Humm. A golden blade swept through the air, its sharp, brief whine fading in an instant.
Jūshirō Ukitake spun around, his eyes filled with shock. The Reiatsu that had erupted in that instant had clearly reached Captain level.
This strangely dressed man was not a Rukongai resident without Spiritual Power after all.
Why had he failed to notice the man's Spiritual Power at all before?
Ukitake was puzzled, and Shiraishi was equally confused.
Strange. I clearly sensed someone sneaking up behind me, so why did that feeling vanish the moment I drew my sword?
Unwilling to give up, Shiraishi expanded the range of his spiritual senses to three kilometers. The strongest reaction was right beside him.
The Reiatsu had sent the Reishi into turbulent currents.
The cause was Kūkaku Shiba's furious punch just now.
"Shiraishi, why did you suddenly draw your sword?"
Kūkaku Shiba turned to ask him.
Jūshirō Ukitake quietly examined Shiraishi's Zanpakuto. Its long, slender blade shone brilliantly, as though cast from gold.
Two gems, one large and one small, were set into the hilt. A jade-green light shone from the edge of the larger gem. Shiraishi had not recited a Shikai release command, so it appeared to be a Zanpakuto that could remain in Shikai for extended periods.
He isn't a Soul Reaper, yet he has a Zanpakuto like this. Is he from some noble family?
No, that can't be right. If the nobles had someone like him, he would never have remained unknown.
The more Jūshirō Ukitake looked, the more puzzled he became.
It was no wonder he gave it so much thought. Someone with Captain-level strength was enough to threaten the safety of the Seireitei and could not be casually ignored.
"Someone came up behind me just now."
Shiraishi explained why he had drawn his sword, then sheathed it again, looking thoroughly puzzled. "But the moment I drew my blade, he quickly retreated.
"Strange. With strength like that, why would he sneak up on me and then leave without doing anything?"
Kūkaku Shiba frowned slightly and glanced at Jūshirō Ukitake with her olive-green eyes. "Did you notice anyone approaching just now?"
"No." He shook his head and replied modestly, "My spiritual senses aren't very strong."
Kūkaku Shiba did not believe that nonsense.
Among the Gotei 13, aside from the Captain-Commander and the captain of the Fourth Division, the captain of the Eighth Division and Jūshirō Ukitake had the longest tenure.
How could a captain who had served for hundreds of years be lacking in any respect?
"Could you be mistaken? Neither Ukitake nor I noticed anyone approaching."
"Impossible." Shiraishi shook his head firmly, completely confident in his spiritual senses within three paces. "Someone here definitely tried to sneak up and attack me from behind."
"Are you that sure?" Kūkaku Shiba asked again.
"Of course. No one can get within three paces without my spiritual senses detecting them."
Shiraishi answered with confidence.
Whoosh.
The wind stirred, and a blade drove straight toward the back of his neck.
Without a word of warning, Jūshirō Ukitake used Shunpo at full speed to circle behind him, drawing his Zanpakuto with his right hand and slashing at the back of Shiraishi's neck.
Shiraishi turned and swung his sword.
Clang!
The blades met with a tremendous crash, followed by a violent shockwave that spread in every direction.
Her bowling ball-sized breasts jiggled, and her beige dress billowed wildly, exposing her shapely legs. Nothing farther up was revealed, held down by one hand.
"What are you doing?" Shiraishi retreated two steps, the web between his thumb and forefinger tingling. Detecting an attack was one thing; blocking it in time and withstanding it were another.
The Reiatsu surging from Jūshirō Ukitake's blade made him feel as if a boulder were pressing down on his chest, suffocating him.
A level-nine hero alone was still somewhat unqualified to challenge Jūshirō Ukitake.
"Cough, cough." Jūshirō Ukitake's reaction was even more intense than his. He coughed loudly and hastily covered his mouth with his left hand. Scarlet blood seeped through the gaps between his fingers.
Shiraishi took back what he had just thought and hurriedly asked, "Are you all right?"
"I-I'm fine. It's an old problem."
Jūshirō Ukitake shook his head weakly. His combat strength depended on his condition: its upper limit was very high, but its lower limit was also extremely low. "I just tested you. Your spiritual senses really are very sharp, so you probably weren't mistaken.
"Someone really did approach you just now without Kūkaku or me noticing."
Kūkaku Shiba raised an eyebrow and put her hands on her hips. "Kid, the trouble you've stirred up is bigger than I thought. You've even managed to provoke someone like that."
That person had silently gotten so close without her or Ukitake noticing, then retreated at leisure without stirring up any turbulence in the Reishi.
Leaving combat strength aside, Shunpo and Reiatsu concealment skills like that alone were enough to rank among the best in Soul Society.
"Uh, don't talk nonsense. I haven't provoked anyone like that."
Shiraishi offered a defense. Aside from killing Hasegawa Taizo in West District Three...
In four years, he had not killed anyone else or gotten into any serious conflicts. He had only proposed to a few pretty girls.
That shouldn't be worth dying over, should it?
He had not acted like a creep and pestered them. He had only mentioned it in passing.
"Be more careful from now on," Jūshirō Ukitake cautioned, still wondering how two Captain-level figures worthy of a place in Soul Society's history could have appeared out of nowhere.
Shiraishi probably would not pose any danger to the Seireitei, but he could not say the same for the other person.
"Cough, cough."
His discomfort interrupted his thoughts, and pain brought cold sweat to his forehead. "Sorry, Kūkaku. I need to return to the Seireitei to recuperate."
"Mm." Seeing how close to death he looked, Kūkaku Shiba said nothing more about it and asked, "Do you want me to take you back?"
"No, I can still, cough, cough, manage."
Jūshirō Ukitake did not let her accompany him. He would have had to slow his Shunpo to wait for her, which was much slower than using it alone.
He vanished with a single Shunpo.
Kūkaku Shiba jumped down from the gun platform and strode toward Shiraishi. "Out with it. Aside from killing Hasegawa, what other trouble have you caused? Is this a feud with someone from the same school?"
She asked about a feud within his school because she believed Shiraishi concealed his Reiatsu so perfectly, and the other person did the same.
It would make perfect sense if the two belonged to the same school.
"Of course not. My abilities came from a gift from heaven and my own hard work afterward. I don't have any fellow disciples."
Shiraishi refuted her.
Kūkaku Shiba rubbed her chin. "Strange. Then why can't anyone sense either your Reiatsu or that person's?"
"Well..." Shiraishi was about to say he didn't know when something suddenly occurred to him.
When it came to concealing Reiatsu perfectly, his own cheat that came with his transmigration aside, Soul Society had an item that could do it too.
A cloak that concealed Reiatsu, combined with a little Kidō, could produce an effect close to invisibility.
As far as he knew, only one man in Soul Society currently possessed such a cloak.
Sōsuke Aizen.
With that man's abilities, dodging a slash in an instant and getting three kilometers away, or even farther, would be no problem.
But why would he appear here?
I haven't provoked Aizen. Could it have something to do with Kaien Shiba?
Come to think of it, the Hollow that had caused Kaien Shiba's death was one of Aizen's Hollowfication test subjects.
Kaien Shiba was bound to die at the hands of the experimental Hollow.
A faint chill ran down Shiraishi's back.
"Did you think of something?"
"Uh, it's nothing," Shiraishi replied vaguely.
Kūkaku Shiba looked very serious. "This isn't just your problem. You live in my house, and hiding things could very well draw my family into unknown danger. If you won't tell me the truth, I'll have to ask you to leave!"