Muten Natsu carefully fastened Orihime Inoue's buttons and smoothed out the wrinkles in her clothes.
Orihime Inoue gathered her hair together. "I feel kind of sticky..."
Before falling asleep, Orihime Inoue had already... and after she fell asleep, she had worked up quite a sweat as well.
Since she would probably sweat again while cooking, Orihime Inoue decided to wait until after dinner to take a shower.
As she got up from the sofa, Orihime Inoue's gaze fell on the towel.
"I'll clean this up." Muten Natsu folded the blanket and deftly began tidying the sofa.
Orihime Inoue couldn't bring herself to look at the damp towel. Flustered, she hurried into the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Muten Natsu had a sweet tooth, while Orihime Inoue liked creamy, cheesy dairy dishes. Creamy stew suited both of their tastes perfectly.
She took some chicken thighs from the refrigerator, deboned them, and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Then she seasoned them with a little salt, freshly ground white pepper, and grated ginger, leaving them to marinate for thirty minutes.
That gave her just enough time to prepare everything else.
She put some butter into a saucepan and melted it over low heat, then added flour and stirred until evenly combined. After pouring in the milk and mixing it thoroughly, she let the sauce thicken before turning off the heat and setting it aside.
Humming to herself, Orihime Inoue peeled the washed potatoes and cut them into small chunks, peeled and chopped the onion, then separated the broccoli into small florets.
When she picked up the carrot, Orihime Inoue suddenly paused. She sneaked a glance at Muten Natsu, who was using a hair dryer on the sofa, and her face immediately turned red.
Her slender fingers measured the carrot twice. Her blush deepened even further.
She shook her head vigorously to clear her thoughts, then swiftly chopped the carrot into small pieces.
"Hm?" Muten Natsu suddenly felt an inexplicable chill. He looked around, but couldn't find anything unusual.
His Denreishinki vibrated. Muten Natsu casually picked it up and checked the digital message he had received.
Nayura Amakado had sent him an update on the latest progress of the investigation.
As one of the Four Noble Families, the Tsunayashiro Clan wielded enormous influence. Many of the clans that still existed today had received their support at some point in the past.
As a result, when Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake took the lead in launching an investigation into the Tsunayashiro Clan, they immediately encountered resistance from all sides.
Without the support of the Shihōin Clan and the Kuchiki Clan, the investigation probably would never have gotten off the ground.
The Kuchiki Clan had contributed the most.
The Shihōin Clan still bore the "stain" of Yoruichi Shihōin, who had defected from Soul Society, so their influence was somewhat limited. The Kuchiki Clan, on the other hand, had always been regarded as a model among the Shinigami.
Unlike the Tsunayashiro Clan, which deliberately kept itself out of sight, the Kuchiki Clan had always fought on the front lines. Its current head, Byakuya Kuchiki, personally led by example.
Although Byakuya Kuchiki was somewhat aloof, most Shinigami still found him far more respectable than the lofty and distant Tsunayashiro Clan.
To some extent, the existence of Central 46 had shielded the nobility from the resentment of ordinary Shinigami. At the same time, however, it had also prevented ordinary Shinigami from knowing much about the nobles, particularly the Four Noble Families.
The Tsunayashiro Clan had never fought on the front lines like the Kuchiki Clan, so naturally, they had little chance of earning the goodwill of ordinary Shinigami.
Compared with nobles, ordinary Shinigami clearly tended to side with their captains.
Even when those captains were nobles themselves.
So when word spread that Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake were spearheading an investigation into the Tsunayashiro Clan, with the Shihōin Clan and the Kuchiki Clan supporting them, most Shinigami backed the investigation with the attitude of, [So even the filthy rich get their comeuppance someday.]
With public opinion overwhelmingly in favor of it, even Central 46 could no longer pretend nothing had happened. Only then was the investigation able to proceed smoothly.
Faced with the investigation, the Tsunayashiro Clan appeared extremely cooperative.
They denied every accusation, but told the investigators they were free to search for whatever they wanted themselves.
And that was precisely where the problem lay.
As one of Soul Society's Four Noble Families, the Tsunayashiro Clan had been responsible for managing the Daireishokairō for a considerable period of time. Later, they had even established the Surveillance Hall.
There was simply far too much material connected to the Tsunayashiro Clan that could be investigated.
And the amount of information within it that could never withstand public scrutiny was practically endless.
Accompanied by officials from Central 46 and the Golden Seal Noble Council, the investigators had yet to uncover evidence of the Tsunayashiro Clan's crimes before stumbling across a mountain of dark secrets belonging to other noble families.
For example, there had once been the Azashiro Family, which invested in real estate and financial ventures to secure its position among the nobility.
Several powerful noble families coveted the Azashiro Family's wealth, so they conspired together and fabricated accusations that the Azashiro Family was plotting a rebellion.
The entire Azashiro Family was arrested, and the court ruled that every member of the family had to answer for the alleged crime and accept punishment.
They were taken to an execution ground and forced to fight Hollows inside a deep pit, while the nobles watched from stands around the rim.
And that was one of the less brutal incidents.
As the dark histories of more and more families were exposed, Central 46's attitude gradually began to change.
At first, they had been worried that the investigation might uncover something that would implicate them.
Now, they desperately wanted the investigators to uncover even more and drag everyone else down with them.
If everyone was guilty, then it was almost as though no one was.
Investigate away. Everything was fair game.
Dig into every last detail. The deeper the better. There was no such thing as being too thorough.
As a result, the investigation ground to a halt.
At this rate, there was no telling how long it would take before they actually uncovered evidence of the Tsunayashiro Clan's crimes.
Even if they did find it, dealing with the Tsunayashiro Clan would first require purging the nobility throughout Seireitei.
However, Nayura Amakado also mentioned a possible solution.
The Tsunayashiro Clan's intentions were obvious.
They were using the vast amount of intelligence they had accumulated over the years to overwhelm the investigators with information, preventing them from quickly finding evidence against the Tsunayashiro Clan while simultaneously dragging other noble families into the mess.
By lowering the standard for everyone, they hoped to reduce the severity of their own punishment.
The solution was simply not to let the Tsunayashiro Clan dictate the direction of the investigation.
Nayura Amakado had begun searching for irregularities in the records of the Daireishokairō, hoping to uncover clues that could lead to targeted investigations.
Her goal was to bypass the information the Tsunayashiro Clan was deliberately exposing and strike directly at the heart of the matter.
At the same time, Nayura Amakado warned Muten Natsu that as the investigation continued, the Tsunayashiro Clan would inevitably take action to stop it.
Some of those measures could very well be extreme, so Muten Natsu needed to stay vigilant.
After finishing the digital message, Muten Natsu frowned slightly.
He had expected the investigation to run into trouble, but even he was somewhat surprised that the obstacles would be this severe.
As expected of one of the Four Noble Families. They really knew how to make themselves difficult to deal with.
Fiddling with the Denreishinki in his hand, Muten Natsu increasingly felt that a simple, brute-force solution would be far more efficient.
But the Tsunayashiro Clan was enormous.
There were bad people among them, but there were good people too. At the very least, there were innocent children.
He couldn't exactly kill them all.
Muten Natsu shook his head and decided to place a little more trust in Nayura Amakado and wait to see what progress she could make.
A rich, creamy aroma drifted out of the kitchen.
While waiting for the creamy stew to finish cooking, Orihime Inoue had also made some tempura and yogurt salad. Their sumptuous dinner was almost ready.
Whatever else happened, they could deal with it after they had eaten their fill.