Falling Leaves

[Nakajima Kimiko]

80th District, West Rukongai, Soul Society. The leftmost extremity of the heavenly realm, it is often perceived by those who have once witnessed it to be one of the most unfortunate places a spirit can spend their afterlife. For hundreds of years, if perhaps not for an even greater amount of time, it has remained a place unable to be touched by a law whose arm was already stretched far too wide, a den of daily crime and horror perpetuated by beings who only wish to uphold their survival. Theft, murder and many other terrible assaults are all said to be very common occurrences, and bandit clans roam the streets in hopes of catching their latest prey as soon as possible. Some would consider this place as well as the other extremities of the heavenly realm to be amongst the greatest shame of the Gotei 13, the four true places where they ultimately failed to properly construct the "society" that they had envisioned. Others would understand the ugly truth behind their lack of order, and thus simply accept it as such. 

Kimiko, unsurprisingly, could be said to be amongst the first of these two groups. The Captain of the Eleventh Division of the Gotei 13 has gone numerous times to the four outskirts of the Soul Society, namely to meditate atop the ancient mountain that she has found near the western edge of the realm, and so she is very well-aware of how dire the situation of its denizens has been over the many years since its inception. Food and water are both difficult to find for those who are unfortunate enough to be capable of wielding spiritual energy, and the bandit clans are seemingly becoming more and more brazen since the demonic invasions. Even so, she has always remained hopeful for the people over there, always supportive. It was why, every once in a while, she would simply visit the place to talk to its people and learn more about their lives. There were many who hated her presence, of course, but she did not ever stop going, especially not after all that's happened lately. She needed the comfort of the people, to say the least.

But today, she did not receive any sort of comfort. Instead, she received something that was more so akin to stupor and confusion.

It was to be like any other day. She had just finished her class about about two hours ago in high spirits, and after having done so, she had decided to take a trip to the 80th district. For the first time since she had decided to go on occasional trips to the district, she had decided to bring food with her in order to distribute them throughout the districts beyond the 70th. Was it a foolish plan of hers? Perhaps. However, she has been in a rather charitable mood as of late, and if anything, she believed that such an activity would allow her to further distract herself from the fact that she has had to bring Ruhe out of the Soul Society and the many recent hallucinations brought about by her Inner Hollow. Besides, she had started to actually hold some genuinely-interesting conversations with the people over there, and she believed that bringing food to them would be a nice way to solidify a sort of connection. It would be more people to potentially bring into the unified force that was the Blade Wall.

When she arrived to the 80th western district, what she found was not the people that she had been hoping to meet again, but rather a ghost town. There was nary a single soul in sight within the district. No men. No women. No elders. No children. There weren't even any of the typical fauna to expect in these parts, such as the usual snake or bug. To say that such a sight was astonishing to Kimiko was nothing short of an understatement. Only but a three days ago, everything around here had been just fine. Why would every single person in the district suddenly decide to leave? In hopes to find answers, she began to search around the area. At a certain point, she even sent a Hell Butterfly to the Seventh Division in hopes of perhaps finding more information about what was happening. For all she knew, maybe everyone had suddenly been killed or kidnapped by a certain local bandit clan. However, she would get no information about it all. There wasn't even a single hint in the homes that suggested what happened. It was as if everyone had suddenly decided to leave of their own accord.

Since she has completed her discovery, the Captain had begun to wait for someone from the Seventh to come and help her investigate what had happened. She had decided to do so by sitting onto the nearest tree, which appeared to be largest one in the entire district. Her scarlet eyes were fixated onto the building within which she had left the last boxes of food she had brought, with her ears perked. Meanwhile, the evening sun above gently laid its sun rays upon her, causing the white of her haori to shine brightly across the district. For a time, she would remain silent, maintaining her observation onto the building for what seemed like minutes on end, immobile. However, eventually, she would find herself letting out a small, frustrated sigh. "What the hell," she would huff, frustrated by the development - or rather, the complete lack thereof of any form of development - of the situation. "This can't be right... They couldn't have just left."

Her observation continued for a time still. At a certain point, what was previously a hope for something to appear in order to steal the food and therefore reveal that they were the one responsible for the disappearance of the entire district's population had begun to diminish into something that could barely be called a mere suggestion. By then, it had become clear that this was not the work of something normal, for if that were the case, there would have at least been a few signs of struggle. At the very least, there would have been the presence of uneaten food and abandoned property, both things which should be rarer than jewels in these parts of the Soul Society. The problem with this assumption was that there was no real way to tell what exactly had caused this problem. Such was the typical conundrum to expect from the supernatural, the very issue that constantly tug at the nerves of the dual swordswoman whenever she had to deal with it.

In any case, she would continue to wait as patiently as she possibly could, remaining on her own as she did so. At times, being a little hungry herself, she would hop down from the tree that she had been resting upon before picking up a bit of food from the boxes that she had brought. By the time she had almost emptied the boxes by herself, she had been chomping into an apple, leaving behind a bag of berries and a single orange. As she consumed the fruit, she would walk out of the house where the boxes had been set, then allow herself to bend against the wall nearest to the building's door before staring at the wilderness in the distance. The expression was most likely more than enough for anyone to understand that she was feeling particularly happy in this moment. In fact, she felt clearly bothered, annoyed, and most importantly, worried, for what she was currently witnessing was almost identical to what she had witnessed in the Indian city of Jodanapur only a week ago alongside Fuuko.

Hopefully, this was not anywhere near as troubling as what she and her student had discovered then, and instead just some kind of misunderstanding. For all she knew, maybe this was nothing more than a prank of sorts. Yeah! A prank! Now, that would be not only different, but also amusing! At the very least, it'd be more pleasant than discovering a pile of bodies somewhere out there, behind all of the distant trees of the wilderness.

[Kaen Youji]

A Hell Butterfly giving warning of a situation in the 80th District had Kaen's attention alarmingly quickly, and he had deployed pretty much before the message was even finished. 80th District. WHY WAS IT ALWAYS THE 80TH DISTRICT Even with his tremendous speed, traversing what was effectively a large country to reach the outer districts would take time. Fortunately, after the disaster with Kazuhiko and the attack from Kouhai's left hand, Kaen had identified at least a few routes that would cut down on time. Of course, the regrettable fact of the matter, was this was still a trip that would be measured in hours, not minutes, no matter how Kaen sliced it. At least if he wanted to be in good enough shape to help out a fellow Captain when he arrived. Even if it had only been for a short time before Celes had knocked Kimiko from the battlefield, Kaen had seen her abilities and recognized she was a formidable combatant, well deserving of her title as Captain. If she was asking for backup, he couldn't very well arrive and then promptly fall over from exhaustion!

He'd also ordered one of his officers, a lithe and cunning Shinigami by the name of Kaze, to gather up a team and follow after him at the earliest opportunity. Kaze was a half-decent fighter himself, having been part of Hikari Nisei's graduating class. Along with Hikari, he'd been one of the few to make it to the final rounds of an impromptu tournament Kaen had set up, and had proven his worth in the match. Although weaker than Hikari, he'd been cunning and willing to fight dirty, but had shown a real aptitude for planning. As such of the Division, Kaen trusted him most to carry out arranging reinforcements and bringing them after Kaen in a timely manner.

Despite that, Kaen was much faster than anyone else in the division, by a wide margin and even at their quickest, it would probably not be until the next day that reinforcements arrived from the Seireitei even with Kaze leading them. It would have to do. One person could move faster than several after-all. At least if this would be a long term mission they'd arrive in time, and if not, they'd at least arrive in time to help with the cleanup operation, and giving some extra bodies to bring back any suspects for.... Well. Whatever was going on. An entire Rukongai district going missing.... Shoot, it really was the stupid Bum, wasn't it? Was Fuuko seriously right about the bloody Bum association thing? Really? That was a real fricking thing?

With that little nugget to occupy Kaen's thoughts the whole way there, by the time he arrived he was covered in sweat and breathing heavily, landing near the entrance to the 80th district having made more than a few Hulk leaps to get there as fast as he could, hands placed above his knees for stability. "Hah.... hah..... Alright.... I'm here Captain Nakajima.... Hah..... Just let me catch my breath.... And then I'll punch that stupid pink flamingo designer bastard in the face this time.... Instead of being turned into a kebab this time.... Stupid ass." He panted in a statement that, had Kimiko been within earshot would probably just confuse her.

After a few minutes of catching his breath Kaen looked up, face still flushed and began to look around the district. "Alright...." He paused. How the heck was he going to find Kimiko now? He could sense her reiatsu, but he wasn't great at pinpointing reiatsu signatures. And randomly wandering around the district wasn't going to do much....

Kaen listened closely for a moment. Yeah, it was eerily quiet. Quiet enough that any sound with stand out. So the Shinigami jumped skyward so that he'd be clearly visible from the ground and called out. "Kimiko! Near the entrance!" And then promptly fell back to earth, letting his muscles cushion his landing.... mostly. He forgot how tired his legs were from the trip here.

Whump

"Owww..... Okay they needed a little more time to recover.... Ouch." Kaen grumbled as he tried to regain his footing. He'd need Kimiko to probably properly debrief him on the situation now that he was here. He got the whole "entire district has disappeared" bit, but a lot could change in a few hours, and what was with all the trees? There definitely weren't this many the last time he'd come here.....

[Nakajima Kimiko]

As Kimiko awaited Kaen's arrival while consuming the last few bits of food she had hoped to give to the people of this district, she would find herself steadily granting attention to the matter of Kaen. It had been some time now since she had last seen the Vice-Captain of the Seventh Division, the fire-fighting martial artist in action; in fact, now that she thought about it, the last time she had done so was during that terrible spar between herself, him, and Celes back when the latter wanted to understand how far she had grown when it came to pure Hakuda combat. Of course, at the time, things hadn't gone well for Kimiko. Now that she was thinking about it, she could still remember the horrible pain that she had to go through after her mentor had punched her straight in the stomach. However, in spite of that, she could remember Kaen's performance, and if there was one thing that she could say about it, it was that it was an admirable one.

