Roasting a Phantom's Thigh

The food Hyakume-ki Seikyo cooked was not only delicious, but it could also increase one's Reiryoku.

Otherwise, the squad members wouldn't have been fighting over it so frantically.

This effect was potent enough to work even on Shinigami like Madarame Ikkaku, who was already a 3rd Seat and had secretly mastered Bankai.

The only thing Seikyo wasn't sure about was whether it had any effect on Zaraki Kenpachi.

But seeing him polish off all the leftovers every time he came by, it had to be doing something!

However, Seikyo wasn't doing this entirely out of the goodness of his heart.

A significant portion of the strength gained by any Shinigami who ate the food Seikyo made with Reishi would be fed back to Seikyo, allowing his own power to grow as well.

Otherwise, Seikyo wouldn't be kind enough to cook for them every single day.

The more they ate, the greater the feedback.

Madarame Ikkaku was the prime example of this.

Yet, even though Zaraki Kenpachi clearly ate the most, Seikyo didn't receive a shred of feedback from him.

Like Yachiru, he was a bottomless pit who only took and never gave, leaving Seikyo unable to take advantage of him at all.

Tch! Damn it!

After finishing their meal, the squad members returned to the training grounds and began their usual blood-spattered combat.

Seikyo had intended to head to the tavern for a drink, but he was blocked by Madarame Ikkaku.

"Let's fight, Hyakume-ki! We didn't finish our match last time!"

Full and satisfied, Madarame Ikkaku was brimming with energy and had come straight for Seikyo.

Although Madarame Ikkaku was a 3rd Seat, he lost more often than he won in his bouts against Seikyo.

If it weren't for the fact that Seikyo was perfectly content with the position of 4th Seat, Ikkaku would have swapped places with him long ago!

Seikyo's preference in this regard was the exact opposite of Ayasegawa Yumichika, who despised the number four.

Seikyo looked at Madarame Ikkaku with a strange expression. "You want to fight me today, too? Aren't you going to finish your report?"

"Bastard!" At the mention of this, Madarame Ikkaku started cursing again. "That's something you were supposed to write!"

After a simple round of rock-paper-scissors, Ikkaku had lost to Yumichika and earned the honor of handling the paperwork.

For Ikkaku, holding a pen was the most painful thing imaginable!

Seikyo wasn't about to argue with an idiot, so he used Shunpo to vanish from the spot.

If the members of the 11th Division had one major weakness, it was that most of them had never studied at the Shino Academy.

Forget Kido; they hadn't even learned Shunpo.

This led the 11th Division to be quite hostile toward Kido, and even toward Kido-type Zanpakuto.

They rejected what they couldn't use themselves—how very "honorable" of them!

As for Shunpo, while it was taught after joining the squad, Madarame Ikkaku was no match for Seikyo, who had learned it through formal training.

Therefore, when Seikyo didn't want to fight, Madarame Ikkaku couldn't catch him.

"Bastard!!"

Sigh, nothing but impotent rage.

Seikyo felt quite pleased.

After buying two small jugs of sake, Seikyo returned home and actually lit a charcoal fire.

He had said while slaying a Menos Grande that he would roast its thigh to eat, so he was going to roast it.

One shouldn't forget such old traditions.

Of course, he couldn't use a Cero to roast it now, and the thigh itself had been processed by Seikyo, losing its original flavor, which was a real pity.

But staring at the moon, which looked exactly the same as the one in Hueco Mundo, Seikyo felt an extraordinary sense of leisure as he ate his barbecue and drank his wine.

He didn't even notice when a guest arrived.

"Good man, you're sneaking food again, Seikyo!" A hearty laugh rang out, and a young figure walked in.

He had a face strikingly similar to Kurosaki Ichigo, and his temperament was much the same, but his hair was jet black.

Seikyo, feeling a bit tipsy, looked at him and laughed. "Yo! Isn't this our Vice-Captain Shiba? Why aren't you with your fiancée instead of coming to visit a lonely soul like me?"

Shiba Kaien, Seikyo's classmate from their time at the Shino Academy, was a good friend of his.

However, he was a member of the Shiba Clan, one of the Five Great Noble Families. Even though the Shiba Clan was the most down-to-earth of the five, Shiba Kaien's path as a Shinigami had been much smoother than Seikyo's!

Seikyo had bounced around every single squad except the 1st Division before finally settling down in the 11th.

Shiba Kaien, on the other hand, had settled into the 13th Division from the start, becoming a 3rd Seat right after graduation and a Vice-Captain just five years later.

What's more, he already had a fiancée.

This truly made Aoto envious... yet it also filled him with regret.

After all, if Aizen intended to eliminate one of the Five Great Noble Families, the Shiba Clan, which did not reside within the Seireitei, was inevitably the easiest target to strike.

Even if Aoto helped Shiba Kaien dodge that future crisis, another one would surely arrive in its place...

Aoto could not go against the will of his main body!

A bit tipsy, Aoto failed to fully mask his emotions, and the gaze he cast toward Shiba Kaien carried a certain weight.

However, Shiba Kaien could not decipher Aoto's current thoughts, assuming only that he was teasing him again, "Miyako is busy today..."

"As expected, you only remember your brother when you can't find your wife!" Aoto tossed the wine cup toward Shiba Kaien, "You will definitely die at the hands of a woman in the future!"

Shiba Kaien downed the wine in his cup in one gulp and laughed heartily, "Hahaha, I am incredibly devoted to Miyako; how could I possibly die at the hands of another woman!"

The 13th Division is a purification squad, primarily responsible for the work of purifying Hollows that appear in the World of the Living... purifying Hollows with their Zanpakutō.

Every time a Hollow enters the World of the Living, the detection machines of the 12th Division discover it, then relay the information to the 13th Division and the specific Soul Reaper assigned to that region.

Therefore, the combat load of the 13th Division is no lighter than that of the 11th Division.

It is just that the 13th Division mostly deals with ordinary Hollows below the level of Menos; let alone Gillian-class, there aren't even many powerful Hollows, so the danger level is not as high as the 11th Division... yet the death rate of Soul Reapers remains quite frequent.

If the 11th Division is the regular army, then the 13th Division is the local police force.

Both are extremely important.

Consequently, Shiba Kaien cannot afford to slack off in his own division.

It is only when he comes to Aoto's place that he can relax, if only for a little while.

However, one still cannot drink too much alcohol, as it might interfere with important matters.

But one can eat plenty of meat.

"Aoto, what kind of meat is this that you've prepared? I've never seen it before."

Shiba Kaien was very curious.

"That is the leg of a Menos!" Aoto had no intention of hiding it, "I reprocessed it using Reishi, removing the Hollow's spiritual veins until it became pure Reishi matter. It's delicious when roasted! Dare to have a taste?"

"A taste it is. Do you think I'm afraid you'd try to harm me?"

Shiba Kaien ate the roasted Menos leg meat without the slightest hesitation.

And let it be said, it was truly delicious!

"Ordinary food lacks such high-density spiritual pressure and is quite insufficient for replenishing the spiritual pressure of those above the fifth rank. This kind of thing is what's truly sufficient."

"But, it certainly cannot be popularized!"