The already heavy silence became even heavier.
Kisuke caught his hat that was blown off by the wind and dusted it for a bit before putting it back on, "Well then... I think we're done here so I'd like to bid my farewell. Loki-sama, thank you for having me."
"Sorry about this. I'll return this favor someday." Loki was genuinely grateful to Kisuke. Although her children had become stronger, something else degraded, "The undeveloped area remained abandoned thanks to Freya's pressure so it should have remained relatively the same."
Unbeknownst to anyone except for Kisuke, Loki's 'favor' was accompanied by enough resolution that she'd go against just about everything to return it, 'I was pissed that I had to do something like this, but she's paying so much more. I can't keep getting mad, can I?'
"Is that so? I have to thank Freya-sama later." Kisuke turned around and began to exit the Twilight Tower. Although he was in a bad mood moments ago, he left in a good mood since he essentially got Loki's 'promise'.
"W-wait!"
Kisuke stopped walking and turned his head back. His happy expression had already disappeared.
Ais clenched her teeth and said, "You haven't lost! Don't act like you can't fight!"
Kisuke sighed, "I surrendered so I already lost? What are you talking about?"
Ais swung her sword and prepared her Magic again, "Weren't you just about to cut me down? If I wasn't able to defend myself in time, I would have been injured."
"But you defended yourself. And if you keep doing that, I have no way of defeating you.", Kisuke immediately replied, 'Well, within my current limits at least.'
"But I can't-" Ais wanted to explain but Kisuke glared at her, "Think about your words before you say them. What are you trying to achieve here? It's just a simple spar. We are not trying to take each other's life. I have my secrets and you have your own. Keeping them may save your life so why are you so gung-ho to show off your abilities in a simple exchange? Is it because of pride? Is it because you felt like you lost? Please don't drag me into your childish games."
"W-wh... No... I didn't mean it like that!"
"Then you're much worse than I thought. If we're basing it on my opinion, the girls who came before you are a lot better since even if they lay defeated on the floor, they kept their most important cards hidden."
Losing his interest in lecturing her, Kisuke resumed his steps, "If you keep that up, you'll lose your life without knowing how nor why."
Riveria wanted to follow him but she knew she couldn't because of this mess she'd started, 'Looks like a lot of things indeed have changed... But not all of them were for the best.'
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Kisuke returned to Hestia Familia's base, the abandoned church that Hephaestus had gifted Hestia when she was just starting out, "Such a nostalgic scene. This place really hasn't changed much." Kisuke muttered to himself as he entered the first shop he built when he came to this world by accident.
He inspected the shop and was able to glean some clues that multiple people went through this place multiple times. Though that doesn't really concern him since there's nothing here and the entrance to the underground hideout wasn't touched.
'Yoruichi and the others won't be here for a few more hours. For the time being, I will need to plan out my moves on Luxato Abtor and get that blueprint in one go.'
The things he did in the Loki Familia were already shoved to the back of his head, only to be remembered when he sees them again.
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It was nighttime again and Kisuke was already done with his preparation to steal. There was a commotion two hours ago in his shop above ground but Kisuke ignored it, mainly because he could feel Freya's presence and he didn't want to deal with her right now, 'Loki knows how to enter this place so if it's an emergency, they'll just come in.'
Kisuke was about to kick back and relax when a blurred presence suddenly manifested not far from him. Since there was no malicious intent, he already guessed who it was but he decided to play along.
Using Flash Step, he reappeared behind the blurred presence, however, he saw nothing. Instead, the presence was already behind him again, 'What!?'
Kisuke 'stepped out' again, but the same thing happened. This time, he couldn't dodge as a pair of familiar arms wrapped around him from behind, "Surprise~!"
A gentle smile emerged from Kisuke's face as the familiar scent softly assaulted his nose, "I was really surprised. How are you doing that?"
The arms released him and once again, the presence behind him instantly disappeared with the space not far in front of him suddenly warping slightly before Yoruichi, with a big grin, appeared from it, "Like this~!"
Kisuke's eyes widened and exclaimed at the traceless teleportation, "Instant Transmission!?"
"There are some limitations..." Yoruichi nodded, "But yeah, an Instant Transmission."
Kisuke jumped and happily hugged her, "Congratulations! You've just achieved something unbelievable!"
Yoruichi hugged him back and was absolutely content with his praise, "With you working your butt off, I can't just slack off now, can I? And welcome back."
"Yeah... I'm back... And I actually missed you."
Although very happy with hearing those words, Yoruichi shuddered, "When did you start saying those things?"
Kisuke chuckled, "Just recently. I've got to change too, you know."
The feelings of endearment, intimacy, and fondness they have for each other were as real as it could get. However, they were not exactly adults that could say their serious feelings because they saw it as a weakness. So when Yoruichi heard Kisuke verbally expressing his feelings and not a hint of a joke in it, she was absolutely surprised.
Yoruichi too wanted to express her adoration, but found her words stuck in her throat. She wanted to force it, but before she could do so, Kisuke covered her lips, "If it doesn't come out naturally, don't do it. Besides, both of us are people of action so we'd rather see something like that."
Yes, they are the type of adults that couldn't say it but show it. So a steamy night began with only the two, separated from everything in the world.
Editors:
28th00: The 1st cat is back! Kisuke has a lot of cats, huh? Yoruichi, Kuroka, Shirone, Ophis, Lilith and Tanith. Six Cats. Dragons are just big scaly cats. At least I don’t have to edit a sex scene…
The next morning, Serafall, Hestia, and Artemis came down to the underground hideout and the first thing they noticed was Yoruichi's 'glow', "It really looks like you enjoyed yourself.", Serafall muttered with an awkward expression.
