Chapter 205: A Rare Limited-Time Event Makes a Return
By the time everything settled, more than a week had passed since the attack.
That seemingly aggressive internal investigation had, in terms of actual results, turned into an unresolved dead-end case that went nowhere.
But that was entirely within expected parameters. With Kyoka Suigetsu's help, even if you wanted to make an arrest you'd have nothing to work with. That, more or less, was what a perfect crime looked like. Sitting back with considerable satisfaction at that thought.
Compared to other underground operations, having Aizen providing cover made the Club's day-to-day existence exceptionally comfortable.
Following standard procedure, a captains' meeting was held as usual, but the dismissal process this time was slightly different.
"After the meeting concludes, please remain briefly. I have other matters to address."
Anything Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni said was worth paying attention to.
All the captains held their positions after the meeting ended, waiting for the old man to come back to the front. The process wasn't entirely smooth, as Yamamoto had to step away to change his clothing first.
When you got older, you became more particular about those kinds of details.
"Captain Kyoraku. What do you think the Captain-Commander wants to address?"
Matsushita Yusuke, quietly slacking off in his seat, turned to Kyoraku Shunsui beside him with conspiratorial eyebrows.
"Surely you'd have some inside information?"
Kyoraku looked appropriately baffled, then reflexively produced his familiar helpless, resigned smile.
"How would I know something like that..."
"Stop playing dumb, you lazy old man. You clearly have the best intelligence network of anyone in this room."
Matsushita Yusuke elbowed him in the shoulder. MAN!
He'd been doing plenty of drinking with Kyoraku lately, and their dynamic had naturally become much more casual.
Kyoraku Shunsui was put-upon, let out a quiet sigh, and shook his head helplessly with the expression of someone who had completely given up arguing.
"Alright, alright. I only know a little... lean in."
Matsushita Yusuke leaned over, catching only the key points the other man passed along.
"There's been some movement on the Hueco Mundo side. Apparently we're going to start taking action there."
Along with this, Kyoraku also expressed his own confusion about the whole thing.
He couldn't understand at all why Soul Society was suddenly moving against Hueco Mundo. But when it came to the Captain-Commander's judgment, there wasn't much to say.
After all, the old man had his own thinking.
But what was offhand for one was carefully noted by the other.
Matsushita Yusuke showed a thoughtful expression, then gave a quiet, subtle nod.
As expected. This topic was unavoidable.
Of the four criminals who had attacked the old man, three had turned out to be uncatchable. Which left only the one usable lead.
Hueco Mundo.
Logically it held together perfectly, a clean chain from beginning to end.
However. When the conversation moved in this direction, even Kyoraku Shunsui's expression had turned visibly worried.
"Hueco Mundo is a serious undertaking..."
That kind of concern was entirely understandable. Soul Society's stable footing had held for many years now. Moving freely between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society would require a whole series of preparations that Soul Society hadn't had reason to carry out for a very long time.
Looking back, the last time Soul Society had actively engaged with Hueco Mundo in a concerted way was during the Bount incident.
Any campaign against Hueco Mundo would require no small expenditure of personnel and resources. Some things didn't need to be stated outright to convey their full meaning. Kyoraku let out a worried sigh and rubbed his cheek.
"This could get very complicated."
Matsushita Yusuke sighed alongside him.
"You're not wrong."
But internally he was blooming with quiet satisfaction.
Something this thoroughly misdirected was, for their little underground operation, nothing short of wonderful.
The attention had been completely redirected. Beautiful.
The two of them hadn't exactly been whispering, and naturally other captains caught the exchange.
Most offered no comment. Without the subject touching their area of expertise, they had nothing to add. Only Ukitake Jushiro had been sitting with a persistently furrowed brow, as though working something through.
Shortly after, Yamamoto returned to the front, and his address was more or less in line with what Kyoraku had outlined.
"While Hueco Mundo is an important part of the three worlds, we appear to have been too permissive with it in recent years. It is time to conduct a degree of cleansing. We need a planned expedition."
In reality, Yamamoto's plan was somewhat more aggressive than that framing suggested.
The old man appeared to want to use this opportunity for a full-scale old-fashioned purge.
A rare out-of-print event, apparently making a return run.
Of course, Ukitake Jushiro quickly raised an objection.
"This isn't right."
Perhaps because of the teacher-student relationship between them, Ukitake's tone was entirely direct, without any room for hedging.
"Hueco Mundo, as one of the pillars supporting the three worlds, must maintain a balance of soul bodies. If too many are eliminated, the balance of the three worlds will be disrupted as well, and the consequences that follow will only be more difficult to manage."
So there were Hollow advocacy positions being represented in this room.
Of course, Ukitake's argument had its own logic behind it.
Maintaining the balance of the three worlds was an area Soul Society had to manage carefully. Taking things too far would cause problems. Even Aizen, across all his years of work in Hueco Mundo, had been careful about the numbers and worked incrementally.
The whole point was not to expose themselves. Otherwise there was no point in keeping things behind closed doors.
As for why it was Ukitake Jushiro, with his frequently fragile health, who spoke up: Matsushita Yusuke had thought about this.
He scratched the corner of his mouth and recalled some relevant information.
Squad 13's function was purification. In terms of specific duties, it was a purification unit: responsible for soul burials in the living world, eliminating Hollows, and a range of related tasks.
As established before, in this relatively stable era, the squad within the Gotei 13 with the most regular contact with Hollows was precisely the one Ukitake currently commanded.
As the saying went: immerse yourself long enough in something and you'll come to understand it fully. If you wanted to deal with the enemy, you first had to understand the enemy.
Among those present, setting aside the Club's own members, Ukitake was probably the person who understood the Hollow situation best.
Back to the matter at hand.
Perhaps because of Ukitake's firm stance, other captains also began offering their own positions.
Given the informal nature of this post-meeting session, that kind of discussion wasn't particularly unusual. However. The fact that someone had begun pushing back against Yamamoto's position was itself a fairly notable signal.
It meant the underground work had been effective.