Chapter 22

"Kuchiki Senya, hasn't he come back yet?"

The Head Quarters of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni leaned on his cane, draped in a captain's haori, looking frail and on the verge of collapse from old age.

"Our intelligence personnel have learned that he has already headed to Shino Academy."

Unohana Retsu squinted her eyes and said with a smile.

He finally came back.

If he didn't come back soon, I'm afraid the Captain-Commander himself would have to head to Rukongai personally.

"Good."

"Gather three or more captains and come with me."

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni nodded, his originally squinted eyes slightly opening, looking extremely sharp.

……

At this moment.

Shino Academy.

As a figure wearing sunglasses, carrying a bottle of liquor, and swaying unsteadily walked in.

The originally noisy school.

Instantly became quiet.

All the teachers and students were giving that man a salute with their eyes.

"Kuchiki Senya!"

"He's finally here! Slashing through a seated officer of the Sixth Division with a single heavy slash was already a big deal, and yesterday he even skipped class outright."

"Who could be as fierce as him?"

The crowd buzzed with discussion.

The current Kuchiki Senya is not only the strongest freshman of this cohort, but practically the strongest freshman in all of history!

Just a first-year student.

Yet he accomplished things that ordinary people couldn't achieve in an entire lifetime!

"Big brother."

"You really are my own dear big brother! You seriously wounded Shitan with a single heavy slash and then just walked away?"

Urahara Kisuke and Shihoin Yoruichi stared wide-eyed at Kuchiki Senya, who wore a lazy expression before them.

"Tell us honestly, exactly what level of strength have you reached now?"

"Have you been secretly grinding behind our backs?"

Urahara was utterly heartbroken, and Yoruichi beside him also looked at Kuchiki Senya with the gaze one would give a traitor.

People who secretly grind are the most detestable!

"You can't just talk nonsense."

"My Reiatsu grows even while I sleep, what can I do about it?" Kuchiki Senya casually brushed them off.

Bai Zai behind him.

Seeing Kuchiki Senya again, wore an expression of doubting his entire life.

Without a doubt.

His own brother, who drank every day, skipped class, and visited pleasure quarters, putting on a self-destructive front.

And himself?

Every day besides attending class, he cultivated, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

But.

The gap between the two had not only failed to shrink, it had actually widened even further!

In the classroom.

Aizen, silently sitting off to the side, inadvertently locked eyes with Kuchiki Senya, his face covered in his familiar gentle smile.

Kuchiki Senya, meanwhile, squinted his eyes slightly and casually took a swig of alcohol.

Aizen.

Before revealing his final true face.

His good-guy image was maintained so flawlessly that not a single drop could leak through.

"Kuchiki Senya."

"The Captain-Commander wants to see you!"

A teacher rushed in, his face covered in sweat as he said anxiously.

"What?"

"Captain-Commander Yamamoto has come here!"

The entire classroom exploded, and everyone poured their gaze onto Kuchiki Senya!

Yamamoto, what kind of person is that?

The strongest Shinigami in Soul Society for a thousand years! He alone is the peak that all Shinigami find difficult to surpass!

Such a figure actually came to Shino Academy personally, and even named Kuchiki Senya by name to see him!

018. All things of the forest, reduced to ashes — Ryujin Jakka!

Shino Academy.

The vast plaza had long been packed with a dense crowd of people.

The entire school.

Most of the teachers and students had gathered here.

Eyes filled with awe and curiosity sized up the group of people in the center of the plaza.

An old man on the verge of death.

A big-sister type with a gentle, smiling face.

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A slovenly middle-aged uncle in a pink jacket, looking utterly dissolute.

A buzz-cut youth with a resolute face, silver hair, and sharply defined muscles.

"This is—!"

"Captain of the First Division, Head Captain Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni!"

"Captain of the Fourth Division, Unohana Retsu!"

"Captain of the Eighth Division, Kyōraku Shunsui!"

"Captain of the Ninth Division, Muguruma Kensei!"

"Every single one of them is at least captain-level! What a grand occasion — and it's all just for one person, Kuchiki Senya!"

Everyone was dumbstruck.

Normally,

although captains did occasionally drop by the school to guest-teach, most of the time only one captain would come.

When had they ever seen a spectacle like this?

Captain-level figures were the true upper echelons of Soul Society — ordinary people might go their whole lives without ever meeting one!

"That Kuchiki Senya, he's not going to get through this one easily."

Someone shook their head, their heart full of sympathy for Kuchiki Senya — his appearance had even alarmed the Head Captain.

"That's not necessarily true. Head Captain Yamamoto may have taken note of Kuchiki Senya's talent and wants to bring him into the Thirteen Court Guard Squads early."

Others held a different view.

"This Kuchiki Senya, he's only a first-year, right? And he's going to graduate directly, even join the Thirteen Court Guard Squads! That's terrifying."

In the plaza,

the crowd buzzed like a swarm of locusts, whispers and muttered exchanges rising from every direction.

"The Head Captain — he's here." Unohana Retsu said softly.

The others,

followed her gaze.