Paying no mind to the two limp, boneless students behind her, Soifon stepped out of the hot spring and pulled on her bathrobe. She raised both hands to her nose and sniffed carefully — no strange smell whatsoever. Satisfied, she made her way out of the bathhouse.
"Don't soak too long, or you'll catch a cold."
She left that parting word of concern hanging in the air, and then — thud — the door swung shut.
Out in the courtyard, Nelliel had just returned from the Shihōin estate and happened to spot Soifon fresh from her bath. She came bounding over with eager energy.
"Lady Soifon!"
She skidded to a halt in front of her like a fawn that had run full tilt into a wall.
"Nel?" Soifon instinctively glanced at the empty space beside her. "Where's Harribel? Aren't you two joined at the hip?"
She'd gotten so used to it — saying Nelliel's name without tacking on Harribel's felt like something was missing.
"Harribel, you see~~"
"Senior Yoruichi said Harribel looks really scary, so she left her behind to help out."
Soifon understood immediately. Yoruichi had returned to the Shihōin estate, and while Yūshirō Shihōin was perfectly happy to see his sister reclaim her authority over the clan, there were bound to be some crusty old geezers with objections — so Yoruichi had left Harribel there as her muscle.
"Anyway, I don't really understand what kind of help is needed — Soul Society's Shinigami politics are so tangled, nothing like back in Hueco Mundo..."
At that, Nelliel's eyes lit up with barely-concealed delight. But the words had barely left her mouth before Soifon's hand shot out and covered it.
"Shh——!"
"Didn't I warn you already? Don't go mentioning Hueco Mundo around here."
"You'll end up getting grabbed by a Shinigami and sliced up for research..."
Nelliel, however, barely registered the second half of the warning. The moment Soifon's hand pressed over her mouth, her attention had been completely hijacked by something else entirely.
Soifon had moved so fast — her palm, carrying the fresh, clean scent of the bath and the faint warmth of her skin, had settled right against her lips. That closeness sent Nelliel's thoughts drifting somewhere entirely inappropriate.
[Ah... what arrived before the hand — was Lady Soifon's post-bath fragrance!]
On pure reflex, she drew in a long, deep breath — a full, lung-filling inhale — as if trying to etch that scent permanently into her body.
Then Soifon suddenly felt something warm, soft, and faintly wet brush against her palm. She yanked her hand back as if she'd touched a live wire.
"Nel! You——!"
But faced with Soifon's glare, Nelliel simply blinked those wide, innocent, crystal-clear eyes of hers and smiled her usual gentle, guileless smile.
"Mm, isn't that what Shinigami do to show they like someone?" Nelliel tilted her chin with an air of studied innocence. "I saw it in a book at Senior Yoruichi's place, so I thought I'd try it."
"Stop reading the books at Lady Yoruichi's. They'll corrupt you all..."
Choosing to trust in Nelliel's fundamental wholesomeness, Soifon decided not to make a big deal of it, and headed back to her captain's quarters.
Once the door had closed behind Soifon, Nelliel let the smile spread fully across her face. Then she crept, tiptoe by tiptoe, toward the bathhouse.
[Just now... Miss Rukia and Miss Momo deliberately suppressed their Spiritual Pressure to slip past my senses and sneak a peek at Lady Soifon in the bath.]
[I heard sounds of a fight — it sounded like Lady Soifon was disciplining her students...]
[But the sounds Miss Rukia and Miss Momo were making were a little... strange.]
[Kind of like the sounds Senior Yoruichi made that one night...]
Nelliel pressed her hand against her chest without thinking. Even through the enormous wicked aura lurking within her, she could feel her heart going thump-thump-thump.
Could that kind of thing really be done in a hot spring....
Creak——
Nelliel eased the bathhouse door open quietly. Her long emerald-green hair hung loose at her sides as she tilted her head and peeked through the gap, scanning the interior — and sure enough, there were Rukia and Momo, sitting and soaking in the spring.
Sitting. That must be sitting. Probably.
The scene she found: a limp, drained Momo and Rukia, both wearing utterly blank expressions, pillowed against the stones behind them, gazing up at the night sky.
"Hey... Rukia," Momo let out a sigh that could've belonged to a middle-aged man. "What do you think is the meaning of life?"
"I don't know, Momo." Rukia scooped up a palmful of spring water. "Right now, all I want is to get stronger."
