Chapter 277 277 Deception
A vast, desolate wilderness. A little girl with golden medium-length hair, dressed in tattered clothes, lay weakly on the cold ground, starving.
"Here, eat." A boy passing by with light purple short hair bent down, offering a dried persimmon to the girl's mouth.
"You must be hungry, right? It looks like you have some... Reiryoku, otherwise you probably wouldn't feel hungry." The boy asked.
"You... have it too?" the girl said, barely audible.
"Yes, I have spiritual power too. Oh... I'm Ichimaru Gin. Nice to meet you."
"Your name... is really special." The girl said.
"Mmm..." Matsumoto Rangiku groggily sat up from the couch.
"You're awake, Rangiku." Sitting at the desk, Toshiro spoke up upon seeing Rangiku wake.
"Captain...? Why are you in my room?" Rangiku asked, still fuzzy.
"Idiot, what 'your room'? This is the 5th Division's Captain's office." Toshiro retorted.
"Since you're up, get to work. I'm exhausted." Toshiro had been busy alone until evening, handling a lot of the 5th Division's duties but hadn't discovered anything useful from them.
'Aizen has always been cautious. It seems thinking I could discover any secrets from the 5th Division was naive.' Toshiro thought to himself.
Working so hard yet finding nothing made Toshiro somewhat frustrated.
"Yare yare, after sitting for so long, my body's stiff." Toshiro complained.
"Serves you right. Who told you to take on all the 5th Division's work?" Rangiku walked over and said.
"Enough talk. Take these." Toshiro impatiently shoved the remaining documents into Rangiku's hands.
"Is this all that's left? I remember there being a lot..." Rangiku looked at the few papers in her hand, puzzled.
"Stop chattering and get to work." Toshiro took a sip of tea.
"It seems... I really slept for a long time..." Rangiku muttered to herself.
"It's fine. I didn't have any expectations anyway. And... with so many things happening recently, you must be tired too." Toshiro instinctively wanted to mock Rangiku but ended up comforting her instead.
"Rangiku, talking in your sleep isn't a good habit. Be more careful next time." Toshiro suddenly said.
"Talking in my sleep...?! Captain, you actually eavesdropped on my sleep talk! I misjudged you!" Rangiku didn't react at first, but then remembered she had just dreamt about meeting Gin as a child.
"Idiot! I didn't eavesdrop! You were just too loud when you talked in your sleep!" Toshiro retorted.
Knock knock!
"Ex... excuse me!" A voice suddenly sounded outside, interrupting Rangiku.
"I am 10th Division's 7th Seat, Kusaka Sojiro! Are Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto inside?" The person outside asked.
"Ah, Sojiro. Come in." Toshiro replied.
"Yes, pardon me." Sojiro slid the door open and entered.
"What's the matter, Sojiro?" Toshiro asked.
Sojiro, 10th Division's 7th Seat. Toshiro had interacted with him even when he was the 3rd Seat. He usually respected and admired Toshiro greatly, so after Toshiro became Captain, he treated him as a trusted confidant.
"Reporting, Captain! It's about Lieutenant Hinamori." Sojiro said.
"What?!"
"Did something happen to Momo?" Toshiro abruptly stood up.
"N-no... not exactly... It's just that Lieutenant Hinamori suddenly left the 10th Division earlier. But it's the middle of the night, and with intruders hidden in the Seireitei, there might be danger. So I tried to dissuade her, but Lieutenant Hinamori said her good friend, 3rd Division's Lieutenant Kira, needed to discuss something, so she insisted on going."
"However, since you previously instructed me to pay extra attention to Lieutenant Hinamori's movements and report any abnormalities to you immediately, I thought it best to inform you about this." Sojiro reported.
Upon hearing the report, Toshiro's expression turned grim.
Because of what happened in the original work, to prevent Momo from getting involved in this incident, Toshiro had always told her to stay within the 10th Division and not go out. But now, it seemed some things were inevitably happening.
'Damn it! I let my guard down!'
Although Toshiro had told Momo not to leave the 10th Division during this time, since in this life Momo and Aizen had no connection and Aizen had no particular reason to kill Momo, Toshiro had inevitably become somewhat lax about Momo's safety.
'Izuru! You... if anything happens to Momo, don't blame me for disregarding our friendship...' Toshiro thought coldly.
In the original work, although Kira didn't betray the Soul Society, he was still used by Gin, committing minor mistakes and causing some trouble for Toshiro.
So now, hearing that Kira called Momo out, Toshiro instinctively thought Gin had used Kira to trick Momo into leaving.
"Rangiku, Sojiro, I'm going out. You two stay here for now!" This time, a confrontation with Gin was likely. Toshiro didn't want to put Rangiku in a difficult position, so after speaking, he immediately ran out, not giving her a chance to speak.
"Captain..." Rangiku had just spoken when Toshiro's figure vanished.
3rd Division, a spacious training ground.
Kira and Gin stood there.
"Umm... Captain... you won't do anything bad after having me call Momo here, right?" Kira asked timidly.
"Ara ara, of course not. Don't worry, Izuru. I just have something to discuss with Lieutenant Hinamori, that's all." Gin said with narrowed eyes, smiling.
Kira said guiltily and uneasily, "But... but if Captain wants to discuss something with Momo, couldn't you just call her yourself? And... for a discussion, couldn't it be at another time? In the middle of the night like this..."
"Izuru!"
"Don't you want to transfer to the 10th Division anymore?" Gin's smiling face suddenly turned cold.
"I... I..." After hesitating for a while, Kira ultimately chose silence.
Back when Kira, Momo, and the others were still students at Shin'o Academy and went to the Living World for training, they were attacked by Hollows. Unlike the original work, the one who saved them was Toshiro.
From then on, Kira no longer just saw Toshiro as a friend but wanted to become Toshiro's Lieutenant, serve him, and assist him in his endeavors.
But decades had passed. Although Kira indeed became a Lieutenant, it wasn't for the 10th Division.
Yet, Kira never gave up on the idea of becoming the 10th Division's Lieutenant and assisting Toshiro.
Earlier, Gin suddenly approached Kira, asking him to call Momo in his own name, without revealing it was Gin's idea at all.
In return, Gin promised that after the matter was settled, he would find a way to transfer Rangiku to the 3rd Division and then transfer Kira to the 10th Division as Lieutenant.
Although Gin's actions were very suspicious, Kira couldn't possibly imagine that Gin would later betray the Soul Society. So, in Kira's view, even if Gin acted suspiciously, he probably wouldn't do anything truly bad.
Thus, Kira, tempted, agreed to Gin's request, accepting the task of calling Momo without even considering whether Gin could fulfill his promise.
Although Kira now felt deeply guilty and uneasy about deceiving Momo and wanted to back out, it was too late now.