Maybe, in a way, that was the reason why she wanted someone out here. She wanted an equal, someone that she could trust on a battlefield that was somewhat of an uncharted territory to her. Although she often visited the 80th district, she never really saw it as a place within which she had found herself fighting very often, aside from that one time she has had to break a fight between two stragglers who were hoping to steal a piece of bread from one another. More importantly, though, she wanted someone who could perhaps understand what was happening here better than she could. When she investigated the disappearances of the people of Jodanapur and dealt with the aftermath, neither she or Fuuko were very well-equipped for the job. They were warriors, after all, not investigators. Kaen, in comparison, was one of the highest officers of the Seventh Division. If there was someone out there who could deal with some kind of mystery better than anybody else, it was most likely him.

With all of that being said, there was another reason behind it all that she felt was perhaps more important to her. It was something that she wanted to talk about for a very long time to someone of the Seventh Division, or more specifically, someone that she felt she could actually trust. For somewhat of a long time now, she believed the people of the Execution Squad to not be what they declared themselves to be, and that was in part because of all that's happened throughout her career regarding the case of the kidnapped and enslaved Hollows in the Living World. She could still remember, after all these years, what had happened then. She could remember the corrupted officers who worked with those criminal Fullbringers for money, could still remember the way she had fought against them and then had them delivered to the Gotei 13 for imprisonment. That was not even mentioning the many reports she had sent to the squad at the time regarding the matter, as well as everything that happened next, from the Walker incident all the way down to the Rider case as well as the Jodanapur incident.

For now, Kimiko believed that Kaen did not receive any information regarding these matters, and in truth, she did not believe that she would be very surprised if Kaen outright tells her that this would indeed be the case here. If there is one thing that she has learned from the hell that is administrations, secretary departments and paperwork, it is that not every piece of information is delivered to the upper echelon. Sometimes, it gets treated by the lower echelons as useless information to be ignored, and so it is filtered, processed, and then promptly forgotten. For all she knows, these reports she has written and sent to the Seventh Division at the time were mostly ignored, all because the first ones she had sent were written while she was occupying a lesser position, and because the last ones she had sent were not entirely within the scope of their jurisdiction. But even so, she hoped that she would be able to learn a bit more about the Seventh Division's workings today from Kaen, if only to understand where they stood in those particular messes.

In any case, again, she waited some more. And some more. And some more still. At a certain point, she would begin to think that the Hell Butterfly she had sent was perhaps a lot slower than she believed it to be; after all, she had sent it from one of the very outskirts of the Soul Society, and for all she knew, Kaen was in the very middle of Seireitei by the time the insect reached him. Then, she began to think about his abilities and how, in comparison to her, it was entirely possible that it would take more time for him to reach the 80th western district because she was perhaps more skilled in the art of rapid movement than he was. Maybe he needed to take a few more breaks. Who knows. However, shortly after that thought came to her, she would find herself smiling a bit before she shook her head. "Heh... Nah. I'm sure this is nothing to someone like him. If he can beat up Celes, I'm sure he can handle something like this," she said then, optimistic.

About a few minutes after the Captain arrived to this conclusion, she would be able to footsteps in the distance. They were heavy, like someone was repeatedly crashing the ground over and over, and they were also somewhat slow. This would cause her to raise a brow and look towards the source of the noise, a thicket of trees and bushes in the distance, presumably near the entrance of the district. Then, she saw a figure suddenly rise from the the vegetation high up in the air, and heard the distinctive voice of the Vice-Captain of the Seventh. Kaen. He had arrived. Oddly enough, he also wanted her to come to the entrance of the district, which was... strange, but she did not question it in the moment; after all, the district was rather large due to the way that it neared the wilderness outside of the heavenly realm, and so this was probably a way for Kaen to quickly call for her attention so they could regroup as quickly as possible. So, she moved quickly, heading towards this position with a swift step. Then, she reached him and her earlier optimism about the man's sank.

The martial artist that Kimiko had put all of her confidence in when it came to fighting prowess... looked completely, absolutely, most astonishingly exhausted. He was panting like mad, drenched in sweat all over, and from the looks of things, it appeared as though his last jump went rather badly. It would cause the dual swordswoman to simply stare at him with a comical expression of disappointment and disbelief. Well, at least she tried to give him her signature energetic smile. "Hey, Kaen! Good evening! You look... in good shape!" She would find herself greeting at first, trying the best she could to ignore the man's current physical state. At first, it almost seemed as though she could do it without chiming an unnecessary comment. Eventually, however, she would find herself slipping as the radiance of her bright smile became just a tad bit dimmer. "Was... the run really that bad? You look like you went through a whole marathon in a gigai."

Oops. Maybe she shouldn't have said that. Then again, after having seen his performance against Celes, it wasn't really surprising that she was expecting better of him. Ah, oh well... That wasn't important. What was important was instead the matter at hand. So, after introductions were said and done, she would waste no time in adopting a more serious stance as she found herself gazing at the rest of the district before recapping everything that she had told to Kaen through the help of the Hell Butterfly, if only to keep him up to speed. The man, after all, was rather tired, and so it was possible that the exhaustion had taken away some of the information she had given to him then. Once she believed that he properly understood what was happening, the swordswoman would then clench her arms. "So that's where I am at the moment. I thought for a while that a bandit clan had just come and kidnapped everyone for ransom, but I don't think that's what happened here. There's nothing that suggests that something like that happened. It's instead as though everyone just... left." 

Her eyes then focused onto her surroundings again. More specifically, this time, they found themselves gazing at the greenery that surrounded both she and her comrade. Usually, she didn't pay much attention to her surroundings, but now that she was having a good look at it... it did seem like there was more greenery than usual. More precisely, it seemed as though there were more trees. Oddly, though, it was nothing in comparison to the many trees that spread about in the wilderness. She has not gazed at the wilderness from this perspective very often, but she could have sworn that there weren't as many trees out there back then. But maybe that was just a coincidence...

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen was busy catching his breath, and wiping a bit of sweat off of his brow as he looked over at Kimiko after a few moments. Oh good. She was still here. He didn't run literally to the other end of the Seireitei for nothing. Well besides a good workout, that was a perk he supposed. Anyways, down to business. He straightened up to address her question "Well you know... Ran the length of the United States or so in..... What time is it now? And when did you send your Hell Butterfly? ...I'm not so good at the math, but less than half the time it took for the Butterfly to get to me but anyways. So." Maybe not precise measurements, but hey, close enough.

"I also arranged for back-up, but they'll probably not arrive until morning. So it's you and me until then." He added, now regaining his breath, and let Kimiko explain the situation. He looked around the district. "Honestly, when I got the report I thought it was the flamingo asshole back at it again. He made several hits here in short succession, but if it was him, this place would be leveled and there'd be bodies. So it clearly wasn't." He looked around.

"A lot more trees than the last time I was here though. That's not normal, and initial assessment is that it's connected somehow." Kaen added. Trees certainly didn't grow that quickly. "And you've encountered nobody since you arrived here? At all?" He sighed. "Really, that just leaves one option I guess then." He looked towards the wilderness at the outer level of the district. "No signs of destruction, no signs of a struggle, and the only thing out of place is the trees? We could spend literal days combing through every house in the district. Or we could head into the wilderness to see what we can find out there."

Neither option was exactly ideal, but neither of them had any real semblance of leads at this point. The good news is that the conversation seemed to have given Kaen back his second wind and he was looking ready and recovered now. "I'll leave it to your call, in case you have a gut feeling, but I'm thinking wilderness. I even made that big show when I arrived specifically to see if I'd get any reactions. And well. Nothing." He added, looking out into the dark trees ahead. It would be dark soon, and that would make navigation hazardous, but it was what it was. Not much could be done about that. They'd just have to make a call and stick to it.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko would find herself blinking after she heard Kaen's response to her comment about his exhaustion. She seemed to be confused at first, as though what he had just said shouldn't have been something to be taken into account of considering the man's skills. Wasn't crossing long distances as fast as possible something all higher Shinigami officers, both Captains and Vice-Captains alike, should ideally be able to do with the aid of Shunpo? Eventually, however, the gears in her head that had evidently been damaged by all the waiting she had endured would finally start grinding again, and she would realize that not everyone within the Gotei 13 constantly accomplished 40-districts-long voyages from Seireitei to one of the Nijūkan dojos on an almost-daily basis. Once she did that, she would find herself laughing a bit. "Well, I guess that means your Hohō techniques need a little bit of training! I'll be happy to give you a few lessons after we're done here," she commented with a positive attitude. Better to treat his ordeal as such rather than tease him any further, she thought.

After this was said and done, the Captain would then refocus on the task at hand, causing her expression to become sharper. She took into account Kaen's comment about the lack of backup as well as his first impression of the report she had sent to his squad with a frown. "I've sent my Jigokuchō to Nanabantai a while ago. To be honest, I haven't really kept count of how long it has been. I'm gonna guess maybe two or three hours. You're pretty fast, so if we assume that your backup officers are about five times slower than the both of us, then it might be best to assume they'll only be here around... noon tomorrow... maybe even later," she first answered with a slight wiggle of the hand, hinting at the uncertainty behind that particular number. It was somewhat of a pessimistic view of the situation, but nevertheless, she would smile after the fact. "Maybe it's better this way. The people outside of this district are most likely gonna need all the help they can get if these disappearances somehow start happening over there too." 

A certain "flamingo asshole" was then brought about by the Vice-Captain. For a moment, the dual swordswoman would appear somewhat taken aback, as though she had absolutely no idea of what the man was talking about. Then, she remembered glimpses of a few reports she had read about what had happened within the C46 headquarters. By now, these glimpses were almost nothing more than vague blurbs of information, but she could still somewhat recall something about a man wearing a jacket with pink feathers attached to it. As such, she didn't really think this was the man Kaen was talking about. However... she did remember hearing about another particular "asshole", specifically from one of her students. "You mean that bum guy Fuuko keeps complaining about?" She asked then, evidently trying her best to figure out the identity of the person the Vice-Captain was talking about in the best way she could. Then, she would shrug. "Eh, I don't really think it was him. The only colors I've seen around here thus far are green, brown and black. Someone that flashy would leave a bunch of clues around just to show off."

