Early in the morning, Muten Natsu woke from a daze.
Everything that had happened last night felt like some intoxicating dream.
"So energetic first thing in the morning..." Retsu Unohana gently kissed his earlobe. "You were already such a good boy last night. Do you want to do it again?"
"I..." Muten Natsu hurriedly got out of bed, flustered. "I... I'm going to wash up first."
So it wasn't a dream!
Captain Unohana really had helped him last night...
Watching Muten Natsu leave the room, Retsu Unohana raised her hand and spread her fingers before her eyes. Something seemed to still linger on those slender fingers.
She had originally planned to take things slowly, but she hadn't expected Muten Natsu to have already done something like that with Orihime Inoue.
Retsu Unohana had no choice but to move things along faster than planned.
Taking a booklet from her bag, Retsu Unohana carefully flipped through it. "Hmm... Using only your hands isn't enough? The next step is to use..."
...
Rukia Kuchiki's return delighted her classmates, and everyone immediately crowded around to greet her.
"Yes, everything's fine now." Rukia Kuchiki gracefully responded to their concern with a polite smile. "The situation at home has been taken care of. I'm sorry for making everyone worry."
Her gaze passed through the crowd and settled on Muten Natsu, who was staring out the window.
For some reason... Muten Natsu seemed a little strange today.
He hadn't even fallen asleep during class.
Muten Natsu simply couldn't sleep.
Everything that had happened the night before kept replaying uncontrollably in his mind.
Something like that...
"Wow!"
A wave of exclamations swept through the classroom as everyone turned toward the door.
"She's so beautiful..."
"Is she a new teacher?"
"I hope she teaches our class!"
"She has such an amazing presence..."
"She looks so gentle..."
Michiru Ogawa stared at the woman standing at the doorway. "Oh my gosh, she's basically my dream."
Ryō Kunieda turned toward her. "Your dream?"
"I want to grow up to be this kind of woman." Longing filled Michiru Ogawa's eyes. "Gentle and intelligent..."
"No... No, I can't..." Chizuru Honshō shook her head vigorously before fixing her eyes firmly on Orihime Inoue. "Orihime, you're the only one in my heart! I'll never waver!!"
"You've obviously already wavered!" Tatsuki Arisawa grabbed Chizuru Honshō before she could throw herself at Orihime Inoue.
"Unohana-san~" Orihime Inoue happily waved. "What brings you here?"
Dressed in casual clothes, with a long beige coat wrapped around her body and a white scarf keeping out the cold, Retsu Unohana smiled. "Since I rarely get the chance to come here, I thought I'd visit the school."
Mahana Natsui looked at Orihime Inoue in surprise. "You know each other?"
"Yeah. Unohana-san is..." Orihime Inoue tilted her head, unsure how she should explain their relationship.
"Thank you all for looking after Rukia and Muten," Retsu Unohana said gently. "I've watched the two of them grow up. Their personalities can be a little awkward at times, but they're both good children. Please be patient with them if they ever do something wrong."
"No, no, no!" Michiru Ogawa hurriedly waved her hands. "They're both really nice..."
"I was worried they might have trouble getting along with everyone, but seeing all of you puts my mind at ease. With such understanding classmates around them, I'm sure they're enjoying their school life." Retsu Unohana's considerate words immediately eased Michiru Ogawa's nervousness.
"Muten sleeps all day anyway... There's no one easier to get along with than him." Mahana Natsui simply said whatever came to mind. "And ever since he showed up, all the troublemakers in class have behaved themselves."
"Hey..." Ryō Kunieda lightly smacked her with the book in her hand.
"Huh?" Mahana Natsui looked confused. "Why'd you hit me?"
"Muten has always been fond of sleeping, but his grades have remained fairly stable, so I've never interfered." Retsu Unohana glanced toward Muten Natsu. "As for the troublemakers, I'll have a proper talk with him about that."
"But that's a good thing." Mahana Natsui finally understood why Ryō Kunieda had hit her. "There's no need to scold him over something like that."
"He still needs to be scolded." Retsu Unohana gently shook her head. "How could stopping at just one class possibly be enough? He should make the entire school behave."
Mahana Natsui: "...Huh?"
"Unohana…-san." Rukia Kuchiki awkwardly changed how she addressed her. "Let me show you around."
