Entering Bleach

"Damn it, Kubo, if you dare have Kenpachi kill Retsu Unohana, I'll go march through the streets of Japan tomorrow!"

A certain otaku shouted at the latest chapter of the Bleach manga. In the manga, Retsu Unohana had been killed by Kenpachi.

"Why did Retsu Unohana have to use her own life to remove Kenpachi's seal? A doctor like Retsu Unohana is more important than a fighter, isn't she? How are you supposed to fight when the healer's dead? Won't there be nobody to restore your health when you get hurt? If you die after that, you deserve it!!" The otaku's voice carried far, making it clear he had plenty of complaints about Retsu Unohana's death. He wasn't done venting yet.

As the otaku shouted and yelled, the space above his head began to slowly warp.

But the shouting otaku clearly failed to notice the distortion of spacetime above his head.

----------Spacetime distortion dividing line----------

"What the hell! Can someone tell me what's going on?" the otaku shouted from within a bizarre, kaleidoscopic sphere of light.

But—

Nobody answered...

The otaku looked at the distorted starry sky all around him and helplessly went to sleep.

The world of Bleach.

A spatial black hole resembling a Garganta suddenly appeared above the Seireitei. A sphere of light burst out of it, and the sky returned to normal.

But the sphere of light was powerful enough to smash through the Shakonmaku above the Seireitei and race straight toward the residence of Retsu Unohana, the Fourth Division Captain...

Ignoring the Kidō and released Zanpakuto that countless Shinigami who had reacted used to block and attack it, the sphere of light sped toward Retsu Unohana, who failed to dodge.

"Boom!" The tremendous momentum carried by the sphere of light sent Retsu Unohana flying a great distance.

But Unohana lived up to her reputation as one of the two longest-serving captains in Soul Society. She immediately burst out, unharmed, from the Fourth Division Barracks, which her impact had left in ruins.

Yet Retsu Unohana immediately turned pale and said to the captains who had rushed over from their respective barracks, "Captains, sorry for the trouble, but please transfer your Reiatsu to me. Hurry, there's not much time."

Seeing Retsu Unohana's condition, the captains all realized what was happening—her Reiatsu was clearly running low.

This rarely happened in Soul Society, because in a world made of Reishi, one's Reiatsu could be replenished at any time by the surrounding Reishi. And Shinigami generally fought in three places: Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Living. Of the three, the World of the Living had the least Reishi, and even there, a Shinigami's Reiatsu rarely ran low except under a very few circumstances.

Thus, when the captains first saw Retsu Unohana, they hadn't realized what was happening. Only when she prompted them did they finally come to their senses.

They stepped forward one after another and slowly channeled their Reiatsu into Retsu Unohana's Zanpakuto, which then assimilated it into her own Reiatsu.

At first, everyone was cautious. Gradually, seeing that nothing else was happening, the captains relaxed and began asking what had happened.

But when they asked, they discovered that despite the experience of so many captains, none of them knew what was going on. In their disappointment, none of them noticed the flicker in Retsu Unohana's eyes.

Meanwhile, Retsu Unohana looked silently at her belly with a complicated expression—she could clearly feel a life inside it rapidly absorbing her Reiatsu.

But she had yet to be intimate with that man, let alone marry him and sleep with him. So what was going on with the child in her belly?

Retsu Unohana said nothing. Although she didn't know what was happening, she possessed a woman's innate maternal instincts, and this bizarre, strange event happened to fulfill her innermost wish for a child. That was why she kept it to herself.

She knew that if she spoke of something that had never happened in Soul Society, it would surely attract a great deal of attention, both well-intentioned and malicious. And although she was a long-serving captain, if some of the other long-serving captains also tried to seize the child by force...

She couldn't be certain she could keep the child unharmed—for instance, if First Division Captain Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai acted on Central 46's orders, or if the Zero Division got involved, or Hueco Mundo. Thus, Retsu Unohana decided to keep the matter hidden, even if she couldn't hide it for long.

"What's going on? Retsu Unohana, Fourth Division Captain, haven't you recovered yet, even after all this time?" asked Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the First Division Captain, who was also the Captain-Commander.

Retsu Unohana slowly drew her Zanpakuto away from the captains' hands and said gently, "I'm fine. Although I haven't recovered yet, my condition has stabilized. I can recover slowly on my own."

In truth, the life inside Unohana hadn't slowed its absorption of Reiatsu in the slightest. But to avoid arousing Captain-Commander Yamamoto's suspicions, Retsu Unohana was prepared to sacrifice her own life force to draw on more of the Reiatsu contained within her body.

