Chapter 1156 2nd Division Captain part 2
The moment she saw Kisuke walking out of the destroyed room, Soifon felt like she was hit by a hammer on her head and time momentarily froze for her. And even after Kisuke disappeared from her view, she continued to stare at a blank space until the door to the dining room from the hallway opened, "Soifon-chan, isn't it? It's our first time meeting in person. Nice to meet you, I'm Sitri Serafall, you can call me Sera-chan~!"
Soifon broke her magnetic gaze from the destroyed room and slowly turned her head to Serafall. Although she heard her speak, she didn't really understand what she just said and just asked, "W-was that Urahara Kisuke!?"
Serafall calmly walked towards the table and patted Ophis and Lilith's heads who were looking guilty and thinking that it was their fault that Kisuke was discovered, "Yes. And to make things clear, he didn't come from Hell and is very much alive. The same could be said with Yoru-chan... er... Yoruichi-chan, but she's not here right now."
Soifon immediately forgot the state of her body and almost tripped when she tried to run over. Only with her body's instinct that she was able to regain her balance, "P-please! Please tell me everything you know! And where's Urahara Kisuke!? I need to talk to him right now!" Her voice cracked but she certainly wasn't even able to notice it, much less, her current demeanor right now.
Serafall smiled wryly, "Slow down, girl. I obviously can't tell you everything and you probably heard our conversation earlier. Ki-tan is a bit busy right now so you'll have to settle with my company. For now, why don't we sit and calm down?"
.
.
.
A few hours later, Soifon had finally managed to calm down, or more like, she lost the little bit of energy she recovered and had no choice but to lay back down.
Serafall changed the wet towel on Soifon's head, "Are you feeling alright now? You shouldn't push yourself but it's a good sign that you have a fever. It means that your body has enough energy to fight back. Remember, you were essentially brought back to life after being hit by that miasma."
"...Thank you..." Soifon muttered with a soft voice.
While Serafall was silently cleaning the room, Soifon asked, "...Who are you?"
But instead of answering, Serafall replied with a question of her own, "Can't contain your curiosity?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't think I will be able to rest properly like this."
Serafall chuckled, "Yoru-chan did tell me that you wouldn't be able to let go of it once you got curious about something."
Soifon's heart jumped but this time, she managed to keep her calm, "Yoru-chan... Do you mean Yoruichi-sama?"
"Indeed. I heard that you were her precious aide in her younger days.", Serafall finished disinfecting the room and sat on Soifon's bedside, 'Though I didn't really understand her stories when she told me about it. No wonder her tales don't match the number of years she's alive.'
While they were exploring the entirety of the [Dungeon World], Yoruichi would sometimes recite stories of her younger years when she got drunk. Although she couldn't understand it fully because both Kisuke and Yoruichi hadn't made it clear that they were from another world, they were fun stories to listen to, and a number of those stories were about the individual named Soifon, Yoruichi's close aide and has an antagonistic relationship with Kisuke.
While Soifon is very curious about what sort of stories she hears about her, she's more obsessed with another thing, "...Where is Yoruichi-sama?"
"I think you wanted to know more if she's doing okay, and yes, she's doing fine and living a good life. But if you really wanted to know where exactly she is, that's going to be tough since it's not a place where we can currently reach nor connect."
"...", Soifon stayed silent for a few moments before replying while closing her eyes, "I see... Thank you."
After that, Soifon went back to sleep and Serafall exited the room quietly while also secretly adding Alarm Magic through the entire room so that she could immediately react if she ever exited the room.
For the next two days, Serafall was surprised that Soifon didn't ask anything and just passively observed everyone. And when she recovered half of her strength, she even started helping out with the chores. While it's obvious for Serafall what she's trying to do, she didn't do anything to stop it and even allowed her to snoop around the mansion and outside of it unattended. Serafall thought that this would allow Soifon to trust them a bit easier.
And then it was the time she came to meet Kisuke face to face.
Soifon wanted to talk to him immediately, but she saw the teenage girl called Claire come running to Kisuke so she stayed seated and continued to observe what was happening. But by doing so, Soifon started looking at the familiar face with strangeness, '...For as long as I've remembered, he's never been this affectionate...'
Hence, her first question to him, who had a young girl clinging to his back is, "...Are you really the same Urahara Kisuke that I know?"
"Am I really that different?"
Soifon swallowed a mouthful of saliva and answered, "You feel like a completely different person to me."
Kisuke, on the other hand, just chuckled, "And since you haven't started attacking me, you also feel quite a bit different from my memories. Are you really that hot-headed Soifon-san?"
'At least he still has the same annoying face. What should I do? It's been a while so I have a really strong urge to punch that face.', Soifon thought to herself.
But before they could continue, Serafall interrupted them, "Before you start going deep into your conversation, Ki-tan, let me borrow a bit of your time."
Kisuke turned to her and his serious expression appeared, "An urgent matter?"
Serafall thought about it for a moment before saying, "Not really, but we also can't leave it alone."
She then started telling Kisuke what transpired in the Human World, more specifically, the Vatican City.
"It's still a mess out there and panic among the people is not subsiding. The number of people trying to convert is also increasing which is normally a happy occasion for the said faction but in this case, might be a bad occurrence if not properly controlled and guided. Worst case scenario, Holy Power will once again erupt and no matter how 'good' aligned that power is, it still could cause a massive destruction that could wipe countries off the map."
Kisuke stayed silent for a few seconds while rubbing his chin, "Did the amount of pseudo-Demonic Power in the Human World increase?"
Serafall nodded, "It's as you've guessed. I don't have any measuring instrument but it increased 10 fold and in some places, 50-100 times. Although it isn't much due to the initial amount, I surmised that every time the door to Hell opens, the quasi-system that the Holy Power created to maintain itself will keep pulling that pseudo-Demonic Power. Thankfully, all that power is being neutralized and being converted into the more common Magic Power. I'm not sure how that happened but that's the result of the clash."
'Neutralized? In that case, it might really be true that Holy Power could kill the [Chained]. But it's dangerous for that amount of power to circulate without proper goal or centralization so instead of leaving it alone, it's better to teach some people to harness this power to put it under control.'
After some more contemplation from Kisuke's side, he asked, "Sera-chan, you know more about this than me so you don't really need my permission to take action."
Serafall crossed her arms and grinned at him, "What are you talking about? You're obviously the leader of this expedition. Regardless of my knowledge, I still would like your final word."
Kisuke sighed, "Still, you're being too careful. So when needed, I'd like you to take action on your own discretion."
"I think I'm doing a good job in balancing that~!"
"Is that so?" Kisuke surrendered, "Then please make contact with the Pope and while you're at it, bring Flanna with you. If I recall correctly, Vatican City is under the Wing Bind's influence."
Serafall stood straight up and playfully saluted, "Understood~! I'll be on my way!"
With that, a Magic Circle appeared beneath Serafall's feet, but it wasn't just her. Under Claire, Kunou, and Tanis is a similar Magic Circle, "I'll also bring them with me. I think they need a breather."
Kisuke nodded and waved goodbye to the girls.
But before they completely disappeared, Kisuke and Serafall were shocked that Soifon suddenly spoke, "The current Pope answers to the current leader of the Gallows, Wolfgang Slashhaut."
The surprised Serafall immediately returned to her usual expression and said, "Thank you~!" Before disappearing, leaving behind just Kisuke and Soifon.
Visit freewe𝑏n(o)vel.𝑐𝘰𝑚 for the best novel reading experience