The moon was high in the sky. The descent of seven dark silhouettes shattered the tranquility that should have belonged to the Tomie District.
Each of them was short in stature, their faces veiled in black cloth, revealing only pairs of lifeless eyes that stared fixedly at the two-story building across the street. It was the exact place where Kōe and Vohtz had stayed during the day.
"The target hasn't left, right?"
"He's been drinking all day. He's long since become a drunken mess."
The figure in black in the center nodded, waving to the person beside him, and whispered in a hoarse voice, "Explain the situation inside the house!"
Hearing this, the figure on the far left hunched over and moved to the center of the group. Dropping to one knee, he pulled a rolled-up blueprint from his robes, slowly unfurled it, and placed it on the ground before them.
"Here is the entryway, and right next to it are the stairs leading to the second floor. There are three bedrooms in total, all located on the second floor, and the target is currently in this one. The second floor has five windows: two facing the street, two in the back, and the last one at the end of the north corridor."
"Is it possible the target is on the first floor?"
"Unless he got up in the middle of the night and just slept wherever, it's impossible!"
The leader pondered for a moment, pointing at the blueprint on the ground as he issued commands. "Number Two, Number Three, and I will stake out the windows on three sides of the second floor. Number Six and Number Seven will guard outside the first-floor windows. The rest will infiltrate through the front door. Once the first floor is secured, head up to the second floor and let the others in. Number Two or I will carry the corpse out. Is that understood?"
Seeing everyone nod in unison, the leader raised his right hand and gave a sharp wave. The seven figures instantly vanished from their spots, completely sealing off every possible exit of the small building across the street.
Needless to say, these seven were assassins sent by that unknown man within the Seireitei to assassinate Kōe.
Perhaps if placed within the Gotei 13, their strength would only be considered upper-middle tier. But when it came to taking human lives, every single one of them was an absolute master!
Silently, two uninvited guests arrived inside Vohtz's home. The duo didn't even exchange a glance; one poked a small hole in the paper door to observe the interior, while the other instinctively pressed against the wall, listening for any movement from the second floor.
As it turned out, Kōe was a very peaceful sleeper, and the unexpected variables they worried about never occurred. After letting in their comrades waiting outside the first floor, the four of them didn't even step on the stairs, instead clinging to the walls as they slowly scaled their way up to the second floor.
The second-floor corridor was pitch black, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. The four first split up to confirm the layout of the rooms. It matched the intelligence perfectly; Kōe was sleeping with the covers over his head in the room at the end of the corridor facing the street.
Opening the window to let Number Two and Number Three inside, Number Four gave a thumbs-up, signaling that he had already used a blowpipe to send Soul-Igniting Smoke into the room.
This was a colorless, odorless, and completely non-toxic agent. Its sole characteristic was that it was highly susceptible to igniting upon contact with a surge of spiritual power. These men had already prepared for the worst-case scenario: taking Kōe down with them in mutual destruction!
As for why they didn't use poison gas? A toxin capable of subduing or killing a Shinigami with a level-six Reiryoku from the outside simply did not exist in the current Soul Society!
The paper door was slowly slid open, and in the next moment, a gust of cold wind rushed into the sealed room. Moonlight filtered through the paper windows, stretching the six silhouettes long across the floor.
Left arm, right arm, waist, neck, heart—five short swords gleaming with a white halo struck toward different vital points. Another blade swept horizontally right above Kōe's head. Coupled with Number One guarding outside the window, every possible avenue of escape had been completely sealed off!
*'He really is dead drunk! But this drunk is about to become a dead man!'* The six assassins in the room shared the exact same thought. Watching their short swords pierce through the quilt, a mocking smile crept onto their lips beneath their veils.
Snow-white cotton batting mixed with blue rubber fragments burst forth. A crisp pop echoed in the air, like a prematurely lit New Year's firecracker celebrating their successful operation.
But would any of these men make such a rookie mistake? Absolutely not!
"We've been played! Retreat!" Seeing the operation fail, Number Three made a prompt decision, immediately leading the others to crash through the window and escape. Number One, who had been guarding outside, had long since vanished after hearing the unusual noise from within.
