Chapter 115: Slain?
Originally, Satoru and the others had planned to force Takatori into a corner, making him send his guards to attack the Omaeda family.
At that point, they would have Kōga step in to extract the memories of those involved.
Following the clues to piece together the evidence, they would gradually tighten the net and completely dismantle Takatori's schemes.
But now, for some inexplicable reason, Takatori had directly sent Rennosuke, a known rebel, to them.
This turned out even better—skipping the step of fabricating charges and going straight to the heart of the matter.
Life just keeps getting better day by day.
Lost in thought, Satoru happily raised his arm.
Suì-Fēng, her face stern, diligently cleaned his body.
"Oh yeah, scrub there a bit more... feels good..."
Satoru closed his eyes contentedly, occasionally giving directions.
Suì-Fēng remained expressionless, though her blood pressure rose slightly.
At the same time, she couldn't help but feel secretly astonished.
While assisting Satoru with his bath, he had boasted about the earlier battle.
Though Suì-Fēng considered Satoru flawed in many ways, she never doubted the accuracy of his critical intel.
Her fingers lightly traced the edges of his wounds.
The thought that these injuries were from facing Rennosuke Kamikawa's full-powered attack in Bankai state felt surreal.
Just how strong had this guy become?
If it were her, she'd probably be reduced to mincemeat by now.
Yet Satoru, despite suffering extensive burns—a severe injury by any measure—would likely recover completely in a couple of days thanks to the hellish hot springs.
For a moment, Suì-Fēng couldn't help but marvel.
This guy seemed born to shatter conventional expectations.
After carefully cleaning Satoru's wounds, she took out bandages and wrapped the burned areas on his body.
Satoru looked at himself in the mirror with mixed feelings.
Fortunately, there were no injuries on his face—otherwise, if it had been wrapped up too, he would have ended up looking like Shishio.
After getting dressed, the two returned to the main hall.
As soon as they stepped out, Satoru noticed that Ginrei Kuchiki had arrived at some point.
The old man wasn't doing anything, just kneeling silently in the corner of the room.
"Why is this old man here?"
Satoru went over to Yoruichi.
To his surprise, she was actually reading a book at the moment.
Yoruichi lifted her head from the pages.
"Probably worried something might go wrong... We attacked the direct descendants of the Tsunayashiro family for three generations. It's very likely to have alarmed Tsunayashiro Senzaemon."
"Old Man Ginrei probably came here to prepare for the worst-case scenario."
Then, noticing Satoru's gaze, she grinned and waved the book in her hand.
"What? Curious?"
"This is a secret technique manual of the Shihōin family, written by the first captain of Squad 2, Senjumaru Shutara."
"It records all his insights into Hakuda—a treasure unique to the entire Soul Society."
Hearing this, Satoru couldn't help but sigh.
"Must be nice being a noble. The resources you have are unimaginable."
Then, he puffed out his chest.
"But I'm not too envious. After all, I've got the strongest stand-in."
Yoruichi had no idea what he was talking about and just shook her head with a smile.
She glanced at the girl following behind Satoru.
"Hey, Suì-Fēng, how was it helping Satoru bathe? Did you feel anything... strange?"
Suì-Fēng's face darkened. "Lady Yoruichi, please don't joke about such things!"
Flustered, she quickly added:
"I would never have any thoughts about such a lewd, perverted, degenerate person!"
"Hey, the person in question is right here," Satoru couldn't help but roll his eyes.
By now, not many people remained in the hall.
To handle the aftermath of the business war, Ōmaeda had already left.
Kensei volunteered to escort him and followed along.
Rōjūrō went to Squad 2 to guard against possible retaliation.
After waiting a while, Satoru grew bored.
He found a couch and lazily sprawled across it.
"Hey, hey, Suì-Fēng, come give me a shoulder rub~"
Hearing Satoru's voice, Suì-Fēng took a deep breath.
Her blood pressure spiked.
With the intent to squeeze Satoru to death, she walked over, knelt beside him, and began massaging his shoulders.
However, despite her best efforts, the damage she inflicted was negligible.
Satoru even had the leisure to let out some embarrassing moans.
Amused, Yoruichi also sidled up, pressing close to Satoru and demanding a massage from Suì-Fēng.
Ginrei knelt nearby, pretending not to see any of it.
Rennosuke, his Saketsu and Hakusui damaged, had already fallen unconscious and missed this indecent spectacle.
If Yamamoto were to walk in now, his blood pressure—along with his spiritual pressure—would probably break through to a whole new level...
After what felt like an eternity, Suì-Fēng couldn't hold back anymore.
"Lord Satoru, hasn't Lord Kuchiki been gone for too long?"
At her words, Ginrei finally opened his eyes.
From the very beginning, he had sensed something was off.
Could it be that something unexpected had happened to Kōga on his secret mission to capture Tsunayashiro Takatori?
Satoru sat up.
Truth be told, when formulating the plan, he hadn't even considered the possibility of Kōga failing.
As the most infamous "civil war god" in the entire series, Kōga Kuchiki's ability to fight Hollows aside, his prowess against Shinigami was absolutely top-tier.
Unless he encountered an unconventional Shinigami like Yoruichi in the later arcs—who didn't even rely on a Zanpakutō—Satoru couldn't fathom Kōga losing.
Just as he was debating whether to go assist Kōga, an odd sensation suddenly struck his mind.
The tracking Kidō he had placed on Takatori had vanished!
So something had indeed gone wrong.
Satoru stood up and quickly relayed the situation.
"Old Man Kuchiki, I'll go check it out. Please keep an eye on things here."
Hearing this, Ginrei shook his head.
He rose to his feet. "This matter arose because of me. It's only right that I go to confirm it."
As he spoke, he adjusted the Zanpakutō at his waist and prepared to leave.
Satoru was about to say something when he suddenly froze, turning his gaze outside.
Ginrei sensed it too and reacted the same way.
An unrestrained spiritual pressure was rapidly approaching.
It was Kōga!
The two hurried out of the room just in time to see Kōga flash into the courtyard.
He bore numerous wounds.
Upon seeing Ginrei, he immediately bowed his head.
"Father!"
Ginrei Kuchiki nodded. "Where is Tsunayashiro Takatori?"
At this, Kōga bent even lower.
"My deepest apologies. While attempting to capture Tsunayashiro Takatori, I was ambushed."
"Amid the chaos, I… accidentally killed him!"
A collective gasp of shock rippled through the group.