The captain kept her gaze fixed ahead, but she had been watching Ichiro the whole time. Naturally, she hadn't missed his little change of heart. A faint smile touched her lips. "Then remember to be at Squad 4's training grounds at six every morning."
"." The captain's gentle voice made Ichiro's heart sink. He stiffly turned to look at her, forcing a smile. "C-Captain, there's... no need for that, is there? I can train on my own!"
As if! Was it really a good idea to have the captain train him? The gentler someone sounded, the more devious they were!
Especially when they had a habit of keeping their eyes narrowed. That made them even scarier!
However, when the captain heard Ichiro's words, she turned to him with a smile, her voice as gentle as ever. "Be at Squad 4 at six sharp every morning. Understood?"
"." Seeing the captain's eyes narrow to slits, Ichiro swallowed in fear and stiffly nodded. "I-I understand... I'll be there on time, Captain!"
"Good."
"Phew..." Ichiro let out a long breath. Just as he relaxed, he remembered the miserable days ahead and couldn't help sighing heavily. Swordsmanship, huh... Never mind. He'd promised her, after all. He might as well spend their remaining time practicing with her.
Looking at the Zanpakuto at his waist, Ichiro smiled.
Urahara and the others watched Ichiro's ever-changing expressions, exchanged a helpless glance, and smiled without saying anything. They sat quietly on Minazuki together as they headed to Squad 4.
The two of them knew Ichiro pretty well. When he was serious, he was extremely reliable. When he wasn't, he was more of a goofball than anyone.
Soon, the captain brought Ichiro and the others to the busy Squad 4. After landing, she called over a Seated Officer and instructed them, "I'm going to report to Central 46. Ichiro will take over my duties for now. These people are members of the Four Great Noble Houses. Find them a safe place to stay."
"Yes, Captain!"
After giving the Seated Officer her instructions, the captain turned to Ichiro. "Kiyonosuke will handle the other matters in the squad. You just need to take care of the medical work. Is that all right?"
"Yeah, no problem. My Reiryoku has recovered a little on the way here. With some recovery potions, I should be fine."
Ichiro knew the captain wasn't worried about his medical skills, but about whether he had enough Reiryoku. That was currently his biggest shortcoming in medical work, even more so than some of the techniques he still needed to hone.
Fortunately, he could make up for that with blue potions, so it wasn't a big problem.
"I'll be off, then."
The captain nodded, climbed back onto Minazuki, and flew toward Central 46.
Meanwhile, Ichiro patted his cheeks, took the shabby backpack from the Seated Officer, and slung it over his shoulders. "Which district is short on people right now?"
"District Seven, Lord Ichiro."
"Good. I'll head to District Seven first. Get them settled." He turned to Urahara and the others. "I've got work to do. He'll take you to your quarters. I'll be going."
With that, he turned and strode away without hesitation.
"He's amazing..." The young lady of the Kuchiki Clan murmured as she watched Ichiro's retreating figure. As a fellow student at Shino Academy, she was once again struck by the vast gap between them.
Back at the academy, Ichiro and the others' outstanding combat abilities had already amazed her, but she could still understand that. They were geniuses, after all. It made sense.
Her Kuchiki Clan's son-in-law was even stronger in battle. She'd heard he had achieved Bankai while still at the academy, which put him far ahead of Ichiro and the others.
But the captain's attitude toward him on the way here had surprised her even more, and what she'd seen since arriving had only deepened that surprise. The Thirteenth Division had existed for several hundred years, yet she'd never heard of a Soul Reaper who, while still a student, had earned such respect from a Seated Officer through his own abilities.
Hearing her mutter, the Seated Officer smiled. "Of course Lord Ichiro is amazing. He may still be a student, but that's only because he doesn't want to graduate. When it comes to medical skills, only the captain surpasses him in our squad. That includes many members with healing-type Zanpakuto. None of them can hold a candle to him in that area!"
"He's that amazing?!"
Elsewhere, Ichiro had no idea they were discussing him. He was hurrying toward District Seven, while continuously using Alchemy to make one bottle of Reiatsu Recovery Potion after another, just in case.
The Reiatsu Recovery Potion was a milky-white liquid, the result of liquefying Reiryoku. Ichiro had added some of his own experimental formulas to make it easier to absorb, giving it excellent reiatsu-restoring effects. Production had now been rolled out across Squad 4.
Unfortunately, since it was made through Alchemy, they still lacked the know-how to mass-produce it using conventional methods. The squad's supply was limited, with most of it consisting of small experimental batches. So Ichiro could only take advantage of the time he had to make more.
Soon, Ichiro reached District Seven. Everywhere he looked, Soul Reapers were hurrying back and forth. The injured lay on the ground, groaning, while an air of chaos hung over the area.
Without a leader, they were like a scattered heap of sand!
Ichiro took a deep breath, used Alchemy to form a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose, and pushed them up. He used self-suggestion to force himself to calm down and ignore the wails around him, then shouted:
"Everyone! Break up your current teams and reorganize according to the wartime squad structure first! Assign everyone else according to the emergency response guidelines!"
"."
"."
"."
The crowd stared at Ichiro in surprise. After a moment's hesitation, they sprang into action—but this time, in an orderly way. After briefly tending to the injured in their care, they quickly formed new teams and returned to treating the wounded.
Meanwhile, Ichiro continued directing the scene. "Split the people over there into three teams to sort and organize the supplies! Assign one team to handle medical waste! That team over there! Is this how you usually train? What are you doing? Get all the injured settled immediately!"
Before long, under Ichiro's direction, the scene was running smoothly. Even if he hadn't shown up, they would eventually have returned to this state. It would just have taken some time.
It couldn't be helped. Even modernized armies would fall into disarray for a while after losing their commanding officer, let alone Soul Reapers, whose discipline wasn't all that strict.
Seeing the teams start moving as they had during training, Ichiro nodded and went over to a Soul Reaper with severe injuries. He sent away the members treating him, leaving only two assistants.
Aside from restoring order, Ichiro's more important task was treating the seriously injured. What counted as a severe injury to the other members might be only a minor one to him. He could treat each patient quickly and move on to the next, greatly improving efficiency.
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