Chapter 058: A Visit to Squad 5
Hirako Shinji was watching him with visible enthusiasm, and Matsushita Yusuke felt something stall in his brain.
Wait.
You're just inviting me directly?
This isn't how joining the Gotei 13 is supposed to work.
The correct sequence was: you review my Academy records. You evaluate my overall standing. You conclude my level isn't quite there yet. Then I push myself, grind harder, eventually just barely clear whatever bar you've set, and you agree to take me on with the understanding that I'll be starting from the absolute bottom.
Why are we skipping that?
Just inviting me out of nowhere is the same as going through the back door. That's not right. That's not how this should go.
I can't accept this.
"I'd love to join Squad 5."
Complaining was complaining. Living was living.
If he could walk straight in, why would he grind away out in the cold? Being active inside an actual squad meant considerably more opportunities to generate skill points. No reason to turn that down.
Of course.
The more immediate reason was that Matsushita Yusuke hadn't seen a quest notification.
He had enough experience by now to have worked out a rough rule of thumb.
Shinigami would lie to you. Quests wouldn't.
Getting recruited with no notification firing meant one thing.
Hirako Shinji was already grinning at him, reached out, and gave his shoulder another solid clap.
"Obviously I'm joking! Want to join Squad 5? Go through the proper process like everyone else."
There it is. Called it.
This guy was playing him the whole time.
Behind them, Aizen Sosuke let out a quiet sigh that carried a very specific quality.
"Matsushita-kun, please don't take it to heart. Our captain is... like this."
"Sosuke! Don't go describing me like that in front of guests! I'm just a man with a sense of humor. You make it sound much worse than it is!"
These two had a decent rapport.
Matsushita Yusuke watched the back-and-forth from the outside, couldn't find a gap to get into it, and stood there while it ran its course.
Then he caught himself.
No. It probably just looks that way.
There was a working theory in the Bleach world that everyone more or less held: you could lie to people, but you couldn't lie to your Zanpakuto. A released ability was, in some sense, a reflection of what was actually going on inside the person who wielded it. What they wanted, what they sought, what they were actually made of. You could read the small details if you knew how to look.
Both of these people had Zanpakuto built around deception.
Which meant the casual ease between them was also, in all likelihood, the most comfortable territory either of them operated in. Two people who were natural performers, performing at each other, and probably both genuinely enjoying it on some level.
Better not to get involved.
"So what did you come to see Sosuke for?"
Before Matsushita Yusuke could answer, Aizen was already there.
"I asked Matsushita-kun to come by. A private matter. Nothing worth reporting."
"What, not even your own captain gets to know? You're getting stingier every year, you know that?"
"Captain, please conduct yourself with a little more dignity..."
The bickering didn't last. Hirako's attention was pulled away almost immediately by something else arriving at the door.
"What do you mean the budget already went through approval? Why is there a whole new process now? What? The seated officer has objections? Tell him to come explain himself to me directly!"
Audibly irritated.
Aizen smiled, placed a light hand on Matsushita Yusuke's shoulder, and gestured toward the corridor.
The two of them stepped out of the office. As they walked away down the hall, Hirako's voice faded behind them, the particular sound of someone dealing with bureaucratic interference they hadn't seen coming.
Matsushita Yusuke noticed the captain's and vice-captain's offices were separate.
"Sorry for that, Matsushita-kun. Let's walk and talk."
"Not at all, Aizen-sensei."
Moving down the corridor with the noise fading behind them, he heard Aizen say:
"Rare chance to see how a squad actually operates. Might be worth taking a look around while you're here."
That was a reasonable point.
The Academy's curriculum said almost nothing about this kind of thing. Operational specifics were generally left until you were actually assigned somewhere, at which point you figured it out as you went. Getting a walkthrough now was worth having.
And there was a bonus.
[Learn the Internal Structure of Squad 5]
[Profile: Your ambitions probably lie elsewhere, but even for an ordinary Shinigami, understanding how each squad functions is genuinely useful. The specifics differ, but the fundamentals are consistent across all of them...]
[Rewards: Reiatsu Level +2]
Modest reward. Which told him this information, while useful, wasn't particularly significant in the System's estimation.
After as many quests as he'd run, he could read those signals.
He looked over at Aizen and nodded.
"Please, go ahead, Aizen-sensei."
"How much do you actually know about Squad 5, Matsushita-kun?"
"Honestly, not much."
"Then let's just walk. Seeing it with your own eyes tends to be more useful than hearing someone describe it."
A straightforward principle. Apparently Aizen was also a firm believer in learning by doing.
"There's a training area, a medical room, emergency response sections. The usual. Cafeteria and dormitories are distributed across the grounds as well."
Each of the Gotei 13 squads had its own distinct zones and internal responsibilities. Each also had a significant degree of self-governance within that.
"Every year we submit a budget request to Squad 1 for approval. Internal changes, restructuring, various reforms... as you just saw back there, a captain has the formal authority to make decisions unilaterally."
But.
"Most captains still prefer to consult with their officers. Work through the options together before settling on anything."
Consensus culture. Which made sense.
The original story hadn't touched on any of the internal dynamics of how squads actually ran on a day-to-day basis. Walking through it like this was filling in a section of the map that had just been blank before.
"The dormitories are over in that direction, incidentally."
Matsushita Yusuke looked where Aizen indicated.
A row of low, simple buildings. Flat roofs. No particular character to them.
They looked older than the Academy dorms.
"Captain Hirako has directed the budget primarily toward training and combat development over the years. He doesn't consider the living arrangements a priority. His view is that a rescue squad needs to be genuinely capable fighters if anyone is going to take them seriously."
Aizen adjusted his glasses and said it evenly, tone carrying no particular judgment.
"I happen to agree with him on that."
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