There was a hint of mockery in the tone that she used to describe the man, though she was taking the possibility rather seriously. She has never personally met the eponymous "Leader of the Bum Association" that seemingly haunts the blood-bender's hopes and dreams, but she is aware of what he had achieved, which was to invade the Soul Society, cause enough damage to one of the 80th districts in spite of having to deal with several powerful Shinigami at once, and capture Kazuhiko before his leave. In other words, he was a threat, and so far, she wasn't quite sure if he had been totally eliminated. If there was one thing that she had learned from her experiences with her Inner Hollow, it is that those who act similarly to tricksters and declare themselves as masterminds tend to have many plans up their sleeves. For all they knew, the man who has been exterminated by the Captain-Commander was not that "bum", but rather a double.

But enough about him. For now, he was firmly in the past, and it was quite clear that he had nothing to do with what was currently going on here, for once again, such a flashy individual would not attempt to attack the Soul Society without declaring said attack as loudly as he possibly can. Today, they needed to focus on the task at hand, and it seemed that Kaen had made the same observation Kimiko had after all. "I haven't seen anyone around, no," she would confirm to the Vice-Captain then before she would find herself looking on towards the wilderness in the distance. There definitely weren't as many trees the last time she had visited, and there had been no plans of planting any more of them. At least, there were none that she was aware of; after all, whenever she came here, the people merely kept telling her about their terrible living conditions. Either that, or they were telling her to leave. So, this left them with only one thing to do indeed: to go investigate the source of this new greenery. 

Naturally, Kimiko wasn't exactly inclined to actually go and do that. While she and Kaen were definitely capable warriors, they had no real information about what was up ahead. It could be nothing more than a Hollow capable of growing trees from the ground out of nothing. Hell, if their ability went that far, it could even explain why everybody around here had disappeared, since it could have simply dragged them all into the ground. However, for all they knew, it could be something that was much more powerful than that. It could be a powerful Hollow, maybe a Vasto Lorde who just so happened to have enough courage today to brave the limits between Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society. It could even be a Hellion who was encouraged by the past works of its brethren. Hell, it could even be not even a creature, but yet another invader who seeks to bring calamity to Rukongai, a higher being with greater goals in mind than simple consumption or murder.

Unfortunately, whoever or whatever the culprit may be, they did not have any other choices but to press on. It was either that or wait for something to happen, and Kimiko wasn't willing to continue standing there and doing nothing at all. So, in response to Kaen's last comment, she would stretch a little before then beginning to walk forward towards the outskirts of the district. "Alright, then gut feeling it is! I'm not sure if we're gonna find anything over there, but it seems like it's the only other place around here which has all those trees too," she told Kaen then as she headed towards their next destination, hoping that Kaen would in tow. While she would do so, she would eventually turn her head towards the Vice-Captain and give him a smirk. "Don't worry! We'll take this more slowly this time around. It'd be faster for us to get there with Shunpo, but at this point, it'd probably be better for us to prepare for whatever's gonna be thrown at us."

There was a bit of teasing to be had from that comment; after all, Kimiko hadn't forgotten that Kaen was exhausted. With that said, she wanted to make sure that their spirits would remain as high as possible once they would reach those trees in the distance... or rather, she wanted her own spirits to remain in such a positive state. Kaen most likely had his own problems, sure. Everybody did, from the cheeriest to the most downtrodden. However, ever since Ruhe's leave and her decision to keep Kazuhiko under her supervision, she felt as though she was steadily losing further and further control. The last thing that she wanted to deal with right about now, especially during any battle that may happen next, is her Inner Hollow appearing once again at every opportunity to remind her of her current issues. Those hallucinations were already difficult to ignore as is. Nowadays? It almost feels as though they're becoming more and more daring.

In any case, the two Shinigami officers would proceed past the meager edifices of the district and the edge that separated it from the wilderness. There, they walked for a time onto empty ground and rock. The descending evening sun above, now on the verge of disappearing in the horizon, had turned into a colorful orange that lit the skies with a fire like none other. Meanwhile, the trees in the distance steadily became bigger and bigger. For Kimiko, the sight was admittedly becoming more and more impressive the further they approached it. It was like both she and Kaen were staring at a literal wall of trees, a bastion of greenery that spanned for miles and miles on end. No doubt, if she would have scouted ahead with the aid of Advanced Air Ground, she would have most likely found herself staring at an entire unending forest, the kind that was most likely bigger than the one located in the north of the Soul Society. It was, needless to say... somewhat unsettling.

Eventually, after what seemed to be at least half an hour of straight walking, the officers would have finished crossing the empty grounds before finding themselves right before the trees. From this distance, the trees now appeared to even bigger. In fact, they almost reminded her of the ones Kimiko had seen in Taishokukane's domain in her Inner World. Well, almost; after all, these didn't reach the literal skies. They also weren't all similar to one another, with each having a different size. Some were rather impressive while others were puny and more akin to bushes than anything else. Meanwhile, some fitted the woodland area that they previously inhabited, all the while there were others that didn't seem to match at all. There were sequoia trees paired with fir trees and even... palm trees. Each and every one of them also appeared to be dead, with none of them sporting any leaves. It was enough to cause Kimiko to frown at it all.

"... Tch. I guess we now know someone's responsible for those trees being around here," the Captain would as she continued to stare at the things, taken aback by their differences. Something about them was troubling her, as though she had somehow seen them before, but that was impossible. She had never seen those trees, or at least she had never seen them together like this... and yet... "Is there any Hollow we know about that can do something like this?"

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen flashed Kimiko a grin and it actually looked genuine-- not insulted or anything. "I'd appreciate it! You must have confidence in your own skills too, huh? I'd be interested in seeing what I can learn from you! But that'll have to be another time. You know. When lives might not be on the line." Additionally.... Kaen hadn't actually used Shunpo. As a Shinigami with limited reserves of spiritual power, Kaen often conserved it unless absolutely necessary. And presently, he didn't consider it absolutely necessary at all. He'd gotten here on time! A bit more tired from it, sure but his reserves of spiritual power were still at maximum capacity!

Meanwhile Kimiko commented on Kaen's backup officers and the Shinigami contemplated for a moment. He didn't entirely agree with Kimiko's assessment. At the slowest, any team gathered by Kaze should be no more than three times slower than Kaen or Kimiko, as Kaze himself had improved in leaps and bounds and Kaen wasn't sure if he was even twice as fast as the officer anymore. That being said, Kaze would be restricted by the slowest in the group, and they wouldn't be going at the same breakneck pace that Kaen had been moving at. So although not necessarily for the right reasons, Kimiko's assessment of taking five times as long was probably accurate.

The Captain's answer to Kaen's comment about Rizer, however, caused him to laugh a little bit. "She's still going on about him and his Bum Association huh? But you're right. I'd expect more visible signs of his presence if he was here. He wasn't exactly the king of subtlety when I crossed paths with him. Shame though, that would have made it easier."

He let Kimiko confirm his assessment, and then shrugged his shoulders. "If we're heading out, we're heading out. Ladies first." He jested lightly, gesturing for Kimiko to go ahead, and then tailing shortly behind the Captain. He did his best to keep alert, and keep his ears perked for any sounds. So far, nothing, but that didn't mean there WASN'T anything, it just meant whatever was around was being very, very quiet. And unfortunately, Kaen recognized his senses were not the most honed of the Seireitei, often requiring Barrier Stance to keep up. And that move took a major tax on Kaen and wasn't useful for long range surveys of an area anyways.

But nothing leaped out. No unusual sounds. Just trees, trees and more trees. Very big trees eventually, to be sure, but Kaen knew trees could grow to immense size, he wasn't sure if that was anything to take note of. He did, of course, notice the dead trees, but, not being particularly well versed in arboreal identification, missed all but the most obvious of differences in the dead vegetation, until Kimiko finally spoke up.

"Well that wasn't in question. The question is who." He stated, kneeling to check the ground for anything resembling tracks. "I can't think of any enemies of Soul Society that would qualify, necessarily. Unfortunately, without knowing the method or mode of what's going on exactly, I can't for certain even narrow it down." He lamented, in minor frustration. "I'm a lot better off when the problem is one I can talk to or punch in the face...." He added with a grimace.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Years ago, back when Kimiko was still fresh when it came to the likes of teaching martial arts, she preferred to keep quiet when it came to the likes of teaching others some of her lessons. Part of the reason why that was as such was mainly because of a lack of confidence, as to be expected from one who was so very new to the field, but also because there were many of her fellow Shinigami officers outside of the Eleventh Division who quite simply refused to give her teaching a try. There were a few who refused because they believed that such lessons would take too much time out of her schedules - which was something that she believed to be acceptable, if not unfortunate - but there were many others who instead wanted to avoid the lessons out of sheer pride in their own abilities. Indeed, to witness no less than a literal Captain offer them to teach lessons was something that many either could not understand or outright hated, and so they'd always deny it.

Such cases were rather numerous. Even now, she could still remember the slight pangs of disappointment she had felt then every time her lessons were being denied the attention she felt they deserved, as she truly wanted every Shinigami to become more powerful soldiers. The latest invasions, after all, had proven that there were still many who lacked the proper skills to defend themselves against a greater threat. So, to see Kaen actually so readily accept her suggestion was enough for her to slightly bring her out of her recent slump. Not only was it appreciated to see a fellow martial artist actually be interested in learning more about the art of fighting, but his enthusiasm also proved that her perseverance in teaching as well as her hard-work had truly allowed her to sharpen her ability to convince others. In a way, it was satisfying. "Perfect! Once we're done here, come to my barracks at any time! My assistant there will tell you in which schools I'll be by then. I'm always alternating between them," she would tell him with a shining attitude and obvious excitement. Truly a teacher at heart, this one. Who would've thunk Celes could've influenced her so?

