"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about!" Akira defiantly showed no intention of admitting to anything.
Until evidence was presented before him — no, even if evidence was presented before him, he would still choose to deny everything adamantly.
"Captain-Commander, sir, you can't make accusations without evidence!"
The room fell into silence.
The bubbling tea stove only made the silence more awkward.
Taken aback by Akira's reaction, even Genryūsai was montarily stunned, the atmosphere growing thick with tension.
After regaining his composure, he realized conventional intimidation tactics wouldn't work on this youngster. His authoritative voice once again filled the teahouse.
"Hmph, evidence, you say? I have gathered conclusive proof! Look carefully — these are all your doing, are they not?"
He placed a stack of papers on the tea table, their contents laid out in stark black and white.
Akira picked up the papers and read them carefully, wondering what laws he had broken to warrant such a serious response from the Captain-Commander.
Yet even in this critical mont, he remained unfazed. After all, if it were truly serious, they would have sent the Royal Guard instead of 1st Division Officers to summon him.
It couldn't be that bad!
But as Akira reviewed the evidence, his eyebrows shot up.
[September 13th, unauthorized exorcism perford on a female student, charging an exorbitant fee of ₭124.]
[September 27th, openly selling talismans from the Sakahone Shrine, obtaining illegal profits of considerable amount.]
[October 11th, unauthorized establishnt of an altar, performing blessings for students and multiple teachers, communicating with deities to convey people's requests, once again obtaining considerable illegal profits.]
[October 20th, arbitrarily raising talisman prices, disrupting normal market order.]
[November 16th, conducting rituals in the male dormitory without proper authorization, causing significant damage with severe negative impact.]
[November 17th, further increase in talisman prices.]
[November 19th...]
After reviewing all the evidence, Akira set the docunts down on the tea table. Taking a deep breath, he assud a serious expression and declared solemnly.
"I protest! This is discrimination against our shrine profession!"
Genryūsai's expression froze. He had noticed the youth's serious deanor and expected a sophisticated defense. Instead, he got sothing so...
Straightforward.
"Protest denied." His voice sharpened, "I have final authority in interpreting this evidence. These testimonies were gathered from multiple sources at the Shin'ō Academy. The proof is undeniable — what defense could you possibly offer? Your only path forward is to admit your cris."
Akira was outraged. How could the great Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, be so blind to what was right and wrong?
And he dares to call himself righteous!
"The exorcisms helped people, the talismans protected them, and the blessings were all done with good intentions — asking the One-Eyed Great Deity to watch over their future. And that ritual damage? A complete accident! I even paid for the repairs!"
Akira listed his defenses with unwavering confidence.
"Hmm, you paid for repairs using your ill-gotten gains." Genryūsai noted, "Anything else to say? If not, I'll pronounce your sentence. Your cris warrant one hundred and seven years in the Third Level of the Central Great Underground Prison — Shugō."
Akira froze. At first, he'd thought the old man was joking, but now he realized this was no jest.
"Wait a minute — are you certain about this judgnt?" Panic crept into his voice as he sensed sothing amiss, though he couldn't quite place what.
"You question my authority to pass judgnt?" Genryūsai's imposing presence filled the room as the temperature began to rise, making the air shimr with heat.
"That's not it!" Akira's eyes suddenly lit up, "According to Soul Society's legal codes, only the Central 46 can sentence soone to the Central Great Underground Prison!"
A flicker of surprise crossed the old man's face.
He hadn't expected a re first-year student at the Shin'ō Academy — priest or not — to know Soul Society's laws so well.
Akira's tension lted away as he exhaled deeply and casually lifted his teacup, draining it in one go.
In his earlier unease, he'd failed to notice the two tea settings on the table. After all, who serves tea during an interrogation? This couldn't be about punishnt — the Captain-Commander clearly wanted sothing.
"Tell , why did you really summon here?" Akira refilled his cup from the bubbling teapot.
His casual deanor, as if he were in his own ho, seed to inexplicably irritate the old man.
Sothing about this young man stirred an unpleasant mory of a certain soone in Genryūsai's mind.
"Actually..." After a long mont spent composing himself through practiced ditation, he managed to suppress his annoyance and speak evenly, "This concerns the Sakahone Shrine."
Akira nodded, having already pieced it together. After all, how could selling a few talismans compare to destroying training grounds and fighting teachers?
Besides, since every accusation related to his duties as a shrine priest, Genryūsai must want sothing involving rituals or divine matters.
Or rather, it was directly aid at the object of worship at the Sakahone Shrine—
The One-Eyed Deity, Mimihagi!
At this thought, Akira's deanor shifted to one of gravity.
"As the current priest of the Sakahone Shrine, you should be intimately familiar with everything about it." Genryūsai said contemplatively, "Do you truly understand the real identity of that one-eyed indigenous deity?"
Akira's brows furrowed, and after a mont's hesitation, he nodded.
There was no point in trying to hide it. Since the ancient commander had brought it up, he must already know the shrine's secrets.
Seeing this, Genryūsai pressed on, his expression grave.
"Its power is extraordinary. Those acknowledged by it beco, in a sense, exceptional beings themselves. And recently, I learned that soone has been misusing Mimihagi's power. Our investigations suggest that person is you."
Akira froze for a mont before a realization dawned on him, and he grinned.
"I see, so the Captain-Commander has other motives. Future, love, destiny, what kind of—"
His words cut off abruptly as he quickly shut his mouth, for at that mont, he noticed the Death Star's gleam.
This ti, it was his own Death Star...
⤫⤬⤫
T/N: If you want more Chapters like this, check out my Patreon! I'm constantly translating and the difference will keep getting bigger!
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/mrblackwing
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