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806-810

Yoruichi closely examined Kisuke and figured out that he was having a conversation with his Zanpakuto. Having recalled his relationship with Benihime, she asked "Should I set up a barrier?"

Kisuke shook his head, "Don't worry. It won't come to that. Not now."

Yoruichi sighed in relief and remained silent. As far as she knows, the only Zanpakuto that is as sadistic as Benihime was Shunsui's Katen Kyoukotsu, which was already famed for always putting its owner at the same risk as his enemy.

'So why didn't you continue?' Kisuke asked Benihime.

'Because you are not yet ready.', Benihime answered briefly, 'As much as I want for both of us to attain a higher level, you need to have an actual chance to proceed. After all, the power we're talking about is something beyond Bankai. And you also know that for me to achieve that, I have to advance beyond the limits of my origin and existence.'

'The constraints of a 'name', huh...'

After moving out of the disrupted zone of the battle, Kisuke began setting up the teleportation magic that would take them back to the Dizara Region, "By the way, how's Medusa?", he asked while preparing.

Yoruichi thought about the scene she had seen for a few moments before Aika contacted her, "It looks like it'll take some time."

"It's not going well?"

"When has something like that ever gone well?"

"So the situation is bad enough for you to say something like that. Need help?"

Yoruichi shook her head, "Your help would be immensely useful right now, but it would be detrimental in the future. And yeah, the situation is bad enough that the older sisters are accumulating hate towards you with each passing day, so it would be better not to show your face to them until this is over... Not that you'd care even if they hated you to the bone."

Kisuke was in silent agreement.

"Either way, it's good that you've changed your plans since I want to watch over them myself. And although things are quiet right now, I have a feeling that something dangerous  is developing beyond our surveillance."

Connecting the coordinates, the two teleported and reappeared near the city of Pandemonium and started walking towards it, "Is it about the Aruna Familia?" asked Kisuke.

Yoruichi nodded, "Yeah... They are strong, but only within this world's common sense so there should be nothing of concern about them even though their current quiet behavior was not like them and attracting a lot of attention from others. However, there's this nagging feeling that it isn't as simple as it seems, so I tried investigating their God, Aruna. But surprisingly, I can't get close without being detected."

Kisuke's eyes widened in surprise, "He can detect you?"

Yoruichi nodded once again, "That's right. Though I don't exactly know how he's doing it, I'm certain that I would only be revealing myself if I stay around him for a certain period of time even with Kuroka's help. And thanks to that failed attempt, even though they have no way of identifying us, they became even more careful and quiet."

Kisuke was about to say something but Yoruichi interrupted him, "I know what you want to say. Kidnap and extract information from one of them, right?"

Kisuke became silent as that's indeed an option they can explore.

Sighing, Yoruichi continued, "I wouldn't blame you for your excessiveness since I know what you went through. Nevertheless, we can be cold but never cruel. Kidnapping one of them because of some simple suspicion is still cruel in my book. And you do know that the chances of getting any actual information from one of his children are nil since we've learned how a Deity could easily fool a child."

"...That's true... But I still think bringing in one of them is a reasonable method. I'm sorry that I can't change this."

All of a sudden, Yoruichi gave Kisuke a loud slap on his back. Although it only tickled him, Kisuke couldn't help but give her a puzzled look to which Yoruichi replied, "You did nothing wrong, so don't apologize. Our differing opinions are not your fault because none of us truly knows the correct answer in every situation. And most importantly, you don't have to change, not forcefully anyway as that should come naturally and I'll welcome it. But if I do think that you're straying too much, I'll be the first one who's going to drag you back."

Kisuke smiled and looked forward, "Then I'll do the same. If I think you're straying, I'll be the first one to drag you."

At that point, Yoruichi started chuckling.

"What now? There's nothing funny with what I just said."

"No... I'm just glad that the girls are with us. So even if both of us strayed apart, it'll be up to them to do what they think is right. In hindsight, each one of us is compensating for each other in what we lack, especially to the two of us who lack the normality of life."

