"Kōe, dead-fish eyes! Wake up!!!"
Kōe snapped back to reality. Even though it had been half a year since he last saw Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the man's words still echoed in his mind from time to time, especially recently.
"What's wrong?"
"It's the New Year, can't you show a little excitement! Besides, the brats want to see the fireworks. If you keep standing there like an idiot, we won't get a good spot!" Yoruichi, dressed in a pale yellow kimono, rapped her knuckles against Kōe's head in dissatisfaction.
Further ahead, Urahara, wearing a green kimono and holding a little boy and a little girl by each hand, finally noticed they were missing two people. He turned around just in time to see this scene and couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile. Sure enough, Kōe was spacing out again.
Spacing out during the grand festival in the Seireitei wasn't too noticeable, but here in the bustling Rukongai, Kōe's demeanor was completely out of place with the New Year's atmosphere.
"Big sis, doesn't that guy look like he's not very bright?"
"Take out the 'look like.' He really isn't very bright."
The whispering between the two little ones didn't escape Urahara's notice. His face suddenly turned deadpan as he shouted loudly at Kōe, "Ganju and Kūkaku think you're not very bright! Pull yourself together! Now is not the time to sleep! Kōe!"
"Traitor!"
"Uncle was right, guys with small eyes are never up to any good!"
The two kids yelled as they broke free from Urahara's grasp. But before they could say much more, they suddenly found themselves lifted into the air, tucked under each of Kōe's arms as he walked up. "Weren't you two terrified of me before? You were much cuter back then."
The girl was named Shiba Kūkaku, and the boy was Shiba Ganju. Along with a slightly older boy standing behind Urahara named Shiba Kaien, Kōe jokingly referred to them as the army, navy, and air force. They were the only three remaining descendants of the main Shiba family.
Despite how lively the two kids in Kōe's arms were acting right now, they had just suffered a massive tragedy about five months ago, forcing the three children—none of whom were even ten years old yet—to experience the coldness of human nature far too early.
About a year and a half ago, due to the total annihilation of Squad 10 and the disappearance of the family's pillar, Shiba Isshin, the Shiba clan—one of the oldest noble families in the Seireitei—was dragged into an endless vortex, much like their clan crest, the Falling Swirling Sky.
And five months ago, the sky truly fell on the Shiba family. After a full year of searching by the entirety of Squad 13, they still hadn't found a single trace of Shiba Isshin in the World of the Living.
It was hard to believe that anything could trap a former captain of Squad 10 for a whole year. Moreover, his most likely destination was the World of the Living, where it was absolutely impossible for him to be delayed for that long.
Of course, he might still be in the Soul Society. But no matter where he was, failing to contact the Seireitei for a year made it easy for people to assume he was intentionally hiding.
And the reason for his hiding was glaringly obvious—the annihilation of Squad 10 and the Royal Weaving Facility.
Without needing any further evidence, Shiba Isshin became a wicked traitor to the Seireitei. The Shiba family he left behind should have drawn a clear line between themselves and him, but reality was far crueler. The once-illustrious Shiba clan had now become the sole disgrace of the Seireitei.
The destruction of an entire squad was a catastrophic loss the Seireitei hadn't seen in a thousand years. By doing all this, Shiba Isshin had essentially slapped every Shinigami across the face.
To continue treating the family he left behind as one of the Five Great Noble Families—the supreme existences of the Seireitei—and to entrust Squad 10 to them again in the future? That would be the biggest joke in the world!
No one even needed to initiate the motion. From Yamamoto to Central 46, from the two families of the priesthood faction to the two families commanding the Gotei 13, opinions were highly unified: the Shiba clan was no longer fit to hold noble status.
A great house collapsed overnight. Who could have imagined that the first change to the unchanging, thousand-year-old Seireitei would be the Five Great Noble Families becoming the Four Great Noble Families.
