Chapter 384: BSUS - 387: Tacticians Have Dirty Minds

"What if he really just makes a key handle first?!" Yoruichi roared, seemingly driven mad. Her voice was so loud that Hiroe and Urahara’s expressions turned rather subtle.

*Are you joking?*

*You must be joking...*

Well, having been to the Soul King Palace, Yoruichi naturally understood that even if the ōken could truly be forged from a Jūreichi and a hundred thousand souls, it wasn’t a key in the traditional sense. There was no such thing as making half of it first.

The truth seemed to be exactly as Hiroe had said. Aside from causing chaos, Aizen had no reason to do such a thing. Yoruichi simply refused to accept this.

"If he has no reason, then what the hell is going on right now?!"

"To throw me into a dilemma," Hiroe offered an explanation. "He understands my stubborn nature very well. So, even if what he truly wants is Inoue Orihime, I would never let him succeed."

Urahara nodded in agreement. He also believed that Inoue Orihime was the one Aizen was truly interested in. Considering this, using the very thing Hiroe had spent the most time plotting over to force him into making a choice made a lot of sense.

"Even if they could silently approach Inoue Orihime and deal with Love and Hachi in the shortest amount of time, if I acted immediately, transferring Inoue into the Garganta would still be a massive stretch for them."

"But now, the doubts in my heart seem to have been resolved. After Aizen rooted out my people, I rushed to Karakura Town immediately, yet I ended up arriving even earlier than the Arrancar. This unreasonableness had been bothering me all along."

Yoruichi could understand that feeling. In fact, when they were fighting the Arrancar, there was also a cloud of confusion in their minds. With their intelligence leaked, the enemy should have either adjusted their plans or used speed to overwhelm them, striking the target like lightning before Hiroe could react.

Judging by the timing, Aizen had indeed adjusted his plans, even sending out eight Espada as a feint. If Hiroe wasn’t in the picture, such an arrangement might have been reasonable. But with Hiroe in control, the deciding factor for success or failure was still how to lure him away.

"Without the intervention of Aizen and his Kyōka Suigetsu, even the Espada couldn’t create a gap in Karakura Town’s combat forces in such a short time, not to mention those Espada weren’t even fighting at full strength. I ended up being pinned down by the question of what exactly Aizen was trying to do."

"And the moment someone broke through the barrier and restrained Inoue Orihime, I instinctively began to consider the possibility of Aizen seizing Karakura Town. I also realized that this was a multiple-choice question he had deliberately set up for me."

"A multiple-choice question?" Yoruichi asked, puzzled. "He made you choose between Inoue Orihime and Karakura Town? Why make it so complicated? Wouldn’t it have been better to just launch a surprise attack right from the start?"

"If it were you, could you guarantee that I definitely wouldn’t make it back in time?"

"No, I couldn’t."

"Then why wouldn’t he choose a method that guaranteed he wouldn’t return empty-handed?" Hiroe countered, then elaborated, "Besides, you got one thing wrong. He didn’t make me choose between Karakura Town and Inoue Orihime. He made me choose whether or not to save Inoue Orihime. From the moment I started thinking about it, I no longer held the initiative regarding the seizure of Karakura Town."

The situation at the time boiled down to three possibilities:

First, I completely abandon Inoue, command Hirako and the others, and take half of Karakura Town amidst the chaos, with Aizen stepping in to interfere. The chances of success would be fifty-fifty.

Second, I abandon Inoue and seize half of Karakura Town, and Aizen simply orders the Espada to retreat. If I had my people show up to take Karakura Town then, how could I make Aizen take the blame for me?

Third, I go to save Inoue, meaning the outside world would inevitably fall under enemy control for a period of time. Although it wouldn’t be for long, I would have already lost the upper hand. And the facts proved exactly that.