"You've only just come back, so you should spend some time catching up with your classmates." Retsu Unohana stroked Rukia Kuchiki's head before calling out, "Muten, come here."
"Unohana... -san." Muten Natsu also found the form of address rather awkward.
Retsu Unohana's eyes curved into a smile. "Show me around."
"...Okay."
As everyone watched the two leave, the classroom immediately erupted into an even livelier discussion.
"She has such a strong presence!"
"She actually scared me a little just now."
"That way they address her is kind of strange..."
"Muten looks so obedient around her."
"That's a rare sight..."
The classmates who were closer to Rukia Kuchiki simply asked her directly.
"What exactly is Unohana-san to you two?"
"She's sort of..." Rukia Kuchiki couldn't immediately find an appropriate way to describe it. "A senior, I suppose..."
"She feels kind of like a mother and an older sister at the same time." Michiru Ogawa looked curious. "By 'senior,' do you mean..."
"That must be it!" Mahana Natsui suddenly had an idea. "Like some kind of... organization or group. Ow!"
Ryō Kunieda smacked Mahana Natsui with her book again.
Well... considering Muten Natsu's previous exploits, it wasn't unreasonable for them to imagine that he belonged to some sort of organization, while Unohana-san was his superior and someone who was both mentor and friend to him.
But there was no need to say it out loud.
"Something like that... probably." Rukia Kuchiki smiled. "That's close enough."
In the hallway, Retsu Unohana turned her head toward the silent Muten Natsu beside her.
"What's wrong? You don't like me coming here?"
"...That's not it."
"You look completely distracted..." Retsu Unohana suddenly leaned closer. "Are you thinking about last night?"
Muten Natsu instinctively held his breath.
"Not here." Retsu Unohana lightly poked him on the forehead. "We're at school."
"I wasn't..."
"So you didn't like what I did last night?" Retsu Unohana lowered her eyes slightly. "All right, then. I suppose I'll return to Soul Society later. Mm~"
Her voice wavered slightly as Muten Natsu suddenly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.
"Don't cling to me like this here... We're at school, you know." Despite her words, Retsu Unohana gently rubbed his back. "All right, all right. I'm not going anywhere. You just don't know what you're supposed to do, do you?"
"...Yeah."
"Then leave everything to me." Retsu Unohana whispered beside his ear. "I won't leave you. I'll slowly teach you what to do, so you're not allowed to leave me either."
"Mm!"
"Good boy~" Retsu Unohana gently patted Muten Natsu's back.
"You two students, even at school you should still... Hmm?" Their homeroom teacher, Misato Ochi, stopped and adjusted her glasses. "You are...?"
At first, she had mistaken them both for students and was about to remind them to mind themselves.
But on closer inspection, one of them clearly didn't carry herself like a student.
"Ah... this child has something on his mind." Retsu Unohana lowered her hand. "You must be his homeroom teacher. I've heard Muten mention you before. I hope this child hasn't caused you too much trouble."
"Muten..." Misato Ochi glanced incredulously at Muten Natsu, who was standing obediently beside Retsu Unohana.
So this brat actually had moments when he could behave himself like this.
He looked almost like a little kitten.
"He hasn't caused me any trouble at all. Actually, he's helped me solve quite a few problems... I won't interrupt you two. Carry on."
"Your homeroom teacher really is just as you described." Retsu Unohana watched Misato Ochi leave. "She seems very laid-back."
"If it weren't for her, we'd normally have quite a bit of trouble to deal with." Muten Natsu's turbulent thoughts had finally settled down. "I'll show you around..."
His voice abruptly stopped.
A sudden surge of Reiatsu was powerful enough that even Muten Natsu, whose ability to sense Reiatsu was rather dull, noticed it.
"This is..." Muten Natsu turned toward the hill behind the school. "Hyōrinmaru?"
...
Behind Karakura Town First High School stood a small, densely wooded hill. Since it had never been given an official name, the locals simply called it "the hill behind First High" or "First High Forest."
At that moment, a group of Shinigami dressed in Shihakushō had gathered within this otherwise ordinary forest.
They were members of the Gotei 13's 10th Division. After undergoing strict selection and rigorous training, they had been sent here on a secret mission.
The squad members were stationed at fixed intervals, closely monitoring every movement in their surroundings and remaining ready to respond immediately should anything unusual occur.
