Auntie Rangiku, I'll Drink Mine in One Gulp; You Drink as You Please

Koganehiko finally broke free from Rangiku's clutches.

When he picked up the sake flask again, Rangiku's handprint was stamped into it.

This was no shoddy sake flask polished by Dōsan himself.

After asking, Koganehiko first respectfully poured a cup for Kūkaku, who sat in the seat of honor.

"Miss Rangiku, may I ask what brings you here to see me?"

Dōsan's question was earnest. His white eyebrows lifted, and his black eyes, bright as pearls, stared without blinking.

"It's quite important." Rangiku put down the fatty beef in her hand, her face serious. But after a second, she found the sliced mutton too fragrant, and the things Captain Isshin had told her could fill a three-thousand-word essay.

"Although it's quite important, eating is more important. Let's talk after we finish."

Dōsan: (?_?)

Give me back my seriousness.

As Rangiku spoke, her pale silver eyes stole a glance at her gal pal beside her. Her drinking vessel was a transparent crystal goblet a full half meter tall, with visible chrysanthemum and plum sediment at the bottom.

The faint floral scent and distinctive aroma of plums mingled with the alcohol, creating a truly subarashii depth of flavor.

Without any pleasantries, Kūkaku raised her glass and tipped back the entire drink, leaving only the sediment at the bottom.

As Rangiku recalled, Kūkaku wasn't particularly fond of drinking, yet this time she had tipped her head back and drained a whole glass?

"Ha..." Kūkaku didn't have the Koganehiko brothers serve her again. She poured herself another glass.

Rangiku forced herself to look away, but the more she chewed her delicious food, the less satisfying it tasted.

How can life be long and good if you don't drink with your meals?

Slightly tipsy, Kūkaku had a flush on her cheeks, and her dining posture had grown more relaxed. She propped herself up with a hand behind her and stretched out her long, slender legs.

A good gal pal indeed, Kūkaku could see Rangiku holding herself back. "Rangiku-chan, want a glass?"

"Dame desu. I promised the captain I'd complete the mission without fail and wouldn't drink a drop. That's my promise!"

Her oath rang out, her voice firm and forceful.

At her words, the Shiba family, who knew Rangiku's character well, couldn't help looking over. Even Ganju, with his large dark circles, turned to stare at her.

They needed to reassess this freeloader.

"You're not a man, so you don't need to keep your promise." Kūkaku drained another glass, her vision already somewhat blurred.

"Soul Reapers place the greatest importance on their promises." Rangiku's golden eyes flickered, her expression quite serious.

"Sorry, Miss Rangiku. Lady Kūkaku is a little out of it." Worried that his mistress might say the wrong thing, Koganehiko hurriedly apologized.

Rangiku waved a hand and rapped on the table with a smack, smack, seemingly rather indignant. "Don't underestimate me!"

A little while later.

"Good stuff, good stuff! Come on, Dōsan, drink this cup!"

Rangiku's orange hair spilled across her face as she waved her arm, holding her fruit wine high and occasionally spilling it on her Soul Reaper uniform.

"Sorry, Miss Rangiku, I can't drink." Hearing Rangiku urge him on, Dōsan's eyes filled with fear, and he hurriedly reached out to refuse.

"Can't drink?" Like a mischievous little cat, Rangiku reached for Dōsan. He tried to dodge, only for Kūkaku to clamp him in her grasp.

"Come on, drink."

After a cup of chilled sake, Dōsan felt the whole world turn upside down.

The room suddenly fell silent.

Under the astonished gazes of Ganju, Koganehiko, and the third onlooker, Dōsan swayed to his feet, picked up the sake flask, and poured himself a full cup.

"Big Sis Kūkaku, first off, there's something on my mind I need to tell you."

Smack. As if the black fungus had taken effect, Ganju stopped clutching his kidneys. His eyes widened like bronze bells as he stared unblinkingly at Dōsan, watching as Dōsan put an arm around his big sister's shoulders, their heads nearly touching.

Kūkaku nodded repeatedly, but both were thoroughly drunk, and no one could understand what they were saying.

Dōsan was unusually talkative after drinking. He talked while Kūkaku nodded beside him, though Ganju and the others didn't think she could understand him.

