"...It's about time." Hermes muttered as he looked outside the tent. He turned to Bell who was behind him and currently packing up the things they bought in Rivira when they went around it earlier, "Why don't you tag along, Bell-kun?"
"Eh?" Bell looked towards Hermes with a dumbfounded expression.
"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I came to the Dungeon for this." Hermes then suddenly gave Bell a big grin, "I've been waiting for the right opportunity. We're finally alone for this!"
While Bell was looking at him with a confused expression, a certain man suddenly appeared beside them, "Hoho~, that seems interesting~. Mind if I join in~?"
"Waah!!!" Both Hermes and Bell exclaimed when they suddenly heard someone speak beside them, especially Hermes since he was planning to do something not good.
"K-Kisuke-kun!?" Hermes exclaimed, "Since when were you here!?"
"Just now when you were inviting Cranel-san to do something. I think I know what you have in mind~." Kisuke replied with the same grin that Hermes had.
Smiling wryly, Hermes had no choice but to invite him too, "For now, let's go! I know a good spot."
Clapping his hands, Kisuke praised Hermes, "As expected of Hermes-sama~. You really know your stuff."
Hermes and Kisuke then started walking towards a certain direction while urging Bell to follow suit.
A few minutes later, they reached a certain tree and started climbing it. A few seconds later, a certain view displayed itself to the three.
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A few minutes ago, sometime after returning from shopping through Rivira, the girls decided to bathe together in a clean body of water that was claimed by the Loki Familia.
"Ta-da~!" Tiona showed off their bathing spot. It was a very beautiful body of water surrounded by walls of crystals with a small waterfall spurting out of a tall crystal. It was unknown where the water was coming from or where the water went, so that it didn't overflow. However, that wasn't important to the girls as they were happy that they could bath somewhere clean inside the Dungeon.
"Wow... Can we really bath here?" Naaza asked.
"We'll take turns guarding, so we should be safe." A human girl reassured everyone. Effy Colette then turned to her roommate who was currently feeling down, "Right? Lefiya-san?"
Because she skipped her duties to stalk Ais, she got an earful from Riveria and would be punished appropriately once they came up to the surface. Lefiya nodded dejectedly.
"Nothing to worry about with the Loki Familia watching our backs.", muttered Asfi as she looked around.
Tiona and Tione led the way. They then started undressing without a care in the world, "Taking a bath after we just got back from Rivira. It has become quite the routine, huh." Tione mumbled.
"Well, I mean, we're on the 18th floor after all. It'd be such a waste not to!" Tiona added before jumping in the water after undressing.
The rest also followed suit while commenting on how clear the water was and that they didn't expect to take an open-air bath on the 18th floor.
"No matter what I go through as an Adventurer, I'm still wary of doing this sort of thing outdoors." Asfi was the second to last to get in.
"Of course. After all, you don't know if there are any unscrupulous eyes watching such an open space." Yoruichi replied to her.
Asfi looked towards Yoruichi who was having a good time while resting her back on a smooth crystal, "A towel? It's not like anyone would have the courage to peep on the Loki Familia's top Adventurers or else they're just going to invite death."
Yoruichi repositioned the towel on top of her body which hid her important bits before replying, "You never know~." Ever since she got together with Kisuke, she couldn't easily show herself to others unlike before.
Asfi remembered the personality of her God after hearing those words, "You have a point." She too, took out a towel to cover her front while resting her back on the crystal wall.
Lefiya, Tiona, and Tione finally noticed that Ais was spacing out while undressing as she was the last one who still hadn't gotten in, "Ais? What's wrong?" Tiona asked.
Ais woke up from her deep thought and immediately replied, "...Nothing." Before hurrying up and getting in. Although a few minutes later, she'd return to this blank expression of hers again, as if she was deeply contemplating something.
"What happened to her?" Tione asked Lefiya as she already heard from others that she tailed Ais earlier.
"I-I don't know." Lefiya immediately shook her head, "However, she came to the Hestia Familia's tent earlier and stayed there for quite some time."
Tione narrowed her eyes and asked, "Who was in there?"
"The three who are unconscious... and Kisuke Urahara." Lefiya replied.
However, before Tiona and Tione could ask any further, a voice suddenly came from a tall tree near them, "AHHH!!!" A big splash was then created due to something falling into the water from quite high up.
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Once they reached a certain tree branch, while Bell froze in his spot, Hermes had an expression of appreciating a nice scenery and Kisuke was rubbing his chin while looking down on the girls taking a bath.
Bell finally got ahold of himself and hurriedly asked, "What are we doing here!?"
"Peeping~." Hermes answered with a relaxed smile.
