Chapter 20: The Drunken Thief Strikes Again
BANG!
A drunken figure appeared five or six meters away from Rukia.
His left and right feet tangled awkwardly—he clearly tripped over himself.
Under everyone's wide-eyed stares, he lurched forward, staggering and hopping toward Rukia like a broken marionette.
Rukia's expression had shifted from shock to astonishment—but she quickly realized something was very wrong.
Seeing the rapidly enlarging figure in her vision, she instinctively raised both hands to cover her mouth.
Smack!
A crisp kissing sound rang out—right on the back of her hand.
The near-miss red lips were blocked at the last second by her own hands.
Renji—already stunned—felt a flicker of relief amid the chaos.
This was the first kiss he had chased for decades and never even touched.
"What's wrong, Rukia? You want to kiss me? Don't suppress your feelings—let love burn bright and fierce!"
The drunken words this time clearly pronounced her full name.
But before anyone could fully process the shock—
Kuroha flipped the sake gourd into the air, caught it with his right toe, and used the momentum to free both hands.
He seized Rukia's wrists and yanked them apart.
In that instant—her defenses wide open—her cherry-red lips were completely exposed.
The soft warmth and intoxicating sake aroma flooded Rukia's mind.
She froze.
Her brain went blank.
But what Rukia never expected was that her spiritual energy suddenly ignited inside her.
It felt just like back in the black prison—when she had inhaled the lingering fragrance from the sake jug—her reiatsu had spiraled out of control.
"So close… so close!"
Rukia felt the boiling reiatsu inside her and caught a faint glimpse of breakthrough.
This bottleneck had plagued her for a full five years.
She was certain: if her reiatsu could advance just one more step, she could cast simple Kidō without chanting—supported purely by raw spiritual power.
But her subconscious muttering—spoken aloud—landed very differently to everyone watching.
Rukia—clearly the victim—now looked strangely proactive.
Worse: Kuroha—the obvious aggressor—was suddenly framed as the one being pursued.
The scene drove people to the edge of madness.
Byakuya's face darkened further.
This was an utter disgrace to the family name.
As for Renji—his eyes rolled back, blood sprayed from his mouth, and he nearly fainted on the spot.
Even Aizen and Gin's expressions shifted.
Too much had happened today.
What they thought was a fully controlled situation had spiraled out of control again and again.
Especially Kuroha's Shunpo—tripping mid-use, yet undeniably real.
From the beginning, when they learned Yamamoto was allowing a Shiba family member to take the exam under special circumstances, Aizen had assumed a few experimental subjects could surround and eliminate him.
Perhaps even turn him into another test subject.
But he never expected the boy to possess Hakuda strong enough to one-punch an oni.
When that failed, Aizen had settled for Plan B—forcing Kuroha to fail the exam and lose his chance at the academy.
But once again—the result completely overturned his expectations.
Right now, the only thing Aizen wanted to see was Kuroha walking further and further down the path of self-destruction.
Only then could he provoke Byakuya into killing the boy outright.
"Kuroha—stop! No—shut your mouth!" Shunsui rushed forward first.
From the corner of his eye, he had already seen Byakuya move.
The ghostly figure moved several times faster than before—like a true specter gliding through the air.
Shunpo pushed to its absolute limit.
Thinking of his little sister—not only having her honor sullied, but her lips nearly taken—
Byakuya, the ultimate big brother-in-law, had exploded.
Cold light flashed along his blade. Shunsui's face changed instantly—he drew his own Zanpakutō to block.
Clang!
Two ghostly figures appeared before him.
One was Byakuya. The other was an unexpected arrival.
"Zaraki, Kyōraku—get out of my way. This shameless person has disgraced noble honor. I will kill him."
Byakuya's voice was ice-cold and furious.
He regretted it.
Regretted softening his heart in that meeting—thinking of Rukia's connection to Kaien—and approving Kuroha's exam eligibility.
No— Regretted softening his heart and practically handing his sister over.
If heaven gave Byakuya one chance to go back, he would scream "NO" fifty thousand times.
"Captain Kuchiki—this is the testing hall. No blades allowed. Don't forget the rules here," Shunsui said, head pounding with regret for accepting Yamamoto's task.
Now facing off against Byakuya directly—this was a massive loss.
Watching the usually calm, etiquette-obsessed Byakuya descend into full berserk mode, Shunsui couldn't help admiring Kuroha's god-tier ability to piss people off. He gritted his teeth and said:
"Look—Rukia doesn't seem to be resisting. Maybe… it's love at first sight?"
"Kyōraku—I'll kill you too."
Byakuya exploded.
Yet—somehow—he couldn't quite refute it.
His raging reiatsu detonated inside him, transforming into an invisible shockwave that surged toward Kuroha.
"Hm? Big brother-in-law… got any more sake? One more kiss with Rukia and she'll break through."
Kuroha turned his sleepy, hazy eyes toward Byakuya.
Then he spotted the gourd at Kenpachi Zaraki's waist.
With another sleight-of-hand, he snatched it.
"Hey, kid—don't touch that. That's the sake I just poured in," Kenpachi said, startled.
After getting the gourd back, Kenpachi had noticed the fragrance inside made his reiatsu stir restlessly.
But the original contents had long been drained by Kuroha.
So he'd come up with a stupid idea: pour his usual cheap sake into the gourd to "season" it, then taste it again.
Subconsciously, he felt this might unlock the gourd's secret.
Unfortunately, he hadn't even taken a sip before rushing to the testing hall—planning to secure Kuroha first and then beg Yamamoto for leniency.
He never expected that trying to save the kid would cost him the sake too.
"This is clearly my gourd. What do you mean 'your sake'? You're the thief. I distinctly remember—my name's engraved on it."
Kuroha took a few unsteady steps—somehow executing a drunken Seven Star Footwork to stabilize himself—then pointed at the freshly carved "Shiba Kuroha" (four characters) that Kenpachi had added earlier out of paranoia.
"Shiba Kuroha—four characters, no mistake. My wife's waiting for the sake so she can break through."
--------------------------
Support us on patreon (+Gain access to 100 chapters in advance)
patreon.com/inkroxx