Kōe knew it was useless and could only sigh inwardly. Although Yoruichi tried her best to stop it, her lone voice insisting that "Uncle Isshin isn't that kind of person" was not only futile but also earned her a severe scolding from Dōzō.
Driven out of the Seireitei amidst a chorus of curses, the three Shiba children relocated to the Rukongai with only two servants who volunteered to follow them. Such a bleak and desolate scene was difficult to accept, even for children whose minds were not yet fully mature.
Although Kōe and Yoruichi visited them from time to time, Kūkaku and Ganju had only gradually started speaking again about a month and a half ago. However, this was mostly thanks to Yoruichi and their older brother, Shiba Kaien. Kōe was merely tagging along.
In truth, Kōe didn't know that Yoruichi brought him along not because she thought he could counsel Kūkaku and Ganju, but because Kōe himself had been acting off during that time, so she was conveniently counseling him as well.
But looking at it now, the kids seemed fine for the moment, while this "convenient" adult seemed to be getting weirder and weirder. Yoruichi watched Kōe messing around with the two kids, her face full of worry.
Kōe had just mentioned that Kūkaku and Ganju used to be terrified of him. That wasn't a joke; it was the truth.
He still remembered the first time he and Yoruichi visited the small house the Shiba family now lived in. Although the most mature of the three, Shiba Kaien, tried his best to hide it, Kōe still caught the fleeting look of wariness in his eyes.
Needless to say, the two younger kids, Kūkaku and Ganju, hid far, far away, the word "fear" practically written on their faces.
This was something Kōe had never understood. He had never even been to the Shiba estate before, so how had he offended these three brats? He finally got his answer just now.
"Hey, dead-fish eyes!"
"Is dead-fish eyes what you're supposed to call me?" Kōe rolled his eyes at Kūkaku, who was tucked under his right arm. "Call me Uncle Kōe!"
"Okay, dead-fish eyes! Hahaha!" Kūkaku laughed, putting her left hand over her mouth as she continued to ask, "Did you ever offend Uncle?"
The "Uncle" Kūkaku referred to was Shiba Isshin. Kōe thought about it; he had barely spoken a few words to the man. So he shook his head. "No, why do you ask?"
"Because Uncle told us not to talk to you. He said you..." Kūkaku tapped her chin, thinking hard, but couldn't remember exactly what her uncle had said. She turned to Ganju next to her and asked, "Do you remember what Uncle said back then?"
"I think he said something about us losing things."
"Right, right, right!" Kūkaku nodded her little head, looking up at Kōe to ask, "What did you steal from Uncle?"
"Nothing! Was your uncle drunk back then?!"
"No way!" Kūkaku raised her little fists indignantly. Then, as if remembering something, her eyes darted around and she whispered, "Uncle once said he really liked Yoruichi, but you're the one marrying her next month, so..."
Kōe felt like he had been struck by lightning. Before he could even speak, Kaien, who was walking ahead, couldn't hold back anymore. He turned around and shouted, "Kūkaku, shut your mouth! The 'like' Uncle meant wasn't about getting married! And Yoruichi isn't a 'thing'!"
Seeing Kūkaku stick out her tongue and obediently fall silent, Kaien looked at Kōe and said slowly, "Uncle's exact words back then were..."
"Compared to you all, Shihouin Kōe is someone who has discarded far too much. By now, his heart might be completely empty of everything except himself. So don't let him take away the most precious things in your hearts, even if you might throw them away yourselves someday."
Kaien recalled the scene from five years ago when Isshin had said those words to them. At the time, he had watched from afar as Kōe was welcomed by the lined-up ranks of Squad 11. He always felt that an existence capable of garnering the support of so many people shouldn't be the kind of person his uncle described.
Kaien looked at Kōe, who was wearing a wry smile, and thought about how, over the past five months, this man had never once looked reluctant when visiting their home. Although he spaced out occasionally, he still put genuine effort into making little gadgets to make his younger sister and brother laugh.
"But Uncle might really have been drinking back then. I don't think you're that kind of person."
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