They arrived at the gates of the city and Yoruichi added, "In any case, leave this to us and just focus on what you want to do on the other side. You don't have to worry since contact is now possible."

Kisuke then produced a terminal and passed it to Yoruichi, "Here is the list of barriers and formations I've placed on Pandemonium, Orario, and the tower. I've categorized and tagged them so it'll be easy for you to look for what you need. Just use the search bar at the top."

Yoruichi received the terminal and turned it on. But the moment her eyes landed on a certain metric on the board, a minor headache came rushing in, "9,936 entries? This is beyond overdoing it."

"I wasn't joking when I said you can search for whatever you may need. Though a third of that was for sealing the Dungeon from outside interference and influence from Divine Power or Soul Power. If it's outside the Dungeon, you can go all out."

Editors:

28th00: Not even 10,000? Is Kisuke slacking off there!? But seriously, that's so many barriers it probably has one for keeping Tea at the right temperature in there somewhere!

Goyya: Well, that doesn't account for all variations and could have multiple items in a single entry.

"...If there's this much, there shouldn't be any big problems even if a God or two suddenly goes rogue and unleashes their Divinity." Yoruichi took one final peek before keeping the terminal within her inventory, 'Since most of these are Magic-based and Ki-based, I'll pass this to Serafall, Kuroka, and Medusa too for good measure.'

"So are you going to leave now?" Yoruichi asked.

"Yeah. After saying my goodbyes. Aika's preparations should be done too, though she won't really be using any of those when we go back."

Yoruichi looked him in the eyes and asked, "I had my suspicions, but are you planning to leave her there?"

Kisuke became silent for a few moments before answering, "That was supposed to be the plan and only take her back once she's ready and becomes more experienced with how the supernatural world works."

"Then what changed?"

"...I thought I should trust her a little more. I'm going to seal her abilities and senses and send her back to the secular world. Whether she truly wanted to continue this arduous and unforgiving journey or not, it'll be up to her."

Yoruichi also became silent and sighed. As they walked through the road she muttered, "Even I don't know what should be done so I don't really have an opinion about it. It's just that it's really surprising how we are treating her so differently compared to when we dragged Inoue and Sado to a war that they shouldn't have been part of in the first place."

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.

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At the top of the tower that Kisuke built, except for Medusa and Yoruichi who were busy with something, and Akeno and Irina, that could hardly stay awake for a few minutes each day since their souls haven't fully adapted to the changes within their bodies, everyone else had gathered to see Kisuke and Aika off.

While Kisuke was wearing his usual attire, Kisuke asked Aika to wear her school uniform and the latter didn't question it.

"Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama, please take care of things here for me."

Hestia pouted her mouth at her ever so busy child that he couldn't even make some time for her, "I'd do just that even if you didn't tell me."

Artemis, on the other hand, could only smile wryly, "Just promise us that you'll contact us every now and then."

"I promise."

Kisuke and Aika then proceeded to say their farewells to the rest of the crew. Sona wanted to boldly kiss Kisuke in front of everyone, but her sister's burning stare ultimately discouraged her from doing so.

After giving his reminders to the 'child' group since they were tasked in taking care of Akeno and Irina, Kisuke returned to Hestia and Artemis, "Hestia-sama, Artemis-sama. I would like to request the two of you to meet and mingle with the other Gods of the region, especially those who are sitting at the top of the power hierarchy."

"Why?" Hestia asked, because all this time, aside from Astarte and Astraea, they refused to meet other Gods because there's no real benefits in doing so. In fact, they'd only be putting themselves in danger because they knew how much worse the power struggle within this region was compared to that of Orario's. Despite the alliance looking good, it was striped with inner conflicts that each and every day, there would be small-scale conflicts within the shadow of Pandemonium.

"I want you to keep an eye on them and tell Yoruichi or Serafall your impression of them."

"You want us to gather information among the circles of Gods?" asked Artemis.

But Kisuke shook his head, "No. That would be too dangerous. I just want you to interact with them normally and just keep an eye out on their behavior without eliciting their suspicions."

