Wandenreich. The Gate of the Sun.
The shadows writhed. Quilge's silhouette crawled upward out of the darkness, hauling itself into the light.
He snapped to his feet with practiced speed — but not fast enough. The humiliating spectacle of him slithering out of the shadows face-first had already been witnessed by the several Sternritter members waiting there for a debriefing.
The Gate of the Sun was quiet. Gone were the ordinary Wandenreich soldiers who usually patrolled its halls; only the occasional Holy Soldier in crisp white military dress passed through. Most of the common Quincy had already had their power reclaimed by the newly awakened Yhwach and redistributed among the Sternritter.
"Well, well — if it isn't our beloved Captain of the Imperial Guard," Bazz-B drawled from where he was leaning against the wall, his tone thick with mockery. "What happened to you? Did the Shinigami knock you flat on your face?"
Beside him, Giselle tossed her long green hair and chimed in with equal disdain. "Weren't you always bragging about how capable you are? And you came crawling back looking like that just from trying to recruit a single captain from the Seireitei?"
Click.
Expression stone-cold, Quilge raised his sniper rifle and leveled it at the two of them without a word, his finger already resting on the trigger.
"Enough."
Haschwalth waited until both of them had finished their jeering before he stepped forward at an unhurried pace, placed a hand on the barrel of Quilge's rifle, and pushed it gently downward.
"His Majesty granted us our power. Not so we could fight amongst ourselves."
"..."
Quilge held Bazz-B and Giselle in a long, cold stare — then turned and followed Haschwalth through the gates of the Empire, toward Yhwach's private chambers.
At that same moment, inside those chambers.
Yhwach was leaning back against his chair, gaze drifting up toward the ceiling, addressing the young man kneeling before him. "Quilge has failed."
Uryū Ishida — one knee on the floor — looked up briefly at Yhwach, then lowered his head again without reply.
After a brief silence, Yhwach dropped his gaze to the young man below. "Uryū Ishida."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"If I were to send you to extend an invitation to Soifon — could you succeed where Quilge failed?"
As he posed the question, Yhwach had already turned his incomplete Almighty upon Soifon's future — and what he glimpsed was Uryū Ishida standing together with a Soifon dressed in a Captain's Haori. But in the very next moment, the image was swallowed by a veil of shimmering golden dust.
— Is that Uryū Ishida's Schrift interfering with my sight?
Yhwach pushed the thought aside without much deliberation and attributed the obstruction to the young man kneeling before him. Although the Almighty could perceive the futures of those bearing the Antithesis, the singular nature of that Schrift meant Yhwach could never be fully certain whether what he saw was the true future — or a future already inverted by Uryū Ishida's power.
Was it the genuine future? Or the future as it would exist after Uryū Ishida had reversed it?
"Your Majesty, regarding Soifon — this subordinate would like to—"
Uryū Ishida had just begun to frame a refusal when a knock sounded at the door. Yhwach gave permission, and Haschwalth entered with Quilge in tow.
Both men dropped to one knee beside Uryū Ishida and delivered their mission report to Yhwach with precise, deferential formality.
When Quilge described how Soifon had pinned him to the ground with nothing but her Reiatsu, Uryū Ishida's expression shifted — and he quickly bowed his head to conceal the flash of satisfaction in his eyes.
"Is that so. Even after exposing herself as a Quincy, she still refuses to return to the Empire."
Yhwach rested his chin in his hand and asked the question with perfect equanimity — neither sorrow nor pleasure in his voice.
"This subordinate believes that perhaps, because she was standing before Genryūsai Yamamoto, Soifon had reason to hold back..."
Quilge raised his head and offered his analysis.
"Mm..." Yhwach considered that for a moment, then gave a slow nod. "That is not an unreasonable conclusion."
At that, the ever-calculating Haschwalth tilted his head slightly toward Uryū Ishida at his side.
"Your Majesty — why not allow Uryū Ishida to make the attempt?"
"As Your Majesty's personally designated heir, he has yet to demonstrate any meaningful contribution. That may make it difficult for others to accept his position."
"Furthermore, Meninas is still being held prisoner by Soifon in Hueco Mundo. Perhaps this occasion could serve as an opportunity to address that matter as well..."
Haschwalth lowered his head.
Almost instantly, Yhwach agreed. "Granted."
Watching the three of them take their leave, Yhwach pressed a hand over his crimson eyes — those twin pupils of red.
Soifon. Which branch of Quincy blood ran through her veins? How could a half-blood — half Shinigami, half Quincy — stand immune to his Auswählen?
Unfortunately, the Almighty could only look forward. It could not trace the history of another's past.
Another anomaly, like Uryū Ishida?
