Rukia's terrified scream left everyone completely baffled.
Amid the confusion, only Shihōin Chika wore a faint, mysterious smile.
He alone had a pretty good idea what Rukia had seen.
After all, his sharp senses had already picked up the subtle disturbance when Kazuma quietly returned last night.
"Hey, Rukia! Weren't you just going to wake Batsu'unsai up? What are you screaming for? Did you see a ghost?"
Shigyō Nobutsuna rushed forward and grabbed the bright-red Rukia by the shoulders.
What in the world had the girl seen to make her flee like a frightened rabbit?
Rukia, however, had been completely traumatized by the scene in that bedroom.
Her mouth remained tightly shut, and no matter how everyone questioned her, she only shook her head frantically without a word.
That only made everyone even more curious.
"Hmph! You only had to wake someone up, and you couldn't even manage that?"
Hiyori glared at Rukia impatiently.
"Useless. I'll go do it myself!"
She immediately started toward Batsu'unsai's bedroom.
"Wait! Hiyori, don't be reckless."
Chika reacted quickly and caught her slender arm.
He bent down and whispered several words into her ear.
The furious Hiyori instantly deflated.
Her entire body seemed to lose its energy, and she abruptly abandoned any idea of going inside.
"Chika! You know something, don't you?"
Shijima Chigiri immediately perked up.
Despite his quiet personality, the man absolutely loved gossip. His curiosity was burning so fiercely that he could barely stand still.
"Come on! Tell me! Stop keeping us in suspense!"
"Look at you getting all worked up."
Chika remained completely calm.
"Just wait a little while. You'll find out naturally. What's the hurry?"
There was no chance he'd casually reveal something that might offend Kazuma.
Chika knew perfectly well how petty that scheming bastard could be.
If Kazuma decided to take revenge later, the consequences would be miserable.
Enjoying gossip was fun.
Getting beaten afterward was not.
"Just tell me already!"
Chigiri could no longer restrain himself.
"Please! I'm begging you! I can't take this anymore!"
He suddenly grabbed Chika by the collar and shook him violently.
Chika's vision spun as the entire world seemed to rock back and forth, but even then, he stubbornly kept his mouth shut.
Sometimes, the safest thing a person could say was nothing at all.
"Hmph! Fine! If you won't tell me, I'll go see for myself!"
Chigiri's curiosity only intensified.
He released Chika, turned around, and strode directly toward Batsu'unsai's bedroom.
Chika's face instantly went pale.
If Chigiri barged inside and saw what was happening, he was finished.
Without thinking, Chika launched himself forward and tackled his old friend to the ground.
Hiyori quickly found a thick coil of rope.
Working together, the two of them bound Chigiri tightly and trussed him to a nearby pillar like a wrapped parcel.
"Chigiri, don't blame me."
Chika panted as he tightened the ropes.
"Once you learn the truth later, you'll understand that I'm doing this for your own good."
They'd been friends for many years.
Chika genuinely didn't want to watch Chigiri get brutally beaten by Kazuma.
"Is all this really necessary?"
Nobutsuna watched the thoroughly restrained Chigiri and felt Chika might be going a little overboard.
"AAAAAH!"
Before Chika could explain, another piercing scream suddenly erupted from Batsu'unsai's bedroom.
This time, Saitō Furofushi was the culprit.
The lunatic woman had quietly slipped away without anyone noticing and snuck into the bedroom.
The moment she pushed open the door, the scene before her froze her solid.
For someone who'd entered completely unprepared, the unmistakably intimate sight was quite a shock.
Kazuma and Batsu'unsai, meanwhile, were just as startled by Saitō's sudden scream.
"SAITŌ! I'M GOING TO CUT YOU DOWN!"
Kazuma's head shot out from beneath the blanket.
His face was twisted with fury as he glared at Saitō, who stood helplessly frozen in the doorway.
That scream had startled him so badly that his entire body had jerked.
Whatever enthusiasm he'd had a moment earlier vanished instantly.
"We're screwed."
Chika covered his face with one hand.
