Bleach: Stirring Up a Storm

A month passed in the blink of an eye, yet Kōe still couldn’t grasp that elusive sensation.

Over the past month, Kōe had entered his inner world countless times to converse with Kōki, but he gained almost nothing. He had heard Kōki’s cliché advice to ’find the answer yourself’ so many times he was sick to death of it.

Just ten days ago, Kōki had finally recovered to perfect condition. This meant Kōe could release his Bankai and experience that scenario once again. *If I have to rely on myself, then so be it,* he thought. *What kind of man admits he can’t do something?*

Reality, however, gave him a harsh slap in the face. He chopped off his own hand, gritted his teeth and severed his own head, and even subjected himself to a whole set of gruesome tricks he hadn’t tried the first time around.

But even after soaking the floor of the meditation room red with his own blood, that original sensation of death never returned. Perhaps he had gotten used to it after experiencing it once, becoming immune to the feeling?

Or perhaps, as Yamamoto had said, he simply had too many distractions weighing on his mind, making it impossible to truly find peace.

The reasoning was easy to find and even easier to say, but actually doing it was incredibly difficult. This was exactly Kōe’s problem. The more he tried to calm his mind, the more agitated he became. It felt as though Yhwach was going to invade the Seireitei tomorrow.

Therefore, without waiting for the Squad 1 members to wake him, Kōe took the initiative to step out of the meditation room himself. He needed to find something to do to distract himself and recover from this state of sheer frustration.

Exactly a month had passed, and Kurotsuchi Mayuri had delivered his research proposal right on schedule. Perfect timing—now he had something to do.

Kōe recognized every single word in the report Mayuri sent, but stringing them together just gave him a massive headache. If he didn’t seek outside help, the only feedback he could offer on this report was a blank, ”Makes sense,” even if Mayuri was completely stringing him along.

There were very few people in the entire Seireitei who could rival Mayuri in scientific research. Squad 12 Captain Hikifune Kirio might be one, but Kōe wasn’t very familiar with her.

There was another person Kōe was extremely familiar with, however: his childhood best friend, Urahara Kisuke. If Mayuri claimed to be the second-best researcher in the Seireitei, Urahara was probably the only one who would dare claim to be the first.

Coincidentally, according to the reports from the Squad 1 members, Urahara had come looking for him recently. The man likely had some business with him, and perhaps it could bring Kōe some new inspiration.

Making his way to Squad 12, Kōe knew that Urahara was currently their Third Seat. Unless he was out on a mission, he spent most of his time there.

Fortunately, Urahara hadn’t been dispatched on a mission. However, according to the other squad members, he wasn’t currently at the barracks either. He would just show up every now and then before disappearing again, and none of them knew where he actually was.

So where was Urahara? Down in their trio’s secret underground base beneath Sōkyoku Hill. The moment Kōe passed through the Kidō barrier they had set up, he felt the fluctuations of Reiatsu beneath his feet.

Arriving at the massive cavern at the end of the tunnel, he found exactly who he was looking for. Urahara, who had been missing from Squad 12 for so long, was right there. Shihōin Yoruichi was present as well, though she currently had a black cloth sack over her head, looking for all the world like she had been kidnapped.

”Yo, Kōe. Did your seclusion go smoothly?” Urahara waved at him. The Kidō barrier had been established by the three of them together, so Urahara had known the moment Kōe stepped inside.

”Not too smoothly, which is why I wanted to chat with you,” Kōe replied. He then pointed at Yoruichi in the distance and asked, ”Is that look supposed to mean she’s too ashamed to show her face?”

”That? It’s just a little gadget I whipped up.”

Urahara smiled, pulling a white loop of rope from his robes. As he untied the knot on it, he explained, ”Just now, her sight, hearing, smell, and Reiatsu perception were all restricted. She’s fine now.”

The untied rope suddenly glowed white, and the black cloth sack over Yoruichi’s head turned white as well.

”Why did we stop, Urahara?”

Yoruichi pulled the sack off her head with a look of utter confusion. Upon seeing Kōe, a happy smile initially broke across her face, but she immediately schooled her features, crossing her arms sternly. ”Didn’t you say you wouldn’t see anyone until a full month had passed? What are you doing here now!”

