He Really Had No Sense of Security

Lin Nan left the izakaya and wandered through the still-unfamiliar Danzhao District, turning this way and that. It took him half the day and a lot of asking around before he finally found Gen Private School again.

He hadn't gone straight to the Kyoraku House because no one there had ever seen him. But two Kyoraku House servants were overseeing the repairs at Gen Private School. They knew Lin Nan and knew he was a disciple of Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.

Lin Nan explained the situation to them, and the two servants sprang into action. One stayed behind to continue supervising the work, while the other took enough money and accompanied Lin Nan back to the izakaya to pay for Kyoraku's release.

Lin Nan had more or less memorized the way back, and the servant knew Danzhao District's streets even better. But Lin Nan had taken quite a while to get back to Gen Private School, and by the time the two arrived at the izakaya, the sun was already sinking in the west.

"He left?! When? With whom?"

When the owner told him that the boy who hadn't brought enough money had already left with someone, Lin Nan blurted out in disbelief.

The owner thought for a moment. "Less than an hour ago. Two men, one tall and one short, one thin and one fat. They said they were close friends of the boy's older brother, so they paid his bill and took him with them."

"Did they say what their names were?"

"No."

Lin Nan turned to the servant and asked:

"Do you know whether Kyoraku's older brother has two friends like that?"

The servant shook his head. "The young master's friends are almost all Soul Reapers. He wouldn't have any civilian friends."

The two looked at each other, both frowning.

Something had definitely happened.

Other than Lin Nan and the two servants at Gen Private School, no one else knew Kyoraku was there. How could these men have run into him by chance and offered to pay his meal?

After finding out which direction the men had taken when they left, Lin Nan and the servant hurried out of the izakaya.

"We have to find Kyoraku first. I'll follow this direction and ask around for them. Go back and get help right away." Lin Nan made the decision almost instantly.

The servant was every bit the capable retainer of a high-ranking noble. Though worried, he stayed composed and orderly. He nodded and pulled a finger-sized brocade pouch from his robes.

"This is the Kyoraku family seal. Only senior servants sent out on the family's business are allowed to carry it. We servants can't carry weapons, so take the seal and mark the route as you go. Once I've gathered some people, we'll follow the marks to find you."

Lin Nan took the seal and nodded. "All right, thank you. Hurry and gather everyone. I'll do my best to find Kyoraku."

The servant was taken aback by Lin Nan's thanks. As far as he knew, Lin Nan was the young master's classmate, so he should be the one addressing Lin Nan as "young master." And yet the young master was thanking him?

He hurriedly bowed at a ninety-degree angle. "Young Master Lin, this is what we servants are supposed to do. Please don't be so polite."

Lin Nan waved him off. "Who has time for all this formal stuff? If you have time to bow, hurry up and run home!"

Without waiting for a reply, he gripped the seal and set off in pursuit of the direction Kyoraku and the others had taken.

On a narrow road at the edge of Danzhao District, Kyoraku Shunsui walked in silence with two figures, one tall and one short.

"How much farther?" Kyoraku asked, eyeing the increasingly unfamiliar streets.

"Almost there," said Masaki and Kuramoto in unison.

An hour earlier, just after Lin Nan left, Masaki and Kuramoto had appeared, pretending to be friends of Kyoraku's older brother. They had been following Kyoraku the whole time, pretending to eat in the shop. From Kyoraku and Lin Nan's conversation, they'd figured out that he had no sense of direction. They were delighted. This was the perfect opportunity.

After pretending to make sure Kyoraku wasn't falsely claiming to be a noble, they paid his bill and offered to take him home.

Kyoraku was socially anxious, but he still had some common sense. Even so, after the two men correctly named his older brother, he thought nothing of it and went along with them.

But they had been walking for an hour, and Kyoraku still hadn't seen anything familiar. Even the Spirit King Palace in the middle of Seireitei seemed to be getting farther away. However bad his sense of direction was, he was starting to feel suspicious.

"But it didn't take me this long to get here..." Kyoraku looked around in confusion. "Did we take the wrong road?"

The tall Masaki answered casually, "No, we took a different route. You know how big Danzhao District is. It's normal for it to take a while."

The short Kuramoto chimed in. "Yeah, yeah. This route's a bit of a detour, but it's easier to walk. There isn't as much mud."

"But there wasn't much mud on the way here, either..." Kyoraku felt more and more certain something was wrong.

He turned around and looked once more toward Seireitei in the distance. At last, even his stubborn lack of direction seemed to be improving.

When I came here, Seireitei was on my right. On the way back, shouldn't it be on my left? Then why is it still on my right?

These two must have taken a wrong turn. Maybe they don't know the way? But they've already brought me this far.

Kyoraku instinctively sensed something was off, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he lowered his head and thought it over in silence.

"Um, you two. I just remembered, my older brother said he had something to do tonight and couldn't go home. He told me to meet him in Seireitei. Let's go there now!" He stopped, turned around, and started walking in the opposite direction.

Masaki and Kuramoto both froze, then hurried after him.

"Kid, we're almost at your house. It's too late to go to Seireitei now. It'll be dark soon!"

"Yeah, and look how far away Seireitei is! Besides, you're not a Soul Reaper, so they won't let you through the main gate. There's no point going!"

They hurried alongside Kyoraku, afraid to grab him outright where someone might see. All they could do was keep making excuses as they walked, hoping to get him to stop.

