Hours had gone by but Flanna still couldn't decide what to wear and Kisuke couldn't keep waiting for her to choose so he forced her to move to the training room to get accustomed to her strength. Kisuke planned to toss her at Claire and her group but he couldn't let them meet her if she ends up destroying everything around her whenever she feels excited.
'I wonder how things are going down there?' Kisuke asked himself and couldn't help but chuckle at all the chaos that surely was happening right now.
And just as he thought, all of the factions were very disorganized as they tried their best to make sense of what just happened. Naturally, their attention was solely focused on the man who was the center of all of it but when they couldn't hold of him, their scrutiny turned to the Belial House and Rossweisse.
While the Belial House just gave a nonanswer citing that they too don't have the full scope of the events, Rossweisse was under the full protection of the Underworld. Because of this, the fear of being in the dark turned into anger that was pointed towards the ones supposedly managing all three parties, the Tri-Faction Alliance.
"Nothing is going as planned... For better or worse." Azazel muttered while massaging his temples, "Although we lost Great Red, that barrier with his body as the core should give us a few years of time to prepare, if not decades."
"But this is a problem, isn't it?" Sirzech said under his breath.
Ajuka, while quietly listening to their whining beyond the screen, was analyzing the barrier that Kisuke deployed. But the only thing he could gather from it was its range and approximate strength, 'It locked the whole Dimensional Gap and covered the whole Earth 'till midway to the Moon. As for its strength, it's at least a hundred times higher than Trihexa's base defenses... But will that be enough? It's Kisuke Urahara's work so there should be something else.'
All of a sudden, Azazel addressed him, "Hey, don't just bury yourself in that. Give us some input here."
Ajuka calmly turned his eyes to him and nodded, "It is indeed a problem, for the Alliance, that is."
Not just the Tri-Faction but all of the other Factions around the world for the simple fact that they are not the owner of this barrier that's keeping the world safe.
Just this single thing brings Kisuke into one of the highest seats and leverage within the world's 'negotiation table'.
"It's just when his trust in us is at rock bottom and he's also basically the hidden leader of the current Olympus under Athena's management." Azazel scratched his head in frustration.
"Have you already figured out who passed it on to him?", Sirzechs asked.
"There is no evidence beyond the circumstantial.", answered Ajuka.
"And who is it?"
"Yasaka."
Sirzechs and Azazel both sighed in defeat. They were already expecting her name to come up, but still couldn't help but feel betrayed when Ajuka revealed it, "She made a bet and won.", muttered the former.
Azazel also added, "I might have considered the same thing if I were in her position. It's hard to feel secure when she can't even leave her territory."
Ajuka continued fiddling on his console to resume his review of the barrier while saying, "As I only have circumstantial evidence, I can't confront her. Instead, we should focus on building back the bridge. Thankfully, we still have a bridge called 'Issei'."
"Issei? I disagree!" Azazel strongly rejected Ajuka's suggestion, "We can't use Issei. If we make a mistake somewhere, not just the mutual respect and trust, we might as well become that guy's enemy! I don't know about you, but I definitely don't want to be on the other side of his sword."
"We can't use Issei." Sirzechs immediately seconded Azazel's statement, "But what should be our next course of action? We can't just sit down here and talk without doing anything. Others will surely take advantage of this. Even now, Michael is having a hard time keeping the others at bay. He'll soon reach his limits."
Azazel thought about it for a few seconds before slapping the table hard, "Fuck it! Let's just tell him everything! Since it's very clear that we can't beat him in this game, maybe sincerity will do."
.
.
.
"I'm home~!" Kisuke, without any other urgent things on hand for the first time in a while, arrived at the Belial Mansion and saw the extremely tight security outside.
However, the first thing that greeted him was a nodachi traveling at high speed aiming directly for his face. Even then Kisuke still had time to think and could properly watch the 'raging boar' behind the nodachi, 'Hoh? She coated her blade with dense Reiatsu-Ki to make it blunt. When did she learn to do something like this? It's too precise to be just for this specific application and learning that should be harder than most Kidou.'
