Zaraki District

"Nothing... nothing, Lady Yoruichi!"

Hearing Yoruichi Shihōin's praise, Soi Fon's cheeks immediately flushed red, leaving her somewhat at a loss.

"Hey! It's ready, Lady Yoruichi!" Shadow placed the grilled fish on a plate and handed it to Yoruichi Shihōin. "It's still hot, so be careful when you eat it!"

"Mm-hm!" Yoruichi Shihōin nodded casually, wholly focused on eating.

Seeing this, Shadow shook his head helplessly and put another fish over the fire.

"Huh!"

Suddenly, Yoruichi Shihōin stopped wolfing down her food and looked at Shadow strangely.

"Why does it taste just like what I usually eat? Well, it's a little different too!"

Shadow sighed and looked at Yoruichi Shihōin weakly. "Of course it tastes similar. I've been responsible for Lady Yoruichi's meals ever since we were children! Did you only just realize that?"

"Haha! So that's how it was!" Yoruichi Shihōin said in sudden realization. "No wonder the food tasted so much worse when you were unconscious last time. I thought I was imagining it!"

As she spoke, she wanted to scratch her head, but when she saw how greasy her hands were, she sheepishly lowered them again.

Suddenly, Shadow's body stiffened as he received information from his Shadow Clone.

"What is it?" Yoruichi Shihōin asked.

"Kisuke Urahara just went to the barracks to look for Lady Yoruichi. He should be on his way here now!"

"What happened?"

"I don't know!"

"Is that so?"

Sure enough, before long, Kisuke Urahara, dressed in a Shihakushō, appeared in view with several Punishment Force members.

"So he's Kisuke Urahara!"

Soi Fon frowned. With his messy pale-yellow hair, that idiot was scratching his head and grinning foolishly. No matter how she looked at him, he was annoying. Then, Soi Fon suddenly remembered—this familiar name was clearly...

"Well! Why has Miss Yoruichi come all the way here? I was looking for..."

Before Kisuke Urahara could finish, Soi Fon abruptly cut him off with a kick aimed at his face, forcing his words back down his throat. Though caught off guard, Kisuke Urahara's strength was no joke, and he easily dodged it.

"Hey! What are you doing, little girl?"

"L-Little girl?!"

Soi Fon immediately lost it. Veins bulged on her forehead. She had originally felt a little regretful for attacking on impulse, but now she regretted not kicking him a few more times.

"Soi Fon!"

"Yes, Lady Yoruichi!" Hearing Yoruichi Shihōin's voice, Soi Fon quickly responded.

"You know Kisuke?" Yoruichi Shihōin asked curiously.

"No!" Soi Fon shook her head.

"Then why did you suddenly kick me? If I hadn't been quick, this handsome face of mine would have been ruined!" Kisuke Urahara said indignantly.

"Who told you to forget Lady Yoruichi's coming-of-age ceremony and not attend? And what gave you the right to call me little girl just now?!" Soi Fon shouted angrily.

"..."

Hearing Soi Fon's utterly serious answer, Yoruichi Shihōin froze for a moment, then clutched her stomach and burst out laughing.

Shadow Kin's mouth twitched, while Kisuke Urahara's face darkened. He did not know whether to laugh or cry. That was the reason? It had happened so many years ago.

Yoruichi Shihōin's laughter clearly left Soi Fon at a loss. She did not know whether she had said something wrong or what, but it was all this guy's fault. What an annoying bastard.

Under Soi Fon's vicious glare, Kisuke Urahara felt his scalp tingle and immediately remembered why he had come.

Soul Society, Seireitei, North Rukongai, District Eighty, Zaraki District.

As the first rays of morning sunlight shone upon the forest, all things awoke from their nighttime slumber, bathed in flourishing green. Verdant leaves and blooming wildflowers were still covered in morning dew, which quietly trickled and fell...

A figure streaked through the air like an agile ape, crossing dozens of meters in the blink of an eye.

With short purple hair cut to her ears, wheat-colored skin, lively golden eyes, and a pure white captain's haori emblazoned with a large "Two," it was Yoruichi Shihōin. Behind her followed Kisuke Urahara, with his messy pale-yellow hair and Shihakushō, along with dozens of Punishment Force members.

"Stop!"

Yoruichi Shihōin waved as she leaped through the air, halting her rapid advance. With a light tap of her toes against the branch beneath her, she jumped onto a higher fork.

"Lady Yoruichi!"

A black figure suddenly appeared before Yoruichi Shihōin and dropped to one knee. He had messy black hair, a completely black Zanpakutō strapped to his back, and a sharply defined face filled with indifference. He spoke respectfully.

"Did you find him, Shadow?" Yoruichi Shihōin asked as she looked at him.

"Yes, Lady Yoruichi!" Shadow answered.

"Mm!" Yoruichi Shihōin nodded, then turned sideways. "Kisuke, I'll leave it to you!"

"Me...?" Kisuke Urahara pointed at his own nose in astonishment, his tone full of uncertainty.

"Of course!" Yoruichi Shihōin said with an unhappy expression. "Whose fault do you think this is?"

"Yes, yes." Kisuke Urahara knew he was in the wrong. "But if he gets away again..."

Unwilling to give up just like that, Kisuke Urahara was still making one last attempt.

"Then don't come back!"

Yoruichi Shihōin's already displeased expression turned even uglier. "You let a prisoner escape while guarding him, then you lost him while tracking him! This captain gave up a perfectly good day to help you! Stop rambling!"

"Yes..." Kisuke Urahara left with a miserable face, leading the Punishment Force members behind him away.

Dilapidated thatched huts stood scattered about. Whenever the wind blew, it swept up bits of straw from their roofs. Several haggard people crouched messily beneath them, their pale faces devoid of the slightest trace of blood. All that could be felt was endless desolation.

Walking down the street, Yoruichi Shihōin felt the deathly atmosphere around her and could not put her feelings into words.

She knew that the lower-numbered districts of Rukongai had better security, while the higher-numbered ones were correspondingly more chaotic. But she had never imagined that life in the most disorderly Eightieth District would be like this.

"Hard to believe?"

As though he had sensed Yoruichi Shihōin's thoughts, Shadow, walking a step behind her, suddenly spoke.

"Mm!"

Yoruichi Shihōin looked over the ruined, lifeless surroundings. Everywhere she looked, there was nothing but desolation.

"It's not so bad," Shadow said coldly. "The law of the jungle exists everywhere. People are really no different from beasts. Only the strongest can survive. The weak have no right to keep living at all!"

"..." Yoruichi Shihōin tilted her head and looked at Shadow. "You seem to know a lot about it."

"Ah! Of course. Because I once struggled to survive in a life like this too!"

"Is that so?"

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