An elegant figure suddenly appeared.
Rangiku Matsumoto swept back her long, wavy golden hair as her pink shawl fluttered in the wind. The generous curves of her chest basked freely in the rare warmth of the winter sunlight.
"How's the situation?"
Two nearby squad members hurried over.
"Lieutenant Matsumoto!"
"No abnormalities!"
"Mm." Rangiku nodded, then looked at them solemnly. "This mission is extremely important. Do not let your guard down."
"Yes!"
The two straightened and answered in unison.
Rangiku Matsumoto raised a hand above her eyes and looked toward the sky. The two squad members beside her followed her example, their eyes settling on a layer of pale pink mist.
A procession was moving solemnly across that mist as though walking on solid ground.
At the very front was someone carrying an intricately patterned golden incense burner. Pure incense burned within, sending pale pink smoke curling around the procession and giving the entire scene a dreamlike appearance.
Behind them stretched a long line of flag bearers, advancing in orderly, rhythmic steps to the sound of bells ringing at regular intervals.
Amid the elegant court music performed by a large group of musicians, dancers dressed in luxurious, brilliantly colored costumes and elaborate makeup moved gracefully around the solemn white-wood shrine at the center of the procession.
The shrine's surface was covered in intricate gold and silver ornamentation that glittered dazzlingly beneath the sunlight.
A group of powerfully built members of the Kidō Corps carried the shrine, while dozens more surrounded them, quietly chanting spiritual incantations.
And that was without even counting the many Shinigami concealed elsewhere.
Around the palanquin alone, more than a hundred members of the Kidō Corps had been mobilized.
What the 10th Division had been assigned to protect was the object contained within the shrine being transported by this procession.
A secret treasure tied to the fate of the Royal Family, the [Ōin].
"Still, this really is quite the spectacle." There was a complicated note in Rangiku Matsumoto's voice.
For someone born in Rukongai, who had often gone hungry and survived on Gin Ichimaru's dried persimmons, the extravagance of this procession seemed almost excessive.
One squad member kept his gaze on the procession as he voiced a question that had been bothering him.
"Yeah... But what exactly is this Ōin? They told us to keep it safe while also making absolutely sure we don't attract attention..."
During their previous training, the squad members had all been extremely curious about the nature of the mission.
But its details had been kept under strict secrecy. Until the mission officially began, even asking about it had been against regulations.
They had been told not to attract attention, yet without the concealment provided by the Kidō Corps, a procession this extravagant could hardly be described as discreet.
The only ones actually living up to the instruction to "absolutely avoid attracting attention" were probably the members of the 10th Division hiding throughout the forest.
"The Ōin is a secret treasure that absolutely no one outside the Royal Family is permitted to see. No ordinary person will ever have the chance to lay eyes on it..." Rangiku explained. "How it is used or what special powers it possesses aren't things people like us are allowed to know. However..."
She gazed upward at the palanquin carrying the shrine and narrowed her beautiful eyes against the dazzling light reflecting from it.
"Every few decades, its storage location has to be moved, just like now. A power that must periodically be relocated... that is the Ōin."
After delivering those words in an almost ceremonial tone, Rangiku Matsumoto turned toward the two attentive squad members and flashed them a playful smile, immediately returning to her usual self.
"That's about all there is to it. I don't really know the specifics either, but judging from this whole spectacle, it's obviously an incredibly important treasure. Our 10th Division's job is to protect that treasure, so don't let your guard down."
"Yes!"
The two squad members answered seriously once more. After watching Rangiku Matsumoto leave, they returned to their assigned positions.
"Captain!"
Rangiku Matsumoto appeared in the air beside the procession and called out to Tōshirō Hitsugaya, who stood with his arms folded across his chest.
"Matsumoto..." Tōshirō Hitsugaya shifted his gaze slightly.
"Everything's normal."
"Mm." Tōshirō Hitsugaya nodded and returned his attention to the procession.
Rangiku Matsumoto looked over the formation. "It feels even more imposing when you see it from this close."
"That's the entire point of all this flashy nonsense."
"Someone might get angry if they hear you say that." Rangiku Matsumoto offered the tactful warning before stretching widely and changing the subject. "Haaah! We should be able to head back in another hour or two, right?"