Chapter 105
"Brother Ginjo."
――――
Soul Society.
Somewhere in Rukongai.
Beneath the seemingly dilapidated buildings lies a massive, labyrinthine, futuristic laboratory.
Is that all?
A man with green, medium-length hair, wearing a white lab coat over his Shihakushō, asked with an unhappy expression.
"Yes..."
Soul Reaper, kneeling before him, answered tremblingly.
"What about the Reiatsu of Captain-level?"
"... There is no record of the Senkaimon."
Although he appeared no different from an ordinary person in every way, the corners of the eyes of the Soul Reaper, who was responsible for the report, were uncontrollably radiating Reishi.
"Waste!"
The green-haired man slammed his hand on the table.
"They were given so much intelligence, yet they couldn't even lure away a single Captain-level!"
"The Quincy are all useless trash!"
On the numerous screens hanging on the wall, the same "Warning" message as in EVA simultaneously lit up; the man hurriedly started operating the control panel, and it took him a while to resolve the equipment problem.
"You can continue with your mission."
"Yes, sir!"
Soul Reaper bowed deeply to the man, then quickly ran towards the exit.
"..."
"Damn the 11th Division!"
The green-haired man slammed his fist on the lab table, barely managing to stop himself from rubbing his reddened fist.
"If those wild boars hadn't broken into the lab and lost my original Reigai, the progress wouldn't be stuck here!"
The small, thumb-sized pills, gleaming with a subtle silver light, bounced up on the experimental table, arranged in a box.
"The current amount of content is only enough to replicate Soul Reaper at the level of Seated Officer. Any more Reiatsu and the body will explode..."
The green-haired man frowned, his brows furrowing slightly.
"Without the original Reigai, replicating the Reiatsu of a vice-captain or even Captain-level would take at least another hundred years at the current pace!"
"Furthermore, their Reiatsu data is extremely difficult to obtain."
The green-haired man stared intently at the screen, at the rows of data that offered him no surprises whatsoever.
"My research on Senkaimon..."
We need to go further.
――――
Volume 1: Chapter 66, The Dragon's Homecoming
Soul Society.
The Thirteenth Division's headquarters.
Kaien Shiba was talking to a squad member who had come to report for duty.
"Um?"
The Hell Butterfly that flew out from beside the hairband brought information about the World of the Living.
"As expected, the younger generation this time are all of very high caliber."
Kaien Shiba said with a smile to the team members around him.
Despite being the vice-captain, Kaien Shiba is easygoing and approachable. Whether the other person is a squad member or the captain, Kaien Shiba's attitude is always pleasant and makes people feel comfortable, completely disregarding any superior-subordinate or hierarchical relationship.
"The second day has only just begun, and the Konsō internship is already complete."
Most of the members of the Thirteenth Division come from Rukongai. They are able to become Soul Reaper primarily through the Shin'ō Academy.
As Kaien Shiba's juniors, they had all experienced Konsō internships, so they naturally felt a strong sense of kinship upon hearing this.
"Yes, Captain Kaien."
In the Thirteenth Division, the members all call Kaien Shiba "Captain"... even though the latter has corrected them many times.
Due to poor health, Captain Ukitake was unable to appear before his team members most of the time. Over 90% of his duties as captain were performed by Kaien Shiba and his wife, Third Seat Shiba Miyako.
This explains why Kaien Shiba enjoys such high popularity within the Thirteenth Division.
"I remember when I was doing my Konsō internship, I dragged it out until the early hours of the fourth day. If it weren't for Professor Mitarai's leniency—oh, now he's Principal Mitarai —I probably wouldn't have graduated yet."
One of the team members scratched the back of his head and said with a grin, and upon hearing this, the other team members joined in the banter.
"Ha ha."
Amidst cheerful laughter—
"Captain Kaien!"
"..."
The team members, unusually, did not hear their usual cheerful reply.
"Kaien... Captain?"
With a solemn expression, Kaien Shiba removed the Hell Butterfly from his ear.
"There's been a problem with the Konsō training. Notify the Fourth Division and have them send someone to help immediately!"
Kaien Shiba removed the Kaijō.
"The rest of you, guard this side of the Senkaimon!"
"Yes, yes!"
"Etc..."
Kaien continued with the arrangements:
"Go to Ugendo to inform Captain Ukitake, and also pass on the message to Principal Mitarai; he should not yet know about the changes in the World of the Living."
"Yes!"
The soldiers accepted the order and left.
"Quincy..."
