"Ah—!!"
Seeing the suddenly appearing, red-eyed, huge black gorilla pouncing on her, Rurichiyo was momentarily so frightened she stood frozen on the spot, unable to move.
Toshiro, who had already walked over a hundred meters away, focused his gaze and abruptly stopped in his tracks.
"Help... Toshiro!!"
Seeing the huge black gorilla raising its paw to strike her, Rurichiyo instinctively called out loudly to Toshiro, who had just left.
Whoosh!
As if hearing Rurichiyo's call, at the critical moment, Toshiro's figure instantly appeared before her.
This gorilla that suddenly appeared and attacked Rurichiyo was, after all, just an ordinary gorilla. Toshiro didn't even deem it worthy of drawing his sword… he merely released his Reiatsu.
Boom!
His vast Reiatsu instantly erupted and, under Toshiro's precise control, directly pressed down on the gorilla.
Bang!
As if struck by a terrifying gravity attack, the black gorilla was instantly crushed to the ground.
Crack, crack, crack...
Under the envelopment of Toshiro's Reiatsu, a huge crack appeared on the ground, centered on the black gorilla.
Boom!
Toshiro again increased his Reiatsu, directly pressing the black gorilla into the ground. The sound of bones breaking came, and blood continuously spurted from the gorilla's body.
Then the black gorilla struggled a couple of times and completely stopped moving.
Clearly, under the oppression of Toshiro's Reiatsu, this black gorilla's bones had broken, its internal organs shattered. It was deader than dead.
"Hey, are you alright, Rurichiyo?" Toshiro turned to look at Rurichiyo.
"I... Waaah..."
Rurichiyo paused for a moment before belatedly coming to her senses, then suddenly hugged Toshiro and burst into tears.
Toshiro frowned slightly but didn't push her away. He hesitantly reached out and patted her head, comforting her: "It's okay, it's okay..."
Whether it was Toshiro's clumsy comfort or Rurichiyo's own resilience, she stopped crying after just a moment, then shyly released Toshiro.
"How are you? Are you injured?" Toshiro asked.
"Mm, thank you. Thanks to your timely rescue, I'm not injured."
Although it was words of thanks, perhaps out of habit, Rurichiyo still kept saying "I" in that noble speaking tone. It was hard for Toshiro to sense any gratitude from her words.
But Toshiro didn't mind such trifles.
"This is... a bit strange. How could a rabid gorilla suddenly appear in the high-ranking noble residential area of the Seireitei?" Toshiro couldn't help but find it very puzzling.
"It is indeed a bit strange. It's one thing for some odd things to happen, but what's even stranger is that they all happen to me. Once or twice might be understandable, but including this time, it's already over a dozen times." Rurichiyo also said, very puzzled.
"What did you say? Including this time, you've encountered this kind of thing over a dozen times?" Toshiro suddenly became serious.
"Yeah, things like suddenly encountering a collapsing house, falling rocks, firework explosions... have happened many times. I really am unlucky." Rurichiyo said innocently.
"Heh, unlucky..." Toshiro said noncommittally.
'It seems Kumoi can't wait any longer to make a move against Rurichiyo...' Toshiro thought to himself.
Naturally, Toshiro wouldn't be as naive as Rurichiyo to think that all those incidents were accidents.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that these were assassinations targeting Rurichiyo.
Judging by this, Kumoi already wanted to completely take over the Kasumioji Clan, so Rurichiyo, the only legitimate heir, had become a thorn in his side.
"You really are lucky..." Toshiro said, looking at Rurichiyo.
If anyone else had encountered this many assassinations, they would have died who knows how many times already. Yet Rurichiyo remained completely unharmed. One had to say she was lucky.
"Lucky?"
Rurichiyo blinked, looking very confused, as if asking: 'If I were lucky, why would I encounter so many unlucky things?'
"Hmm... if I have to say, meeting Toshiro really is a lucky thing." Rurichiyo thought for a moment.
Toshiro didn't reply but looked around. If this incident was arranged by Kumoi to assassinate Rurichiyo, then there must be some of Kumoi's people hidden nearby.
Just then, two figures suddenly ran over quickly, shouting loudly as they ran.
"Rurichiyo-sama! Rurichiyo-sama..."
"What is it? It's just Kenryu and Enryu." Seeing her two guardians running over, Rurichiyo didn't show a happy expression… instead, she looked a bit dejected.
The two usually kept a very strict watch on her, forbidding this and that, which had really stifled Rurichiyo. Today, she had finally managed to get rid of them and sneak out alone, only to have them catch up again in no time.
Kenryu and Enryu ran all the way to Rurichiyo and then looked her up and down, afraid she had been hurt.
Of the two, the one with short hair and a clean-cut look was Kenryu, and the tall, burly one wearing sunglasses was Enryu.
"Rurichiyo-sama, what happened here? Are you injured? And... who is he?" Kenryu glanced at the dead black gorilla, then looked at Toshiro, firing off questions like a machine gun.
"Oh, this is Toshiro, someone I just met. An accident happened just now. Suddenly, a gorilla rushed out and tried to hurt me. Toshiro saved me." Rurichiyo explained.
Hearing that a gorilla had suddenly rushed out and tried to hurt Rurichiyo, Kenryu's expression became serious.
Naturally, Kenryu wouldn't be as naive as Rurichiyo to think this was an accident.
In fact, he and Enryu had long been clear about Kumoi's attempts to assassinate Rurichiyo. They just hadn't told her to avoid worrying her.
The reason Rurichiyo had survived so many assassination attempts wasn't just luck… it was also largely due to their protection.
Originally, Kenryu and Enryu had known from the start that Rurichiyo wanted to sneak out alone this time.
But just as they were about to follow and protect her, Kumoi suddenly appeared and tried every means to delay them with various excuses.
As a result, no sooner had they managed to get rid of Kumoi and catch up than Rurichiyo had already encountered an assassination attempt. Fortunately, she happened to meet Toshiro this time, so nothing happened.
"You saved Rurichiyo-sama? Then thank you very much." Enryu thanked Toshiro.
But although his words were of thanks, Kenryu's expression was extremely vigilant as he looked at Toshiro.
Although Rurichiyo said Toshiro saved her, in Kenryu's view, it wasn't impossible that Toshiro was one of Kumoi's people. Maybe Toshiro saving Rurichiyo was a good show arranged by Kumoi to gain her trust.
Having experienced too many of Kumoi's schemes, Kenryu had become almost neurotic, finding everything suspicious.