Bone-Binding Princess was in excellent spirits as she pressed him, "Does that mean Byakuya doesn't need any friends, as long as I'm his only good friend?"
Though her words contradicted themselves, Byakuya understood what she meant.
The good things should be kept all to yourself!
In Bone-Binding Princess's eyes, Byakuya ought to be a good friend to her and her alone.
He couldn't help laughing. "The more you want to stay out of trouble, the more you need strong companions. Otherwise, when you run into something beyond your abilities, you'll be caught unprepared. Stay out of trouble until the end, and you'll end up with nothing. But companions are about quality, not quantity. If you fill your ranks with deadweight, that's not staying out of trouble—it's asking for it."
"Is Pakura from Sunagakure Byakuya's companion?"
"I'm sorry for the trouble."
"She isn't yet. The three members of Akatsuki are so naïve it's hard to know what to say. Pakura's naïveté comes from not yet having encountered some cruel event that shatters her illusions. I think she'll run into one soon."
"Oh." Bone-Binding Princess looked a little disappointed.
So Byakuya could have lots of good friends.
And she only had Byakuya.
He caught the shift in her mood. Summoning Beasts needed to be placated. Even Manda, Orochimaru's Summoning Beast, demanded offerings of more than a hundred people each time he was summoned. That was a kind of placating, too.
"But she's my companion. Bone-Binding Princess is my only good friend."
"Really?" Her eyes suddenly lit up.
"I swear on my conscience."
"I knew it! Byakuya and I are the best of friends in the whole world!"
Byakuya rested his hands behind his head, yawning again and again.
After spending all this time together, he'd finally formed a bond with Bone-Binding Princess.