Haruki realized that the news of him defeating the parasitized captain of the Third Division had spread throughout the Seireitei.

  There was o guess—this was definitely Aizen's doing.

  Of course, Haruki didn't have any pints.

  He was all for hyping up his own achievements!

  Haruki made pns with Rangiku to go drinking that evening, and after she left for the Fourth Division, he headed home.

  He activated the Child of the Kirin skill and prepared to start training.

  He inteo make the most of his one-month vacation to bee stronger.

  At the very least, he o make himself worthy of the vice-captain positiht?

  Among the four Shinigami bat arts—Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō—he focused mainly on training his Shunpo (Hohō).

  As for Zanjutsu, he didn't feel he much.

  Hakuda was even less useful to him.

  For Kidō, he had various abilities that served as better alternatives.

  So, he only o foproving his Shunpo. The rest was about boosting his spiritual pressure.

  He trained from m until afternoon, and around six o'clock, Renji and the others showed up.

  They had heard about the Hollow i at the academy and knew Haruki had been involved, so they came to che him.

  "I heard Senior Haruki defeated a Menos Grande and might even bee a vice-captain soon!" Momo Hinamori said with admiration in her eyes.

  "W under Captain Aizen must be so fulfilling, right?"

  Fulfilling?

  Haruki's mouth twitched, but he could only nod and say,

  "Yeah."

  "Though I'm a bit zy, so I hope Captain Aize overwork me."

  "So that's why you stayed as an ordinary squad member before?" Tōshirō Hitsugaya said coolly.

  "It's Senior Haruki to you," Haruki g him and added, "And I wasn't just an ordinary squad member—I was the ninth seat. I'm a seated officer in the Fifth Division."

  Haruki then patted his stomad said to the four of them, "Anyway, I haveen much today. How about we go out for a bite? I already have pns with Rangiku-san tonight."

  "I have csses tonight," Renji said regretfully. "What about you, Tōshirō?"

  "Same," Tōshirō Hitsugaya replied indifferently. "And I'm thinking of graduating early, so I might not have much free time from now on."

  "Graduating early?" Momo looked at Tōshirō curiously. "Why do you want to graduate early, Tōshirō?"

  "The stuff they teach at the academy isn't that hard."

  "Actually, graduating early isn't a bad idea," Haruki chimed in. "With Tōshirō's talent, he'll master everything the academy has to offer in no time."

  "By the way, you three are about to graduate soht?"

  "...Yeah," Kira nodded. "We're already sixth-year students. Ihan half a year, we'll graduate. We've already agreed to join the Fifth Division together."

  "That's great. Keep it up," Haruki enced them.

  After seeing the four off, Haruki spent the evening drinking with Rangiku until te into the night.

  The month followed a simir pattern.

  Training during the day, and going out at night.

  Aside friku, he occasionally drank with Kyōraku Shunsui, and ter, he even added Tetsuzaemon Iba from the Eleventh Division to his drinking circle.

  At this point, Tetsuzaemon was still in the Eleventh Division and hadn't yet moved to the Seventh Division as vice-captain.

  His soul ability was All-Rounder.

  All-Rounder: All your abilities bee banced.

  This ability equalized all of his skills to the same level.

  In other words, even if someone was only profit in Shunpo, using this ability would grant them some profi other areas, but at the same time, it would als down their Shunpo.

  For example, if Haruki's Shunpo was at 100, Kidō at 60, Zanjutsu at 40, and Hakuda at 20, using this ability would bance all four skills to (100 + 60 + 40 + 20) / 4 = 55.

  This ability was...

  Sometimes useful, sometimes not.

  Haruki felt that rather than being a jack-of-all-trades, it was better to specialize.

  Unless you were like Aizen, who had mastered everything to the extreme and bee a top-tier all-rounder.

  Otherwise... bance just meant mediocrity.

  After about half a month, Shūhei was finally discharged from the hospital.

  During this time, Haruki spent his nights not only drinking but also frequently visiting the Fourth Division.

  Not just to see Shūhei, but mostly to get closer to the seated officers of the Fourth Division.

  Unfortunately, despite his many visits, he never once saw Unohasu.

  He did, however, meet Isaetsu.

  Isaetsu's soul ability was Don't Want to Grow Taller.

  Don't Want to Grow Taller: Prevents oneself and others from ging in size.

  This ability seemed useless at first gnce, but it caught Haruki's attention.

  After all, many abilities involved growing rger, such as Gerard Valkyrie of the Wandenreich's Schutzstaffel, whose ability allowed him to grer when injured.

  Or Yammy Lrgo, the Cero Espada, whose ability made him grer the angrier he became.

  If this ability could be used on them, it might limit their powers.

  However, Isane was a vice-captain, and Haruki had little opportunity to i with her.

  But he had mao raise the favorability of most of the other members of the Fourth Division to around 60.

  Suddenly, he found himself with a plethora of offensive abilities, which gave him a strong sense of security.

  By the end of the month, Gin Ichimaru had officially bee the captain of the Third Division, and Byakuya Kuchiki had taken over as the captain of the Sixth Division.

  Haruki ointed as the vice-captain of the Fifth Division, and on his first day, he was to attend the Captains' Meeting with Aizen.

  Haruki felt a bit excited. During the Captains' Meeting, even if he couldn't see all the captains, he would at least get to meet the vice-captains of each division.

  Early in the m, Haruki followed behind Aizen as they made their way to the First Division.

  "I'm so sleepy."

  Haruki yawned and couldn't help but say, "Captain Aizen, you really shouldn't have made me vice-captain. I feel like I'm embarrassing myself like this."

  "You'll get used to it," Aizen said with a faint smile. "Being a vice-captain ihan six years since graduation is a record-worthy achievement, Haruki-kun."

  "...It just sounds like a lot of trouble."

  Haruki sighed.

  He followed Aizen to the First Division and immediately spotted Rangiku. Standio her was a middle-aged man wearing a captain's haori with the number "10" on it—Shiba Isshin, the captain of the Tenth Division.

  Shiba Isshin's soul ability was...

  Final Zanpakutō Fusion: Upon activation, the user merges with their Zanpakutō, achieving the state of 'Unity of Man and Sword.'

  his skill is extremely dangerous. If used without permaly acquiring the ability, the user will lose all spiritual power after its effects end!