"Since you're asking us this, there must be something weird going on. Shouldn't we actively gather information despite the danger?"

"No. Actual information gathering would be handled by Kuroka and Yoruichi. I just want you to give them your impressions of each notable God, because that's what they needed the most to make sense of the situation."

"That's easy! Leave it to us!" Hestia proudly proclaimed while striking her chest, "There will be a banquet hosted by Lugh three days from now on. We intended to ignore the invitation as usual but I guess this will be a good opportunity."

"That's great. With that said, always bring Serafall and Sona with you. If children are not allowed to follow you, Kuroka and Koneko will hide within your shadows as your guards. I won't allow any compromises on this."

It was a quarter of an hour later before Kisuke could finish his reminders to others that Aika couldn't help but comment, "Are you a mother!?"

With a final wave, Kisuke and Aika disappeared from the tower and arrived in the desert that became Serafall and Sona's venue for their training. Ensuring that his 'anchor' was functioning properly, Kisuke opened a rift in space using his cane, "Hold my hand tightly and never let go."

Aika did as Kisuke instructed and the both of them jumped into the void.

Editors:

28th00: Aika is pretty damn stubborn, being a dragon(Ophis approved even!) and all, so I highly doubt she'll let Kisuke get away, chosen mate and all. Side note, Ophis has no more Mr. Hat to keep an eye on her! She's got damn near FREE REIGN RIGHT NOW! This was the omen of many more towers popping up everywhere and anywhere in this poor world.

Goyya: Well, Aika was technically tortured to accept her reality and Mr. Hat here didn't even consider that in the past. The subtle changes in his viewpoints are also biting his ass.

Unlike his previous trips, the journey through the void this time was a lot more stable due to the countermeasures that he'd prepared, 'This is my fourth time going through this. I'd be ashamed if I still couldn't figure out how to travel safely even after having all of that data.'

Kisuke estimated that it wouldn't be too long until he's able to develop a stable pathway between the two worlds, 'But before that can happen, I first have to get Chaos' permission or take him out. I don't know which one is easier, though.'

When they arrived, Aika looked around with a puzzled face, "Where are we?", she asked after seeing the sci-fi-themed room. She thought that they went back to the tower, but she clearly remembered going through the void and she didn't recall a room like this within the tower she'd explored multiple times.

"Before I answer that, take this." Kisuke tossed her a small candy.

Although confused, Aika popped the candy into her mouth without a second thought, "What's this for?"

But before she could hear his answer, a massive headache attacked her consciousness and she almost fell to the floor from dizziness, "...W-what?" The confusion further clouded her mind as she tried to make sense of what was happening while holding her head in pain.

Before she completely lost consciousness, she heard Kisuke's voice echoing as it fades, "Slowly but surely, it'll all return to you... Until then, enjoy your life and I'll wait for your decision..."

Aika tried to fight back the drowsiness and struggled to open her eyes, "...N-no....." But as much as she wanted, she couldn't resist the call of darkness.

Kisuke caught her and carried her towards one of the rooms of the facility before he went out to prepare the rest of Aika's normal life, "Let's see... Explaining it to her parents, creating a backstory for the lost memories, and enrolling as a third year. I guess that should do it."

Leaving the Mars facility that was built by automated bots through teleportation, Kisuke returned back to Earth with an urgent goal of meeting Aika's parents and accepting their wrath.

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.

.

In a normal house in the corner of Kuoh town, Kisuke was facing the Kiryuu couple in the living room. After the people of the supernatural world investigated them due to their interest in their daughter and finding out that they have nothing to do with their world aside from Aika possessing a 'failed' Sacred Gear, the couple were left alone.

Of course, that didn't mean that someone who had no pride wouldn't take advantage of their relationship with Aika to lure her out, so extensive security from the shadows was arranged by the Belial House and Grigori for their safety.

Sitting in front of him was a middle-aged man with a large build, tanned skin, short black hair, and black eyes looking sternly at him, expressing wrath and discontent. He was Aika's father, Kiryuu Haruto.