Just then, the life inside Retsu Unohana's belly finally began to slow its absorption of Reiatsu. Retsu Unohana quietly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.

The captains then began asking what exactly had happened. After all, aside from Retsu Unohana, everyone else had only seen a sphere of light break through the Shakonmaku and rush into the Fourth Division Barracks. So where had it come from?

To answer that, one had to go back to the otaku mentioned earlier, the tragic three-dimensional otaku whose name had never even appeared. The sphere of light was actually spacetime energy.

At this point, everything was basically clear—the otaku had been enveloped in spacetime energy, broken through the spatial barrier, and entered the world of Bleach. He had then been ravaged by the spacetime energy, regressed to an unborn state, and entered Retsu Unohana's body to develop anew.

But because he had entered a Shinigami's body as a human, he caused a series of reactions. To calm those reactions, he absorbed Reiatsu from his surroundings until they stopped.

That three-dimensional background-character otaku had finally entered the world of Bleach for good, successfully shedding his identity as an otaku extra and rising to become the protagonist. He had even latched onto a powerful backer in the long-serving captain Retsu Unohana.

The protagonist had nothing to worry about now, but his future mother, Retsu Unohana, was worried sick. As for the reason, she was pregnant out of wedlock. After all, Soul Society had neither Christianity nor the Virgin Mary.

As far as Soul Society was concerned, pregnancy out of wedlock was simply too bizarre. And for something so bizarre to happen in Soul Society could have only one outcome—death.

In the hidebound Soul Society, that was the only outcome for those who broke the rules. Even though she was one of Soul Society's two longest-serving captains, she could only save her own life. There was no way she could save the child in her belly.

Retsu Unohana sat alone in her room, restless and uneasy. Even she, one of the two longest-serving captains in Soul Society alongside Captain-Commander Yamamoto, was somewhat bewildered by her situation and had no idea what to do for the moment. Fortunately, Retsu Unohana had sent everyone away, so no one saw that the Fourth Division Captain, who always smiled so gently and never gave even her enemies a cold look, could also be so troubled.

Before she knew it, time slowly passed until—"Captain, the Captain-Commander has called a captains' meeting. Please come to the First Division for the meeting." Only then did Retsu Unohana start out of her worries and suddenly realize she had spent the whole night thinking about how to explain the child in her belly.

"Captain?"

"Ah... Isane, I'll be ready in a moment. Wait a little, please." As she spoke, Retsu Unohana quickly tidied her appearance and restored her usual flawlessly gentle expression.

Only deep in her heart, there was now a trace of resolve—she would protect the child in her belly even if she had to defect from Soul Society. That was the decision Retsu Unohana had made at the last moment.

In the First Division Barracks, Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai struck the floor hard with his cane and said, "The captains' meeting will now begin. The captains will now report on yesterday's incident involving the sphere of light that appeared above the Seireitei." But after a while, none of the captains spoke up.

It wasn't that there was nothing to report, but the incident had occurred in the Fourth Division, and Retsu Unohana was one of the most formidable figures in Soul Society. If she didn't speak first, none of the other captains dared report before her.

But Retsu Unohana didn't seem inclined to make a report. And so, an eerie silence fell over the room. After a while, seeing that no one was going to speak, Yamamoto had no choice but to address the Twelfth Division captain. "How are the repairs to the Shakonmaku above the Seireitei progressing?"

The Twelfth Division captain replied helplessly, "Although we don't know why the repairs to the Shakonmaku are progressing so slowly, the damage wasn't too severe, so they'll be finished soon."

After that brief exchange, the room fell silent again. This time, Yamamoto couldn't keep it going either and hastily ended the meeting. "This incident is highly unusual. Every division must be ready to fight at any time. If there is nothing else, this meeting is adjourned."

Phew. Everyone silently breathed a sigh of relief—they had never attended such an awkward and bizarre captains' meeting before!

Only Retsu Unohana stroked her belly and thought to herself, No one can stop me. No one! With those thoughts, Retsu Unohana walked out of the First Division Barracks.

My belly will start to show soon. When that happens—I'll go to the World of the Living or Hueco Mundo. Either way, with my strength, I can definitely ensure the child is born safely. It's just that this incident only just happened. I wonder whether the Captain-Commander can guess the connection between the two? Retsu Unohana thought worriedly, gripping her Zanpakuto tightly.