Chapter 109 – 109 ⥤ Akira’s Quick Thinking

A wave of foreboding washed over Akira.

When Genryūsai’s voice suddenly rang out, he tensed, his guard instantly rising as he nervously eyed the elder seated at the head of the room.

“Teacher, I just remembered I left the gas on at home…”

Shinji Hirako watched the amusing scene unfold with a delighted grin. As someone who loved entertainment, he found such moments captivating.

The last time he’d encountered Akira, the youth had shattered an Adjuchas’s skull with a single punch, leaving Shinji psychologically scarred. He’d later heard that during the graduation assessment, Akira had beaten the criminal Shiraki Shin’ichi to death with his bare hands.

These incidents had led Shinji to believe Akira was a cold-blooded killer who took lives without hesitation.

Yet watching him now, those rumors seemed far from the truth.

“Never mind — Vice Captain Gosuke can return instead.” Genryūsai said calmly, “Come with me. This matter is urgent and non-negotiable.”

The others acknowledged and filed out one by one.

Yoruichi cast Akira a sympathetic look before her Vice Captain ushered her from the meeting room.

⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬

In the newly renovated training hall.

Genryūsai narrowed his eyes, studying the nervous youth before him.

His teacher’s intuition told him this boy was hiding something — and it wasn’t good.

“You heard everything I said in the meeting, correct?”

Akira startled, then nodded, unsure what the old man was getting at.

“About the investigation of the night raid on the Twelfth Division.” Genryūsai said softly, “The Thirteen Divisions alone lack the strength to complete this quickly. According to intelligence from the scene, the escapee had at least Vice-Captain level power. So I was thinking, perhaps through the power of the ritual…”

Before he could finish, his disciple’s eyes went wide.

Since when had this old man become so flexible, actually suggesting they use the One-Eyed God’s power to investigate?!

In Akira’s experience, Genryūsai was rigid in his thinking — the most conservative of conservatives. Though their long association had changed the old man somewhat.

But on matters of principle, he never compromised easily. Akira’s earlier proposed undercover plan had met with clear resistance.

“Is there a problem?” Seeing his disciple’s foolish expression, Genryūsai’s brows furrowed, his intuition sharpening.

“No, no!” Akira waved his hands frantically.

Genryūsai’s eyes narrowed as he studied the youth, “Are you hiding something from me?”

Swoosh—

Cold sweat beaded on Akira’s forehead as he stammered wordlessly.

Acting was for outsiders. Before this old man — this teacher who truly cared for him — any lie would be transparent the moment it left his mouth.

Genryūsai leaned on his cane, watching intently as the boy’s expression grew more unnatural by the second.

This scene felt familiar.

He remembered hundreds of years ago at the Shin’ō Academy, how Shunsui wore exactly this expression whenever he’d done something wrong.

This boy definitely hadn’t done anything good.

He began considering what foolish things Akira might have done recently.

Beating up colleagues? No, the 11th Division revered martial virtue — even if beaten, they’d only admire and respect their attacker.

Marrying into the Shihōin family? No — this boy had strongly resisted the idea and had even warned him about it before.

{T/N: Just to explain that the MC is not against the marriage, he just doesn’t want to be called Akira Shihōin. In the future, could we see a Yoruichi Kisaragi?}

Then, neglecting his duties?

At this thought, Genryūsai almost laughed — if this boy had even a shred of professional ethics, he wouldn’t be getting beaten up every day.

Wait…

He suddenly came to his senses, realizing with horror that his foolish disciple wouldn’t have disobeyed him and joined the Tsunayashiro faction on his own, would he?

Akira, watching the old man’s expression change, saw the shifting facial muscles and without hesitation threw a reverse punch — shattering the training hall’s wall!

Bang!

He wasn’t foolish enough to truly counterattack Genryūsai. The gap in strength was too vast — even if the bald eagle were sound asleep, a sneak attack would fail, let alone when he was merely distracted.

If he dared to strike at him now, the old man’s instinctive reaction alone would send Akira straight to heaven, back to Mimihagi’s embrace.

Boom!

A thunderous crash echoed from the barracks, drawing the attention of countless division members. They saw a massive hole in the newly repaired training hall wall and a figure darting through the streets like lightning.

⤫ Shunpo ⥤ Flash Steps ⤬

In an instant, Akira reached the barracks gate. Seeing freedom within reach, he felt elated, as if his Shunpo had gained new power. He pushed himself to run even faster.

But someone was faster.

Bang!

Akira’s vision went black as he crashed into a mountain-like figure, his body bouncing backward.

When he raised his head and cleared his dazed mind, a looming shadow stood before him.

Though less than 170 centimeters tall, the figure carried the presence of a 280-centimeter giant.

“Teacher, let me explain…” He managed an awkward smile in one last desperate attempt.

But Genryūsai said nothing, simply picking him up like a chicken and carrying him back to the training hall.

The division members barely spared the scene a glance before looking away.

To them, this was just another case of the 3rd Seat Kisaragi getting overconfident, challenging his superior, only to be swiftly humbled by the Captain-Commander.

Or perhaps his strange ideas had annoyed the Captain-Commander, who decided to teach him a lesson.

Ever since Akira had become Genryū’s disciple, such scenes played out weekly. The Captain-Commander’s roars regularly echoed throughout the 1st Division barracks.

It had all become routine by now.

Nearby, Lieutenant Chōjirō and 3rd Seat Genshirō were calmly drinking tea.

