At the Junrin'an Taiyaki restaurant.
After listening to Arata's explanation, Rangiku's eyes softly sparkled under the light.
"Idiot, just say it directly." She poked Arata in the chest with her finger.
"My man is a genius that even the captain places great hopes on. It's not appropriate for him to spend the whole day eating, drinking, and playing around with me."
The warm light in the shop cast soft shadows across her profile. Arata looked at her gently fluttering eyelashes and felt a wave of warmth and courage pass through his chest.
Over these two months, this seemingly carefree woman had always shown incredible understanding when he needed it the most, so much so that on many nights, he wondered if what they had was truly real.
"But—" Rangiku suddenly stood on tiptoes and leaned close to his ear, the loosely open collar of her shinigami uniform revealing part of her snow-white neck, "studying is studying, but you'll have to make it up to me twice as much this weekend~"
"Definitely!"
Arata nodded seriously in agreement.
With that sweet promise, Arata said goodbye to Rangiku in front of the 4th Division barracks.
He walked through the hallway with light steps, greeting familiar officers along the way, and eventually reached the secret dojo reserved only for him and Unohana Retsu.
"Yes, half an hour earlier than we agreed." A gentle female voice came from the other side.
In the dimly lit dojo, Unohana Retsu stood with her back turned to him, her silhouette nearly blending into the darkness.
"What the teacher said earlier made me think and reflect deeply, and I realized my own laziness and arrogance." Arata spoke in a deep voice, stepping toward the woman in front of him one step at a time.
As the distance between them shrank, Unohana Retsu suddenly turned around.
Today, she wasn't wearing her usual wide shinigami uniform and captain's haori, but a tight black training outfit.
The stretched fabric outlined her full curves, her chest gently rising and falling with each breath, and her slim waist and rounded hips formed a breathtaking silhouette.
The sweat-soaked fabric clung transparently to her skin, gleaming provocatively in the candlelight.
It looked like the woman had been training for a while before Arata arrived.
"Arata-kun, have you looked enough?" Unohana Retsu's voice was still gentle like water, but it made Arata's entire body shiver.
He quickly dropped to one knee and apologized: "The student was rude!"
How awful, he had let himself be carried away by his teacher's beauty and body.
"It doesn't matter." Unohana Retsu slowly approached, with not a trace of reproach in her tone. Her feet in white socks echoed softly across the floor.
"Tonight we'll try a different kind of training."
She raised her hand and her long sword flew out of its sheath straight into her palm. It was her Zanpakutō, Minazuki.
"A real sword?" Arata's pupils slightly contracted; he couldn't grasp Unohana Retsu's intent.
Since they became teacher and student, they had always trained with wooden swords, never using their Zanpakutō.
Unohana Retsu untied the braids across her chest, letting them fall freely over her shoulders, a few strands sliding down her neck.
"The pinnacle of swordsmanship lies in enlightenment at the edge of life and death. A wooden sword lacks the true, sharp intent to kill," she spoke slowly. "Maybe that's why Arata-kun held back earlier."
Before Arata could explain himself, Unohana Retsu suddenly swung her sword without any warning—so fast that only a blur remained in the air!
Clang—!
Arata didn't even see the moment she drew her blade; he instinctively forced Meigetsu to leap from its sheath and block the strike.
At the moment the two Zanpakutō clashed, the eruption of spiritual pressure shattered the surrounding candle holders, and the already dark dojo sank into complete darkness.
The darkness swallowed the space like a tide, and only the sparks from the clashing blades occasionally lit up Unohana Retsu's eyes right in front of him. In them brewed something even more dangerous than the swords themselves.
From the force of the blow, Arata's palms went numb, and he stumbled back ten or so steps before he managed to stop!
"Too slow to react." Unohana Retsu continued pressing him, her blade swinging again in an illogical arc. "Are you thinking of Lieutenant Matsumoto?"
"The student does not dare to daydream!"
Arata was breathing heavily and hurriedly dodged to the side. Meigetsu in his hand rose from below upward, but his opponent easily blocked it with Minazuki.
Clang——!
Clang——!
Clang——!
Their silhouettes crossed at lightning speed in the dojo, sharp flashes of their blades dancing like silver snakes.
At that moment, Arata was truly suffering. Just a few hours ago, he was pleased because his spiritual pressure had increased significantly, and now Unohana Retsu, being just a bit "serious," was thrashing him to the point he couldn't even retaliate.
Sweat quickly soaked their clothes again, sticking to their backs.
Each time he inhaled, he smelled the herbal scent typical of the 4th Division rising from Unohana Retsu, mixed with the unique scent of a woman's body, making his heart beat even faster.
The drawbacks of being "too close" with Rangiku were now starting to show.
Arata could no longer control those kinds of instincts.
As she spun, the end of her hair brushed against his Adam's apple, and the blunt side of her blade struck the bones of his wrist hard.
A sharp pain in his wrist almost made him drop Meigetsu. He staggered back, the lower part of his back slamming hard into the dojo pillar.
Bang–!
In a cloud of dust, the tip of Unohana Retsu's sword pressed against his chest, piercing his shinigami uniform and drawing several drops of crimson blood.
The scent of blood mercilessly stimulated his nerves.
Arata, who had finally caught his breath, suddenly grabbed the wrist of the hand holding her sword and yanked her forward. In the moment they lost balance and their bodies pressed against each other, he drove his knee into her lower abdomen.
That almost blasphemous counterattack made Unohana Retsu's pupils contract sharply, and her Zanpakutō grazed his ribs, leaving a trail of tiny bloody dots.
"Now that's more like it." She smiled breathlessly and licked the drop of blood that had fallen on her lips with the tip of her tongue.
Her frenzied, wild behavior made Arata's muscles tense, his gaze unknowingly blurred.
Hey, is it possible that he just unlocked the thousand-year seal of the first Kenpachi?
However, Unohana Retsu didn't give him a moment to think, but continued to ramp up the tempo and power of her attacks.
Her slashes became even crazier, each strike seemingly aimed at slicing Arata in half.
Under the enormous pressure to save his own life and survive, Arata's counterattacks had to become fiercer; several times he nearly cut off her long hair.
Over the next half hour, the dojo floor gradually turned a dark crimson shade from the blood flowing from the two of them.
When he no longer had room to retreat and Unohana Retsu had almost completely pushed him to the edge.
"It's over."
The position of her sword suddenly changed in her hand, and the blade stabbed straight through his palm.
Meigetsu flew from his hand, now powerless, and embedded deeply into a wooden pillar in the distance.
Arata gasped, and before he could react, his fragile neck was already pinned against the cold blade.
Unohana Retsu had pinned him in the corner, her full body nearly entirely pressed against him.
Through the thin fabric, he could clearly feel the softness and heat of her breasts.
"Teacher…" Arata's Adam's apple moved, his voice unusually hoarse.
He was exhausted.
He had never experienced such a fierce life-and-death battle before, not even in past fights with Zaraki Kenpachi.
Unohana Retsu gently tilted her chin up, her red lips right in front of his face.
Her warm breath slid down his neck, carrying a faint body scent.
"Arata, your heart is in disarray."
The tip of her sword slowly slid downward, lifting his collar.
"Have you weakened from laziness?" There was a subtle seductiveness in her voice. "Or perhaps…"
The torn shinigami uniform slipped off him, revealing Arata's strong chest.
"Are you having inappropriate thoughts about me right now?"
———
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