Her bright smile, however, would be lessened as her expression became more serious by the time they returned to the matter at hand. While they attempted to theorize about who its culprit might be, a laugh would come out of Kaen as they briefly spoke of "the bum", a.k.a "the flamingo asshole". Admittedly, his laugh was somewhat contagious. It was enough to cause the Captain's serious expression to momentarily break. "Oh, all the time! Whenever something bad happens in Rukongai, she tends to put the blame on them. Ah... I still have no idea what the hell that Bum Association is even supposed to be," Kimiko would find herself chuckling as she recalled some of her blonde student's past reactions while they spoke with one another during training. Then, she would regain her previous gaze once more. "Anyway, yeah, again, I don't think him or whoever he works for is responsible for this. It's definitely a shame, though. I can't argue with that."

It would be then that the two moved towards the trees in the distance and would consequently be offered the stark scenery that they could offer to the duo. Needless to say, the immense amount of dead trees was concerning. Kimiko hadn't noticed that there were so many of them around here before, and quite frankly, she had never thought that there could be so many all in one place, especially many who were evidently from different ecosystems altogether. She wasn't a tree expert either, obviously, and so couldn't recognize every single one of the trees around here: that was a job that someone from the Twelfth Division could most likely better accomplish in comparison. However, the palm trees alone mixed with fir trees was a dead giveaway, no pun intended. You can't have a tropical stereotype mixed in with a frigid stereotype, after all. Well, at least that wasn't how it worked in her mind. That... That was how it worked, right?

While that particular fact somewhat eluded her, she would fortunately be brought out of her thoughts quickly enough by Kaen before she could become any more confused. Answering her question, he went on to explain that he was unaware of any enemies that potentially had an ability that allowed them to produce trees. He also, less fortunately, pointed out that there was no real way for him to actually understand what was going on in here, with him going as far as to admit he preferred punching problems away rather than otherwise. This caused Kimiko to wince just a little bit. Earlier on, she believed that the Vice-Captain would have been able to give her his thoughts on the matters of the Living World she had been dealing with as of late. However, now that he had offered her such input, she wasn't sure if he could actually do so. How disappointing... and frustrating.  Damn it. I thought he could have had some kind of clue as to what was going on over there. Hayasaka was already useless as is... but now, I don't even have a lead,  her thoughts groaned.  Isn't your squad an investigative task force? Why are you not good at investigating, then?  

Oh well, at least she could somewhat relate to his last remark. She couldn't deny that it was intensely more satisfying to properly take care of a problem by beating it up. The thing is, for the time being... "Well, with those trees, it'll probably take us a while to find the problem's face," Kimiko would respond with a tone that was both bothered and contemplative, as though she was legitimately disappointed by the fact that whoever had planted those trees did not want to show themselves. Much like how it would have been faster if the culprit would have been Fuuko's favorite person to complain about, as he would have been quite easy to spot, this mystery would have ended as soon as the culprit would have shown themselves proper. They could have found out about those who had disappeared a little bit faster then... and maybe they would have been able to figure out if they were still alive by now. This is one of the 80th districts, after all. If there was a place where one could find the most merciless spirit of them all, it was most likely here.

But hey, at least there was one positive to this situation, and that was quite simply the culprit's location. With so many trees now almost exploding from that forest, it was quite clear that there was nobody else the culprit could find themselves in. Thus, Kimiko was going to take advantage of that. With a slight stretch of her body, she would look over her shoulder for a moment so as to make sure there clearly was no other presence that could have possibly find itself in the plains they had just crossed. Her scarlet eyes would scatter about the empty browns and greys, trying their damnedest to find someone out there. Then, after she would come to the conclusion that nobody was actually out here but herself and Kaen, she would turn her gaze back towards the dead woods, then begin to walk forward towards what was pretty much the only equivalent of a path they could find: a small line of dirt zigzagging in-between the branches. "Let's try to see if our gardener's around here first and foremost. If we can't find them, I'll try to see if we can get Nibantai to send us a few scouts our way. I'd rather not see these trees spread out into the rest of Rukongai."  

Thus, the Captain would eventually proceed into the forest, hopefully with Kaen in tow. By the time the both of them would be proceeding through the patch of dead trees and bushes, the sun above would steadily continue its descent, leading the officers' surroundings to become darker and darker. It was becoming harder to see, and although they were nothing more than the equivalent of statues of dead grey bark, the trees were making things even more difficult to see thanks their many branches, as they each granted the forest a "ceiling" of sorts that blocked much of the light from above. Kimiko was used to this kind of environment. Every time she trained with Taishokukane, they remained in his section of the Captain's Inner World, a place of giant trees that could pierce the skies and leave in their wake a dark sea of infinite grey. The same, however, could most likely not quite be said for Kaen. Hopefully, his senses would allow him to keep track as they moved further and further onward.

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen grinned at Kimiko's invitation. "Sounds a plan then, Captain Nakajima. I look forward to it!" He proclaimed, and there wasn't a hint of mockery, deception or embarrassment in his voice. Battle was learning, and learning was fun! Well. Learning about fighting was fun. And footwork and speed was something Kaen prided himself on in particular. Anyways, he needed to get some new tools in his kit for the next time he fought Celes. Sure, Celes probably knew most of Kimiko's tricks, but Kaen expected that seeing them from someone else might take the other Captain off guard if used at the right moment.

As Kimiko further explained Fuuko's focus on the infamous Bum Association, Kaen snickered further. "Near as I can tell the flamingo guy said he was part of the group. As far as any looking into it turned up, I'm guessing it was a lie that he came up with on the spot, and Fuuko believed him." He commented. "I'm... a little surprised that as far as reports from the last attack on Seireitei indicated, he was aligned with Kouhai.... and Fuuko still thinks he's part of that fictitious group, huh?" He commented, visibly amused.

During their excursion through the trees and his lack of answer, well. Kaen was quick to display his other talent besides punching people, recognizing the irritation Kimiko seemed to be experiencing. "Let me summarize briefly." He decided to continue from his previous statement. "Here are the facts as we have them. Fact number one. We can't find anyone in the 80th District. Fact number two. There are no signs of a struggle, nor any bodies that we can find. Number three. A lot of trees have suddenly cropped up since the last time either of us were out here. Fact number four. These trees didn't grow here naturally." He stated.

"Unfortunately, that's all the facts we have. I've been looking as we've gone out here and I haven't found any tracks. I can read people decently well, Captain Nakajima (most of the time), and I can assemble facts together passably well. But these current facts leave a lot of open ended possibilities, and I need more information to narrow it down." He elaborated. "There's a few running theories I've got, but frankly all of them have holes that need to be patched." A small sigh.

"But since we've nothing else to do to pass the time, I may as well throw them out there. Maybe you know more than you think you do, and something here will jog your memory." Kaen's eyes continued to sweep the woods as they traveled. "Possibility one. Our enemy has some manner of transmuting or summoning ability and has either trapped or transformed the citizens of the 80th District into the trees, and we're currently walking through a most macabre mausoleum right now." He sighed. "Problem with that theory is that if that's the case, it'd be obvious. We'd be finding trees in very obstinate locations, inside of the Rukongai buildings and things like that, but as far as I could tell that wasn't the case." He took a breather to let Kimiko address that theory if she liked.

"Possibility two, the Rukongai citizens were somehow rapidly compelled to leave the area, whether by threat or by some form of compulsion ability. It would explain how eerily quiet it is, but still some problems. For starters, a mass movement like that would almost certainly leave tracks out into the wilderness. Secondly, it wouldn't explain the sudden appearance of the trees."

"Possibility three, a combination of the two, we're dealing with multiple opponents with a combination of abilities that allowed them to do both options. But that's got problems too, like the needless complication of the matter. Spawning off of that, possibility four... well, three and a half I guess? Citizens were removed by some manner of ability, and a second party placed the trees around after the fact. Why? Maybe as sentries of some kind? It's not implausible we're dealing with some botany-powered enemy who can see or travel through trees. Though that still brings the dead trees into question...."

Kaen shook his head. "Unfortunately, the massive variety of powers available to our enemies means I need a few more clues before I can piece together what happened or where our next move is. There's a saying written down by an old author from the Human World; "once you've eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how implausible, must be the answer" but right now I'm still trying to figure out what options are outright impossible." He admitted.

Regardless, it seemed Kimiko was going to take charge of the situation and Kaen was grateful for that. He lowered his posture slightly. "Understood Captain Nakajima." He looked around, and followed closely behind Kimiko. In foliage this thick they could lose each other easily, and Kaen had no interest in being separated from Kimiko at this moment. The darkness was slightly troubling for Kaen's senses, but he was staying close enough that he could at least use Kimiko as a partial guide to his movements.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

As a teacher of martial arts, Kimiko has found herself meeting a plethora of students that held different levels of enthusiasm when it came to learning. For the most part, she had found herself capable of ranking them all on a scale of 1 to 5, from the least to the most excited. Those who found themselves on the lower end of this particular spectrum were those who did not wish to come to the school in the slightest. While they were somewhat rare, there were a certain amount of them, with many having reached that level after having failed to properly accomplish a few lessons on their own. In other words, they were mostly those on the verge of giving up. In contrast, those who were instead nearest the highest echelon of the aforementioned scale were those with either an unconditional need to become stronger. No one would be surprised to learn that the grand majority of the students at that level were children, as they were the one with the greatest potential for utmost participation and excitement, but it was at that level that Kimiko could also place warriors such as many of her subordinates.

Kaen, so far, appeared to be a bit of a special case, plainly because Kimiko had outright not expected him to be near that level of enthusiasm. Before they would have properly met, she would have honestly considered him closer to the third or fourth level, and that was mainly only because he was the Vice-Captain of the Seventh Division. The standard cliches and prejudices of police officers aside, she fully believed that the man must be swarmed with paperwork during every single day, even more so than she and Celes combined, and so she didn't think he would have had any patience for something as preoccupying as the practice of martial arts. Yet, somehow, the man genuinely seemed to both have the time and motivation to always learn more about how to properly do battle with his opponents. On one hand, it somewhat confused Kimiko, as it somewhat further put into question his ability to take care of the certain Living World she has to deal with lately. On the other hand, however, she thoroughly admired that side of him. It truly made her want excited to see what he could do together in a proper lesson, and not some shoddy Hakuda-only she could not truly compete in.

