"Uh..."
Even at a moment when her life was on the line, upon hearing those seemingly teasing words, Matsumoto Rangiku ignored the opponent about to kill her and cast a strange look toward the figure that had appeared in the distance.
"Could you move aside?"
The instant he finished speaking, the clang of metal rang out.
The bespectacled middle-aged man leaped backward, dodging the short blade's attack. In the place where he had stood moments before, a figure in a prison uniform now stood.
"Tsk, tsk. That look on your face, as if you've seen a ghost, is really discouraging."
The newcomer looked at the astonished Matsumoto Rangiku, narrowing his eyes slightly as a smile appeared on his face. "On the way here, I was looking forward to your reaction the whole time."
"Ichimmaru Gin?"
The bespectacled middle-aged man adjusted his glasses and spoke the newcomer's name.
Ichimaru Gin did not even glance at him. Instead, he reached out toward Matsumoto Rangiku on the ground. "Hungry? Unfortunately, I didn't bring any dried meat today."
Matsumoto Rangiku froze. Her vision suddenly blurred, and then...
Smack~!
Matsumoto Rangiku slapped away Ichimaru Gin's outstretched hand, propped herself up, and stood from the ground. She said irritably, "Do you take me for a child? You didn't sneak out, did you?"
"How could I?"
Ichimaru Gin chuckled. "That lord from Central 46 said that if I made a major contribution while imprisoned, my sentence could be reduced depending on the circumstances. I naturally couldn't miss such a good opportunity."
A reduced sentence?
A strange glint flashed through Matsumoto Rangiku's eyes. She had never really taken the matter of a reduced sentence to heart. After Aizen was defeated, she did not believe that Seireitei would encounter another crisis that the entire Gotei 13 could not resolve