Chapter 170: Just the Syste—
Unohana Retsu's expression gave an involuntary twitch.
The speech she had prepared was now completely unnecessary.
You don't play by the rules at all, do you? Someone who didn't want to fight was supposed to refuse outright. Force me to plead my case. Make me lay out all the reasoning, spell out the stakes, talk you around over the course of a long and laborious back-and-forth, until you finally caved with a miserable expression. That was the script. That was how the Kenpachi succession was supposed to go.
"What changed? A moment ago you weren't like this at all."
Matsushita Yusuke let out a faint, almost imperceptible sigh.
"Just the Syste—"
"...Hm?"
"Nothing, nothing, forget it. I'm joking. Honestly, despite how I act, I do have a competitive streak. I'm genuinely up for a fight. No complaints. Set it up."
"..."
Taking into account that this person occasionally said things that made no sense to anyone in the room, Unohana decided to accept that for now and move on.
She sighed quietly and pressed two fingers to her temple.
A bit of a roundabout path to get here, but the result was more or less... acceptable.
"Tomorrow morning, then. Does that work?"
"Works for me."
Good.
The process was irrelevant at this point. She just wanted to see the carnage.
Matsushita Yusuke agreed without hesitation, then followed up:
"Where?"
"I'll send notice closer to the time, but it'll definitely be somewhere in Rukongai."
Smart call.
Fighting someone like Zaraki, holding back wasn't going to be an option. The moment Bankai came out, never mind winning, the old man would already have questions about what was going on in his squad's backyard.
"Then I'll head back and get ready."
"Good. Make sure you're in proper condition. I don't want to hear anything like 'I wasn't at my best' or 'let's reschedule.' That kind of talk has no place coming out of a Kenpachi's mouth."
Matsushita Yusuke gave a short laugh, waved without looking back, and walked out.
Gone.
He returned to Squad 11 in long strides. Soifon happened to be out, which saved him the trouble of explaining anything. He changed, made his way to the training hall, and set to work, sharpening his focus alongside his form.
Tomorrow was going to be a real fight. Preparation wasn't optional.
So. Take stock of the available tools and think through the approach.
Matsushita Yusuke ran through his composite panel.
Honestly, of the four main disciplines, the only one he could actually field at this level was Kido.
The other three had been developing steadily, but none of them had reached the point where they could pull weight against a top-tier opponent. More than enough to roll through low-difficulty content. Nowhere near enough for this.
No brute force. Not against Zaraki.
The path through had to be Kido, working angles, finding the openings.
That was the basic framework. But there was a limit to how much Kido alone could accomplish against someone like this.
If he wanted to win, he was going to need to bring out the final option.
Bankai.
His total reiryoku was sufficient to support multiple releases. The question at this point wasn't whether, but which one, and when.
Different situation, different answer. That flexibility was one of his real advantages. Solid planning and the right deployment at the right moment could shift a fight's outcome completely. He was careful about this, consistently.
And even setting the quest rewards aside entirely, purely for the sake of his own name, he had every reason to go all-out.
Tsk.
When he thought about it that way, tomorrow might actually be the first time he had gone in with everything on the table, nothing held back.
Honestly? A strange, unexpected anticipation was starting to creep in.
His strength had stacked up through multiple rounds of growth. What level had it actually reached by now? He needed a real test to find out.
Zaraki Kenpachi.
No question about it. A perfect target.
Time moved. Evening arrived.
Soifon, who had been out running duties all day, dragged herself through the familiar squad entrance and pressed a hand against her aching shoulder with a resigned expression.
Too much to deal with. More than she could keep up with. In practice, Squad 11 currently had only a captain, a vice-captain, and one provisional member. But on paper, it was a properly recognized organization with a formal structure.
Which meant events, coordination meetings, and inter-squad exchanges still required Squad 11 to show up.
Roughly sixty percent of those fell to Matsushita Yusuke in terms of who should be attending. Soifon had been quietly covering most of that herself.
Partly because she understood that his focus right now needed to be on getting stronger.
She had known certain things about the squad before she joined. The most obvious was the reputation. Squad 11's particular brand of infamy preceded it everywhere.
This was a combat-dedicated squad. What mattered here was fighting ability. Unlike Squad 2, which had to balance a portion of noble-family obligations alongside its duties, Squad 11 had been built from the beginning for one purpose and one purpose only.
Soifon didn't entirely understand that philosophy on a personal level.
But she understood the meaning of respect, and she had executed her responsibilities accordingly.
And despite how things looked right now, precisely because she had been handling everything herself, Soifon knew, with genuine conviction, that once graduation season came around, things would turn around.
Time was on Squad 11's side. She had no doubt about that.
Lost in thought, she pushed the office door open.
"This document came in from Squad 1 today, there's some content that needs your sign-off, you'll need to use your authorization to confirm the..." Hm?
She stopped mid-sentence.
The familiar figure was not behind the desk.
Where had that idiot gone off to now? The thought was barely formed when she caught the faint sounds of exertion carrying from somewhere nearby.
She followed the sound, moving through the quiet buildings of the compound, and found herself at the training hall entrance.
He was inside.
Shirtless, drenched in sweat, Matsushita Yusuke was working through a set of solitary striking drills. An unusual sight.
Looking at his state, she could tell this had been going on for a while.
The sudden dedication caught her slightly off guard. After a brief silence, though, she didn't interrupt him. She turned quietly, voice dropping to just above nothing, like she was talking to herself.
"Fine. Nothing here is urgent. It can wait until tomorrow."
"Soifon, are you out there?"
The voice from inside stopped her.
She looked back. Matsushita Yusuke was wiping the sweat from his forehead, smiling in her direction.
"Just got back? Good work today. Get some rest."
"You too."
"Oh, while I'm at it, just so you know, if something unexpected comes up tomorrow, you can take your time thinking through whether you want to stay on with Squad 11. No need to force yourself either way."
"...???"
What was that supposed to mean?
Watching the completely baffled expression on Soifon's face, Matsushita Yusuke just pressed his lips into a quiet smile and said nothing more.
Just a precautionary word in case things went sideways. Of course, saying it didn't mean he had any less confidence in the outcome.
"Actually, never mind. Pretend I didn't say anything."
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