The wind howled past his ears as trees rolled beneath his feet like surging waves and clouds and mist fell behind him. Shiraishi quietly made his way to the mountaintop.
There was a natural hot spring here.
A little steam rose from its surface, and green stones of varying sizes surrounded it. Beneath a tree in full white bloom stood a very beautiful woman.
The mountain wind made her sleeves flutter, sending the dusty pink petals on her cuffs dancing. Her expensive clothing shimmered in the sunlight.
Her long black hair was unbound, cascading down her back like a waterfall. The wind teased a few strands at her temples, brushing them across the tip of her delicate nose.
"So beautiful," Shiraishi murmured.
The woman, who had been about to undress, whipped around toward the voice. "Who's there?!"
"Oh, please don't misunderstand. I wasn't trying to peep. I just saw someone make such quick work of a Gillian Menos Grande, and I was so impressed that I wanted to come over and get acquainted."
Shiraishi hurriedly stepped out. He first explained that he wasn't a shameless peeping tom, then praised her strength.
He had assumed she was a captain from the Seireitei, but he hadn't expected someone other than a Soul Reaper to be so powerful.
He stepped closer, and her previously indistinct features became clear. She was truly a picture of beauty.
She had been beautiful from a distance, but even up close, he couldn't find a single flaw. Her eyelashes were long, and her soft pink lips shone like jelly, as though coated with lipstick, tempting him to take a bite and see how they tasted.
Honestly, Shiraishi was very interested. Grinning, he said, "My name is Shiraishi. Nice to meet you. If you don't mind, may I ask your name?"
"Retsu Unohana."
Her voice was as gentle as the wind. Her large, almond-shaped eyes studied Shiraishi: silver hair in a ponytail, a peculiar outfit from the World of the Living, and was that a Zanpakuto at his waist?
Strange. He was standing right in front of her, yet she couldn't sense a trace of spiritual pressure. No wonder he had been able to approach her silently without being detected.
In a thousand years, this was only the second time someone had gotten close to her without her spiritual senses noticing.
The first had been a boy; the second was a young man...
The wound hidden beneath her light beige scarf grew hot. Retsu Unohana suddenly felt a little urge to draw her sword and test the man before her.
Her long-dormant desire for battle had been stirred.
"Ha." She let out a long breath, suppressing the urge to fight and kill, and asked gently, "Are you the Soul Reaper stationed in this area?"
"..."
Was this a trick question that could get him killed?
The thought flashed through Shiraishi's mind. The moment he heard her name, he had fully recognized who she was and what her identity was.
It was all because of those clothes and that scarf, her long, straight black hair, and her enormous melon-like breasts.
They had distracted him so badly that he hadn't recognized her at once and had even foolishly approached her to strike up a conversation.
The Fourth Division Captain, the First Kenpachi, the greatest villain in Soul Society's history: a battle-crazed woman who smiled and acted gentle on the surface, but whose former hobby had been piling up mountains of corpses.
He swallowed and decided he had better stop running his mouth before he got cut down. "I'm not a Soul Reaper. I'm a wandering ronin who calls the whole world home. People call me the Unforgiven."
"The Unforgiven..." Retsu Unohana's bright almond eyes narrowed into crescents, and her expression grew even gentler.
She was known as Yachiru and had mastered every school of swordsmanship. In the past, she had also been given the name Dead Sword.
Her greatest interest in life was slaying enemies who bore the name of swordmaster.
After all, the title of swordmaster wasn't one just anyone could bear. Only the strong were worthy of it.
Every fight with a swordmaster was especially exhilarating.
Unfortunately, she had put away her sword long ago. "Actually, if you want to fight Hollows, you can join the 11th Division. You'll have plenty of opportunities to fight there, and you can even challenge the strongest Soul Reaper, Kenpachi Zaraki."
Shiraishi shook his head. "I value freedom by nature and can't stand being bound by all sorts of complicated rules. I'm freer out here."
The Central 46 Chambers and the nobles.
Two great piles of filth that a Soul Reaper could never avoid. With his temperament, if he failed to hold himself back one day, he would become the Seireitei's most wanted man.
Ever since gaining power, his tolerance for the world's injustices had grown lower and lower.
"I see. What a pity."
Retsu Unohana had wanted to see him fight Kenpachi Zaraki.
Shiraishi asked a question he already knew the answer to. "Are you a Soul Reaper?"
"No, I'm not a Soul Reaper. I'm just a doctor."
Retsu Unohana didn't reveal her identity as the Fourth Division Captain.
When she was away on leave, she usually didn't use her title as Fourth Division Captain, instead posing as an ordinary female doctor who loved herbology.
"To possess such great strength yet choose to save lives and heal the wounded rather than fight... Such compassion puts me to shame."
Shiraishi spouted nonsense with a solemn expression.
She was the one who had lied first.
Retsu Unohana was about to speak when a voice came drifting from the northern side of the mountaintop.
"Sister Unohana, I've finished gathering the herbs! Let's soak in the hot spring."
As soon as she finished speaking, a tall figure used Shunpo to appear beneath the tree. She carried a basket of herbs on her back and was several centimeters taller than Shiraishi, who stood at 185 centimeters.
She had straight, flower-purple bangs, with several thin braids hanging over her right shoulder, and wore long vermilion earrings.
Her eyebrows were black and rather thick, her skin fair, and her face stern. She looked like a very strict, unapproachable mature beauty.
In reality, she had a very gentle personality and was shy around strangers.
As soon as she noticed the man standing nearby, she hurriedly ducked her tall frame behind Retsu Unohana, as though trying to make herself smaller.
Shiraishi found the contrast adorable. A grin spread across his face again, and he raised a hand in greeting. "Beautiful miss, may I ask your name?"
"Huh? Me?" A trace of flustered confusion appeared on her stern face. After a brief hesitation, she said timidly, "My name is Isane Kotetsu."
With a perfectly serious expression, Shiraishi said, "Miss Isane, I think you'd make a wonderful wife. Please marry me!"
"Huh?!" Isane Kotetsu took two steps back, her face full of shock. Growing up, she had been so tall that people her age had hardly ever seen her as a woman.
Even other girls thought she would be better suited to being a boy. No one had ever confessed to her, let alone proposed.
Suddenly receiving a marriage proposal from a man, her mind turned to mush. Reject him? How should I reject him? What if I hurt his feelings?
Countless jumbled thoughts left her standing there in a daze.
Retsu Unohana placed a hand on Shiraishi's shoulder. There was no warmth in her large almond eyes, and the temperature suddenly dropped. "As a doctor, I know many ways to treat a person's lustful impulses, including but not limited to physical castration and administering yangwei grass or red lantern."
Her tone was calm, but Shiraishi felt a chill between his legs. He hurriedly straightened up and said, "Please don't misunderstand. I'm absolutely not that kind of vulgar person. I just believe in expressing what's in my heart honestly.
"Any man who saw two peerless beauties like you would want to take you home as his wives."
"Huh? Huh?" Isane Kotetsu was utterly shocked. He wanted to marry not just her, but the captain too?