"Seriously, where did that idiot Omaeda run off to now?"
Directing the Second Division's search mission, Soi Fon felt a wave of inexplicable irritation.
She hadn't been able to contact her Vice Captain, Omaeda, since yesterday evening.
'Did that useless glutton sneak off somewhere to stuff his face at a critical time like this?'
"My, my, Captain Soi Fon, there's no need to be so angry."
A slightly teasing Kansai dialect sounded beside her.
Gin Ichimaru strolled over with a beaming smile, his hands tucked into his wide sleeves like a silver fox out for a walk.
Not far behind him, the Third Division's Vice Captain, Izuru Kira, was sweating profusely as he clutched a massive pile of maps and Spiritual Pressure monitoring reports, directing several squad members to blockade the streets.
"You see, even though Vice Captain Omaeda is absent, our Third Division is out in full force. Little Kira is working very hard to coordinate with the Onmitsukido."
Gin tilted his head. "Or could it be that Captain Soi Fon finds our Third Division to be a burden, and that's why you're so anxious?"
"That is a completely separate matter," Soi Fon said, shooting him a cold glare.
She watched Izuru bustling about in the distance, managing to organize even the eccentric members of the Onmitsukido with perfect order. The disgust she felt for her own Vice Captain inevitably deepened.
Comparison only made it worse.
'They are both Vice Captains, so why is someone else's a sharp and capable right-hand man?'
'While mine is a moron who only knows how to flaunt his wealth, eat fried rice crackers, and pull a disappearing act at the worst possible time?'
"The Junrinan district..."
Soi Fon muttered the name of the location under her breath.
That was the last area Omaeda had reported his whereabouts from.
It was a relatively bustling sector of the Rukongai, and by all logic, not a dangerous zone.
"If I catch him slacking off over there..."
A cold glint flashed in Soi Fon's eyes. Her Spiritual Pressure fluctuated slightly, causing the surrounding air to turn sharp.
"I'll make him eat a lifetime's worth of fried rice crackers in one sitting!"
Meanwhile.
Outside the Fifth Division barracks, in a secluded and densely wooded area.
"Achoo!"
Marechiyo Omaeda sneezed violently. His massive frame trembled in the bushes, shaking loose several withered leaves.
He hastily covered his mouth and nose, his beady eyes darting around in panic, terrified that the noise might have attracted something it shouldn't have.
"So cold... Why did a chill suddenly run down my spine...?"
Omaeda shrank his neck and pulled up his expensive, gold-embroidered scarf, attempting to conceal his chubby face.
This was a primeval forest area behind the Fifth Division barracks. It was usually deserted, with only low-ranking squad members occasionally passing through to repair Bounded Fields or clear weeds.
At this moment, Omaeda was lying prone behind a dense thicket with an agility that completely belied his size, staring at a solitary cabin a short distance ahead.
It was a wooden cabin that looked quite old.
The walls were covered in moss, and the windows were somewhat dilapidated, making it look exceptionally eerie in the night.
'Just my rotten luck...'
Omaeda wailed internally.
He had originally been executing a mission in the Junrinan district, taking the opportunity to drop by a newly opened sweets shop to buy some limited-edition yokan.
But he had unexpectedly bumped into Captain Tosen, who was accompanied by a mysterious figure.
Driven by his professional instincts as a member of the Onmitsukido, along with a selfish desire to achieve a great merit and impress Captain Soi Fon, he had inexplicably decided to tail them, following them all the way to the dense forest of the Fifth Division.
Kaname Tosen had escorted the mysterious figure into the cabin and then left, but the stranger had never come back out...
Omaeda narrowed his eyes. Through the dust-covered window, he could faintly make out the silhouette of a person sitting quietly inside.
He had been watching like this until the late hours of the early morning.
'Is this guy's ass made of iron? Why hasn't he moved an inch?'
Omaeda had been waiting for the target to show a vulnerability or meet up with someone else, but the person simply made no moves whatsoever.
As time dragged on, he began to feel anxious.
Furthermore, for some unknown reason, Omaeda felt that the scent on the mysterious figure... was somewhat familiar...
That feeling... It was like the scent he had experienced when his father took him to visit the Central Great Underground Prison as a child...
'Who exactly is it... I can't remember...'
Omaeda scratched his head, feeling as though the fat in his brain was clogging up his memories.
'Whatever, this guy is definitely up to no good! Sneaking around and hiding out here, there's definitely a problem.'
'That Captain Tosen is always so gloomy, I've suspected something was off about him for a while now.'
He pulled out his Denreishinki, intending to report this discovery to Captain Soi Fon.
'As long as I report the location of this suspicious individual, Captain Soi Fon will definitely praise me! She might even reward me... Hehehe...'
Omaeda gleefully pressed the communication button.
Bzz— Bzz bzz—
The screen of the Denreishinki flickered a few times, emitted a harsh burst of static, and then went completely black.
"Eh?!"
Omaeda froze. He forcefully smacked the expensive communicator and even held it up to his ear and shook it.
"It's broken? Impossible! This is the latest model developed by the Department of Research and Development, sponsored by the Omaeda Family! They claimed it would have a signal even in Hueco Mundo!"
"Hello! Hello! Captain Soi Fon? Can you hear me? It's Marechiyo!"
There was no response.
Only an unnerving silence.
"This is bad..." Cold sweat instantly poured down Omaeda's face.
In this godforsaken middle of nowhere, unable to contact his Captain, with a mysterious person of unknown identity and unknown strength lurking right in front of him...
'Maybe... I should retreat?'
The urge to flee pounded loudly in his chest.
'No one knows I was here anyway. If I just slip away quietly, I can go back and say I got lost in Junrinan...'
'Even though I'll get scolded, this feels like the most reliable option...'
Just as Omaeda prepared to quietly roll away like a giant ball of meat.
A faint sound of footsteps suddenly echoed from the forest path.
Omaeda was so frightened that he immediately held his breath, shrinking his massive body as far into the shadows of the bushes as possible, not daring to make a sound.
'Who is it? Is Kaname Tosen back?'
He stealthily parted a corner of the leaves and peeked out.
By the moonlight spilling through the treetops, he clearly saw the newcomer's face.
It was a man wearing black-framed glasses, with a gentle expression, draped in a white haori.
The Captain of the Fifth Division, Sosuke Aizen.
'Phew... Scared me to death. It's just Captain Aizen.'
Omaeda let out a long sigh of relief, his tense nerves instantly relaxing.
That made sense. This was the back mountain of the Fifth Division, after all. It was perfectly normal for Captain Aizen to appear here.
'Captain Aizen is such a nice guy. If it's him, he should be able to help me fix my Denreishinki, right? Or I could ask him to help me contact Captain Soi Fon...'
Omaeda was just about to jump out of the bushes and explain his discovery to the man.
But just as he moved, he noticed that Aizen wasn't heading toward the barracks. Instead, he was walking straight toward the mysterious cabin.
'Huh?'
Omaeda stopped in his tracks.
'What is Captain Aizen going there for? Does he know that mysterious person too?'
He watched as Aizen walked up to the cabin door and pushed it open with familiar ease, stepping right inside.
As the door opened and closed, Omaeda faintly heard voices coming from within.
At first, it was just a low murmur of conversation, but soon, the voices grew heated, as if an argument had broken out.
"You... How could it be you?!"
"This is not a place you should be... Aizen..."
"You want that thing? Keep dreaming!"
Although he couldn't hear it very clearly, the tense, explosive atmosphere could be felt even from a distance.
Immediately after.
Clang—!!
A crisp sound of clashing metal rang out from the cabin. It was the sound of Zanpakuto being drawn and striking against each other!