With a deafening roar, the Tenchūren landed smoothly in an open space within the Seireitei.
The hatch opened outward, and light from outside flooded the cabin.
Yoriichi stepped out. Looking at the familiar buildings around him, he let out a long breath.
Byakuya and Rukia followed him out. After the two sides exchanged a few words, Byakuya took his sister back to the Sixth Division to oversee matters.
Yoriichi did not return to his own Division Barracks immediately. Instead, he turned and headed straight for the Twelfth Division's Research and Development Institute.
The moment he stepped through the entrance, a bustling scene greeted him, with researchers running back and forth carrying stacks of documents.
Yoriichi followed the corridor deeper inside, heading straight for the intensive-care cultivation room at the very back.
The room was packed with complex instruments, and glowing green data fluctuated across screens of all sizes.
Mayuri Kurotsuchi stood before an enormous cultivation tank, holding a recording tablet and continually swiping his long fingers across it.
Hearing footsteps, Mayuri turned his painted face toward him. "Back already."
"How's Kira?" Yoriichi walked up, his gaze fixed on the cultivation tank.
The enormous glass cylinder was filled with a highly concentrated Reishi restorative solution.
Third Division Lieutenant Izuru Kira floated inside with his eyes closed, his body covered in a dense array of tubes and wires.
The right side of his body, which the Sternritter had blasted through, was being stitched together by strands of red, bloodlike threads.
Mayuri looked at the data tablet in his hand and said unhurriedly, "Extensive damage to his internal organs and vital channels. A few months ago, this would have been a completely unsalvageable corpse."
Mayuri grinned. "But he's lucky. The new restorative technology I developed just happened to reach the application stage. His