Time passed, Soul Reaper's twenty years seemed like a blink of an eye... Seireitei was still Seireitei, and the Second Division was still the Second Division.
However, several captains of the Gotei 13 died in various missions, but none of this mattered to Sōgo, because he didn't care.
However, there is one thing that is currently troubling Sōgo.
" Little Fon, you should be able to Bankai by now, right?"
Sōgo crossed his arms over his chest and asked Shaoling Fon, who was covered in sweat after a fierce battle with Kuruyashiki Kenpachi.
"Huh?"
" Sōgo, why are you asking this?"
After hearing Sōgo's words Shaoling Fon's body trembled slightly, and she dared not look directly at Sōgo's face, as if she was avoiding something.
"Oh?"
" Little Fon, you haven't already Bankai, have you?"
Sōgo hearing Shaoling Fon's words, Sougo's lips curled up slightly, and he asked.
"No, no, I didn't..."
Shaoling Fon was a good girl who wouldn't lie. As she told Sōgo that she didn't, a blush slowly appeared on her face, and she became somewhat restless.
"Really? Since you don't have Bankai, you'd better work hard!"
Sōgo looked at the somewhat awkward Shaoling Fon and seemed to understand something. He gently patted Shaoling Fon, which was covered in sweat and had wet hair, and said with a smile.
"Okay! I'll try my best!"
After hearing Sōgo's words, Shaoling Fon's previously awkward expression slowly returned to normal. The change in her expression seemed to be telling Sōgo that she had finally managed to keep the matter a secret.
"Alright, go wash up quickly, change your clothes, and we're getting ready to go back."
Sōgo smiled slightly at Shaoling Fon, who was not good at hiding her true self, and began to speak.
"Okay, I'll go right away. Sōgo, wait for me a moment."
Shaoling Fon nodded repeatedly to Sōgo, then ran towards the women's public bathhouse of the Second Division, her bare feet leaving a trail of sweat stains on the floor.
"Hmm~"
Sōgo leaned against the door frame of the Greening Team's special training ground, watching Shaoling Fon's disappearing figure, pondering what had happened.
" Young Master Sōgo, I recently saw Miss Shaoling Fon going to Lady Yoruichi's place alone. Perhaps you could ask Lady Yoruichi for some information!"
Just as Sōgo pondering, Tsunayashiro Tokinada was holding a mop, walked up to Sōgo and gently reminded him.
"You're so talkative."
After hearing what Tokinada said, Sōgo poked Tokinada's forehead hard with two fingers.
"Smack~"
"It hurts!"
Tokinada's forehead turned noticeably red in an instant.
"Clean up these sweat stains. I'm going to my sister's. Also, remember to remind Lilynette not to sleep in the dojo. If she wants to sleep, she should go to the dormitory I arranged for her!"
Sōgo patted Tokinada on the shoulder and turned to leave.
"Okay, leave it to me, Young Master Sōgo."
Tokinada watched Sōgo's retreating figure and waved gently.
"Um."
Sōgo nodded slightly and left gracefully.
The Second Division Captain's Quarters—this is where only the Second Division Captain rests and... rests. How could Yoruichi Shihōin, as Sōgo Shihoin sister, possibly work? If she did, would she still be a princess of the Shihoin Family?
"Sister, I've come to ask you something."
Just as Yoruichi was holding a small fork, looking at a fashion magazine and eating the watermelon her subordinate had cut, Sōgo arrived at the captain's room.
"Huh? Just you?"
Yoruichi gently put the fashion magazine down a little, revealing her eyes as she looked around.
Of course~
Sōgo walked up to Yoruichi, 'snatched' the glass bowl and fork full of watermelon chunks from Yoruichi, and began to eat them heartily.
"Leave me some, you little brat!"
Yoruichi watched Sōgo devouring watermelon, he resembled a cat with its fur standing on end, constantly baring its teeth and making faces.
"Then tell me, sister, has Little Fon learned Bankai?"
Sōgo, his mouth full of watermelon, spoke incoherently.
"This..."
Yoruichi frowned after hearing Sōgo's words, as if there was some hidden reason behind Sōgo's question, making it impossible for Yoruichi to answer Sōgo directly.
"The watermelons are almost gone."
Sōgo Yoruichi a vague reminder.
"Go ask Urahara! That Urahara knows everything!"
Yoruichi watched the watermelon disappear, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and in an instant, he betrayed his most trusted subordinate.
"As expected~"
"So..."
