Aizen Makes a Big Move! Kyōsuke Kuchiki's Reaction Was Actually...! (Continued)

It was as though someone had pressed something against him, yet he felt nothing at all in his back.

Kensei Muguruma instinctively lowered his head and froze.

At some unknown point, a slender Zanpakuto had pierced his back and run through his chest!

Yet he felt nothing at all!

"...Why?"

Kensei Muguruma suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Struggling to raise the Zanpakuto in his hand, he instinctively looked back.

That simple glance made an expression of disbelief flash across his face.

"You...?"

"But why...?"

More than ten minutes later, at the Kidō Corps headquarters in the Seireitei.

At that moment, more than a dozen people stood or sat in a circle in the Kidō Corps lounge.

In the very center, a youth in the deputy Kidō chief's uniform sat casually on a sofa.

He even held a hand of cards.

As he played one, the onlookers broke into radiant smiles.

"Deputy Kidō Chief, you lost!"

"No backing out now! Please come with us to next week's drinking party!"

"Ah... It's just drinking. What's so interesting about that?"

"I'm busy. Where would I find the time?"

Kyōsuke Kuchiki raised an eyebrow, looking helpless.

Although he was the deputy Kidō chief and a noble, he never put on airs and had the personality of a salted fish.

Before long, the group had grown familiar with him.

Whenever they had free time, they would get together and have fun.

At his words, they immediately protested.

"Deputy Kidō Chief, you were just playing cards!"

"How are you busy?"

"No, you already promised us! Just come this once!"

"You don't have to drink!"

As they looked at Kyōsuke Kuchiki, many of the women in the Kidō Corps smiled even more brightly, clearly harboring other intentions.

Noticing this, Kyōsuke Kuchiki wanted to go even less.

He was just about to come up with an excuse when an urgent announcement suddenly reached everyone's ears.

"Emergency summons! Emergency summons!"

"All division captains, report to the First Division Barracks immediately!"

"An abnormal phenomenon has occurred in the Ninth Division!"

"The Reiatsu signatures of Ninth Division Captain Kensei Muguruma and Ninth Division Vice Captain Mashiro Kuna have disappeared!"

"An emergency summons is being issued in response!"

It's happening already?

Aizen is moving a little too fast!

Kyōsuke Kuchiki raised an eyebrow slightly and stood up with a smile.

"All right, now I really do have work to do."

Meanwhile, in the Twelfth Division.

Bang!

The laboratory door was flung open, and Kisuke Urahara rushed in, panic written all over his face.

"Where's Hiyori?!"

"...Uh."

The others exchanged glances and answered timidly.

"Vice Captain Hiyori already left..."

"She went to investigate the Rukongai, at the Ninth Division captain's request..."

Urahara's expression changed at once.

Without even stopping to say a word, he promptly turned and left the next second!

Had he known, why would he have continued his research? He should have gone himself!

Hiyori...

Nothing happened to her too, did it?!

Frantic with worry, Urahara raced to the First Division Barracks as fast as he could!

He flung open the doors. Inside, the room was already packed with division captains and vice captains.

The Kidō Corps' Kidō Chief Tessai Tsukabishi, Deputy Kidō Chief Kyōsuke Kuchiki, and former deputy Kidō chief Hachigen Ushōda were there as well.

Seeing the panic on his face, Captain-Commander Genryūsai frowned slightly.

"Urahara, you're late!"

"Sorry, Captain-Commander, I—"

Before he could finish, Genryūsai struck his cane heavily against the floor.

"Quiet for now!"

"—"

Urahara immediately shut his mouth.

Then Genryūsai's steady voice rang out once more.

"Kyōraku, report."

"Yes, sir."

Shunsui Kyōraku nodded slightly. His usual carefree manner was gone, and his face was grave.

"According to the report from the Ninth Division's standby camp on the front lines and the Eighth Division's investigation..."

"We can confirm that the Reiatsu signatures of Ninth Division Captain Kensei Muguruma and his vice captain, Mashiro Kuna, have both disappeared completely."

"And... the cause is unknown!"

When he finished, the atmosphere grew heavy.

Genryūsai's expression was more grim and forbidding than ever before.

"Until yesterday, this could only be considered an ordinary incident in the Rukongai."

"Now the Reiatsu signatures of the Ninth Division's captain and vice captain have disappeared one after the other, and the entire elite squad is missing!"

"If we do not deal with this swiftly, the dignity of the Gotei 13 will be utterly destroyed!"

"I will now select five captains. Proceed to the scene immediately!"

"Please let me go!"

Before Genryūsai could announce his choices, Urahara spoke up.

"My vice captain is on her way to the scene, and I—"

Genryūsai cut him off coldly. "No!"

Urahara froze, then his expression changed, and he tried to speak again.

But just then, Yoruichi spoke up too.

"Calm down, Kisuke!"

Her voice was especially stern as she rebuked him, stressing every word.

"Don't throw yourself into disarray!"

"I..."

Urahara opened his mouth, but said nothing more and stepped aside, clearly still worried.

At that moment, however, no one paid his thoughts any mind. They all looked at Genryūsai instead.

In the First Division Barracks, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto swept a glance over everyone and slowly announced:

"Third Division Captain, Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi!"

"Fifth Division Captain, Shinji Hirako!"

"Captain of the Seventh Division, Love Aikawa!"

"The three of you are to proceed to the scene immediately."

"Second Division Captain, Yoruichi Shihōin, remain on standby until further orders."

"Sixth Division Captain Kuchiki Ginrei, Eighth Division Captain Shunsui Kyōraku, and Thirteenth Division Captain Jūshirō Ukitake, the three of you are to guard the Seireitei."

"Fourth Division Captain Retsu Unohana, prepare to receive the wounded at the General Relief Station."

At his final instruction, Retsu Unohana frowned slightly and spoke up at once.

"Captain-Commander, please wait."

"Considering that the members of the Ninth Division may have been seriously injured..."

"I should go to the scene as well and prepare to treat them."

Genryūsai gave her an indifferent glance and shook his head.

"The situation is still unclear. There is no need."

"I will send someone more suitable in your place."

With that, he looked at Tessai Tsukabishi, who stood nearby.

Tessai had probably received word long ago, and he nodded in acknowledgment.

"Understood."

"I'll go take a look at the scene."

Hearing him, the other captains could not help showing their surprise.

Even the Kidō Corps' Kidō Chief is being sent?

This situation... is no small matter!

Their gazes instinctively turned to Kyōsuke Kuchiki.

Although no one had said it outright over the years, anyone with eyes could see that Tessai Tsukabishi was intent on giving his position to Kyōsuke Kuchiki.

But because of his personality, Kyōsuke had always laughed it off and refused to accept it.

Now that the situation is urgent, Kyōsuke Kuchiki will surely go too, right?

Their reasoning was perfectly reasonable, but little did they know that Kyōsuke Kuchiki had no intention of going. If he could help it, he would not even have attended the meeting!

What a joke. He had read the original so many times, and every one of Genryūsai's arrangements was exactly as he remembered.

Next, all he had to do was wait for Urahara to go to the rescue, then reach the scene before Aizen and take the Hōgyoku ahead of time.

Why would he ever volunteer and disrupt the inevitable course of history?