9 Laboratory

They went through some buildings that looked very normal at first, but it slowly became darker, and the machinery started to pile up.

Matsuri even grabbed Jin his kimono.

"Hmm, what is wrong?" he asked after noticing the tug from her.

"Is it okay to be here? I kinda get a bad feeling at this moment."

Jin just shrugged his shoulders and then looked at Urahara. "Oy, Urahara-san. Are you going to do experiments on us?"

Urahara only laughed heartily. "Well, now that you ask. Do you want to help out in some?"

Jin still smiled and looked back at Matsuri "See, everything is just fine."

"That didn't help at all!" She rebuked and now was more scared. Did he have to ask and remind Urahara about those things now?

"What are you going to check on them, anyway?" asked Hiyori. She knew the reason but not the exact one.

"I am just going to look at their potential as Shinigami. They want to go to the Shinigami Academy later when the next year starts." Urahara answered.

"Huh? Cant, they do it everywhere they examine new people? Why drag them here?"

"I want to try out the better equipment I invented to test people. Maybe we can find out more than the average test. We are the research department, after all, no?"

"Better? Is it something that explodes again? I tell you. Someday someone will die or end up getting crap from you."

"Die?" asked Fujimaru now out of concern.

Urahara looked back and smiled. "Don't worry. Everything I invent is very safe." He did an ok sign to Fujimaru while smirking.

With that weird atmosphere, they continue until they came across a lab that was filled with cages. And in those cages were differnt kind of animals. There were even hollows inside one. The smaller kind though and someone seemed to look after them so that nothing happened.

Jin inspected everything calmly, and the twins became quite nervous.

BEfore they did leave to the next complex, something caught the attention of Jin.

He stopped walking and went straight to another cage.

"Hey, Jin. Where are you going!" asked Matsuri.

"Did you get interested in it?" asked Urahara after joining him in front of the cage.

"Urahara-san...Why do you have dragons here? Shouldn't they be pretty much extinct?" asked Jin without even thinking about it. He was too focused looking at the black dragon with four wings inside the cage. Its white bright eyes stared back at him.

On the other hand, Urahara widened his eyes remarkably, and a shadow was cast over them shortly after.

"Why do you know it is a dragon?" he asked Jin.

"Well, it looks just like one, no?" A counter question was the only answer he gave Urahara back.

"You have seen them already?"

"No...Wait, why do I even know that they are dragons? Hmm, weird. Just a moment ago, I felt like I remembered something." Jin played the fools card and leaned his head sideways as if honestly being confused. He did a definite no-no, and he only noticed it now. But it will probably not work on Urahara. He knew precisely how intelligent this man was despite his foolish behavior.

"You are right. This here is a dragon. Those creatures are mainly extinct in Japan, but they do still exist. But let's not dawdle around any longer."

Jin nodded. "Alright."

The other two beside Hiyori were curious about this creature. They would ask Jin later if he knew more about them. Maybe even Lord Seigen knew something?

----

In another room, they could finally take place on some furniture and wait for Urahara scrambling around the items he stored here.

At some point, he came to them with a weird chair that looked more like one that was for electrocuting someone to death.

Jin his eye twitched after hearing the nest words.

"Alright, let's get you shocked. Don't worry. You won't feel anything." That sentence with the smile he had as if hiding daggers only screamed at them to run away. Maybe they should have run away like Hiyori wanted to tell them.

He genuinely thought it would be a petty checkup. But if even Hiyori was frowning by that, it meant this was way too different than standard tests.

"Urahara-san...I think I prefer the normal methods, please...", said Jin now out and didn't want to sit on this chair.

"This is completely normal. Come, you can go first. I am sure you are the bravest, no?" inticed Urahara once more but without success.

"I don't want to...", shook Matsuri her head.

"Me neither...", agreed Fujimaru as well.

This chair was just too much.

Weirdly enough, Urahara just sighed and grabbed Jin to drag him to the chair.

"Wait, what!?" Hey! No, please don't kill me! I don't want to sit on that chair!!"

"Just relax.", Said Urahara and put him on the chair by force and started it up. Just a second after he received some electric shock, the machine near the chair started printing something and showing other data.

"Oh, congratulation. You pass on your test with flying marks.", smiled Urahara.

"Ugh..." Jin was still somewhat fried from the shock. Sure enough, it was actually not too much to kill or hurt him, but it kind of disconnected his conscious to near fading.

Then he regained his composure again and glared at Urahara. "And what exactly are my results?"

"Your Reiryoku is very deep. Right now, your spiritual pressure is small, but it will become quite high. If you work hard, you can become a lieutenant."

"What, that brat is on the same level as me? Hmpf, then you better don't slack. Spiritual power is not everything.", commented Hiyori.

"Now, to you two. Shall we continue?" asked Urahara. The twins immediately shook their heads.

"Now, now. Do you want to leave me hanging here after I went through this? Are you actually trying to bail out?" Jin, his face became dark, and his grin grew into a unique devils smile.

"Looks like we need to help them out, Jin. How about you go and grab Matsuri. I take Fujimaru, alright?" grinned Urahara.

"Sure enough, Urahara-san."

"Kyaaaah!!" Matsuri started screaming after seeing them both come closer. It was ear-splitting, but after some time both those devils got them on the chair.

----

"See, all done. Now, it looks like you both have the same potential as Jin. That is something to be proud of!" cheered Urahara them.

Matsuri still had some tears in her eyes from the test. She definitely didn't like this forced checkup one bit.

After the tests were done, Urahara ordered Hiyori to lead them back so that they could go back home. He also told them he would send those test results straight to the academy and they could start the next year.

When they were gone, Urahara picked up Jin´s results. "Weird...Hopefully, that was only a small malfunction with the chair. Still needs a few tweaks. If not, then this is unbelievable."

After a small silence, he sighed and started typing something on the computer. Being finished, the chair printed another test paper. The old one from Jin was rolled up by Urahara and burned over a candle.

It seemed he didn't want the result to be shown to the higher-ups?

Later when Urahara walked back as well, he did come across the same cage again where the dragon was held in.

"Shinigami..."

"Hmm? What a surprise. When did your essence evolve to that degree? I thought I made sure to stop you?"

"...." It remained silent and suddenly attacked the cage in which it was contained.

Urahara only looked at it. Then he shifted his gaze. "Did the boy touch you while I wasn't looking? Well, keep quiet, will you? Or I will have to kill you, you know?" He had a smile on his face while he said those words and started moving away.

The Dragon itself let go of the cage it was biting on in vain and watched how Urahara left. It could do nothing more than just position itself as comfortable as possible and start sleeping.