Fussing Like an Old Woman, If You're a Coward, Get Lost

"Pfft. Instead of playing these word games to conceal your identity, why not save your breath?"

Yoruichi's voice seemed to have been soaked in ice, every word brimming with bone-chilling hatred.

She glared fiercely at the man before her, her heaving chest suppressing the rage on the verge of erupting.

"No matter how eloquently you speak, nothing you say can change that fact. You, Ross, are a Hollow by nature—the monster who rules True King's Palace."

She leaned forward slightly, her gaze sharp as a blade. "When you toyed with Soi Fon to her death, why didn't you remember that you were a Shinigami?"

"Soi Fon?"

Ross raised an eyebrow slightly. Rather than looking embarrassed at being exposed, a trace of amusement appeared on his face. He swept his gaze around the people in the conference room, his tone carrying even a strange hint of confusion.

"That's odd. Then let me ask everyone here: was Captain Soi Fon forced by me to go to True King's Palace?"

He spread his hands, looking utterly innocent.

"If Shūtarō of True King's Palace hadn't arrived in time to save her, wouldn't that Second Division Captain have been executed on the spot by you righteous Captains, led by Shunsui Kyoraku, the moment Central 46 Chambers sentenced her?"

His words were like a bucket of cold water, instantly extinguishing the shared indignation that might have risen in the room.

Other than Yoruichi, whose face remained full of fury, most of the Captains present looked away or lowered their heads in silence, displaying an almost indifferent apathy.

Everyone knew the truth of what had happened back then. Soi Fon's ordeal had fundamentally been a frame-up.

To put it bluntly, it had been an ugly farce staged by Shunsui Kyoraku himself—a thief crying thief.

More importantly, by