"Welcome back..."
Before Orihime Inoue could finish, Muten Natsu, who had just returned home, threw himself into her arms.
"What's wrong?" Orihime Inoue gently stroked Muten Natsu's head as he rested against her chest. His warm breath brought a lovely blush to her cheeks, but she was more concerned about his current state. "Did you run into some kind of trouble?"
"I'm sorry..." Muten Natsu replied, his voice muffled. "I made you worry."
"Huh?" Orihime Inoue looked down at him in confusion. "Why would you say that?"
"Some troublesome things have happened recently. I didn't want you burdened by all those complications, so I didn't tell you." Muten Natsu wrapped his arms around Orihime Inoue's slender waist. "But I can't hide my emotions from you. My clever attempt to keep it from you didn't put you at ease. It only made your concern more uncertain and unsettling."
"Muten..." Orihime Inoue called softly.
Muten Natsu finally understood why Orihime Inoue had been so forward lately. "So that's why you got so close to me before and let me tease you..."
"No." Orihime Inoue cupped Muten Natsu's face and gazed into his eyes, repeating herself with complete seriousness. "That wasn't why."
Muten Natsu blinked. "Hm?"
"I don't know who you saw feeling that way and then associated them with me." Orihime Inoue's large eyes sparkled. "I'm happy that you thought of me, but you were wrong. Other people are other people, and I am me. Even when we go through the same thing, I might not feel the way they do."
Muten Natsu stared at her blankly. "So I misunderstood?"
"Well... not entirely. Like you said, even though you didn't tell me, I could tell from your mood that something was bothering you." Orihime Inoue tilted her head in thought. "But I wasn't uneasy because you kept it from me. I know my abilities are limited. Even if you told me about every problem you were facing, I wouldn't be able to help."
Muten Natsu nodded uncertainly. "That was what I thought too."
"But because you chose not to tell me, you try not to think about those things whenever you're with me." Orihime Inoue winked playfully. "So even though I can't solve your problems, I can still help you forget them for a little while and make you feel better. That should count as helping, shouldn't it?"
"Of course," Muten Natsu replied firmly. "It helps more than you know."
"Then that's enough." Orihime Inoue met his gaze. "I'm not worried, confused, or uneasy. You're here with me, so I know you'll deal with those temporary problems. I know you'll protect me, and I'll heal you. Just like before, and just like I always will."
"Orihime..."
Muten Natsu raised his head slightly and kissed Orihime Inoue's parted lips. As the kiss lingered, their entwined bodies sank onto the sofa.
Orihime Inoue placed a hand on Muten Natsu's chest. "Muten, your chest looks a little dirty..."
"Does it?"
"Yeah..." Orihime Inoue's pale fingertips slid across it. "Just like mine..."
Muten Natsu lowered his head and inspected it carefully. "It looks clean."
"I mean..." Orihime Inoue turned away, her face flushed. "The shirt underneath..."
The moment the buttons of her uniform jacket came undone, the lapels sprang apart under a soft pressure. The pure white shirt boldly demonstrated its remarkable elasticity, stretching over rounded curves while faithfully outlining her slender waist.
"The shirt underneath is clean too."
"I mean..." Orihime Inoue covered her face with both hands, unable to hide her bright red ears. "Under the shirt..."
"Let me check..."
Muten Natsu lowered his head and caught the red tie at the collar of the pure white shirt between his teeth. With a slight lift of his head, the neatly tied knot came undone.
...
Orihime Inoue nestled in Muten Natsu's arms, her limp fingers hooked around the edge of the blanket as she barely managed to cover her disheveled shirt. It took quite some time for her dazed eyes to regain a trace of clarity.
"Muten, were you teasing me this whole time?"
Muten Natsu's hands paused. "You only just noticed?"
"Hehe..." Orihime Inoue giggled foolishly. "I thought I was the one teasing you."
"Why would you think that?"
"Because they're so heavy. It's much easier when you help me hold them." Orihime Inoue answered earnestly. "And... the massage feels so... so..."
"So what?"
"It makes me really... really need to use the restroom!"
Orihime Inoue hurriedly got up and ran into the restroom. Quite some time passed before she emerged with a rather strange expression.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing... It's nothing..."
