Chapter 156: Induction Ceremony
"Reservation. Private booth."
The izakaya server gave a slightly flustered nod and hurried to lead them upstairs.
"Right this way!"
Matsushita Yusuke pushed the curtain aside and stepped in first.
"Soifon, you want the back seat?"
"Either is fine."
They settled in. Matsushita Yusuke ran through the menu and ordered quickly. Being a regular had its advantages: the service was prompt and the food came fast. Before long, drinks and food were on the table and the curtain fell back into place behind the server.
Just the two of them left in the room.
It wasn't quite a staring contest, but the silence between them had a particular weight to it. Neither said anything.
Right. This isn't going anywhere on its own.
"Want to start with a drink?"
Soifon said nothing. She picked up her mug of draft beer and drained the whole thing in one go.
"Why didn't she talk to me first..."
"...Hm?"
Matsushita Yusuke produced a short, puzzled sound. That was apparently enough.
Soifon went off like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"I'm saying! Something that important, and Yoruichi-sama couldn't be bothered to discuss any of it with me!"
Her face had taken on a faint flush. Whether that was the alcohol or just heat rising through her, it was hard to say.
Something had unlocked.
"Something that important! How does a person just leave Soul Society without a single word? Hey, Matsushita! You know what Yoruichi-sama is like, don't you?"
Like she had found something to hold onto.
Soifon's voice was slightly unsteady, and she looked at him like she was asking for confirmation.
"Someone who does whatever she wants and never thinks about the consequences. There is no version of reality where someone like that betrays Soul Society!"
"...That's a bit harsh on her, isn't it?"
"I don't care!"
Bang.
The mug hit the table. Soifon wiped her mouth and raised her voice.
"Get me another one!"
Matsushita Yusuke waved the server back in, placed the order carefully, and sent them back out.
Right. Let's see if we can get somewhere with this.
"I agree the whole Yoruichi-sama situation doesn't add up. But the part where she didn't talk to you first... did that hurt?"
"Of course it did..."
Soifon wrapped her hands around the new mug, tilted back slightly in her seat, expression caught somewhere between frustration and something that didn't have a clean name.
"I grew up with Yoruichi-sama. She told me she trusted me without conditions. That she valued me. Even when I was behind the others, even when I was slow to pick things up, she never looked down on me..."
What followed was a long string of memories. The accumulated back-and-forth of years spent in someone else's orbit, loyal and close.
But somewhere in the telling, something in the feelings shifted.
"And this time she just... didn't think of me at all. I don't understand what she was thinking. I just... I don't."
Her expression drifted. She trailed off for a moment, then let out a quiet, humorless laugh.
"I don't even know what I was working so hard for anymore."
Matsushita Yusuke scratched the back of his head.
His understanding of Soifon had never run as deep as Yoruichi's. Listening to this, it was clear that whatever existed between these two had gone well past the limits of captain and subordinate.
If things had played out differently, the two of them might have developed some kind of... relationship that really stretched the imagination.
No. That was not a scene he needed to witness.
Matsushita Yusuke chose his words carefully and said quietly:
"But that doesn't mean she stopped needing you entirely, does it? Think about it. Maybe Yoruichi ran into something she genuinely couldn't handle. Something she couldn't see a way through."
"Then I should have been there. To stand up and carry that for her!"
Soifon got the words out stiffly, then slumped back down.
Things were what they were. Saying more wasn't going to change them.
"Matsushita..."
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to abandon me too?"
Matsushita Yusuke's chopsticks paused mid-reach.
He blinked, looked up, and set them down.
"Why would you think that?"
The person who had said it now had her face buried in her arms on the table, like she couldn't bring herself to look up. Her voice came out muffled and barely there.
"Because... because Yoruichi-sama did. And I don't know if... you would too."
Honestly?
Maybe it was the accumulated bruises talking. Someone who normally came at him with the energy of a natural disaster showing this kind of vulnerability felt strange in a way that was hard to place.
But more than anything else, what he felt was something close to pity.
He hadn't been the one to build Soifon's confidence or her strength. That had been Yoruichi's work. He had no standing to weigh in on what had or hadn't passed between them. But what he could do right now?
Probably just this.
Matsushita Yusuke reached over and gave her a gentle pat on the head.
"I won't abandon you."
He waited.
"...Are you asleep?"
Soifon's cheek was flushed, her expression somewhere that was unmistakably not awake. Matsushita Yusuke's mouth opened slightly, and he let out a quiet, helpless smile.
For the vice-captain who had been investing in him since the very beginning, his feelings were obvious enough without putting them into words.
He slipped off his captain's haori and draped it over her, then moved back to sit by the windowsill.
It had been a while since he had drunk at any kind of leisure. But there was something unexpectedly pleasant about sitting alone under the moon like this.
Matsushita Yusuke looked out at the round moon in the sky, turned over the road ahead in his mind, and let the time pass quietly, little by little.
All the way to dawn.
The next morning, Matsushita Yusuke took Soifon back to the squad headquarters first, then headed to Squad 1.
As it turned out, the fallout from the Visored incident was far from over.
Because there was still the induction ceremony.
Just as there had been when Matsushita Yusuke was promoted to captain, the new batch replacing the vacated positions needed their own formal welcome.
Standard procedure, nothing unusual about it. What made it worth paying attention to was the faces involved.
Matsushita Yusuke pushed the door open.
He walked in on a small group having their haori fitted, a tailor working through measurements of shoulder width and build.
"Captain Matsushita..."
"Matsushita-kun."
"You made it?"
The greetings came in various forms. He didn't mind. Most of these people were familiar faces, and a select few had developed a dynamic that defied easy categorization.
He returned each greeting and made his way toward the broad-shouldered figure near the edge of the room.
"Omaeda-senpai, that haori looks good on you."
Omaeda Kishinoshin's lips pressed together. The smile that followed looked more like he was about to cry.
"Stop teasing me... Matsushita-kun. You know perfectly well where I stand."
He did.
Matsushita Yusuke smiled and nodded.
Kishinoshin was a stopgap, nothing more. A placeholder to keep Squad 2 functional until the timing was right. Once things settled, the position would almost certainly go back to the Shihoin family.
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