Time truly was a wondrous thing.
Toki Heavenly Moon's gaze shifted as she carefully examined Hiyori Kozuki, warmth faintly rising in her heart.
She had indeed kept her promise and raised Hiyori to adulthood.
She really did look so much like her.
But if she truly looked like her...
Toki Heavenly Moon's gaze slowly fell upon Momonosuke's waist.
When she saw those two familiar blades, she could not help pressing her lips together slightly.
The next second, just as expected.
"Toki Heavenly Moon!"
Hiyori Kozuki's cool voice suddenly rang out.
"Please wait a moment before catching up."
The instant her words fell, she had already drawn the Zanpakuto at her waist.
It was fast to the extreme!
The blade flashed through the cramped room, so quickly that there was almost no time to react.
Before Toki Heavenly Moon could even see the trajectory of that slash clearly, Hiyori Kozuki's movement was already over.
Crack!
Momonosuke beside them had not reacted either.
In the final moment of his consciousness, he only vaguely saw a tall, thin headless corpse.
That corpse... seemed to be himself...
"Hiyori... you really did choose to do this after all..."
Toki Heavenly Moon looked complicatedly at the head rolling across the floor. There was no grief in her eyes, only a trace of relief.
"So alike... really so alike..." she murmured softly. "Just like... the me from before..."
"You... why do you have that expression?"
Yet upon seeing the relieved and calm expression on Toki Heavenly Moon's face, Hiyori Kozuki's otherwise similar face began to twist violently instead.
She could not accept it.
No matter what, she could not imagine that Toki Heavenly Moon would react like this!
It should not have been like this!
"Shouldn't you be questioning me?"
For the first time, Hiyori Kozuki's voice