Bleach: Stirring Up a Storm

Worrying equals stirring up trouble? If Kōe knew about Renji’s logic, he would definitely give the kid another beating.

Because he worried about Renji being too naive and stubborn, he set things up hoping to make him understand that sometimes danger didn’t come from the enemy right in front of him, but from the insignificant things around him. Finding the problem and solving it was perfectly in line with Kōe’s usual personality.

In fact, it wasn’t just Renji. Take that training exercise, for example. After Renji was forced out of the main group, Kōe specifically arranged for the leading instructor to hand over command of the entire class to Hinamori. On one hand, he hoped she would become more assertive; on the other hand, he wanted her to prioritize the bigger picture when facing a crisis.

Kōe had definitely invested a lot of thought into Renji and Hinamori. He had lectured them, taught them lessons, and ultimately tailored training regimens for them to the greatest extent possible. Unfortunately, the results were minimal.

Of course, this was to be expected. Given how Central 46 wouldn’t even let him leave the Seireitei at the time, they absolutely wouldn’t allow him to have excessive contact with anyone. The later genius, Hitsugaya Tōshirō, was ’well protected’ by Central 46, so what Kōe could actually do was extremely limited.

God knows how tormented Kōe’s heart was during those years. People always talked about the butterfly effect, and he had been flapping his wings quite happily, so why did these people still end up walking down the same old path? Could this be the irresistible force of destiny?

However, as time passed, Kōe’s mindset gradually changed, until last night when he finally had an epiphany. Although he hadn’t managed to mold these brats into something useful, he had successfully made himself a much bigger target for aggro. He really had brought this upon himself; the more he thought about it, the angrier he got!

Who wouldn’t want to live a few good days? Everything he did was just so he could be a little safer and have an easier time in that future battle.

But now? To use gaming terminology, while he was drawing the majority of the enemy’s firepower, his teammates were running around screaming for a ”heal”? The worst part was that some of them didn’t even yell, acting like if he didn’t take the initiative to save them, they would just die to spite him.

It was as if they thought since Shihouin Kōe wouldn’t die at the hands of the enemy, they might as well work him to death! He had died from overworking and staying up late in his past life. Was he going to do it all over again in this one? And then start another unknown adventure?

Or maybe they’d spare his miserable life, only for his hairline to gradually recede in the torrent of time, forcing him to hide his sword in a cane, ready at any moment to transform from a regular old man into a battle-crazed old man?

That was truly terrifying. Thinking of this, Kōe couldn’t help but feel a sour pang in his heart. He swore he would never let such a thing happen!

”I have to admit, everyone worked very hard last night. You didn’t show a single ounce of fear when facing the Arrancars for the first time. I saw all of your courage...”

Abrupt. It wasn’t just Renji who found this abrupt. Kaien and Rukia, who had a good relationship with Kōe, also found it jarring. They had expected Kōe to be sarcastic and cynical, or to furiously chew them out. The only thing they hadn’t expected was for him to... validate them?

”I should feel gratified. After all, courage is the foundation of defeating an enemy. I wanted to comfort myself with that thought, but unfortunately, I couldn’t. Do you know why?” Kōe swept his gaze over everyone. No one answered his question. ”Because other than courage, I can’t find a single thing to praise you for. And that is exactly what worries me.”

What was meant to come had finally arrived. Renji lowered his head, already prepared to face Kōe’s wrath. However, Kōe didn’t seem to have any intention of losing his temper. With his hands behind his back, he spoke at a leisurely pace, ”Facing war requires courage, but courage alone is far from enough.”

”I won’t even talk about tactics. Last night, all of you fought your own separate battles and couldn’t even manage something as simple as teamwork. It makes me wonder if you are truly prepared to face an all-out war with Hueco Mundo.”

No one answered Kōe’s question, because they were asking themselves the exact same thing. Were they really prepared?

”Compared to you, those invading Arrancars were practically well-trained and had a clear objective. I reckon many of you noticed right away that there were six invading Arrancars. But how many of you noticed that only five of them took action initially?”

Kōe walked past each of them and continued, ”Even if someone did notice this and realized the enemy might be looking for Ichigo, did any of you pass that intelligence on to Rukia?”

”Big Brother Chōzuka...”

Rukia was just about to state that the fault lay with her, but Kaien reached out and interrupted her. He looked up and apologized to Kōe, ”Failing to notice the enemy’s anomaly was my dereliction of duty, Captain Shihouin.”

”Of course it’s your dereliction of duty. However, failing to see through the enemy’s intentions immediately is not unforgivable.” Kōe walked up to Kaien. ”Your biggest failure was not noticing that one of your own team members hadn’t taken any action. Or perhaps you did notice, but tacitly allowed such an unreasonableness to continue. My expectations for you are not those of an ordinary squad member who can only focus on what’s right in front of them, Kaien.”

”Th-this is my fault, Captain Shihouin.” Yumichika, standing on the far left, gritted his teeth and pleaded on Kaien’s behalf. ”Lieutenant Shiba might not have been able to divide his attention during the battle. As someone who wasn’t fighting at the time, I should have gone to support the others sooner. Therefore, this is my dereliction of duty, Captain Shihouin.”

*Yumichika...* Ikkaku glanced at his partner beside him. Since he didn’t plan on hiding it anymore anyway, as a man, he needed to step up right now!

”Yumichika was worried about me. He knows I’ve achieved Bankai but don’t want others to know. If I had gone all out, he wouldn’t have stayed behind. Captain Shihouin...”

”Enough!” Kōe raised a hand, cutting Ikkaku off. What was with this baffling wave of taking the blame? Did he ever say anything about punishing anyone?

”Rather than scrambling over each other to admit your mistakes now, I would have preferred if you had put in more effort back then! Not only that, but you need to apply that effort in the right places.”

”Understood!” The group nodded in unison. From their expressions, it was clear they weren’t just brushing him off; they truly understood.

*Understand my ass!* Kōe couldn’t help but curse inwardly. The word he heard the most back at the Shin’ō Academy was ’understood,’ yet every single time, the results proved that these people only *thought* they understood.

”Do you really understand?” Kōe decided to be a bit more tactful. ”Then let me ask you a question. If Yumichika was supposed to provide backup at the time, who do you think he should have helped? Now, say it at the same time!”

”Renji!”

”Ichigo!”

”Ikkaku!”

The seven people asked, including Chad, instantly created the chaotic atmosphere of a wet market. Listening closely, it was all a jumble of those three names.

Kōe facepalmed. Everything was exactly as he had expected. There were absolutely no surprises.

”Do you still think you understand now?”

The group looked at each other, their faces flushing slightly. They had just claimed to understand, and Kōe immediately taught them a lesson.

How embarrassing!