"A straight answer!!!? And not even a shred of guilt!?" Bell retorted before sulking, "I thought you were gonna show me something important..."
Giving him a thumbs up, Hermes added, "I'm the best, aren't I?"
"Please don't be so proud of yourself," Bell muttered while covering his face.
Patting his shoulder, Hermes replied, "Bell-kun, this is part of a man's romance."
Bell froze again, "Man's romance...?"
Hermes then looked down again and commented, "Either way, Asfi-chan is such a killjoy, covering herself like that. Though, she must have copied your wife, Kisuke-kun."
Kisuke didn't say anything and just smiled.
Bell woke up again and started shaking Hermes, "No, no, no. I will not be fooled! Let's go back!!"
Hermes panicked and immediately grabbed a nearby tree branch, "Hey, if you move around like that...!"
And just as he expected, Bell slipped and fell, "Ah... AHHH!!!"
"!?"
With a big splash, Bell revealed himself to the girls.
"What!?" Lefiya and Elfy were startled as they were the ones guarding.
Bell resurfaced and he was greeted by the naked bodies of the Amazoness sisters, "Argonaut-kun?" Tiona muttered before happily asking, "What? Did you come to take a bath too?"
"I had pegged you as the quiet type... Not bad." Tione commented.
"!!!" Bell's face started to flush.
As for the rest of the girls, they hurriedly tried to hide their private parts with their hands, "Kyaah!?" A scream came from one of them.
But before they could react any further, another person fell on the water, making another big splash, "Fuah!!! What!? How did I fall!?" Hermes questioned himself before he noticed the glare which he was receiving from Asfi.
Kisuke created a string out of Mana to trip the escaping Hermes, making him fall into the same predicament as Bell, "Ah...! Bell-kun! It's time to bail out!"
With Hermes starting to run away, Bell soon followed suit, running even faster than Hermes, "Ah... BASTARD!!!" Lefiya shouted because her beloved Ais was seen.
"!? This kid's so fast" said Elfy as she tried to catch Bell, however, he easily evaded her. However, instead of coming after him, Elfy saw what Lefiya was doing. Lefiya had started chanting her spell. She was parallel casting faster than ever. The magic she was weaving was easily comparable to a Level 5 spell.
"Arcs-" But before she could finish, Elfy and the other guards hurriedly jumped on her, "Lefiya, stop!"
"What the hell are you thinking!?"
"You're gonna kill him! He'll burn right up!"
Realizing this, Lefiya stopped her spell in panic. The next moment, they could only see how he slowly disappeared among the bushes with Hermes behind him. "I'm sorrrrryyyyy!!!", shouted Bell as he fled.
Thanks to the commotion that Lefiya created, Hermes was able to take some distance, but before he disappeared, he suddenly pointed at the spot where they were peeping, "Kisuke-kun! We're discovered! Escape before they catch you!"
Far from helping Kisuke out, Hermes pointed out his existence because he had a feeling that Kisuke did something for him to fall too.
Ais was startled when she heard this and like everyone else, looked towards the direction where Hermes pointed at. There, they saw a man wearing a striped bucket hat and green eastern clothing as he stood proudly on the tree branch while looking down on them.
"You!!!" The already frustrated Lefiya exploded again and started to weave her spell again, but just like before, she was stopped by everyone else due to the over the top spell she was chanting.
With the same happy face, Tiona asked, "You came to join too?"
Tione, on the other hand, smiled wryly, "I already thought that you could do something like this, ...but in front of your lover?"
Everyone then looked towards Yoruichi, who, strangely enough, was still leisurely relaxing while watching everything unfold.
The Loki Familia girls who had stood guard slowly encircled the tree, where Kisuke stood on, intending to catch him and hand him over to their leaders, "You there! Although you're the guest of Loki Familia, we can't allow something like this! Surrender yourself and the punishment won't be as severe!"
Instead of replying to them, Kisuke first looked around, prompting the girls to hide in panic. When Kisuke's gaze brushed past Ais, she blushed fiercely, unlike when Bell and Hermes saw her and hurriedly curled down while hiding her important bits with her hands.
When the guards were about to jump on him, Kisuke suddenly spoke with a serious face, "I'm not peeping!"
"That's exactly what you are doing right now!" Lefiya retorted.
"I'm openly watching!" Kisuke proudly added with a snort.
"That's even worse!" Lefiya retorted again and ordered the rest, "Catch him!"
The guards hurriedly climbed up the tree so, in response, Kisuke jumped towards one of the crystals on the water. And with a slackened face, Kisuke continued, "Well, I've always wanted to say that. Hehehe~."
"Kyaah!!!" Instead of escaping, Kisuke had the gall to approach the naked girls which made them panic even more.
