Hours had gone by but Flanna still couldn't decide what to wear and Kisuke couldn't keep waiting for her to choose so he forced her to move to the training room to get accustomed to her strength. Kisuke planned to toss her at Claire and her group but he couldn't let them meet her if she ends up destroying everything around her whenever she feels excited.
'I wonder how things are going down there?' Kisuke asked himself and couldn't help but chuckle at all the chaos that surely was happening right now.
And just as he thought, all of the factions were very disorganized as they tried their best to make sense of what just happened. Naturally, their attention was solely focused on the man who was the center of all of it but when they couldn't hold of him, their scrutiny turned to the Belial House and Rossweisse.
While the Belial House just gave a nonanswer citing that they too don't have the full scope of the events, Rossweisse was under the full protection of the Underworld. Because of this, the fear of being in the dark turned into anger that was pointed towards the ones supposedly managing all three parties, the Tri-Faction Alliance.
"Nothing is going as planned... For better or worse." Azazel muttered while massaging his temples, "Although we lost Great Red, that barrier with his body as the core should give us a few years of time to prepare, if not decades."
"But this is a problem, isn't it?" Sirzech said under his breath.
Ajuka, while quietly listening to their whining beyond the screen, was analyzing the barrier that Kisuke deployed. But the only thing he could gather from it was its range and approximate strength, 'It locked the whole Dimensional Gap and covered the whole Earth 'till midway to the Moon. As for its strength, it's at least a hundred times higher than Trihexa's base defenses... But will that be enough? It's Kisuke Urahara's work so there should be something else.'
All of a sudden, Azazel addressed him, "Hey, don't just bury yourself in that. Give us some input here."
Ajuka calmly turned his eyes to him and nodded, "It is indeed a problem, for the Alliance, that is."
Not just the Tri-Faction but all of the other Factions around the world for the simple fact that they are not the owner of this barrier that's keeping the world safe.
Just this single thing brings Kisuke into one of the highest seats and leverage within the world's 'negotiation table'.
"It's just when his trust in us is at rock bottom and he's also basically the hidden leader of the current Olympus under Athena's management." Azazel scratched his head in frustration.
"Have you already figured out who passed it on to him?", Sirzechs asked.
"There is no evidence beyond the circumstantial.", answered Ajuka.
"And who is it?"
"Yasaka."
Sirzechs and Azazel both sighed in defeat. They were already expecting her name to come up, but still couldn't help but feel betrayed when Ajuka revealed it, "She made a bet and won.", muttered the former.
Azazel also added, "I might have considered the same thing if I were in her position. It's hard to feel secure when she can't even leave her territory."
Ajuka continued fiddling on his console to resume his review of the barrier while saying, "As I only have circumstantial evidence, I can't confront her. Instead, we should focus on building back the bridge. Thankfully, we still have a bridge called 'Issei'."
"Issei? I disagree!" Azazel strongly rejected Ajuka's suggestion, "We can't use Issei. If we make a mistake somewhere, not just the mutual respect and trust, we might as well become that guy's enemy! I don't know about you, but I definitely don't want to be on the other side of his sword."
"We can't use Issei." Sirzechs immediately seconded Azazel's statement, "But what should be our next course of action? We can't just sit down here and talk without doing anything. Others will surely take advantage of this. Even now, Michael is having a hard time keeping the others at bay. He'll soon reach his limits."
Azazel thought about it for a few seconds before slapping the table hard, "Fuck it! Let's just tell him everything! Since it's very clear that we can't beat him in this game, maybe sincerity will do."
.
.
.
"I'm home~!" Kisuke, without any other urgent things on hand for the first time in a while, arrived at the Belial Mansion and saw the extremely tight security outside.
However, the first thing that greeted him was a nodachi traveling at high speed aiming directly for his face. Even then Kisuke still had time to think and could properly watch the 'raging boar' behind the nodachi, 'Hoh? She coated her blade with dense Reiatsu-Ki to make it blunt. When did she learn to do something like this? It's too precise to be just for this specific application and learning that should be harder than most Kidou.'
While thinking of random things and refusing to address the current issue, Kisuke was hit squarely on the forehead and was sent out of the estate as soon as he got in.
Kisuke flew over the small city of Belial all the way to the mountainous region where he traumatized Erebus.
The guards of Belial thought that it was an enemy attack, but thankfully, Sakura immediately went out and reassured everyone that everything was well.
Aika, on the other hand, had already caught up to Kisuke who was lying down on the ground, and pointed her nodachi at his chest while looking at him with a grave expression, "Do you have something to say?"
"Are you hoping to hear an apology from me?" Kisuke immediately replied, "But at times like these, I don't really like issuing empty apologies."
"Then do you mind getting pummeled for a few hours?"
"Of course I mind it! I also don't like being in pain, after all... But if that can do something about your frustration, then I won't do anything for a few minutes at least."
Aika silently stared at Kisuke who had already closed his eyes without any remorse for a minute or two before her expression mellowed out and sighed, "I guess that's the best concession you could give." Keeping her nodachi back, Aika slowly sat down beside him and observed the scenery around them.
"Oh? You're not going to do it? Aren't you mad?"
"I am... But you're not really guilty of anything. If anything, I just assaulted you for no reason."
Kisuke doesn't know why, but the current Aika seems a lot calmer even prior to when she lost her memories. But that query was promptly answered by her next sentence.
"You see... I've been dreaming... For at least four years."