The dojo was completely packed.
It was a rare event for the incoming Captain to grace them with a personal visit.
Given her status as the designated commander, absolutely everyone who could make it showed up to give her face.
Standing in front of the crowd, Yoruichi looked the picture of calm and collected authority.
Internally, however, she was panicking.
“Why did you make me gather everyone here?” she hissed through her teeth at Haru, who was standing right next to her.
“I’m just inspecting my property,” Haru replied without missing a beat.
“Aren’t they basically my subordinates too?”
“Pfft, in your dreams!”
Watching from the crowd, the squad members felt a wave of collective confusion.
Weren’t the rumors saying the engagement was violently called off?
Why was Lady Yoruichi whispering so intimately with this pretty boy?
“Didn’t the Third Seat just retire?” Haru murmured.
“This is the perfect excuse to hold a selection tournament for the vacancy.
It’s a great way to officially establish your authority as the new Captain.”
Yoruichi reached up to scratch the messy, spiky strands of her hair, looking a bit sheepish.
“But…
Marenoshin has always been the one handling squad management.”
Stepping fully into the role of a scheming, corrupt politician, Haru offered some earnest, heartfelt advice.
“If Lieutenant Omaeda’s spirit in heaven could see us now, he would completely agree with this approach!
If you want to be a true Captain, you absolutely must establish your own authority, Little Yoruichi!”
“The brat is right, Lady Yoruichi.
You’ll be taking over soon; it’s about time you properly introduced yourself to the men!” a booming voice suddenly echoed right next to Haru’s ear.
Haru jumped.
‘Tch.’
Having been caught directly cursing the man to an early grave, Haru didn’t show a single ounce of shame.
“You hear that, Yoruichi?
Even Lord Omaeda agrees with me!
How could I be wrong?”
“Alright, let’s do it,” Yoruichi agreed.
Since the treacherous Haru had initially planned to host the event himself, having the actual acting Lieutenant run things was definitely the better choice.
“Fall in!” Omaeda barked.
The squad members instantly snapped into perfectly aligned formations.
Despite being a covert ops unit, they still had a massive number of public-facing personnel.
“Today, Lady Yoruichi—your future Captain—has come to the Second Division to familiarize herself with all of you.
Furthermore, we are here to formally fill the vacancy of the Third Seat.”
Omaeda didn’t bother with fluff.
This was the Onmitsukidō; if a commanding officer acted too gently toward their subordinates, it meant something was horribly wrong.
“To give everyone a fair chance, Lady Yoruichi has decided that the Third Seat will be chosen through a competitive tournament.
One-on-one combat.
The most capable fighter takes the seat.
We don’t care about your seniority, and we don’t care about your background.”
A wave of excited chatter broke out among the ranks.
Even though the Gotei 13 supposedly valued absolute strength, nepotism and backdoor politics were still very real hurdles.
Aside from the meatheads in Squad 11—who genuinely solved all ranking disputes with their fists—this was the first time another division had so openly endorsed a pure meritocracy.
“However, let me make one thing perfectly clear,” Omaeda continued, flashing a savage grin.
“As you all know, the Third Seat’s primary duty—aside from assisting me—is maintaining security at the Maggot’s Nest.
In other words, you need to be able to beat the living hell out of unrepentant criminals.”
“Therefore, Hakuda is the absolute deciding factor!
I do not want to see whoever wins this tournament end up dead in the Maggot’s Nest!
Because if you die down there, I will personally embezzle your entire death pension!
Your sheer stupidity wouldn’t deserve a single coin of it!”
…
Was it really appropriate for a commanding officer to openly threaten to embezzle a subordinate’s death compensation?
…
Unfortunately, the members of the Second Division were already far too accustomed to their Lieutenant’s bizarre relationship with money.
Not a single person voiced a complaint; if anything, they looked even more fired up.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Urahara, I’m going to enter!” Katsuta said, shaking Kisuke’s shoulder excitedly.
“Lady Yoruichi is far too merciful!
Even commoners like us can use this chance to climb the ranks!
It’s perfectly fair!”
Kisuke offered a few half-hearted words of encouragement.
He had absolutely zero interest in standing out.
He would much rather stay quietly hidden and tinker with his research.
But someone else was refusing to let him go.
Suddenly, Kisuke felt a prickle on the back of his neck.
Someone was observing him from the shadows.
It was a very strange gaze—the kind of look someone gives a highly useful, perfectly crafted tool.
It made him deeply uncomfortable.
He followed the sensation and looked up, but he didn’t see anything immediately suspicious.
Kisuke scratched his messy blonde hair and offered a helpless smile.
It couldn’t be Yoruichi looking at him, right?
The only people standing up there were Yoruichi and…
that pretty boy?
Sensing his gaze, the pretty boy flashed him a brilliantly warm, amicable smile.
Kisuke smiled back, completely oblivious to the catastrophic danger hurtling his way.
‘Did Kisuke Urahara already sense my burning desire to make him famous?’ Haru wondered, slightly confused.
‘Otherwise, why would he smile so happily at me?’
Down in the dojo, the tournament had reached a fever pitch.
These were elite members of the Second Division fighting for the coveted Third Seat.
The combat was blindingly fast, with matches often decided in a rapid, brutal exchange of blows.
Katsuta had been eliminated in the very first round.
As the 13th-ranked 15th Seat officer, leaping all the way up to the Third Seat was a bit too ambitious.
But he wasn’t discouraged.
He stood on the sidelines next to Kisuke, cheering for the others.
“Urahara, aren’t you going to give it a try?”
“Ah, no thanks, Katsuta.
I really wouldn’t stand a chance.”
By now, the final match had concluded.
The victor raised both arms high, already celebrating his promotion.
Kisuke stifled a yawn, his mind already drifting to the experiments he wanted to run later that night.
Suddenly, Haru—who had been acting as Yoruichi’s backseat driver the entire time—stepped forward.
He clapped his hands to draw the room’s attention and spoke in a clear, ringing voice.
“Everyone, please lend me your ears!
I’ve been with the Executive Militia for many years, and while I may not know all of you personally, I am familiar with the talent here.
I am thrilled that Lady Yoruichi organized this tournament to give you all a chance.”
The crowd began to mutter.
Most of them didn’t know Haru well, but they all knew he was the guy who had almost become the ‘Captain’s Husband.’ Inside the Second Division, no one really dared to gossip about him.
But wait, wasn’t his registry transferred over to the Shin’ō Academy?
What was he doing here?
Ignoring the whispers, Haru continued.
“However—as you all know, I am an educator at heart!
I simply cannot bear to see brilliant talent buried in the dirt!
I absolutely refuse to allow a true genius to hide their light instead of shining brightly for the Soul Society!”
Haru raised his hand, his finger sweeping across the crowd before locking dead onto a specific blonde slacker.
“There is a man among you who cares nothing for fame or fortune.
A man of noble character and immense virtue, perfectly content to hide his name and serve as an ordinary squad member!”
The crowd erupted into chaotic chatter.
Everyone started craning their necks, trying to figure out exactly who Haru was pointing at.
“This virtuous paragon,” Haru declared loudly, “could easily floor the vast majority of you in this room with a single hand!”
The uproar instantly doubled in volume.
They had worked alongside these people for years!
Was there really a hidden monster lurking in the Second Division?!
Only someone as naive and well-meaning as Mr.
Shimizu would look at a guy hiding his true strength in an assassination corps and think, ‘What a man of noble character!’ To the hardened veterans of Squad 2, anyone who intentionally hid their power and refused to compete was definitely a dark, twisted, scheming creep!
For the first time in his life, Kisuke Urahara realized things were about to go horribly, horribly wrong.