My office was lined with shōji (traditional Japanese sliding doors) that I normally always kept open. My flooring was primarily tatami mats, although I did have carpet in the bedroom. There was a circular window above my desk where I had hung a potted plant over it. My desk was low to the floor, as I preferred using zaisu (floor chairs) over western chairs. It made it so much easier to flop onto the floor for a quick nap.
In my office I kept a kotatsu table with plenty of zabuton (floor cushions for seating) around it. Every day my kotatsu had some kind of freshly baked treat that I prepared at around two in the morning because I did not need sleep so I got bored at night if no one was keeping me company. It became a routine after the first decade. Wake up at two, bake something, tend to the sheep, then do whatever duties I needed to do as captain of the 5th division.
That was about the end of my "traditional" style.
The barracks for the 5th division was the prettiest and most feminine. That was because I literally made it with my own two hands and decided to practice my woodworking skills.
Hey, I had thousands of years to kill before the story finally rolled around. Picking up odd hobbies were a necessity to keep me from starting wars out of sheer fucking boredom.
Unsurprisingly after a while, I used my skills on my division barracks.
Every single post and wall had some kind of woodworking design hammered into it. Most of it was flowers, or feminine-esque designs because it was so not want Genryūsai would want one of his badass military divisions to look like. To that day, over a thousand years since I made the change, Genryūsai would still wrinkle his brow as he glared at the flowers every time he had to visit the barracks.
A couple centuries ago he even had the audacity to swap out all my pretty artwork for standard, uncultured, plain ol' wood when I went out on a long term mission.
In retaliation, I gave the first division a fabulous hot-pink makeover.
What followed over the next century could only be described as an incredibly petty war between student and teacher.
It was hard to claim that I won just because I got my flowery barracks because my cunning student got me to promise not to decorate the other barracks without their captain's permission.
So many wasted opportunities to make people miserable went out the window because of that.
But I got my pretty barracks.
Shunsui was sprawled out on the tatami mat floor, his head resting in my lap as I continued to work on my paperwork. Snuggles had taken over the katotatsu table in the center of the room to review the paperwork I had completed.
The Gotei 13 weren't a coherent unit. Most of the divisions had different goals and beliefs, and those were up to change every time there was a new captain; which happened at least once a century. The only consistent captains were Genryūsai, Shunsui, Jūshirō, Retsu, and myself. Last century we had five different captains for the 12th division, although the current one—Kirio Hikifune—seemed likely to last for at least another century. If I remembered correctly she'd be transferring to the Royal Guard eventually though.
The 5th division had taken over "special" or "difficult" missions that the other divisions weren't capable of handling. Either because they already lost too much fodder previously, or lacked the intelligence to make a trusted decision. We handled the purges, too.
We also managed the budgets for the Gotei 13. Genryūsai sucked ass at math, Retsu was liable to kill someone who went over budget, Shunsui also sucked ass at math, and Jūshirō was too soft to discipline morons who went over budget. All the other divisions had captains who didn't last long enough to bother transitioning it over.
I didn't like to do the accounting side of it, but it was better than having to deal with the politics like Genryūsai did. Would much rather do paperwork then have to pretend to care about the opinion of some noble who would die before I even bothered to learn their name.
Plus, when a division went over budget I got to discipline them! It was a chance to test my creativity. My favorite was when a stupid little fodder went over budget for his mission, then had the gall to complain to me that I hadn't given him enough money in the first place. For a mission to kill one hollow. One. Hollow. Yet he somehow needed thousands of kan (the currency used for Soul Society).
I tied each of his limbs to a different wood post and let him hang out in the sun for a month.
It'd been a decade since someone went over budget and I was itching to try out a new idea.
Shunsui sneezed into his elbow then rubbed at his nose.
"Doing okay?" I asked him, pausing in my arithmancy to look down at the sleepy boy.
Okay, he might've looked mid-twenties and had lived for several centuries in his second life but his soul was as young and innocent as fresh snowfall so he felt like a baby boy to me.
"Yeah," Shunsui said, looking over at Snuggles. "Why's he a cat?"
"Come again?"
