Kisuke's mind raced again and he tried figuring out what was in the notes that incriminated him.
When Kisuke revealed his appearance, there was a temporary shock in Shinji's eyes before his calm remained, and he said, "Stop thinking about it. Even if you dissect Soifon's words in that note, you won't be able to find anything."
Kisuke gave up and sighed again, "Then what is it, Hirako-san? I'm really at a loss here."
"Well, the most simple explanation is that you underestimated us."
"..." Kisuke remained quiet.
"Most of the time, you underestimate yourself, however, you also sometimes do the same with the people who you consider as your comrade." Shinji grabbed the tea kettle and poured tea for himself, "Those who don't know you might think that you're looking down on everyone, but for those who truly know you, that's the furthest thing from the truth. You just like underestimating things around you for an additional safety net. While it's useful in a conflict, it'll only cause misunderstandings in times of peace."
"And that misunderstanding is on my part?"
Shinji grinned at him and answered, "Correct. Though it's mostly just Soifon, it was enough for a series of events to add up."
Shinji then took a sip of the already cooling tea before continuing, "Did you know, I already found your mannerisms and your way of fighting to be suspicious the moment I first saw you?"
"Let's say that's true, but that's too far-fetched on top of there being no evidence."
"Kisuke, please remember." Shinji placed down his cup and directly met Kisuke's eyes, "Because I didn't reach out just for that far-fetched possibility that Aizen was able to do what he wanted."
"Still, that's not for you to call me out with such conviction. I know you'd take an observer's approach if you're not sure enough."
"You know me well, but that's where Soifon's note comes in. I'm sure that you know that anything related to the Seireitei is serious official business for her, but did you know that there's really only one person, including Yoruichi, that she'll act casual with?"
Kisuke thought about it and finally got where Shinji was coming from, "...That's me?"
Shinji started chuckling, "That's right. If you were any other person, she'd be more 'official' with that note and probably knows that too. Just like me, you underestimated her. You looked past her not being bothered to put up appearances to you."
Kisuke sighed again and scratched his head, "And the last clue probably came from Ise-san here, right?"
Nanao almost jumped when her name was called and refocused her senses. Even now, she didn't understand how Shinji could act like normal and she'd been thinking about what Shunsui wanted her to do in this moment.
"So you noticed it too. She's been acting way too weird, as if she wanted to say something so bad but was not allowed to do so. I'm guessing that she probably heard something from Shunsui so I just asked you directly."
"N-no! Captain didn't tell me anything! I just overheard it when he's talking on his phone!"
'He was able to override the silencing effect of that phone?' Kisuke asked himself.
Meanwhile, Shinji turned to Nanao and gave her a suspicious look, "So you heard from him? You know he's not careless with something like that."
Nanao could only keep her mouth shut because she can't refute that.
Shinji turned his head back to Kisuke and asked, "Since when did you come in contact with him?"
"A while back."
"I see." Shinji suddenly stood up and fixed his attire, "There you have it. Three people that you underestimated working together. I don't know what you're trying to achieve but be more careful if you don't want your identity revealed." He then left his seat and turned around towards the exit, "Ise, let's go before everyone becomes too suspicious."
"W-wait! Captain Hirako! Aren't you going to ask more!?"
Shinji didn't turn around and started walking, "My words from earlier still apply. It's better answered by actions instead of words. And it's Kisuke we're talking about here. We don't know how he'll mislead us so it's just better to watch what he'll do."
Nanao still wasn't satisfied but she had no choice but to follow Shinji. She bowed her head to Kisuke with a complicated expression and briskly walked behind Shinji.
Shinji and Nanao reached the door but before they went through it, Shinji turned his head for one final time, "Later, Kisuke."
Kisuke stood up and smiled at Shinji, "Yep. Later. It was good to see you again."
Shinji only waved his hand back and left the mansion. As soon as they went through the gates, they disappeared with Flash Steps.
Kisuke reactivated his disguise and disabled the barrier around the mansion. He wanted to call and ask Shunsui what he was trying to do but he stopped himself and figured that he'll first wait for Shinji to confront him, 'If I were to guess his intentions for letting Ise-san in on this mess... It's that he wanted to let me know that I shouldn't push my luck too much. That's fair since Hirako-san was able to figure me out with just a few clues. Thank goodness that he's a trustworthy one. If it was someone like Mayuri, I'm not going to have a good time.'
Kisuke left the mansion and disappeared in a random alleyway.
As soon as he returned, he heard hurried footsteps coming his way and a few seconds later, Soifon appeared before him, "How did it go?"
Kisuke smiled wryly and said with a defeated tone, "You got me."
The happy Soifon couldn't help but grin, "As expected of Hirako. He doesn't disappoint. And the fact that he's the one who appeared to you could mean that Captain Commander knows about you too."
Since it'd be useless to hide that further from her, he nodded and asked, "When did you start getting suspicious?"
"The moment I was able to move on from the fact that you're still alive. The matters regarding Sitri Serafall have been going smoothly... Too smoothly, even. So when I knew that it was you, there's only one person not right in the head to secretly cooperate with you."
"I guess I really was pushing my luck too much." Kisuke wanted to grab Soifon's nose to stop her from grinning but he didn't really want his hand cut for no reason so he refrained from it, "To think there's this many holes in my actions... I should lay low for now."
"You're not going against our deal just because I found a loophole in your contract, right?"
"Of course not. Let's go to the Multimedia Room. Yoruichi and my own experience is hard to explain with just words so I prepared something for you to understand at least a tiny bit of it."