CHAPTER 63: Back and forth


    <span style="font-weight:400">Lisa''s gaze was locked onto Kazuya, shock apparent in her wide eyes. Her expectations had painted a very different picture — one of Kazuya captured by Kisuke. Yet here he was, in the midst of a group of Hollows, a dominant leader rather than a captive. The atmosphere around him, the very essence of his Reiatsu, had transformed, so much so that if she closed her eyes, she would perceive him as an entirely different entity. His aura was undeniably simr to those she had always considered her enemies.


    <span style="font-weight:400">A Hollow/Arrancar.


    <span style="font-weight:400">A tremor of unease stirred within her, resonating from her Inner Hollow. “Impossible…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">…


    <span style="font-weight:400">Meanwhile, Harribel’s group identified Lisa. Her frilly dress allowed Harribel and others to connect her to the maid in Kazuya’s story.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“It’s your maid friend,” M Rose said and looked at Kazuya, who was still in his Hollow form. “Wait, should she be seeing you like this?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Kazuya merely shook his head, a subtle flicker of sorrow in his eyes.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Api had a sinking feeling that the Kazuya she knew and cared for was slipping further away from her. “Send her away. This friendship is over…”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Kazuya had told her that the maid belonged to a Quincy faction — the avid haters of the Hollow race. Now that the maid had seen Kazuya in his Hollow form, they would never see eye to eye, bing enemies.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Sung-Sun tugged gently at Api’s tail. “Let him deal with this.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">A soft grumble escaped Api. “I was just giving advice. He doesn’t need to follow my words.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Api, the world isn’t as ck and white as it’s in Hueco Mundo.” Kazuya''s hand softly patted her head. He then turned to Harribel. “Can you take them away for a few minutes? I need to address some issues.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Harribel''s gaze rested on Lisa for a moment before she nodded. “Come with me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">With a gentle tap on Api’s back, she used Sonído to sh onto a distant hilltop. The rest followed her, albeit with evident reluctance.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Kazuya looked away from Api and gave a smile to Lisa. “Are you waiting for me to carry you down here like a princess?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Gracefully, she leaped down, her braided ponytail fluttering in the air as shended. Her eyes flicked to the retreating Hollows before settling back on Kazuya.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Kazuya, who—what are you?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I am a Hollow.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“How?” Lisa stared at him. “You were a Quincy. How can—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">She cut herself off as she watched him transform into a more familiar form — one without the menacing ck wings and Hollow aura.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I can switch between both.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Her hand reached out, clutching his cor with a force born of confusion and anger. “My intuition about you was correct. You betrayed Izumi. No, you were using her from the start.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He held her wrist, his grip firm but gentle as he carefully pried her fingers from his cor. “Lisa Yadōmaru, the former Vice-Captain of 8th Squad, the curtains are lifted for both of us. Neither of us approached Izumi with kind intentions. We were using her for our own goals.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The biting cold of his words pierced her like shards of ss, freezing her in ce. His usations echoed the usations she kept hidden deep within her heart. How could she point an using finger at him when she herself was guilty of the same crime?


    <span style="font-weight:400">A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he saw his method working. “Look on the bright side, though. She found two people who genuinely care about her, like a family. Isn’t that wonderful?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Despite Lisa’s ulterior motives in staying with Izumi, there was no denying the fact she cared about Izumi. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be mad at him for betraying Izumi.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Wonderful my foot,” Lisa scoffed. “We’re scum.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“We’re viins.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yes.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“We don’t deserve Izumi.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, we don’t.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">With a bitter scowl, Lisa jabbed a finger towards Kisuke, who was lingering in the distance. “I me this guy. He sent me on that spy mission. What’s the rtionship between you two?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Kisuke casually fanned his face. “It’s purely transactional. You can call Kazuya-san one of my precious customers.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Yoruichi shook her head. “Kazuya isn’t a bad person, Lisa. He had his reasons for approaching the Quincy n. He used to be—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Shihōin-san, please don’t reveal other people’s secrets without their consent. Besides, no point in bringing up my past. I’m a Hollow now. A Hollow and a Quincy. <i><span style="font-weight:400">That </i><span style="font-weight:400">chapter of my story is closed shut.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Yoruichi sighed, acknowledging his request. “Fine. Have it your way, stubborn little man.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“We’re adults here. Some shes here and there wouldn’t break us apart.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">With a curt nod of agreement, Yoruichi blinked out of the scene, her form dissolving into the thin air.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Kisuke looked left and right. “I guess I should also exit the scene.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">And then they were alone, left to untangle the knot of their rtionship on their own.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Lisa turned her back against him. “I don’t know what to feel about this. Will we still be friends like before or will you—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Reaching for her hand, he yanked her and made her face him. “Stop being a dramatic novel heroine.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You saw through me… this is so embarrassing.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You don’t look embarrassed, though.” He shrugged. “Nothing''s gonna change. I’ll continue being Izumi Onee-chan’s Otouto. You’ll be her maid until you’re bored of it.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">A slow nod was her response, her mind slowly wrapping itself around the situation. With Yoruichi''s and Kisuke''s stamps of approval, she could concede that Kazuya wasn’t the viinous Hollow she had feared. “Why did youe to Karakura?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’m just here to chill with my friends.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Your friends?” Lisa’s gaze went to the Hollows in the distance. “Those Hollows?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Yup. Pretty nice bunch.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Pretty and nice they are,” she said with a calm look. “What was Shihōin-san trying to tell me? What did you used to be?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Take a guess.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Pervert.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Stop projecting on others.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“...”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Heughed at her speechless face. “By the way, how did Onee-chan take to my disappearance?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“She has been worrying nonstop about you. She’d have searched you on foot if I wasn’t there.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He let out a long sigh. “Should I return?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Absolutely.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t reveal anything about me being a Hollow.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">A nod was Lisa''s agreement, her eyes turning soft as she looked up at him. There was an unexpected relief in sharing her guilt with someone. “How long will we deceive her? Lies don’tst forever, Kazuya.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Sometimes aforting lie is better than a harsh truth.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“A harsh truth may be painful, but it is the only way to true freedom and growth.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">He rolled his eyes at her. "This isn''t apetition for countering each other with quotes.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmph.”