"This is punishment for my sister knowing full well but not telling me~"
Sōgo emptied the entire watermelon bowl into his mouth, then placed the clean bowl and fork back on Yoruichi's table. His face puffed up like a hamster's, and he strode towards the captain's room.
" Sōgo!!!"
Yoruichi hugged the glass bowl that hadn't been left with a drop of soup, tears of heartache welling in her eyes. These watermelons, specially made for the nobility... were very expensive!
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey..."
Sōgo Yoruichi's furious roar, Sougo went outside the captain's room, found a vase, and spat all the watermelon seeds into it like machine gun bullets.
"Alright, all prepared, let's go find that bad boy Kisuke Urahara."
Having finished everything, Sōgo arrived at the door of Kisuke Urahara's laboratory, amidst the stares and respectful bows of the Second Division members.
Bang bang bang!
Sōgo his left hand on his hip and gently knocked on the tightly closed door in front of him with his right hand.
Here we go!
With a weak shout, the door slowly opened, and a man with severe dark circles under his eyes, yellowish hair like a bird's nest, and a look of severe kidney deficiency that seemed like he was about to die at any moment appeared in front of Sōgo. This extremely haggard-looking man was none other than Kisuke Urahara, the number one genius in Soul Society.
"It's been a long time since I've seen Kisuke Urahara. Is there something you're hiding from me?"
Sōgo looked at Kisuke Urahara in front of him, a slight smile playing on his lips, and asked.
" Sōgo, oh no, I have to run!"
Kisuke Urahara looked at Sōgo in front of him and instinctively turned to run away.
"Where are you going, Urahara?"
Before Urahara could even use Shunpo, a hand as white and smooth as jade gripped his neck.
"Forehead..."
In an instant, Urahara felt as if fate had grabbed him by the neck.
"Hmm? Oh~ Isn't this Lord Sōgo? It's been a long time! I wonder what Lord Sōgo and Urahara- kun are up to?"
Just as Urahara was feeling incredibly awkward, a man wearing an eye mask and carrying a welding torch walked out. He gently pushed the mask up and looked at Sōgo, who was choking Urahara, and Urahara, who was frantically trying to escape but couldn't get away. He asked in confusion.
"Hey~ Szayelaporro ~ Have you seen Little Fon lately? You know, that tiny, soft-looking Soul Reaper Girl!"
Sōgo gripped Urahara's neck with his right hand and used his left hand to ignite his Spiritual Pressure, sketching a simple outline of Shaoling Fon's appearance in the air.
"Oh~ so it's the little girl who borrowed Urahara's Tenshintai last month~"
Szayelaporro looked at the drawing Sōgo had sketched and instantly understood who Sōgo was referring to.
" Urahara ~ how long are you going to keep this from me?"
Sōgo pulled Kisuke Urahara in front of him and whispered in Kisuke Urahara's ear.
"Ah..."
Kisuke Urahara listened to Sōgo behind him, who exuded a terrifying killing intent like the lord of Hell, and countless beads of sweat poured from his entire body.
"I'll tell you everything, but please, please let me go."
After a mere five seconds of contemplation, the astute Kisuke Urahara made his wise choice.
"That's more like it! Wouldn't it have been better if we'd done this sooner? The smartest person in Soul Society!"
Sōgo released his hand and smiled at Kisuke Urahara.
Hehehehe...
Urahara listened to Sōgo's address to him. For some reason, this title of "the most intelligent Soul Society " sounded incredibly grating to him, as if Sōgo were mocking him. Okay, he admitted, sometimes intelligence is worthless in the face of absolute power, but only sometimes...
"Here's what happened. Actually, Miss Fon did borrow the Tenshintai from me a few days ago, which she can use to train for Bankai. I thought it was you, Sōgo, who asked her to borrow it, so I didn't think much of it. But four days later, when she returned the Tenshintai, she also asked me to keep it a secret from you that she had learned Bankai. Only then did I realize what had happened, but it was too late! Sōgo, you have to stand up for me!"
Urahara shamelessly tried to get close to Sōgo.
"Shut up, you cunning fellow! You're the most cunning person in Soul Society! How could you not see through Little Fon's thoughts?!"
Sōgo wouldn't fall for it. He could see through Aya's constant wear and tear on her sleeve, let alone Shaoling Fon, whose intelligence was even Kisuke Urahara than his.
"Hahaha... These little things aren't important. What's important is that I've learned a shocking secret: Miss Shaoling Fon's Bankai isn't working as expected..."
Kisuke Urahara gave an awkward laugh after hearing Sōgo's words, and then immediately changed the subject.
"Is Little Fon's Bankai not as good as she hoped? Is she weak in terms of ability?"
