Silas stayed where he was, chewing over the conversation they had just had.
Tsunayashiro Tokiiki.
The man was far more complicated than he had imagined.
Beyond the invitation itself and the benefits attached to it, which were real enough, Silas hadn’t taken much of what was said to heart.
Half true and half false, all of it aimed at winning someone over.
Silas wasn’t even certain Tokiiki had actually seen through his act.
As Tokiiki himself said, a man raised in that kind of environment can seem to be pouring his heart out to you while quietly deciding where to bury your body.
As for using his name the way he suggested, Silas didn’t take that seriously either.
If he actually did it, he would inevitably be marked as a man of the Tsunayashiro Clan, and there was no telling what sort of butterfly effect that might set off.
A noble’s retainer might look prestigious, but the rules and restrictions ran deep and the risks ran high.
Silas wouldn’t take the invitation, though perhaps their paths would cross again down the line.
They were, after all, the highest caste in the Seireitei.
What was more, as Silas remembered it, the Tsunayashiro had always been quietly running strange research of their own.
In the end they even managed to build a half-finished artificial Soul King by hand.
As for those last words about Nanao, Silas of course knew the truth of it.
As a family of Shinto priests who enshrined divine implements, the Ise family had been headed by women for generations.
The line continued by taking in husbands, but those husbands died.
Every man who married into the Ise family died shortly after he had sown his seed, without exception.
Better not to dwell too long on the reason.
Thinking about any of this now, though, felt premature.
Who could say for certain what the future held?
Silas opened his panel and looked at the special abilities section at the bottom.
[Hōgyoku (Awakening: 0.05%)]
That tiny fragment sat inside him now, as though it had grown out of his own body, entirely fused with his soul.
Yet Silas could tell that so long as he didn’t deliberately set it off, the fragment might as well not exist.
Just like the Hollow Spiritual Pressure his Hollowfication skill had given him, it lay quietly hidden inside him.
That put his mind at ease.
He didn’t have to fear being discovered out of nowhere by Aizen and hauled off to be dissected and studied.
Even so, Silas still had no idea what this Hōgyoku fragment could do for him.
He remembered that a fully evolved Hōgyoku held the power to make the desires of the heart real.
The future looks promising.
Since coming back from that valley, the past few days had been very quiet, which really did let him breathe easier.
If the one hidden in the shadows back there had been Urahara Kisuke, that was fine.
He might only have wanted to keep his own Hōgyoku research from being exposed.
But if it had been Aizen, there was a serious problem.
I’m not going to be chopped into mincemeat one day out of nowhere, am I…?
Looking up at the darkening sky, Silas sighed.
Since things have come to this, there’s no use overthinking it.
Let’s eat first. Get faster updates on g.com.
He turned and walked toward the cafeteria.
By the time Silas reached the cafeteria, only a few students were scattered around it.
It was well past mealtime, after all.
To his surprise, a petite figure was still sitting in there, quietly turning the pages of a book.
Silas looked at Nanao in surprise and came over with his food.
“Why haven’t you gone back yet?”
“I’m having dessert.”
Nanao pointed at the small cake and fruit in front of her.
“Really just dessert?”
“Of course.”
Watching Silas sit down with a beaming smile, Nanao looked slightly away.
“Why did the two of you talk for so long?”
Nanao turned back.
Her tone was casual enough, but the curiosity in her eyes was hard to hide.
“Well. Tsunayashiro Tokiiki wanted to take me on as his retainer.”
He hadn’t mentioned it to her before, but Silas thought it over and decided it wasn’t worth hiding, so he simply said it.
Nanao’s hands stilled at that.
An invitation from one of the Four Great Noble Clans was a rare opportunity even for some of the lesser nobles.
But for Silas?
“Why?”
“No idea. Maybe he thinks I have potential.”
Nanao kept her opinion to herself.
“Did you accept?”
“No. That kind of life doesn’t suit me.”
“True enough. You’re so used to being lazy that I can’t picture you as anybody’s lackey.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Where would you get that idea?”
Nanao rolled her eyes at him, though she seemed to relax as well.
She took small bites of her dessert, and before long her brow furrowed again.
“The Tsunayashiro are one of the Four Great Noble Clans. Won’t there be trouble if you turn his invitation down?”
“Probably not.” Silas shook his head, unbothered.
“He seemed easy enough to talk to.”
Being easy to talk to isn’t a reason.
Nanao stared at him for a few seconds and said quietly, “As long as you know what you’re doing.”
He was only a fifth-year, but he was in the Elite Class, so the entrance exam wouldn’t be a problem.
It wasn’t too early to be weighing these things.
Silas thought about it a moment.
“You know I like to move around and can’t sit still. Maybe the Eighth Division, which handles intelligence gathering, or the Tenth, which runs the security patrols.”
“I see. If only I had a Zanpakutō as well. Then it would be lovely if we could go to the same division…”
Nanao murmured it.
She had already settled on applying to the Kidō Corps, after all.
Silas looked at her, dejected as she was, and felt puzzled.
The girl used to be so strong-willed.
Lately, for whatever reason, she had turned rather sentimental.
Silas clicked his tongue.
“Hey. After the exam tomorrow, I’ll treat you to Ichiraku Ramen out in the Rukongai.”
“Ichiraku Ramen… your shop?”
“Yeah. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? The new branch just opened, and there are plenty of new dishes on the menu.”
Nanao’s eyes lit up at that, and then immediately narrowed at him in suspicion.
“Your treat?”
“Of course.”
“Last time you said it was your treat too, and I ended up paying.”
“Did that happen?”
Silas froze for two seconds as the memory came rushing back.
That had been a few months ago.
The second Ichiraku Ramen branch had opened in West District Two, and he had taken Nanao there specially to try it.
After the meal, Silas searched every inch of himself and found he hadn’t brought any money.
The woman who managed the second branch was shrewd and capable, and she stood by the table smiling.
“Vane-san, this is a small business. You know the rules. No credit.”
“I’m the owner. I have to pay for my own meal?”
“The owner pays too. If the owner doesn’t pay, then everyone who walks in will claim to be a friend of the owner, some asking for credit and some asking for free. How would we stay open?”
Looking at the smiling woman, Silas suddenly felt like a student caught cheating by a teacher.
He had picked her as manager precisely for that sheer presence and backbone, knowing she could handle the rougher crowd out in the Rukongai.
He hadn’t expected it to be turned on him.
“Then… then can I at least get a discount? I am the owner…”
“Certainly. From now on, anyone who uses the owner’s name in this shop gets twenty percent off. Now, where’s the money?”
“I, uh…”
Seeing that Silas was about to be hauled off to the kitchen to wash dishes, Nanao sighed and counted the money out of her own pocket, saving his life.
“Ah… now I remember.”
“That time I purely forgot my wallet. I never expected to nearly meet my end in my own shop. Don’t worry, Nanao-chan, it won’t happen this time.”
Silas patted his chest and swore to it.