Chapter 153: Captain Selection
With Matsushita Yusuke's honor on the line, the tension that had been building in the room shifted abruptly.
Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni pulled back the pressure he'd been putting out, and resettled slowly into his seat. His gaze went inward. No obvious reaction visible on the surface. But among those assembled, there were people with sharp instincts.
And they noticed.
The old man had, apparently, exhaled.
As if... for him, that interrogation and the weight it carried had been its own source of tension.
"So based on the available information, the summary would be: several captains were suddenly subjected to a Hollowfication attack, underwent the corresponding transformation, and before the situation could fully escalate and spiral out of control, received assistance from Yoruichi Shihoin and Urahara Kisuke, and have since departed Soul Society?"
Matsushita Yusuke gave a noncommittal nod.
"Based on the current facts, I have no objection to that conclusion."
The assembled observers reacted with quiet noise. From their perspective, this whole affair was getting more complicated the longer it ran.
"Why would the Research and Development Department be involved in something like this?"
"This may have been a covert experiment that was kept from everyone else."
"You could make the case that it blew up in their faces, and they fled before they could be held accountable."
"Then why would the head of the Shihoin clan go along with it? With her influence, she had no reason to. The cost to her is completely out of proportion to any benefit."
"Ha. Maybe she had a guilty conscience. Didn't even have the spine to stay and face anyone. She could easily have been the one who started all of this."
With none of them present to speak for themselves, accusations could be made all day without anyone pushing back.
The direction of the discussion was moving more or less exactly as Aizen Sosuke had anticipated. Matsushita Yusuke took it all in at a general level, and understood the shape of it perfectly.
The absent had no voice. No matter how thoroughly the argument was chewed over, nobody was going to step forward to object.
That was the decisive disadvantage of losing the ability to speak for yourself.
'You really have to hand it to Zanpakuto like Kyoka Suigetsu... in specific conditions, a Kido-type release is in a completely different league from anything with a purely physical specialization.'
Because without Aizen's setup, the Club's development process would not have gone nearly as smoothly.
Back to the matter at hand.
"Given where things are now, what options do we actually have?"
The one who spoke was Kyoraku Shunsui.
He had his straw hat in his arms, and after glancing around at the room, spoke in an unhurried tone.
"The obvious first step is a wanted notice. Goes without saying, but the procedure has to be followed. After that, tracking their movements and keeping an eye on what they do next..."
Ukitake Jushiro, seated beside him, gave a small nod and covered his mouth as he spoke through a cough.
"I'll see to it that the squad members with a presence in the living world... pay some attention to the situation."
It was only a hint, but anyone with any sense understood exactly what Kyoraku was getting at.
The fugitives had no future in Soul Society. Which left only two other options if they wanted to go anywhere. Hueco Mundo or the living world.
The former was Hollow territory. Barren and empty, with no real place to live.
The living world, by comparison, was also rich in spiritual energy, but it still had human activity and functioning civilization. It was the obvious destination.
So.
In the current situation, the organization with the most natural, unrestricted access to the living world was only one.
Ukitake Jushiro's Squad 13.
As the sanctioned purification squad, their standing assignment already sent members into the living world for soul burial and Hollow purification. In the current circumstances, Squad 13 had by far the most contact with the living world and the clearest understanding of conditions there.
And while Ukitake had already responded, Yamamoto chose to reinforce the point directly.
"Ukitake. Take this seriously."
"I understand, Captain-Commander."
Do you, though?
Matsushita Yusuke had returned to his seat. He wasn't looking in that direction, but internally he was going a little unhinged.
This is not going to be that simple.
Urahara and the others, going by the source material, were essentially permanently based in Karakura Town. Small city. Not exactly a place where you could stay active and avoid running into people.
Of course, speculation alone wasn't a solid argument. There was more to it than that.
In the original story, Rukia Kuchiki's reaction to encountering Urahara was notably calm. Which suggested that Squad 13's members weren't treating him as a target to be dealt with. You couldn't entirely rule out the possibility that Urahara's unauthorized stunt of getting Ichigo into the game had left him feeling reckless. But his behavior in the living world was anything but discreet. And then there was Yoruichi, who never stopped moving.
Within the current Gotei 13, there almost certainly remained people who were quietly sympathetic to them.
Which meant Yusuke was going to be playing Werewolf for a few more years.
Ugh. What a headache. Best to leave the complicated parts for Aizen to handle.
What Matsushita Yusuke needed to do was simply keep himself clear of it. Let everyone else work through the details at their own pace.
The thoughts moved through him in waves. The discussion among the others had begun to wind toward its natural conclusion.
After the full exchange, a consensus emerged.
"Maintain the investigation. And treat this matter as closed for now."
The reasoning was simple.
The Gotei 13 needed time to recover.
And that, in turn, gave Kyoraku Shunsui his opening for the second item on the agenda.
"Now that the focus isn't on assigning blame, there's something else that needs our attention." He looked across at the assembled captains. "As you can all see, the immediate crisis facing Seireitei has been resolved for the time being. Which means the Gotei 13 needs to turn its attention to other pressing matters."
Specifically.
"The positions that have been vacated all need to be filled. Without that, too many of the Gotei 13's core functions will stall out."
The Hollowfication incident had taken out far too many captains. The number who had departed through betrayal or exile amounted to nearly a third of the entire organization.
The guardians of Soul Society, the group representing the absolute peak of Shinigami power, were suddenly down by that margin. Neither Kyoraku Shunsui nor Yamamoto was going to accept that.
So.
"No sense in waiting. Let's proceed with a new round of captain selection."
As the words landed, Kyoraku turned his head toward the left side of the room.
"Captain-Commander. Your thoughts?"
The old man closed his eyes and exhaled, a low sound.
"Proceed."