Kyoraku didn't look back, his mind turning over the possibilities. He still felt that something was wrong, but couldn't put his finger on it. In the end, he settled on one thing: as long as he walked in the opposite direction instead of following them, he'd be fine.

But Kyoraku's life as a noble had left him with a blind spot. Not everyone was as afraid to lay a hand on him as his family's servants were.

The three of them walked like that for five minutes. When Masaki and Kuramoto realized they couldn't make Kyoraku stay, they exchanged a glance and quickly looked around.

The sun was nearly down, and most families had shut their doors and started preparing dinner. There weren't many vendors on this street to begin with, and by now the pedestrians had grown scarce.

Seeing that no one was watching, Masaki and Kuramoto exchanged a quick look and lunged at Kyoraku.

"Kid! Stop struggling!"

"Exactly! We decide where you're going!"

Masaki trapped both of Kyoraku's arms in the crook of his elbow, pinning him against his side, and clamped a hand over his mouth. Kuramoto hurriedly pulled out a rope, ready to tie Kyoraku up tight.

"Way of Destruction No. 4, Byakurai!" Kyoraku struggled and shouted through the hand over his mouth. A sharp crack rang out as a pale beam of light shot from his fingertip.

But with both arms restrained, he couldn't aim. The Byakurai merely grazed Masaki's left shoulder, cutting the skin before punching a small hole through the eaves of a building across the road.

Masaki and Kuramoto were aghast. The information they'd received said Kyoraku was a gifted boy with great potential, but it hadn't mentioned that he could already use Kido.

If the Byakurai had veered just a little, it might have pierced Masaki's neck or head instead.

Shocked and frightened, Masaki flew into a rage. He raised his left palm and struck Kyoraku hard in the back of the head. "You little brat, you're asking for it!"

Kyoraku collapsed unconscious.

Kuramoto quickly bound Kyoraku hand and foot, then looked up and asked, "Are you okay?"

Masaki glanced at the wound on his left shoulder and pursed his lips. "I'm fine. It was only a No. 4 Hadō. Just a surface wound."

Kuramoto hoisted Kyoraku over his shoulder. "If you're fine, then let's hurry. We're not far now, and the boss is waiting for us to report back."

Just then, faint sounds of doors opening came from several nearby houses. Some residents had heard the commotion in the street and were coming out to see what was going on.

Masaki waved urgently. "Hurry! Don't let anyone spot us!"

With Kyoraku over their shoulder, they couldn't use Shunpo. They ducked into a nearby side street and quickly disappeared.

Lin Nan tucked the pouch into his robes and ran as fast as he could in the direction the shop owner had pointed. He asked every passerby and vendor he saw along the way, as quickly as possible, adjusting his route based on their directions.

At every intersection, he used the seal in his pocket to leave a mark on a wall, so the Kyoraku family's people could follow his trail.

But the pursuit wasn't going smoothly. Twice, passersby with hazy memories pointed him the wrong way. Fortunately, Lin Nan realized their mistake quickly and didn't waste too much time.

The sun sank lower, and the streets grew emptier. Lin Nan's heart grew heavier. If there wasn't a single person left on the road, he'd lose the trail completely.

Faint beads of sweat appeared on his forehead from both worry and his nonstop running.

"I finally got a proper meal, and if I keep running like this, I'll be hungry again before long." Lin Nan muttered to himself, his eyes searching for passersby. "It's not easy trying to mooch a meal off you, Kyoraku!"

Suddenly, a sharp crack split the twilight silence in the distance, sounding as if it had exploded right beside Lin Nan's ear. He jumped and looked up.

Not far to the left, a beam of white light shot diagonally into the sky, then vanished after a moment of brilliance.

"Over there!" Lin Nan changed direction instantly. He vaulted over a roadside wall and onto the rooftops, then raced across them toward where the light had appeared.

As he ran, his mind raced too. Had Kyoraku used Kido? Or had the people who kidnapped him?

Anyone who kidnapped a noble's son wouldn't dare use Kido openly in the street. That would be like announcing, "I'm causing trouble here!" So it had to be Kyoraku.

After crossing one street, Lin Nan spotted a small hole still smoking in the roof of a building by the roadside. He leaped down into the middle of the street and warily looked around.

Residents were coming out on both sides of the road. One man, who had come out earliest, noticed that Lin Nan seemed to be looking for someone and pointed down the street. "I saw two people carrying something that way just now."

Lin Nan thanked him and took off after them.

Around the corner lay a lush forest in the distance. A little farther ahead, two figures, one tall and one short, were running as fast as they could with something slung over their shoulders.

Lin Nan sped up and cut them off.

Masaki and Kuramoto froze when they saw Lin Nan, as if they couldn't believe the kid had caught up so quickly.

Kuramoto, carrying Kyoraku, silently stepped back half a pace. Masaki moved in front of him, blocking Lin Nan's way. "Kid, this doesn't concern you! If you don't want to die, get out of the way!"

Kuramoto nodded behind him. "Yeah, yeah! Your young master's been kidnapped, but you're not the one who has to pay the ransom. You're just a little lackey. There's no point risking your life!"

Lin Nan had been about to reason with the two of them and persuade them not to take the path of crime, but Kuramoto's words nearly choked him. "What did you just call me?"

"Kidnapping a noble's son, and you still have the nerve to call me a lackey?" He immediately gave up on trying to talk them down and rolled up his sleeves.

"For kidnappers, you two sure have no sense of security!"