Chapter 6: A Conversation |
Southern Rukongai.
78th District.
Deep in the mountains, about ten kilometers from 2200th Street, several dozen souls who looked like seasoned thugs had gathered.
Makoto Ito, the teenager who had only recently asked Yeruashi for water, was surrounded by the gathered bandits.
One of them stepped forward and kicked the boy to the ground.
At the same time, two others placed a decently sized stone directly in front of their leader.
A man then approached the trembling Makoto, snatched the bottle of water from his hand, and sat calmly on the stone, casually crossing his legs.
This was the boss of the gang that reigned over the streets from 2180th to 2200th, a man named Nobuyuki Sugo.
Nobuyuki pressed his foot onto Makoto's shoulder as the boy lay in the dirt and spoke indifferently, weighing the bottle in his hand. "Is this all?"
Makoto's voice shook violently.
Nobuyuki smirked. "And where did you get this water?"
"I... I..."
As Makoto hesitated, one of the bandits kicked him in the back and barked irritably, "Spit it out! And I wouldn't advise lying!"
Thud!
Makoto let out a cry of pain and rolled across the ground before stammering, "Ah... someone just gave it to me..."
"Repeat that?"
Nobuyuki exclaimed in surprise, planting his foot firmly on Makoto's back. "Are there actually people that kind still left in this world? Interesting... and where does this person live? Speak!"
Makoto lifted his head and trembled with terror as he watched one of the nearby bandits unsheathe a blade. "At... at the very end of East 2200th Street... he dug a well there..."
Nobuyuki and the rest of the gang grew visibly excited at Makoto's words.
One of the bandits grabbed the teenager by the neck and hoisted him up, shouting eagerly, "Is that the truth?!"
"...Yes, I'm telling the truth."
Makoto nodded and looked toward Nobuyuki. "Please, let me go! I've told you everything I know..."
Nobuyuki cast a contemptuous glance at Makoto. "Beat it!"
"Thank you... thank you..."
Makoto scrambled to his feet and ran away.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
The moment Makoto had covered about ten meters, the nearest bandit grinned maliciously and whipped his blade around.
Slash!
Makoto's head flew upward, trailed by a spray of blood.
His eyes widened in shock and his mouth hung slightly open, as if he were about to say something, but he was no longer capable of making a sound.
Thump!
The head spun several times in the air before landing in the dirt not far from his body.
"Let's move."
Nobuyuki reached out and handed the bottle to a nearby bandit before saying excitedly, "This is our chance... a chance to make a goddamn fortune!"
*
2200th Street.
Yeruashi sat in the living room of his house at a neat stone table, upon which sat a mahjong board.
Lilith and Hisana sat to his left and right, facing each other across the table.
The three were in the middle of a game.
The Soul Society was actually quite rich in entertainment, and games like mahjong or chess were daily pastimes for many souls. However, such a lifestyle was built on the foundation of not having to worry about basic survival. Consequently, the common population of the troubled and lawless districts rarely played such games or engaged in cheerful neighborly banter.
Hisana reached out and took a tile from the center, then tilted her head and hesitantly discarded one of her own.
Lilith looked up from the table and said indifferently, "Foul. One thousand points."
"Ah... Four concealed triplets..."
Hisana smacked her forehead with her hand.
At that moment, Yeruashi rose from the table with a smile and handed Rukia, who had been in his arms this entire time, over to Hisana.
Hisana stood up and took the baby. "Mr. Yeruashi, are we finished playing?"
"It's not time for that yet. We're about to have some guests."
Yeruashi smiled and glanced toward the window.
Hisana opened her mouth, intending to ask what he meant, but just then, a loud crash echoed from the yard. She flinched and ran to the window overlooking the courtyard.
Her eyes widened as soon as she looked out. Several figures had burst into the yard through the newly shattered wall, brandishing various cold weapons.
Trouble!
"Bandits are attacking us!"