A little later, the two finished talking, and Dōsan got shakily to his feet and came over to Rangiku.

"If it weren't for you, I might still be an insignificant wandering soul in Rukongai." Dōsan held his cup in front of him and swayed it, let out a deep sigh, then put on a smile.

Rangiku Matsumoto, who had been drunkenly whooping and hollering, seemed to understand too. She straightened up, sat quietly, and said, "Mm."

"Auntie Matsumoto, I'll drink this cup in one gulp. You drink as you please."

Rangiku Matsumoto's eyes widened. She could no longer make out what he said afterward.

Auntie. Matsumoto.

As those words came out, the entire Soul Society seemed to fall silent.

"Growl, Haineko!"

"Too slow!" With a sharp, stern shout, a young woman sent a Soul Reaper dressed entirely in black flying with a kick.

The Soul Reaper tumbled several times before crashing into a tree. But rather than cry out in pain, he immediately dropped to one knee without a sound.

"Your slashes are weak, your Shunpo is no faster than a stroll. Can you really call yourselves the Punishment Force like this?"

The young woman's two braids bristled with anger, but looking at the useless lackeys before her, she felt a deep sense of helplessness.

She sighed. What would that person do?

Shaking her head to banish her weakness, the young woman swept her delicate hand sideways. "Dismissed."

More than a dozen Soul Reapers used Shunpo like phantoms, stirring up gusts all around them in an instant. The gusts lifted the white haori draped over the young woman's shoulders. Soi Fon flicked her haori, and calm returned to the scene.

She was Soi Fon, the Second Division Captain, commander-in-chief of the Stealth Force, commander of the Punishment Force, and sole heir to the Fon Clan, a noble family subordinate to the Shihoin Clan.

She was also the Thirteenth Division's biggest sucker.

"I thought becoming a captain would let me understand how that person felt, but..."

Already in a bad mood, Soi Fon thought of someone who made her even more unhappy, and even the rock beside her began to annoy her.

A mottled Spiritual Pressure suddenly appeared around her right foot. In her anger, she kicked out, instantly shattering the head-sized rock.

The rock didn't break into smaller stones, but into dust.

That casual kick had the power of a Hadō above number forty!

The reason Soi Fon was called a great sucker...

Went back to the defection of Yoruichi Shihōin, the former Second Division Captain.

Although the evidence of Yoruichi's defection was conclusive, the Thirteenth Division's decision to classify her as a fugitive had utterly enraged the Shihoin Clan, one of the Five Great Noble Clans and the true holders of power in the Soul Society.

Yoruichi, who had favored the Thirteenth Division, had left. The elders who favored the noble clans had taken power in the family, and then this had happened.

The Stealth Force, originally the Shihoin Clan's private army, was immediately recalled by the family. Worse still, those old fellows had even dismantled the Second Division barracks and taken them away.

When Soi Fon took over, fewer than two hundred of the Punishment Force that had served under Yoruichi Shihōin remained, all old, weak, sick, or disabled.

Even Soi Fon herself didn't know what had possessed her to take over that mess.

The entire division had fewer than two hundred members, and fewer than five had the strength of a Seated Officer.

At this rate, when will I ever defeat Yoruichi?

Defeating Yoruichi didn't just mean defeating Yoruichi herself. It also meant making the Punishment Force under Soi Fon far stronger than the one Yoruichi had commanded!

She needed talent. A sharp light flashed in Soi Fon's eyes.

"Captain, today's the day the Tenth Division's representative fights the Twelfth Division's Artificial Soul representative. Aren't you going to watch the show, Captain?"

Soi Fon glanced at the man beside her, whose mouth was greasy from gnawing on a chicken leg.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda, a high noble by birth and the Second Division's Third Seat, was currently the only man in the division Soi Fon could grudgingly acknowledge.

That was mainly because the money to rebuild the Second Division barracks had been borrowed from the Ōmaeda family.

"Let's go." Soi Fon adjusted the Zanpakuto at her waist and, as nimble as a little rabbit, used Shunpo to reach a distant roof beam. Her thoughts, however, were on the new students entering the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts a month from now.

The students currently attending the Academy of Spiritual Arts were all mediocre. She wondered whether a promising prospect would appear this year.