While thinking of random things and refusing to address the current issue, Kisuke was hit squarely on the forehead and was sent out of the estate as soon as he got in.
Kisuke flew over the small city of Belial all the way to the mountainous region where he traumatized Erebus.
The guards of Belial thought that it was an enemy attack, but thankfully, Sakura immediately went out and reassured everyone that everything was well.
Aika, on the other hand, had already caught up to Kisuke who was lying down on the ground, and pointed her nodachi at his chest while looking at him with a grave expression, "Do you have something to say?"
"Are you hoping to hear an apology from me?" Kisuke immediately replied, "But at times like these, I don't really like issuing empty apologies."
"Then do you mind getting pummeled for a few hours?"
"Of course I mind it! I also don't like being in pain, after all... But if that can do something about your frustration, then I won't do anything for a few minutes at least."
Aika silently stared at Kisuke who had already closed his eyes without any remorse for a minute or two before her expression mellowed out and sighed, "I guess that's the best concession you could give." Keeping her nodachi back, Aika slowly sat down beside him and observed the scenery around them.
"Oh? You're not going to do it? Aren't you mad?"
"I am... But you're not really guilty of anything. If anything, I just assaulted you for no reason."
Kisuke doesn't know why, but the current Aika seems a lot calmer even prior to when she lost her memories. But that query was promptly answered by her next sentence.
"You see... I've been dreaming... For at least four years."
Editors:
28th00: This chapter should be just named “Karma”. For those 3 and Kisuke. She didn’t even break his nose! Aika, you’re too much of a good girl…
Goyya: Damn, I was wondering why this chapter has a title but this is good. (Sidenote, I can’t see the color of edits cuz I’m using darkmode.)
Aika stayed quiet and just enjoyed the wind blowing on her face.
However, Kisuke wouldn't be Kisuke if he didn't destroy this mood purely for amusement, "Of all the numbers, why the unlucky one?"
Aika's calm demeanor instantly disappeared and she smacked Kisuke's forehead, "Why are you concerned whether it's unlucky or not!? And you think 4(shi) is unlucky when you represent death(shi) itself!?"
Kisuke snickered while rubbing his forehead, "That expression is much more suitable for you."
Aika glared at him and asked, "You prefer my angry face more? Since when did you have that kind of preference, you pervert?!"
Kisuke cozied up to the ground and looked afar, "No. What I meant is that you don't have to wear a somber expression."
"Somber?" Aika tilted her head, "Did I look somber to you?"
But instead of answering, Kisuke directed the conversation elsewhere, "Four years... I don't know how you did it, but the most you can do in that dream world of yours is move around while talking to your Zanpakuto."
"It's Akane and Kaguya." Aika interrupted him.
"Hm?"
Aika hugged her nodachi, "Please call them Akane and Kaguya."
Kisuke looked at the nodachi and smiled, "In that dream world of yours, the most you can do is to move around, talk to Akane-chan and Kaguya-chan, and mope around."
"Well... That's true..." Aika answered after a short pause, "But how did you know?"
Kisuke chuckled, "I'm not sure why you stayed in there for so long compared to the normal flow of time, but this is actually a common occurrence among the people like us since it's a great way to communicate with our partners. And from how you're talking about Akane and Kaguya, it looks like it was relatively peaceful."
Aika thought that it was indeed peaceful. So peaceful in fact, that even playing with Akane and Kaguya became dull as time passed by. Soon, the only thing she could do was move her body around. And since she had a feeling that she couldn't really do any physical training, she focused on her control and manipulation. However, Aika noticed that Kisuke's phrase was a bit out of place, "Peaceful... Yes, it was... But it doesn't sound like that's always the case?"