"I've been thinking about it for a long time. Why did you make him a cat? You said you gave him that body to use while he's here. Why a cat? Kura I get, because he's a nine-tailed fox demon. Shiori said she's your contract summon and that's her true form, but Snuggles... Snuggles isn't a cat, yet you made him a cat."
"Huh. Well, his true form tends to make people cry when they see him. I went for the most opposite thing I could think of to it."
"What exactly is he, Teacher?" Shunsui asked with a raised eyebrow, intrigued.
"Ah—hmm—he's—" I struggled to find the words to aptly describe Snuggles. The black panther lazily looked up from using his telekinesis to work on paperwork, but then went back to ignoring us. "Mm. He's kind of the result of—ah—hmm—I got a little arrogant."
Shunsui sat up from where he laid on the floor, his expression expectant and full of curiosity.
I coughed, a little embarrassed. "As you know I'm an old soul who has lived on other worlds."
Shunsui nodded. I had told Shunsui, Jūshirō, and Genryūsai the truth of what I was centuries ago—and Starrk and Lilynette. I trusted them to keep it quiet. It made it easier to explain when I had to slip into my true form to rest and needed someone to cover for me. It was also how I explained to them how I got my "teammates." I was honest and told them they were old friends who donated a portion of their reiatsu into the bodies I created.
For the most part my teammates kept to their animal forms. In the rare appearance they needed to work with others sometimes they would turn into a human. Well, Shiori would create an illusion of a human woman with a butterfly mask and short curly white hair. Kura was able to properly transform into a long-haired redhead bishie.
Snuggles flat out refused. He didn't speak to anyone, either. His communication was solely nonverbal and he only ever listened to me.
It intrigued a lot of Shinigami who wanted to understand more about the odd panther who could blast absurdly powerful hadō like it was nothing, and who had such finite control over telekineses he had the prettiest handwriting in all Soul Society (it was voted on, he won much to Jūshirō's disbelief).
"In one of these words," I tentatively said, "the barrier was thin between it and a couple other worlds. I—er—thought it would be funny to tear down the barrier and let them all... have a cross over."
Shunsui whistled. "Wow, what happened?"
"War. Completely badass war," I answered. "It was amazing. Only one world was left standing and it was not the world I expected to win. But—er—in the process of those—ehh—ten thousand years a lot of—ah—ah—things were created. Snuggles is the result of someone trying to make a mind-flaying-Cthulhu-Blessed-faceless-one-incubus-uhhh..."
'I feel like I'm missing two other species.'
"A lot of things that should never, ever, come together into one creature," I settled on. "Anyway. It was my fault he was brought into existence so I took him in. He normally stays on Azeroth, but he was curious about visiting other dimensions so here he is."
"What's a mind flayer?"
"I assure you: you do not want to know."
"Cthulhu Blessed?"
"Just a child by Cthulhu."
"Faceless one?"
"A creature whose face is so—er—terrible it drives people insane the longer they look at it. It's really just a passive aura."
"Sounds pretty terrifying so far."
"Yeah. He's a big boy," I said, reaching over to scratch the top of Snuggles' head. "His tentacles can get kinda messy though."
"Ah. Good to know."
Jūshirō stepped into my office, holding a bag of candy and a sweet smile. "Rirīi they had a candy sale in town, want to have some with me? Oh, hi Shunsui."
"Come on in, Ju," I said, waving him in from where I sat at my desk. Shunsui laid back down on the floor, placing his head back in my lap. "I've still got some biscuits made if you want to have that with the candy."
"Hey Jūshirō," Shunsui said with a lazy wave of his hand. "I'll take some of that candy too if that's okay."
Jūshirō laughed softly. "Of course. Avoiding your lieutenant again?"
"Yep."
Jūshirō set the candy down on the desk, took a seat on the floor, then laid back and used Shunsui's stomach as a pillow.
"You know, children, I have a spare room if you're wanting to nap," I said wryly.
"We're good," they said.
"Are you staying for dinner?"
"Yes," they said.
"You're cleaning up afterward."
"Okay, Teacher."
(◕▾◕✿)
1617 a.d.
