Chapter Ninety-Three: The Man Who Made His Move

"..." Silently tending to the wound that had pierced through Changciro's chest, Uono Hana said not a word.

"...I'm sorry..."

"What did you say?"

Hearing an apology from the gravely wounded man before her, Uono Hana could only ask in reflex.

"For what I did about Aizen... I kept it from you..."

"..."

No answer came.

Or rather, she did not know how to answer.

She was indeed angry that Changciro had hidden something so important from her, and perhaps even a little hurt.

Why had he not told her?

Had he not trusted her?

A thousand years together, and yet not even the most basic trust could be given?

A faint bitterness rose in her chest, and her eyes began to grow moist.

"...I'm sorry."

Knowing this must have been a great blow to Uono Hana, Changciro had no idea what else to say, and could only offer another powerless apology.

"There is no need..."

Uono Hana kept her voice as steady as she could and continued healing him. As for Ichi Maru, Hiban, and Hina Mori, Kotetsu Yuin would handle their emergency treatment for now.

"There is no need to apologize..."

Because that was a promise I once made to you...

She had promised that she would never become "the past" again, and had also promised that no matter how things changed, she would not вмешаться; so even when that man was pierced before her eyes, she had chosen only to endure.

Even when her own hand was cut by her fingers from gripping too tightly, she had simply stood by and kept enduring.

Because if she had been unable to stop herself and drawn her blade in that moment, she would probably have become the Uono Hana Tsuru she had been before.

That was the one thing he least wanted to see, and therefore the one thing she least wanted to see as well...

Let the past remain in the past, once and for all...

"Yuin, are the emergency treatments finished?"

"Yes, they have just been completed..."

Kotetsu Yuin wiped the sweat from her brow after finishing Hina Mori's wounds. Three emergency treatments at once, and without Captain Uono Hana's healing skill, she really was feeling a little strained...

"Then notify everyone here of the situation. The Substitute Soul Reapers as well..."

"! ...Yes."

Somewhat startled by Uono Hana's decision, she had just said that treating the wounded was the main priority, and if they notified everyone only now, wasn't it a little late?

Watching her lieutenant use the Heavenly Piercing Empty Net, Uono Hana lowered her head and continued healing Changciro.

"...I'll tell you now... the reason..."

Seeing Uono Hana's slightly somber, somewhat lonely face, Changciro's lips moved; he still intended to tell her why he had done it, to this woman who had always chosen to stand by him.

"No need."

"!"

To his surprise, Uono Hana refused.

Her voice sank low, and her head slowly followed.

"No need..."

If he had not told her, then there must be some reason she herself was not meant to know.

If so, then there was no need to force him to say it.

"It doesn't matter if you don't say it, so..."

With a gentle hand, she smoothed the wrinkles from Changciro's robe, and her voice softened to the tenderest of tones.

"Next time, don't make me worry like this again..."

"...Mm."

No quarrel, no reproach. In that case, what more could he ask for?

When all this was over, he should think about the future...

....................................

"...It feels a little late to notify us now, doesn't it, Captain Uono Hana?"

One hand had turned an eerie green, and between his fingers he held the small black bead just extracted from the inside of Luciiya's body. Around the bead, a multilayered transparent, glasslike barrier tightly wrapped it in place.

"Still, I suppose it did help me out."

With his other hand he gripped the red collar around the little girl's neck, casual as if holding some object he could toss away at any moment, and Luciiya had no choice but to move along with the steps of the man holding her.

As for the raven-haired youth who had originally held Luciiya, and the protagonist boy who had rescued her from the Twin Deaths, both had already been utterly defeated beneath that man's blade.

Neither Bankai nor Shikai had earned them the right to force that man to reveal his full strength.

To have been crushed and yet not killed was already the mercy he had granted them.

"Very well. Since I have what I came for, you are no longer of any use."

Looking at the girl he held in his grasp through his lenses, the man's smile remained as warm as ever.

"Finish her."

"Yes."

Releasing the girl's collar, Aizen walked off in another direction.

Now that she had been let go, Luciiya should have been able to escape smoothly enough. After all, she was not a target that must be killed, and Aizen would not personally dirty his hands. Tosen had also been wounded heavily under the trials of Changciro and Kenpachi; it should be said that he would certainly flee.

But after Aizen had taken something from within her body, and with her already weakened form pressed so long beneath that near-heaven-defying spiritual pressure, merely maintaining the shape of a soul was fortunate enough, let alone escape.

So Luciiya could only remain kneeling there in a daze, staring as Tosen drew his blade and walked toward her.

"Wait, wait!"

"Hold on!"

The two men who had suffered grievous injuries at Aizen's hands lay sprawled on the ground. Whether by design or by chance, Aizen had not completely stripped them of mobility, at least leaving them able to witness the fate of the girl they had fought so desperately to save.

Clang.

The ring on the hilt gave a crisp chime as it struck, yet of all people there, none wished to hear that sound save Aizen and Tosen.

Swish!

With a single thrust, Tosen drove toward Luciiya's despairing body.

Nearly everyone heard the sound of that blade, steeped in killing intent, tearing into the girl's flesh.

Clang!

But before that tearing sound could ring out, the clash of metal came first.

Another blade knocked Tosen's weapon aside. The blade, diverted from its intended course, did not pierce the girl as expected; instead, it left a deep wound across the body of someone else who had appeared.

"!"

Tosen's blind eyes widened abruptly. With his sensitivity to spiritual pressure, he had not detected anyone entering at all.

"Oh... how unexpected."

Standing with his back toward Luciiya, he had sensed the newcomer's presence long ago, but for such an inconsequential matter he had still chosen not to act.

"I thought you were so cold-hearted before. So in the end, you are not above it after all."

The man turned slightly, looking at the other man who had stepped in to save Luciiya.

"Captain Kuchiki."

"Big brother..."

She had thought herself ignored, that even when the death sentence was being pronounced, that man had delivered it to her in a cold, indifferent tone. Yet now, just as she was about to be killed, he had stepped in to save her. The impact of it left Luciiya unable to say anything at all.

"I never imagined you would do something like this..."

Kuchiki's icy gaze fixed on the man who had just pronounced the death sentence on the girl in his arms.

"Aizen."