No matter. So long as he could get her to drink the blood of the progenitor — his blood — everything would fall into place in the end.
---
Having been unceremoniously expelled from the First Division building by the Captain-Commander, Soifon blinked her innocent eyes and made a deliberate point of not looking back at the office that Ryūjin Jakka had thoroughly destroyed.
"Honestly... the Captain-Commander really is getting old. Not a shred of a sense of humor left in him."
She shook her head, made sure to say it at exactly the volume needed for the Captain-Commander upstairs to hear her clearly, and then moved off in the direction of the Fourth Division.
From behind her, several heavy reverberations shook the First Division barracks.
When Soifon stepped into the Fourth Division compound, Isane Kotetsu was just rounding the corner of the corridor with a stack of medical charts tucked in her arms. The moment she caught sight of that familiar silhouette, her eyes lit up.
"Captain Soifon!"
She hurried forward and circled around Soifon twice, looking her over from every angle.
"This is it — this is the Captain Soifon I know best."
Isane came to a stop and said it with complete sincerity.
Soifon raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Are you implying I didn't look good before?"
"W-what?! No, that's not what I meant at all!"
Isane immediately waved her hands in a flurry of denial. "You always look good — but you look especially good in the Captain's Haori!"
Soifon watched the flustered display, and a quiet laugh escaped her before she could stop it. She rose onto her toes and gave Isane a light pat on the shoulder. "I was teasing you, Isane. You're still so easy to rattle."
Isane let out a breath of relief and laughed a little sheepishly.
The two of them walked side by side deeper into the compound. Without quite realizing it, Isane's pace began to slow.
"The truth is..."
"As long as Captain Soifon is wearing the Captain's Haori, I feel... at ease."
"When Captain Soifon suddenly disappeared back then, I kept feeling like something was missing."
"Like... like losing your closest friend. There was this hollow space in my chest, and it just... hurt."
Only the sound of their two sets of footsteps filled the corridor.
Soifon was quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry."
Isane shook her head quickly. "You don't need to apologize. Captain Soifon coming back — that's what matters more than anything."
By the time those words were spoken, they had arrived outside a wide ward.
Unohana Retsu was inside, tending to the injured members of her Division. When she saw the two of them appear, she smiled warmly.
"Perfect timing — I'm a little short-handed." Unohana beckoned toward Soifon with a wave. "Would Captain Soifon like to lend a hand?"
Isane hadn't even had time to open her mouth before Soifon nodded and stepped forward.
"Captain?!"
Are you in your right mind?! Captain Soifon is from the Second Division — she kills people, she doesn't heal them!
Just as Isane was gearing up to intervene and put a stop to this thoroughly misguided idea, an exceptionally pure and steady Kaidō lit up in Soifon's hands — and the injuries on the patient in the nearest bed began closing at a visible rate before her eyes.
"Captain Soifon... you actually know Kaidō?"
Isane stared, wide-eyed. She had never once seen Soifon use a healing technique.
Unohana continued her own work without missing a beat, and addressed her Vice-Captain with a quietly amused tone: "Captain Soifon actually learned it by observing you, Isane."
"From... me?"
Isane's bewilderment deepened.
"Because you used it so often in front of her, she watched closely enough times that it eventually came naturally. That's what Captain Soifon told me."
Unohana smiled — the smile of someone quietly enjoying herself at another person's expense.
Isane blinked. She looked at Soifon, then looked at her own captain, and then slowly — helplessly — her face fell into an expression of profound dejection.
"...The gap between people really is just too vast."
A thoroughly deflated Isane drifted away.
"Don't expect me to go cheer her up... Captain Unohana."
Soifon sighed and moved on to the next bed.
"It's fine. Isane isn't the kind of person who stays down for long."
Unohana drifted over to the bedside nearest Soifon, watching her Kaidō technique with attentive, evaluating eyes — offering a small, approving nod from time to time.
With the two of them working together, the pace was far faster than one alone. Before long, the backlog of wounded soldiers laid out across the Fourth Division's ward had been seen to, healed in large part by Soifon's Kaidō.
"By the way — Captain Soifon came here today to help me build the hot spring, didn't you?"
"More or less..."
With Soifon's confirmation given, Unohana Retsu turned and led her deeper into the Fourth Division compound.
The bamboo groves on either side grew steadily thicker, their dense clusters forming natural walls that screened out the surrounding world. Along the way, Soifon even caught a glimpse of the mysterious little "black room" where she and Unohana had first sparred.
Before long, the two of them came to a stop at the familiar site of the medicinal hot spring.
"It brings back memories, doesn't it, Captain Soifon."
"This is where Captain Soifon and I soaked in the hot spring together for the very first time."
____
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