He could already see Saitō's miserable future unfolding before his eyes.
Three seconds of silence for the fallen.
At this point, anyone with half a brain understood exactly what had happened.
They'd all heard Kazuma's furious roar.
The crowd immediately began scattering.
"Uh… I think I sensed a Menos Grande nearby. I should go verify that."
Nobutsuna vanished almost immediately.
"Right… I haven't put Urahara Kisuke through his training today. I should probably get on that."
Kumoi Entetsu also fled the moment he sensed danger.
"I just remembered…"
"Same here…"
Within seconds, everyone who'd been gathered together found some convenient excuse and scattered like frightened birds.
The courtyard emptied almost instantly.
Only one person remained.
Shijima Chigiri.
Still tied firmly to the pillar.
"You bastards! COME BACK AND UNTIE ME!"
Chigiri screamed until his throat hurt.
The only response was dead silence and the occasional whisper of wind.
Panic slowly spread across his face.
He couldn't believe the comrades who normally called him brother had abandoned him without the slightest hesitation.
They hadn't merely left him behind.
They'd practically sentenced him to death!
...
Shijima Chigiri had gotten off relatively lightly.
Saitō, on the other hand, was having a truly miserable day.
The poor woman never even got the chance to run before Kazuma caught her.
"Have you never heard of knocking before entering someone's room? You barge in, ruin someone else's good time, and then scream like a stuck pig on top of it? You're asking for a beating!"
Before Saitō could respond, Kazuma raised a fist the size of a sandbag and started hammering it into her face.
Punch after punch landed without mercy.
Within moments, Saitō's once-pretty face was swollen out of shape, bloated and bruised almost past recognition.
"K-Kazuma! You goddamn bastard!"
Despite the beating, Saitō refused to surrender.
"How dare you hit me?! Just wait! The second I get an opening, I'm cutting you into eight pieces!"
Unfortunately, her threats didn't intimidate Kazuma in the slightest.
If anything, they only made him hit harder.
His fists rained down until Saitō was practically seeing stars.
"Batsu'unsai! Control your man!"
Desperate, Saitō turned toward her best friend for help.
"If this keeps up, he's seriously going to beat me to death! All I did was accidentally see the two of you fooling around! I didn't even gossip about it! Does he really need to go this far?!"
That plea turned out to be a terrible mistake.
The moment Batsu'unsai heard her mention what she'd seen, embarrassment and anger surged across her face.
Without saying a word, she joined Kazuma.
And thus poor Saitō experienced the full terror of a husband-and-wife double team.
By the time the two of them finished beating her, neither had completely worked off their anger.
They exchanged a glance.
Apparently, Saitō still needed one final lesson.
A thick rope was brought over, and the unfortunate woman was tied up tightly before being hung from the estate's main gate.
She swayed helplessly in the air like a miserable decoration.
Surely that would teach her not to barge into bedrooms without knocking.
Unfortunately, the punishment didn't end there.
Kazuma soon came storming back while dragging another victim behind him.
Rukia.
If she hadn't unleashed that first scream, none of the chaos afterward would have happened.
The realization reignited Kazuma's temper.
Without another word, he gave Rukia another beating.
Rukia wailed, begged for mercy, and called for anyone who might save her, but Kazuma remained unmoved.
Once he was satisfied, he tied her up as well and hung her beside Saitō.
Only after staring at the two unfortunate figures dangling from the gate did Kazuma finally feel his anger ease.
Chigiri, meanwhile, took one look at Saitō and Rukia and sucked in a sharp breath.
Relief flooded through him.
If Chika hadn't tackled and tied him up earlier, he might have been hanging beside them right now.
"My brother!"
Chigiri looked at Chika with genuine gratitude.
"Thank you! Seriously, thank you! If you hadn't tied me up when you did, I'd be completely screwed right now!"
So Chika really had been protecting him.
The man hadn't lied at all.
Chika and the others stared at the two figures hanging high above the entrance.
At this point, there was nothing they could do except silently pray that Kazuma's anger would fade soon enough for him to show mercy.