Fed, watered, and loaded down with gifts, Soifon stood at the edge of the Royal Palace's main approach and gave a casual wave to the five Zero Division members at her back.
"Here, little Soifon. Take this with you."
Just as Soifon was about to take the leap of faith off the edge, Tenjirō Kirinji tossed a rolled scroll her way.
Deflecting Soifon's curious gaze, Kirinji flicked the hair from his forehead and turned slightly to the side.
"I can't believe the Gotei 13 has fallen this far. Take these down with you and hand them over to that woman Retsu — it's the method for producing those two hot springs."
"I won't guarantee she can replicate them at her Spiritual Pressure level, but restoring at least some of the therapeutic effect shouldn't be a problem."
"Of course, if little Soifon herself is willing to assist in the process, that's a different matter entirely."
With that, he slung his blade — shaped like a boat oar — over his shoulder and headed back to his own palace island ahead of her.
Soifon confirmed that the remaining Zero Division members had nothing further to say to her, gave a single nod, and then leaned forward and dropped off the edge, plunging down into the cloud layer below.
The instant she was in freefall, she let a faint golden Reiatsu bloom around her body like armor — and then she became a streak of gold, hurtling straight down toward Seireitei far below.
A chain of sonic booms detonated above the cloud sea in rapid succession. The white clouds were torn apart by sheer violence, leaving a vacuum corridor more than a hundred meters in diameter in her wake.
It was impossible to miss.
Inside Seireitei, the Captain-Commander's brush paused mid-stroke. He had been working through a stack of divisional administrative papers. His head snapped up, gaze piercing straight through the ceiling and into the sky — and then with a soft clatter, the brush fell from his fingers onto the desk, and the figure that had been seated in the chair was already gone.
Across Seireitei, captains who had been handling administrative duties or overseeing their squads' training drills all stopped simultaneously, heads tilting upward to face the sky without a word spoken between them.
A massive Spiritual Pressure — familiar, yet carrying an edge of something wholly unfamiliar — was diving downward at a breathtaking speed, its trajectory aimed directly at the outskirts near Seireitei.
Silhouette after silhouette streaked toward the projected landing point.
The white cloud layer was punched clean through. In Soifon's eyes, the outline of Seireitei expanded at a dizzying rate — from a vague dark smear to crisp, defined architecture.
She adjusted her posture. The golden Reiatsu wrapped around her pulled inward slightly — and then she slammed into an open lot on the outskirts like a falling meteor.
BOOM.
The ground shuddered. Dust and smoke billowed outward in every direction.
When the dust settled, Soifon's slender, upright figure slowly straightened.
Surrounding her landing point, several captains had already assembled, forming a loose ring around her.
"You're back, Soifon."
The Captain-Commander was the first to speak, both hands resting on Ryūjin Jakka. "Did Ichibē Hyōsube have anything to pass along?"
Soifon shook her head — her answer to his question — then raised the scroll in her hand, her gaze shifting toward Unohana Retsu.
"Captain Unohana. This is from Tenjirō Kirinji — he asked me to pass it on to you."
The scroll traced an arc through the air and landed cleanly in Unohana Retsu's waiting hand. The moment her fingertips made contact with its surface, her eyes opened just slightly wider.
"This is..." she murmured quietly, not unrolling it immediately — simply looking up toward Soifon.
"The method for making those hot springs, most likely." Soifon shrugged. "If Captain Unohana needs help with the process, I'm available to come assist."
After all, the hot springs of the Royal Palace had been reforged after Kirinji's body was enhanced by the Ōken — his Spiritual Pressure was simply not in the same league as an ordinary Shinigami's anymore.
The moment Soifon produced that scroll from Kirinji, the last shadow over her name evaporated entirely.
Returning from the Royal Palace completely unharmed, and bringing back gifts from Zero Division members in the process — could someone like that possibly be a traitor?
If "protecting the Court" were a measure of purity, Soifon's record was frankly cleaner than most of the people standing around her.
Even Sajin Komamura — who had harbored no small amount of resentment over Soifon's apparent "betrayal" — lowered his head at that moment without fanfare, silently acknowledging that she'd had her reasons.
