Bleach Cfyow Read Online – CHAPTER FOUR – Part 1
NINTH COMPANY BARRACKS
HISAGI WAS SITTING at his official assistant captain’s desk, lost in thought as he looked through past issues of the Seireitei Bulletin.
Captain Muguruma spoke from behind him. “Hey, why the glum face, Shuhei?”
“Oh, Captain…”
“Is it about the talk earlier? I guess you can’t help getting worked up over that.”
“Sorry, did it show on my face?” He had meant to suppress his feelings, but it looked like he wasn’t doing a great job of it. After taking a deep breath, Hisagi asked, “Did you know, Captain? About Captain Tosen’s—sorry, I mean Kaname Tosen’s past?”
“I had an inkling.”
Even now, Hisagi was in the habit of calling Tosen “Captain Tosen” when he was worked up. He knew it was impolite to his current captain, Muguruma. But he just couldn’t hold back when it came to Tosen.
Muguruma might have understood, since he didn’t get particularly prickly about it. “I don’t concern myself with my subordinates’ pasts. I didn’t really pry back then. I thought I could trust him well enough to do his work without my knowing. Looking back now, maybe I should have delved deeper.”
“And the Tsunayashiro nobles?”
“I don’t care about the world of the nobles specifically because of what they are. Kyoraku, Kuchiki, and Yoruichi are fine, but I don’t want to get mixed up with the average aristocrat.”
Hisagi also knew about the unreasonable, hubristic Soul Reaper nobility. If they had been charmingly prideful like Omaeda, it would have been another story. But he had seen the nobles’ terrible actions earlier in the Central 46.
He’d heard that even the Central 46 had changed their views due to the war, but many people in the aristocratic district still obviously looked down on those in the general populace or the Rukongai.
“It would be nice if they were all like Ms. Yoruichi.”
“I think that would be dangerous in its own way.” Muguruma imagined a group of Yoruichis jumping around the aristocratic district and scowled. He continued, recollecting, “You know, Byakuya got all worked up as a kid when Yoruichi teased him. There was something cute about it, but he ended up maturing into the spitting image of an aristocrat.”
“He can’t help it. He’s head of one of the Four Great Noble Clans after all.” “Yoruichi used to be too though.” As he spoke, Muguruma picked up the
Seireitei Bulletin from his desk. He flipped through it as he continued. “But I’m impressed you took the job. Sure, it was a unique situation, but I think you could have turned it down and spoken to the other companies about it.”
“I’m…actually still on the fence about it.”
≡
HALF AN HOUR EARLIER, FIRST COMPANY BARRACKS
“Understood. I will take on the special edition.” “Huh? Really? Are you sure?”
Hisagi nodded firmly at Kyoraku’s surprise. “Yes, but the Seireitei Bulletin is like a castle I inherited from the previous editor-in-chief, so I’m going to look into this myself and determine whether it’s worthy of a full special edition.”
“You’re much more willing than I expected. Ahh, but you should know that the Gilded Seal Aristocratic Assembly will have their eyes on you if you go digging through the past. I think you’ll be able to keep the Central 46 in check if you ask little Nayura, though.”
“I’m not going to cover the past. I’m going to look into the man’s present. I’ll report things as I honestly see them. If that’s acceptable, leave the special edition to me.”
“You don’t have a grudge against him or anything, do you?”
Kyoraku asked as though testing him, and Hisagi allowed a short silence to stretch out before he answered. “Of course I have a grudge. But it’s personal. And twisting the article because of my personal resentment would be an insult to Captain Tosen.”
He had called Tosen a captain again, and although Naname narrowed her eyes, no one called him out for it.
Kyoraku looked at Hisagi seriously for a while, then shrugged his shoulders slightly. “All right. In that case I guess I’ll leave you to it. But you can’t push it. This is the head of the nobles we’re talking about, and they work differently than the Thirteen Court Guard Companies. He might catch you off guard while you’re looking into things and get involved himself.”
