Momo Hinamori accepted the exquisitely wrapped pink bag with flattered surprise. Seeing its appearance, she had instinctively assumed it contained clothes or something similar, but it was unexpectedly heavy in her hands.
"Can I open it?"
"Of course." Yuko smiled faintly.
Momo Hinamori carefully opened the bag, and when she saw what was inside, her expression froze slightly.
It was a set of calligraphy supplies, complete with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. It looked quite valuable.
"Captain... this, this is..." Momo Hinamori held the bag, her voice carrying a barely noticeable tremble.
"When Aizen had nothing better to do, didn't he like teaching you all calligraphy?" Yuko rested her cheek on one hand, smiling. "I happened to see it and bought it."
She still remembered that when she had first arrived in the Fifth Division, Aizen's smug calligraphy had been hanging in the office. She had casually tossed it into a corner.
Momo Hinamori looked at the bag with a complicated expression, seemingly unable to make up her mind.
Yuko raised her eyes and chuckled. "Momo, do you remember what I told you?"
"No matter how sincere Aizen was toward you all, he fulfilled the duties expected of a captain. That isn't something you need to feel ashamed of."
"At the very least, compared to a hands-off boss like me, Aizen was probably much better."
Momo Hinamori immediately became agitated. "No! You aren't..."
"No, no, I am." Yuko cut her off in time and pressed a hand down. "There's nothing to defend me over on that point."
Just as Momo Hinamori wanted to continue defending Yuko, Yuko added, "Well, having such a beautiful captain as me around means even just sitting here is pleasing to the eye, right?"
Momo Hinamori let out a soft laugh. Her eyes glimmered slightly as