Shame is the beginning of courage — after getting thoroughly lectured in Soifon's private pocket dimension, Rukia and Momo had both entered philosopher mode and were now contemplating the deeper questions of existence.
"Ahem!"
Nelliel cleared her throat deliberately, making enough noise to draw their attention before she appeared — sparing them the shock of a sudden entrance.
Both girls jolted at once, spinning their heads around. When they saw it was Nelliel, the tension visibly drained from their shoulders.
"Oh, it's Miss Nelliel," Rukia said first, trying not to sound as rattled as she felt. "Good evening."
Momo hastily chimed in with stiff pleasantries: "Would you like to join us?"
Any normal Shinigami would have returned the courtesy, read the awkward atmosphere, and politely declined.
Nelliel, however, was not a normal Shinigami. She was an Arrancar.
Nelliel's eyes lit up. "Really? I've always been curious about hot springs!"
She was already turning toward the changing room as she spoke, entirely naturally, and a moment later came the rustle of clothes being removed. Before long she stepped back out, dressed in a bathrobe.
Following Rukia and Momo's example, she untied the sash, and slowly lowered herself into the warm water, settling a short distance from the two of them.
The warmth of the spring enveloped her, and Nelliel let out a quiet, contented sigh, a blissful expression spreading across her face.
But almost immediately, she seemed to remember something important. She turned her head and looked at the two girls beside her.
"By the way..."
"Were you two just sparring with Lady Soifon? It sounded quite intense."
Nelliel blinked, her expression perfectly innocent.
"Pfft—!" ×2
Rukia and Momo both choked on their own spit at exactly the same moment, dissolving into fits of coughing.
"Yes, it was sparring."
Rukia averted her eyes, guilt written all over her face.
"Teacher Soifon is just too strong — even teaming up, we couldn't beat her, so now we're a bit... drained..."
Momo added in a muffled voice.
Having said that, both of them simultaneously sank their faces a little deeper into the water, leaving only their faintly flushed foreheads and stray strands of floating hair above the surface.
Nelliel tilted her head.
"Ah, I see..."
"Lady Soifon really is extraordinarily powerful, isn't she."
Her tone was so sincere — she seemed to have genuinely not understood what kind of "sparring" they'd meant — and that made Momo and Rukia feel quite a bit better.
"You know, it's been a while since I sparred with Lady Soifon myself. Next time, I want to try sparring with Lady Soifon in the hot spring too."
The next words out of Nelliel's mouth made both their faces go pale.
The competition had just gained another rival.
——Meanwhile, at the same moment, somewhere else.
Isane had the window open and was leaning on the sill with both hands cupped under her chin, watching the golden line that split the horizon in two, her eyes clouded with quiet longing.
"Sis, dinner's ready~"
"What are you staring at so intently?"
Kiyone carried the food and miso soup to the table, and when she spotted her sister daydreaming at the window over the "shooting star," a knowing smile spread across her face.
"Hm? Coming now, sorry..."
Isane blinked out of her daze, smoothed away the awkward expression, and gave her little sister a gentle smile.
She was just pushing herself up from the chair when Kiyone, after setting down the dishes, came to the window and pressed down on Isane's shoulders, making her sink back into the seat.
Kiyone followed her sister's line of sight and looked up. The faint golden "shooting star" was gradually dimming, fading away into the night sky above the Seireitei.
"Hmm——" Kiyone leaned down with an impish grin, peering right into her sister's face. "Were you watching Captain Soifon descending from the Royal Palace?"
"What are you talking about?! Kiyone."
The words landed, and Isane's cheeks flushed crimson on the spot. She shoved her sister's hand away and marched to the dinner table, sitting herself down with purpose.
Isane lifted her bowl of rice, using it to shield her reddening face.
"You're the strange one, Sis." Kiyone placed a piece of fish into her sister's bowl. "I only mentioned Captain Soifon — why such a big reaction?"
Isane's chopsticks froze mid-scoop. Red-faced and speechless, she ultimately gave up on words entirely and sat there stewing in silent mortification.
"Sis, you know what?"
Kiyone sighed.
Isane turned to look at her. "Know what?"
"There's a pair of officers in the Thirteenth Division who started dating — and the look on their faces is exactly the same as yours just now..."
Kiyone paid no attention to her sister's flustered expression and kept going. "Your problem, Sis, is that you're too passive about everything. If you just sit back and wait, the person you like is going to get quietly snatched away by someone else, you know..."
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: COTE: Confessing to Sakayanagi From the Start
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone