Flash Goddess Yoruichi

Inside the gynecology department, Akira Morisawa quietly glanced toward a spot beyond the window and thought to himself.

'Hm? It looks like the Second Division's surveillance ended. Shao Ling did not appear today...'

'Or did they replace her?'

That possibility made his head ache.

If it was Shao Ling, Akira could still sense the rough distance between himself and the Forest Seed in her body now that he had mastered Reishi Control.

But if they replaced her with someone else, that person would not be as easy to mislead as Shao Ling, who was still straightforward and inexperienced outside combat.

At this point in time, Shao Ling was simply too green.

Of course, that referred to everything except her combat ability.

After hesitating for a moment, Akira lowered his voice toward the empty air.

"Urozakuro, help me confirm whether any Shinigami nearby are monitoring me."

"Two hours," Urozakuro's voice sounded beside his ear.

"Fine."

Akira nodded.

The next instant, Urozakuro's phantom appeared in front of him again.

"The answer is... no. Shao Ling Fon, who followed you around every day like a little shadow, has now been teased unconscious by Yoruichi Shihoin."

"??"

Akira.

Although the wording made him a little confused, the answer did allow him to let out a small breath of relief.

Even if he felt he had nearly tricked Shao Ling into walking in circles, being watched every moment was never comfortable.

What followed, however, was Urozakuro's nearly uninterrupted stream of chatter. She fired words into his ear without the slightest delay.

So noisy.

Akira still had to respond to her various comments according to their transaction, ensuring that the exchange qualified as "conversation."

After a month of intermittent contact with Urozakuro, Akira had become completely certain of at least two points.

First, Soya Azashiro, imprisoned in Muken, was almost certainly an intensely rational, silent man.

Second, Urozakuro was a pure chatterbox, and one who knew nearly every piece of gossip in all Seireitei.

Therefore, since she could not satisfy that need through her master Soya Azashiro, Urozakuro had shifted her attention entirely to Akira.

It had become a strange form of equivalent exchange. Urozakuro provided intelligence Akira needed, while Akira paid the corresponding amount of "conversation."

In a sense, for Akira, who considered himself a quiet and handsome young man, this irritatingly noisy conversation was torture.

Still, buried inside Urozakuro's endless gossip were occasional pieces of useful intelligence.

For example: Shunsui Kyoraku, captain of the Eighth Division, often slipped away behind Lieutenant Lisa Yadomaru's back to visit an izakaya where companionship could be bought. He always went on odd-numbered days, and also whenever his mood was especially good or especially bad.

Important intelligence acquired: the address of the izakaya that sold companionship.

Because Shao Ling had been watching him every day, Akira had not yet had any opportunity to verify the reliability of Urozakuro's information.

"By the way..."

Urozakuro, who had been happily sharing all kinds of gossip, suddenly paused and asked directly, "Akira, what do you think of Shao Ling Fon?"

Akira glanced at her, continued sorting the medical records he had handled over the month, and answered truthfully.

"Very green."

"What kind of answer is that?"

Urozakuro pressed him further. "Be specific. In what way is she green?"

"Aside from combat ability, she is still inexperienced in intelligence gathering, reading people, infiltration, concealment, and plenty of other areas. She has a great deal of room to improve."

Akira's matter-of-fact answer made obvious disappointment appear on Urozakuro's face.

"What? That is what you meant..."

"What else would I mean?" Akira asked back.

Urozakuro hesitated for a moment, then decided against telling him the precise details of how Yoruichi had teased Shao Ling unconscious.

Akira looked innocent and sunny on the surface, but after having been coaxed into revealing quite a bit of information by him, Urozakuro had grown instinctively cautious. She planned to save that valuable intelligence for more "conversation" time later.

For the next half day, perhaps because Shao Ling was absent, even the number of patients coming for consultation was much lower than usual.

After completing the allotted time for conversation with Urozakuro, Akira returned to the courtyard with light steps. Since nothing else was scheduled that night, he planned to find an excuse to go out and explore Seireitei.

Yet the moment he returned to the courtyard, he unexpectedly noticed Retsu Unohana and Yoruichi Shihoin sitting in a distant pavilion, apparently discussing something.

As Akira appeared, Unohana even bowed slightly toward Yoruichi, as if entrusting her with a favor.

"!"

Akira.

The instant he saw that scene, he sensed something wrong.

Could it be... had Teacher Unohana quietly sold him off?

One step. Two steps.

Suspicion rose in his heart, and Akira slowly shifted backward, planning to return a little later. Then he suddenly felt his back strike something. He was bounced forward and even stumbled two steps ahead.

Yoruichi had vanished from the pavilion at some unknown instant.

'So fast! I could not detect the movement path of her Shunpo at all!'

'So this is the so-called Flash Goddess Yoruichi?'

'If I had been an assassination target, what struck my back in that instant might have been a blade.'

Simple piercing injuries did not mean much to Akira anymore, but the enormous gap in raw ability still shocked him.

"Well, well. Trying to run, Akira Morisawa?"

In the next moment, Yoruichi's healthy, wheat-colored arm settled across his shoulders from behind. Her tone was full of teasing.

"My Shao Ling has been in your care this past month."

"Huh?"

Akira turned his head with a bewildered expression and looked at Yoruichi.

"Captain Shihoin, I do not understand what you mean."

"You little brat. Because of you, my Shao Ling has already fainted, and you are still pretending to be innocent?"

Yoruichi flashed her white teeth with a playful expression.

"Now, Senior Unohana has decided to hand you over to me. Do you have any last words?"

"?"

Akira.

He hurriedly looked toward Unohana, only to find her still sipping fragrant tea with elegant composure. She smiled and waved at him, as if seeing him off.

The next instant, the arm clamped around Akira's shoulders tightened. Every scene around him began racing backward at incredible speed.

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