Ulquiorra was a silent shadow in Starrk and Lilynette's home. When Starrk went down to his underground library, he'd pick out a book for Ulquiorra to read and the two would sit side by side on the couch and read. If Lilynette was in a good enough mood she opened up her office door and would let Ulquiorra sit behind her and watch her program, draw, or write.
On nice days the three of them would play games together. Video games were fun, but their favorite would always be board games. Knife monopoly was always a joy.
I would show up on the weekends and I'd bring treats. Sometimes we all played one big game together—such as D&D—and other times we would relax and chat. They were excellent listeners when I needed to complain about stupid stuff going on in Soul Society.
They were very kind when I told them how much I missed my dearest companion, and how anxious I was for them to be reborn. They cheered me up the best way they knew how: cuddles and cocoa. Ulquiorra wasn't the best at cuddling, but he sure as heck liked cocoa. We even got him a special straw for him to always be prepared to drink cocoa.
One must never be under prepared to accept hot cocoa.
I had to say I was very happy with my progress on the three future Espadas I had found. Starrk and Lilynette were such lovely souls. Waiting in Hueco Mundo with nothing to do would have been mind numbingly boring, so I was happy to provide them stimulus. I was even happier to provide them company—and now with Ulquiorra they had even more company!
Ulquiorra was still near-mute, but Lilynette told me in private he seemed to like being near the two. He was rarely alone in a room since having been invited to live with them.
He was also starting to build a natural resistance to their reiatsu. Maybe after another century he wouldn't need me to re-apply a barrier of my own reiatsu around him to keep him safe. That'd save me some time, since I constantly had to re-apply the barrier around their home to keep it hidden from Shinigami and Hollows. It took a solid hour out of my weekend bonding time which was super annoying.
Ulquiorra tugged on my hair when I arrived one weekend in 1617.
I tilted my head, "Yes, dear?"
Ulquiorra pointed out one of the windows, I followed the direction of his finger but found nothing. Raising an eyebrow, I turned to look back at him.
"You said you were looking for a cat," he mumbled, continuing to point out the window.
"Ah, yes?"
"I sensed something outside the barrier, and I saw a cat hollow earlier."
"You saw—" Immediately, I bolted out the front door and began a mad search for—
"HELL YEAH!" I shrieked, fist-pumping the air because I so definitely found Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez pre-Arrancar.
I proceeded to kidnap the white panther baby boy, who yelped and started to flail about, before brining him back home to Lilynette and Starrk's house. Grimmjow's howls caught their attention and they met me in the front room where Ulquiorra was calmly drinking some hot cocoa he made for himself.
"Say hi to your new baby brother," I exclaimed.
"PUT ME DOWN YOU FUCKING SHINIGAMI BITCH—"
"He needs to be house trained," I apologized. "But I promise he'll be good company after you break him in."
Lilynette squealed, "Yay! I always wanted a pet. Although he's not fluffy..."
I had forgotten to place a reiatsu barrier around Grimmjow before introducing him to Starrk and Lilynette so he passed out from their pressure. I applied it immediately afterward, feeling a little guilty about it.
"I have good reason to believe that when he turns into a Vasto Lorde he'll have super fluffy and soft hair. You should take him hunting with Ulquiorra. Think of it as a fun family activity."
"Family activity?" Starrk's eyes lit up.
"Yep. We're a family, aren't we?"
"Family," Starrk repeated the word with a big goofy grin on his face. Starrk slung an arm around Ulquiorra. "One big family, right my little brother?"
Ulquiorra nodded as he continued to sip his hot cocoa.
"And now we've got a cat brother," Lilynette cooed. "This is like so many otome games—"
"Oh my gosh you're right—" I gushed. "Remember Dandelion?"
"This instantly makes me want to replay it—"
Lilynette and I continued to bond over video games while Starrk pat the unconscious Grimmjow, and Ulquiorra stared off into the distance, quietly enjoying his hot cocoa.
It was a good day.
(◕▾◕✿)
One might wonder, since I was over sixteen hundred years in, what political changes I had made in the story.
