A vast, desolate wilderness. A little girl with golden dium-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 so... 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 et you."
"Your na... 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 sowhat 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 docunts into Rangiku's hands.
"Is this all that's left? I rember 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 ti..." 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 ti." 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 rembered she had just dreamt about eting 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 !" 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. Co in." Toshiro replied.
"Yes, pardon ." 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 beca Captain, he treated him as a trusted confidant.
"Reporting, Captain! It's about Lieutenant Hinamori." Sojiro said.
"What?!"
"Did sothing 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 sothing, so she insisted on going."
"However, since you previously instructed to pay extra attention to Lieutenant Hinamori's movents and report any abnormalities to you imdiately, 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 seed so things were inevitably happening.
'Damn it! I let my guard down!'
Although Toshiro had told Momo not to leave the 10th Division during this ti, since in this life Momo and Aizen had no connection and Aizen had no particular reason to kill Momo, Toshiro had inevitably beco sowhat lax about Momo's safety.
'Izuru! You... if anything happens to Momo, don't bla 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 so 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 ti, a confrontation with Gin was likely. Toshiro didn't want to put Rangiku in a difficult position, so after speaking, he imdiately 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 call Momo here, right?" Kira asked timidly.
"Ara ara, of course not. Don't worry, Izuru. I just have sothing 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 sothing with Momo, couldn't you just call her yourself? And... for a discussion, couldn't it be at another ti? 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 beco Toshiro's Lieutenant, serve him, and assist him in his endeavors.
But decades had passed. Although Kira indeed beca 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 na, 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.
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