The Hell Butterfly has brought bad news; the Thirteenth Division must take action.
As Purification Team, the upper echelons of the Thirteenth Division had more or less dealt with the Quincy and knew them much more than other divisions; the 11th Division obtained its intelligence from the Thirteenth Division before the battle against the Quincy began.
"Things have come to this point, and we haven't received any news at all."
Mutsuki Shōkaku relayed all the known information, without omission, to Kaien Shiba via the Hell Butterfly:
The members of the Twelfth Division who remained in the World of the Living were clearly among the weaker members in terms of research capabilities. To quickly break the Quincy barrier, the Twelfth Division headquarters in Soul Society would have to step in. However, the Twelfth Division wouldn't do this for free; this favor would be enough for them to obtain many Quincy- related spiritual tools.
These are rare finds in the Soul Society.
Not only that.
As for the 11th Division, the new subjugation team has probably already traveled to the World of the Living through the Senkaimon —as a combat team, the 11th Division's need for spirit tools is second only to the Twelfth Division, making them the latter's best customers and test subjects.
While intelligence sharing is unlikely, less important information will still be leaked to some extent.
"In their quest for profit, these people have completely disregarded the bonds of camaraderie among the Gotei 13."
"... hateful!"
Kaien Shiba was clearly very dissatisfied with the actions of the two squads, but despite his anger, he certainly wouldn't stop his work.
"Thump."
As the Kaijō was slowly inserted into the Senkaimon, the ancient doors opened one by one.
Clang.
――――
"Lieutenant Kaien."
Mutsuki Shōkaku was the first to emerge from the Senkaimon.
To say they were travel-worn would be an understatement. For a whole day and night, Mutsuki hadn't had a moment's rest. Despite the shortage of medical personnel, Mutsuki, who had only learned a little bit of the basics of the Kaidō for a classroom demonstration, was forced to do the work of the Fourth Division.
His once pristine Shihakushō was now half-stained with blood, and his carefully styled hair was matted together.
"Mutsuki- kun..."
Kaien Shiba went to greet him immediately.
"I've already sent someone to contact Principal Mitarai, and reinforcements from the Fourth Division will be arriving soon."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Kaien, but the Fourth Division isn't in a rush."
Mutsuki Shōkaku's voice sounded somewhat tired.
"Those who are alive are generally fine, and there are some excellent students in the class Kaidō."
Behind her, listless and even dejected students, their bodies wrapped in bandages of various sizes, walked out one by one.
Kaien Shiba understood the unspoken meaning in Mutsuki's words.
"... How many people are left?"
Less than one hundred.
"Hiss--"
Upon hearing this number, Kaien Shiba's pupils widened.
Less than one hundred?
With the exception of a very small number of students, all fifth and sixth-year students from the Shin'ō Academy participated in this Konsō internship, totaling over five hundred people; in addition, there Soul Reaper stationed in the city and Soul Reaper specially dispatched by Kaien Shiba—
A team of nearly six hundred people, yet less than a hundred returned alive!?
This was also where Haruto miscalculated: the number of survivors was far less than half. When Mutsuki Shōkaku arrived, he could only focus on revenge and cleanup... Saving people? It was already quite difficult to even clean up the bodies.
What shocked Kaien Shiba even more was yet to come:
These students, who barely survived and were covered in bandages, were each carrying a stretcher wrapped in countless layers of bandages.
That's right.
These heavy "cargo" consisted of the bodies of the deceased students that could still be pieced together completely.
――――
"Call."
Haruto, supporting Isane with one hand and carrying a stretcher with the other, walked out of the Senkaimon.
Only ten students in the sixth grade can use the Kaidō, and among them, the level of the Isane sisters is more than one level higher than the other eight.
The entire night of saving lives had nearly drained them both— Isane's Reiatsu was completely depleted in the first half of the night, and she was only able to persevere in the second half by sheer willpower and the tiny bit of energy she had barely recovered.
She could barely see the road at this point, and if Haruto hadn't been supporting her, Isane would have definitely fallen asleep immediately.
Kiyone, who was being supported by Nanao, was in no better condition.
As for Haruto...
Haruto was far from idle.
As the member with the strongest Reiatsu in the team, Haruto forcibly memorized the Kaidō book on spiritual pressure that Mutsuki- sensei had given him by rote memorization; then he immediately began an endless process of Reiatsu recovery and hemostasis with Mutsuki- sensei.
The former is the foundation of the Kaidō, while the latter is the first lesson for beginners.