"Well, it really has been a while, so I got a little excited~!", Yoruichi answered back while rubbing her cheeks and with a slightly embarrassed expression.
Artemis blushed and the corner of Hestia's lips twitched. Choosing not to entertain her any further, the latter asked, "Where is he?"
Yoruichi pointed behind her with her thumb, "He's inside, working on something again, as usual."
Hestia was instantly appalled, "Again!? How much of a workaholic is he!?"
"Yes.", Yoruichi simply answered.
Hestia grabbed the blushing Artemis with a furious expression and said, "I'm going to drag him out on a date!"
Yoruichi nodded, "You're free to do whatever you want. No one remembers him anyway... Well, except for a few people. The most troublesome one is in the Tower of Babel right now so she shouldn't bother you for some time."
Yoruichi then ignored the Goddesses and proceeded to tell her night story to Serafall despite her protests.
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Kisuke got dragged around the city by the Goddesses, but he didn't really mind it. This was also the first time he was able to get around when there was still daylight and it gave an entirely different vibe compared to the night city with young people happily going around instead of drunkards creating noise.
As they went around, Kisuke told them various stories of what had happened on the other side. Although they already knew most of these stories, it gave a different feeling and joy to hear it directly rather than just through screens.
"Heeeh~ I heard last time from Sona herself that she wanted to establish an educational facility that didn't take people's status into account," Hestia commented while munching on the street food she'd gotten.
"But it mustn't have been easy.", Artemis added, "I've seen how those at the top of the hierarchy do their best to destroy this kind of thing because it's a threat to their position."
"It wasn't. But if you gather enough influence and people who can support you and push back against those types of people, it becomes easy enough."
While Hestia took Kisuke's words at face value, Artemis knew that it wasn't that easy either, 'For a power like that to rise on a global scale, the power struggle has to be turbulent enough that they'd have a chance to pave through. Looks like their world isn't as peaceful as he let it on.'
At some point, Kisuke felt an intense stare. He followed it and turned his head towards the top floor of the Tower of Babel to see a breathtaking Goddess with a slightly fuming expression.
In response, Kisuke just smiled and waved his hand in greeting before ignoring her again.
Curious, Hestia and Artemis turned their attention to where he was waving. However, since they couldn't really see as well as Kisuke, they couldn't really see Freya, but they could guess who she was.
"You haven't met her?" Hestia guessed.
"She'll be a pain in the ass, but I'm sure that her children will be a lot more annoying than her, so I'm saving myself from trouble."
"You know you can't ignore her forever. That woman's obsession isn't something you can deal with by just ignoring her."
"At least she'll get the idea not to bring her children if she wants to meet me. I already learned my lesson in the Loki Familia and they are at least ten times worse in a certain sense."
"The Loki Familia?" Artemis asked, "What happened?"
"Well, it's just kids who became a bit drunk on power and were thinking that they are at the top of the world."
Artemis and Hestia understood what he meant and the latter asked, "Can you blame them? They are literally at the top of the world right now."
Kisuke went silent for a moment before answering, "...Maybe I just expected something better from them."
The three of them walked around for a few more minutes until they came across another group.
"K-Kisuke..." Riveria called out with a bit of an awkward tone.
Behind her were Loki, Tiona, Tione, Lefiya, Filvis, Ais, and a fair-skinned, white-haired, and golden-eyed little girl around seven years old holding Ais' hand.
Naturally, Kisuke was not the one to be bothered by their situation and casually greeted them, "Yo~ Riveria, Loki-sama, and everyone from Loki Familia. Good afternoon. Looking for a place to have lunch?"
"That's right~!" Loki stepped in front of everyone, "How about you join us?" Her eyes then went down and met the eyes of a growling Goddess, "It's also been a while since I talked to this shortie. I want to catch up~!"
"Who would want to catch up with you!? Get lost!"
Kisuke was thinking if he should accept her invitation or not and was leaning toward the former because he could see Loki's attempt at reconciliation. But before he could say anything, someone else called out to him and it surprised him, "Kisuke... Urahara?"
Kisuke hurriedly turned and saw a handsome young man with white hair and red eyes, "You're Kisuke Urahara, aren't you?"
"Bell Cranel, is it? What a surprise... It has been a while, hasn't it?"
"Yes. It really has been a while."
"But I don't think we've talked that much."
Bell approached him while nodding, "That's true. But there's something I'd like to ask you in case we meet again."
Bell then placed his right hand on his back and pulled out a familiar dagger. The moment Bell placed the dagger in front of him, Kisuke's eyes widened, 'Now this is really a surprise... I didn't think it'd reach this stage considering how poorly optimized it was.'
A smile emerged from Bell's face, "I wanted to ask if you're the one who gave it to me, but considering your reaction, is it safe to assume that is a yes?"
Kisuke stared at the dagger for a few more moments before saying, "Do you know a quiet place with good food?"
Bell nodded, "I know exactly a place just like that."
"Then let's go." Kisuke then turned to the other group and asked, "Do you mind it, Loki-sama?"
"I'm also curious why the heck he could recognize you, so let's go~!"
Editors:
28th00: Protagonist-kun and his anti-NTR aura means he can’t be affected by mental influencing skills! I see that Bell and Ais seem to have had a kid too, unless it’s the dragon loli… They’re spreading!? I blame Ophis. At least, I think so? So this is what happens when Riveria isn’t around, huh?