"You pervert! Behave yourself!" Lefiya shouted as she started weaving a small spell to immobilize Kisuke.
But in response, Kisuke only smiled awkwardly and said, "Well, I didn't expect you to catch me. I didn't think that Hermes-sama would rat me out~."
'You big liar.' Yoruichi retorted inside her head as she was wondering what he was planning.
"Enough with your words! If you have any excuses, say them later!" One of the guards jumped from crystal to crystal to reach where he was and she was soon followed by the rest.
However, before they could reach him, Kisuke suddenly shook his head, "I have no excuses, but how about this? As an apology, I'll give you an opportunity."
Tione signaled all those coming after him to stop, "Tione-san?"
Tione ignored them and asked Kisuke, "Opportunity?" She had a feeling that this would be a good chance.
"Yep~. An opportunity~. Within three hours, starting from now, whoever can catch me would have the right to ask me any three questions or request one thing from me~." Kisuke proposed.
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Editors:
28th00: Poor Bell-kun, he had no clue what was going on till it was too late! Ais is showing quite a strange reaction to Kisuke, hmm~? Also, that is such a loaded bait, it's absolutely going to work. Time to wreak some havoc!
Alexander: I can't wait for Loki's reaction, once she hears about this.
"Yep~. An opportunity~. Within three hours, starting from now, whoever can catch me would have the right to ask me any three questions or request one thing from me~." Kisuke proposed while sporting a large grin.
Everyone stopped in their tracks after hearing Kisuke's proposal and the first one to react to his words was Ais, "...Anything?"
With the same grin, Kisuke answered, "Yep~. Anything~!"
Tiona and Tione knew that Ais was very interested in Kisuke's proposal based on her reaction and they too, were interested in the three questions which they could ask, "Three hours? Aren't you underestimating us? You might get hurt in the process, you know?" Tione reminded him.
In response, Kisuke only chuckled, "That's fine~. In fact, you can do anything to catch me~."
"A-anything?" Tione was startled at his confidence. Even if there was some truth about Ais not being able to win against Kisuke, if they started working together, it wouldn't be a joke even for their Captain or the Champion.
But Kisuke's next words surprised them even more, "Yeah. Break my limbs or leave me on the brink of death. Anything goes as long as I'm alive and you're able to hold any part of my body for five seconds." To everyone's sight, Kisuke's grin didn't change however their perception of it changed entirely. They all thought that they were looking at a madman sporting an insane smile.
While everyone was frozen from his ruthless declaration, the first one to react was once again, Ais, "...Lefiya, please pass me my clothes."
"Ais!?" Tiona and Tione simultaneously exclaimed.
Not being able to understand what was going on and suddenly being called by Ais, Lefiya shook, "Ah... Ah! Y-yes!" She hurriedly followed her instruction after seeing the very serious face she was making.
Ais slowly retreated behind a tree while carefully covering herself as she waited for Lefiya to gather her clothes. Tiona and Tione, on the other hand, looked at each other before nodding and started walking towards their clothes. The two of them thought that Kisuke was just exaggerating but catching him would be beneficial for them so they'd be joining the chase and planned to casually trap him.
Either way, no matter who among the sisters caught Kisuke, their questions would be about Ais due to their concern for her.
Since they only had a few articles of clothing, Tiona and Tione finished dressing at the same time as Ais.
However, as the sister warmed up, they noticed that Ais suddenly pulled out her sword and Tiona asked her question, "Ais? What are you going to do with that sword?"
Kisuke's smile only grew larger after seeing the sword in Ais' hand but he didn't really care, since they wouldn't be able to catch him anyways.
Ais ignored Tiona's question and only stared at Kisuke before muttering, "Tempest!" Using her magic, she launched herself towards Kisuke at almost full power. If it was an Adventurer at Level 3 and below, the moment they got in Ais' proximity, they'd be shredded into pieces.
" "Ais!?" "
"Ais-san!?"
Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya exclaimed.
Kisuke, in response, just jumped away to dodge Ais' charge, and at the same time, he hid himself amongst the trees. But before he disappeared, Kisuke's casual voice resounded, "Your three hours start now~."
Everyone was dumbfounded at Ais' sudden actions and were confused, why did she put so much effort into catching someone well below her Level? Tione hurriedly looked towards Yoruichi who was still casually taking a bath and asked, "Are you not going to do something about that!? I don't know why Ais is acting like that, but Kisuke Urahara might be in danger!"
Contrary to Tione's hurried tone, Yoruichi just casually answered, "He made this mess and he proposed a solution. I trust him with his decision."