Aika's mother, on the other hand, had a very mature build, light skin, straight long brunette hair, and golden eyes which her daughter had inherited. From the kitchen, she asked, "Is barley tea fine?"

Contrary to her husband, Kiryuu Honoka had a gentle smile plastered on her face, but Kisuke could feel similar emotions hiding behind that smile as her husband's. In fact, it was much more intense than Haruto's, only it was contained.

Kisuke nodded while keeping his hat to the side, "That would be fine. Much appreciated."

For the next minute, only Honoka's steps and the sound of cold barley tea trickling were heard for a minute or two.

"Thank you." Kisuke expressed his gratitude and was about to take a sip on the offered drink when the father suddenly stopped him from reaching out to it, "Wait for a moment."

"Yes?" Kisuke looked up and saw a fist bearing down his face. Of course, the moment Haruto had these intentions, Kisuke already detected it as they are only normal people. To him, Haruto's fist moved at a snail's pace, but he didn't do anything about it and just waited for it to reach his face while relaxing all of his defenses.

The fist landed and Kisuke tilted his head to the side to avoid breaking the man's fist.

"Honey!" Honoka immediately reprimanded her husband.

But Haruto ignored her and took his fist back. Seeing that he couldn't even leave a mark despite dislocating his fingers, because it felt like he'd hit a concrete wall, he could only sigh, "I already heard about you and what you can do from your mother, but to think I can't even scratch you..."

Kisuke slowly turned his head back and replied, "You can continue hitting me and I won't say anything if that's a way that I can placate you. But I highly suggest against it, because you won't be doing any harm to me."

"Then what do you suggest we do to you?" Haruto asked while Honoka sat beside him.

Kisuke became silent for a few moments. Strangely enough for him, he couldn't seem to find the right words for this occasion. He could try explaining himself but that only felt like running away from his responsibilities so he refused to do so, "...There's actually nothing. I can only apologize for all the things that have transpired."

Bowing his head, he continued, "I ask for your forgiveness."

Editors:

28th00: Aika is gonna be pissed when she recovers from whatever Kisuke drugged her with.

Aika's parents remained silent as they looked at Kisuke who didn't move from his position.

A few minutes later, Honoka said with a smile, "Did you think that would be enough?" Despite that, her tone was cold.

"Of course not.", replied Kisuke with his head still down.

"Since you're a Devil, are you going to offer us something in exchange for Aika? Isn't that what you people do?", added Honoka.

"I could.", answered Kisuke without any hesitation. This caused Haruto's frown to grow deeper and Honoko's smile to disappear and they were about to admonish him for even trying to insinuate that there was a price for their daughter. But before she could say it, Kisuke added, "But I won't. I'm not going to put a price on her. Not now. Not ever."

"I could grant you anything that you could think of. That's how much power I possess. However, I don't want it to be the reason or the cause for you to forgive me. It might have been a different story if you didn't put much importance on Aika, but I heard from my mother how you loved her dearly, so I would not like to trample those feelings. Hence, I can only apologize. It was my fault that Aika ended up where she is now."

The couple became silent once again, but this time, they looked and tried to gauge each other's reaction. A few seconds later, they both sighed, with Haruto's frown disappearing and Honoka's smile returning, albeit wryly, "Please get up, Urahara-kun. We're not actually mad at you... Well, we're done getting mad.", the latter replied.

Although he hadn't been forgiven, Kisuke raised his head and faced them as he didn't want to make the atmosphere further awkward by 'forcing' himself on them.

Haruto crossed his arms and said, "As you might have already known, We already had a lengthy talk about this with your relatives and they also kept apologizing on your behalf, especially your mother. They explained the situation as truthfully as they could and it has been a while, so we already learned how to accept these things about our precious daughter."

"But what we needed the most was an apology directly coming from you. With that said, we forgive you.", continued Honoka.

Kisuke was a bit conflicted, "I'm grateful, but..."

"You think that it was extremely easy?"

Kisuke nodded, "That's right. I at least prepared myself to receive a ton of insults."

