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"Come in."
Ōmaeda casually responded, and a familiar figure walked in.
When she saw Ishikawa Katori sitting beside Ōmaeda, she was slightly startled and subconsciously asked, "Sir Ishikawa?"
The person who entered was Kanon, one of the two employees of the Everything Store branch.
"You've come at a good time. Go tell Jōze later that Ishikawa Katori's Everything Store will open tomorrow."
"Yes."
Kanon responded, then said, "Young Master, Chairman Arikawa of the Golden Seal Association has come to visit, saying he has something to discuss with you."
"What does he want?"
Ōmaeda frowned slightly, as if he didn't particularly like the visitor, but he finally nodded: "Bring him over."
"Yes, Young Master."
Kanon responded, turned and left, and soon returned with a lavishly dressed middle-aged man.
Upon seeing the visitor, Ōmaeda did not get up to greet him, but casually said, "Chairman Arikawa, is there something you need me for?"
Chairman Arikawa didn't reply, but glanced at Ishikawa Katori, who was beside Ōmaeda.
Seeing this, Ishikawa Katori picked up the plate of sake lees dumplings and said, "You two talk. I'm pretty much done eating." With that, he was about to get up and leave.
But then he was pulled back by Ōmaeda, who said to Chairman Arikawa, "Just say whatever it is. This is my friend; it's fine if he hears it."
"…" Ishikawa Katori.
To be honest, he really wasn't interested in what the two of them were going to discuss, but since Ōmaeda had said so, if he insisted on leaving, it would make Ōmaeda uncomfortable. In the end, he could only sit back down and continue eating.
Chairman Arikawa hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, then finally said, "Vice-Captain Ōmaeda, I'd like to ask you for a favor."
"What favor?"
"My Kōbato, didn't he join the Thirteenth Division?" Chairman Arikawa paused, a hint of worry flashing across his face: "Not long ago, the Shinigami dispatched by the Thirteenth Division to the Human World lost contact, and today we received news that he reportedly died in the Human World."
"I know. I was the one who informed the Thirteenth Division about this."
"Actually, even before confirming the death of that dispatched Shinigami, the Thirteenth Division was already selecting the next dispatched Shinigami, and my child… you know, he particularly admires Captain Ukitake and volunteered for this assignment. He just returned and told me about it."
Chairman Arikawa said with a grim expression: "He actually dared to take on such a dangerous assignment, and no matter how much I tried to persuade him, it was useless. Originally, I wanted to talk to Captain Ukitake and ask him to find a way to stop it, but Captain Ukitake is currently in a comatose state due to a cold…"
"I'm sorry."
Ōmaeda directly interrupted Chairman Arikawa: "I'm afraid I can't help you. As the Chairman of the Golden Seal Association, you should be well aware that the dispatched Shinigami of each Squad are internal affairs of that Squad, and as long as the dispatched Shinigami himself does not refuse, neither the Golden Seal Association nor our Onmitsukidō can stop it."
"I understand."
Chairman Arikawa nodded, his tone becoming more pleading: "But you also know, we only have this one son in our family. No matter what, I cannot let him take on such a dangerous assignment."
"Besides, a Shinigami dispatched to the Human World stays for several years. Kōbato has never suffered since he was a child; how can he endure it?"
"You don't need to stop him. I just hope you can find a reason to send someone to arrest my child first, and then release him after the next dispatched Squad Member is decided."
"Pfft… cough, cough…"
Ishikawa Katori, who was eating dumplings on the side, couldn't help but cough a few times.
A father coming to the Onmitsukidō Vice-Captain to arrest his own son, this truly is filial piety between father and son…
"Do you take me for the Captain of the Onmitsukidō?"
Ōmaeda couldn't help but feel a bit speechless upon hearing this: "My Patrol Corps cannot arrest people without reason."
"But…"
"For something like this, you should go to Captain Soi Fon. Only with her permission can I make an arrest."
After Ōmaeda finished speaking, he directly issued an order to leave: "If you have nothing else, please leave. I really cannot help you with this."
Chairman Arikawa frowned, and when he saw that Ōmaeda was no longer paying attention to him, his face immediately became somewhat unpleasant. Finally, he snorted and turned to leave.
Silence once again fell in the dining room, with only the sound of Ishikawa Katori continuously eating.
"...weren't you full?"
"How could I be? I only had a few bites." Ishikawa Katori said with narrowed eyes, "I saw that he didn't seem to want me to listen in, so I said that."
