Tenjirō Kirinji

"Tokinada!"

"Fine! Just fine!"

"Get out! Don't come back! Don't ever come back to the Tsunayashiro Clan!"

The young master of the Tsunayashiro Clan's main line roared to salvage the last scraps of his dignity. Unfortunately, he had no authority to drive a main-line genius out of the Tsunayashiro Clan.

"Hmph."

"The whining of small fry."

Tsunayashiro Tokinada's gaze was sinister, and he paid no heed to the threats behind him. If he was going to endure it, he had to keep enduring it. Since he no longer intended to, he might as well flip the table. They were just a bunch of talentless young masters. What the hell was there to fear!? At worst, he could just kill them all when the time came... The thought flashed through Tokinada's mind and took root in his heart like a seed.

"Thank you."

Urahara followed behind Sōgo and quietly thanked him.

"Huh?"

Sōgo "looked" at Urahara with a languid expression.

"What's wrong? Is it that strange?"

Kisuke Urahara found Sōgo's expression a little odd.

"You don't think calling me 'big sister' will raise my affection for you, do you?" Sōgo put on a villainous face. "Don't think I'll agree to let you date my sister just because of that. What matters is strength! Strength! How many times have I told you?"

Smack!

No sooner had Sōgo finished speaking than Yoruichi's fist landed on his head.

"That hurt."

Sōgo clutched his head, looking aggrieved.

"Sōgo!" Yoruichi Shihōin gently rested her delicate hand on his shoulder. "Say one more wrong word, and I'll kill you."

"Yes, big sister."

Sōgo suddenly felt the fear other nobles his age experienced when facing Yoruichi Shihōin.

"There are structures in the sky too?"

When the five reached the end of the Soul King Palace's Front Approach, they looked up to see three enormous discs and, floating in the center, the Soul King Palace, radiating boundless sacred majesty.

"Is the Soul King inside that palace?"

Kisuke Urahara gazed at the Soul King Palace in the sky. He could sense the indescribable spiritual pressure within it. Perhaps Soul Reapers below Captain-level weren't even qualified to meet the Soul King? What a great being. Far beyond the concept of a Soul Reaper, he was an existence of a higher dimension.

"Yes."

Sōgo Shihoin nodded lightly, his face devoid of expression.

"Wait a moment, you five. I'll assign your areas."

Just as the five were looking up at the palace and discs in awe, the Big-Eyed Monk, who had taken the unchosen children back, arrived beside them with an extremely fast Shunpo.

"Using Shunpo in reishi this dense?"

Watching the Big-Eyed Monk's graceful footwork, Kisuke Urahara was astonished once again. Simply walking along the Front Approach had already been strenuous for them, rather like walking through water. Yet now he had seen someone not merely walking through water, but running through it. The contrast stunned Kisuke Urahara, while also making him increasingly excited.

"Anyway, listen up. The kid from the Kuchiki Clan and the kid from the Tsunayashiro Clan, you'll train with Ōetsu Nimaiya first. He's on that disc closer to the edge. The Shihoin girl and her young boy toy will train with Tenjirō Kirinji first. Young Sōgo, would you like to play with me?"

The Big-Eyed Monk had used a commanding tone when assigning the first two groups, but when he reached Sōgo, it became a question.

"No, I'll stay with my sister. I just don't feel at ease leaving her with this guy." Sōgo pulled Kisuke Urahara to his side and grinned wickedly. "Wouldn't you agree, young boy toy?"

"I told you, he's my underling."

Yoruichi Shihōin rubbed her forehead. Why had even Hyōsube started following Sōgo's train of thought?

"Ahahaha..."

Kisuke Urahara laughed awkwardly.

"All right, I respect your choice." The Big-Eyed Monk nodded lightly at Sōgo's answer, then addressed everyone. "Now, everyone, head for your respective palaces!"

"We'd love to, but how exactly do we get up there?"

Kisuke Urahara looked up at the discs in the sky and asked.

"Take the stairs," Sōgo answered Kisuke Urahara. "Just shout up there, and they'll lower a staircase. Then we can climb up."

"Seriously?"

Disbelief covered Kisuke Urahara's face.

"Do I have any reason to lie to you?"

Sōgo posed the question back to Kisuke Urahara.

"True." Kisuke Urahara nodded lightly at Sōgo's words, then ran beneath the disc bearing the Squad Zero palace and shouted, "Hello! Could you please lower the stairs?"

"Pfft..."

Watching Kisuke Urahara actually shout up there, Sōgo couldn't help laughing.

That day, Kisuke Urahara learned how sinister the adult world could be and took another step toward becoming that wicked shopkeeper.

Smack!

Then Sōgo got hit.

"Stop messing with Urahara."

Yoruichi Shihōin spoke helplessly.

"That hurt."

Sōgo clutched his head, looking aggrieved.

"I got tricked. How embarrassing."

Kisuke Urahara, meanwhile, looked embarrassed.

"Anyway, we can just ride the Front Approach—the floating elevator—up. Stand here and don't move."

The Big-Eyed Monk added this explanation.

"So if all we had to do was stand here without moving, what did you mean just now when you told us to head for our destinations?"

Kisuke Urahara opened his mouth slightly and asked.

"I just wanted to see your reactions and whether there were any quick-witted children in this batch."

The Big-Eyed Monk gave an honest-looking smile, thick-skinned and black-hearted.

"You just wanted to see someone make a fool of themselves, didn't you?" Kisuke Urahara silently noted this debt. Ah, this man is the same sort as Sōgo!

In any case, everyone next headed to the respective Squad Zero members' palaces.

Inside the palace of Squad Zero member Tenjirō Kirinji.

"Hey, hey, hey! Those two are one thing, but what are you doing here, you monster? Here to train me? Let me make this clear: I absolutely, absolutely won't give you a chance to attack me, so I suggest you give up! Crawl back into your little cage and stay holed up there until you die of old age! You little brat!"

Inside the palace, a gaunt-faced man with a pompadour, who looked more like a street punk than an important member of Squad Zero, gripped his Zanpakuto and shouted irritably at Yoruichi Shihōin, Kisuke Urahara, and Sōgo Shihoin.

"Calling me a little brat just now is reason enough for me to beat you half to death!"

Sōgo Shihoin flexed his wrists, itching to have a go.

"Wait, Sōgo. We came here to train, not to fight!"

Yoruichi Shihōin grabbed Sōgo's arm as she spoke.

"You're right, big sister. This Soul Reaper has already lived for over a thousand years. He's too old. It's time he stretched those old bones and got a little training."

Sōgo Shihoin wholeheartedly agreed with his sister.

"I told you, the training is for Urahara and me!"

Yoruichi Shihōin held Sōgo Shihoin's head between her hands and kept rubbing it.

"Ow... I was wrong. Sis, let go."

Sōgo Shihoin surrendered once again, looking every bit like someone from the land of the blue, white, and red flag.

(End of chapter)