Preparations for the wedding with Unohana were finished in the blink of an eye.
A week? No, it took exactly two days to prepare everything—from the ceremonial attire to the venue and the invitations.
Even I was surprised that it ended so quickly.
If I, the one who did the legwork, was this shocked, imagine Unohana. The moment she heard the preparations were complete, her eyes went wide, and she was left speechless.
"It's already done?"
"Yeah. I happen to know a lot of people here and there. When I told them I was getting married, they were more than happy to help."
In truth, I did almost nothing. At most, I just moved around to spread the word about my wedding.
Actually, I didn't even visit that many places.
Not even several places—I went to exactly two.
The Soul King Palace and Hell. Just those two.
When I delivered the news of the wedding there, they looked at me as if to say, 'Why are you telling us something we already know?' But the moment I mentioned I hadn't actually held a ceremony until now, they started screaming, "EMERGENCY!! EMEEEERGEEEENCY!!" Before I could do a single thing, they had handled every detail.
The situation was so severe that Hell's operations were paralyzed for a brief moment. You can probably guess how chaotic it was without me going into detail.
The Soul King Palace? There's usually not much work to do there anyway, so it was fine.
Regardless, once the preparations were finished and I told Unohana, she was stunned at first, but soon broke into a happy smile.
"You certainly were fast with the preparations."
"Ah..."
"Fufufu, I'm only joking."
My wife's jokes are so bone-chillingly sharp sometimes that I thought my heart was going to stop.
"But... is it alright to hold our wedding so close to another one?"
"It's fine. The guest lists don't overlap much, and honestly, since it's a double celebration, people will welcome it more than they'll hate it."
"If you say so..."
"Don't worry. It'll be fine. You trust me, don't you?"
"...Heehee, I suppose so. Everything you've said would be okay has turned out fine. I'm sure this will be no different."
"Exactly. Just trust me. I'll be back, so get some rest at home."
I gave her a gentle smile and patted her head before heading to work with the stack of invitations I'd finished the night before.
Who should I give the first one to... naturally, it had to be her.
"Here. Take this."
"Huh? What's this? An invitation...? Eh? Excuse me?"
Sakurano, holding the invitation, looked like she couldn't process the situation at all.
I'm not a telepath, but with the years I've accumulated, I could roughly read her thoughts.
'It's a known fact he's married to the Captain, so why is he handing out invitations now? Is he getting a divorce and marrying someone else? Or what? Is he taking a concubine?'
Knowing Lieutenant Sakurano, those were definitely the kind of thoughts running through her head.
While I processed the documents piled on my desk, Lieutenant Sakurano pointed at the invitation with a trembling hand.
"U-Um... C-Captain? What exactly... is the nature of this invitation?"
"It's for the wedding ceremony between Yachiru and me. Don't misunderstand. I'm not bringing in a concubine, and we didn't get a divorce. We're just holding the ceremony a bit late."
"Ah! Ahaha! Oh, I see. Then... Wait, what? You're holding the ceremony now? You've been married for decades and even have a child, yet you're having the wedding now? No, wait. You're a married couple, but you never had a ceremony? Why?"
I waited for a moment until Sakurano finished her rapid-fire interrogation.
Usually, the moment you open your mouth to refute anything during a rant like that, voices overlap and the situation just drags on.
Of course, be careful of those people who just keep talking until they've said everything they wanted to say regardless of what you do.
Having waited quietly, Sakurano finally calmed down to some extent and let out a deep sigh while staring at the invitation.
"Are you finished?"
"...I apologize. I got a little too excited."
"Yeah, I noticed."
I shrugged as Sakurano tucked the invitation into her robes and asked again.
"So, why are you having the ceremony only now? I thought you two had been married for quite some time..."
"Well... there's a lot to say, but anything I say will just sound like an excuse. To be blunt: I forgot."
"Huh?"
For the first time, every trace of a smile vanished from Sakurano's face as she looked down at me.
It wasn't just the smile—even anger and other emotions were gone. Her face was completely expressionless.
Perhaps so many emotions were swirling at once that none could actually manifest.
It was like a spiritual traffic jam in her brain.
"Are you serious? For no other reason than that you forgot? Does that even make sense?"
"I know I messed up. But I really did forget. For thousands... no, tens of thousands of years, I hadn't even held a woman's hand, let alone thought about marriage. How was I supposed to remember that instantly? If Furufushi hadn't told me to come to her wedding, I would've stayed oblivious forever."
"No, wait... Uh? Um... Err..."