"It's good that you're here. If you weren't, that old man would definitely try to pressure me with his status as the Chairman of the Golden Seal Association again."
Ishikawa Katori smiled upon hearing this and didn't press further about what the Golden Seal Association was, as he wasn't a noble anyway.
"Speaking of which."
Ishikawa Katori asked somewhat confusedly, "Don't most Shinigami of noble birth join the Sixth Division?"
Unlike other Squads, the Sixth Division could be said to be a noble-exclusive Squad. Its purpose was to allow nobles who wanted to become Shinigami to gain experience. It was said that it didn't undertake any dangerous duties and was, in fact, a very leisurely Squad.
Of course, all of this was what Ishikawa Katori had heard from Eleventh Division Squad Members. He wasn't very clear about the actual situation.
Ōmaeda sneered upon hearing this: "Heh heh, he did want his child to join, but Captain Kucihki directly refused to accept him."
"Hmm?"
"The Golden Seal Association is an abbreviation for the 'Golden Seal Noble Council.' Its main duties are to fulfill certain noble requests and mediate disputes between nobles. You can understand it as an 'exclusive noble' Everything Store, but the Golden Seal Association also handles the registration and marriages of noble members."
Ōmaeda showed a mocking smile: "Overall, it's somewhat similar to a combination of the Human World's household registration office and your Everything Store, and it holds considerable power among nobles."
"When Captain Kucihki first wanted to marry a commoner from Rukongai, in addition to the opposition within the Kucihki family, several families of the Golden Seal Association's permanent council members also held opposing views."
"They believed that the head of the Kucihki family, one of the Four Great Noble Clans, as a noble role model, absolutely could not marry a commoner from Rukongai."
"And the leader of the opposition was precisely the Arikawa family."
"Even when Captain Kucihki personally went to request it, that Chairman Arikawa refused to register Captain Kucihki's marriage and refused to acknowledge Captain Kucihki's wife's identity. Although Captain Kucihki eventually convinced his family and the registration was completed."
"But from then on, Captain Kucihki harbored extreme dislike for Chairman Arikawa and secretly made the Arikawa family suffer a lot."
"It wasn't until Captain Kucihki adopted his sister that the Chairman Arikawa, who had been scared straight, defied all opposition and registered Kuchiki Rukia in the noble registry, and the feud between the two families finally came to an end."
"But even so, the Sixth Division completely refuses to accept any Shinigami from the Arikawa family."
The Everything Store for nobles?
A thoughtful look flashed in Ishikawa Katori's eyes. Although he didn't have a good impression of the Seireitei's nobles.
He had to admit that Shinigami of noble birth generally possessed decent strength, and among them, countless Shinigami, like Ōmaeda's parents, had renounced their noble status.
"Can non-nobles join that Golden Seal Association?"
"Huh?"
Ōmaeda was stunned: "Why do you ask that?"
"Although my Everything Store has opened in Seireitei, I've never received a request from a noble."
Ishikawa Katori paused, then continued: "Since the Golden Seal Association's duties are somewhat similar to the Everything Store's, I want to see if I can take on some of the requests they are unwilling to handle and complete them myself."
Money was a minor issue, but if he could use this to connect with those nobles, it would be a good thing.
It should be known that the nobles and ordinary residents of Seireitei practically lived in two different worlds. It was almost impossible for them to have contact, and even when nobles and commoners joined the same Squad, they mostly clashed and rejected each other!
If he only opened the Everything Store in the outer areas of Seireitei, Ishikawa Katori would simply not be able to establish contact with nobles.
But if he connected with the Golden Seal Association, it would be different. Even if he was just an peripheral member, he could take on the dangerous or undesirable tasks that those noble masters of the Golden Seal Association were unwilling to do and handle them himself.
It wasn't for status or position, but because…
Many noble daughters possessed decent strength themselves, but their families did not allow them to join the Gotei 13 to become Shinigami.
Ōmaeda's elder sister was an example; even though someone from the family had to join the Onmitsukidō for generations, they were unwilling to let their daughter join. Countless such examples existed.
These people, for Ishikawa Katori, were a very large group of experience points!!
"It actually seems possible."
A thoughtful look flashed in Ōmaeda's eyes. Ishikawa Katori's words indeed had a certain feasibility.
Among the noble requests received by the Golden Seal Association, there was no shortage of dangerous and troublesome ones. Cases of family members running away on their own, or using the family's Senkaimon to run away to the Human World, were countless.