"Although I hate to admit it, Aika really likes you.", Haruto answered while recalling this past month where they could finally talk to their daughter, "Even though she's obviously avoiding the topic about your relationship due to your polygamy, I could at least tell that you already became one of the most important people in her life, and I'm not going to hurl insults for no reason to the guy my daughter has chosen."

Honoka chuckled and added, "Besides, I heard from Sakura-san that they are completely capable of erasing our memories, making Aika seem not to exist in the first place in our lives but you were vehemently opposed to it, according to her. That already gave you a lot of points in my book."

"Erasing our memories may have been easy and comforted us of our misery but I would rather suffer than forget my precious girl."

Haruto nodded at Honoka's words and said, "That's right. Thinking about it, I'm actually thankful that you didn't erase the proof of our parenthood despite that being the most logical and safe thing to do."

Kisuke smiled wryly, "If I allowed that to happen, Aika would kill me."

"In any case, please drink the tea before it warms up."

"Ah, yes. Thank you."

For the next hour, the three had a long and fun talk since this was actually the first time the couple spoke with Kisuke. Ranging from their daughter and what they were doing now, Kisuke didn't hide anything except for important and sensitive stuff. Although it was not enough time to truly know who Kisuke was, he left a good impression on the couple.

After Kisuke finished his fourth glass of barley tea, Honoka asked, "Are you going somewhere else today? If not, you could stay here. We'd like to hear more from you."

"As much as I would like to, I can't. I still have to deal with a lot of things and I haven't actually met anyone else aside from you after returning."

"Oh my... We're really flattered that you came to us first, but are you sure that your mother won't sulk if she came to know this? We've become good friends so I know how much she dotes on you. And speaking of which, didn't she say that you were coming back with Yoruichi? Where is she? I would have liked to meet her too."

"Well... I'll deal with my mother later. And about Yoruichi, she won't be coming... Actually, I came here not just to apologize."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Truth to be told, instead of Yoruichi, I brought Aika back with me."

""W-What!?"" The couple was stunned and Haruto even stood up from the couch in shock and excitement.

Editors:

28th00: This'll be chaotic.

Seeing their reactions, Kisuke instantly felt a bit of guilt. They still missed their precious daughter, their only child, very much and despite their accepting stance, they became extremely excited when they heard that Aika came back with him.

Honoka grabbed Haruto's clothes and gestured for him to sit back down, but even her perfect smile couldn't hide how she's feeling and asked, "W-where is she? Why is she not with you? Is she alright?" But as she progressively questioned Kisuke, more and more negative thoughts entered the couple's mind and increased their anxiety.

"Please rest assured that she's safe. I didn't bring her with me for a reason, but you'll see her soon."

The couple instantly guessed that it has something to do with the other thing that Kisuke mentioned aside from apologizing personally and calmed themselves down to properly listen to him, "Go on, please." Haruto asked Kisuke to continue.

Directly getting to the point, Kisuke answered, "I want Aika to return to her normal life. Without any of this supernatural stuff, either temporarily or permanently."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand." Honoka creased her brows. If Kisuke wanted to return Aika to a normal life, she knew he probably had a way to do so. What she's confused about were the last terms, 'temporarily or permanently.

"To explain, I sealed all of her memories that are related to the supernatural world. Along with those, were the entirety of her abilities, reducing her to a normal high school girl once more."

"Are you going to do the same to us?", Haruto asked while feeling a bit apprehensive.

Contrary to their expectations, Kisuke shook his head, "No. It's because I want you to watch over her with your newfound knowledge."

At that point, Honoka finally understood what Kisuke really meant to do and said, "I see. So Aika would be able to break those seals of yours if she truly wants to, hence either temporarily or permanently. Am I correct?"

Kisuke nodded at her, "You're absolutely right. As time progresses, those seals would grow stronger and stronger until to the point where Aika won't be able to recognize them anymore, nor have the power to break them."

"And how long would that be?"

"Around a year or two. After that, I'll come again and ask the both of you if you want me to seal your memories too if that's what you want." The reason why the seals could grow stronger was that as time passed, those memories were being buried under new ones and would ultimately be forgotten.

