Yamamoto picked up the teapot and poured Yoriichi a cup himself.
Faint wisps of steam rose from the cup.
Yoriichi lifted the cup and took a sip. Tasting its bitterness, he thought for a moment before deciding to speak first.
"Old man."
"Hm?"
Yamamoto raised his eyes.
"Soul Society has always maintained the stability of the Three Realms."
Yoriichi set his cup back on the table and said calmly, "But over the years, how many wrongs have we committed for the sake of that so-called stability?"
Yamamoto did not answer.
Yoriichi continued, "On this trip to the World of the Living, I met a group of Fullbringers."
"They've had powers unlike ordinary people's since childhood. Because of that, the people around them rejected them and treated them like monsters. Some even lost their families because of those powers."
Images of Riruka, Jackie, and Yukio flashed through Yoriichi's mind.
They had indeed done many things wrong.
But in the beginning, they had only wanted to be ordinary people.
"They gathered together because they wanted to use a Substitute Soul Reaper's powers to strip away their Fullbring."
"They weren't planning to destroy the Three Realms."
"Nor had they ever initiated an attack on Soul Society."
Yoriichi looked at Yamamoto.
"But what awaited them was surveillance and pursuit by Soul Society."
The Kendo Room fell quiet.
Yamamoto raised his cup and slowly took a sip.
"Are you saying Soul Society was wrong?"
"With all due respect."
Yoriichi did not avoid his gaze.
"I believe Soul Society was indeed wrong."
But Yamamoto did not grow angry.
He merely set down his cup, fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Young Yoriichi, do you know how the Seireitei was established?"
Yoriichi shook his head.
"I only know the Gotei 13 was established a thousand