Vohtz, sleeping in the adjacent room, wasn't deaf either. Hearing the commotion, he arrived at Kōe's room right on the heels of the fleeing assassins.
The first thing that caught his eye was the paper window, now reduced to nothing but a wooden frame. The immediate thought that something had happened to Kōe followed. The bed was a complete mess, but there was notably no blood. It seemed that brat wasn't destined for an early grave after all!
So the question now was: where did Kōe go?
Vohtz wasn't the only one who wanted the answer; the assassins, who had already fled two blocks away, wanted to know even more. Facing Number One's interrogation, Number Six and Number Seven were suffering in silence. They were absolutely certain Kōe had never left Vohtz's house. For things to develop like this was completely beyond their expectations.
However, if they had stayed just a little longer, perhaps Vohtz would have kindly given them the answer. By the moonlight, Vohtz noticed a piece of paper pinned to the wall. The contents were written by none other than Kōe himself.
"The more I think about it, the more pissed off I get! Getting scolded once cancels out a life-saving debt? That's severely underestimating my net worth! Those bastards have to pay the price! Leaving without saying goodbye is quite rude, so beneath the quilt lies my expression of deep shame. — Left by Kōe Shihouin."
Reading this capricious handwritten note, Vohtz didn't know whether to laugh or cry. So he had dodged a bullet simply because he wanted to go extort someone? He really didn't know whether to call the guy petty or just incredibly lucky.
"This kid really is blessed by the Soul King. A bad thing turned into a good thing."
The assassins in the distance, however, did not share Vohtz's good mood. Failing the mission and losing the target—neither was an outcome they could accept, nor was it something their master in the Seireitei would tolerate.
"Number Seven, send word back first. We will await the master's decision," Number One said in a low voice, a slight tremble in his tone. It was fine if Kōe didn't know of their existence, but if he did, not a single one of them would survive!
Kōe, who was already rushing toward the Plains of Slaughter in a vain attempt to demand compensation, naturally wouldn't know of these assassins' existence. But was the truth really as that handwritten note claimed?
"Isn't it exhausting talking through a piece of cloth? Take them off. You guys are safe now, so hurry up and take them off."
On the roof of a house also two blocks away, a man dressed in a Shihakushō stood muttering to himself. As he spoke, he watched the assassins' every move through a pair of white Reiryoku glasses. Who else could this be but Kōe, the very man who had supposedly left a note and departed?
"What a bunch of old foxes. I can't make out what they're saying at all!"
If the assassins could hear this right now, they would probably retort, *'Who's the real old fox here?! How the hell did you even spot us?!'*
Number Six and Number Seven, who were in charge of surveillance, would want to know the answer more than anyone else to clear their names!
In truth, the blame really did lie with those two surveillance brothers. Did they honestly think that pretending to be pedestrians and changing clothes a few times while walking back and forth meant they wouldn't be noticed? How naive! Who in their right mind changes clothes and walks the same street ten or twenty times a day? Even a door-to-door salesman wouldn't do that!
Realizing something was off, Kōe naturally kept his guard up. After nightfall, he confirmed the stalkers' positions, sneaked out, and put on a brilliant show of counter-surveillance.
Actually, the assassins' methods would have worked on the vast majority of people. But was Kōe just 'the vast majority of people'?
Assassins? What a joke! Old Man Yama was the absolute forefather of assassins in the Soul Society! As his disciple, Kōe was practically the granddaddy of this pathetic bunch!
After staking them out for over an hour, the assassins still hadn't shown their faces. Kōe wasn't planning on waiting any longer. He couldn't capture this group right now, and he still had his own business to attend to. It was time to get moving.
Just then, the assassins who had been lingering for quite a while finally made a move. The one pressing a finger to his head to communicate seemed to have received an order. After saying something to the leader, all seven of them simultaneously dashed toward the north!
"What a coincidence. It seems our destinations are the same. Now I have to take a detour just to get ahead of you. What rotten luck!"
Kōe's expression instantly darkened. He swiped his right hand, dispelling the Reiryoku glasses before his eyes. Glancing at the dim, lusterless mark on his left hand, he continuously activated Shunpo, also heading north. It looked like he was going to spend this entire night traveling.
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