted Yamabuki Chidori's judgment.

Shūtara Senjumaru

"Then go back for now. Oh, right, you've worked hard this time as well, 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 excited that tears nearly fell. Since joining the Gotei 13, he had had to complete an enormous amount of work every day and had never even considered taking leave. Now he was getting half a month off at once. Perfect! Absolutely perfect!

It was just enough time for him to accomplish something important.

After leaving the Captain Commander's office, Yamabuki Chidori went to a tailor shop in the Seireitei that made clothing for nobles.

The shop was run by a lower-ranking noble. Lower-ranking nobles received far fewer resources than high-ranking nobles, so they often had to run small businesses to support their households.

However, Soul Society's average lifespan was very long, so century-old stores were nothing unusual.

"The Chief Strategist is here? Are you looking for some clothes?" The tailor shop owner greeted him with a smile.

"Just looking around! Just looking around." Yamabuki Chidori smiled.

He briefly examined the shop and found that the clothing styles were all conventional, with nothing particularly distinctive.

There were certainly none of the stockings he had been longing for.

Yamabuki Chidori vaguely remembered that, in the Human World, stockings had been invented in the fourteenth century. At first, they had not been made for girls but for knights, to increase friction with their horses. Later, the trend slowly spread among royal courts and nobles.

That was why old European nobles could often be seen in famous paintings wearing high heels and stockings at upper-class gatherings.

"Excuse me, roughly 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 surprised.

"The title sounds impressive, but my salary isn't much. I want to run a small business to help support myself." Yamabuki Chidori smiled.

"It actually wouldn't cost that much." The tailor shop owner named a figure. After calculating it, Yamabuki Chidori found that it was roughly five years' worth of his salary.

In Soul Society's terms, five years was not very long, but the problem was that he did not want to wait.

"Thanks! If anyone ever dares bully you, just use my name. Let's see how I deal with them!" Yamabuki Chidori said cheerfully.

But the moment he left the tailor shop, his face immediately crumpled.

"No money! No skills! No workers! How am I supposed to open a shop?" Yamabuki Chidori wore a bitter expression. He had originally thought doing business would be easy, surely no harder than breaking into Hueco Mundo. But now it seemed that the two were equally difficult.

"Wait, skills... doesn't Soul Society have a god-tier tailor?" Yamabuki Chidori remembered a legendary figure, Shūtara Senjumaru.

The creator of the Shinigami Uniform, and one of Zero Division's future members.

The Shinigami Uniform had not yet appeared, which meant that Shūtara Senjumaru had not joined the Gotei 13 yet. Perhaps he could find her and discuss technical matters together.

Soul Society had developed for a million years, but many branches of its technological tree had been leveled strangely. For example, it did not even have ordinary means of transportation, yet it could invent Zanpakuto, Modified Souls, all kinds of biochemical bacteria, and other bizarre things. So technological barriers did not exist.

Before Shūtara Senjumaru joined the Gotei 13, he might as well trick her into working for him. A thousand years ago, Shūtara Senjumaru should not have been very old, just a little girl. Tricking a little girl would be easy.

Hmph, I'm good at this!

Yamabuki Chidori immediately contacted Hachisato. He was not good at finding people, but Hachisato came from an assassin background and surely had a relatively mature intelligence network.

Hachisato did not ask why. Once he accepted the task, he went straight to work. That was his best quality: he never asked for reasons, only delivered results.

Less than half a day later, Hachisato returned.

"Chief Strategist, I found that woman. She has opened a tailor shop in the Rukon District's West 14th District. Should I tie her up and bring her here?" Hachisato asked.

Tie up my ass!

Could you even beat her?

Even a thousand years ago, Shūtara Senjumaru's strength could not be underestimated.

"Give me the address. You don't need to worry about the rest. Thanks 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 he showed anything suspicious, he would directly evaporate from the world—physically.

After receiving the information, Yamabuki Chidori rushed without stopping to the Rukon District. West 14th District ranked relatively high, so its public security was quite good. At the very least, bandits did not leap out while you were walking down the street.

Yamabuki Chidori went straight to Shūtara Senjumaru's little tailor shop.

"Welcome." A rather cool voice drifted over. Yamabuki Chidori looked up and saw a beautiful woman in a kimono, with a slender, bony figure. She looked around twenty, tall and thin as she slowly approached.

Sure enough, she differed from the scheming beauty she would become a thousand years later. Perhaps because she had not experienced much of the world yet, Shūtara Senjumaru seemed far purer now. Perhaps her dream at this point was only to become an ordinary tailor.

However, the Reiatsu around her gave her away.

Though it was not comparable to the current Gotei 13 captains, she possessed at least Lieutenant-level Reiatsu. That was more than enough strength to protect herself in the Rukon District.

"I'm just looking around." Yamabuki Chidori's mind raced as he considered how to trick her.

Shūtara Senjumaru smiled faintly.

"Business seems pretty quiet here. I think the quality of these clothes is quite good?" Yamabuki Chidori asked with a smile.

Shūtara Senjumaru showed a helpless expression. "It's precisely because the clothes I make are too good. They won't wear out even after ten years, so naturally, fewer and fewer people come here to buy clothes over time."

Especially in this era, it was already difficult enough for ordinary Rukon District residents to fill their stomachs. Where would they get so much money to buy clothes?

"Can I commission some custom clothing?" Yamabuki Chidori asked. "The craftsmanship required may be fairly demanding. I've asked many tailors, but they all said they couldn't do it. Of course, if you think it's too difficult, you can refuse."

Shūtara Senjumaru raised an eyebrow. Boy, were you challenging her profession?

Yamabuki Chidori took out two design sketches from his robes.

The first depicted a rather exquisite Maid Outfit, modeled after the one Tohru wore in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.

The second showed the stockings Yamabuki Chidori had been yearning for. However, it was difficult to capture the essence of stockings with brush and ink alone, so he could only describe them while drawing.

"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.