Soul Society consisted of the Rukongai and the Seireitei. The special little Quincy bubble existed elsewhere but that was inaccessible because of bullshit reasons. Those two areas existed in the original play, as well as my own version. There wasn't much need to actively change the politics.
It was my first time living through a version of it. Like playing through a game, except the reset button meant literal thousands of years of hard work down the drain. I didn't want to drastically change the settings from something close to feudal Japan to say matriarchal monarchy, or permanent warmongering without knowing what havoc it would cause later on. For example if I went from a patriarchal society (as it currently was) to matriarchal the Shōnen Hero would turn into a female and a really convoluted romance plot was always thrown in. Triangles were so awkward to deal with in person. Rather avoid that whole mess if possible.
The Rukongai area was divided into three hundred and twenty districts—eighty in each of the traditional directions of North, South, East, and West. They were ordered in numbered descending from how far they were from the center of Soul Society. The further away one lived from the center, the closer to poverty they became. The outer districts were referred to as slums.
Now, while they were "slums" they couldn't be considered equivalent to the human world "slums." A lot of my free time was done in maintaining infrastructure, and early in its development I implemented a hygiene department that managed all districts equally. The "slums" were poorer in general, but they weren't dirty by any stretch of the imagination. The roads were well-maintained, and every district had access to free, filtered water, so no one had any excuse not to bathe regularly.
That was a purposeful change, but I doubted it'd have much of an impact on the story. It was a necessity for my quality of life. I had lived through enough feudal and medieval times that any time I had a chance to set up plumbing earlier on the timeline... damn straight I was going to. Urgh. Just remembering the lifetimes of people literally dumping their feces out onto the street with men peeing out the windows... eurgh.
That being said, the Rukongai outer districts were still rather poor in comparison to the inner districts and the Seireitei.
Heck, if there were too many souls lingering in the Rukongai district instead of passing on to reincarnation the Shinigami would literally massacre tens of thousands of them to restore balance. Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Living were carefully balanced between the three. If any world had an overflow, it was up to the Shinigami to trim.
My division did the trimming. There was only one incident in the past where Genryūsai was in such a sour mood he wanted to do it instead.
The trims didn't happen terribly often—perhaps once every two centuries?—but it was easy for anyone to conclude which district tended to get the worst of it.
Poor slums. Better luck next life.
When a soul arrived in Soul Society—usually from the human world, but sometimes redeemed Hollows would come along disguised as humans—they'd receive a ticket according to the time they died and sent off in different directions. Even if two people were to perish together, if they did not receive the tickets at the same time they would not know where the other was. Families from the first life were rarely reunited in the Soul Society, only if they all perished together at the same moment would they get to stay together. Consequently, the Rukongai is full of families that are not related by blood, they were usually those who died at the same time.
Although not everyone in Soul Society was someone who died in the world of the living them moved over. Plenty of them were naturally born there. Women could get just as pregnant in Soul Society as they could in the human world.
Everything else about Rukongai operated very close to the human world. People took jobs to afford living. Even if they did not need to eat, eating was enjoyable and a lot of souls still wanted to partake in it. They would survive doing literally nothing, but that wasn't very fun, was it? So they formed families, took jobs, or trained to become a Shinigami. There were shops, schools, parks, and so on. Been to one village in feudal Japan, or at least seen a semi-accurate video of one, it was easy to picture what Rukongai was like.
Seireitei was at the center of Soul Society. It was a circular shiro with four main entrances, each of them about a ten day's walk from each other for an average Shinigami. The gates were rather arrogantly dubbed Shidai Seireimon (the Four Great Pure Gates), each in a traditional direction.
The walls of Seireitei were made of Sekkiseki, a type of stone used to negate reiatsu. Additionally, the stone formed a spherical barrier around the city to prevent anything from breaching it from ground, sky, or underground. The barrier that surrounded Seireitei was usually held up, only closing down when an emergency occurs. They would not lift around the Soul King Palace, which rested in the center of Seireitei in its own little pocket dimension.
The only residents of Seireitei were Shinigami and nobles.
The nobles were... dull. I didn't do much with them. I knew a few of the families helped create the city—either by loaning their manpower, money, or knowledge—but they were ultimately useless. None of them posed any kind of threat, and they really only served to cause drama which amused the Soul King.
