Bleach: I Love Making Friends

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

There was no need to guess—this was definitely Aizen's doing.

Of course, Haruki didn't have any complaints.

He was all for hyping up his own achievements!

Haruki made plans 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 intended to make the most of his one-month vacation to become stronger.

At the very least, he needed to make himself worthy of the vice-captain position, right?

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

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

Hakuda was even less useful to him.

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

So, he only needed to focus on improving his Shunpo. The rest was about boosting his spiritual pressure.

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

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

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

"Working 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 lazy, so I hope Captain Aizen doesn't 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 glanced at 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 stomach and said to the four of them, "Anyway, I haven't eaten much today. How about we go out for a bite? I already have plans with Rangiku-san tonight."

"I have classes 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 soon, right?"

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

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

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

The next month followed a similar pattern.

Training during the day, and going out at night.

Aside from Rangiku, he occasionally drank with Kyōraku Shunsui, and later, 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 become balanced.

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

In other words, even if someone was only proficient in Shunpo, using this ability would grant them some proficiency in other areas, but at the same time, it would also drag 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 balance 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 become a top-tier all-rounder.

Otherwise... balance 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 Unohana Retsu.

He did, however, meet Isane Kotetsu.

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

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

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

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

Or Yammy Llargo, the Cero Espada, whose ability made him grow larger 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 interact with her.

But he had managed to 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 become the captain of the Third Division, and Byakuya Kuchiki had taken over as the captain of the Sixth Division.

Haruki was appointed 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 morning, 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. "Becoming a vice-captain in less than 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. Standing next to 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.'

Note: This skill is extremely dangerous. If used without permanently acquiring the ability, the user will lose all spiritual power after its effects end!