Meanwhile, a special guest arrived at the Kasumioji Clan’s estate—it was Kuchiki Byakuya, who had left early that morning.
They had been in a standoff for a while now, but no resolution had been reached.
“So, is the Kasumioji Clan not planning to give me an explanation?
Is that it, Head of the Kasumioji?” Byakuya’s aura was terrifyingly cold; standing near him felt as if one’s body would freeze solid.
“Not at all, not at all.
We’ve already sent someone to fetch him,” the Kasumioji Head said with a forced, apologetic smile.
Internally, he was cursing: ‘That unfilial son!
All he does is idle about and ignore his duties.
Now he’s gone and offended the Kuchiki Family!
Just wait until he gets back; he’s in for it!’
“Good,” Byakuya replied curtly before sitting down to leisurely sip his tea.
The living room fell silent until a servant ran in to report:
“Reporting to the Clan Head: the Young Master has been brought back from the Academy.”
“Then what are you standing there for?
Bring him here immediately!”
“Reporting: he is already on his way.”
“Clan Head Kuchiki, as you can see, my son is on his way.
Could we wait just a little longer?” the Kasumioji Head said cautiously to Byakuya.
To him, this man had to be catered to carefully.
His family’s influence couldn’t compare, nor could his personal strength.
If this lord got upset and started a scene, who could possibly stop him?
“It’s fine.
I’ve already been waiting for more than a moment anyway.”
“Er…”
The Kasumioji Head didn’t know what to say, as Byakuya was stating the truth.
He had already learned the details of the situation from Byakuya, and now he just wanted his son to return so he could give him a thrashing.
“Father, why did you call for me?
I still need to go back for class.”
A young man wearing the Spiritual Arts Academy uniform walked through the door; it was the son of the Kasumioji Head.
“Why?
You don’t know why?
Do I have to explain it to you word by word!” Upon seeing his son, the Kasumioji Head snapped to his feet.
Regardless of the outsider present, he launched into a tirade:
“You brat!
You’re always neglecting your duties and doing improper things.
You can’t even walk past a girl without staring.
Now look what you’ve done—you’ve harassed the sister of the Kuchiki Clan Head!”
The son was completely bewildered.
‘Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
When did I harass someone’s sister?
Could it be that all my past deeds are being dug up?’
“If you had just been flirtatious, we could have just apologized and paid compensation.
But no, you had to get humiliated in return and, feeling you’d lost face, actually hired people to kidnap her!”
“Look at yourself!
Is this how a human behaves?”
This ‘loving’ lecture from his father reminded him of what happened yesterday.
He had thought she was just a commoner from the Rukongai; he never imagined her background would be so significant.
In a sense, Rukia was indeed a commoner.
At the time, the various noble families only knew Byakuya had adopted a commoner, but they didn’t know who specifically.
Furthermore, Rukia didn’t like using her status as a talking point, which led people to assume she had no backing.
Now, he was filled with deep regret.
If he had known she was a Kuchiki, he wouldn’t have dared to do such a thing even if he had a hundred times more courage.
“Then Father, what should we do now?”
“You’re asking me what to do?
You’re finished!
From today on, you are no longer the heir to the family.
This afternoon, you will go and apologize to Rukia Kuchiki and see if she forgives you.
If she does, fine; if she doesn’t, then prepare to be expelled from the family!”
“Enough!”
At this point, Byakuya interrupted their conversation, saying:
“I came today to seek an explanation.
Although his actions angered me, they aren’t enough to warrant expulsion from the family.
However, as for the apology, you’ll have to figure that out yourselves.”
Expelling the heir of a high-ranking noble family is no small matter, and Rukia, as the central figure of the incident, would certainly be pushed into the limelight.
Because she wasn’t born into the Kuchiki Family but was adopted, it would be easy for others to misinterpret this as the Kuchiki Family intentionally looking for trouble with the Kasumioji.
The Kuchiki Family is the head of the Great Noble Houses, and their influence in the Soul Society is absolute.
If others misunderstood that the Kuchiki Family was looking to target other families, they would surely be collectively opposed.
The Kasumioji Head had calculated well.
He knew Byakuya would never let the Kuchiki Family fall into a passive position, so he started with a drastic move to make others think the Kuchiki Family was using this as a pretext to cause trouble, thereby inciting public anger.
It was decided: the Kuchiki Family would receive a formal apology statement along with a certain amount of compensation.
Subsequently, the group went to the Kuchiki estate, where the father and son apologized to Rukia.
Seeing her elder brother stand up for her made Rukia very happy.
Naturally, she was willing to give the Kasumioji face, stating that the matter was settled and hoping they wouldn’t do such things again.
The apology storm passed.
Now, the entire upper echelon of the Soul Society knew that the current Kuchiki Clan Head had a sister he doted on dearly; anyone looking for trouble with her was picking a fight with Kuchiki Byakuya himself.
With the matter resolved, Rukia returned to her cultivation journey.
Ever since she learned Aizen was watching her, Rukia rarely left the house.
After all, she was still too weak; if any accident occurred, she wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Her top priority was to increase her strength.
A year passed.
During this time, Rukia had followed her class to the Human World for Konso practice.
Nothing unexpected happened; the Hollows they encountered were all small fry, purely for the fledgling students to practice on.
Her Sharingan had reached Three Tomoe.
Rukia had no clues regarding the Mangekyo, as it required extreme mental stimulation.
She could never allow those she cared about to die before her eyes.
But she desperately needed it.
Aizen’s Kyōka Suigetsu likely couldn’t be countered without the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Obtaining an extra pair of Mangekyo wasn’t impossible; there were so many scientists in the Soul Society, she could just have a pair cloned.
Look at Mayuri Kurotsuchi—he had backed up his own organs.
If one broke, he’d just swap it out, acting quite arrogantly about it.
Now, she could cast Kido up to number ninety and below, and her Spiritual Pressure had reached the level of a Vice-Captain.
Once she joined the Thirteenth Division, she could easily take a Seated Officer position and choose a relaxed role to prepare for her world-hopping.
For example, guarding the Human World.
She could apply for a three-to-five-year stint, hide away in the Human World, and leave an Ice Clone to watch the shop.
After all, no powerful Hollows would appear there, and the Ice Clone’s strength would be more than enough.
Additionally, over the past year, Rukia had obtained some useful rewards.
One was the A-rank skill “Frozen Tomb,” the ultimate ability of Lissandra, the Ice Witch from Runeterra.
Frozen Tomb: Encases one’s body in hard ice.
During this period, the user is immune to any external attacks as long as the attack’s power does not exceed three times the user’s own strength.
It also restores Spiritual Pressure while inside the ice.
This skill can only be used when Spiritual Pressure is below one-fourth.
It was different from the game version, clearly modified by the system.
It wasn’t as overpowered; immunity to all attacks with no upper limit would have been too strong, especially since it could also heal injuries.
The other reward was Random World Jump, allowing travel to a random world.
The time dilation ratio is unknown until arrival.
It could be a high-magic world or a completely mundane daily-life world.
Her thoughts returned to reality.
Rukia straightened her shihakusho; she was about to report to the Thirteenth Division.
She was quite curious about Vice-Captain Kaien, who had only appeared in memories in the original story.
So much has been happening lately…
my head is a bit dizzy while writing.