Chapter 217: Your Biological Father
Whatever the two old men back in Squad 1 were making of all that could wait.
For Matsushita Yusuke, his work was just getting started.
Walking out of the Captain-Commander's office, he glanced briefly to his side, then spoke in a voice just low enough to pass unremarked.
"I have plans with Shiba Isshin today, so I'll be sitting out whatever meeting comes next... or Gin can stand in for me."
A Squad 1 member was passing by nearby. He had been moving at a normal pace, but then abruptly stopped in place.
Like something had briefly taken control of him, his expression went blank, and he spoke in a voice with the quality of someone talking in their sleep.
"Understood... take care of yourself, Matsushita-kun."
"Thanks for understanding."
Matsushita Yusuke raised his right hand without turning around, gave a light wave, and was gone.
The squad member standing frozen in the corridor gave a sudden shudder. He blinked. The slightly clouded quality that had been in his eyes cleared in an instant.
He reached up and rubbed the back of his head, puzzled, like he'd had a brief, vivid daydream and couldn't quite pin down where it had come from.
What was that just now...
"Have I been overdoing it lately?"
He should probably get some proper rest.
With that thought, he shook it off and left.
Matsushita Yusuke had just used this method to communicate with Aizen Sosuke. In practice, it was already quite an advanced application of the ability.
The number of Shinigami currently within Kyoka Suigetsu's reach had expanded steadily over the years — by now it covered roughly eighty percent of all active Shinigami.
Full literal coverage wasn't there yet, but the remaining twenty percent were almost entirely Shinigami on special assignments, rarely surfacing in any capacity. Setting them aside was entirely reasonable.
Which meant.
If he wanted to, Aizen could already effectively do as he pleased.
The years of accumulation had also brought Aizen's understanding and application of Kyoka Suigetsu to a substantially higher level. According to the man himself, as long as he wasn't proactively approaching high-end opponents at Yamamoto's tier, he could maintain a simulation quality of ninety-nine percent or above.
As long as Aizen didn't introduce any gaps himself, the possibility of exposure was essentially nonexistent.
Such a terrifying ability, and yet no one in the organization who could actually fight their way through anything. Game balance works in mysterious ways.
With that reflection settling, Matsushita Yusuke made his way quickly through the streets and found the tavern they had arranged.
He lifted the curtain and stepped inside, made his way to the private room, and found a thoroughly relaxed Shiba Isshin already helping himself to a drink.
"You started without me? In quite a good mood today, apparently."
Matsushita Yusuke smiled and shrugged off his captain's haori, hanging it on the nearby stand.
Shiba Isshin was grinning in a slightly loopy way, the flush across both cheeks a clear sign that the alcohol had been working for a while.
"A bit happy today... so, heh, didn't wait."
"Fair enough. Hard to blame you for that."
Both of them fell naturally into the easy tone of old acquaintances. Which was, in fact, exactly what they were.
Over these several decades of laying groundwork, Matsushita Yusuke had spent most of his time outside of running his squad figuring out where additional benefit could be extracted.
And he had eventually arrived at Shiba Isshin.
Ichigo Kurosaki's biological father in every literal sense, and also the current head of the Shiba branch household.
From the moment he had obtained specific information about him, Matsushita Yusuke had maintained consistent attention.
Not only to track his movements, but also to have a basis for various preparations — and some forward-looking measures against circumstances that hadn't developed yet.
The two filled their cups, clinked them together, smiles settling on both faces.
"So. How does it actually feel? Being a captain."
Shiba Isshin took a long drink and exhaled slowly. He hummed and hawed for a bit, and when he spoke again his voice caught just slightly.
He scratched the corner of his mouth and shook his head with a reflective expression.
"A bit unexpected. A bit surreal. And also... hmm. Not entirely real-feeling, if that makes sense?"
Matsushita Yusuke nodded along steadily, his tone matching the reflection.
"I get that completely... it's probably something like — 'how did someone like me end up as a captain?' Isn't it?"
"Yes, exactly! I knew you'd understand what I meant. We really are cut from the same cloth!"
"That sentence carries a few unintended meanings... but. Forget it. As long as you're happy."
Getting back to things.
"With the captain position now in hand, what's the general direction you're working toward?"
The topic straightened Shiba Isshin out immediately. The easy grin went somewhere more serious.
He pressed the slightly sore corner of his mouth, thought for a moment, and spoke with a considering expression.
"The current problem is... vice-captain, seated officers, and key personnel — none of it is confirmed yet. With just me alone, a lot of the work and administrative side of things is genuinely hard to push through."
The subject was a weighty one, and raising it here carried its own kind of meaning.
This wasn't a perfunctory question from Shiba Isshin. It was something he was genuinely and currently facing, something he'd been turning over in his mind.
Matsushita Yusuke made a quiet sound of acknowledgment, pressed his temple, thought briefly, and said:
"How is squad recruitment looking at the moment? Are there any suitable people already in the squad? Even if their ability is on the lacking side, it's still better to get them into a position sooner rather than later. A lot of things only develop through actually working alongside someone... sometimes, after some time has passed, you discover a person has a remarkable talent in a specific area that you couldn't have predicted."
"I see. That's something to think about seriously... as expected of Captain Matsushita!"
Shiba Isshin nodded with visible force, apparently getting a little worked up, enough that the flush across his face had deepened noticeably.
Genuinely.
There was some flattery in those words, but more than that, it was a heartfelt thing.
Shiba Isshin meant it.
Because throughout the time Matsushita Yusuke had taken the initiative to draw close to him, what he had shown — the impression across every dimension — had always been of the calm, steady, substantial type.
From the time the two had first gotten to know each other, Matsushita Yusuke had provided various forms of help in his own way.
He was, in another sense, a genuinely reliable senior figure.
Through this consistent image, combined with how he guided conversations and what he brought to them — Matsushita Yusuke could naturally lead the discussion toward whatever area he wanted to touch, while never giving the other person any reason to feel like they were being pushed.
Conversation was its own kind of art.
Of course... the prerequisite was that you had to first become actual friends.