For a time, only eye contact between the Captains remained in the meeting room.
However, all the way traveling at high-speed Shunpo, Sui-Feng returned not long after.
Her pretty face flushed red, Sui-Feng half-knelt apologetically, saying with great shame:
"Kurosaki Ichigo is not at the Shiba mansion, and the Shiba people also do not know where he went."
"I have ordered the entire 2nd Division to mobilize and search. I believe he will be found soon!"
"Apologies, Captain-Commander!"
Saying this, Sui-Feng lowered her proud head.
However, seeing the usually serious and responsible Sui-Feng rarely fail, Yamamoto wasn't angry. He was just very curious:
"Oh, the Soul Society is only so big. As a human from the Living World, if Kurosaki Ichigo isn't at the Shiba mansion, where else could he be?"
"Where else could he go?"
Yamamoto's words were just mumbled self-questioning and thought.
However, heard by others, one person suddenly woke up with a start.
As if remembering something, Byakuya's expression instantly changed, his handsome face stained with alarm and anger of flush:
"Apologies, Captain-Commander. I need to return home immediately!"
Seeming truly very anxious, Byakuya, who always valued rules, merely dropped that sentence before flash-stepping away without even waiting for Yamamoto's response.
Clearly, this was a notice, not a request!
Seeing such a Byakuya, everyone was extremely surprised!
But the Captains were all shrewd people. After a moment, they suddenly realized.
Kyouraku lowered his hat brim, saying to Ukitake beside him:
"Yare yare, Ukitake, young people really have passion. If I had fought intensely all day, I'd definitely be sleeping like a log now."
"Yeah!" Ukitake was very emotional. "My body being like this, I also can't at all be as unrestrained as in my youth."
At first listen, Kyouraku and Ukitake's words seemed very strange, hinting at something yet not clearly stated.
But all present Captains understood.
Ichigo not being at the Shiba mansion, combined with Byakuya's frantic and hurried homeward appearance, where Ichigo was now was clear at a glance, wasn't it?
…
In reality, Ichigo indeed was at the Kuchiki house right now!
Stroking Rukia's smooth back, gently placing a kiss on her still tear-streaked cheek, Ichigo sorted the day's gains.
Today, he had slain nearly fifty Dolls, ranking first on the event points leaderboard.
But this Bount event didn't specify ranking rewards, and since he basically monopolized the monthly points leaderboard, routinely taking first, Ichigo didn't care about these.
He just took out the harvested cores to feed the Doll gifted to them by the game.
Steel, water, fire, giant snake, space… five attributes of fragments were evenly fed in.
If you say the Bount Dolls are strong, they are actually just around the level of an ordinary Shinigami's Shikai.
But if you say they're not strong, although their attributes are somewhat singular, their manipulation of elements like water, fire, and wind touches the essence.
So powerful Bounts, after Reiatsu improvement, can also have Captain-level strength.
Ichigo understood the game using Dolls as rewards for players.
This allows many low-level players, those who can only fight with swords and aren't proficient in Kido yet, to gain some other abilities.
But Ichigo didn't know what use nurturing such a Doll would have with his strength.
And regardless of the use, Ichigo was very curious. Who doesn't want a Pokémon?
Very quickly, all fifty cores were fed!
With steel as bone, space as soul, fire transformed into magma blood, water and giant snake's inorganic manipulation as flesh, an exquisite and beautiful female pixie appeared before Ichigo's eyes.
However, currently, this sleeping beauty still lay quietly in Ichigo's palm, eyes unopened.
In Ichigo's field of view, a row of question marks floated above the pixie.
[End the nurturing immediately?]
"No!" Ichigo flatly replied.
Having just absorbed fifty cores, Ichigo wanted it to obtain more.
Because by now, Ichigo had already seen the pixie's abilities,
Spatial storage assistance, inorganic matter control, fire body enhancement, water flow healing, limb transformation steel reinforcement.
Simply put, a perfect assistant integrating numerous Bount Doll's abilities!
At the same time, looking at the pixie, Ichigo's heart moved.
The abilities of numerous Bounts involved the master controlling some aspects, and the Doll controlling others.
Although his pixie currently had no consciousness, could he, who could hold the pixie, use its abilities?
Ichigo held the pixie and tried!
Not long after, Byakuya, brimming with anger, violently slid open the door to Rukia's bedroom.
A face full of anger appeared before Ichigo.
Gripping tightly Senbonzakura at his waist, veins bulging on Byakuya's face, the super brocon obviously was prepared to cut someone down!
However, looking at the empty bedroom, Byakuya was suddenly stunned.
"Huh? The steward clearly told me they returned today. Where are they?"
Byakuya's gaze searched Rukia's bedroom.
But at this moment, in Rukia's tatami room, the bed wasn't even laid out. Only a small doll lay quietly on the floor.
Glancing at that doll, Byakuya naturally averted his gaze, not caring.
Rukia might seem rough around the edges, but still had a little girl innocence. A mere doll was nothing to care about.
"But if they're not here, where did the two of them go?"
Byakuya couldn't help but take two steps forward, entering Rukia's bedroom, walking around searching.
Thereupon, Byakuya arrived at the spot where the bed should have been.
Here was completely empty, with no Reiatsu reaction around either.
Clearly, there really was no one here… not an illusion or anything else.
In the air, strange smells drifted into his nose, puzzling Byakuya.
But after sniffing again and not continuing to smell it, Byakuya no longer cared about that strange smell.
Hisana's health was poor, so their lovemaking was of the female demographic aesthetic romantic and beautiful variety, never having experienced Ichigo's kind of desperate entanglement intensity.
Naturally, Byakuya didn't recognize this intense strange smell.
And the smell only appeared for a moment before dissipating, so he naturally didn't pay attention.
Thus, defeated by experience, Byakuya, unable to make head or tail of it, retreated.
The bedroom door closed, and Byakuya walked along the outside corridor, his mumbling could be heard:
"Rukia's room seems to have developed a bit of a smell from being unoccupied for too long. I must tell the servants to more often clean Rukia's room in the future."
"Hmph, it seems my previous deliberate lack of attention towards Rukia made those servants dare to ride over their master. Looks like another purge is needed!"
And hearing Byakuya's words-
Not long after, a sweat-drenched Ichigo reappeared in Rukia's room, person and bed together.
Luckily, Rukia's room had tatami, not the kind of raised bed. The bedding was laid directly on the tatami, allowing him to pack up and take away person and bedding together.
Otherwise, he really would have been caught by this brother-in-law by convenience this time.
"It really scared me to death!" Ichigo sighed in relief.
This is the risk of little sisters compared to big sisters.
Whether it's Yoruichi or Kukaku, clapping hands is just clapping hands. Big sisters will only see if your tool is powerful enough, with no subsequent risk.
But little sisters like Rukia have older brothers watching over them. And touching them brings death stares.