Orihime Inoue settled back into Muten Natsu's arms with practiced ease.
Muten Natsu supported her just as naturally.
Orihime Inoue narrowed her eyes and tilted her head back. "So, what exactly happened?"
"Didn't you say it was fine if I kept it from you?"
"Of course. It doesn't matter whether you tell me or not. I trust you to handle it, and even if I can't help, I can still heal your injuries." Orihime Inoue smiled softly. "But talking it through with me might help you organize your thoughts."
"You're right. Besides, this matter involves you too, so you should know about it." Muten Natsu began explaining. "It started with Kaname Tōsen..."
Kaname Tōsen's betrayal stemmed from the fact that Tokinada Tsunayashiro, the man who murdered his close friend Kakyō, had never received the punishment he deserved.
In truth, given the Central 46th Division's long-standing practices, rulings that favored the nobility were far from uncommon.
This particular case had only caused such a stir and become widely known because Sōsuke Aizen was involved.
For Nayura Amakado, who wanted to reform the Central 46th Division's corrupt practices, this was undoubtedly an ideal place to begin.
The first step toward solving a problem was admitting that it existed.
The incident involving the Visored could still be blamed, however reluctantly, on Sōsuke Aizen. This case, however, had clearly begun with an unjust ruling by the Central 46th Division.
Yet the investigation led directly to Tokinada Tsunayashiro.
During his conversation with Shunsui Kyōraku, Muten Natsu learned that the Tsunayashiro Clan had established the Surveillance Hall. That immediately reminded him of the footage used to sentence him to prison.
If anyone was capable of altering that footage to frame Muten Natsu, the most likely culprit was naturally the Tsunayashiro Clan, which had created the Surveillance Hall.
The implications were enormous. Muten Natsu had originally intended to wait for further developments, but then the Fullbringers appeared.
Fullbringers were generally born after their mothers were attacked by Hollows while pregnant. If the mother survived the attack and safely gave birth, the child would be influenced by the Hollow's Reishi and awaken a Fullbring Ability after reaching a certain stage of growth.
Surviving a Hollow attack was no easy feat. The mother had most likely received help from a Shinigami or a Quincy.
With the Quincy now nearly extinct, it was far more likely that a Shinigami had provided that help.
There was clearly a connection. More accurately, the birth of a Fullbringer was nearly impossible without the intervention of a Shinigami. Yet according to Nayura Amakado, the Daireishokairō contained no records of anything similar.
Although the Daireishokairō only collected information concerning Soul Society, the Surveillance Hall gathered intelligence from the World of the Living, and the Daireishokairō also preserved everything collected by the Surveillance Hall.
Even so, the Daireishokairō contained no information whatsoever about Fullbringers.
It was no different from checking someone's browsing history.
If absolutely nothing was there, something was clearly wrong.
Someone had deliberately concealed every piece of information concerning Fullbringers.
If Shūkurō Tsukishima was telling the truth, then whoever was hunting the Fullbringers was obviously also responsible for concealing information about them.
Anyone capable of altering footage from the Surveillance Hall could naturally conceal the information it collected as well.
The Tsunayashiro Clan.
Yet another matter pointed toward the Tsunayashiro Clan.
But it was still only speculation. There was no conclusive evidence.
More precisely, with the Surveillance Hall under the Tsunayashiro Clan's control, obtaining reliable evidence would be extraordinarily difficult.
Meanwhile, the Tsunayashiro Clan could use its resources and influence to fabricate all kinds of evidence at will.
That was also one of the main reasons Shunsui Kyōraku had advised Muten Natsu not to act rashly.
"No wonder..." Orihime Inoue blinked. "You feel like the Tsunayashiro Clan is doing something behind the scenes, but you can't determine what. You want to prepare to deal with them, but you don't have enough information to know what you should do."
"Exactly."
That was the source of Muten Natsu's frustration.
"Had you told me before, I really wouldn't have known what advice to give you. But now..." Orihime Inoue looked down at Muten Natsu's hand. "Isn't it the same thing?"
Muten Natsu had gradually grown accustomed to the heavy, uncontrollable weight in his hand, so he did not understand her at first. "What is?"
