Chapter 216: Can't Laugh Yet
The arrangement with Isshin could wait.
The moment the meeting dispersed, Yamamoto had Matsushita Yusuke summoned to his private chambers for a stern talking-to.
"You've been a bit too lax lately."
"...Hm?"
Staring at Yamamoto's scrutinizing gaze, Matsushita Yusuke touched the back of his head with a mildly baffled expression.
He genuinely hadn't parsed what Yamamoto meant by that yet.
The two stared at each other for a moment. Then the old man sighed helplessly, rubbed his hands, and said quietly, "What I mean is... whether you've been maintaining the sense of responsibility you used to have."
Still somewhat abstract, but Matsushita Yusuke grasped it quickly enough.
"You're asking whether I've been performing adequately as Squad 11's captain?"
"..."
When you actually push him, he still doesn't answer directly. The old man was quite the tsundere.
Though questions like this weren't particularly surprising. Compared to the Kenpachi holders before him, Yusuke's style was noticeably more casual, and his approach to leading his squad was unlike anything that had come before.
For younger Shinigami, that style might carry a certain unique appeal.
For the old man, it was irritating no matter how you looked at it.
Why can't you just follow tradition?!
Matsushita Yusuke scratched the corner of his mouth helplessly and spoke with the tone of someone laying out a genuine account.
"Captain-Commander, my combat ranking among all the Kenpachi holders in history might not be at the top... but I do think the changes I've made should count as positive developments, wouldn't you say?"
He opened his right hand and began counting them off on his fingers.
"I've changed the stereotype that Squad 11 has in the public eye. And the normalization process currently underway has been producing real results — last year's application numbers for Squad 11 were second only to Squad 6."
Why can't we beat Squad 6 for the top spot?
Because Squad 6 is a noble family preserve. Their stipend alone would outbid all twelve other squads combined. Not the same competitive category as a regular squad. No fair comparison there.
"On top of that — the last internal exercise. Squad 11's performance was genuinely commendable by any reasonable measure."
Inter-squad exercises.
This was something Matsushita Yusuke had started pushing for after settling into the Squad 11 captaincy.
His goal was to give members of different squads opportunities for moderate sparring: a format that let everyone exchange knowledge and sharpen technique through actual competition.
It had not been easy to push through at first.
Shinigami needed more than combat ability. Much of what made someone effective was something else entirely — administrative aptitude, medical skills, management sense, and so on.
But Unohana Retsu had been immediately interested. She threw herself into driving the initiative from the inside out, and eventually the whole thing had landed where it was today.
As for the outcome?
Genuinely satisfying, all around.
Sparring within reasonable conditions was, in a certain sense, an expression of martial culture being properly valued.
Of course, over the years the Gotei 13's structure of responsibilities had also shifted considerably. The organization had developed into something more focused on managing upward and maintaining control downward, which was its own kind of change.
On another note entirely.
"Captain-Commander, you were one of the people behind that initiative as well, weren't you? You can't have it both ways — how many gray hairs do you think I got pushing that through?"
"...Cough. Cough, cough..."
The old face looked like it needed a moment.
Though he would never say it openly, Yamamoto was very obviously a traditionalist. Seeing the martial spirit that had flourished a thousand years ago thriving in the present day — to say that didn't please him would be a lie. From a personal standpoint, he held a genuinely positive view of Matsushita Yusuke's various efforts and what he had managed to build.
However.
That didn't mean everything else could simply be overlooked.
"You have been excessively lazy in meetings lately!"
When the actual complaint arrived, the old man's tone sharpened immediately.
"I keep seeing you completely spaced out during meetings! Meetings are serious occasions. If you haven't had enough sleep, go rest before showing up! And furthermore —"
Whether it was the genuinely lazy daily behavior he'd been giving off, or something else, Yamamoto was off and running for a full five-minute one-sided critique, leaving even Matsushita Yusuke somewhat sheepish by the end of it.
How does this old man have so much energy.
"I understand. I'm sorry. I'll pay more attention."
"However. Those things are relatively secondary."
The tone shifted. His expression became more serious.
"What I want to confirm is whether there have been any new discoveries in Hueco Mundo in recent times."
A brief pause. Yamamoto's delivery slowed. He spoke word by deliberate word, as though placing emphasis.
"Ukitake's side... Squad 13. They recently captured a very unusual Hollow."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Matsushita Yusuke's expression shifted. He straightened, brow slightly furrowed, looking toward Yamamoto.
"What exactly are the details?"
Then, after a moment, he added: "I've been operating alongside Squad 13 during this period. Why hasn't any of this reached me?"
The Hueco Mundo expedition had been running for quite some time now by any count.
At its core, the whole thing had started because Aizen needed a reference point for Yamamoto's actual capability level in order to build concrete plans. Yusuke had brought the alt to help establish that. The outcome had been that Yamamoto treated both of them like stray dogs and sent them flying.
Thoroughly undignified result. But then again — considering they hadn't managed to leave even a single living witness, Yamamoto had been remarkably conservative about the whole thing.
Boss, you've been hunting us down for decades and you still haven't let it go? That's a seriously long grudge.
Which was a joke, mostly. In reality, as the current authority at the top of the Gotei 13, this kind of vigilance was exactly what genuine responsibility looked like.
Seeing a danger and pretending not to notice it was a failure at its most fundamental level.
Two consecutive endgame bosses had both made a specific point of dealing with the old man first. That said everything it needed to say.
Back to the matter at hand.
As a member of the expedition, Matsushita Yusuke should theoretically have been among the first to receive any intelligence coming out of Hueco Mundo.