Kōe shot Urahara a glance, his eyes full of inquiry. Seeing this, Urahara’s gaze slowly drifted over to Yoruichi. His meaning was obvious: *She’s the one who called for you, I was just the messenger!*

Kōe had assumed Urahara needed him and Yoruichi as test subjects for something, but who would have thought Urahara himself was just a tool in this scenario? He had completely miscalculated.

”What, is the great Kenpachi Shihouin unwilling to even offer us an explanation now?” Yoruichi’s voice rang out again, her tone carrying an even heavier hint of complaint than before.

”No, it’s just that the month is already up!” Kōe replied instinctively. Realizing that the situation was turning sour as Yoruichi’s expression darkened even further, he hastily added, ”And so I came to find you guys immediately! If you need me for anything, just throw it my way!”

”If Squad 11 saw that their Ninth Generation Kenpachi looked like this, they’d probably all want to crawl into a mouse hole out of shame.” Yoruichi snorted, though her expression had softened considerably.

”Which is exactly why they will never appear down here,” Kōe said with a laugh. ”Of course, to ensure the integrity of the Gotei 13, you could also choose not to boss me around.”

”You’re already here, and you think you can just leave after a quick chat? Don’t even think about it! We’re continuing the training. Urahara, tell him what he needs to do!”

Yoruichi pulled the sack back over her head. Kōe and Urahara exchanged a smile; it seemed they had successfully placated her.

”Kenpachi... You really walked a path neither of us could have ever imagined, and you’ve become quite the remarkable person, Kōe...”

”No matter how remarkable I am, aren’t I still just a sparring partner down here?” Kōe curled his lip, then added, ”Besides, didn’t you say I was always a remarkable person?”

Before Urahara could speak, Yoruichi’s loud voice echoed from the distance again. ”What, feeling wronged again?!”

”I thought she was restricted?”

Urahara held up the rope in his hand. ”I haven’t tied the knot yet, so she isn’t restricted.”

”Hurry up and tie it!” Kōe urged Urahara. Complaining to her face right now was far too dangerous, and besides, he still had ’important business’ to discuss with Urahara.

As if guessing Kōe’s thoughts, Yoruichi loudly threatened, ”If you dare speak ill of me, your title of Kenpachi is forfeit! Don’t even think you can hide it from me!”

”Because every time you speak ill of me behind my back, you can’t help but smile whenever you look at me...” Yoruichi muttered to herself as her world faded to pitch black once more.

”Ah—Achoo!”

”Looks like someone is thinking about you, Kōe.”

”Achoo!!” Kōe rubbed his nose and said helplessly to Urahara, ”No, it looks like someone is cursing me. It’s probably Yoruichi.”

Meanwhile, far away from the Seireitei, on the outskirts of Kusajishi, the 79th District of North Rukongai, three men and a little girl were heading south.

”Big Bro Zaraki, if we want to go to the Seireitei, we have to go this way!” the bald man in front called back over his shoulder. The man he addressed as ’Big Bro Zaraki’ was none other than Zaraki Kenpachi, whom Kōe had encountered a century ago.

”Ken-chan, we’ve walked this way before!” Behind Zaraki Kenpachi, a little girl with pink, shoulder-length hair pointed happily to their right. ”Let’s go this way! This way is the right way!”

”Are you sure?”

”We haven’t walked this way yet, so it must be right!”

Hearing this, Zaraki Kenpachi immediately turned to the right. The two men in front froze for a moment before hurriedly rushing to catch up.

”Big Bro Zaraki, you’re going the wrong way!”

”Shut up!” Zaraki Kenpachi barked back, then muttered to himself, ”Making me walk all this way... I hope that Seireitei Kenpachi doesn’t make this a wasted trip. And that guy named Kōe Shihouin—I’m going to have a lot of fun playing with him this time!”

”Achoo!!!”

Urahara looked at the sneezing Kōe and asked helplessly, ”And what about this time?”

”Maybe I caught a cold?” Kōe said, a strange thought suddenly popping into his head. *Could this be a side effect of mutilating myself?*

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