Hisana turned her head and cried out in alarm. She had certainly expected something like this might happen eventually, but she hadn't expected danger to arrive at their doorstep so quickly.
Lilith rose calmly from the table and walked toward the back door, but Yeruashi stepped out ahead of her.
Lilith immediately slowed down, letting Yeruashi pass, and then followed quietly behind him. Her small hands, which had begun to rise a moment before, relaxed and lowered back to her sides.
*
On a low hill about a kilometer from Yeruashi's house stood a woman wearing the white captain's haori of the Gotei 13. She watched intently as dozens of bandits, led by Nobuyuki, stormed into the courtyard of the house.
Lieutenant Kotetsu, following behind Unohana, cast a cold gaze at the thugs. She felt no sympathy for the criminals sowing chaos on the outskirts of Rukongai, and she certainly didn't think that these dregs of society would produce an opponent capable of satisfying her captain.
Kotetsu remained silent, waiting for her captain to act rather than stepping in to wipe out the bandits herself.
Right then, the door opened, and a perfectly composed Yeruashi stepped out into the yard.
Unohana instinctively rested her palm on the hilt of her Zanpakuto, but in the next heartbeat, she checked the movement and whispered, "He has some skill..."
The moment Yeruashi stepped into his courtyard, he didn't look at the invading bandits. Instead, he turned his head exactly toward the direction where Unohana was standing!
This was definitely no coincidence... he had sensed their presence! Why else would he look exactly in their direction while ignoring the dozens of aggressive bandits right in front of him?
Kotetsu narrowed her eyes. "It seems we've been spotted."
Although they weren't trying to hide, they weren't releasing any Reiatsu either. Yet the man who stepped out of the house had immediately looked right at them, completely ignoring the threat nearby.
This seemed unusual to Unohana and Kotetsu, but they weren't shocked. It wasn't entirely rare to find a soul with decent spiritual power in the lawless zones of the Rukongai's outskirts.
Often, such souls could gain significant power after receiving a Zanpakuto, and the best among them could sometimes approach or even rival the strength of certain Gotei 13 captains.
On the other side of the yard.
The bandits who had burst in not only failed to sense Kotetsu and Unohana, but they also didn't notice or care that Yeruashi had glanced into the distance upon appearing.
As they entered the inner courtyard after destroying the fence, they felt a surge of excitement when they saw the actual well.
In the 78th District of Rukongai, plain water was immensely valuable. A whole well was practically a miracle!
Many factions in the Rukongai had grown into massive powers simply by securing control over a water source.
Currently, their small gang survived only by robbery and extortion, but with this well, their lives would change forever. At the very least, they would never have to worry about how to feed themselves again!
"Hey, I assume this is your land? You're damn lucky to find such a rich source here, kid. I'm buying it along with the house. Now, get lost! Or else..."
Nobuyuki looked at the well with greed before turning to the newly appeared Yeruashi. With a wicked grin, he tossed a single low-denomination coin onto the ground.
Yeruashi scanned the crowd of bandits and slowly raised his right hand, offering no verbal reply.
But just then, a worried cry came from behind him. "Mr. Yeruashi!"
Following the shout, Hisana ran out into the yard, her small hands tightly gripping a kitchen knife. She knew she was weak, but she had managed to find enough courage to stand with him against the bandits.
Yeruashi smiled, watching the young girl's brave display.
The courage Hisana showed in such a situation was commendable, even if her presence didn't change the outcome at all.
"Not satisfied with my generous payment?"
Nobuyuki narrowed his eyes and smirked maliciously, raising the blade in his right hand. "Isn't leaving you with your lives generous enough payment for the house and the well?"
"It would be a fair price, but unfortunately..."
Yeruashi reached out and took the kitchen knife from Hisana's hand, looking at Nobuyuki and the rest of the gang with complete indifference. "I believe I'll have to decline your 'generous' offer."
Following Yeruashi's refusal, Nobuyuki didn't hesitate. He swung his blade at him with practiced lethality. Over years of surviving in the 78th District, Nobuyuki's blade had claimed hundreds of lives; he felt no spark of compassion or mercy.