Kisuke went silent for a moment before answering, "...Yoruichi's Byakko ignores her most of the time while my Benihime would always try to cut and stitch me up into something else... Let's just say that they each have their own 'unique' personalities."
"..." Aika felt her throat dry up as she swallowed her saliva, "...That sounds... very harsh."
Kisuke sat up, "My point is, it doesn't matter how long you stayed in that dream world of yours. You probably contemplated a lot of things to find some resolutions or answers to your confusion and questions. However, you're misunderstanding something. The nothingness you went through didn't actually make you any more mature but you just became numb from all of it."
Aika was about to say something but Kisuke didn't let her, "Happy thoughts, sad thoughts, traumatic experiences, great memories, confusion, and resolution... All of them fade once you go through them again and again. Thus, the numbing feeling that you thought was a sign of calmness.
"To add to that, calmness in front of a situation and choosing the 'right' decision isn't a sign of maturity, but thinking over things after calming down from the explosiveness of emotions." Kisuke patted Aika's head, "Remember, trying to act mature is a sign of immaturity. And now that you're here, you also have to let go of your original concept of age, since we're technically almost ageless. In other words, those four years, while worthwhile, are also effectively inconsequential."
Kisuke stood up and stretched his arms out in the air, "And finally, you're not a monk searching for enlightenment, but just a simple girl trying to make sense of the vague future."
Aika looked down and hugged her knees while thinking over Kisuke's words. As he'd pointed out, she might've just been really feeling numb after thinking back to all of what happened after she met Kisuke over and over again. She didn't 'accept' the reality she's in and calm down, but might have just forgotten how it felt to be in those situations. And that scared her, "...That numbing feeling... How do you fix... No... How do you rekindle them?"
"Even I don't have a concrete answer for that." At that moment, a hint of fear went through Kisuke's eyes but Aika failed to catch any of that, "But I think stacking memories on top of your old ones may help. Simply put, just continue experiencing what the world has to offer and you'll probably never forget those feelings."
But even with that kind of answer, Kisuke couldn't help but be a bit fearful. He's sure that he wouldn't forget a single thing and he'd even modify his own head to make sure that his memories stayed intact. However, even if he had his memories, he might just one day forget they existed in the first place. Small but precious memories might stay in his head forever, but there might be a day when he wouldn't even remember what happened without external stimuli, 'Well, that's to consider if I'm really going to live that long... Though I do think that it'll be a good idea to start writing a diary.'
"That isn't helpful at all," Aika replied with a pout.
"It might work for me but not for others so you'll have to figure that out on your own."
"Then I'll just overthink things again."
Kisuke just shrugged his shoulders, "That's how life is. Contradictory."
Aika sighed and stood up beside Kisuke, "...This just threw off my whole plan."
Kisuke turned to her in wonderment and asked, "Plan? What plan?"
Aika snickered, "Well, I thought I matured even a little bit since I'm technically 22 years old after that time skip so I thought I should be able to advance our relationship~!" But she soon became deflated, "But it turns out that you're still far away from me. Slow down a bit, will ya?"
Kisuke just grinned at her, "Me? Slow down? Are you sure you're asking the right person? I'm not doing that."
"Figures... No choice but to catch up, huh... But how in the world were you able to accept Sona and Kuroka?"
Kisuke immediately turned away from her before replying with a softer voice, "...It's my immaturity at that time. It's my first time being surrounded like that, you know? The horny me couldn't stop it."
It was rare to see Kisuke acting embarrassed, but that's not what concerned Aika, "So the goal really went further ahead!?" While holding her head, she shouted to herself, "I should have made my move back then!!!"
Editors:
28th00: You really should’ve, Aika. He was dealing with all the hormones! He stood no chance! But, you didn’t, so the Student Council President and Ara Ara Catgirl Onee-chan beat you! It’s kinda impressive that Sona beat Aika, especially since Aika is 1000% horni. Kuroka was a straight up mistake though. He pulled a 2-panel instant-loss on her that was far too effective. Poor Kuroka…