In any case, as they moved along, they would briefly return to the "flamingo asshole" once again. Overall, Kaen seemed to be rather taken aback by the fact that Fuuko was still somewhat stuck on him and his supposed "Bum Association". He somewhat believed that the association was just fictitious, something that he had to come up with so as to destabilize Fuuko more than anything else, and the blonde Shinigami happened to believe him. "Heh, knowing her, she probably won't let it go for a long time! You know how she is whenever something bothers her," the Captain smirked, sharing the amusement of her fellow officer. With that said, she would then let out a sigh and lessen her smile as she considered what had happened between the man and her student. "... I can understand why she's still so mad about it. Even if Kouhai happened to kill him or something ever since that attack, he was still able to capture her brother. I honestly don't know how I would still feel if I was in her place right now."  

She felt a slight tightening within her throat as she found herself reminiscing about the excursion they had prepared in order to bring Kazuhiko out of Hueco Mundo. It was a time ago now, enough so that the both of the Satoshi siblings most likely had moved on from it since, but it had left an impression onto them that Kimiko really couldn't ignore. More importantly, it had transformed Kazuhiko into something that she had hoped he would not become, and now, he had become her personal problem. She couldn't imagine how Fuuko would feel should she ever learn about his current condition. The woman already has biases against Humans, believing them to be nothing more than corrupt thugs incapable of properly moving onward on their own without exploiting their brethren. Considering that, there was simply nothing that suggested that she would take Kazuhiko's transformation into a Vizard positively. If anything, Kimiko fully believed that she would have had him jailed until they somehow figured out how to return to normalcy, which was something the Captain believed simply could not happen.

Her mind almost drifted further into that particular situation then. In a way, she wanted it to be resolved. She wanted to find a way to properly inform Fuuko about the matter of her brother, about why he was no longer part of the Fourth Division, and about why he could not heal others any further. She wanted to allow her into the Eleventh Division to take care of her brother who was now part of it, if only because she truly believed that the blonde officer still did not fit well in the Fourth; after all, she could barely execute any medical tasks that could be granted to anyone who was not just a nurse. But she knew that there was not much she could do but to keep it a secret from Fuuko until the right time came for her to tell her. Kazuhiko, too, seemed to believe that such an idea was unfortunately a good thing, even if it bothered him too. So, eventually, the Captain simply sighed once more and tried to return her attention to the task at hand. It was better this way. For now, at the very least.

By the time the two officers reached the trees, the Captain had expressed her disappointment regarding their creator's apparent absence from the area. Like Kaen, she was indeed better at beating up the sources of problems rather than figuring them out, and so she had hoped they could have found the source of this particular issue right away. With that said, it appeared as though the Vice-Captain had much more things to say about the matter, as suddenly, the man began to speak in length about what he thought of the situation. The swordswoman could only stand there in surprise as she was showered in information, blinking as the man tried his best to explain every single facet of the situation, or at least what he had understood of them so far. It was a lot to take in in such a short amount of time. In fact, she could dare say that it was outright too much, as made evident by the fact that she barely found the will to respond to him as he spoke. The surprise that she had developed in response to this, given that she had began to form a certain opinion of Kaen's ability as an investigator, also did not help her case.

The explanations went on for a time. In fact, it went so long that Kaen needed a break in-between his explanations, all the while Kimiko could really only listen to the best of her ability. Fortunately, it did eventually end, and once it did, Kimiko was able to grasp the man's major points. At the very least, she thought she did. Basically, the people of the 80th district had either been repelled by some kind of ability... or they had been transformed into the very trees that stood before them. "So, the bottom line is we're dealing with another coward who won't show their face to us. Fantastic. If they really have even one of those abilities you talked about, there's no way they'll want to face us head-on," she groaned in apparent frustration before she looked on over to the trees with a serious gaze, as though she was still trying to decipher it all. "Anyway, you're right. At this point, trying to figure everything out with the clues we got is a waste of time. We just don't have enough information."  

Not long after, the two of them would then have begun properly proceeding into the forest. Kimiko made sure to head onward through the dead foliage at a reasonable pace. While her eyes had less trouble piercing through the encroaching dark and the branches in-between it and the officers, she was not sure of if she could say the same about Kaen, and quite frankly, she did not really want to evaluate his scouting abilities. The last thing they really needed right about now was them being somehow separated from one another. They still were not entirely aware of what kind of target was responsible for everything that's happened to the district, and so they needed to at least present a minimum of caution. For all they knew, they strove on separating their own targets from one another, and if Kaen's theory about transforming people into trees was correct... Well, it was needless to say that they most likely did not want such a fate to be bestowed onto them.

The sun continued its descent towards the horizon in the distance. In response, the skies darkened further and further, turning from a mixture of dark orange and azure to something more akin to a solid navy blue. Meanwhile, the forest continued to become greyer and greyer. A few minutes later, the skies had darkened to such a degree that they had now taken turned into a jet black. Strangely, however, a dissonance would be noticed by Kimiko as they moved onward. Even though the "ceiling" branches conjured by the many trees which surrounded them, there were none of the stars she usually could observe above. There were none of the clouds that were previously there either, and the moon too seemed absent. In a way, it was as though a sheet of complete darkness had been set right above them. Meanwhile, the distance at which they could observe had naturally lessened, though to a much greater point that the Captain had expected. They could barely see further than four sets of trees: anything beyond that was just complete darkness.

Unsurprisingly, there was something unnatural about this. Or at least, that is what Kimiko believed, and it was enough to cause her to briefly stop dead in her tracks. With a frown, her scarlet eyes would find themselves observing their surroundings so as to perhaps try to understand the meaning behind this sudden change in visibility. Then, she would turn her gaze over her shoulder to gaze upon Kaen. "Alright, well, looks like it knows we're here! Keep your guard up. If you see anything that doesn't look like a survivor, engage cautiously. If it can do something like this, then there's no way it can do anything else," she told him then with a tone that was both relieved and serious at once. Relieved, because it was now obvious that they had found their target's domain, but serious, because there was still no way to tell what their target could do to them. A part of her believed that the trees were perhaps responsible for the creation of this strange darkness, but now was probably not the time to make simple guesses; after all, their target was most likely waiting for them to make a mistake.

The Captain would then proceed to move onward again. They moved onward, and onward, and onward still, seemingly with no apparent change in the darkness that surrounded them. Somehow, this felt like a rather odd experience. Something about the way the trees were shaped as well as the complete lack of astral elements in the sky made the entire area feel unnerving. But then, she saw something through two particular trees. Between them and their branches, somehow, something appeared that didn't actually seem to be part of the forest, or even the Soul Society at all. Indeed, right then and there... stood what appeared to be veil that led towards a street of sorts. More specifically, it led towards what appeared to be a street in some kind of Japanese city. It was hard to tell at a glance, but there seemed to be the many things to expect from what appeared to be Tokyo: flashy billboards, lights, and clean infrastructure in the middle of the night.

Taken aback by this, Kimiko would proceed towards this strange portal-like anomaly, then walk around it. There was nothing that stood behind the trees, so it was clear that it wasn't just a conjuration of a street. No, it was indeed something that was akin to a literal passage to the more-modern Living World. Moreover, there was something about the street that was oddly familiar to her. She couldn't quite say what it is that made her feel this way, but... either way, it bothered her. It was like whatever had created this thing was teasing her. "Huh... Okay. I gotta admit that I wasn't expecting to see something like that around here," she found herself humming, trying her best to keep her calm as she examined the breach.

[Kaen Youji]

"Like Kouhai shouldn't have taken that fight from her." Kaen answered simply. He was acquainted with the feeling. If someone had killed Enma before he'd gotten to the former Captain of the 7th.... But that was in the past. But suffice to say, Kaen understood Fuuko's feelings on the matter if that was the case. But right now, there were other things that required his attention, if he wanted to make it back to Soul Society to act on that particular thought process.

As much as his thoughts tended to drift, Kaen was relatively good at rooting himself in the moment under most circumstances. He was no mind reader, so there was little chance of him reading into Kimiko's thoughts on the matter. He could, however, respond to her statements. "Probably not. When it comes right down to it, I'm a direct combat specialist, not an indirect fighter. I can play mind games, and all that, but my combat abilities are more suited to direct clashes, than these cat and mouse games." He admitted. "And from the sound of it, yours are too. So if my assessment's right, our enemy's best off if they avoid us."

He was keeping an eye out for additional clues of course, but the darkening of the treeline was starting to make that harder as well. Kaen had many talents. Seeing in the dark wasn't one of them. Of course he could summon up a flame? But that could give away their location. Better to let his eyes adjust to the darkness, as less than ideal as that may be. It was still the best option at his disposal, unfortunately.

After a lot of walking, it seemed that Kimiko had picked up on something. Kaen's gait didn't change. If you were being observed, there was no advantage in letting your assailant know you knew you were being observed, though Kimiko blew that one aside by warning Kaen. He appreciated the warning, to be sure, but could have probably picked it up on her body language, even in this darkness. Still, cat was out of the bag, he took a moment to scan their surroundings. "Understood, Captain." He replied, falling into line. Kimiko was the superior officer here, and on paper he was going to follow her direction. Unless he came up with a better idea. Then he wouldn't. But he hadn't yet, so right now, he would!

Right up to the archway with the trees. "...Oh." Kaen paused in mid-step, visibly surprised by that. "That's very, very bad." Was this some interdimensional doorknob shenanigans like back with Luca and Raphael? ...No, from what he understood, that doorway closed once it was done. So what was this? Some weird Narnian portal suspended between two trees?

"...Okay, this just fell solidly into Squad 12 and 13's jurisdiction, but this can't be let stand. ...Do we..... knock these trees down? Are they sustaining this portal somehow?" Kaen moved up with Kimiko looking at the portal, and trying to move around the trees to look at it from both sides, and even taking a short hop to try and see what it looked like from above. "We definitely can't just leave a breach here. If Xcution got wind of this that'd be a catastrophe. Or any other Human World factions with a gripe against Shinigami...."

