"Th... this is just..."
Genya's throat was dry, and he could not get the rest of the words out.
In his eyes, the figure reclining amid the mist no longer seemed like a person...
But an insurmountable, ancient iceberg radiating a deadly chill.
It made him instinctively hold his breath, and even the splashing of the hot spring sounded especially grating.
Kirishima Bupai paid no attention to Genya's utterly horrified gaze. Instead, he kept his eyes closed, letting the warm spring water envelop his body while his thoughts drifted toward the future he knew.
How did the two Upper Ranks here die in the original plot again...?
He pondered silently, the faintest, almost mocking curve lifting his lips.
Hantengu's clone gave a careless wave of that fan created by his Blood Demon Art... yet his aim was spot-on. One wave from that wonderful coworker sent Muichiro Tokito flying straight to Gyokko...
Gyokko was still in that lousy pot, plotting whatever art he was going to make, when the Mist Daddy suddenly dropped out of the sky. And his wonderful coworker was the one who sent that daddy over. He must have been dumbfounded.
Hilarious. Kirishima Bupai chuckled inwardly.
Just then, an extremely faint rustling reached him, almost drowned out by the flowing hot spring water and the wind.
His nose twitched, and Kirishima Bupai detected a barely perceptible, unnatural fishy odor mixed into it.
His eyes lifted slightly as he caught the presence coming from beyond the hot spring area, in the direction of the forest waterfall.
His tightly closed eyelids abruptly opened, a cold sharpness flashing through his eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kirishima Bupai sprang out of the water with a splash, as light and swift as a phantom, his naked body trailing a string of sparkling droplets.