Sōgo frowned after hearing what Kisuke Urahara.
"No, it cannot be called weak... On the contrary, it was the most shocking and violent Bankai I have ever seen!"
Urahara Sōgo shook his head slightly, a glint in his eyes—the shock he felt at Shaoling Fon Bankai's Bankai.
Imagine this: in the Soul Society, where a group of people have been fighting with katana for over a million years, and their Bankai are basically just fire or ice, then someone steps out, pulls out a nuclear warhead, and claims it's their Bankai. That would be utterly unethical.
"If it's so powerful, why is Little Fon dissatisfied?"
Sōgo knew that Kisuke Urahara hadn't lied to him; the other man was genuinely shocked by Shaoling Fon's Bankai.
"Probably because it doesn't fit her image..."
Kisuke Urahara pondered for a moment, then Sōgo.
"The image doesn't match, is that so?"
After hearing what Kisuke Urahara, Sōgo instantly understood.
" Little Fon's Bankai is very powerful and wild, right?"
Sōgo Asahi's Q&A with Kisuke Urahara.
"Extremely large, extremely wild!"
Kisuke Urahara recalled that big yellow stick; there was simply nothing more ferocious than that thing. A single blow from that stick would be enough to kill very few Soul Reaper in the entire Soul Society. The only problem was its accuracy; it had immense power but no precision. If it could be used in conjunction with Bakudō ... After witnessing Shaoling Fon Bankai, Kisuke Urahara had already figured out how to use it. If this Bankai were Urahara's, Urahara confident he could battle Sōgo again.
"So what we need to do is get Little Fon to accept her own Bankai, right?"
Sōgo preached to Kisuke Urahara.
"Yes, yes, what we need to do is get Miss Shaoling Fon to accept her Bankai..."
Kisuke Urahara suddenly froze as he spoke, realizing that something about what he was saying seemed off.
"Wait, us?"
Kisuke Urahara was slightly taken aback after hearing Sōgo's words.
"That's right, it's us."
Sōgo Kisuke Urahara.
"No, no, no, something must have gone wrong. Why us?"
Kisuke Urahara Sōgo a question.
"Bump!"
Sōgo didn't answer Kisuke Urahara's question; instead, he punched the floor, creating a crater ten meters deep.
"Gulp~"
Urahara watched as Sōgo, using only his spirit form and without using any Spiritual Pressure, smashed a large crater into the ground, and almost threw away the experimental equipment he was holding.
"As expected of Lord Sōgo!"
Szayelaporro, seeing Sōgo smash a crater in the ground, immediately began recording data.
"I think we must create some trouble for Miss Shaoling Fon. First, we need to remove her from the protection of Lord Sōgo's wings, and provide her with an opponent that she absolutely cannot defeat without using Shaoling Fon —Bankai in other words, an opponent that can be killed in Death in Two Steps!"
In a short span of time, Kisuke Urahara changed two things. First, he no longer needed Sōgo's nonsense and had joined the team to correct Shaoling Fon's mental obstacles. At the same time, he unconsciously began to call Sōgo "sir".
"I have the records of Miss Shaoling Fon's Shikai."
"Actually, while Miss Shaoling Fon's Shikai seems invincible, it's actually quite easy to counter. All you need is a composite Menos Grande with High-Speed Regeneration to deal with it." Szayelaporro said, taking out something resembling a tablet computer and walking up to Sōgo. " Lord Sōgo, please look. This composite Menos Grande's name is Yamata no Orochi, and its level is Adjuchas. Each of its heads can be considered an independent life form, but if you can't kill all the heads at the same time, the head that's killed will revive the next second. In other words, to kill it, you have to completely destroy it. That way, Miss Fon's Shikai will be useless, right? The Shikai way to completely destroy this Menos Grande is Miss Fon's Bankai, right?"
"Hmm! Hollows are indeed powerful, but please tell me, why do you possess research materials specifically targeting Menos Grande Little Fon?"
Sōgo looked at the information on the tablet, frowned, and asked.
"..."
Szayelaporro didn't answer Sōgo's question. He just looked at Kisuke Urahara, as if he had said nothing, yet as if he had said everything.
" Kisuke Urahara ~"
Sōgo smiled slightly at Kisuke Urahara, his voice like that of a vengeful ghost unable to rest in peace in the afterlife—in this world, he'd probably be a Vasto Lorde- level Menos Grande!
"It's all for science! For science!"
Kisuke Urahara kept wiping his forehead, which was covered in cold sweat, with tissues, and kept explaining.
(End of this chapter)