[Nakajima Kimiko]

The conclusion Kimiko came to after Kaen had finished his explanation of the situation appeared to be sensible enough, judging by the fact that the man did not correct her. While it was somewhat of a relief for her to not have misunderstood him, especially after how lengthy his explanation was, she couldn't say that it made her feel any better in regards to what they were about to face. If anything, his "Probably not" alone was enough to make her feel just a tad bit more annoyed about their enemy's presumed cowardice, and it appeared that the Vice-Captain was on the same page as she was on the matter. "Whether it's their best to avoid us or not isn't my problem. I could care less about that. I just don't like having to play tag with people who pretend they're good at fighting all because they can fight others from afar," her bothered words explained before she then comically pouted, bringing the tension of the situation down in the process with a rather dramatic demeanor. "Ah, why can't the most of our enemies just be people who are good in close quarters? It's always a wizard, or some guy with a bow or a gun. I tell you, Kaen, it's unfair!"

Obviously, this was hyperbole from her end. If one were to properly get a good view of each and every one whose intentions were malignant in regards to how they viewed the Soul Society or the Living World, they would quickly realize that the majority of them were nothing more than Stray Hollows with no particular ability other than the ones they naturally possessed as violent beasts. In so doing, from that point of view, Kimiko's argument could easily be deconstructed and then denied. With that said, if this view were instead turned towards most of the latest grander threats, it would be more difficult to argue with the Captain. The people of the Vandenreich that she has had to confront as of late were a part of them, but there were also the member of the Espada who attacked Rukongai not too long ago, Rizer himself as well as those he brought along with him, and many more that she couldn't take into account for the time being. It really was no wonder that she had come to loathe any kind of fighting style that revolved around ranged combat after a time.

In any case, this conversation would slowly come to an end once the darkness settled in. By then, Kimiko had completely stopped here childish charade and decided to focus on the task at hand. It would only be much later throughout the darkness, however, that they would be able to find the anomaly which was the portal towards what appeared to be Tokyo. Unsurprisingly, Kimiko wasn't pleased by the presence of the portal. Like Kaen, she too believed that it could very easily lead to a mass invasion of the Soul Society. All it would take was a single scout getting hold of the portal's location, and then they will be forced to deal with another attack on the scale of the demonic invasion. However, that wasn't what bothered her most in this instance. Rather, it was the familiarity that it conjured. The further she found herself staring at the portal, the more she became convinced that she had walked onto that particular street. The particular billboards and the lights were also somewhat recognizable to her. It was... strange.

The swordswoman would stare at the anomaly for a time, a bit unsure as to what to do. There was something about this thing that made it just too convenient to simply be a tool for an invasion, and it was quite clear that her lack of knowledge on its true purpose was bothering her quite a fair bit. Eventually, however, she would decide to side with Kaen. Regardless of whatever this thing may truly be, it looked like a portal and appeared to act like a portal too. For as long as her description of the thing remained stuck onto that particular interpretation, she was not going to treat it differently. In other words, to put it bluntly, they needed to take this thing down before anyone who was on the other side of that portal would come to know of its existence. "Yeah, there's no way we're gonna leave this alone," she agreed with the Vice-Captain before she then began to walk back around the front of the portal. "Let me cut those trees down. If it doesn't close it, we're gonna try something else."

With that objective now set in stone, she would put herself in front of the portal before staring at the both of the trees that appeared to generate it. She wasn't quite sure of how this particular veil worked, but she was able to understand that there were most likely a number of factors that needed to be considered for its creation. Such was the main advantage of being being able to create a trans-dimensional portal herself. Considering this, it was only logical of her to theorize that, if the trees were indeed responsible for the portal, only cutting a single one of the two would lead to an imbalance of the energy which was forming the portal. What this imbalance would then take the form of wasn't very clear. It could cause the portal to collapse onto itself and simply close, yes, but there was nothing that suggested that it could lead to another outcome entirely. It could make the portal explode. It could also cause the portal to expand exponentially to the point that it would cause the forest to be swallowed into the Living World. There was even the possibility of it turning into a black hole-like anomaly. 

In so doing, she decided to handle this matter as efficiently as she believed she could. Gazing at the veil, her scarlet eyes would analyze it and the trees. It would not take long for her to understand what she believed to be their weak points; after all, even if they appeared to support the portal, they remained trees, even if they unfortunately might have once been people of the 80th district. Moreover, they were also visibly dead, and so their overall structure was weakened. Common superhuman strength would be more than enough to take them down, or at least that is what Kimiko believed as she prepared herself. A few more seconds later, her analysis would end and her hands would be placed near the hilts of Zanpakuto. Then, at a Speed of 1400, she masterfully unleashed the both of the blades with a separate Iaijutsu strike for each. The white blade was sent to the left while the black blade was sent to the right, each in a horizontal formation which together formed a cross pattern.

The result of this strike was almost immediate. With no resistance whatsoever, the blades cut through the dead bark of the trees, resulting an in almost-instantaneous separation of their barks into three distinct parts. While the force behind the blade wasn't particularly impressive, the great Speed fueling their movement conjured a slight blast of pressure which caused the severed tree parts to be simultaneously launched away into the overwhelming dark of the forest. A few thuds came from the trunks as they heavily struck the ground in their path, then a louder thunk as they collided with other trees in the area. Meanwhile, a low hum came from the portal. It would remain open for a time, as though it was attempting to continue upholding its purpose. Then, the view of the Tokyo street would be steadily further and further obscured by darkness, taken away by the encroaching black of these strange woods. Eventually, it completely faded away, leaving behind the nothing between the remains of the trees that should have been expected from the beginning.

Kimiko stared at the result of her Iaijutsu strikes for a moment, alert, waiting for something else to happen. There didn't appear to be any sign of spiritual collapse or any sort of effect to expect from the failure of a portal's destruction. Disappointingly, it also didn't seem as though this destruction brought about any sort of attention from the one who created it. Even so, the portal was now gone and, thus, there was now no other way for anyone remaining within Tokyo from accidentally stumbling into the Soul Society. Upon arriving to that conclusion, the swordswoman would slowly stand back up from her crouched position and return her blades to their scabbards. Then, a smile would appear onto her lips. "Looks like my training is still paying off! And here I was, thinking that I wasn't doing enough of that lately!" She commented, evidently satisfied by the way she had destroyed the portal before she then looked over her shoulder to Kaen. "That should've taken care of that. Let's continue looking around and-"

The Captain would then suddenly go quiet as she saw something in the distance behind her fellow superior officer. Over there, in the dark, appeared to be light. Artificial neon light that was just as familiar as the one the portal had been showcasing prior to its destruction. Confused, she would find herself staring at the light in the distance for a moment before eventually letting out a brief "What?" of surprise. Then, she would head into the dark quickly, though not quickly enough to prevent Kaen from following her appropriately. Not even a few moments later, they would be finding themselves right in front of the very same portal Kimiko had just cut down. It displayed the exact same empty Tokyo street and was held by the exact same trees, as though nothing had happened to them at all. Worse yet... they were in the exact same area from where they had just moved. It was as though they had returned to a time prior to the cutting of the trees.

It did not take long at all for the teacher to realize that there was something wrong about this new portal, and once she did, her satisfaction of cutting the first portal down completely left her mind. She wasn't quite sure of what was happening, but evidently, there was one thing about this place that was starting to become increasingly clear to her. "Either we're dealing with someone who's somehow able to make us time travel... or we've been caught in some kind of illusion. I guess that explains why it became so dark all of a sudden. Tch," she acknowledged with a huff before taking a look at her surroundings again. She had never really been caught in a proper illusion which wasn't created by her Inner Hollow before, but those particular tricks of the mind had become so potent as of late that she was beginning to recognize when she was experiencing reality and when she wasn't. So far, now that she was beginning to potentially recognize all of this as a false world, that theory was unfortunately starting to make sense.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Technique Used}
Technique Name: Iaijutsu (居合術, "Sudden Strike Technique") [x2]

Class: 4

Technique Type: General Physical Technique

Technique Element: None

Usable by: Any

Technique Description and Effects

The user of this technique draws their sword and strikes with one fluid, lightning-fast motion. This technique can easily catch an unprepared opponent off-guard. This attack is made at 2x the user's Speed, or at a speed of 600 (whichever is faster). Due to the sudden nature of this attack, characters with less than 200 Instinct are caught completely flat-footed and unable to react to this attack, unless they meet one of the alternative requirements (see drawbacks below).

Except where noted, this is otherwise an ordinary melee strike and has no reiatsu cost. Proficiency with this technique allows the user to immediately sheathe their weapon after making their attack.

Mastery of this technique allows for it to be combined with Shunpo to draw, strike, and sheathe the weapon in the blink of an eye. This variant costs 50 reiatsu to perform, and gains the benefits of a 3x Speed Boost (instead of the usual 2x). This variant is imperceptible to characters with less than 200 Senses. Characters with 200+ Senses detect a blur of movement from the user but may not be able to react to the attack unless they have 200+ Instinct and/or one of the benefits listed in drawbacks below.

How to use technique

Simply draw your weapon and strike in a single fluid motion.

Drawback

This technique rarely works more than once per thread, as any opponent who witnesses this technique being used can react to it normally (regardless of Instinct). Even against aware opponents, this attack retains its speed however and should not be underestimated.

In addition, characters who know this technique or have Battle Analysis of 2 (or above) can easily identify the ready stances used in this technique and predict the user's intent. Such characters are never caught off-guard by this attack but will still need to react to its incredible speed.

This technique can only be used with a sheathed sword. In order to use this technique more than once during a single thread, the user must sheathe their weapon prior to using this technique again. This technique requires 2 SkP in Weapons (Sword) in order to be used, and 3 SkP to be mastered.

