Late at night, Nozomi woke in a daze.
She glanced at the unfamiliar surroundings, then looked at the pink rabbit pajamas she was wearing. She roughly understood that some kindhearted person had picked her up.
She struggled to sit up, moving as gently as possible as she got out of bed.
She could not stay here.
She would only bring trouble to this kindhearted person.
She gently lifted the curtain.
Good. It was the first floor.
She did not choose to open the door. Instead, she carefully pushed open the window and climbed out.
Perhaps because she had only just woken up, Nozomi Kujō's limbs were not very nimble. Just climbing out the window was enough to make her fall to the ground with a soft thud.
Fortunately, there was grass outside. She was not hurt, nor did she make much noise. She calmly patted off the bits of grass stuck to her and walked toward the gate.
What Nozomi did not know was that her cautious movements had been fully seen by someone.
"I knew it. You dragged me up to the roof in the middle of the night to look at the stars. Turns out you had this planned all along," Tatsuki leaned close to Tsunayoshi's ear and complained.
"Isn't the sky after the rain especially beautiful?" Tsunayoshi refused to admit that he had been scheming around Nozomi Kujō.
"So, what now?" Tatsuki asked.
Tsunayoshi was also considering how to handle Nozomi Kujō's matter. The main issue was that he had never paid much attention to this storyline in the first place, so to him, this counted as a sudden incident.
After briefly recalling his fragmented memories related to the Invading Army arc, it seemed like the villain had not caused any major disaster in the end. Ichigo, who had only temporarily regained his Shinigami powers, had managed to defeat him.
That proved the so-called villain could not escape the palms of either Tsunayoshi or Yamamoto. Whoever went could directly take him down.
"You can do whatever you want. I'll cover for you," Tsunayoshi said to Tatsuki.
"Hey, you're the one who picked her up, and now you're just dumping her on me?" Tatsuki said, slightly dissatisfied.
"If you had seen her collapsed there back then, you definitely would have saved her too."
"Tch. Sophistry."
Even so, a look of pity still appeared on Tatsuki's face. She knew Tsunayoshi had handed the decision about Nozomi to her because of her.
"Wouldn't it be better for a stray kitten with nowhere to go to stay in a warm house?"
Tatsuki murmured this, then leapt down from the roof.
Looking at Tatsuki's back, Tsunayoshi's face was full of smiles.
Tatsuki would never let Nozomi leave on her own. Someone who had grown up alongside Ichigo since childhood naturally also had a personality that radiated kindness toward the people around her. That had already been clear from the time she first got to know Orihime.
"Going out for a walk this late at night?"
Tatsuki's graceful figure landed in front of Nozomi Kujō.
Nozomi hugged one arm with her other hand, completely at a loss as she said, "I can't drag you into this…"
"Not drag us into this? Where else can you even go?"
"Anywhere. I don't know…"
Nozomi pursed her lips as she spoke.
She did not know where to go. Her entire escape had simply been because she did not want the mastermind's scheme to succeed.
"You escaped from Soul Society, right? Since you're running away, that means you still want to live, doesn't it? Then stay. At the very least, here, no one can touch you!"
Tatsuki's confident smile was like sunlight cutting through the night, deeply engraving itself into Nozomi Kujō's heart.
All of Nozomi's unease seemed to be soothed by Tatsuki's words.
Tatsuki could not be bothered to keep dealing with the dazed Nozomi Kujō. She simply stepped forward, took her by the arm, and brought her back inside.
After pressing Nozomi down beside the dining table, Tatsuki took warm food from the insulated container and placed it in front of her.
"You're hungry, right? Hurry and eat."
Nozomi did not even know how she picked up the spoon. As she unconsciously began eating, her nose suddenly stung. She lowered her now somewhat ugly crying face and ate the food that had been saved for her in large mouthfuls.
"Little Tatsuki, if you do this, aren't you going to become her white moonlight?" Tsunayoshi slipped into the kitchen while Nozomi was eating and teased Tatsuki by her ear.
"What? Are you scared?" Tatsuki challenged him.
"What would I be scared of? I'm very confident!"
"Relax. My orientation is absolutely normal. Even a girl as cute as Orihime couldn't do anything to me," Tatsuki said, equally proud.
"Fine, then. As long as you're confident."
"Tsunayoshi, is she a good person? If she is, I want to help her," Tatsuki said, blinking her big eyes in request.
"She's also someone who has suffered. She was created without ever understanding why, carries what she believes to be a huge secret, and is now being chased by the mastermind behind everything. Right now, her thinking is probably to find a place no one can find and hide there… or end her own life ahead of time," Tsunayoshi analyzed.
"Huh? Can't we save her?" Tatsuki asked softly.
When she saw the look in Nozomi Kujō's eyes as she tried to leave, it had been like looking at an orphan abandoned by the world. Tatsuki's kindness made her want to do something.
"Give her a reason to live," Tsunayoshi said, patting Tatsuki's head. "Leave that mastermind to me."
"Mm!"
Tatsuki nodded firmly.
"Go take care of her. It's getting late, so I'm going to sleep first."
Tsunayoshi chose to return to his room. Matters between girls were more conveniently handled by girls.
The next day, the sky was bright.
