The Right Way to Find a Powerful Backer in Soul Society (2)

An eerie silence fell over the entire hospital room.

All that could be heard was Liu Ziyun's exaggerated, melodramatic wailing.

Unohana looked down at the little brat clinging to her leg and sobbing his heart out. For the first time, her gentle smile cracked. A vein seemed to throb on her forehead.

Tazawa Kentarō was stunned, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit a Hollow's mask.

The medical chart in Kiyōnosuke Yamada's hand fell to the floor with a clatter.

A full three seconds passed before Unohana took a deep breath. Drawing on every ounce of composure she had cultivated in her life to keep her expression in place, she said to Tazawa Kentarō, "Throw this little brat... out of Seireitei."

Her voice was as gentle as ever, but anyone listening closely could hear a hint of clenched teeth.

"Y-yes!" Tazawa Kentarō finally came to his senses and hurried forward to pull Liu Ziyun away.

But Liu Ziyun clung to Unohana's thigh like a drowning man holding on to his last piece of driftwood. Tazawa Kentarō tugged hard several times, but couldn't pull him off—the little brat was astonishingly strong!

"Captain! Please! Look, I've still got a few ounces of flesh on my butt! You can cut some off if you want! Just please don't send me away!" Liu Ziyun cried even harder. "I don't want to never see my dear Captain Unohana again! A day apart feels like three years! Three days apart feels like nine! I'll die of lovesickness—!!!"

"..."

Unohana closed her eyes.

The next second, a suffocatingly powerful spiritual pressure erupted from her!

It wasn't an aggressive spiritual pressure. It was more like an instinctive rejection—like someone subconsciously shaking off something dirty that had stuck to them.

"Bang!"

Liu Ziyun flew backward as though struck by an invisible truck. He slammed into the wall of the hospital room, then slid limply to the floor, his head falling to one side as he passed out.

The world was quiet again.

Unohana straightened the wrinkled hem of her uniform and took a deep breath, returning to her gentle, serene self. She instructed Tazawa Kentarō, "Wake this little brat up and send him out of Seireitei."

Then she turned gracefully and left the hospital room with steady steps—though anyone looking closely would have noticed that she was walking a little faster than usual.

In the hospital room, Tazawa Kentarō and Kiyōnosuke Yamada looked at each other.

After a long moment, Tazawa Kentarō walked over to Liu Ziyun, crouched down, and patted his face. "Hey, brat, wake up."

Liu Ziyun didn't respond.

He patted him harder. "Wake up! The captain told me to escort you out!"

Liu Ziyun's eyelids twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes. He looked around in confusion at first, then suddenly remembered something and sat bolt upright. "No! Don't send me out! I'll die!"

He lunged at Tazawa Kentarō again, this time wrapping his arms around the man's lower leg. "Please, brother! Even the captain said I have the potential to become a Soul Reaper! Just let me stay! I'll repay you and the captain properly someday! I'll work like an ox for you! I'll wash your socks! Please—!!!"

Tazawa Kentarō looked at the brat, whose face was covered in snot and tears, and his head began to ache.

He tried to pull his leg free, but couldn't budge it—the brat really was strong.

"The captain has already given the order. I have to carry it out," Tazawa Kentarō said helplessly.

"Then go plead with the captain for me!" Liu Ziyun looked up at him, his eyes red. "Tell her... tell her I'm exceptionally gifted, a medical genius who only appears once in a century! Keeping me here would be good for the Fourth Division!"

Tazawa Kentarō: "..." Like hell I believe you.

Seeing that he was unmoved, Liu Ziyun's eyes darted about, and he suddenly put on an expression that said, "If you won't play fair, neither will I." "If you don't let me stay, I'll go tell the people outside..."

He lowered his voice, but made sure the other man could hear him clearly. "I'll tell them you've been bad-mouthing the captain behind her back! That you were jealous because the captain valued me, so you threw me out! And that you think the captain's a thousand-year-old hag who's gentle on the outside and twisted on the inside..."

Tazawa Kentarō: "!!!"

What the hell! How can this brat be so shameless?! he roared inwardly. I didn't say a single word of that!!!

He looked at Liu Ziyun's "I mean what I say" expression and suddenly laughed—out of sheer anger.

"You really aren't afraid I'll kill you right here?" Tazawa Kentarō crouched down and stared into Liu Ziyun's eyes, a dangerous edge to his voice. "Don't forget, you're not a Soul Reaper yet. If you were to 'die in an accident' here, no one would be held responsible."

Liu Ziyun: "..."

Shit, that's actually true, isn't it?! His heart went cold. Fuck, this is the den of a bunch of licensed killers! How is killing an unemployed wandering soul or two any different from stepping on an ant?!

What could he do? He couldn't let himself get killed, but he couldn't leave either! If he went out, getting back in wouldn't be easy, and there was no telling whether he even had a chance of surviving out there!

His mind raced, and suddenly inspiration struck—

"Brother!" He put on a sincere expression again. "Look, if I go out there, nine times out of ten I'll die—no, I'll definitely die! Look, we'd barely met today before we almost got killed by a Hollow! If you send me out like this, aren't you sending me to my death?"

He clutched Tazawa Kentarō's trouser leg tightly. "For the sake of the bond we forged facing hardship and death together, please let me stay! You saw it yourself. I said someone would save us, and the captain showed up! What does that mean? It means I can see the future!"

He grew more excited as he spoke. "I have a premonition that if I go out there, we might all die someday! Brother, for the future of Soul Society and the glory of the Fourth Division, I'm begging you, please help me get the captain to let me stay!"

Tazawa Kentarō: "..." You can see the future? Why don't you just say you're the reincarnation of the Soul King?

"Even if I don't die out there," Liu Ziyun continued his verbal assault, "when I get back in, won't I just end up joining you as a teammate in the Fourth Division anyway? Why go to all that trouble? Besides, I can start learning from you all in the Fourth Division right now. Wouldn't that let me grow faster and help you all better?"

He gazed pleadingly at Tazawa Kentarō. "It's a win all around, brother! Think about it. Doesn't that make sense?"

Tazawa Kentarō fell silent.

He looked at the brat before him—seven or eight years old, with a grubby little face, but astonishingly bright eyes. Half of what he said was nonsense and the other half was twisted logic, but for some reason, Tazawa Kentarō was actually a little... persuaded?

No, not persuaded. It was more that... the brat really was interesting.

And the captain's reaction just now had seemed less like anger and more like... helplessness? If the captain had really wanted to drive him away, she had ten thousand ways to make him disappear. Why go to all this trouble?

Could it be...

Just as Tazawa Kentarō was lost in thought, Liu Ziyun added fuel to the fire. "How about... we go beg the captain together? I'm sure Captain Unohana is as kind as she is beautiful. She would never stand by and watch someone die!"

The moment he finished speaking—

"That's enough."