Made by: Kerrigan

Reserved? : No

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen nodded. "I get what you're saying. I prefer a head on battle as well. But if there's nothing that can be done, then we just have to change tracks. A battle of wits can still be engaging, and there's still something to be learned from it." He grinned a little bit. "And it also means if we can outwit our adversary they'll be at a huge disadvantage when we catch them." Being certain to use the word "when" instead of "if". "Then we can take out all our annoyances and frustrations then. So look forward to that~" Kaen definitely had at least some experience venting his frustrations through his fists. On another person's face. Oof bad memories there. Best not to go down that route.

Kaen deferred to Kimiko as she tried to take down the trees. As her hand lowered to her blade, Kaen's eyes suddenly got a lot more focused. As a martial arts afficionado he couldn't help but immediately start a breakdown of Kimiko's technique. He wasn't nearly as talented a swordsman as Kimiko was, but he was sure he could still pick a few things up. Besides, having crossed blades with the Empress often enough, he could appreciate talented bladework.

He didn't expect a twin iado strike though. That's some impressive speed. She's practiced drawing and re-sheathing the blade a lot I see.... Kaen thought. A move like that might have actually caught him in a match with the Captain of the 11th. It was brilliantly fast and executed. He expected he could have stopped the first strike, but the second.... No, if Kaen was being honest with himself, the second blow would have caught him. A two-step iaijutsu technique was not something he would have expected. Combination attacks perhaps, but not resheathing and then delivering a second strike in such a short timeframe.

"Quite the technique there." Kaen acknowledged. "And seems like it did the trick." Up until Kimiko noticed something unpleasant and rushed off, Kaen managing to keep pace with the Captain, until.....

"Ah, well that's not good." Kimiko voiced her concerns and Kaen frowned. "It's possible, but I don't think this is an illusion. Some kind of personal world ability maybe? A technique that creates an inescapable labyrinth of trees..... Turns your opponents into rats in a maze, that have no choice other than to run to the trap at the center." He frowned in annoyance.

"I think we're gonna have to go through it. Illusion, reality marble or whatever it may be, I don't think it's possible for us to go back now. But just to make sure I guess...." Kaen braced for a moment and then tried to launch himself skyward, bracing for impact with the tree branches. With his formidable strength he expected to burst through them no problem, especially given Kimiko's relative ease at slicing through them earlier. If he could punch through the canopy and get above, he could probably track how far they'd traveled. Even if he couldn't punch through the canopy, that too would be fine. Painful, probably, but fine. That would confirm his guess that they were trapped in some sort of ability. Confirm as much as he could. As far as he could tell, the two were relatively safe at the moment, and therefore this was the ideal time to gather information, before setting a course of action.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kaen's stance on the matter of ranged opponents and their means to do battle was perfectly logical. Given that he and Kimiko were both experts in melee combat, they are themselves mostly incapable of properly facing someone like a marksman or a spell-slinger from very far away. Mostly incapable, because although they most likely both possess proper ranged techniques, they most likely will pale in comparison to someone who has dedicated their entire fighting style to the use of such maneuvers. In so doing, the only thing that they can really do to counter such fighting styles is instead change course and employ different tactics, namely ones that involve trickery and subterfuge. It doesn't really matter what these tricks are. They can be showcases of extreme speed, as much as they can instead be uses of baits or the employment of various traps. As long as they can somehow cause the ranged opponent to slip, their success can then allow melee fighters such as they to then give the ranged opponent the beatdown that they deserve.

The problem was that such a solution was making Kimiko sick. The Vice-Captain may present it all with the most optimistic tone possible under a context of learning, but in the end, it did not quite reach the Captain. "Ah, but that makes the fight so uninteresting!" She blurted out, maintaining her comical pout all the way through. By then, her bother had grown to such a point that she had started crossing her arms too. The fact that a woman such as she, the leader of the still-somewhat-infamous Eleventh Division, could sport an expression was impressive, to say the least. Perhaps for her sake, however, she would not sport it for much longer, as eventually, it would turn into something that was a little bit more serious. "It's not a matter of learning to me, but of proper fighting! I believe that, if someone fights from afar, they and their opponent don't really learn anything. The only thing they can learn is that one is afraid of coming close to the other. It's boring."

Of course, as always, she was grossly exaggerating her perceived outcome of a battle containing a ranged opponent. It was biased, seemingly coming from an uninformed side of things, and if anything, a tad bit ignorant. However, even after all these years attempting to promote various fighting styles based around the teachings of her school, she truly believed that there was nothing else to be gained from a ranged battle. A man using various gadgets to eliminate people from afar, a sniper who must depend on the likes of projectile-based weaponry, and a magician who has learned how to cast a thousand spells each have one thing in common beside the most unfair advantage of them all, and that is generally a complete lack of expertise in melee combat. Such is the result of constantly dedicating one's self to fighting from a distance. Thus, for a melee fighter, the teacher does not believe that they can provide anything of note to a melee fighter. Their showcases of melee skills will either be too poor or nonexistent, and so they will either be confined to materialistic skills or plain knowledge, something which will not always bring you victory.

This brought it all back to the opponent that they were currently fighting. Evidently, the darkness that had suddenly consumed much of the forest that surrounded them as well as the portal that had been manifested was the work of a magical opponent. So far, the situation was a piece of work that Kimiko would've preferred to avoid... but thankfully, the portal in question wasn't really difficult to destroy. The way she destroyed even brought about a commendation from Kaen, which was enough to bring her quite a fair of pride in the work that she had accomplished thus far as a swordswoman. The man may not be a master of the sword and he may not be a Vice-Captain rather than a proper Captain, but she considered him an equal in combat, and to hear such praise for him made her feel quite well. That was, until she saw the next portal glowing so ominously in the dark of the forest. By then, all satisfaction had left her as she realized that they had returned back to square one.

Once they were able to reach the portal as well as make their observations of the area, the Vice-Captain went on to theorize that the new portal and its surroundings were not the work of a standard illusion, but rather a "personal world" ability. The thought would cause the scarlet-eyed woman to stare at the new portal for a moment as she considered the possibility. "So you're saying it could be something like an Inner World?" She asked, left curious by the possibility, but also more cautious than ever before. If this was the true nature of this ability, then it could mean that its owner was nearby, for like an Inner World, a personal world should not be accessed without the express permission of someone who remains within it. At the very least, that is how Kimiko perceived it all. In so doing, this meant that they could perhaps find the owner by simply scouring the forest. But, then again, the forest remained quite dark. It would also be unwise for them to split in order to increase the range of their search. That was not even mentioning the fact that their opponent could be camouflaged or, worse, not even actually be around, unlike what the swordswoman currently believed.

She would think about this for a bit longer, though eventually, she would arrive to a conclusion that was quite similar to the one Kaen was able to come up with. Basically, in order to leave this place, they would unfortunately have to go along with its machinations. It doesn't matter what these machinations are and will be the further they proceed. By doing so, they will be able to learn more about the nature of their opponent's ability, and as such, they will be able to understand its weaknesses and, therefore, escape its grasp. In other words, to put it bluntly... they needed to go through the portal that they had previously destroyed. Fortunately, whatever was over there beyond the veil was most likely not the real Tokyo, so they will not have to worry about anything suddenly going right through to it to stumble into the Soul Society. Well, assuming that the portal was part of this illusion and not an actual portal towards the Living World.

Regardless, before they could go ahead through the portal, Kaen would attempt one last little maneuver in order to test the area's limits. Lifting a brow as she heard his last sentence, the Captain would not have the time to ask what he meant by "making sure" of this whole ordeal, as just before she even muttered a word, he had suddenly launched himself straight towards the branches and the empty black skies above them. With widened eyes, Kimiko would watch as Kaen burst through every branch with ease, leaving them a pile of broken wood exploding all across the area as his figure jetted up and away towards the infinite black. He would continue on and on and on, his strength having made sure to thrust him as high as he possibly could. It was entirely possible that, by now, he would have easily reached the clouds a most impressive altitude that no other normal man could reach. But then, just as it felt as though he could have perhaps reached the clouds should they have been there, he would suddenly both experience and witness something strange. 

Above, through the dark, he would perceive another forest. It would become bigger, bigger and bigger still, becoming ever more visible as he approached it. Like the one he had left down below, it was large and encompassing, seemingly almost endlessly composed of dead trees all over. This would be made evident as he found himself about twenty or so meters above the branches. It would also be at that certain point that he would realize that there was something off about that new forest. It appeared oddly familiar, like it was something that he had seen before. There appeared to be a hole in the branches left by something akin to a man, and there was a portal glowing down there too, next to someone wearing a white robe. He also would be able to notice that he was not heading upward anymore, but rather downward head-first towards this new ground, like the gravity had been flipped upside-down without his immediate knowledge.

Whether Kaen crashed straight into the ground or was able to prevent himself from cracking his skull open onto the grey grass, the figure in the white robes made sure to distance themselves from the Vice-Captain as he landed. It would only be then that the officer would realize that the figure was... Kimiko. The exact same Kimiko, in fact, who would by then find herself staring at him with widened eyes of astonishment. "Shit! Kaen, are you okay?!" She would eventually find herself calling out regardless of the power behind the impact. It would be clear that she hadn't been expecting her comrade to come back so soon, much less so in such a spectacular fashion. After she would quickly reach him and check how he was doing, she would look back up towards the infinite abyss that was the sky, then clench her teeth. "I'm not entirely convinced that this isn't an illusion, but I sure as hell now think whatever this place is kinda works like an Inner World! Tch! Looks like we'll really have to go through that thing."

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen shrugged. "All in the approach! If you're not learning anything fighting ranged opponents then you're gonna have a rough time when a really good one shows up that knows the common tricks. Besides, there's other practices you can do! When I used to spar with kido-ists I started using it to practice my precision-- literally swatting their spells out of the air. Trust me; there's nothing like the face of a kido specialist when you grab their spell out of the air and crush it in your hand." He grinned. "Also learning how to fight people like that got me to develop an entirely new move. Maybe you'll get to see it before we're done here."