“I’m prepared for that. And if that sort of thing scared me, I’d never cover shady Soul Reapers.”
“Really? Even if an alluring gal like Rangiku seduces you?”
“Huh? Is that really what you think of me? You think something like that would get me?” Hisagi nervously looked at Nanao, but she quickly turned away. He turned back to Muguruma.
“Well, of all the assistant captains, I think you’d be the most susceptible to that sort of thing, after Omaeda,” Muguruma said honestly.
“After Omaeda?!”
“Oh, but Omaeda has money, so he’s probably seen it all and gotten used to sensual pleasures. In which case, you are the most likely—”
“No no no! Abarai is more… He’s way more…” Hisagi thought of all the various things that had happened in the past—specifically when Mayuri Kurotsuchi told him and Renji that “I can give zanpaku-to a sex change.” Hisagi realized that there hadn’t been much difference between their reactions.
“Let’s put that aside! You can leave this to me!”
“Right, it’s good if you’re clearheaded about this. You’ll run into problems if you’re too nervous, and we all know what an aristocrat can do to you.”
“Captain Kyoraku…” Hisagi realized that the Captain General was trying to relieve Hisagi’s apprehension that something was closing in on him. Hisagi expressed his gratitude to Kyoraku again. “I understand. I swear on the good name of the Seireitei Bulletin, I will do this job.”
“Right. If you need any help, let me know. But I’m a lot busier with captain general duties than I thought I’d be, so I can’t be there for you the whole time.”
“Thank you very much! Oh…” Hisagi remembered that there was something
he needed to ask the Captain General directly. “Hm? What’s wrong?”
A serious expression came over Hisagi’s face as Kyoraku tilted his head, and he went straight into it. “Captain Kyoraku, this touches on a different topic. May I ask you about one more thing?”
“What is it? It’s fine as long as it’s something I can answer.” “It’s about Captain Ukitake and Kugo Ginjo.”
A faint shadow pierced Kyoraku’s expression, and a brief silence passed before he replied, “You got me there with that timing. Why now?”
“I met Ginjo today.”
“Hm! I see… Right, you don’t need to worry about him in particular. Ukitake asked me to extend a stay on his execution for as long as I could.” Kyoraku silently looked into the air as he recalled his now absent friend’s face.
“Captain Ukitake asked you to do that…?”
“Officially we can’t exonerate him, so we’re being lenient. It’s all just wait and see.”
A wry smile came over Kyoraku’s face as he questioned Hisagi on an important detail. “So, you heard his side?”
“Yes, but I can’t trust it without hearing the other side first.” “You’re really an upstanding guy. I think that’s good, mm-hm.”
A smile of what seemed like relief at Hisagi’s attitude toward his own work curled on Kyoraku’s mouth, then he sighed slightly and continued. “But now that you’ve brought it up… Could you give me some time?”
“Some time?”
“Ukitake was trying to deal with the situation on his own. I don’t have a full picture of it. But in my current position, I think I can clarify a lot of the ambiguous aspects. Which means there’s a reasonable possibility that we’ll be able to give Kugo Ginjo a pardon of sorts.”
Kyoraku swiftly narrowed one of his eyes. “And on the other hand, there’s a possibility that it will reveal a criminal among the Soul Reapers.”
“All right, I’ll wait until you look into it.”
Hisagi then received some casual briefings and permission to cover several stories and left the First Company barracks. As he hurried home, he thought again about the instructions for the special edition he had received.
Tokinada Tsunayashiro. Hisagi contemplated the name that had engraved itself into his mind as he tried to suppress his own emotions. His face was so grim as he made his way toward the barracks that it was enough to frighten
Hanataro Yamada, who he passed on his way.
≡
THE PRESENT,
NINTH COMPANY BARRACKS
“Whoa, look at the time! Sorry, Captain, I’m heading over to do an interview.” “You’re a pretty busy guy. Where are you heading to next?”
“To the Eleventh Company. I’m covering the thing about the Reio’s left arm with Madarame and Ayasegawa.”
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