Izumi had to break her promise with Lisa and leave the apartment. The place felt suffocating by herself. Her loneliness only intensified from knowing that Kazuya left without meeting her. There was a different outcome of his battle, which she dreaded to think about.
'Where have you vanished to, Otouto-kun?' Her heart ached with the question.
The urge to throw herself on the bed, to let tears soak into the pillow, was almost overwhelming. Yet, the memory of his gentle, reassuring words held her back from the brink of despair. Crying was useless if he wasn't there to comfort her sadness.
Driven by a desperate hope, Izumi wandered the streets, her soul yearning for a miraculous reunion with Kazuya. The city, a maze of shadows and light, seemed to mock her fruitless quest.
"Otouto…"
When she was almost tired of running around, another fight broke out between two extremely powerful entities, a Hollow and a Shinigami. In the past, she'd have died fighting the Hollow.
Her sole priority was finding Kazuya's whereabouts; nothing more, nothing less.
However, fate led her not to Kazuya, but to a Shinigami. Draped in a pink, flower-adorned kimono that contrasted starkly with his rugged demeanor, he stood on a bridge lost in contemplation. His gaze, heavy with melancholy, scanned the town below.
Feeling her stare, he turned, a look of surprise crossing his features. "You can see me?"
"I'm Izumi, a house—a former Quincy," Izumi corrected herself with a bitter sigh. "Did you see a Quincy fight a Hollow around the town? He is quite tall, a sturdy build. He has beautiful blue eyes and lustrous white hair which is cut short... His spiritual energy is also very high."
The vivid description invoked a student's image in Shunsui's mind, but he shook it off. The man who fought Arrancars was a Shinigami, not a Quincy. "I didn't spend much time at the scene. However, I don't remember seeing any Quincy there."
Even if there had been Quincy's involvement, Shunsui doubted any could have survived against the overwhelmingly strong Arrancars.
Izumi's face paled, stricken with dread. "How is that possible? I sensed my Otouto's Reiatsu myself."
"Ah, you're looking for your family…"
"Yes, he is my only family in this world. Please… help me find him." Izumi's expression progressively became desperate. "I-I don't know what I'll do without him."
Shunsui let out a sigh. "I'm going to regroup with my squad. They might know something about your Otouto."
After separating from Captain Isshin, he had checked the surrounding cities but he couldn't feel Nanao's Reiatsu anywhere. His only hope was the Kidō experts who could cast specialized Kidō to track Nanao's Reiatsu to her location.
"Thanks… Shinigami-san. You're so nice."
He dismissed her words of gratitude with a shake of his head. "No need... From what I heard from my colleagues, Quincy has been a huge help in protecting citizens in Karakura Town. I'm—"
Their conversation was interrupted by the rhythmic tap of boots against the pavement. Both turned towards the sound.
A lanky blond man approached, hands casually tucked in his pockets. "Shunsui-san," he spoke with a grin. "Still can't get rid of your womanizing ways?"
"Shinji?" Shunsui's eyes widened in surprise. "You are—"
"Alive. Yes, very much alive. You don't look so well, though. Why are you running around the town?" Shinji's playful grin faded into a sharp gaze. "If it's about Lisa, I'll kindly ask you to stop your meaningless efforts."
Shinji had felt Lisa's Reiatsu earlier when she did her Hollowification for a short while. He assumed Shunsui recognized Lisa through her Reiatsu and ran around the town in search of her. Although Shinji was no longer a Shinigami, he hated to see Shunsui with such desperation.
"Lisa-chan…" Shunsui's face briefly contorted in pain, then he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Someday I'd like to apologize to Lisa-chan, but today isn't that day… "
"Lisa?" Izumi interjected, recognizing the name. "You don't mean Yadōmaru, do you?"
Shunsui and Shinji simultaneously turned to Izumi, staring at her with wide eyes.
"I know you," Shinji said. "You're Lisa's Quincy friend. Izumi, right?"
Although it took time, Shinji finally recognized Izumi. He had seen her a few times when she worked as a Quincy. The present version of her lacked the solemn aura, making it hard to associate her with the Quincy of Karakura Town.
"Former Quincy," Izumi corrected Shinji. "I'm no longer active in that field. Actually, Lisa and I share an apartment these days."
"My bad, my bad. Lisa mentioned it to everyone before."
Shunsui was quite baffled by the fact Lisa started living with a former Quincy. He knew Lisa will come to despise Shinigami after the Hollowification incident, but he never imagined she'd go this far.
Shunsui cleared his throat. "Do you and Lisa-chan sleep together and embrace each other that way?"
"What? No!" Izumi immediately refused the idea. "The man I asked you about — he is my Otouto-kun… and my husband."
"That lucky bastard," Shinji cursed Kazuya under his breath for his luck. "Shunsui-san, if you weren't looking for Lisa, what were you doing earlier? Showing off your Shunpo skills to Hollows?"
"It's about Nanao-chan…" Shunsui told his side of the story in a heavy tone.
Shinji frowned. "Did you ask the students on site?"
"I didn't." He shook his head with a bitter smile. "The blood rushed to my head when I thought about Nanao-chan being hurt… I abandoned my mission and ran around like a headless chicken in search of her Reiatsu."
Shinji gave him a wide-eyed look. "I didn't imagine Shunsui-san to be the type to get hot-headed."
"I know I shouldn't have lost my calm. Well, they won without me," he said, looking toward the location of Yamamoto and Unohana's Reiatsu. "Dai-Senpai also came… Shinji, can I ask you a favor?"
"As long as it's not related to Lisa. In return, I want you to stay quiet about us."
Shunsui solemnly nodded his head. "I promise… I want to meet Hachigen Ushoda, the former Vice-captain of Kidō Corps."
"Ya want Hachigen to track Ise down?"
"Yeah."
"Sure. Come with me."
Shunsui was rather relaxed about rules in the Gotei 13. Not to mention he had shown Shinji the ropes when he first became a Captain. So he didn't show any hesitation in bringing Shunsui to his base.
"Can I also join?" Izumi asked with a curt smile. "If it's not too much to ask for."
Izumi wanted to make sure Shunsui did his due diligence in interrogating his colleagues. Furthermore, this was also an opportunity to know more about her mysterious maid Lisa and her connection to Shinigami.
Shinji rubbed the back of his head and groaned. "That guy will kill me for this… but sure. Come along, Izumi-san."
...
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