After leaving the gathering, Rosse supported Matsumoto Rangiku back to her room.
Her room was right next to his; she'd mentioned it earlier when the rooms were being assigned.
Along the way, even though Rosse didn't do anything improper, being pressed so close together naturally led to a few bumps and brushes, an experience Rosse didn't find unpleasant.
Especially since he was well aware that Rangiku was still sober.
If their relationship had been any closer, he might have thought she was deliberately seducing him.
Finally, after much effort, Rosse managed to get Rangiku onto the bed and even helped her change into her sleeping clothes.
There were, of course, a few rather tempting moments during that process, but since Rangiku herself didn't say anything, he naturally wouldn't go out of his way to stop. He wasn't exactly a saint.
If she wanted to test him, then she'd better be prepared to offer some benefits in return.
"Alright, Miss Rangiku, you may be strong, but you should still be careful sometimes. If I really meant you harm, you'd already be done for," Rosse reached out a finger and flicked lightly at Rangiku's protruding point, shaking his head before walking out of the room.
He'd already gotten his little perk, no reason to stay any longer.
Anything beyond that would turn into him forcing things.
With some people, Rosse only wanted to take a small taste.
But with others, he preferred to nurture things slowly, aiming to have both body and heart in the end.
"What the hell…", Only after Rosse left did the seemingly tipsy Rangiku suddenly become completely sober, glaring angrily in the direction he'd gone.
She truly hadn't expected Rosse to actually help her change clothes.
By the time she'd realized what he was doing, it had already been too late.
She'd only been wearing her shihakusho, one pull and it was all gone.
Thankfully, Rosse had been fairly well-behaved and didn't take things any further. That let her secretly breathe a sigh of relief, and in the end, she let it slide.
If it had been Shiba Isshin or any other man, she would've kicked him straight out the door by now.
But Rosse... With that face and that body, it didn't really feel like she was the one being taken advantage of. Besides... it was the first time anyone had touched that place.
"A bit bad… but not bad enough. Just a coward," Rangiku pouted, mentally giving Rosse her own evaluation.
'He lit the fire, and then just ran off. Who does that?'
It wasn't as though she didn't know what those things meant, even if she hadn't done them before.
Back in the day, that perverted old woman Yadomaru Lisa used to tell her all sorts of things about this kind of stuff.
And she had sensed it, Rosse really did have feelings for her.
"Ahhh! I must really be drunk. It's only our first time meeting... Besides, Gin's not that much worse than him anyway," Rangiku ran her fingers through her orange-gold hair, trying hard to stop her thoughts from wandering.
Compared to Rosse, whom she'd only just met, she still had deeper feelings for her childhood friend, Ichimaru Gin.
But ever since they'd entered the Shin'o Spiritual Arts Academy, the two of them had gradually drifted apart.
Gin had followed Aizen and risen rapidly through the ranks, becoming a captain, while she had struggled for years just to become a lieutenant.
Maybe Gin thought... she wasn't good enough for him anymore.
But Rosse was also a captain.
Thinking of Rosse's gentle demeanor made Rangiku feel an odd pang of irritation.
It wasn't her fault, it was Gin's.
If her childhood friend didn't want her anymore, then she'd just find a captain who did. It wasn't as if no one wanted her.
With those tangled emotions swirling inside, Rangiku eventually drifted into a hazy, drunken sleep.
———
[The Next Morning]
Sunlight bathed Seireitei, marking the start of a new day for the Gotei 13.
Day after day, year after year, for a thousand years it had remained unchanged, rigid and routine.
But today, there was a slight difference.
Many squad members noticed that their captains had gotten up unusually early, already wearing their haori and leaving their divisions.
If not for the lieutenants still being around, they might have thought something serious had happened.
The Shinigami were never short on gossip, and soon, news spread throughout all of Seireitei.
The long-vacant captain position of the Tenth Division, empty for over ten years, would reopen for assessment today.
And the candidate being assessed wasn't someone from within the Gotei 13, but a noble powerhouse from Rukongai.
The combination of those three terms, Rukongai, noble, and powerhouse, left many curious.
But more than anything, everyone wanted to know just who this new captain candidate was.
None of them believed the assessment would fail.
Such "external candidate" evaluations happened occasionally in the Gotei 13, and every single one had ended the same way, the candidate passed.
To be blunt, getting to the assessment stage basically meant the position was already decided.
———
[First Division]
"My, there are quite a few people here today," Kyoraku Shunsui pressed the brim of his straw hat, glancing with mild surprise at the figures gathered around him.
Normally, a captain's assessment only required the Head Captain and three other captains as witnesses.
When the notice first went out, Head Captain Yamamoto had already designated which captains would attend.
Besides Yamamoto himself, the other three were: Eighth Division Captain Kyoraku Shunsui, Thirteenth Division Captain Ukitake Jushiro, and Seventh Division Captain Komamura Sajin.
But today, in addition to those four, four more captains had shown up.
Third Division Captain Ichimaru Gin, Fourth Division Captain Unohana Retsu, Fifth Division Captain Aizen Sosuke, and Ninth Division Captain Tosen Kaname.
Kyoraku could more or less guess why they were here.
Tosen Kaname was close friends with Komamura Sajin, and since Sajin was the acting examiner today, it was only natural for his friend to come show support.
Unohana had probably sensed yesterday's battle and suspected that Captain Komamura might not be strong enough, so she'd come early in case medical help was needed.
As for the other two, Aizen was Seireitei's resident nice guy, and Ichimaru Gin... well, he was Seireitei's walking source of amusement. Seeing them anywhere wasn't surprising.
Having reasoned all that out, Kyoraku didn't think too much more about it.
After all, he'd never have imagined that Rosse might be connected to Aizen and the others.
He'd already looked into Rosse's background. The man's family had indeed existed once, but they'd declined after the Quincy War a thousand years ago, disappearing completely after leaving Seireitei.
Even so, as nobles, the Central 46 had likely kept track of them. So finding one of their descendants wasn't impossible.
But being from a noble family naturally put him at odds with Aizen and Gin, who came from commoner backgrounds. Based on experience, nobles and commoners barely interacted beyond polite greetings.
"They're here," Kyoraku tilted his head slightly, looking toward the entrance.
In his spiritual sense, an unfamiliar reiatsu was approaching, together with Tenth Division Lieutenant Matsumoto Rangiku, heading toward the assessment grounds.
At that same moment, every captain turned their gaze toward the doorway.
Their expressions varied, but most were tinged with curiosity.
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