Bleach: The Fifth Division Captain

"Hey, have you gotten stronger recently?"

Seiya, crouched near the entrance while bidding farewell to Nemuri Nanagō, instinctively raised his head at the sudden question.

Standing at the door, Mayuri Kurotsuchi leaned out, his head poking halfway into view.

Seiya scratched the back of his head, looking uncertain.

"Have I...?"

"These things are obvious at a glance," Mayuri declared matter-of-factly, pointing at his own eye.

"I've compressed a device down to the size of an eyeball, capable of visually observing the differences in spirit particle density."

"Hmm... yes, yes. I'd estimate your spiritual power is around fourth-class rank—an elite level even among vice-captains."

"You grow quite fast, don't you?"

What on earth? A scouter for spirit energy?

Though Mayuri claimed to be impressed, his tone and expression remained as neutral as ever. Seiya, now used to his peculiar behavior, could only smile wryly.

"Is that another one of your inventions, Mayuri-san?"

"Hoho, do you finally appreciate the brilliance of my talents? The device compresses complex machinery and implants it directly into the eye—"

Before he could finish, Mayuri's left eye suddenly twitched violently.

His face contorted briefly before half of it drooped, as if paralyzed.

"Hmph. It seems there's still room for improvement," he muttered.

"Uh, your left eye is practically falling apart... Are you okay?" Seiya asked hesitantly.

"It seems the weight reduction has introduced some instability."

"Seriously, your eye socket is smoking..."

"Quiet! Your incessant chatter is ruining my mood. Show some restraint!"

"No, but it's literally catching fire—"

"That's irrelevant! Observing high-level spirit power apparently causes instability. Ah, I see—there's no point in continuing this line of research."

Research topic scrapped.

It had been nearly two months since Aizen left the Twelfth Division.

In that time, Seiya continued building rapport with the squad members while also maintaining his daily "part-time job" of taking Nemuri Nanagō out for walks.

Perhaps out of appreciation for his effort, Mayuri's attitude toward Seiya had improved—slightly.

At this moment, Mayuri nonchalantly fiddled with his bloodied left eye socket, eventually extracting a lump of flesh from within.

He casually tossed the grotesque mass into a nearby waste bin before wiping the remaining blood from his face.

"This is just standard data collection—don't make a fuss over it," Mayuri stated flatly.

"I-I'll try not to..." Seiya replied awkwardly, still processing what he had just witnessed.

Frankly, aside from the grown-up Nemu, Seiya couldn't imagine anyone else managing a "normal" relationship with Mayuri.

As Seiya was lost in thought, a sudden burst of panting and the sound of quick footsteps reached his ears.

Before he could turn around, a loud, energetic voice rang out.

"Get out of the way!"

Seiya instinctively sidestepped just as a flying kick hurtled toward where he had been standing.

A familiar figure stumbled forward and barely regained her balance.

It was Hiyori Sarugaki, wearing her trademark scowl that seemed to perpetually declare the world owed her money.

"Why'd you dodge, huh?!" Hiyori barked.

Her tone was full of mock outrage, but Seiya couldn't help but notice a glimmer of smug satisfaction in her eyes. It seemed she was in a playful mood.

Having grown somewhat familiar with Hiyori, Seiya sighed and replied, "You literally yelled for me to move..."

"And since when do you actually listen?! Stand still, bald head, and let me kick you once!"

"No, thank you. Besides, we're not that close, are we?"

"That's got nothing to do with it! If you're in the Twelfth Division, you listen to me, the vice-captain!"

"Does Urahara-taichō know how tyrannical you are?"

"That baldy doesn't know squat!"

Nearby, Mayuri, who had been listening to their exchange, let out an audible groan.

"How loud. If you're going to be noisy, do it somewhere else."

Hiyori turned to glare at Mayuri, her annoyance visibly mounting.

"Are you kidding me?! I even brought you some stuff! And now you're kicking me out?!"

Mayuri gave an exaggerated shrug, his half-paralyzed face displaying his signature expression of disdain.

"You have such a loud voice. A vice-captain should be doing something useful, don't you think?"

The vein on Hiyori's forehead visibly bulged as she clenched her fists.

"Since when is lugging boxes around and running errands considered 'useful'?!"

"And what else can you do?" Mayuri retorted flatly.

"What did you just say?!"

At this point, it became clear to Seiya that violence was imminent.

As Hiyori prepared to charge at Mayuri, Seiya grabbed her by the back of her collar and pulled her back.

"Calm down, calm down!"

"Let me go! I'm gonna kill this psycho!"

"And I've never claimed to be anything else," Mayuri deadpanned.

After several minutes of noisy bickering, Mayuri finally shooed them out of his laboratory, much to his relief.

Outside, Seiya took a moment to catch his breath before glancing at Hiyori.

She was still muttering angrily under her breath, dusting herself off as if preparing for round two.

"Ugh, everyone here is such a bald-headed idiot," she grumbled. "They all think I'm dumb... I oughta tear that guy's lab apart one of these days..."

Despite her harsh words, there was a distinctly childish air to her complaints—more bark than bite.

Seeing her like this, Seiya couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.

"She's just like an angry little terrier," he thought.

"Oi, Baldy! What're you staring at?!" Hiyori snapped, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Seiya shook his head, pretending to look elsewhere.

"Say, Hiyori-fukutaichō," he began, his tone casual, "mind if I ask you something?"

Hiyori gave him a side-eye glance.

"What?"

"Why do you seem to dislike everyone in the Twelfth Division so much?"

Hiyori scoffed, crossing her arms.

"I don't dislike them. I just don't have a reason to like them."

Seiya raised an eyebrow. "If that's the case, then why not just... quit the position altogether?"

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Powerstones?

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