Now she was broken again.
Stuttering like a malfunctioning robot, Sakurano eventually clasped her hands together politely and asked cautiously.
"Um... Elder? Just how old are you this year...?"
"Hey, why ask that? I'm older than the Captain-Commander, at least."
"So... exactly how many years...?"
"I was born before the Soul Society."
At my answer, Sakurano wore an expression that screamed 'UNIMAGINABLE REVELATION.' She covered her mouth with both hands and began counting on her fingers, trying desperately to calculate something.
I figured she'd come back to her senses eventually and went back to sorting the remaining paperwork.
Wait, what's this? 'Former Squad 11 Captain died in action; Kuruyashiki Kenpachi appointed as the next Squad 11 Captain...'
This is a public notice; why is it buried in the approval documents?
I should set this aside for now.
"Oh my... uh... no, wha... You're beyond the level of an ancestor... almost a primordial being, aren't youuu...?"
As I was finishing up the paperwork, a dazed Sakurano tilted her head and asked.
Her reactions were certainly lively. I wonder how she'll take this part.
"The founders of the Four Great Noble Houses you know? They were my disciples. Tsunayashiro Jomon, Shiba Shiryu, Kuchiki Myoren, and Shihoin Rasatsu. Those four. You know the names, right? Or has it been so long that they've been forgotten?"
"YOU TOTAL CRADLE-ROBBER!!"
"Geez! You scared me. Why so sudden?"
"Are you really asking 'why' right now?! Just look at the age gap!! You're like her great-great-great-great-grandfather!! No, even more than that!"
"I know. Even I wondered why Yachiru liked a stubborn old man like me when she first confessed."
The moment I finished speaking, Sakurano nodded as if in deep agreement.
But then she quickly snapped out of it, shook her head vigorously, and shouted.
"No, normally shouldn't you have tried to turn her down because of that gap!?"
"I was going to. But it didn't work. That was the first time in my life my heart had ever raced like that. For the first time, I felt the reality of being alive. Because of that, I ended up accepting before I knew it."
"Wait, the 'first' time? You mean you didn't date or marry anyone during all that time...?"
"I didn't. The situation didn't allow for it, and I didn't have any desire to. Didn't I just say? I hadn't even held a woman's hand before."
"I thought that was just a figure of speech!! Wait, then the Captain was actually a virgin for over ten thousand years...?"
"That's a bit rude, don't you think? Don't call me that. I'm not anymore."
Since that was something I was somewhat self-conscious about, I replied with a deadpan face. Sakurano recoiled slightly, covering herself while pouting.
"That's sexual harassment."
"Who started the harassment first, brat?"
And so, the ordeal of giving Sakurano her invitation ended.
By the way, if all of Squad 4 attended the wedding, the Gotei 13's only medical relief squad would be paralyzed, so we decided to pick only five people to go.
"So, you pick the other four yourself. You've been in Squad 4 longer than I have, so you know who deserves it."
"Ah, yes. Where do you plan to hold the ceremony?"
"It's written on the invitation; didn't you see it? Ah, you put it away without even opening it. It's going to be at Mount Osore."
"Osorezan? Uh, wait. Do you mean that Osorezan? The place rumored to be connected to Hell?"
Sakurano looked at me with an expression that said, 'Of all the places in the world, why choose a place like that?'
Why Mount Osore? Because that mountain holds many significant meanings for me.
The place where the Gates of Hell were first created, the place where I was first worshipped as a god, the place where I first stood when I stepped into the Soul Society...
It's a location where all my 'firsts' are gathered, so that's why I chose it.
Of course, to people who don't know the truth, it just looks like a scenic tourist spot or a spiritual vein surrounded by ominous rumors.
"Osorezan is very famous, but still, using it as a wedding venue... Don't you think it's a bit of an... odd selection?"
"It's not strange for you to think that. I had my reasons for picking it, so just trust me and come. You'll be in for a surprise."
"If you say so, Captain, I'll accept it... but did you tell Captain Unohana about this?"
"She was right next to me when I was writing the invitations, so of course she knows."
"Hmm... alright. Understood. I'll go deliver the rest of the invitations."
"You're only giving them to the Squad 4 members. Got it?"
"Yes sir!"
Sakurano gave a playful salute and left the Captain's office.
"She's certainly gotten much more comfortable around here."
She didn't use to have that kind of personality.
I let out a chuckle, quickly processed the remaining papers, and stood up.
It was time for me to go deliver the rest of the invitations myself.