Chapter 061: One More Quest
He was running commentary on all of it internally. His expression didn't move.
Instead, Matsushita Yusuke straightened up, squared his shoulders, and looked like he meant it.
He had his reasons.
Aizen had gone to the trouble of building him a cover identity. The least he could do was look the part.
Academy representative. That was who he was right now.
And the broad shape of the arrangement had clicked into place.
Squad 11 wanted to advertise their existence to the Academy. He was the representative. After a friendly exchange, they'd have something to point to. Something to put in whatever recruitment pitch they were putting together.
Calling it fabricated wasn't quite right. Aizen was genuinely an Academy instructor. Matsushita Yusuke could hold his own against actual working Shinigami, and handling students who hadn't graduated yet wasn't going to be a problem. The role fit well enough.
"Captain Kijishi, which of your officers will you be putting forward for the exchange?"
Aizen said it quietly, moving things along.
Kijishi scanned the people around him with a considering expression, then landed on someone nearby.
"Miasa. You're up."
The person stood immediately with a sharp nod.
"Leave it to me, boss!"
Even the dialogue at this level.
Matsushita Yusuke watched the man step out from the group and approach.
He was the opponent. Worth actually looking at.
Matsushita Yusuke took a breath, shook out his shoulders, and focused.
First impression: tall. Very tall. Close to six feet, and lean in a way that went past lean into something else entirely. The frame was there but almost nothing on top of it. What presence he had came from somewhere other than size.
Sunken eyes. Hair with the dry color of something that hadn't been healthy in a while. The whites showed more than usual, and when that gaze came across at you, the effect was specific and not comfortable.
"Squad 11 seated officer, Miasa Susumu. Pleased to meet you."
Polite enough in form. But he didn't move. Just looked straight at Matsushita Yusuke with that direct, unblinking quality.
That was the part worth paying attention to.
Matsushita Yusuke's expression settled into something serious.
Because something about this person wasn't simple.
Killing intent? Aggression? Some other quality that didn't have a clean name?
Probably some combination of all three.
However you described it, the word Matsushita Yusuke kept arriving at was dangerous. A low-level signal of it, steady and constant, coming off this person the way heat came off something that had been sitting in the sun.
Has this person actually killed someone before?
In Matsushita Yusuke's read, even if the answer was no, this was clearly someone who had been in enough serious fights that the weight of them had settled into how they carried themselves. Only a person who had stood at that edge consistently would be working to establish positional advantage this early, before anything had started.
Both of them were locked on each other.
Aizen, watching from the side, spoke first.
"Captain Kijishi, would it be possible to move somewhere else? The light in here is a bit poor for this kind of thing."
His expression was composed. His tone had the very slight quality of someone holding something together.
Almost certainly the smell.
Kijishi waved a hand.
"Fine. Move it outside."
The whole group shuffled out of the hall.
Squad 11's grounds were larger than Matsushita Yusuke had expected. Given that the whole compound was already out in the middle of nowhere, the extra space made some sense. But Kijishi was clearly not a man who thought about land management. Large sections of the grounds had simply been left to go wild. The weeds had gotten to roughly waist height in several areas.
While they were looking for a usable flat space, Kijishi caught his own subordinates watching him and muttered something vaguely in their direction.
"Clear some of this out when you have time. Don't be lazy."
Boss. The question of whose fault this is might be worth sitting with for a moment.
They found a section that was flat enough. Both sides squared up.
And at that point, the familiar notification appeared.
[Defeat Miasa Susumu]
[Profile: By Squad 11's internal standards, Miasa Susumu's ability places him at roughly third seat level. He joined late and doesn't play up to Kijishi, which is why his rank doesn't reflect that. In terms of pure ability, he will be a genuine challenge.]
[Rewards: Reiatsu Level +8, Zanjutsu +3, Hakuda +2, Hoho +1, Zanpakuto Physical +5]
There it was.
Matsushita Yusuke took a quick look at the notification while adjusting his stance, then settled in.
Exactly what he'd been counting on.
Get the right opponent in front of you, and the quest system put out a reward to match. And the reward scaled with what was actually in front of you.
This one was substantial.
The risk matched it.
Third seat in actual ability, sitting at a lower rank for unrelated reasons. Based on everything visible so far, this person was probably also holding something back. Which meant this was going to be a real fight.
Matsushita Yusuke let out a slow breath and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Miasa Susumu drew his long blade in silence, adjusted his grip, and began moving forward.
Quiet steps. The sound of sandals on packed dirt, small stones shifting, a short dry friction that didn't vary.
Matsushita Yusuke didn't move. Both of them held eye contact. Miasa kept coming. The sound of his approach was the only thing breaking the silence.
Kijishi, who had been half-distracted by something, seemed to catch something in the air. He turned his head and looked at the two of them.
One eyebrow went up.
A short sound came out of him.
"Hoh..."
Whatever he'd just noticed, he found it interesting.
Before he could say anything else, Miasa stopped.
No signal. No announcement. He simply reached the point where continuing forward meant something different, and stopped exactly there.
Both of them moved at the same moment.
The air cracked.
Two figures disappeared simultaneously. The wind their movement generated hit the surrounding space and rolled outward in all directions.
BANG.
The sound came a fraction of a second later.
Both of them had arrived at the same point. The collision was direct and hard. Two different-shaped Zanpakuto locked against each other, sparks catching and scattering, both faces equally set.
This was a test of three things at once: instinct, sword technique, and shunpo. A direct rushing clash like this was the fastest possible read on how far apart two people actually were. If the gap was large, it ended immediately. If it didn't end immediately, the gap wasn't large.
It hadn't ended.
Which said what it said.
"Not bad, brat."
Trash talk. Really.
Matsushita Yusuke blinked once, then smiled back easily.
"You're not so bad yourself."
What this person didn't know was that Matsushita Yusuke still had something left.
He pressed forward, used the motion to free his left hand, and extended one finger toward Miasa from a short distance.
Kido #2: Light.