"How about the blank those sealed memories will leave? And why seal and not erase?"

"I'll answer the second question first. Sealing memories means blocking the perception from accessing certain or all information. Its main advantage is that it's way safer for the target once applied, but its disadvantage is that it's incredibly hard and complex to implement, that it may cause unnecessary complications and that it's technically just a temporary measure. In addition to that, if not provided with a good excuse, it's easy for the target to realize the missing memories and it could be quite stressful since no information would be created in place for that used space."

"Erasing memories, on the other hand, is simply purging information from the mind directly. And for that purged information, the mind would automatically adapt and sometimes create memories of their own to compensate, resulting in an at ease mind without any additional effort and therapy. While this is incredibly easy to do compared to sealing, the more memories that are erased, the more the mind is burdened and it may even cause debilitating conditions. Though this kind of measure is certainly a permanent one."

"As for your first question, we'll create a story that she transferred out of Kuoh Academy because the two of you were assigned work out of this town. After a year, you were free of your work and she wished to transfer back. But before she could do that, she got into a traffic accident. While not a very serious accident, a wrong hit on her head caused her amnesia, making her forget the entirety of her second year. We can easily support this story by asking the Belial House to process all the documents needed for this."

Honoka and Haruto became quiet once more as they needed some time to digest everything that Kisuke had just said.

A minute or two later, Honoka broke this silence, "I can understand what you want to happen... However, why? Why does she have to go through this?"

Kisuke sighed in response, "She's currently at a very important juncture of her life. Whichever path she wanted to take would bring her to entirely different futures. However, she's having an inner conflict of not knowing where to go and  the inability to move forward."

A small smile then emerged from Kisuke face, "This may seem counterintuitive, but by making her forget one part of her life, things may become clearer for her, and maybe this time, she'll be able to take a step forward, even if it's just a baby step."

"Are you really just 18 years old?" Haruto suddenly asked, "I feel like I'm talking to a fellow old man. Or are all Devils like you?"

Kisuke chuckled while replying, "Wisdom isn't caused by age."

"But there's a correlation." Haruto immediately fired back.

"Let's just say that I'm a bit special. Aside from lifespan and natural ability to use Magic and understand all the languages on Earth, Devils aren't very different from Humans in their ways and society."

Meanwhile, as Haruto distracted Kisuke for a bit, Honoka was able to rearrange her thoughts. This has always been the case for the couple. While Haruto is the brawn, Honoka does all the thinking for complicated and complex matters without breaking her husband's trust.

Kisuke, of course, instantly noticed this and just entertained Haruto with his whimsical questions.

'This is a great situation for us...' Honoka thought, '...It should be and we should just go with this without any further questions asked... But I don't like how he's just discounting my daughter's feelings...'

"But..." Honoka spoke up with great hesitation and the two men stopped their talk. She didn't want to say it because Kisuke might pull back from this and they wouldn't have a chance to escape this inexplicable world that contained terrifying beings, as just obtaining knowledge about them was already a curse to normal people like them.

However, she understood her daughter the most and despite talking to her through a hologram, she also somewhat understood what she's going through, "But... Aika would surely hate you if she were to remember all of this. She might despise you for this stunt you're going to pull on her and might even push her away from you. Are you fine with that?"

Nevertheless, Honoka still viewed Kisuke as a 'child' and underestimated him, "I'm fine with that.", Kisuke replied with a light smile on his face.

This answer, however, gave Honoka a wrong impression and she was instantly pissed. But before she could say anything, Haruto suddenly raised his arm and stopped her, "Haruto... Aren't you going to say anything!? This man doesn't really care about our daughter!"

Though instead of replying to her anger, Haruto calmly faced Kisuke, "You still have places you need to go. Don't worry about us."

Kisuke stood up and said, "Thank you for having me. In about an hour, I'll teleport Aika to her bedroom, so be sure that it's free." He then directly left the house without saying anything further and teleported after gaining some distance.

Editors:

28th00: She's gonna be livid.