Tiona and Tione were shocked that Yoruichi would really just leave Kisuke on his own, 'Even if he really can defeat Ais by any chance, that doesn't mean he stands the same chance when we join. Besides, Ais' current mood is weird...' Tione thought before facing Lefiya, "Lefiya! Go call Riveria and tell her what just happened! I'm worried about Ais' current mood."
"Y-yes!" Lefiya then started running towards the camp.
"Tiona, let's go!"
"Okay~."
The Amazoness then followed the destruction and sounds left by Ais' magic.
"A-are you really not going to do anything?" Asfi asked the still nonchalant Yoruichi.
Yoruichi shook her head and looked towards Asfi, "What about you? That guy peeped on you too, so you have the right to break his legs."
Asfi's mouth twitched at Yoruichi's words, "I-I'll pass... Besides, it's probably Hermes-sama who started all this."
As Yoruichi and Asfi talked, the rest of the girls had no idea what was happening or what they should do now. It was Elfy who reminded them to leave the water as people from the Loki Familia would start flocking in, due to the noise which Ais created as she chased after Kisuke.
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"You've improved yet again~," Kisuke commented as he dodged the swirl of wind coming after him. In the spot he was previously standing, the ground was dug up as soil exploded everywhere.
Ais didn't say anything, but the frustration was apparent on her face, 'How...? How is he dodging all of this?' While biting her lips, Ais recalled what happened until now since she started chasing after Kisuke. Although she was a lot faster than him, especially after using her magic and him not using the strange technique which they were calling 'Flash Step', Ais was always one step behind him.
At first, Ais just tried to chase him but was seeing no results. Due to Kisuke dodging into difficult positions where Ais couldn't approach easily, she slowed down and tried to read his movements.
But instead of making it better, Ais felt that she was being dragged around by Kisuke. She couldn't figure out which one was a feint and which wasn't. '...I can't get close.', thought Ais as she stopped moving and stared at Kisuke who was grinning at her behind a white fan.
It was at this time that the Hiryute sisters appeared, flanking Kisuke from the sides. However, Kisuke's smile didn't change as he twisted his body to avoid the attacks from the sisters and used their extended arm and leg as footholds for him to escape from them, "Oh~, welcome~." Kisuke uttered as he landed on the ground.
Tiona and Tione were slightly shocked that he easily dodged their sneak attack. The two of them slowly retreated beside Ais.
"Tiona, Tione, please. I need to catch him... Please leave this to me." Ais suddenly pleaded as she readied her sword again.
Tiona and Tione looked towards Ais' desperation before looking at each other. Tione then asked Ais, "Do you really need it?"
"...Yes." Ais answered with conviction.
Tione sighed while Tiona only smiled happily. They wanted to ask Kisuke questions too, but if their precious comrade pleaded with them like this, they'd have to prioritize that.
Tione then faced Kisuke and asked, "If either I or Tiona catches you, is it possible to pass the right to Ais?"
"Of course~. I won't mind something like that~."
"Hooh? Aren't you pretty confident..." Tione readied herself, "You do realize that after agreeing to this, we'll be working together, right?" Tiona also readied herself to match her sister's pace.
"Not really." Kisuke then closed his fan, "I just think you need more handicaps from me~. By the way, I won't be using my movement technique as long as I'm in your view."
"Now that's just underestimating us." Tione then launched herself to Kisuke's right while Tiona did the same, aiming for his left.
"Tempest." Ais, on the other hand, renewed her magic and watched carefully. With the three of them moving, it should be a lot easier to get hold of Kisuke's movements.
With the Hiryute sisters bearing down on him, Kisuke kept away his fan and stood straight up. Kisuke quickly got within Tiona and Tione's reach and they couldn't see any signs of him dodging, 'What is he planning?' The two of them thought.
At first, they only wanted to gauge him, however, they are now being presented a chance so they took it. Tione aimed for his face with her fist while Tiona aimed for his body with her leg.
The force behind it was enough for any Level 4 Adventurers to sustain massive injuries if it would hit directly. But when they thought that their attack was about to connect, Kisuke placed his hands on the spot where their attack will be landing, 'Blocking it with a single hand? Is he that strong?'
Even so, regardless of their doubts, the sisters continued their attack. But at the moment when their fist and leg landed in his hands and got caught, Tione felt a very familiar sensation and an instant later, both of them were thrown away.
Both of them landed in opposite directions and hit some trees, damaging them. But instead of grimacing in pain, Tione immediately stood up in shock and pointed at Kisuke while shouting,
"You're that guy!!!"
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Editors:
28th00: I assume the Crimson guy connection? Also, this is just bullying. So evil~
Alexander: I like it. This chapter makes me remember the movie "Catch me" which I watched a week ago.