"The teasing..." Orihime Inoue tapped the back of Muten Natsu's hand. "You think you're teasing me, while I think I'm teasing you."
By handing the weight she ought to bear herself over to Muten Natsu, Orihime Inoue always felt as though she was exploiting him for his labor.
Muten Natsu fell into thought. "You mean..."
"While you're wondering what the Tsunayashiro Clan is doing, they're also wondering whether you're doing something that could harm them," Orihime Inoue explained. "While you're struggling to decide what to do, they're also worrying about how to deal with you."
"Hmm..." Muten Natsu considered it. "So we're even?"
"No." Orihime Inoue shook her head. "You're in the open, while they're hiding in the shadows. That gives you the advantage."
"Usually, wouldn't the people in the shadows have the advantage?"
"You're out in the open doing things everyone can see, but that doesn't stop you from doing other things in secret." Orihime Inoue waved her pale fingertips in front of Muten Natsu's eyes. "They're the ones hiding in the shadows and doing things that can't withstand the light of day. That means they don't dare come forward and act openly."
"I suppose that's true..." Muten Natsu felt that Orihime Inoue had a point. "But what can I do in secret?"
"You're so slow!" Ririn suddenly spoke up. "If the illusions I created caused you trouble, what would you do?"
"Catch you."
"Exactly~" Ririn spread her hands. "So what is the Tsunayashiro Clan's main tool for causing trouble right now?"
"The Surveillance Hall."
Understanding suddenly dawned on Muten Natsu.
"We need a way to gather information without going through the Surveillance Hall... No. A method like that must already exist."
...
The Research and Development Institute occupied one of Seireitei's districts. It was not only a place most Shinigami preferred to avoid, but also one of Soul Society's most important facilities.
It was said that ninety percent of the advanced Reishi technology currently used throughout Seireitei had originated in the Research and Development Institute. Its founder, Kisuke Urahara, and its second Director, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, had both become so deeply intertwined with Soul Society's development that the two could no longer be discussed separately.
Naturally, the Director was not the only person working there.
Countless researchers put their talents to use at the forefront of technological advancement. Sometimes they followed the Director's orders, sometimes they fulfilled requests from other Shinigami, and sometimes they simply pursued their own interests.
A bastion of hope that rapidly solved the countless seemingly impossible problems faced by Soul Society. That was the place known as the Research and Development Institute.
Among its many departments, the Spiritual Wave Measurement Department was particularly indispensable to Shinigami operating in the World of the Living and Soul Society.
The department not only monitored and detected Hollows appearing in both realms, but also observed conditions within Dangai.
Rin Tsubokura and several of his colleagues were normally responsible for this work. They were all qualified researchers, so the atmosphere in the workplace was naturally...
A man who looked like a cross between a catfish and a hanging bell shouted furiously, "Rin! You idiot! Stop spilling your snacks everywhere! Hurry up and hand over the analysis data!"
The youthful-looking Rin Tsubokura still held a wheat cracker in his left hand while deftly continuing the data analysis with his other.
"Y-yes!"
The catfish-headed man grumbled in exasperation. "Unbelievable. You eat everywhere and spill crumbs everywhere. You eat everywhere and spill crumbs everywhere... They get into the keyboard, you enter the data wrong over and over, and you still never learn!"
"S-sorry!"
Rin Tsubokura's hands suddenly froze.
"Huh? There's some kind of strange reaction! It looks like an anomaly in Dangai... Inaba, come take a look."
"Coming."
A gaunt man with hair that was half green and half yellow approached with a hunched back. He stared at the screen and frowned.
"We've never encountered a reaction like this before. I'm not sure what it is either."
"Hm?"
Akon, with pointed horns on his head and a sharp gaze, leaned closer to examine the display. His brow furrowed slightly.
"Ah... You can ignore that."
"Are you sure?" A trace of concern appeared on Inaba's hollow-cheeked face. "But this is..."
"No buts. Pretend it doesn't exist." Akon waved dismissively. "The Four Noble Families issued a direct [Non-Interference] order regarding that Reishi signal. That's why it didn't even trigger the alarm."