Chapter 1165 Shinji Hirako

The four individuals entered the mansion and the door behind them automatically closed. Shiji and Rukia immediately observed their surroundings and when they found nothing unusual, the two of them looked at each other and nodded before following the strange man inside.

As Kisuke was not hiding his Reiatsu, the group was able to follow him without a guide and they soon reached the living room where he prepared the drinks and seats for them, "Welcome. Please have a seat."

A brief silence descended upon the room as the two sides observed each other without moving. After a few long seconds, Kisuke smiled under his mask and said while looking at Shinji's robe, "As expected of the Captain of the 12th Division. He was able to immediately make an improvement to the detector. It's much more sensitive than before."

A smile also appeared on Shinji's face, "You can tell?"

Kisuke nodded, "My mastery over Magic is enough to tell that there's a disturbance in the surrounding Magic Power. The device you have absorbs the leaking Magic Power from me but doesn't bother to rearrange its information back to how it was before."

"Is that so?" Shinji whipped his right arm slightly and a black cube that was silently vibrating fell into his hand, "I'll pass that feedback to Mayuri." Leading the group, Shinji approached the table and sat down. Rukia did the same and sat beside Shinji while the other two stood up behind them.

Seeing that, Kisuke poured three cups of tea and placed the two in front of the Captains before sitting down, "But I'm surprised. To think that he didn't send out his bugs for this."

Without any hesitation, Shinji picked up the cup and drank its contents which made the other three incredibly worried, "It was a hassle to stop him. Thank goodness he still listens to the Captain Commander. And even if he did send some, it's not like you wouldn't notice it."

"That's true." Kisuke also picked up his cup and the cup went through his mask as if it wasn't there to take a sip of his tea. He eyed everyone carefully if they were hiding something else but found nothing. However, a certain individual captured his attention, 'What's with her?'

The person in question was Nanao Ise, one of the two 1st Division Lieutenants, 'All of them are looking at me suspiciously, that's obvious... But what's that expression?' Although very subtle, Kisuke noticed that there was something different in her demeanor that didn't match the other three, 'It's as if... She knows something?'

However, Kisuke didn't have any proof for that and it could be anything else. He set it aside for now and restarted the conversation, "I apologize but I can't entertain the envoys of the Seireitei for long due to my busy schedule so allow me to get straight to the point. What are you here for? Although I certainly have an idea, I'd like to make sure."

Shinji drank the rest of the tea and put down the now empty cup, "There are two main things we want to know. First and foremost, where's the Captain of the 2nd Division and what happened to her?"

Kisuke didn't say anything and instead took out a piece of folded paper from his inner pocket and placed it on the table.

Shinji and the others were confused and the former picked up and opened it up because he could feel Soifon's familiar Reiryoku from it only to become confused even more, "[I'll be out for a bit, but if I return and find the discipline within the barracks deteriorate even for a bit, I'll dunk you into a boiling water and you'll have to run around Seireiheki (Pure Soul Wall) ten times without rest.]"

While listening to Shinji read the note out loud, Omaeda shuddered and the blood left his head, "C-Captain Hirako! C-can I see that paper!?"

The confused Shinji first checked if there was nothing else on the paper before passing it to Omaeda. Omaeda hurriedly and rudely grabbed the paper and instantly stuck his head in it, reading it a few times each time, more blood drained from his face making him very pale, "T-there's no mistake! This is from Captain!"

"...Are you serious?" asked Shinji.

Omaeda lifted his head up and down vigorously, "I'm serious! And I might actually die!" Right now, the important meeting in front of him flew to the back of his head as he was more concerned about how to maintain the 2nd Division's dignity and discipline, 'Knowing the Captain, she'll really do it!' He wanted to return immediately but had enough thinking capacity that that wasn't an option.

To supplement Omaeda's words, Kisuke added with a sigh, "She intends to uncover my secrets so she doesn't want to leave."

Shinji, Rukia, and Nanao turned back to Kisuke with strange expressions, "...Somehow, I can't deny that." Shinji commented.

"Well, she indeed discovered something and I can't really allow her to leave until I can make sure that she won't spill it. So she'll be staying at my place and will be treated as an important guest. However, I'll be sending you an official receipt later for her living and medical expenses. After all, treating her wasn't exactly easy or cheap."

Shinji and Rukia couldn't tell if they could trust his words, but with Omaeda making a scene, they lost all the weight to question him.

Shinji wanted to ask if she'd be able to return soon, but all of a sudden, Nanao spoke out of turn, "Did she discover your identity?"

Another silence descended in the place and although there were no holes in Kisuke's pure white mask, the Captains could tell that he was directly looking at Nanao, or at least, his attention was on her.

Nanao's body tensed up when she felt his gaze on her but continued staring straight at him without backing up.

Soon, the oppressive stare disappeared and Kisuke picked up his cup again while saying, "That's correct."

While that didn't surprise the others, Nanao felt conflicted and most of this conflict stemmed from relief that Kisuke is the one who saved Soifon and the fact that he didn't return to Soul Society, 'What is he planning?' Nevertheless, Nanao chose to believe what she'd heard from Shunsui's secret conversation and finally realized how dangerous the man in front of them was if it turned out to be an enemy.

Shinji and Rukia felt relieved that nothing came out of Nanao's question but really found it weird because Nanao normally wouldn't do something as reckless as that.

"Anyways, can we expect her soon?" Shinji changed the subject.

"Probably. I just don't know when she'll be done with what she wants to do."

Shinji nodded in understanding and chose not to pursue this line of questioning any further, "Now onto the second main point."

There was a small pause and Shinji's eyes narrowed at Kisuke before asking, "I'm sorry for this rude question, but what are you?"