In front of a room at the center of the 10th Division's barracks.
"Really, where is the 10th Division's cafeteria?"
Rurichiyo muttered dissatisfiedly.
Inside the room.
Toshiro, dressed in a white undergarment and sleeping on the futon, suddenly moved his eyelids. As if sensing something, he showed signs of waking up.
Outside the room.
"Well, whatever. This one will do. I'll go in first and see if there's any food."
Rurichiyo looked at the room in front of her and prepared to go inside to see if there was anything to eat.
Swoosh!
Rurichiyo unceremoniously slid open the door and walked in.
However, the moment she entered, Toshiro, who was lying on the futon, suddenly sprang up. He slapped the edge of the bed with his right hand, shooting towards Rurichiyo like an arrow, and grabbed her by the throat.
"Ah... it... it hurts..."
Rurichiyo instinctively struggled, slapping at Toshiro's arm.
"Hmm? Rurichiyo?"
Toshiro suddenly paused, then seemed to realize something and quickly released the person in his hand.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Rurichiyo coughed for a while, then gasped for air.
"To-Toshiro, wh-what are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?"
Rurichiyo said haltingly.
"It really is Rurichiyo. But why did you suddenly appear in my room?"
After confirming the visitor's identity, Toshiro asked puzzledly.
After recovering, Rurichiyo looked at Toshiro with an aggrieved expression: "What are you doing, Toshiro! I came to find you with good intentions, without even eating breakfast, and you almost killed me!"
"Eh? Is that so..."
Toshiro said with an awkward smile.
Toshiro had been fast asleep but instinctively sensed someone approaching his room and barging in without even knocking.
If it were just that, it might be okay. After all, Momo and Rangiku sometimes entered his room while he was resting.
But the key point was that Toshiro sensed the visitor was deliberately hiding their Reiatsu!
Momo and Rangiku were very familiar with Toshiro and sometimes entered his room while he was sleeping for various reasons, but they would never deliberately hide their Reiatsu.
After all, as a Shinigami, one maintains enough vigilance even while sleeping. At the slightest unusual movement, they would immediately wake up.
Some overly vigilant individuals might even instinctively attack anyone who suddenly approaches them while they sleep.
Just now, Rurichiyo suddenly barged into Toshiro's room and deliberately hid her Reiatsu. So Toshiro instantly judged that the visitor was not someone he knew and was likely an assassin or something.
Then, by physical reflex, Toshiro instinctively counterattacked.
Toshiro never expected the visitor to be Rurichiyo.
"Sorry, Rurichiyo. I didn't expect it to be you. I thought some assassin had suddenly broken in."
Toshiro apologized.
"But why were you hiding your Reiatsu and wearing that bamboo hat? I couldn't even see your face. If I hadn't heard your voice just now, I really would have thought you were an assassin."
Toshiro looked at Rurichiyo with some curiosity.
"Oh, this? This bamboo hat is a treasure passed down in our Kasumioji Clan. It can suppress the wearer's Reiatsu."
"Actually, I don't want to wear this troublesome thing either. But when we left the Kasumioji Residence, Kenryu insisted I wear it. He said if I didn't wear it and Kumoi found out, he would take me back and not let me go out casually."
As she spoke, Rurichiyo took off the bamboo hat, revealing her delicate and cute face.
Seeing Rurichiyo's action, Toshiro opened his mouth as if to stop her, but ultimately said nothing.
When Rurichiyo said Kenryu made her wear the hat, Toshiro knew Kenryu was definitely doing it for her safety.
But now they were in the 10th Division. Toshiro didn't believe anyone could threaten Rurichiyo's safety here while he was present.
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
The sound of a stomach growling suddenly rang out.
Toshiro instinctively looked down at his own stomach.
It wasn't his stomach growling...
Just as Toshiro was wondering, he suddenly saw Rurichiyo blushing as she held her stomach.
"Ano... do you have any food here, Toshiro? I haven't had breakfast yet."
Rurichiyo looked at Toshiro pitifully.
Toshiro's mouth twitched, and he barely resisted the urge to tease her.
"It's still early. The 10th Division's cafeteria isn't open yet. I have some leftover pastries from last night in my room. Do you want some?"
Toshiro glanced around the room and noticed some pastries left on the low table where he worked, leftovers from his late-night snack.
"I want some! I want some!!"
Rurichiyo excitedly responded, then dashed to the low table. Ignoring all noble etiquette and reserve, she grabbed the pastries with her hands and stuffed them into her mouth.
"Mmm, the pastries in your 10th Division are surprisingly good..."
Rurichiyo said indistinctly while eating.
"Slow down. Don't choke."
Toshiro went over and poured her a cup of tea.
After Rurichiyo had eaten her fill, Toshiro sat cross-legged beside her and said somewhat seriously, "Alright, since you've eaten, tell me. Why did you suddenly show up at the 10th Division this early, before the sky was even fully light?"
"I remember the 10th Division's gate isn't even open at this hour. How did you get in? And you even barged into my room."
Speaking here, Toshiro looked at Rurichiyo with some amazement.
Rurichiyo explained, "Oh, here's what happened. After we parted before, I kept wanting to go play with you, but I never had the chance. After all, I'm the princess of the Kasumioji Clan and can't go out casually."
"But last night, Kenryu and Enryu suddenly said they could take me to the 10th Division to find you. Then early this morning, before dawn, Kenryu woke me up, and I came to find you without even eating breakfast."
"But after we got here, it was still too early, and the 10th Division wasn't open yet. So we stopped not far outside to wait."
"Then Enryu went to erase the traces we left along the way. He said if that annoying guy Kumoi found our tracks, he would take me back."
"After Enryu left, I was hungry because I hadn't eaten breakfast. But that Kenryu couldn't even find any food. So in a huff, I ditched him and went looking for food myself."
"Then, somehow, I ended up in front of the 10th Division's wall. Thinking that you, Toshiro, were inside the 10th Division and that there would definitely be food there, I just climbed over the wall and came in."
"Oh, by the way, Toshiro."
Speaking here, Rurichiyo suddenly said to Toshiro very seriously, "The defense of your 10th Division is really lax. I climbed over the wall and came in, and not a single person in your division noticed. That's no good. You're the Vice-Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13. If word of this gets out, it could affect your authority."
Toshiro's mouth twitched, and he cleared his throat lightly to hide his embarrassment: "You don't need to worry about that. The defense of our 10th Division is actually quite tight. You only managed to get in this time because you were lucky."
Toshiro wasn't wrong. Rurichiyo really was just lucky.
If not for her bamboo hat, she would have been detected before even approaching the 10th Division. And after that, she was also lucky enough to happen to avoid the patrols and various visible and covert posts without being seen.
"This bamboo hat of yours is really something else."
Toshiro took Rurichiyo's hat and examined it.
When Rurichiyo wore this hat, even Toshiro found it hard to detect her Reiatsu without carefully sensing.
The reason Toshiro could sense her in his sleep earlier was mainly because her footsteps caught his attention.
"Rurichiyo, the reason you all came so early, deliberately erased your tracks, and hid your Reiatsu – was it all to avoid being found by Kumoi?"
Toshiro asked.
Rurichiyo nodded, "Yes. Kenryu said that if Kumoi found out, he would definitely forcefully take me back and not let me go out casually. Then I wouldn't be able to play with you, Toshiro."
"I see..."
Toshiro said thoughtfully.
'So Kumoi can't wait any longer and will stop at nothing to kill Rurichiyo?'