I'm really not the number one slacker in Soul Society.

As before, she fell silent halfway through her rebuttal.

...Looks like I guessed right.

Then, Soi Fon slowly sat down against the wall, hugged her knees which were curled up together with her arms, and sobbed with extremely small movements.

This action seemed to become the trigger, and she could no longer hide the surging emotions in her heart. While crying, she said, "Yoruichi-sama... has led the Shihōin family for so many years, and I have been watching from the sidelines. In the end... in the end, because of that bastard Urahara... everyone thinks that Yoruichi-sama has also become a shameless traitor, and even the Shihōin family... seems to be in a hurry to forget about Yoruichi-sama."

"..."

Mima watched her cry silently, then sighed and said in a deep voice, "Captain Urahara was the third seat of the second division before. You must know him very well, right?"

Soi Fon nodded subconsciously at first, then immediately frowned and gritted her teeth, saying, "Why did you bring up that bastard?"

“It’s simple,” Mima asked. “Do you really believe Captain Urahara would do something like that?”

Although I actually did it myself, the atmosphere had already reached this point, so the only person left to take the blame was naturally that "mysterious woman"!

Even if something happens later, it doesn't matter... At worst, I'll just stand there and let the swan bee blast me.

"I……"

Mima's words seemed to touch on Soi Fon's most painful question.

There's no need to think; there's only one answer.

“Of course… I don’t believe it.” Soi Fon said, emphasizing each word. “Although Urahara always makes me angry… I don’t believe he would do such a thing to a close friend.”

“I don’t believe it either.” Mima put his hands in his pockets and laughed. “If it weren’t for Captain Urahara, I would have died that night. If he really wanted to harm someone, why would he have sent me back to deliver the message? Wouldn’t that have just exposed himself?”

“I’ve read your report too,” Soi Fon said, pursing her lips. “But the verdict from Chamber 46 says that… there was a conflict between that bastard Urahara and that mysterious woman. On the surface, he let you go, but in reality, he didn’t want to lose a test subject.”

Mima almost burst out laughing.

To be honest, that's true. In his testimony, Urahara was innocent, but the "evidence" found at the scene indicated that Urahara was the mastermind behind everything. So, after a heated brainstorming session, the 46th Chamber came up with a very absurd story: "Urahara conspired with a mysterious person to poison several members, but they got into a fight for some unknown reason (presumably because they didn't want to lose the test subjects), which allowed Watanabe Yama to survive."

In fact, if it weren't for Shunsui vouching for him, Mima even suspected that the 46th Chamber would have simply treated him as an accomplice and beheaded to save trouble.

"To say something utterly disrespectful."

Mima scoffed, "You and I are both eyewitnesses. We both think Captain Urahara isn't that kind of person. Do you think the 46th Division knows more than us?"

"That is……"

Soi Fon was so shocked by these explosive remarks that she was speechless.

After stammering for a while, he finally nodded hesitantly.

"I believe that Captain Urahara's case is an absolute miscarriage of justice."

Mima cast a cold gaze toward Room 46. "In fact, almost all the captains think so."

"what?"

Bombarded by this logic, Soi Fon even forgot to cry. She just stared blankly at Mima, a million complex thoughts flashing through her mind, of which at least 80% made sense.

"But why does Room 46 want to..." Soi Fon swallowed hard, not daring to finish her sentence.

“There’s a significant conspiracy behind this,” Mima shrugged. “But you probably already know how incompetent the 46 is. Do you really think they’d issue orders like, ‘There are a lot of suspicious points in this matter. Investigate thoroughly!’”

Soi Fon instinctively shook her head, but she immediately covered her head in terror, not daring to even look at Mima.

It's not surprising... After all, she grew up in a hierarchical environment, so it's normal that she wouldn't dare to doubt her superiors.

However, Yoruichi's recklessness had already created a breach in this situation, and if they added a little more fuel to the fire...

Do you know how I see you?

Mima chuckled, then squatted down in front of Soi Fon, watching her shifty eyes, and said, "You know what? Your situation is actually quite ridiculous."

"ridiculous……!"

Soi Fon immediately wanted to retort, but Mima spoke first.

"I ask you, are you loyal to the Shihōin family or to Shihōin Yoruichi herself?"

Upon hearing this, Soi Fon's pupils immediately contracted. She seemed to have an answer she wanted to blurt out, but in the end, she shut her mouth and even planned to get up and run away.

This is not okay.

Before Soi Fon could straighten up, Mima pressed down on her shoulder, abruptly stopping her movement.

"What? You don't even have the courage to look at yourself?" Mi Zhen asked softly at first, then suddenly raised her voice, "Answer me!"

Soi Fon was startled and shrank her shoulders, her body trembling slightly before a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Of course... Lord Yoruichi." She bit her lip, her eyes trembling, "I swore an oath to give everything to Lord Yoruichi!"

Mizhen released her grip, stood up, and took a step back.

“Don’t you know perfectly well?” he said, spreading his hands. “Then I guess you also know exactly what you should do, right?”

"……Um."

Soi Fon wiped away her tears and nodded gently twice: "I want to... become the captain of the Second Division, and then find a way to find Yoruichi..."

