Barakiel slowly opened his eyes but inadvertently raised his arm to block the excessive illumination, as they were greeted by the bright sunlight that was coming from the window. However,by doing so, he winced in pain, rousing him further into consciousness, 'This... What happened?'
"You're awake.", Barakiel heard a familiar voice beside him and turned his head to see his 'Queen' sitting up on the bed with bandages covering his limbs and neck, "...Armaros." At that point, he already recalled what happened and endured the pain pinching his entire body to sit up, "We lost... miserably."
Barakiel looked around and saw the other patients in the room, still unconscious, "Looks like you're the most unhurt out of all of us."
Armaros smiled at his remark and replied, "I only had enough time to protect myself with some Magic. You, on the other hand, blocked most of it for the others."
"That's the least that I could do. Since we all still ended up this way, I guess we won't be able to continue competing."
"Then I'll send our notice of withdrawal later. In the first place, we don't really have any hopes of winning this cup with those monsters on board."
"I'm sorry for asking everyone to get along with my selfishness."
"Don't be. It was a good experience. As a bonus, you also came face to face with your son-in-law."
A scowl reached Barakiel as he vehemently denied Armaros words, "I haven't approved of him yet! I won't deny he's very capable but he's suspicious! I can't really give them my blessing because there's so much that doesn't make sense about him! I don't even know his real personality!"
Armaros' smile grew deeper, "You only get energetic whenever you're talking about your daughter. It's really a shame that you can't ask Kisuke Urahara about her. Shall we send another request to the Belial House?"
Barakiel nodded his head but soon after, he started rubbing his chin and wondered, "I understand that they can't just grant an audience due to their faction's current position, but I'm still Akeno's father so meeting him alone should be enough to ease their worries. There should be more to this, but I don't have any way to investigate it... Wait... Don't tell me something happened to Akeno!?"
As soon as that bad premonition came to Barakiel, he immediately put his feet on the floor, intending to leave the room, "Hey, hey, hey! Even though you're healed properly, you shouldn't move too much for the time being." Armaros warned.
Nevertheless, Barakiel further endured the pain and stood up, "Sorry, but I don't have time for that. I have to confirm it now or I won't be able to relax. Besides, the worst that could happen is reopening my wounds and that won't really kill me."
At this time, someone entered the room while bringing an empty wheelchair with her, "Please stay still for a moment. Allow me to help you."
Barakiel and Armaros both turned to the open door and found someone they haven't met before but both of them are familiar with, "Sarah Belial." muttered the former.
"Nice to meet you, Barakiel, Armaros. This may be a bit sudden but, Barakiel, could you perhaps spare me some of your time?"
Barakiel stayed silent for a moment, trying to think about this situation, before replying, "I've been trying to get into contact with your Household, so it should be me who's asking for your spare time."
.
.
.
Leaving the medical facility, Sakura pushed the wheelchair she brought for Barakiel and the two of them stayed silent until they got to an expansive garden full of life, "First and foremost, I'd like to apologize."
"That you didn't allow me to meet your son?"
Sakura smiled wryly and nodded, "There's that but it isn't because of the reason Kisuke gave you."
"What do you mean?"
"It's because we didn't want you two to meet at a table. My sister and I concluded that it would be better for you to meet on the battlefield. For Kisuke's sake."
Barakiel creased his brows in confusion.
Sakura saw his obvious skepticism and added, "For now, I'd like you to listen to everything that I have to say first before judging anything."
Barakiel looked up and saw Sakura's expression of gentleness tinged with guilt and was surprised. Recalling what his subordinates would tell him how he looked whenever he would talk about his daughter, 'So this is the face of a parent, huh...'
"Please go on. I'll listen until the end."
Sakura sighed and revealed, "For some time now, we actually already have a way to contact those on the other side, including your daughter."
'Then why didn't you tell me!?' He wanted to ask since he has every right to know about that, but he was able to stop himself since he'd already promised he would listen first.
From then on, Sakura proceeded to tell him everything that happened to his daughter without hiding anything, during which Barakiel wanted to interrupt at every single turn but managed to hold it down.
At the end of it, Barakiel still couldn't find the reason why she didn't want to let him meet Kisuke, "I still have many questions regarding that story, but I'll let it slide for now because I trust you are speaking the truth that Akeno is already alright. But what does it have to do with you not wanting us to meet?"
"My selfishness... My own way of caring..."