Help! I am bound to Aizen!-Chapter 248

Chapter 248

“Robe Spirit, I recall that Captain Hikifune mentioned you’re part of the ‘Royal Special Task Force’ last time?”

Kaelith zipped over to Shutara’s side with a solemn look.

The empty Shinigami uniform let out a faint snort, its collar shifting a little. Even though there was no one inside, the movement suggested she was tilting her head back in a smug gesture.

“That’s right. I am a member of the Royal Special Task Force, also known as the ‘Zero Division’!”

“Ohh, that’s amazing!”

Kaelith clapped his hands like a seal.

Buoyed by his flattery, Shutara finally seemed in better spirits. She gave a little huff.

“Now do you see how lofty I am? Show your reverence properly!”

“Amazing! Absolutely amazing!”

Kaelith clapped again. True, it was repetitive, but at least it was praise—good enough for her.

As Shutara nodded in satisfaction, Kaelith dragged over a small stool and sat down beside her.

“Big Sis Robe Spirit, I have a friend who’d like me to ask you a few things.”

“…A friend, huh? All right, speak.”

Shutara chuckled quietly. She wasn’t fooled for a second by the “friend” line. People always said they were asking for a friend, yet it was inevitably about themselves.

Hold on… Did he just call me Big Sis Robe Spirit?

Before she could dwell on it, Kaelith cleared his throat.

“Big Sis, what does the Soul King look like? Is the King male or female?”

Shutara’s collar quivered in a negative shake.

“Never met him. No clue. My Zero Division hall is separate from the Soul King Palace—we just guard the surroundings. Any royal decrees from the King come through ‘sensing’ rather than face-to-face contact. I’ve never seen the real thing.”

“How useless,” Kaelith blurted.

“…?”

Shutara eyed him up and down, wondering where to start if she wanted to throttle him. Kaelith hurriedly changed the subject.

“So, Big Sis, how strong is the Zero Division? Word is that a mere four or five of you could take down the entire Gotei 13. Most of the captains, sure—but my old man is the strongest Shinigami in a thousand years. Can they really beat him?”

Shutara let out a thoughtful hum. She lifted a sleeve, as though propping her chin. After a few seconds, she shook her collar again.

“I’m not too certain. I haven’t been in the Zero Division that long, after all. But… going by intuition, I’d say the Zero Division’s commander has an aura far more dangerous than Genryūsai-dono’s. Though I’ve never seen him fight, I get the feeling that whoever faces him—loses.”

Kaelith kept his expression blank, simply nodding. Seeing that, Shutara smirked inwardly. Looks like he was just curious. If he had any big plans, hearing her description of the Monk would’ve made him look uneasy or worried.

But right then, Kaelith rubbed his chin and murmured, “I see… then a direct violent approach doesn’t seem workable for now.”

“…?”

Shutara silently produced a question mark in her mind. Kaelith went on thinking, then his eyes lit up.

“Does the Zero Division need new recruits? How would one go about joining?”

“Oho, so that’s how it is. You want to become Zero Division?”

Shutara chuckled as she picked up a teacup with her newly developed “Heavenly Garment” extension, capable of tasting roughly eighty-five percent of a beverage’s flavor.

“To join the Zero Division, you need tremendous power first and foremost. I’ve heard from Kirio that you’re captain of the 11th Division already? So young and already that strong… maybe in two or three hundred more years you could meet the requirements. But besides sheer might, there’s something else even more important: You must leave a unique and extraordinary mark on Soul Society’s history!

“Take me, for instance—I invented the Shinigami uniform. Kirio invented artificial souls. Ōetsu invented the Zanpakutō… You’d need a creative breakthrough of your own to earn an invite.”

Kaelith pondered a moment, then made a troubled face.

“Invent something, huh… That’s a bit tough. If I wiped Soul Society off the map, would that count as an equally big achievement?”

Shutara spat out her tea.

“You little punk—saying something so treasonous right to my face!?”

She resolved that if this kid ever did meet the entry requirements for Zero Division, she’d be the first to veto him. Letting a brat like this in would be out of the question.

Kaelith was about to press the destruction question, but since Shutara was obviously unwilling to give a serious answer, he changed tack.

“All right, last question: If I wanted to get to the Soul King Palace, how would I do it?”

Shutara drew in a sharp breath. “Kid, you’re not actually planning anything weird, are you?”

Kaelith shook his head. “Told you already, it’s for a friend.”

“…Heh.”

Shutara sneered. This kid definitely had a rebellious streak a mile wide. He was still young, a genius with a rebellious heart—such fantasies were normal. Give him a few more years, and he’d grow out of it once he understood just how vast the world was.

Lazily, she stretched her—sleeve.

“To reach the Soul King Palace, you’d have to use the Shiba Clan’s special cannon, which launches you into the sky. But there are dozens of powerful barriers between Soul Society and the Palace. A mere Captain can’t possibly get up there alone. To pass through it all and go straight to the final point, you’d need the King’s own ‘Ōken.’ A troublemaker like you has no chance of ever getting one.”

She ended on a triumphant laugh.

Ōken…

Kaelith recognized that term. Wasn’t Aizen’s whole incursion on Karakura Town an attempt to forge the King’s Key? It seemed the “Robe Spirit” was telling the truth. As thanks, he personally whipped up the black-and-white tofu dish he’d brought along.

Rather than fancy gimmicks, “Dark Magic Panda Mapo Tofu” fundamentally depended on whether the chef’s sauce was any good. Wanting to cater to both Kirio Hikifune’s and Shutara Senjumaru’s tastes, Kaelith copied Kirio’s style of imbuing substantial spiritual pressure into the dish by using the artificial-soul control technique.

