Chapter 037: Time Management Expert, Apparently
Matsushita Yusuke was still working through the reward panel when Kishinoshin appeared at his shoulder.
"That was an easy win, Matsushita-kun. My judgment hasn't slipped after all. You really are something."
Matsushita Yusuke pulled his attention away from the panel and shook his head with a polite smile.
"You're being too generous, Kishinoshin-senpai. That one came down to luck."
Not false modesty. He meant it.
Because Soifon had described it herself, without realizing it.
If she'd known in advance what he could do, she would have adjusted. Pulled back. Fought more conservatively. The speed and observation she'd opened with were genuinely her best assets, and in a fight where she understood the full picture, those would have been much harder to counter.
He was a lower-ranked seated officer in terms of actual standing. Soifon led field operations. There was a reiatsu gap between them.
When Hōrin caught her, she could have broken free in a single breath if she'd stayed calm. The binding was numbered below ten. Reishi pressure alone would have snapped it.
She hadn't stayed calm.
Part of that was surprise. Part of it was inexperience in live situations. For all her speed and her instincts, this version of Soifon was still early. The captain she would eventually become was a long way from the person who had just rolled across the floor.
At full capacity, I'd lose that one.
That was his honest assessment. The result had gone the way it went because of one narrow opening, taken at the right moment.
Real combat experience. Still the most important variable that didn't show up on a panel.
The fight in District 73 had given him a framework for Kido timing that no amount of classroom work could have produced. That was what had let him read the opening and move on it. Remove that experience and the whole sequence falls apart.
Combat wasn't about who had the bigger numbers. When the gap was close, the one who'd actually been in situations before had the edge.
Kishinoshin, listening to all of this, heard it less as an accurate self-assessment and more as the kind of thing a genuinely confident person said when they didn't feel the need to boast. He gave the younger man a cheerful pat on the shoulder, started to say something, then decided against it.
He'd won. That was the part that mattered.
"With that settled, I won't keep you much longer. Soifon isn't actually unreasonable once you get past the surface. Give her a little face going forward, don't push her into corners, and you'll be able to build something workable with her."
Navigating people was Kishinoshin's territory. Matsushita Yusuke had no reason to argue with the advice.
"Understood. Thank you, Kishinoshin-senpai."
A last pat on the shoulder, then Kishinoshin turned and headed out. Before he left, he ran through the practical ground rules for the facility.
First: this was Yoruichi-sama's private space, so access was unrestricted. Come and go as needed.
Second: resources were technically provided without conditions, but exercising some judgment was still appropriate. No need to make things awkward if word got back to Yoruichi-sama.
Third: being located inside Squad 2's grounds meant access to Squad 2 members for guidance when necessary. A quieter benefit, less explicit than the others, and how much use was made of it was entirely up to him.
Fourth.
Soifon was, in the most literal sense, Matsushita Yusuke's current superior in this arrangement. If he wanted to stay, finding a way to make himself less actively disliked by her was not optional.
Reasonably complicated.
But none of that was what Matsushita Yusuke was focused on right now.
Because the reward panel was still open.
[Reiatsu Level: 7] (Current cap: 20)
[Zanjutsu: 17 / Hakuda: 16 / Hoho: 12 / Kido: 27] (Total: 100)
Broad gains across everything. The effect of that showed up immediately when he thought back through the fight.
Zanjutsu and Hakuda were the direct tools for close range. Hoho was what made positioning possible. Kido was what everything else set up.
A Shinigami with all four working properly had no gap an opponent could exploit by simply choosing a range. Close, far, in-between: it didn't matter. Every position was covered.
The weak point in his current spread was still Hoho. The fight with Soifon had made that concrete rather than theoretical. Speed was what let her close the distance in the first place, and speed was what a better-timed counter would have needed in return.
Something to keep working on.
He filed it away and moved to the other reward.
The Random Draw (Technique).
No elaborate ritual first. He opened it directly.
[Random Draw: Light Footwork]
[Light Footwork: Your understanding of shunpo has deepened. You can now learn movement-based techniques more readily, and attempt to refine and adapt them into forms that better suit your specific needs.]
He stared at the description for a moment.
Very broad.
He worked through it.
So in practice, learning shunpo variants becomes easier, and there's a path toward developing something original from what I pick up?
The implications organized themselves quickly.
Squad 2 was the Shihoin family's domain. Every member here had developed their understanding of shunpo past what the general Gotei 13 would produce. It was the house specialty, worked into the organization at every level.
With access to this facility and the people in it, the gap in his Hoho could be closed from multiple angles at once. Resources from the right environment, applied to the right weakness. That was exactly how this was supposed to work.
And beyond that, the technique development angle.
A personal shunpo variant. Something built from what he absorbed here and shaped to fit how he actually fought.
That was worth thinking about seriously.
The Shihoin family's resources were, in short, not going to waste on him.
Better map. More varied inputs. Higher ceiling on what the grind would eventually produce.
But none of that meant walking away from the Academy.
Aizen's calligraphy class was non-negotiable. The rapport wasn't at the finish line yet. The Standing Above Everyone Else Club membership was still pending. That whole track needed to keep running in parallel.
So, two full farming operations at the same time?
What a time management situation this had become.
He let himself have one private comment about that, then stretched and looked out the window.
The light was going sideways. Late afternoon tilting toward evening.
He needed to get back. Two more classes at the Academy tonight.
But.
He wasn't leaving without trying the unagi rice first.