Chapter 253: A Connoisseur's Pleasure
After the brief exchange they fell in together, moving as a pair.
"So what exactly just happened?"
Isshin took a moment to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and the side of his face, dealing with the more obvious signs of damage.
"Honestly, I'm not totally sure either. It hit me without any warning. What I can tell you is that thing is strong. Really strong. With that kind of power, we can't just..."
"Easy, Captain Isshin."
Matsushita Yusuke raised his left hand and brought it down lightly on the other man's shoulder.
His voice was perfectly level. No extra weight in it, nothing that suggested any real concern. The impression it gave was exactly what the words implied: a man who had already worked this out and was simply waiting for the situation to catch up.
"Panicking now only hands them an opening. Think clearly, stay steady. This is Soul Society. This is our ground."
So.
Matsushita Yusuke's left hand tightened slightly, a small, symbolic gripping motion.
"Don't lose your head."
The delivery carried authority.
And it worked. Isshin felt it, the quality of Matsushita Yusuke's bearing in that moment. The unease that had been sitting in his chest lost most of its grip. He wasn't fully clear-headed yet, but he was closer.
Hard to deny: this guy really was something.
"Th... thanks, Captain Matsushita."
Both hands gripping the front of his uniform, Isshin took two deep breaths, and genuinely, visibly, steadied himself.
"Good. Looks like you're back."
Matsushita Yusuke smiled faintly and stepped forward, moving to stand between Isshin and what was coming.
"But don't let your guard down yet. We're not out of this. Stay sharp, Captain. Moments like this are exactly when you need to be giving everything you've got. Understood?"
Technically they were the same rank.
But the position Matsushita Yusuke was speaking from was plainly several floors above.
Somehow, Isshin didn't mind it at all.
He tightened his grip on his Zanpakuto, and there was something almost fired up in his expression when he answered.
"Loud and clear! I'm good, Captain Matsushita!"
On the outside, Matsushita Yusuke kept his expression calm and easy.
On the inside, he was quietly losing his mind with satisfaction.
So this is what it feels like. This is why people do this.
Knowing full well that his days on this side of the board were numbered, that everything he was presenting right now was a constructed surface with nothing behind it, there was a particular kind of enjoyment in the gap between what people saw and what was actually true. The thought of everyone's faces when the truth finally came out, the confusion, the disbelief, the exact look of someone whose understanding of events had just collapsed.
Absolutely delicious.
This, truly, was a pleasure only someone who had put in the hours could properly appreciate.
No wonder Aizen was so dedicated to running two faces at once. The private satisfaction of knowing things no one around you knows was genuinely addictive.
If it weren't for the issue of appearances, Matsushita Yusuke might have let something embarrassingly pleased slip out of his mouth. He reined it in.
Not yet. Timing matters.
The fruit is sweetest when it's ripe.
But regardless of all of that, he was still operating inside Soul Society, which meant the current presentation had to hold for now.
He pulled his thoughts back together, took a breath, and half-turned.
"Captain Isshin, we should..."
He stopped.
Because in Isshin's eyes, reflected there in the pupils, he saw the shape of something approaching fast. Growing larger. Coming from far away and arriving very quickly.
The Hollow alt hit Matsushita Yusuke like a loaded truck, catching him flush and sending him flying.
Thud.
Just the sound of the impact was enough to make Isshin feel like his heart had skipped.
He had no time to react. He could only watch Matsushita Yusuke get launched clean off his feet.
"Captain Matsushita!"
The call went out and got nothing back. The Hollow alt, with the faint outline of something blood-red shimmering around it, was already closing in on Isshin.
The unspoken message in that movement was plain enough: you think you have room to worry about anyone else right now?
The situation answered the question for him.
Isshin took the impact against his right arm, let out an involuntary shout, and was hurled away.
Two captains knocked off their feet, back to back, in almost no time at all. That said enough about what was standing in front of them.
The Hollow alt came to a stop. Both hands hanging slightly at its sides. Chest rising and falling at a visible, rapid pace.
Its condition wasn't stable.
But unstable didn't mean stopped. It turned its head toward where Isshin had been sent, crouched briefly, then launched after him.
On the surface, two against one. In practice, still one against one.
"Every Hollow tends to have its own specific ability. This one, roughly speaking, would be something along the lines of control over blood."
Matsushita Yusuke, having been launched and now resting his back against a nearby tree trunk, said this conversationally while Tosen stood close beside him.
Keeping up appearances in front of Isshin had been necessary. But he was out of that scene now, so there was no reason to maintain the performance.
Hearing the explanation, Tosen went quiet and looked toward the distance for a moment, then asked in a tone that carried a specific uncertainty.
"That thing... is it strong?"
Matsushita Yusuke had never told Tosen the truth about his connection to the Hollow alt. So Tosen being cautious rather than relaxed about this was completely reasonable.
As for the question itself.
He thought about it briefly, scratching the side of his mouth.
"By current Soul Society standards? Outside of Yamamoto and me... I don't think anyone here would be a match for it."
Tosen raised an eyebrow. Looked around once. Then leaned slightly closer and said, quietly:
"What about Aizen-sama?"
The intention was to nudge Matsushita Yusuke toward more careful phrasing. But the words had barely left his mouth before Aizen's voice came from directly behind them.
"Matsushita-kun is probably right."
Tosen's expression snapped to attention. He turned and bowed immediately.
"At ease. Let's just keep talking."
Aizen laughed softly and touched the hilt of his Zanpakuto, looking out toward the distance. When he spoke, there was something almost reflective in his voice.
"My Zanpakuto doesn't have much in the way of offensive capability. If I'm being honest, without reaching outside the rules of a clean fight, pure Kido alone probably wouldn't be enough against it."
He had tested the Hollow alt himself, back during their operations in Hueco Mundo. He knew what he was talking about.
"I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing what it can do, Matsushita-kun."