Tatsuki and Nozomi had not yet woken up. It seemed Tatsuki had stayed with Nozomi the whole night. Tsunayoshi was just about to make breakfast when someone knocked on the door.
"Coming!" Tsunayoshi called.
He found it a little strange. Why did this person not ring the doorbell?
When he opened the door, three people stood before him.
The two in front were the bald Ikkaku Madarame and the flower-eyed Yumichika Ayasegawa.
Behind Ikkaku and Yumichika stood someone Tsunayoshi found very familiar at a glance. He wore yellow robes, had two-toned green and yellow hair, and his expression looked gloomy.
Before Tsunayoshi could say anything, Ikkaku spoke first.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi, we're here to arrest a fugitive from Soul Society. Just hand her over."
Tsunayoshi looked at Ikkaku in surprise.
He did not remember Ikkaku Madarame being bold enough to speak to him so arrogantly.
As the person in charge of the lieutenant training camp, Ikkaku had been the one beaten the hardest by Tsunayoshi during training. On top of that, Ikkaku was a battle maniac. After a long period of this, Ikkaku had become extremely respectful whenever he saw Tsunayoshi.
In that instant, Tsunayoshi reacted.
This was probably a fake Ikkaku.
Tsunayoshi did not believe Ikkaku would dare speak to him in that tone.
Seeing that Tsunayoshi remained unmoved, Yumichika was just about to add a threatening line when Tsunayoshi kicked out, sending his foot straight between Ikkaku and Yumichika toward the gloomy-looking man behind them.
From this fake Ikkaku, Tsunayoshi finally remembered who the two-toned-haired guy behind him was.
Kagerōza Inaba.
The main villain of the Invading Army arc.
Like Nozomi Kujō, he had been created using the Reishi of a man from Squad 12 named Ōko Yushima.
Ōko Yushima had placed all the bright and kind aspects of his humanity into Nozomi Kujō, while what was left for Kagerōza Inaba was his dark heart and ambition to destroy Soul Society.
Kagerōza Inaba had come here precisely for Nozomi Kujō.
His main goal was to capture Nozomi and fuse with her.
Tsunayoshi's sudden attack caught everyone present off guard. Inaba, who took Tsunayoshi's kick, was sent flying directly into the sky.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi, this is official business of Soul Society! Do you intend to make an enemy of Soul Society?" Yumichika shouted angrily.
Tsunayoshi did not even look at Yumichika.
His Reiatsu erupted from his body, pushing both Yumichika and Ikkaku into midair.
"If you want to fight, just say so. Don't fight at my front door. If you destroy my house, I'll make you regret it!"
A wave of killing intent instantly surged toward the three of them along with Tsunayoshi's words. The three could not help breaking out in cold sweat.
"Tsunayoshi, what happened?"
Tsunayoshi's burst of Reiatsu woke Tatsuki and Nozomi Kujō. The two hurriedly came out of the house and saw the unwelcome guests who had arrived early in the morning.
Nozomi Kujō's small face turned pale.
The moment she saw Kagerōza Inaba, she believed she could no longer escape. Filled with tension, she tugged at Tatsuki's sleeve and said, "Quick, Tatsuki, kill me! We can't let them succeed!"
"All right, calm down. In front of Tsunayoshi, no one can take you away."
Tatsuki stroked Nozomi Kujō's head and comforted her.
"Sawada Tsunayoshi, are you truly going to obstruct us?" Inaba asked with a gloomy expression.
Having spent years plotting inside Squad 12 , he did not know Tsunayoshi's true strength.
He knew that many changes had recently occurred in Soul Society. It was precisely because of these changes that Inaba had been able to temporarily take control of Soul Society.
But he did not know that those changes had all been brought about by Tsunayoshi.
Also, because Tsunayoshi had been going around teaching people everywhere, Inaba assumed Tsunayoshi was at most captain-level.
Bringing along a copy of Ikkaku capable of using Bankai should be more than enough to deal with Tsunayoshi.
He had once considered copying Sawada Tsunayoshi and Ichigo Kurosaki, two captain-level fighters. However, for some unknown reason, their Reishi was extremely complex, and he could not manipulate it at all.
He could not waste time here.
He had to capture Nozomi as quickly as possible.
Inaba made his decision.
"Ikkaku, Yumichika, hold them back. I'll capture Nozomi Kujō!" Inaba said.
"Understood!"
A flash of electricity passed through Ikkaku and Yumichika's eyes. Reiatsu burst from their bodies.
They truly had no idea what death meant as they declared war on Tsunayoshi.
Tsunayoshi had no idea where Inaba had found such outdated goods who actually dared challenge him.
Tsunayoshi turned his head and said to Tatsuki, "Tatsuki, I'll leave Ikkaku and Yumichika to you. They're both fakes, so don't hold back. I'll go deal with that visual-kei freak."
"Got it!"
Tatsuki shouted, pumping herself up.
A morning workout against two lieutenant-level fighters was a rare opportunity.
"Stay here and don't run around."
Before taking action, Tsunayoshi gave Nozomi one instruction.
Nozomi Kujō's legs trembled.
Just now, she had indeed been thinking of running away to reduce the pressure on Tsunayoshi and the others.
She had not expected Tsunayoshi to see through her immediately.
"Don't worry, Nozomi. No one is taking you away today. We said so!"
Tatsuki took full responsibility with confidence.
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