Chapter 275: The Tournament
It had happened a while back now.
But honestly.
Even just thinking about it in passing was enough to put a soft, almost maternal smile on Kotetsu Isane's face.
The Gotei 13's general atmosphere tended toward restraint and control. People kept their feelings contained. The ways they expressed things were measured and indirect.
Which was exactly why the joy that came with a new life, even days removed, still felt like something vivid and real -- a clean note cutting through the usual pressure. Like rain after a long dry stretch.
That was roughly how Isane felt right now.
Just thinking back on the details of that day produced an expression she couldn't entirely suppress.
And beyond that --
This probably wasn't the most appropriate thing to be thinking about in the current moment.
But the mental image of that cool, composed, famously unapproachable Vice-Captain Soifon wearing an expression of pure happiness --
Saying Isane hadn't been affected by it would be a lie.
Maybe it's too late at this point, but if I went to one of those matchmaking events, would anything come of it?
She dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it formed.
Being tall worked against you in certain ways.
And I don't have Matsumoto vice-captain's proportions, so by any honest measure there's really nothing particularly appealing going on.
Captain Unohana frequently told her she should have more confidence. That she could carry herself better.
But the gap between being told that and actually being able to do it was, for Isane, a distance that was genuinely difficult to cross. Telling Kotetsu Isane to be bold was asking a lot.
In the middle of this wandering internal monologue, another voice cut through from nearby -- and then directly into her ear at an increasingly insistent volume.
"Vice-Captain Kotetsu! Vice-Captain Kotetsu?!"
"Yes -- ah!"
She startled like something had stepped on her tail, a visible full-body flinch that produced immediate concern from the squad members around her.
"Vice-Captain, are you alright?"
"You had this really strange expression on your face just now."
"You looked like you were feeling unwell. Do you need to stop for a moment?"
Isane looked away with mild awkwardness, made a small muffled sound, and raised her right hand in a gentle wave.
I just thought of something sad for a moment.
"Sorry. I lost focus for a second."
She pressed both palms lightly to her cheeks, pushed herself back into a working state, and refocused.
"Where are we?"
"The tournament site is just ahead--"
She looked in the direction the squad member was pointing.
Not far away, multiple overlapping streams of colored reiatsu were intersecting in the air above what was clearly a very active area.
She had known what to expect.
Seeing it was still slightly more than she had prepared herself for.
The Gotei 13's internal controls had, in their own way, been effective over the past several decades. Despite everything that had happened over the years, nothing truly catastrophic had occurred within the Seireitei itself. Rules had held. Lines had not been crossed.
That kind of stability was not simply the system functioning -- it was the result of continuous, deliberate maintenance.
Within the Seireitei, vice-captain-level and above were strictly prohibited from releasing their Zanpakuto without authorization. The kind of destruction that came with large-scale reiatsu release was not something the inner city could absorb, and that principle was enforced without exception.
In theory.
The situation in front of her was not following that theory.
Two interlocking streams of reiatsu were grinding against each other in the air above the tournament site, audible from this distance, the friction between them generating heat and sound that carried across the gap.
She hadn't even reached the perimeter yet, and the pressure was already physical.
"That's all you've got?!"
A booming shout, carrying nothing but confidence. A surge of brilliant yellow reiatsu launched skyward like a column of solid light -- mountainous, overwhelming, the kind of release that communicated absolute lack of restraint.
Isane's forward momentum stopped completely.
Like a small nocturnal creature that had just spotted an apex predator mid-rampage and made an immediate, instinctive decision to reconsider all prior choices.
Pure reflex. No thought involved.
"Everyone -- behind me!"
She put herself at the front, voice sharp, one step forward. Whatever happened, a vice-captain did not put her subordinates between herself and something like this. That was the line.
But the surge of yellow reiatsu, as it peaked and began its descent, did not crash into the street in front of her as she had been bracing for.
The entire mass hit an invisible boundary and was contained -- hammering against a transparent barrier from the inside, churning and battering, until it had exhausted itself and dispersed, fading the way steam fades in the warmth after heavy rain.
Isane stood there for a moment and then realized she had already worked out what she was looking at.
Right. The tournament.
When it had first been set up was something she couldn't recall precisely anymore. But in broad terms, it was one of the distinctive activities that had emerged within the past decade or so.
The organizer, naturally, was the Gotei 13's most visible personality in that category -- Squad 11 Captain Matsushita Yusuke. He had proposed and built it, and it had been running on an annual basis since.
Once a year, Squad 11 opened a challenge platform and invited members from any squad to come and test themselves.
By his own account, the purpose was to ensure the Gotei 13's members didn't forget the basic reality that combat was still their function. In theory, a warrior organization. In practice, a lot of the work didn't involve drawing a blade. The tournament served as a reminder.
It had attracted support from a number of traditional-minded senior figures. Isane was on the opposing side of that, but apparently her own captain and the Captain-Commander himself were both in favor.
In any case.
After various adjustments and negotiations over the years, the form it had settled into was roughly what she was seeing now.
Even so -- she had not expected it to be this dramatic. The cold sweat just now had been entirely genuine.
In moments of extreme urgency, the ability to think clearly tended to deteriorate.
That observation fit the present situation perfectly -- once Isane had registered that there was no actual structural danger here, she half-turned and raised her voice.
"It's -- it's fine! Everyone, quickly now, let's get to the site!"
The aside had been an odd one. But this was, in another sense, simply the Seireitei as it actually was.
Same organization. Same world. But the range of reiatsu capacity between individuals was so extreme that it produced something resembling the relationship between predator and prey -- even among allies.
Doing her best to set aside the lingering unease, Isane led her group forward to the perimeter of the tournament site.
Looking out from the edge.
A cluster of distinctive figures had gathered on the far side.
Before she could focus on any of them, however, the bodies already on the ground -- making various sounds of distress -- pulled essentially all of her attention toward them.
A healer's instincts. Especially in a situation like this. The pull was almost strong enough to stop her from thinking about anything else.
Stay composed. Follow Captain Unohana's guidance. Follow the manual. One step at a time.
Isane raised one hand in a confident motion and directed her squad in a clear, steady voice.
"Groups five and six -- go confirm the condition of the injured. Everyone else with me. First we go and say hello to the captains on-site."
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