"The second scenario was the one I wanted to see the least. If Aizen only took Inoue Orihime, I would just be taking a loss for nothing," Hiroe said helplessly. "I could never let Aizen walk away with just Inoue. So, it wasn’t about how important Inoue was, but rather that I couldn’t let her be the only loss. Figuring this out, on the surface, I could have chosen the first option, but with the unstable factor of the second, I actually had no other choice."

This time, Hiroe had been thoroughly outplayed by Aizen. Not only had the other party seen through his intentions in advance, but he had also factored in Hiroe’s suspicious nature, his tendency to plan before acting, and his aversion to taking risks.

Failing to take Inoue meant that, from the perspective of his initial goal, Aizen couldn’t be considered the winner either. After all, this half of Karakura Town wasn’t what he was after at this very moment.

And considering the goal of transferring half of Karakura Town to Hueco Mundo, Hiroe couldn’t be considered the loser either, as he had also achieved his objective.

But this fake loss turning into a real one would definitely bring about significant repercussions. Coupled with this direct tactical clash where Aizen had calculated Hiroe’s every move, it was a crushing defeat for him in terms of morale and confidence.

The only consolation was that, despite all the trouble the other party went through, the biggest effect so far seemed to be just causing frustration. If Aizen were truly omnipotent, then both Inoue Orihime and Karakura Town would have fallen into his hands simultaneously.

Therefore, saying he only "lost half" wasn’t entirely just Hiroe comforting himself. No, it shouldn’t be considered just self-comfort, Hiroe thought. After all, Aizen hadn’t refuted it, had he?

"So, the sky hasn’t fallen yet. There’s no need to be so pessimistic!" Hiroe said righteously. "Think about it. If only Inoue Orihime had been taken away, would you be able to hold back Ichigo and those brats? And when the time came, we’d be able to do nothing but watch anxiously. Wouldn’t that be much worse than our current situation?"

Yoruichi thought about it. If that were really the case, they would have to stay in the World of the Living. Even if they forcefully kept Ichigo and the others here, their training would definitely grind to a halt. Release them only when the final battle arrived? That would probably just be sending them to their deaths.

So, Hiroe’s words actually made a lot of sense. The current situation didn’t seem so bad, even though something felt a bit off...

In truth, she had long been dizzy from all that tactical explanation. Did these two really have to think so much during a large-scale surprise attack? Going through all that trouble just to snatch an item from the other party—and an item they couldn’t even use themselves, at that.

It felt as absurd as staking out a target for a month, only for a grown man to snatch an ordinary dress from them in the end. There was no other explanation for it other than them being perverts.

Perhaps, people who played tactics were all just unreasonable perverts like this. Now that two perverts were scheming against each other, one of them was bound to experience a deep sense of frustration.

"Then what do we do next?" Yoruichi conceded, her anger miraculously vanishing.

"We still go to Hueco Mundo, and the sooner the better!" As Hiroe spoke, a *beep beep beep* sound rang out from the next room.

"The thing we need to do most right now..."

*Beep beep beep.*

"We..."

*Beep beep beep, beep beep beep...*

"Can we just smash that damn TV?!"

Hiroe finally couldn’t take it anymore. Were they going to let him speak or not?!

In reality, it wasn’t a TV at all, but a communication device connecting them to the Seireitei, capable of direct face-to-face contact.

"You could smash it, but you don’t want Captain-Commander Yamamoto coming over to talk to you in person, do you?" Urahara reminded him. "You have to face it eventually, Hiroe."

"Why is it me? It’s always me! When we were kids, every time we caused trouble, I was the one who had to go to the old man to get punished. Can’t you guys step up for once?"

"We don’t belong to the Gotei 13 anymore, so Old Man Yama has no authority over us!" Yoruichi pointed to the next room. "Go in peace. Consider this your punishment for failing this time."

Losing half was still losing. Perhaps this really was his punishment. Hiroe wore a pained expression. Without any leverage in hand, he truly felt uneasy. The impact of this anticipated scolding was definitely going to far exceed his expectations.