There were five-turned-four families that originally arose to greatness in the original story.
There were only three in my story by 1617 a.d.
I definitely massacred one of them.
To be honest, I wasn't sure which of the noble families I had slaughtered over the past sixteen hundred years was meant to be a "great" noble family. All I knew was that the canonical story had five-turned-four, and presently there were only three: Shihōin (Yoruichi's family), Kuchiki (Byakuya's), and Hanako (???).
I didn't even know if Hanako was one of the original either. I couldn't remember the other families anymore.
For all I knew I killed off more of the originals without realizing it.
Oh well. Probably didn't matter. They really were only included because the Soul King had a thing for watching noble politics. I personally didn't see much joy in it, but it was its world. I was merely giving it an AU of it.
The government of the Soul Society was a touch odd. The main body of bureaucrats was the Central 46. They handled the laws, and every day governing of Soul Society. They were made up of noble or brilliant fodder that helped build the economy, establish laws, and so on. After their first century in action, their authority switched from typical government to "we mandate what the Soul King wants."
Arguably bullshit, but whatever. The Soul King did not directly influence the government, it was a passive watcher by nature. No part of it cared whether they should start taxing food stalls, or whatever. It'd reach out if there was an imbalance, or if it wanted to cause trouble for the sake of trouble.
It didn't matter what they claimed to be acting on. Genryūsai had no interest in managing all of Soul Society. The Shinigami he wanted was closer to act as enforcers than politicians, so he was all too happy to hand that over to the Central 46.
Didn't stop me from massacring them a thousand years ago when they tried to convince me the Soul King wanted me to sell my extremely pampered and well-bred sheep or else face heavy taxes.
Arrogant little stinkers.
And that was also why I was politely asked by Genryūsai to refrain from interacting with the Central 46 unless necessary. The Central 46 also kept in mind that it was ideal to stay in my good graces and most importantly: Not. Touch. My. Fluffy. Babehs.
Which was very good for them. They were more likely to live longer that way.
The Shinigami operated with the Central 46. Their only official mandate was to maintain the order of Soul Society, and protect the Soul King. Each division had its own unique goals and responsibilities, the first of which changed on who was the captain.
My division's main goals were to handle things the others could not, purging, and accounting. Special missions did not occur too often as other divisions were at loathe to admit they needed help. Purging was tragically rare. That meant that a good portion of my time was spent on paperwork, which gave me a lot of free time. The actual work took, maybe, three days of my week if I worked with Snuggles?
I probably could take on another responsibility but I was too lazy.
Overall, the end result was the politics was close enough to canon that I didn't foresee any dramatic change in it regarding Aizen's plan and the whole Quincy invasion part two fiasco. Hopefully something in the middle would crop up to make it more interesting, but who knew.
The Soul Society was a realm very similar to feudal Japan with governing politicians and an absurdly powerful, and sometimes dangerously bored, military force.
(◕▾◕✿)
Extra - Genryūsai
Genryūsai slipped into Rirī's office. On her desk was Kura who was sleeping over a stack of paperwork. The small red fox's ears flicked toward Genryūsai, but Kura did not wake up. Had Genryūsai displayed any kind of malice, he knew Kura would be wide awake and snarking at him.
Genryūsai was fondest of Kura out of all of Rirī's summoned friends. The fox was warm, soft, and made for some excellent company when Genryūsai was stuck dealing with paperwork. At the end of a long day dealing with the politics—especially the court of Central 46—Kura had a talent for insulting the bureaucrats in such a way it always made Genryūsai laugh.
Silently, Genryūsai moved throughout the apartment Rirī had built for the 5th division. It always had a subtle smell of bread and butter, likely due to how frequently Rirī baked.
His teacher was nowhere to be found, but that was expected. Every weekend she finished her paperwork early then went off to play games with "a few old pals." He wandered through the polished wooden walls until he found her bedroom. He carefully opened the door, peering inside to find Snuggles sprawled onto her bed and fast asleep.
Genryūsai pulled out a little box wrapped in pink paper before he set it on her bed.
