REVIEWS AND POWERSTONES PLSSS!!!!!
Chapter 034: Can I Hit Her
It was not the Squad 2 compound Matsushita Yusuke had been expecting.
What he was looking at instead was a tucked-away corner with a sign above the entrance that read "Special Training Unit" -- and honestly, for someone who had been living and moving around Seireitei for a while now, the fact that he had zero memory of this place existing was a little embarrassing.
But he could tell from the surroundings that they were still inside Squad 2's grounds.
"Kishinoshin-senpai, is this..."
"Ah, I should have explained in advance. My oversight."
He stepped in front of Matsushita Yusuke and gestured up at the sign with a relaxed smile.
"Yoruichi-sama established this recently. Formally it's listed under the Detention Unit, but the practical idea is closer to... well. A gathering place for people who are loyal to Yoruichi-sama, or on good terms with her."
A gathering place.
That phrasing was doing a lot of work.
Matsushita Yusuke swallowed a comment, kept his expression neutral, and stepped inside.
The inner courtyard was more spacious than the exterior suggested.
Stone arrangements, a small water feature, the kind of understated composition that had clearly been put together with actual thought. Given that this was something built under Yoruichi's personal name, there was probably some of her own taste in it.
No comment on that.
"There's a training area inside, a dining room, and rooms if you need to stay over. Yoruichi-sama's idea was to give people like you somewhere to come and spend time together. If you tire yourself out training and don't feel like making the walk back, staying the night is perfectly fine."
For a noble house of that standing, this kind of casual generosity was exactly what you'd expect.
Matsushita Yusuke responded politely and took a quick look around.
At minimum two full tiers above his dormitory room at the Academy.
There was even unagi rice on the menu.
When you had that kind of money, spending it freely didn't cost you anything. Nice work if you could get it.
Thinking back to what Kishinoshin had said earlier, he followed up carefully.
"How often does Yoruichi-sama actually come by?"
That one gave Kishinoshin pause. He lifted his sunglasses, smoothed down a section of his pompadour that had started to loosen, and considered.
"Hard to say."
The reason was simple enough.
"With Yoruichi-sama's temperament, making any specific prediction is difficult. But if I had to guess -- once or twice a month, probably."
Low leadership visibility. Resources available as needed.
This had been the right call.
Even setting everything else aside, having somewhere to come and eat a proper meal when studying got too heavy was worth it on its own.
Matsushita Yusuke was still quietly appreciating this when a scream tore through the air from somewhere not far off.
"AAAGH!!!"
The sound moved toward them, getting louder and more immediate, until something hit the wooden gate beside them hard enough to crack it.
BOOM.
The decorative gate split down the middle. A figure whose face had been rearranged into something resembling a swollen root vegetable let out a strained noise and hauled itself off the ground.
Shinigami uniform. Same style as Kishinoshin's.
So. Active duty.
The figure glanced over at them for exactly one second, then fixed its eyes on the direction it had come from with the expression of a person who had just seen something that genuinely frightened them.
"Don't— don't come any closer. I give up, I give up, I surrender!"
Then someone came through the opening.
Moving fast, compact and low, cutting through the air like something launched rather than running -- and hit the surrendering figure square in the chest.
CRACK.
The impact sent them airborne like a cannonball. They went through a paper screen door, kept going, and landed in the ornamental pond, which they now shared with several very startled goldfish.
"If I see anyone like you coming around here again, I'll break both your legs next time."
The figure who had delivered all of this stood with both hands on their hips, voice hard and carrying, directed at the pond.
"Now get out of my sight."
"Ugh— ugh— ugh—"
The pond's newest occupant dragged itself out and made a rapid retreat. Kishinoshin rubbed his temple with practiced resignation.
"Good timing, actually -- let me introduce you. Matsushita-kun, this is Fon Shaolin. She currently holds a position in the Detention Unit. Also from a noble family."
Fon Shaolin.
The name meant nothing to him.
But the figure turned halfway at the introduction and cut across it immediately.
"I haven't used that name since I inherited my grandmother's title. Stop using it. My name is Soifon."
Soifon.
There it was.
The future captain of Squad 2. One of the more recognizable characters in the original story, in a specific way -- the type who came across as harsh and unapproachable on the surface while everything underneath was considerably more complicated.
And in terms of actual power, well. She sat at a tier that was honest about what it was. Her Bankai was famous mostly for being extremely large, extremely loud, and for a track record that was somewhat less impressive than the scale of it suggested. You could say it had a lot of presence. Results were another matter.
But the attitude more than compensated for the rest. A small, fierce person who said things at a volume and certainty that most people twice her size would hesitate over. Considerably more entertaining than her actual threat level, especially early on.
The Hueco Mundo arc had been instructive. When Yoruichi had reappeared and beaten her, Soifon had cried and demanded to know why she'd been left behind.
That particular emotional composition -- the absolute devotion, the family raised across generations to serve the Shihoin household, the relationship with Yoruichi that had developed from something professional into something considerably harder to categorize --
Actually. Categorize it however you wanted. It was what it was.
The observable fact was that Soifon's loyalty ran entirely through Yoruichi, and that was a through-line you could follow clearly regardless of how you wanted to interpret what was underneath it.
All of this moved through Matsushita Yusuke's head without touching his face.
Soifon looked over at them. Whatever she saw, she didn't bother concealing her reaction to it.
"Kishinoshin! You're bringing in strays again?! I've already said this -- anyone who wants to follow Yoruichi-sama needs to actually be worth something first!"
She raised her right hand, index finger extended, and pointed it directly at Matsushita Yusuke's face. Then began working through him like someone at a market checking produce and finding it disappointing.
"Not even a Shinigami yet -- still an Academy student!
No calluses on your hands, which means you haven't put any real time into weapons work!
Your reiatsu is nothing to write home about -- you're not even at my level!
No real strength in any area. What exactly would you even be useful for?"
Matsushita Yusuke scratched the back of his head.
Hard to argue with any of that on a technical basis. She'd picked every point that would actually land.
So.
He turned to Kishinoshin.
"Can I hit her?"
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