Second Division Was No Safe Place

Yan Si spun around sharply, his gaze shooting toward Yoruichi Shihōin, who was still leaning leisurely against the room's doorframe.

"Oh? Yan Si, did you leave something behind?" The corners of Yoruichi's lips curled upward uncontrollably.

She even deliberately reached out and patted her flat, toned stomach, producing a soft pat pat sound, her face wearing the wicked grin of someone whose prank had succeeded.

"What are you looking for? Tell me, and I'll help you 'look' for it~" she drawled deliberately.

Gasp! Yan Si felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!

When did she make her move?! I didn't notice a thing!

Her speed... had it risen another level compared to two years ago?! Was this the terror of the Flash God?!

Yan Si's mouth twitched uncontrollably. Forcing down the anger and alarm in his heart, he spoke as gently as he could. "Yoruichi... could you return the manuscript to me?"

As he spoke, the Reiatsu within him had already begun silently surging toward his legs.

"Manuscript? What are you talking about?" Yoruichi put on an exceptionally innocent expression, as though she had no idea what he meant.

Then, as if performing a magic trick, she slowly pulled a folded stack of manuscript paper from the front of her Shinigami uniform and smugly waved it before Yan Si's eyes.

"This is a little booklet I just 'picked up' by the door~ I wonder which careless fool dropped it here."

Tilting her head, she pretended to suddenly realize something.

"Could this be the 'writer's pride' you said was more important than life itself?"

Yoruichi put on a stern face and spoke in the grave tone of a senior instructing a junior.

"Yan Si, Yan Si! This is your pride as a writer! How could you just carelessly drop it on the ground?

What if some ill-intentioned person picked it up, published it before you did, and then turned around and accused you of plagiarism? Wouldn't you be in serious trouble?!"

As she spoke with righteous indignation, she made as if to hand the manuscript over.

The veins on Yan Si's forehead throbbed wildly. He restrained the urge to blast her with a Hadō, mainly because he couldn't beat her.

He forced the words out through clenched teeth. "Thank you... so much, Captain Yoruichi. Otherwise, my 'pride' might have been picked up by certain 'ill-intentioned' people."

He reached out again, his fingertips just about to touch the manuscript...

Yoruichi's hand suddenly pulled back as though shocked by electricity!

Her golden eyes gleamed beneath the sunset.

"Oh, right~" she drawled, lightly tapping the manuscript with a fingertip. "This is your 'pride,' after all~"

The smile on her face grew increasingly "sinister" as she enunciated each word.

"The pride of Soul Society's number one young master... is in my hands now~"

Yan Si's mouth twitched. He quickly softened his manner, his voice gentle.

"Lady Yoruichi... please, be merciful and return the manuscript to me, all right?"

"You want it?" Yoruichi tilted her head, her smile radiant.

"Yes!" Yan Si nodded vigorously.

"If you really want it..." Without warning, Yoruichi vanished from where she stood!

In the next instant, she was already atop the high courtyard wall, balanced on one foot. The night wind stirred her purple hair and captain's haori, making her look incomparably dashing.

"Then come catch me!"

She looked down at Yan Si, her face bearing an utterly unrestrained, provocative smile.

"If you catch me, I'll consider returning the manuscript to you~" She waved the manuscript in her hand, her tone light.

"If you don't chase me... or can't catch me, then once I finish reading it, I'll hand the manuscript straight to Hachi Saaya and Kūko for their 'appreciation'!"

As she spoke, she lowered her body slightly into a sprinter's starting stance. Her golden eyes burned with excited fighting spirit in the fading sunset.

Boom!

Yan Si, who had long since compressed all his Reiatsu to the limit and gathered it in his legs, exploded into motion the instant she finished speaking!

Fine cracks appeared in the ground beneath his feet as he turned into a black arrow, shooting straight at Yoruichi on the wall!

"You bastard! Don't run! Give me back my manuscript!!"

Yan Si's frantic roar echoed through the skies above the Second Division.

"Hahaha! Come on! Let me see how much you've improved these past few years!"

Yoruichi laughed heartily, her figure merging into the wind. After a few flashes across the continuous rooftops and walls, she had vanished into the distance, leaving behind only a string of silver-bell laughter.

"Stop right there!!"

The two figures, one chasing and one fleeing, streaked across the sky over Seireitei as it gradually turned red beneath the setting sun.

Only Urahara Kisuke remained standing in the courtyard.

He gazed in the direction the two had disappeared, a meaningful smile with a hint of amusement appearing on his face.

"My, my... their relationship is still so good."

He adjusted his crooked hat, a glint flashing through his eyes.

"And besides..."

He recalled the brief glimpse he had caught of the manuscript.

"That manuscript was rather peculiar too."

Siwei Yan gritted his teeth, compressing all his Reiatsu to the limit and crazily pouring it into his legs as he relentlessly chased the figure ahead into the Sword Forest to the west.

Yet even with Yan Si giving it everything he had, the gap in speed between him and Yoruichi remained despairingly vast.

What was even more infuriating was that Yoruichi would occasionally stop on purpose, fold her arms, and turn back to watch him catch up while panting for breath. That look in her eyes was exactly like a cat elegantly toying with its prey!

"What's wrong, Yan Si?" Yoruichi stood smiling down at the Yan Si who had just arrived below. "Why aren't you using that... hmm, strange acceleration method of yours? What was it called again?"

She pretended to ponder, tapping her chin with a finger as her eyes rolled. Then she spoke as if suddenly remembering.

"Ah! I remember. It was called 'Soru' or 'Moonwalk,' right?"

As she spoke, she raised one foot slightly and stomped crazily beneath it, tap tap tap, kicking up afterimages and faint sonic booms.

"This kind of technique that relies on instantaneous explosive force to stomp on the air or ground is quite useful when sprinting in a straight line!"

She offered her assessment, then abruptly changed tack, her tone carrying a matter-of-fact pride.

"But compared to true Flash Step, which blends into the environment and controls the flow of Reishi, it still lacks a little something in both effectiveness and elegance~"

Yan Si's eyebrows twitched violently.

He could not help recalling his time at the Central Spirit Arts Academy, when he had been unwilling to settle for ordinary Flash Step lessons and had wildly attempted to develop the more explosive movement technique Soru, as well as the aerial movement technique Moonwalk.

It was precisely because of that unconventional training method that he had drawn this "troublemaker" over!

"Compared to you, the Flash God, these really are nothing more than unimpressive child's play."