Ririn climbed up onto the sofa. "You never really thought you could get out, did you?"
Orihime Inoue blinked, confused. "You couldn't escape?"
"The importance Soul Society places on nobles is way beyond what you'd imagine. Killing a Noble Guard squad is basically a direct provocation." Ririn plopped down beside Orihime Inoue. "And using a noble's Senkaimon was just wishful thinking. The moment Central 46 put out the order, they'd have closed every Senkaimon in Seireitei. The whole point was to keep anyone from slipping into the World of the Living."
Orihime Inoue slowly realized how serious it was. "So... that's why you tricked Rukia. You made her ambush you in front of all those Shinigami, so she could go from being your accomplice to being the hero who captured you."
"Even at my peak, I couldn't make an enemy of all Seireitei." Muten Natsu avoided Orihime Inoue's gaze. "If someone had to get caught, better it was just me. I'd rather go back to prison alone than have both of us taken in. Besides, I know that place like my own home."
"Nice plan," the little bird doll Ririn chirped. "Except what was waiting for you probably wasn't prison. It was the execution grounds, wasn't it?"
"Too bad they didn't manage to kill me," Muten Natsu groaned, slumping deeper into the sofa. "So they just tossed me back into prison."
Orihime Inoue finally started to understand how Rukia Kuchiki must have felt.
If she were Rukia Kuchiki, and hurting Muten Natsu could give her a better life, she'd rather be the one to suffer.
But if she were Muten Natsu, and hurting himself could let Rukia Kuchiki live better, he still wouldn't want her to be arrested alongside him.
Because once you were labeled an accomplice, the punishment was death.
One person dying was still better than two.
Truthfully, Orihime Inoue had always felt something was a little off between Muten Natsu and Rukia Kuchiki.
They hadn't seen each other in so long, yet there was no joy in their reunion. Instead, there was an awkwardness, like neither of them knew how to face the other.
They were close, but they would slip into cold silences with no warning.
They wanted to be near each other, yet they kept their distance with the same unspoken agreement.
Only after hearing all this did Orihime Inoue understand why.
In that situation, Muten Natsu had come up with that solution. He'd done everything he could.
At least, Orihime Inoue couldn't think of any better way.
Muten Natsu wasn't wrong.
Faced with circumstances like that, all Rukia Kuchiki could do was trust him and accept the outcome he arranged.
Orihime Inoue didn't know what else could have been done to fix it.
And Rukia Kuchiki wasn't wrong either.
So neither of them blamed the other. They simply accepted the ending, together.
But...
When they met again years later, they could no longer be the way they once were.
Looking at the result, everything turned out "well."
Muten Natsu found a way out of the deadlock, helped Rukia Kuchiki break free, and got the satisfaction of saving a comrade.
Rukia Kuchiki cleared her name, captured Muten Natsu, and earned credit for apprehending a criminal.
They never resented each other.
They just... couldn't forgive themselves.
Muten Natsu couldn't forgive himself for using Rukia Kuchiki's trust to deceive her.
Rukia Kuchiki couldn't forgive herself for gaining the credit of capturing Muten Natsu through what amounted to betraying him.
"That's how things played out," Muten Natsu said as he stood up. "So stop worrying about us. Things are fine as they are."
"Yeah." Ririn only had to imagine herself in their place to feel a suffocating sense of despair. The fact that Rukia Kuchiki and Muten Natsu could still interact as if nothing had happened was already impressive enough.
Everyone could just pretend nothing happened and enjoy the present.
"Is this really okay..." Orihime Inoue murmured, then raised her voice and asked again, "Is this really okay?"
Muten Natsu paused mid-step. "Isn't it?"
"Of course it isn't!" Orihime Inoue patted her own cheeks, trying to clear her head. "You didn't do anything wrong, and neither did Rukia. But you can't treat each other the way you used to anymore. Isn't that a shame?"
Muten Natsu opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"The ones at fault are the people who tried to hurt you," Orihime Inoue finally grasped the key point. "If they saw you like this now, they'd be laughing their heads off! Do you really want to make them happy?"
Muten Natsu frowned. "Even if you put it that way, there's no good solution right now... Hey, what are you doing?"
Before he could finish, Orihime Inoue had already walked over and started knocking on Rukia Kuchiki's door.
"Rukia!" Orihime Inoue knocked hard. "Come out!"
A voice came from inside. "I'm asleep!"
Orihime Inoue froze for a second, then kept knocking. "Rukia, wake up!"
Muten Natsu: "..."
There was no response from inside, but Orihime Inoue stubbornly kept knocking.
Rukia Kuchiki finally flung the door open, clearly at the end of her patience. "What do you want now?"
Orihime Inoue grabbed the door and pulled it wide open. "Rukia, come out and argue with Muten!"
"Huh?" Rukia Kuchiki stared at her in disbelief. "Why would I do something like that?"
"It's fun..." Orihime Inoue dragged Rukia Kuchiki out of the room and pushed her onto the sofa. "Let's start!"
Muten Natsu and Rukia Kuchiki looked at each other, then both turned their heads away at the same time.
Do you two really have to be this in sync...
Orihime Inoue had remembered the old man and woman she'd met before and figured that arguing could be a good way to communicate, which was why she'd dragged Rukia Kuchiki out.
But the two of them simply couldn't get into a fight.
"Rukia," Orihime Inoue whispered into her ear, "Muten ate your pudding yesterday."
Rukia Kuchiki shot Muten Natsu a glare, then turned her head away.
"Muten," Orihime Inoue whispered into his ear, "the day before yesterday, Rukia ate all of your favorite ice cream."
Muten Natsu glared at Rukia Kuchiki and turned his head the other way as well.
He'd never seen anyone cause trouble so openly.
And it still hadn't worked.
Ririn couldn't take it anymore. "Last weekend, I saw Muten pressing Orihime's over-the-knee socks against his face and sniffing them. The white pair."
Rukia Kuchiki snapped her head around to glare at Muten Natsu. "Pervert!"
"Huh?!" Muten Natsu was about to say Ririn was slandering him, but hearing Rukia Kuchiki say that, he shot back immediately. "Do I look like the kind of person who'd do something like that?"
"Don't you?" Rukia Kuchiki shot back. "Aren't you always staring at Orihime's socks?"
"I just glanced a few times! I wasn't staring!" Muten Natsu protested. "Besides, looking and sniffing are two completely different things!"
Rukia Kuchiki seized on that instantly. "Exactly because they're different, that's why you went and smelled them, right?"