"Yaaawn." Kyōraku Shunsui let out a massive yawn, pulling his straw hat down over his face. Even though the sunlight was only filtering through the vertical lattice windows onto the floor, it was still far too glaring.
"Are you still hungover, Captain?"
"I've been sober for a while now," Shunsui replied lazily. "It was just incredibly stuffy last night, so I didn't sleep very well."
Ise Nanao glanced at Kyōraku Shunsui, who was lying flat on the floor with his legs crossed, casually wiggling his big toe in a picture of absolute leisure. The weather last night had clearly been quite cool. Looking at the sake jugs and snacks scattered across the floor, she figured her captain probably hadn't given the Ryoka situation a single thought.
Squad 8's orders were simply to guard their designated area, and they hadn't set up many hidden sentries. Aside from herself and Shunsui, all the squad members were stationed out in the open. As long as those Ryoka had half a brain, they would know to take a detour.
Just as Nanao was thinking this, a sudden commotion outside the window interrupted her thoughts on how to get her captain to pull himself together. Peering carefully through the lattice, she realized she wouldn't need to come up with a plan after all. Her captain was going to have to pull himself together whether he wanted to or not.
"He's here. It's a Ryoka."
"My, my, they got here so quickly..." Shunsui seemed a bit displeased. If things had remained peaceful, he could have caught up on his sleep. "Good grief, I suppose we have no choice but to make a move!"
"Are you really going to handle this personally?" Nanao had been puzzled all along. Her captain, who had done nothing but drink yesterday, was actually volunteering to deal with the Ryoka today. "It's just one Ryoka. I can handle him myself."
"This is Old Man Yama's order, so it must be carried out. He doesn't want the Ryoka causing any more trouble." As Shunsui spoke, he suddenly shifted his tone, leaning in close to Nanao with a wide, teasing smile. "Besides, if I let my dear Nanao go into battle and you ended up getting hurt, whatever would I do!"
His words were flirtatious but not entirely unwarranted. A lieutenant had already been severely injured. Nanao thought about it and realized the Ryoka might not be an opponent she could easily defeat; in fact, she might be the one easily defeated.
However, Nanao's silence was interpreted as coldness by Shunsui. He dramatically dodged to the side and said in a high-pitched, theatrical voice, "You're exceptionally cold today! But that's alright, I love that about you."
*The older he gets, the more inappropriate he becomes!* Nanao's face instantly flushed red as she shouted him down, "I get it! Stop talking! Just go already!!"
*But if I'm not safe, is the captain guaranteed to be safe?* Lord Chōzuka had also been severely injured and knocked unconscious in his battle with a Ryoka. Even though it wasn't the same Ryoka, did this one standing before them truly lack the ability to threaten her captain?
"Don't worry, it will be over soon." Shunsui seemed to hear her inner thoughts. He turned his head and offered a rare moment of serious comfort. "This is just a farce, nothing more."
*The Senzaikyū... is that the tall tower?* Sado Yasutora looked up at the White Tower that seemed to sit at the very center of the Seireitei. It was still quite a distance away from here.
He hadn't expected such a conspicuous building to be a prison. Chad felt that unless someone asked, very few people would ever guess that. At least to him, a place like that looked like it should house the absolute highest-ranking figures among the Shinigami.
Moreover, Ichigo and the others should be somewhere near there right now. He had clearly sensed Ichigo and Ishida's Reiatsu yesterday. At first, he thought their landing spot had just been too close to the center, but it turned out they had already discovered Rukia's location.
After a night of rest, his abilities had fully recovered. Now, he needed to hurry over, regroup with Ichigo and the others, and save Rukia. Besides, it seemed they had encountered formidable enemies yesterday. He wondered how they were doing now.
"Big Sis? Are you still here?!"
Meanwhile, over at the Shihōin estate, the current family head, Shihōin Yūshirō, snuck into a storage room as if this wasn't his own home.
Yoruichi, still maintaining her black cat form, waited a moment before leaping down from the rafters. "What's the situation in the Seireitei right now? What happened to that guy, Kōe Shihouin?!"