Following their leader's lead, the other bandits also swung their weapons at Hisana and Yeruashi, intent on hacking them into small pieces.
Hisana threw her hands up and squeezed her eyes shut in terror.
But.
In that instant, Yeruashi flicked his right hand, the one holding the simple kitchen knife. With a fluid motion of his arm, a line as thin as silk stretched horizontally through the air.
Nobuyuki and the bandits in the front row, as well as the dozens of thugs standing behind them, froze simultaneously, as if someone had hit a pause button.
The brief silence wasn't followed by sprays of blood or screams of agony.
Whoosh!
The dozens of bandits standing before Yeruashi first disintegrated into countless tiny fragments and then were blown out of the courtyard like swept-away dust.
"..."
When the expected pain never came, Hisana cautiously opened her eyes. To her shock, she found the courtyard completely empty. The only sign the bandits had ever been there was the ruined fence.
Hisana was stunned.
What on earth had happened while she had her eyes closed?
She couldn't help but look at Yeruashi, who stood calmly beside her.
Between the strange retreat of Iwatsuri and the others before, and the total disappearance of dozens of bandits now, it was clear that Yeruashi was a very powerful and unusual soul.
Everything that had happened had, of course, been perfectly observed by Unohana and her lieutenant, Kotetsu.
"...He truly does have skills."
Kotetsu's eyes widened.
She hadn't been able to sense Yeruashi's Reiatsu from that distance, but she immediately concluded that turning dozens of bandits into dust in a fraction of a second required Reiatsu—powerful Reiatsu!
"Captain..."
Kotetsu turned her head and opened her mouth to speak, but by then, Unohana had already vanished.
She crossed the distance of a kilometer in an instant, appearing right in front of Yeruashi's house. With an elegant wave of her hand, she brushed aside the remains of the bandits' souls that were fluttering toward her.
Yeruashi lowered the kitchen knife and spoke calmly, not at all surprised by Unohana's sudden arrival. "A pleasure to meet you, Captain Unohana."
The 'guest' Yeruashi had mentioned earlier was, of course, not Nobuyuki and his gang, but Unohana herself.
In the entire Soul Society, there were very few individuals who deserved to be called his guest, and Retsu Unohana, one of the strongest captains of the Gotei 13, was certainly among them.
'Captain... Unohana?'
Hisana, standing near Yeruashi, fell into another stupor.
She had noticed the resemblance to the black Shinigami uniforms known throughout the Soul Society, but that unusual belt and the white haori...
"Are you a monster?"
Unohana took a step forward and asked the question calmly, her tone as friendly as a kind neighbor stopping by to ask for a pinch of salt.
Looking at her behavior and listening to her voice, one would never guess that this gentle-looking woman was the former captain of the Eleventh Division who had once struck terror into the hearts of everyone in the Soul Society!
"You could say that."
Yeruashi nodded.
Since Unohana couldn't sense Yeruashi's Reiatsu even from this close, she had logically identified him as a monster.
Yeruashi didn't mind the term; he found it perfectly natural to be called the progenitor of all monsters.
"You are strong, and so..."
"I would very much like to have a thorough conversation with you."
Unohana spoke to Yeruashi, radiating an intense battle intent.
The current Unohana had not yet met Zaraki, the one who would allow her to fully enjoy a battle, so she continued to hide an unquenchable thirst for combat behind her soft and friendly exterior.
Battle was the meaning and foundation of this Unohana's existence!
"Why not."
Yeruashi nodded.
Unohana spoke to Kotetsu, who had just appeared nearby. "Kotetsu, bring a proper blade..."
Kotetsu looked between Yeruashi and Unohana, then nodded and turned to retrieve a real sword, but she was stopped by Yeruashi's voice.
"That's not worth the trouble."
Yeruashi held up the plain kitchen knife and smiled at Unohana. "For a simple conversation, this will do just fine."