Chapter Forty-Four: Mina of the Southern Moon

“Gua... gu... aaaaaaah!”
In the darkness, a howl of utter despair echoed out.
“Guaaaah...”
A shadowy figure clutched his face, pounding the wall before him over and over.
Bastard...
Bastard!!
It’s all your fault... This is all because of you!
I’ll gouge out your eyes myself, make you feel the same pain I do!
“So this is where you are, after all.”
Suddenly, a sliver of light pierced the darkness, illuminating the figure.
“...What do you want...”
Saidritz pressed his hand to his left eye, turning to face the newcomer.
“Agrilla.”
A man with a deep scar running across his forehead stepped into the room.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, thought something might have happened.”
Agrilla sighed lightly. “Don’t make people worry like that.”
“But he’s always been a bit odd, hasn’t he, Agrilla?”
Another man entered, shorter, with short black hair and a white military cap—a Quincy.
“Shubert...”
Agrilla and Shubert.
The second and third commanders of the Silver Cross Knights, both among the strongest Quincies. If Saidritz, the first commander, was Yhwach’s right hand, then Agrilla and Shubert were surely Saidritz’s.
“You always act indifferent, but you clearly care about that eye, don’t you?”
Shubert glanced at Saidritz’s hand, speaking in a low voice.
“Mind your own business.”
Even he couldn’t guess what truly lay in his own heart; how could anyone else?
That’s what Saidritz had always believed.
“It’s easy to see, you know. It’s not meddling. We know exactly what’s on your mind, Saidritz.”
Agrilla narrowed his eyes.
“We’ll always support you.”
………………………………………………
At that moment, in District 57 of the Rukongai—
“Why did we have to come here, anyway?”
“Don’t ask me things like that; it was the Head Captain’s order.”
“Huh? I thought you’d know, Ujomaru.”
“I said, it’s the Head Captain’s order.”
Squad 11 Captain Ujomaru Kenpachi and Squad 13 Captain Minamo Natsuki!
The two captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads appeared with their respective subordinates.

“Oh, oh, what luck—I’ve come across two prey at once.”
“!!”
A man perched atop a thatched roof split his lips wide, revealing beastlike fangs.
“So fortunate... I should thank the gods, hehehe...”
Houston Hodelabi, seventh commander of the Silver Cross Knights.
“A Quincy...”
Ujomaru glanced up at the arrogant Houston, eyes narrowing.
“All alone? How boring, right, Ujomaru?”
To be honest, though Minamo was not young, every part of her looked like a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl; now, with her hands on her hips and a look of petulant defiance, she was enough to make anyone gasp in surprise!
Absolutely the quintessential stubborn little girl!
“I told you, stop asking me everything, Minamo.”
Ujomaru let out a deep sigh.
“Oh? So my opponents are a big brute and a little girl? Not much to look at...” Houston leaned forward, sighing as if disappointed.
“Ah...”
Ujomaru raised an eyebrow, as if something Houston said had piqued his interest.
“Hey... you’d better take back what you just said.”
“Huh? Which part? Take it back? Why?” Houston shot Ujomaru a puzzled look.
“This...”
“I didn’t say anything wrong, did I? A big brute and a little girl—not interesting at all. And what, is the Soul Society so short-staffed? Even a little girl can be a captain? That’s a joke, right?”
Houston cut Ujomaru off before he could finish.
“Uh...” Ujomaru was never great with words, and now, faced with this, he was at a loss for a reply.
“Heh... hehehe... That Quincy’s got some nerve...”
Minamo clenched her teeth, anger throbbing visibly in the veins of her face.
“How dare you call me a little girl! I’ll show you real terror!!”
“Oh? Not bad, little girl, but...”
Houston grinned, and suddenly, more than a hundred Quincy footsoldiers appeared at his side.
“If you want to fight me, you’ll have to pay a price.”
………………………………
“Ohhhh! This is the ‘healing hot spring’? My first time seeing it!”
Chojirou, wrapped in a white towel around his waist, stared wide-eyed at the steaming pool before him.
“Don’t get too comfortable. The ‘Bone Bath’ isn’t just any old healing spring, you know.”
Even soaking in the spring, Kirinji still clamped that blade of grass between his teeth, a white towel draped over his slicked-back hair.
“What else is it for?”
Chojirou dipped a foot into the water, curiosity in his voice.
“Well... Huh? Why are you getting up? Get back in!”
“Splash.”
Kirinji was about to say more when he saw a head pop up beside him. Without hesitation, he shoved it back under the water.

“...”
Chojirou watched all of this in silence.
He’d been prepared, but still... it felt like he might actually drown… he grumbled to himself.
“So then...” Kirinji leaned against the rocks at the edge of the spring, exhaling. “That’s how it is. Oh?”
“What do you mean, ‘that’s how it is’? How did the conversation end up like this?!”
Chojirou leaped up, shouting his complaint.
But, given it was a hot spring, he was, of course, naked, so...
“Oh? You’re really small, you know.”
Kirinji raised an eyebrow.
“Shut up, you! If you’ve got the guts, show yours too!”
Chojirou glared back at him.
“See? Bigger than yours, right?”
“Don’t actually show me, you pervert!”
With this shameless man, Chojirou was completely at a loss for words.
“Hey, listen...” Kirinji suddenly turned serious, a certain profound tone slipping into his voice. “This generation of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads is quite impressive.”
“? What’s with that all of a sudden?”
Chojirou rinsed his injured left hand in the water, puzzled.
“Leaving aside Old Man Yamamoto... among all the captains, she’s probably the most skilled in slaughter.”
Kirinji’s expression softened into nostalgia, tinged with a faint sadness.
“She? Who’s she...”
It took Chojirou a moment to realize who Kirinji meant.
“Captain of Squad Thirteen of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads...”
Blood dripped slowly from a snow-white blade,
staining the white uniform beneath it crimson.
She made no move to wipe the flecks of blood from her face, a sweet smile playing at her lips, her twin braids swinging with her steps.
Kirinji lowered his voice and softly uttered her name—
“Minamo Natsuki.”
“So, you’re going to have to handle this yourself, Quincy, now that you have no subordinates left.”
Minamo smiled at Houston before her, Zanpakuto in hand, advancing like a goddess of death come to reap souls.
Behind her lay the corpses of a hundred men in white.
“Come. Now I’ll show you just how terrifying a little girl can be.”