Before long, Kaelith’s tofu and Kirio’s few other selections were laid out on the table. Removing her apron, Kirio smiled.

“Captain Shutara, you’re in for a treat. My master’s cooking is quite something!”

Shutara let out a dismissive huff. She was a refined member of the Zero Division, living in a floating city filled with top-tier chefs. What had she not tasted? As for this upstart—Deep Tanaga… ahem, Kaelith—there was no way she’d be impressed by his cooking.

The three of them sat down at the table, picking up their chopsticks. Shutara tried Kirio’s roast chicken first.

“Hmm… The seasoning is rich, the skin crisp, the juices completely locked in. This is clearly chicken, yet there’s none of that dry texture. They must’ve used applewood for the roasting—fragrant, lingering on the palate.”

Seeing her evaluation, Kirio looked delighted and a bit amazed.

“Captain, you’ve really changed from the old days!”

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“Ah… It’s passable, just passable.”

Still, Shutara felt a trace of pride at being praised by her former subordinate. Trying to remain calm, she cleared her throat.

“This roast chicken was taught to me by Master. I’ve been painstakingly perfecting the timing and heat. As expected of you, Captain—you immediately caught the key points my master emphasized!”

Shutara: “…”

All her good mood vanished. She coughed lightly. “Forget that. I was just hungry. After starving for a while, even a mid-level dish tastes good. Let me try something else.”

I need to avoid any more traps!

Glancing over the table, she picked up a piece of stir-fried vegetables. After chewing a few times, the eyes of her real body up in the Soul King Palace shone.

“Spicy, fragrant, crisp, and sweet—so flavorful! Even though it’s just a simple stir-fry, it’s unbelievably delicious.”

Kirio grinned.

“Right? This is shredded cabbage—one of the earliest ‘national dishes’ Master taught me. I practiced a long time.”

Again with him!!!

Shutara burned with annoyance, setting her sights on Kaelith’s Dark Magic Panda Mapo Tofu. Fine. Some trifling tofu dish with a fancy appearance. In the end, it comes down to how it actually tastes. I’ll let him see that flair is worthless if it isn’t delicious!

As though brandishing a blade at an enemy general, Shutara took up her chopsticks and stabbed at a cube of sauce-drenched tofu. She brought it to the spot where her mouth would be.

A moment later, she went stiff.

“Captain?” Kirio glanced at her in confusion.

Under their gaze, the black Shinigami uniform suddenly collapsed in on itself, like the person inside had disappeared.

Clatter!

Her chopsticks fell to the floor.

“Uh… Huh???”

Startled, Kirio wondered if something terrible had happened in the Soul King Palace. Just then, the uniform on the floor swelled and stood back up, as though the wearer had returned. Shutara turned toward Kaelith, staring at him unwaveringly. Even without eyes, he could sense the intensity of her gaze.

“Captain?” Kirio pressed, bewildered.

Shutara drew in a shaky breath. “Kirio. Try his dish.”

Kirio nodded and took a piece of tofu for herself. After a few bites, her eyes flew open, cheeks flushing pink.

“Mm!!”

She let out an involuntary little moan, head tipping back. Her face had gone bright red, ears and neck tinted the same.

“It’s… so intense… too much… I… I shouldn’t…”

After a bit, she managed to calm herself. Then—smack! Kirio slammed both palms on the table, leaning forward, eyes alight as she stared at Kaelith.

“What the heck’s gotten into you two?” he asked, baffled. If a bystander saw this, they might assume they’d strayed into a Food Wars arena. Was he supposed to tighten a bandana and shout some dramatic line?

“Master, you’ve already reached this level?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t play dumb!” Shutara’s voice was full of gritted teeth. “You infused the dish with that ‘artificial-soul injection,’ didn’t you? Kirio’s been mastering that technique for ages—it’s why she ascended to the Zero Division. Even then, the amount of reiryoku she can embed into a single dish is only one-third of yours! You can instill that much spiritual power into food… Have you been researching this longer than Kirio?”

Kirio gave a helpless chuckle. “That’s impossible. Master’s only known about this method for, what, not even three years?”

Shutara couldn’t find words. Not even three years… and already at this stage?

When she ate that tofu, the bursting spiritual pressure overwhelmed her senses for a second, almost causing her to lose connection with her living robes. It wasn’t as though that amount of spirit energy posed any real threat, but she’d been totally unprepared, letting the flavor explode right in her mouth—nothing short of a visceral shock.

This punk is truly dangerous.

Even so, recalling that electrifying sensation, she couldn’t resist taking another piece.

“Mmph… nn…”

Shutara inhaled sharply, a faint murmur escaping her. She could only taste around eighty percent of the dish with this “remote garment,” but every bit of spirit energy inside it came through loud and clear. Kaelith was no joke in the kitchen. She actually found herself wanting him up in the Soul King Palace, cooking for her in that floating castle every day…

Kirio, meanwhile, refused to be outdone and began vying with Shutara over the tofu.

Observing them, Kaelith stroked his chin. So his cooking really could “blow people’s clothes off”?

Suddenly, he felt the urge to invite his dear senior brother to a crowded place for a meal and see if that old coot might burst out of his uniform in public. ( he is so evil haha)

As Kaelith hatched evil plans, Shutara seemed to recall something. In the midst of gulping down tofu, she extended a sleeve.

From within, she pulled a small bundle.

“Kid, here it is—the ‘Heavenly Garment’ I promised last time.”

“Open it and see if it’s to your liking!”