"Suit yourself."
Mayuri Kurotsuchi quickly brought his anger under control. In his current state, his enemies couldn't attack him, but he couldn't attack them either, and it would take more than three days to restore his original body.
He had been pissed on and robbed of his lieutenant, but no matter how angry he was, there was nothing he could do about it.
As a scientist devoted to science, he didn't want to let himself be controlled by such pointless emotions. He began moving in his liquid form.
The only thing he could do now was return to the Research and Development Institute to recover.
Shiraishi watched the liquid slip into the grass and disappear from sight. He had to admit that while Mayuri Kurotsuchi was utterly inhuman, he really had maxed out his black technology.
He could even move organs like his brain and heart elsewhere. He must have conducted countless experiments on the human body to accomplish something so insane.
"Mm."
A soft moan came from beside his hand. Shiraishi came back to his senses, released the red collar, and withdrew his Reiatsu. Though he already knew the answer, he asked, "What's your name?"
"Nemu Kurotsuchi." She caught her breath, a rosy flush spreading across her delicate oval face. Unlike the other lieutenants, she had no Reiatsu.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi had repeatedly modified and strengthened her soul, but she still struggled to withstand the pressure of Captain-level Reiatsu.
That brief exposure had left her body weak, and she could barely remain standing.
"Your captain abandoned you. Aren't you sad?"
"As long as Lord Mayuri is all right, it doesn't matter what happens to me."
Nemu Kurotsuchi answered expressionlessly. Her voice wasn't as cold as her face; instead, it held a gentle softness.
Her deep green eyes gazed at him without a trace of fear. She calmly accepted the miserable fate awaiting her. "Do you want to dissect me? Or twist my limbs off? Or slowly chop my fingers to pieces?"
Horrifying possibilities came one after another from her lips, yet her expression remained unchanged. She wasn't pretending to be calm; she was used to having her body modified.
Whenever Mayuri Kurotsuchi made a new discovery, he would always test it on her. She had spent a quarter of her life on an operating table.
"Stop!" Shiraishi felt a chill listening to her and hurriedly cut her off. "I'm a man who cherishes beautiful women. How could I possibly hurt a beauty like you?"
Nemu Kurotsuchi understood immediately. She spread her arms and said, "I see. You want to mate with me. Please, go ahead."
"No, don't get the wrong idea."
Shiraishi denied it. He wasn't so lustful that he would use force to take a woman's body. "Honestly, what am I supposed to do with you? What I said earlier was just said in anger. I won't restrict your movements. You can leave here and go back to Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
"Or you can stay with me and wait for Mayuri Kurotsuchi to come and take you back."
"I..." Nemu Kurotsuchi was just about to say she would leave him.
Shiraishi added, "Don't you want to know exactly how important you are to Mayuri Kurotsuchi?"
"..." Nemu Kurotsuchi fell silent. The question struck a chord with her. She was afraid to learn the answer, yet longed to know it.
"If you want to find out, stay with me and wait for Mayuri Kurotsuchi to come back and take you."
Shiraishi turned and walked down the mountain. He was certain Nemu Kurotsuchi would follow, for a simple reason: as someone who had been created, she could never escape wondering how much she meant to her creator.
She had never had a chance to find out before. Given one, she would certainly seize it.
Nemu Kurotsuchi didn't disappoint him. After a moment's thought, she decided to continue following him.
The two passed through the dense forest and returned to Saito House along a level mountain path.
The proprietress, Kichō, sat beside a table, holding a cup of tea and blowing away the steam. Her gaze swept over them. "So this is the kind of cockfighting arena that guy was talking about?"
Unlike other Shinigami, Nemu Kurotsuchi's uniform had been specially tailored below the waist, resembling a short skirt from the World of the Living. It just covered her full buttocks, leaving her shapely, fair legs exposed.
On top of that, she wore thick-soled wooden clogs instead of the straw sandals characteristic of Shinigami.
Kichō mistook her for a geisha from some pleasure house, playing the part of a Shinigami for Shiraishi. "You've got some kinky tastes, kid. No wonder you're never interested in me. So you like young women who look innocent and sexy."
"Look at her armband." Shiraishi didn't explain. He pointed to the lieutenant's badge on Nemu Kurotsuchi's left arm, which bore the number twelve.
Kichō glanced at it and said dismissively, "It looks just like the real thing."
"She's Nemu Kurotsuchi, the lieutenant I captured."
Smack.
The teacup slammed onto the table, and steaming tea spilled over the rim and spread across the tabletop. Kichō's mouth fell open, her face full of shock. "Y-you..."
"I just fought Mayuri Kurotsuchi, captain of the Twelfth Division. He was lucky to escape alive."
"Lord Mayuri was prepared for this."
Nemu Kurotsuchi couldn't help defending Mayuri Kurotsuchi. It hadn't been luck; everything had been expected.
"You defeated Mayuri Kurotsuchi?!" Kichō's voice rose, losing its usual languid allure and taking on a sharp edge. She braced both hands on the table and stood, scrutinizing Shiraishi as though they were meeting for the first time.
Others might not know, but surely she, a rebel who had long harbored thoughts of revolt, had the eyes and ears to know.
The thirteen people who stood above more than six thousand Shinigami were the captains of the divisions, and their strength was beyond question.
She had thought Shiraishi could hold out for a few moves against a captain. She had never imagined he was powerful enough to defeat one.
"Yeah. He's not that strong, but his methods are despicable. I suspect this place has already been exposed, so I came back to warn you. You should move somewhere else, quickly."
As he spoke, Shiraishi remembered something else. "And forget about making a fortune. I'm going to wander the world. I can't stay here."
Hearing that there was a risk they had been exposed, Kichō said urgently, "Wait. If you act so rashly, the Shinigami will catch you. Why don't you come with me to the organization's base and lie low for a while?"
"Let me make this clear first: I absolutely won't join your organization."
Shiraishi emphasized the point. He knew full well how powerful the Gotei 13 were, and he had no intention of joining forces with anyone to overthrow them, lest he be dragged down by pig teammates.
Nemu Kurotsuchi said, "That's a wise decision. No organization that opposes the Seireitei will succeed, not even those led by the most famous figures in human history."
Kichō took several deep breaths, calming her shock and regaining her composure. With her usual unruffled expression restored, she chuckled. "It seems the lieutenant knows something about us."
"No. It's just that people like you are the least willing to settle down. You think Soul Society is the World of the Living."
Nemu Kurotsuchi shook her head. Compared with humanity's brief history, Soul Society's history stretched back a million years, with records dating from the beginning of creation. Countless heroes and great figures had been born there.
That was especially true of the current Captain-Commander, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto. Even Lord Mayuri spoke of him with profound respect.
Before them, humanity's so-called great figures were nothing.
"Hmph." Kichō snorted softly and said to Shiraishi, "Don't worry, we won't force you to join. It's just that we've spent many days planning a major job, and it would be a shame not to carry it out."
"All right." Shiraishi nodded in agreement.