He paused. "Aside note though, your assessment is fair if the opponent's a novice. In my experience a lot of the guys that like shooting from afar get a lot more dangerous up close. Made that mistake once when I fought an Espada. He was playing keep-away with all sorts of Cero and Bala, so I figured I'd get close and break him in half." Kaen unconsciously raised a hand to his left shoulder. "Let's just settle for saying that a Bala does just as much damage when it's two feet away as when it's twenty."

At any rate though.... The whole inner world situation was a frustrating one. "Not... exactly an inner world, but kind of. I've definitely fought a few people with the power to change the area of the fight to their advantage. Captain Shade Kawada and Kenryoku Kawada were two. At least one of the Espada could do it as well. I'm starting to suspect this is the same kind of ability." He wasn't sure if an inner world was necessarily the right word, but it could suffice for the moment-- admittedly Kaen did not think that they were dealing with a Shinigami here, and as far as he knew, only Shinigami could access their inner worlds so.

And then of course, came Kaen's ill-fated leap of faith into the sky. Well, smashing through the branches? That was surprisingly easy. Somehow Kaen had figured he'd collide with them like an unbreakable ceiling or something-- Oh there's Kimiko. ....Wait. "CRACK!"

Kaen collided with the ground pretty hard, turning at the last moment to slam his palm against the ground in a traditional Jiujitsu breakfall to mitigate the damage, dispersing the force across his entire body, rather than risking an impact all at a single point, or otherwise landing on something important. "Ahaaaa..... ow." The Shinigami sat up quickly enough, looking a bit more dingy than before, with a few twigs and leaves stuck in his hair and uniform, but more or less no worse for wear. He started brushing the debris off of himself while continuing.

"Well, that confirms it's not an illusion. An illusion couldn't have flipped my orientation like that. This is definitely some kind of maze ability." He thought about it for a moment. "That being said.... while walking to the center of the maze is sure to put us in more and more dangerous situations, it's also probably the only way we can defeat this ability. Every ability has its weakness. No way that whoever is using this has the power to just leave this around indefinitely. My guess is if we get to the maze's center.... or exit. Whichever it is, we'll find the user." Kaen paused for another moment as another thought hit him.

"Hmmm.... Then again, there's some other problems. An ability like this could certainly explain the missing people, so the question then becomes, what happened to them, and why aren't they here?" Was it possible they'd all been killed in the confines of the maze? Certainly possible, albeit incredibly morbid. An enemy capable of trapping two captain-level Shinigami in their ability would have no issue killing civilians. But then why hide the carnage? Something still wasn't adding up about this.

"Well.... Waiting this ability out isn't going to do us any good. Looks like the rats have to go closer to the cheese." Kaen sighed. And then stepped past Kimiko, taking the lead to enter through the portal and seeing what lay on the other side.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

The conversation about magical opponents and the way they impose certain rules of engagement onto melee combatants appeared to still be fresh to a certain extent, as Kaen seemed resolute in defending the concept. To summarize it all in one go, he appeared to believe that Kimiko's opinion wasn't entirely wrong, though it could only really be applied to beginner wizards and witches who are either shoddy at their work or plain rookies, for an experienced magician would typically present enough tricks to always keep the fight interesting even in close-range. They bring about the means to force a fighter to adapt, to create new techniques, and to then better revel in the glory of catching them off-guard once they get a proper chance. He even brought about an example to showcase his point, quickly describing an encounter he has had between himself and a member of the Espada, who seemed adamant to only fight with magical projectiles.

Once again, Kimiko understood where the man came from, but again, she quite simply could not agree with him. This was made more and more apparent as she listened to him. Her look, previously attentive and left somewhat wide-eyed due to her frustration, became more and more dopey, like the subject of conversation was comically beginning to exhaust her. Then, once the Vice-Captain was done speaking, she found herself letting out a long sigh before she straightened herself a little bit more. Come on, Kimiko. Gotta keep your composure. "I've learned how to fight people who fight from far away too! I wouldn't be a Captain if I still didn't know how to fight them. I even made a technique specifically designed to catch them off-guard," she explained with a bit of a scoff, but also a mischievous grin before she would stare onward into the black of the forest. "I just think that there's a big difference between fighting each other with our weapons in proper melee combat, and fighting each other from far away."

As she continued to move onward, her scarlet eyes trailed down towards her blades. She would find herself staring at them for a moment, as though she was expecting to hear something from them. Their opinion of the situation, the wise words of Shizukakane, perhaps even the typical reprimands of Taishokukane, anything. Then, upon realizing that they were remaining silent once more, she would turn her head towards Kaen and speak once more: "Trading blows from up-close and personal... Personally, I see it like I see a conversation. Anytime I swing my swords, for instance, I'm telling you something that you can understand by just looking at them. It's the same thing when we sparred back then with Celes. I could see you two talk with your fists as clear as day, even while I was focusing on something else. In comparison, when I fight people like that Hollow from back then who just kept flinging shit at me, I didn't really see much of anything. The only thing I understood from her was that she was weak and needed to use shortcuts to fight me, because otherwise, the only thing she could do was run away. Maybe she's learned how to fight like a proper warrior since then... but I don't buy it."  

Her eyes would then trail down towards her Zanpakuto again. Once again, though she was granting them her attention, they would remain in their scabbards in silence. Their spirits would not speak to her for the time being. She had gotten used to this; after all, she had understood that their quietness often meant that they were dealing with her Inner Hollow in their own ways. However, she would have appreciated having them be present in this conversation, especially Shizukakane. While the old man had his fair share of quirky moments, the swordswoman believed that there was no one wiser than him in regards to battle, and he would have most likely very much contributed to her points in one way or another. Unfortunately, it seemed as though she could only really defend her side of the matter on her own for the time being. Perhaps later, once this is all said and done, she will be able to bring them forth from her Inner World and have a proper conversation with Kaen about it all.

Then again, at this point, they had much better things to care about, such as the myriad of strange events that they have been witnessing. Finding the new portal was odd enough, but Kaen jumping high in the air only to suddenly find himself crashing right back down like he had been thrown right back towards the ground confirmed one thing to Kimiko: this place was indeed not an illusion and it was designed to keep them stuck inside of this one particular area. It was unclear how long they would be forced to remain in here, but either way, they had no escape for the time being except the portal itself. "I'd argue that this could still be some kind of really strong illusion. I've seen and read about a lot of abilities like that," the Captain would reiterate then without clarifying that her knowledge on such abilities mostly came from manga that she had picked up in Seireitei before looking towards the trees once again upon hearing Kaen's mention of civilians. "Tch. Honestly, I can't answer that right now... but it doesn't matter! The longer this is allowed to continue, the more people will disappear because of this place." 

Her attention would then be returned to the portal. By then, it had become clear that they needed to cross it. The idea of having to do so wasn't particularly pleasant to Kimiko, but unfortunately, they didn't really have any other option at their hands. No matter where they went, they would be returned here, and so far, there was nothing that even suggested that the user was anywhere else. In other words, they needed to jump into the wolves' den and deal with the consequences which may come thereafter, whether they liked it or not. This realization caused the Captain to briefly hesitate, as she wasn't sure she appreciated the idea of throwing themselves head-first into a potential guaranteed trap. However, once she saw Kaen walk right past her straight into the veil, she would decide to steel herself and join him quickly enough. Now was the time to see what truly lied beyond this strange door to another world, what remained outside of that infinite forest.

---

A cold and damp evening sky resided high above the place where many had gone before. It was dark and gloomy, composed of many black clouds that were following a storm that had just passed. Yet, down below, these many negative attributes to a particular street of what should have been a most-busy city. Everywhere and anywhere, all at once, something shone a light towards whatever had the pleasure of staring at it. They were of a myriad of colors that were brighter than the other in a collection of blues, reds, greens and yellows, and together, they formed a group that was most definitely dazzling, especially when combined with the wet patches of rainwater that had been left onto the pavement. For many, this should have been an incoherent, blinding mess that would have left anyone wondering what the hell they had stumbled onto. However, for one of the two strangers who had stumbled onto it, it would all feel horribly familiar.

Kimiko had come here before. In fact, she had come here multiple times, both throughout her Human life and her afterlife. This was Akihabara, a particular district of the Japanese metropolis of Tokyo. An entertainment district for all intents and purposes, it was where people could find many attractions such as arcades, conventions, restaurants, and plenty of other things that can easily leave someone such as she in awe. But today, she was not in awe at the sight of the district. Today, she was both alert and confused... because there was something about this street that she felt she had seen seen before. She felt like she had once visited the place a very long time ago, but she also felt as though there was something about it that felt oddly dream-like, as though it was not meant to be reality. Perhaps it was due to the coldness of the air that left her somewhat dazed, like she had suddenly been plunged into deep waters. Perhaps it was something else. She wasn't sure.

The Shinigami would walk forward onto the street for a moment, briefly taking the lead from Kaen as she observed their surroundings. Then, she would find herself turning her head towards where she believed the man was supposed to stand. Surprisingly, however, she would find him standing there, but not in his Shinigami garbs. Instead, he would be wearing Human clothing that felt just about as familiar to her as the entirety of the area. "Kaen? What the hell are you...?" She spoke, then stopped. First, she noticed the odd echo in the air as she tried to ask her question, like everything was distant. Second, once she looked down, she noticed that she was wearing different clothes too. Fortunately, her Zanpakuto were still there, but her haori wasn't there anymore. Instead, she was wearing a t-shirt, jeans, a sport shoes, the epitome of casual wear. On the t-shirt were found an intricate design showcasing the title of what appeared to be some kind of video game in big bold letters: JUSTICE COG IV.

Taken aback by her discovery, she would briefly tug at the new top she was wearing, then wince as she saw the title of the game. A time ago, this would have maybe brought her joy, but something about this place felt deeply wrong to her. It felt like she had been thrown into a place that she had subconsciously buried deep inside of her psyche, and it bothered her incredibly. "I... Okay, let's just... keep moving forward," she spoke slowly, unsure of what to expect from this place anymore, before moving forward. She didn't want to hear Kaen being curious about her shirt or ask about this place.

She just wanted to end this. Fast.