Clearly that hadn't been the case here.
Which was interesting. The old man was deliberately keeping this from him?
Matsushita Yusuke's gaze was calm. Yamamoto met it without expression and spoke steadily.
"This was my decision. I believed this matter should not be disclosed broadly for the time being... the condition of that Hollow is very unusual."
Matsushita Yusuke didn't respond right away. He scratched the corner of his mouth, tilted his head, then sighed.
"Then what exactly is the situation?"
"Look at this."
A document was placed on the table. Matsushita Yusuke noticed it had been pre-positioned in a concealed slot inside the desk.
Already prepared before he'd even arrived.
The old man had come ready for this conversation.
"Let me see..."
He flipped through it. The first photograph was a thoroughly trussed-up Arrancar.
Yamamoto's expression was grave, his words deliberate.
"This Hollow has an appearance similar to us... and to humans. Based on subsequent observation and testing, they also possess an intelligence level no less than our own. In other words, it represents a stable enough level of cognition to support the formation of communities."
Yamamoto had clearly done extensive research beforehand. He spoke at length without notes, and toward the end added quietly:
"We obtained a great deal of important intelligence from this individual. Based on what it provided, we believe these Hollows have already formed into a group of considerable scale."
Matsushita Yusuke nodded seriously and closed the materials.
"That sounds quite serious. What's the current estimated population?"
"Based on Squad 13's information combined with Squad 12's analysis, our current estimate is somewhere above one hundred individuals in Hueco Mundo."
Can't laugh. Not yet.
Save that for the Arrancar arc. Hold it in until then.
In reality, the capture of this particular Arrancar had been part of the Club's own planning.
Because over all these years, the total number of Arrancar had accumulated to a genuinely staggering scale. All three labs kept pushing deeper, but with greater numbers came greater variance — and no matter how tight Aizen's grip, a few difficult individuals would always slip through the cracks.
So rather than waiting for things to genuinely spiral out of control and intelligence to leak in an uncontrolled way, it was better to proactively expose some of it first. Selectively disclose a portion, and do it on their own terms.
Through that method, redirect Soul Society's attention in the wrong direction and buy more time for what actually mattered.
That was the plan.
And looking at how things were developing, it appeared to be working.
The information gap. The old man's lifelong sore spot.
Matsushita Yusuke raised a hand and covered his face briefly, took a breath, and asked:
"What do we do now?"
Apparently taking this as Yusuke accepting the situation entirely and dropping any questions about the concealment, the old man's tone lifted slightly, his pace picking up.
"From here we begin an expanded search. We need to determine the current specific state of Hueco Mundo as early as possible. I've decided to assign that task to your side."
Combat specialist — a directive like this made reasonable sense.
The issue was the urgency behind it.
The old man was in a hurry. Was there really that much pressure? This type of situation was somewhat dangerous, but it shouldn't have reached his personal alert threshold.
Unless...
Matsushita Yusuke raised an eyebrow very slightly.
He quickly landed on a specific possibility.
"Has this news also been passed to the noble families?"
"...More or less."
That explained it.
After years as a captain, Matsushita Yusuke's deepest insight had been about the nobles. He'd thoroughly demystified the whole institution.
Sheer laziness and idle living didn't begin to describe a ten-thousandth of what that world actually was. For Soul Society's noble class, the vast majority had long since grown accustomed to every convenience their status provided.
Someone like Omaeda was already considered notably motivated by that standard. The Kuchiki family, despite being somewhat set in their ways, at least had the discipline of a strict family tradition behind them — which gave them a quality that genuinely stood out from the rest.
As for the remainder...
Theoretically, apart from generating all sorts of workplace complications, they had basically no other presence worth noting.
Matsushita Yusuke's gaze dropped. A thoughtful expression settled across his face.
"Because an unexpected situation came up, there were concerns about unnecessary consequences for Soul Society... so they went straight through Central 46 and issued orders to get moving."
In summary:
"Old man Yama. Don't you think those people are a bit too high on themselves?"
"That is not a judgment for us to make."
"But —"
"Captain Matsushita."
Yamamoto cut him off directly. Eyes not even turned in his direction, voice low and level.
"Complete your duty. Exercise your authority. Beyond that... don't overthink things."
Is he telling me to be a good dog and stay in line?
Saying that out loud would probably bring his Shinigami career to a swift end.
Matsushita Yusuke shrugged his shoulders, stepped back half a pace — a physical concession.
At the same time, he said:
"Understood. I can't promise what the results will look like, but I'll give it everything I have for the sake of this captain's position."
"That is already sufficient. You may go. Old Man has nothing further."
Calling him in had ultimately been about giving him a heads-up and some mental preparation. The formal task confirmation for Squad 11 would follow through official classified channels — that was already settled.
Matsushita Yusuke acknowledged it and turned to leave. He was nearly at the door of the inner chamber when —
He seemed to remember something. He stopped in place and turned his head toward the inside.
"Old man Yama. It might seem a little out of place coming from me, and it's probably not the most fitting thing to say. But —"
He raised his right hand, gave it a light wave, and smiled.
"Don't carry too much of this alone. If anything comes up, just say it to us. Helping the boss with his burdens is part of the job. Being too formal about it would be a bit much."
Without waiting for any response, Matsushita Yusuke walked out in long strides.
Sasakibe Chojiro passed him going in, about to deliver a report.
And found the Captain-Commander looking up at the ceiling with a long, quiet sigh.
"Captain-Commander?"
"Sasakibe... today's young people really are quite something."
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