Bleach: Stirring Up a Storm

What a headache. The moment Ukitake stepped out of the Squad 1 barracks, he took a deep breath, hoping it would make him feel a little better.

”What’s with the heavy heart, handsome?”

Ukitake followed the voice and, sure enough, saw Shunsui. Though he was smiling, his voice sounded a bit weak. ”Didn’t you leave early on?”

”I just had a sneaking suspicion that Kōe and Old Man Yama would get into an argument. So, was my premonition right?”

Looking at Shunsui’s cheeky expression, Ukitake shook his head helplessly and offered a bitter smile. ”With all that commotion just now, don’t tell me you didn’t feel it.”

”Who knows if Old Man Yama was cursing out Aizen or that little brat Kōe in there?” Shunsui said, throwing an arm over Ukitake’s shoulder and lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ”What kind of idea did that kid come up with to provoke Old Man Yama this time? Hurry up and tell me.”

Ukitake slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. His thoughts were a bit messy from Kōe suddenly bringing up the past. Chatting with Shunsui right now wasn’t a bad idea.

”Let’s talk as we walk.”

The two walked and talked. Though it was a conversation, Shunsui mostly played the role of a listener along the way, not voicing his own opinions.

Ukitake explained everything in detail, almost perfectly replicating every aspect of the conversation between Kōe and Yamamoto. By the time the two returned to Ugendō, the story was nearly finished.

Shunsui familiarly poured Ukitake a cup of water, then dug through a drawer to find Ukitake’s medicine and handed it to him. ”So, did Old Man Yama agree in the end?”

Ukitake took the medicine Shunsui offered. ”How could the Master agree? He raised Kōe by his side since he was a child and understands him best. He might not say it out loud, but in his heart, the Master cares about Kōe more than anyone else.”

It was true. Yamamoto had not agreed to Kōe’s proposal back then, even though Kōe claimed he would immediately eliminate the threat if things went wrong. It might have seemed a bit unreasonable, but Ukitake understood that Yamamoto was entirely considering Kōe’s well-being.

”Old Man Yama didn’t say he would definitely eliminate Ginjō, but he didn’t agree to recruit him either. The meaning is already obvious. Every move Kōe makes right now is too prone to speculation. Who knows how many eyes are watching him? It’s better not to make such controversial moves.” Shunsui scratched his chin with his index finger, then asked with a wicked smile, ”And then? That kid wouldn’t just compromise so easily, would he?”

”Sigh...” Ukitake didn’t answer, but his meaningful, long sigh explained a lot.

”What reason could convince Old Man Yama? Let me guess...”

”The Joint Affairs Bureau is supervised by Central 46 and the Head-Captain, but it enjoys autonomy in its personnel composition. Aside from disappearing without a reason, Ginjō hasn’t committed any substantive crimes so far,” Ukitake replied weakly.

Shunsui immediately burst into laughter. ”That kid! Isn’t his subtext basically telling Old Man Yama to mind his own business? Hahaha, Old Man Yama must have been furious, right?”

”The communicator was shattered to pieces...” Ukitake said helplessly, shooting Shunsui a reproachful glance. Was this really something to laugh about?

”Don’t look at me like that. Since Kōe’s attitude is so resolute, it proves that no one can stop him from recruiting Ginjō Kūgo. And that bit about eliminating him immediately if anything goes wrong was probably just lip service.”

Ukitake rubbed his forehead with a conflicted expression. How could he not understand Kōe’s meaning? But precisely because he understood, it was hard to comprehend why Kōe insisted on doing this.

Shunsui seemed to see through Ukitake’s thoughts, his frivolous demeanor dialing back a bit. ”With Kōe’s intellect, he knows exactly what the consequences of doing this are.”

”That’s exactly why I’m worried, and why the Master is angry...”

”Let’s think about it. Kōe is using the Joint Affairs Bureau as a medium to gather a group of people who have historically been controversial in the Seireitei. His intentions are nothing more than two: selfish motives or the public good. And right now, all signs point to the Joint Affairs Bureau existing for selfish motives—namely, taking Ichigo, Ginjō, and the others under his own wing. This also includes Urahara and Yoruichi, many of our old friends.”

”It’s hard to believe so many people would gather together just for one person’s selfish desires,” Ukitake added his own perspective.

Shunsui nodded in agreement. ”So, what exactly does this ’controversial’ group represented by Kōe want? Since Kōe represents them, the only way to guess is through him.”

”First, let’s determine Kōe’s attitude toward us. It’s nothing more than three options: enemy, friend, or neither. Then, considering his attitude toward Aizen is obviously not friendly, his attitude toward us naturally won’t be hostile.”

Ukitake nodded. If Kōe treated Aizen as a friend, the two of them teaming up to take the Hōgyoku probably wouldn’t have been noticed by anyone. And returning to the Seireitei to protect the Hōgyoku inside Rukia could be considered openly making an enemy of Aizen. Considering Urahara, Yoruichi, and the others, the group Kōe represented definitely saw Aizen as an enemy. But as for Kōe himself, one could only say he didn’t treat Aizen as a friend.

With Aizen as a contrast, Kōe’s attitude toward the Seireitei became clear. Right now, it was a situation where only one could survive between the Seireitei and Aizen. Go with the flow and eradicate the Seireitei first? That was obviously not what a wise man would do. Therefore, Kōe absolutely would not view the Seireitei as his enemy right now.

”Substitute the remaining two attitudes into his current actions. If he sees us as friends, then his reason for doing this is simple: people like Ginjō who haven’t seen Aizen might play an unexpected role in the future war. And not considering the trouble the other party might bring him in the future—that’s being completely selfless.” Shunsui smiled. ”But that doesn’t fit the brat’s style.”

”But if we judge Kōe’s attitude as neither enemy nor friend based on this, hoping that we and Aizen will fight until both sides are heavily damaged while his own forces grow stronger... that’s also strange. He’s being too flashy.”

To sit back and reap the spoils of a conflict, it was naturally better to keep a low profile. With Kōe’s current behavior, even if he brought Ginjō and the others under his command, he couldn’t hide it. These people were bound to stand on the front lines of the battle against Aizen, and Kōe even more so. From beginning to end, he couldn’t play the role of the opportunistic fisherman.

”We can only conclude that Kōe has his own selfish motives, but at the same time, he will actively participate in this battle without holding back.” Ukitake voiced his opinion, continuing, ”But this is equally strange. He’s still being too high-profile.”

”Exactly. Fearing Aizen, so relying on the Seireitei to eliminate him; having selfish motives, so taking this opportunity to cultivate personal power—all of this makes sense. But the problem is, these selfish motives are built on the premise that we win. Being so high-profile, how could he not make people wary? After the war, the more he basks in success, the easier it is for things to go wrong. Only by treading carefully like walking on thin ice could he possibly grow stronger. He couldn’t have failed to think of this.”

”So?”

Shunsui took a deep breath, his expression serious as he whispered word by word, ”Maybe... he really didn’t think of this at all...”