There's a saying that makes a lot of sense:
Never underestimate those who have nothing to do. Living too long, coupled with a carefree life, allows them to fully embody the phrase 'courting death'!
At one point, it was even popular among nobles to capture Hollows and make them fight like crickets in an arena, which sparked a trend of nobles sending people to Hueco Mundo to capture Hollows. It only stopped after Central 46 explicitly prohibited it.
But even now, noble children occasionally go to Hueco Mundo or the Human World in groups to kill Hollows, calling it 'hunting,' or hold so-called 'courage tests.'
The Golden Seal Association simply had no ability to complete such requests and could only entrust them to the Onmitsukidō through Central 46.
If Ishikawa Katori was willing to take them on, it would make things much easier for their Onmitsukidō.
Thinking of this, Ōmaeda said, "If you're interested, I can help you talk to the Golden Seal Association, but that old man is truly annoying, and he looks down on people from Rukongai. It won't be easy to convince him to transfer requests to you."
"What if I help him protect his son?"
"Hey, hey, hey—"
Ōmaeda was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted and couldn't help but say, "Did you forget that you're just an unofficial member of the Onmitsukidō?"
"Anyway, our Supervisory Team's duty is to monitor Shinigami. It would be fine to just have them pay more attention to the Shinigami dispatched to Karakura Town."
Ishikawa Katori paused, then continued: "If a Hollow appears that his child can't handle, I can completely help his child, but I'll need to borrow your noble family's Senkaimon."
"I see he cares about his son a lot, so using this as leverage, I should be able to strike a deal with him, right?"
"…"
Ōmaeda nodded, because given Chairman Arikawa's concern for his son, Ishikawa Katori's leverage was indeed completely sufficient.
However…
He didn't want Ishikawa Katori to leave Soul Society through the noble's Senkaimon. The reason was simple: given Ishikawa Katori's Reiatsu intensity, if he frequently went to the Human World without restrictions, it was very likely to affect the Human World.
If that scoundrel suddenly went berserk like he did during his last fight with Kenpachi Zaraki, the consequences would be even more unimaginable.
Friends are friends, duties are duties.
Seeing Ōmaeda's shifting expression, Ishikawa Katori vaguely guessed what he was thinking and said:
"Of course, I will first ask Captain Soi Fon about this. If she agrees, I will proceed; and after completing the request, I promise to immediately return to Soul Society and absolutely not linger outside."
Ōmaeda showed hesitation upon hearing this. Ishikawa Katori saw his reaction and pushed again: "Even if I'm restricted in terms of Reiatsu when I go to the Human World, it's fine."
At these words, Ōmaeda finally nodded: "I can help you communicate with him, but you must first obtain Captain Soi Fon's consent."
"No problem!"
Ishikawa Katori's eyes lit up: "Then let's go now."
…
Second Division, Captain's Office.
"…So Ishikawa Katori wants your permission."
Ōmaeda stood in front of the desk, explaining Ishikawa Katori's idea to Soi Fon.
Soi Fon frowned slightly and did not immediately give an answer.
Just as Ōmaeda thought, the Golden Seal Association's secret channel for issuing requests to the Onmitsukidō through Central 46 had always made her extremely displeased.
If Ishikawa Katori was willing to accept, it would indeed be a good thing, and the restriction on Shinigami from privately going to the Human World had no bearing on Ishikawa Katori, who was not a Shinigami.
From this perspective, his Everything Store was indeed the most suitable place to clean up after those nobles, and with the Golden Seal Association mediating, Central 46 would not make things difficult for Ishikawa Katori because of this.
However, she was also concerned about the same things Ōmaeda was.
The Human World was different from Soul Society. Many rogue Shinigami, once they disappeared in the Human World, would be incredibly difficult to find again.
She knew this better than anyone, as she had been searching for someone's whereabouts for a long time.
Once Ishikawa Katori hid, the Onmitsukidō would basically be unable to catch him.
"It's not impossible for me to agree."
Soi Fon pondered for a moment, then continued: "But if the mission you receive requires you to go to the Human World, you must be subjected to Reiatsu restriction and tracking. This isn't the kind of tracking mark in a communication permit, but an impression left on you by the Onmitsukidō."
"If you can accept this, then I can allow you to order the Supervisory Team to give the Arikawa family's boy more attention, provided it doesn't affect the Supervisory Team's normal work."
"No problem!"
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