At last, the Captain-Commander's gaze swept slowly across the assembled captains. The invisible weight of his presence dropped over the area like a stone, and the low murmuring that had lingered in the air went instantly silent.
"Everyone."
"Regarding Captain Soifon's prior departure from the Gotei 13..."
"She was operating under a classified Zero Division directive, executing a special mission by infiltrating the ranks of Sōsuke Aizen to ascertain the truth."
"The mission has now been completed. Captain Soifon is hereby officially reinstated. Her position as Captain of the Second Division is restored, effective immediately."
His gaze settled on Soifon last. She inclined her head in a brief, respectful bow.
When she straightened, Soifon asked, "By the way — does anyone know where Aizen ended up? He hasn't been arrested by the Captain-Commander, has he?"
At that, the Captain-Commander stroked his long beard, looking thoroughly unconcerned about Aizen's disappearance.
"He ran."
"Two days ago, Sōsuke Aizen fell from the Royal Palace back into Seireitei, opened a Garganta right in front of me, and left."
In any case, judging from the Spiritual Pressure Soifon had just released on the way down, her power had already surpassed his by a comfortable margin.
It was only in this moment that the Captain-Commander truly understood why so many of his captains had taken to slacking off so freely.
—Having someone immensely powerful to fall back on. What an extraordinarily comfortable feeling.
"Is that so? Aizen ran back to Hueco Mundo?"
Soifon sounded faintly disappointed. She had half expected the man to suffer some kind of spiritual awakening and wander off into quiet, brooding seclusion.
"Mm. Since Aizen is someone that Captain Soifon brought back, his situation is yours to follow up on."
"I imagine that for a Captain Soifon who has just descended from the Royal Palace... dealing with one failed would-be usurper shouldn't pose any problem."
With his instructions delivered, the Captain-Commander said nothing further. He turned and departed in a flash of Shunpo. The other captains, reading the room, scattered in his wake — leaving behind only the captains of the Fourth, Sixth, and Tenth Divisions.
Standing where she was, Soifon caught the veiled sarcasm laced through the Captain-Commander's parting words — and could only blink innocently and accept the assignment.
After a brief silence, Byakuya Kuchiki stepped forward, brow furrowed, carrying the air of someone who had come to demand answers:
"Soifon, you..."
"Do you have any idea how much Rukia grieved over you during all of this?"
"If I hadn't been watching her, she would have gone to the Twelfth Division to apply for use of the Tenshintai to train her Bankai."
"I trust you understand what that means."
Perhaps it was because of his younger sister — but in this rare moment, Byakuya Kuchiki had found a firmness with Soifon he rarely displayed.
The Tenshintai...
Ah — yes. That was perhaps how Rangiku Matsumoto had also managed to achieve the Bankai that appeared nowhere in Soifon's memory. She must have used that device.
Soifon held Byakuya's gaze for a few steady seconds, then slowly nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry."
Byakuya blinked, caught off guard. He hadn't expected Soifon to bow her head and apologize so readily. He pressed his lips together, the edge leaving his posture, and with a sweep of his sleeve he was gone in a flash of Shunpo.
"Teacher Soifon," Tōshirō stepped forward to stand before her. "Momo too."
Soifon gazed at Tōshirō — who seemed to have grown just a little taller — and felt a wave of something distant wash over her. On instinct, she almost reached up to ruffle his hair.
She stopped herself.
"Fine. Since Captain-Commander Yamamoto says it was a Zero Division mission, I'll take it at face value..."
The sheer cheek in Tōshirō's words made Soifon's arm — which she had just lowered — rise again.
Smack—
Before he even finished speaking, Soifon snapped her finger and sent a sharp, invisible pulse of compressed air straight at him, bowling him over onto the ground.
"'Take it at face value'? Tōshirō."
"You have the nerve to be passive-aggressive toward me — your teacher — and toward Captain-Commander Yamamoto, your master..."
"It seems I'll need to have a little word with the Captain-Commander about you."
Soifon blew on her finger and smirked down at the white-haired little menace sitting on the ground, clutching his forehead.
"Wait — allow me to explain myself..."
Tōshirō scrambled up from the ground, hand outstretched in frantic protest — but Soifon had already turned and was walking away down the road alongside Unohana Retsu, the two of them vanishing around the corner without a backward glance.
____
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