'Happy birthday,' Genryūsai thought to himself as he prepared to leave.
Ever since Rirī had taken Genryūsai in, she had celebrated each of his birthdays with special cake, presents, and kisses on the nose. When he was smaller, she would swoop him up into her arms and toss him into the air only to catch him when he fell. She had told him Every year that she got spend with him was one to be celebrated.
Genryūsai did not have much of a family prior to Rirī taking him in. He could remember loud fights, and the smell of something sour, but the rest was a blur of blood and darkness. Back then family meant little to him.
Now, though?
Now when someone asked about his family, his first thought was Rirī.
Genryūsai snuck back out the way he came, a whistle on his lips.
He would have liked to stay and see her face when she got back, but she'd immediately know something was up when she sensed him in her apartment. Rirī never told Genryūsai her true birthday—she had forgotten it—and she was the type of person to get bored celebrating the same day every year just for herself.
So Genryūsai would surprise her with little birthday presents. Some years she got two. Some years she got none. Every celebration would be on a different day.
It was the surprise that mattered the most to her.
And it really seemed like the least Genryūsai could do for someone as precious to him as her.
(◕▾◕✿)
Extra 2
"No, no, Kisuke, don't stop stirring," I scolded as Kisuke almost burned another pot of sugar.
"S-Sorry, Captain Rirī," Kisuke mumbled apologetically, starting to stir better.
Yoruichi sat on the kitchen counter, watching as I taught Kisuke to make kohakutou. I made a pineapple smoothie for her to drink while we cooked. She paused in her drinking to ask,"Why is he doing this again?"
"Because it's vital he learns how to make candy," I answered her.
"Why again?"
"It's an essential life skill for him."
Kisuke's brow furrowed. "Why?"
"Trust me. You'll thank me in a few centuries. Keep stirring or we're going to start over again."
Kisuke looked to his captain for help. Yoruichi stared back at him impassively, then wordlessly accepted the plate of cookies I handed to her as a bribe.
She looked him dead in the eye and said, "Obey the nice lady who makes me food, Kisuke."
Kisuke sighed for the tenth time that morning.
"Less sighing, more stirring."
"Yes, Captain Rirī."
(◕▾◕✿)
Extra 3
Requested moments of D&D with Rirī
"Wait... you're not banning any races?" Rirī asked Lilynette as they set up their table mat.
"Nope! I've worked really hard on making this campaign. I want you guys to have a lot of fun playing it," Lilynette chirped.
Rirī smiled. It was not a nice smile. It was the kind of smile that Lilynette and Stark would later come to understand that Rirī suddenly found something delightful to play with. More specifically, someone to toy with.
"Okay. I'll go with an aarakocra bard," Rirī said with a sweet voice.
"Okay!"
(◕▾◕✿)
"... you have arrived at the perilous pit of pure terror," Lilynette narrated, her eyes lit up with delight. The first of the pitfalls she had prepared for them to face. "The only way across is through the Bridge of Trials where you must undergo a series of complicated riddles."
"Roll for my aarakocra to fly over the pit."
"Wha—"
"Roll for my aarakocra to fly over the pit," Rirī repeated with that saccharine smile.
"Fuck. Fine"
Natural 20.
"Fuck!"
(◕▾◕✿)
"And now," Lilynette continued to narrate with a flourish, "your team is faced with foulest, most vile, woman known to all of Narzia. She who has brought entire countries to their knees, who has revels in bloodshed, and chaos. She, considered to be the Mistress of Evil, smirks at your party and says, Who dares disturb my slumber?"
"Roll to seduce."
"Rirī. No. Please."
Rirī's smile stretched even wider.
"You have seduced everyone," Lilynette cried out. "You have a harem army behind you to fight this lady, please no!"
"Roll. To. Seduce."
Lilynette whimpered as Rirī rolled.
Natural 20.
"GOD. FUCKING. DAMN IT."
(◕▾◕✿)
And that is why Rirī is not allowed play bard or any race that can fly ever again.
Answer: Yes. Literally every time I started a VN.
Question: Favorite game to play?
Reviews are love!