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The Masked Legionâsix of them, each Hollowfiedâhad fallen in an instant.
Total defeat.
Their minds went blank, disbelief twisting across their faces. Shock, fear, confusion, humiliationâemotions shifted in rapid succession as they stared at the boy in the captain's haori. How could he wield such overwhelming power?
They had all heard whispers from Urahara Kisuke, rumors of a mysterious new-generation captain in the Gotei 13. But they had dismissed them, laughing the warnings away. A child captain? A name without substance, nothing more.
After all, they were once captains and lieutenants themselves, a hundred years ago. Even if they had been exiled, they were still veterans who had endured battle, men and women who had survived becoming Visored. Time had only sharpened them, not dulled them. Their strength now should have far surpassed their past selves. Against a boy barely forty years into his Shinigami life, their victory had seemed assured.
Yet reality had crushed that illusion in a single exchange. With nothing but casual force, the boy had dismantled their formation, reducing the Visored to a pile of broken pride.
Only Hirako Shinji had not yet drawn his blade. But even that meant nothing. Shinji could not have fared better against all six combined, let alone with the ease Su Li displayed.
And then, into the silence, Su Li's voice rang, calm and faint.
"So⊠can we have a proper conversation now?"
He turned slowly, eyes fixing on Hirako Shinji.
The leader of the Visored swallowed hard. His expression was tangled with conflict. Everyone else mirrored him. Doubts crowded their minds, questions that demanded answers, but one truth had already taken root: Su Li had not meant to kill them. If he had, their corpses would already be cooling on the ground.
The opponent was not their enemy.
Hirako thought of Kisuke's warning. That boy is dangerous. Don't provoke him lightly. Only now did he truly grasp the meaning. They had miscalculated, and badly.
"Su Li⊠CaptainâŠ" Hirako's voice was rough, hesitant. "Sorry. Let's⊠talk."
Su Li's smile curved faintly. He clapped his hands, tone suddenly bright and mocking. "Class dismissed, students. Those who violated classroom discipline, please write a five-hundred-word self-reflection and have your parents sign it. I'll be checking next lesson." His tone carried the warmth of a teacher, but his words dripped with ridicule.
"Damn bastardâŠ" Hiyori muttered through clenched teeth, Kensei's eyes burning beside her.
"What's wrong, Hiyori-san? Kensei-san?" Su Li's smile turned predatory as he glanced their way.
Cold sweat trickled down their backs. Their bravado faltered, faces forced into stiff smiles. "âŠNo complaintsâŠ"
"Well-behaved students," Su Li said cheerfully, appearing behind them without a sound. His hands pressed lightly against their skulls, grip deceptively casual.
The two froze, breath caught. They had not even seen him move. One more ounce of pressure and their heads would be pulp beneath his fingers.
"Su Li-san," Shinji cut in quickly, his commanding tone gone, replaced by weary resignation. "Stop scaring them. Let's⊠discuss what matters."
Power determined hierarchy. And right now, all of their lives were in Su Li's hands. Even if Shinji had yet to release his Bankai, he could not guarantee victory. Not against this.
"Of course," Su Li answered with a gentle smile. He released his grip and even helped the two back onto their feet as if nothing had happened. "But not here."
"Not here?" Shinji blinked.
Su Li's grin widened. "After physical education class, nutrition is essential. Judging by your unsteady steps, some of you look malnourished. Besides, since you invited me, shouldn't you at least host properly?"
Shinji's shoulders slumped. The meaning was clear. He remembered Kisuke's words again: Watch your wallets. That one's a bandit in disguise.
"âŠFine," Shinji muttered bitterly. "I know a place."
Moments later, they sat in an elegantly decorated sushi restaurant. Plates of expensive dishes filled Su Li's table, while Kensei and the others sat in silence at another, scribbling furiously across sheets of paper like chastised students.
Su Li ate with gusto, beaming like the picture of satisfaction. Shinji, however, looked as if each bite from Su Li was tearing money directly out of his own chest. The entire Visored treasury was vanishing with every plate.
"Mr. Su Li, perhaps we can speak of business now?" Shinji finally forced out, voice heavy.
"Mmh. Speak, I'm listening," Su Li mumbled through a mouthful of food.
"âŠHow did you see Aizen's true face? And how did you know of his plan?" Shinji asked, eyes narrowing, voice sharp. He more than anyone understood Aizen's deception. For decades the man had stood at his side, his trusted lieutenant, and yet Shinji had never once glimpsed his true intentions. Aizen's patience, his flawless act, his maskânone of it had slipped.
And yet this boy, barely a captain, had seen through him. How?
Su Li chewed slowly, then said, "Haven't you heard? People who wear glasses are never good people."
"âŠWhat?" Shinji froze, his face collapsing in disbelief.
"When I first saw him, I thought he was suspicious," Su Li continued blandly, still shoveling food. "So I checked. And sure enough, I was right." His exaggerated shrug made the others feel a secondhand shame that burned.
Shinji stared at him, unable to tell if he was serious or mocking. But one thing was clear: Su Li was not Aizen's ally. That alone was enough.
"So you stand with us against him, then? You aren't like the Central 46 puppets, treating us as traitors?" Shinji's tone sharpened with urgency. "As an individual, you stand in our camp?"
"It used to beâŠ" Su Li drained his bowl with a satisfied sigh.
"And now?" Shinji pressed.
Su Li set his chopsticks down, smiling like the sun. "Now I am your physical education teacher. Of course we're in the same camp."
Relief spread like a ripple through the Visored. Shoulders eased, breaths loosened.
"Good. Thenâ" Shinji began, but Su Li interrupted.
"You, hand that over." He gestured. A paper was shoved into his hands. He scanned it, frowning. "Where's the parent's signature?"
Hiyori's face turned red. "There aren't any parents! They're all gone! Up in heaven!"
The clerk glanced over sympathetically, murmuring, "Poor child⊠so young, already without family." Customers around them gave pitying looks.
Su Li's expression twitched. Ah. Right. Her guardians ascended to the Royal Palace long ago.
Turning with a blank face, he asked the others. "And yours?"
The excuses came in a rush.
"I don't have any either!"
"My parents have long been gone!"
"I'm an orphan!"
"My old man's senile!"
The restaurant erupted into noise, the scene resembling nothing less than a class of unruly children rebelling against a strict teacher.
And seated in the middle, Su Li only smiled like a patient bandit, enjoying his free meal.
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