Yoruichi hadn't told her younger brother about Kōe yet, and Yūshirō hadn't noticed anything amiss either. Even now, Yoruichi's whereabouts hadn't been exposed, but there were still hidden sentries stationed around the Shihōin estate. It was only thanks to her being Yoruichi that she got in; it would be nearly impossible for anyone else to sneak inside.
"The general situation is that Brother-in-law won a pyrrhic victory in his battle against a Ryoka and was sent to Squad 4 for treatment. It's hard to ask for more specific intel without risking your plans, Big Sis."
*Something is definitely wrong.* The commotion Ishida and Kōe caused yesterday was simply too massive. Yoruichi had to admit that the Reiatsu released by that Quincy brat at the time was enough to pose a threat even to her, so it made sense that Kōe only managed a narrow victory.
But the problem was, if she were in his shoes, she absolutely never would have given Ishida that kind of opportunity. Unless the opponent used a move like that right from the start, Ishida's life would have been forfeit within a single strike.
That same ruthless fighting style applied to Kōe as well. A pyrrhic victory? For a guy like him, a result like that might as well be considered a crushing defeat.
According to Urahara's explanation, Kōe was supposed to capture the scattered Ryoka as quickly as possible, use them to draw her out, and then hint at the existence of something called the Hōgyoku, taking the initiative to investigate it himself.
Kōe's actions in the skies above the Seireitei had seemingly confirmed this for Yoruichi, and to be honest, her trust in him had wavered slightly.
But now, this performance—where he ended up taking himself out of the board entirely—severely contradicted Urahara's claims. Did that guy just make a mistake?
That explanation wasn't very convincing. Yoruichi thought about it and concluded there were two more reasonable possibilities: first, Aizen Sōsuke had begun interfering with Kōe. As for the second possibility...
*Urahara is lying! He didn't tell me everything he was planning!*
But if Kōe had actually been on their side all along, his initial attack couldn't be explained. Thinking about it now, the guy's actions from start to finish were inherently contradictory.
"Actually, there's also..."
"Hm?" Being suddenly interrupted from her thoughts made Yoruichi a bit displeased. "If you have something to say, just say it!"
"Yes, Big Sis!" Yūshirō instinctively stood at attention. *Big Sis is still the same old Big Sis.* "In the early hours of the morning, Captain Suì-Fēng rushed out in a panic. As you know, Big Sis, Squad 2 rarely participates in joint operations, and the emergency meeting had concluded less than half a day ago. So I was thinking... did some sort of accident happen last night?"
A lockdown on information, combined with the required involvement of Squad 2, clearly meant something had happened.
But Yoruichi had been on high alert all night, and it had been an incredibly peaceful evening. If they weren't temporarily adjusting their strategy for dealing with the Ryoka, then Suì-Fēng being called away likely meant an undetected, malicious incident had occurred—something akin to an assassination.
First, she ruled out Ichigo and his group. This had nothing to do with trust, but rather a kind of disdain. *Those brats, understanding assassination? You've got to be kidding me.*
That meant this unknown incident was limited solely to Kōe and Aizen. If Yoruichi had to guess, it was likely Aizen's handiwork. Passively waiting for the execution to arrive was not his style.
"Is everything I asked you to prepare ready?"
"It's all ready!" Yūshirō nodded, then asked, "But will someone really come to take that thing, Big Sis?"
"I don't know, which is why I need to make two sets of preparations now." Having said her piece, Yoruichi prepared to leave, but before she did, she couldn't help but caution her younger brother. "Remember, you have never seen me, and you know absolutely nothing about what is going to happen. These items disappeared from the Shihōin estate a long time ago. Got it?"
"Got it. You be careful too, Big Sis!"
Yoruichi nodded and departed from the Shihōin estate.
*Be careful? I'd love to be careful,* she thought. *But what is going on with Ichigo's Reiatsu suddenly flaring up like that? And that other presence... do these brats have some sort of grudge against Kenpachi?!*
"I am the Captain of Squad 11, Zaraki Kenpachi. I hope you won't be as boring as that guy from yesterday."
*What's going on?*
Cherry blossom petals began to drift through the air. A man leaped down from a balcony, landing on the ground with a step that seemed even lighter than the falling petals. Sado Yasutora stared at the man as he slowly raised his head. *Another weird guy.*
"I am the Captain of Squad 8, Kyōraku Shunsui. A pleasure to meet you."