"stop!"

Mima shook his head violently and said, "Don't reveal your Second Division's secrets to me! I'll get myself into trouble!"

"?"

"And—I was just excited earlier, I didn't say anything, and you didn't hear anything either," Mima bombarded Soi Fon with a barrage of words. "We didn't discuss anything dangerous!"

Soi Fon paused for a moment: "This..."

"Did you understand?" Mi Zhen pretended to fall forward. "Don't force me to kneel down and beg you!"

Chapter 92: Reactions from All Sides

"Wait... no... don't do this!"

Soi Fon was startled by this series of actions and quickly went to support Mima: "I'm not the kind of person who likes to gossip!"

"is it?"

Mima breathed a sigh of relief, looked around, then put his hands in his pockets and strode out of the courtyard, giving Soi Fon no chance to speak.

"That's all for now, I have to go. Let's chat again sometime."

Before she could finish speaking, Mizhen vanished from her spot using Shunpo.

Soi Fon was left with red-rimmed eyes and a completely bewildered expression.

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

Meanwhile, in the Shihōin family's residence, on the third basement floor, lies the "Heavenly Soldiers Hall."

After news of Shihouin Hyakugetsu's escape spread, a huge uproar immediately broke out in the Shihouin family. The people who had just been overjoyed that one of their subordinate nobles had become a captain reserve were almost instantly thrown into a state of bewilderment. The abdicated former head of the family urgently took over command and summoned all the authorities of the Shihouin family line back to the main family to discuss countermeasures.

The above is the official statement.

Because only core members of the Shihōin faction could attend this meeting, only they themselves knew the specifics of what was discussed.

And its content is naturally very explosive.

"Reporting to all lords, Lady Hyakugetsu has left Seireitei."

After everyone had arrived, a bald man in black, dressed in a covert combat uniform, knelt down at the door and said the following.

"Are you sure no one has noticed?"

The elderly man sitting at the head of the table in the room glanced at him sideways, his imposing gaze almost making this battle-hardened member of the covert mobile unit tremble.

Rokuki Shihōin, Yoruichi Shihōin's uncle, served as the head of the Shihōin family before Yoruichi took over. He resigned due to old age and declining health and has lived at home ever since, withdrawing from worldly affairs to the point that many people have even forgotten his existence.

But today, he no longer looks like he's old and frail.

His movements were full of vigor and power, and his spiritual pressure was as hot as fire, which was no less than that of a captain-level officer.

—It's like finally seeing a clear sky after years of enduring humiliation and hardship.

"That's for sure."

The hidden agent kneeling at the door nodded and said, "We have already set up a tight concealment barrier around Lady Baiyue's hiding place. We can guarantee that no outsiders will come to interfere until she has fully recovered."

“That would be best,” Shihouin Rokuki nodded. “You may leave.”

"As ordered."

After watching the stealth vehicle disappear from its spot, Rokuki Shihouin glanced at the people sitting cross-legged in the hall, then raised his voice and said with an aura that almost made the building materials tremble: "Gentlemen, the plan has started smoothly!"

Leaving aside the reactions of others, a refined-looking man standing by the wall was clearly startled by the loud shout. He subconsciously reached out and patted his ear before continuing to quietly watch Rokuki Shihouin's speech.

It was none other than Aizen, who had come straight here after parting ways with Yama.

“‘They’ve already left Seireitei’... How interesting.”

He chuckled with interest.

High-end exploration often requires only the simplest methods.

Aizen thus openly followed the Shihouin family into the Tenbei Hall and stood by the wall to listen in.

To be honest, it's hard to imagine how much time he spent casting Kyoka Suigetsu on so many people—the current population of Seireitei is about 150,000, and even if we only count the Shinigami, there are more than 23,800 of them, including many shut-ins who never leave their homes, and almost all of them were affected.

God knows how much time Aizen actually spent finding people and performing his Shikai for them...

It can only be said that to achieve great things, one must first endure hardship. Even if we consider hypnotizing fifty people at a time, Aizen would have to use Kyoka Suigetsu more than 470 times in different situations. Many Shinigami might never use their Zanpakuto that many times in their entire lives.

Aizen watched as the elderly men and women enthusiastically echoed Rokuki Shihouin's words, and then a question-and-answer session began.

"Master, news has just come from the Tsunayo family that their part is all ready."

"Is that so?" Rokuki Shihōin replied in a deep voice, "Let them wait for the right opportunity. Our Heavenly Gift Armaments haven't been fully prepared yet."

"As ordered."

Then someone else asked, "It might be too late to ask this now... but are you and that person from the Tsunayo family really confident that you can deal with Yamamoto Shigekuni?"

At this point, the man added, "I'm not doubting it... it's just that I haven't actually seen the power of that so-called 'secret weapon'."

“Of course.” Rokuki Shihouin chuckled. “Uncertain.”

"Varied……"

"Those bookish bastards from the Tsuna-Yayo family know nothing. Have they even seen Yamamoto Genryusai in battle?" Shihōin Rokuki said sarcastically. "They only know how to compare numbers, saying things like 'the total spiritual pressure of the secret weapon is greater than that of Yamamoto Genryusai,' and they think they can definitely win."