One could only say — business as usual, nothing to see here.

As Akira was dragged back into hell, his wails echoed throughout the training grounds, accompanied by thunderous crashes and the sounds of combat that resembled two polar bears wrestling.

“Would you like more tea?” Chōjirō asked.

“If you would be so kind.” Genshirō replied with a nod.

Chōjirō expertly added water and poured the tea, sliding the rippling cup toward Genshirō.

Both men lifted their cups in unison, taking delicate sips and savoring the exquisite aroma, silently agreeing on its excellence.

Right on cue, Akira’s furious roar erupted from the nearby training grounds.

“This is too much, this is rebellion! Yamamoto, I—”

BANG!!

A thunderous strike, like heaven itself splitting apart, cut off the rest of his sentence.

⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬

In the battered training hall.

Genryūsai sat cross-legged on the only intact section of flooring, calmly sipping freshly heated tea while savoring its aroma.

“Tell me what intelligence you’ve gathered since joining the Tsunayashiro faction.” Though he might doubt his disciple’s wisdom, he never doubted Akira’s ability to get results.

After all, how could someone who had disrupted the rebels’ movements multiple times simply go undercover quietly?

“It’s not really any important intelligence.” Akira hesitated, “I just went to the Twelfth Division and got some Gikon technology…”

CRACK!

The cup in Genryūsai’s hand instantly shattered, crumbling into fragments as thick veins bulged on his gleaming forehead.

The previously composed old man transformed into a demon from hell, his burning presence exploding outward.

To think that moments ago at the Captain’s Meeting, he had been discussing how to catch criminals, uphold Soul Society’s laws, and maintain justice. He had even been willing to show flexibility for this cause.

Yet the fish that slipped through the net had been in his own pond!

“You’ll be the death of me!” With that, Genryūsai struck down with his palm — though merely an ordinary strike, it carried enough force to split heaven and earth.

Akira’s eyes widened, and before he could defend himself, his body crashed through the broken floorboards like a mole being driven underground.

⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬⤫⤬

After a thorough beating, the old man’s anger subsided, and he sat back down at the tea table.

“Stop playing dead and get over here!”

Hearing this, Akira — who had been lying like a dead fish on the ground — sprang up with surprising vitality and sat cross-legged before him.

Looking at his seemingly unfazed disciple, Genryūsai considered whether he should increase the force of his teaching methods.

After these two beatings, aside from being black and blue with some superficial injuries, there wasn’t any lasting effect. If this continued, the kid might grow even more rebellious.

Genryūsai, who knew him all too well, pondered this.

“Tell me the details. Don’t leave anything out!”

After a moment’s consideration, Akira described everything in detail — Yoruichi’s support and all that had transpired after joining the Tsunayashiro faction.

He only omitted Aizen’s involvement. Though he didn’t understand why Aizen wanted to keep his role secret, as a good friend, all he could do was respect that wish.

As for the fake Gikon technology, Akira claimed full responsibility.

He boasted that he was naturally gifted, having learned Kirio Hikifune’s years of research in one glance and even recreated a fake version for Ansai.

Watching Akira, who seemed to almost believe his own tale, Genryūsai shook his head, deciding not to burst his bubble.

‘These claims are only believable to yourself.’ He thought, ‘You can’t even focus in class for three minutes — if you could actually understand Artificial Soul technology, I’d hand over my Captain-Commander position to you.’

It was too late for reproach now.

Besides, though this disciple might be foolish at times, his heart was in the right place — he was genuinely working for Soul Society’s peace and stability.

Moreover, if not for his actions last night, Ansai might have obtained the real Gikon technology. That would have caused chaos throughout Soul Society and even the Living World.

Still, whenever Genryūsai thought about how this kid had disobeyed him and stubbornly infiltrated one of the Five Noble Houses, he couldn’t help but feel angry.

“What do you plan to do next?”

Akira shrugged helplessly, “What else can we do? Take it one step at a time. From my conversations with Ansai Tsunayashiro, it’s clear that old fellow isn’t satisfied with his current position and is determined to change Soul Society’s status quo. I really don’t understand it though. What position could be higher than being the head of the Tsunayashiro family? If I were him, I’d just start drinking and enjoying life to the fullest.”

“Don’t make accusations without solid evidence. Without definitive proof and orders from Central 46, the Gotei 13 cannot move against the Five Noble Houses. They can only resolve their disputes internally.”

Akira was stunned, “Investigate themselves?”

Genryūsai gave him a look and said irritably, “What else?”

Hearing this, the young man’s brows furrowed deeply. He wasn’t well-versed in Soul Society’s system structure.

But from the old man’s words, it was clear that trying to bring down the Tsunayashiro family with this evidence alone would be impossible. Without sufficient proof, their hands were tied.

No wonder everyone wants to be nobility. The protection is even better than he imagined.

“In that case, we can only wait for them to slip up.” Akira pondered thoughtfully, quickly grasping the heart of the problem and formulating a solution.

Strangely, after receiving two beatings from Genryūsai, his mind felt unusually clear and sharp.

“Teacher, what do you think about setting up a sting operation?” His eyes lit up, “For example, helping Ansai Tsunayashiro achieve his ambitions…”

⤫⤬⤫

T/N: If you want more Chapters like this, check out my Patreon! Take a look at my other translations too, you might like them!

For just $1 you can access all the extra content, and descriptive images, costs only $2!

That’s it and happy reading! (-‿◦)

/mrblackwing

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep