"With the strength of the person I fought back then, only Captain Kyoraku and Captain Unohana were able to stop him. If three fighters of that level showed up, then combined with the Menos in Hueco Mundo, the Hueco Mundo expedition had no chance of winning at all," Rosse shook his head as he spoke.
"Does Captain-Commander Yamamoto know all this?", Matsumoto Rangiku frowned slightly.
If she remembered right, there had been three separate fights detected at the time.
On the other two battlefields, the spiritual pressure that burst out on the Hollow side was no weaker than Harribel's when she had appeared in front of them.
That already showed the enemy had at least three top-tier captain-level combatants.
Add in the countless Menos in Hueco Mundo, and there was basically no way to win.
Even if she realized it a bit late, once Matsumoto Rangiku thought it through carefully, she honestly had no idea how the expedition force was supposed to win.
"He definitely knows, but this is probably what you'd call the arrogance of the Shinigami. They've lived the easy life for too long and already see themselves as the rulers of this world. They've completely forgotten what it feels like to be suppressed," Rosse chuckled.
"You talk like you're not a Shinigami. Captain, you're also one of the Shinigami now, you know."
Matsumoto Rangiku rolled her eyes a little, then reached out her delicate hand to push Rosse up and gently straighten his clothes.
He was about to go to the First Division for a meeting, and she did not want her own captain showing up looking sloppy.
"I've never considered myself a Shinigami. Besides the Tenth Division, none of the other divisions have tried to get on my good side. It's enough if we just mind our own business."
Rosse smiled faintly, gave Matsumoto Rangiku a hug, then turned around and headed to the First Division.
"Mind our own business, huh... that's true enough."
Matsumoto Rangiku silently watched Rosse's back and found herself agreeing with his words in her heart.
As someone who came from Rukongai, she did not like Soul Society's system one bit.
If not for having quite a few acquaintances in the Gotei 13, she would have felt no sense of belonging here at all.
To be honest, she did not have much attachment to her own division either.
An ordinary Shinigami's lifespan is only one or two hundred years. On top of that, Soul Society is not exactly peaceful, and there are all kinds of reasons that can lead to death.
Which means for regular Shinigami and even seated officers, they get replaced every few decades.
She had already been a vice-captain for almost a hundred years. She had gone through two captains, and the members of the division had been swapped out batch after batch. She no longer felt much of anything.
Only Rosse had given her a very special feeling, dragging her down into him in a very short time.
Looking at it now, maybe that feeling was because Rosse was the same kind of person as her.
Neither of them felt like they belonged in Seireitei or Soul Society.
The only difference was that Rosse was more carefree than she was, refusing to follow any rules that did not match his own wishes. That was something she envied and longed for from the bottom of her heart.
"Captain, I just hope you don't go too overboard."
A flicker of worry flashed through Matsumoto Rangiku's eyes, but in the end it all settled back into calm.
As Rosse's half pillow-side partner, and with Rosse barely bothering to act in front of her at all, how could she not notice some of his small oddities?
She even had a kind of intuition that Rosse knew the Hollow who had appeared in the World of the Living back then.
But what did that have to do with her?
As long as Rosse would not harm her, that was already enough.
As for everything else, she no longer wanted to care.
This was also the change Rosse had brought to Matsumoto Rangiku over the past half year.
She was no longer that Matsumoto Rangiku who would jump in to fight injustice. Since this world was rotten from the root, why should she still follow its rules?
Instead of thinking about how to defend Soul Society, she might as well think about how to sneak off to the World of the Living to have fun.
The last time she and Rosse secretly went to the World of the Living had already been a month ago.
Going once a month and only staying a day or two each time was really not enough to enjoy themselves.
———
[First Division]
Thunk!
With the thump of Captain-Commander Yamamoto's cane hitting the floor, the entire captain-commander's office fell into silence.
Including the ailing Ukitake Jushiro, all thirteen captains had gathered here.
All sorts of gazes fell on the five captains who had returned.
The captains had all received short notices and knew the Hueco Mundo expedition had returned in crushing defeat.
But they could not figure out, no matter how they thought about it, how a formation with five captains and five vice-captains could lose so quickly and badly.
"Old man, this time it was my poor leadership. I'll take full responsibility for any punishment," Kyoraku Shunsui stepped forward and spoke in a low voice. For once, he was not wearing that flashy pink haori, just a fresh captain's cloak as he attended the meeting.
Right now, he seemed to have become much more serious because of the failure of the Hueco Mundo expedition. The usual carefree attitude was gone.
"Captain Kyoraku, that's not right. I was the vice-commander and didn't fulfill my role. I should be punished together with you," Unohana was still the same gentle, unhurried self, but there was also a hint of apology in her voice.
Even though she did not care about the lives of those regular squad members at all, after a thousand years, her surface act had long since become perfect.
"I'm not interested in hearing who takes the blame. Kyoraku, tell me why you lost so badly."
Captain-Commander Yamamoto's cane pressed heavily to the floor, letting out a dull sound.
His narrowed eyes opened slightly, and his extremely intimidating gaze fell on Kyoraku Shunsui.
"There's nothing much to say. I just wasn't as good. My strength is inferior to the No. 2 among the Espada."
Kyoraku Shunsui shook his head. Without using Bankai, he had been completely suppressed by the released Arrancar Lilynette.
If not for his Zanpakuto being special, he probably would not even have been able to stall her.
And even if he did use Bankai, he felt he might not necessarily win.
His Bankai belonged to the kind that dragged both sides down, and in the end, he would most likely trade his own serious injuries for the opponent's death.
But the key problem was that Lilynette happened to be extremely restraining for him.
Even if he used Bankai to kill Lilynette, that would only kill one of her spirits. The other one, named Starrk, was not any weaker at all.
In that kind of near-death endgame, a completely unhurt Starrk would be more than enough to take him out with ease.
Mainly, he was not sure if the damage Lilynette inflicted on him counted as damage from Starrk as well. That was the reason he held back.
And besides, dealing with one of them was already difficult. Let alone that the enemy had three fighters of that level this time.
"Captain-Commander, the reason the expedition failed this time is because of me," Sui-Feng pursed her lips, but still took the initiative to step forward.
Even though she had changed into a fresh set of clothes, from the bandages on her face and body, it was still obvious how battered she had been.
"Oh?", Captain-Commander Yamamoto frowned slightly and took a listening posture.
"Captain Unohana and Captain Kyoraku were each holding back one of the enemy's top combatants. But there was still a blonde woman we were completely powerless against. We were casually defeated by her," As Sui-Feng spoke, her fists clenched tightly.
To her, being effortlessly defeated by a Hollow and nearly captured alive was a humiliation beyond belief.
But there was nothing she could do. That was the reality.
If you can't win, you have to admit it.
This was a burden she had to carry.
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