Chapter 22: Do You Believe You Can Reincarnate into the Ninja World?
As the sun set, Hachihara, who had happily spent another day shopping in the commercial district, returned to her dormitory. As usual, the first thing she did was share the snacks she had just bought with her companions. This had already become her habit.
Her expenses were definitely higher than before, but the joy she gained from it was many times greater.
"Takeru! Ichigo! Rindo! I am back, come see what I bought… Eh?"
She knocked on the door of Room 001.
Hachihara's gaze passed over Rindo Yu, who opened the door, and moved into the room. Her cheerful expression froze.
Inside, Takeru was busy tinkering with bottles and jars, while Ichigo stood beside him with Zangetsu in hand, gesturing at himself like he was about to self harm, his expression twisted with conflict.
"What are you doing?"
Without meaning to, the Kansai dialect she had picked up from others slipped out.
"Nothing serious. We are just trying to earn some extra money. The product we are selling has run into a small problem, but it is not a big deal. It will be fixed soon. So, Brother Kurosaki, why are you still standing there? Hurry up and start. My potions and energy are limited."
Faced with Takeru's urging, Ichigo wanted nothing more than to pick up Zangetsu and cleave him.
"You came up with this plan. Why am I the one being experimented on?"
"Because I am also the one solving the problem."
"…You had better actually solve it."
"Of course. I am not a scientist, but I trust my own work."
To be exact, he trusted the compound potion.
Takeru's business plan had run into a small issue.
The problem lay in the hot spring water.
Tenjiro Kirinji's Bakudo techniques were truly the strongest in the Soul Society. The hot spring he had created countless years ago still possessed miraculous power. However, that miracle only appeared when you soaked in it.
Once the hot spring water was taken out of the pool, its effectiveness plunged.
Poured directly onto a wound, it could only stop the bleeding.
Takeru speculated that the hot spring was like formalin, needing to work together with other equipment and agents to bring out its full effect.
And he just so happened to have the compound potion gifted by the machine soul.
Up until now, he had only ever activated it directly and let it be instantly absorbed by his body. This time he tried extracting the potion separately and easily succeeded.
One dose was one hundred milliliters.
Two hundred milliliters per day.
Takeru mixed the materialized potion into the hot spring water. As expected, the two produced a wonderful chemical reaction, and the effect became comparable to actually soaking in the spring.
At that point, things became much simpler.
All that remained was to adjust the ratio.
He had to compress the proportion of potion as much as possible while still keeping the healing effectiveness from dropping too low.
After all, the potion's daily output was limited.
The hot spring water, on the other hand, was nearly limitless.
On top of that, running back and forth to fetch water was troublesome. While Takeru did not feel bad about Ichigo's physical exertion, he still wanted to store up more in one trip to save time and effort.
Earning extra money was fine, but it must never interfere with daily training.
That was his bottom line.
After listening for a while, Hachihara also understood the situation and watched curiously as Ichigo poured a teacup full of water onto a cut on his hand.
After more than half an hour, the wound closed up.
"It worked," Hachihara said.
"No, it failed," Takeru said, shaking his head.
"The effect is too weak."
"Huh?"
Hachihara wanted to say that ordinary medicine would never be this effective, but seeing Ichigo and Rindo Yu both wearing deeply dissatisfied expressions, she was stunned.
"According to this ratio, we can produce at most thirty portions per day, each portion one hundred milliliters," Takeru said.
"If we want wounds to visibly heal quickly, even ten portions will not be enough."
With that, Takeru fell into thought.
Although taking the luxury route was not impossible…
"By the way, can this be drunk?" Hachihara suddenly asked.
"I do not know. How about…"
Takeru's gaze slid over to Ichigo.
Ichigo's face immediately darkened and he refused in a cold voice.
"Do not even think about it. I would not drink that even if I died."
Five minutes later.
Ichigo clutched his stomach and sprinted for the restroom.
"I did not expect drinking it would cause diarrhea," Takeru said, watching him disappear.
He fell into serious contemplation.
Hachihara and Rindo Yu, standing beside him, were both speechless.
They had not expected that result… nor had they expected Takeru to persuade Ichigo to throw caution aside and drink the medicine with a single sentence.
You would not want people to keep sacrificing themselves to protect humans in places you cannot see, would you.
"Ichigo is too kind," Hachihara said in a conflicted tone.
"That is right," Takeru nodded slightly.
But there was no hint of mockery on his face.
"But he is not an idiot, and I do not treat him like one," Takeru continued.
"That is why he is willing to go through with it to the end."
"Anyway, looks like this batch is a failure," Hachihara sighed.
"No. It is a success."
Her disappointment did not last long. Almost as soon as she finished speaking, Ichigo came back.
Seeing him, Takeru could not help but curl his lips into a smile.
Ichigo's expression was still sour, but he lifted his hand and showed them the back of it, where only the faint trace of a scar remained.
"I will admit your crooked scheme worked," he said unhappily, "but I am not doing that again."
"There is no need to. But how does diarrhea cause wounds to heal faster? What is the principle? Expelling necrotic spiritual pressure?" Takeru wondered aloud.
"Who knows," Ichigo said, "but medicine with that kind of side effect will crash in price, right?"
"That is true," Takeru agreed.
"So we will not sell it as wound medicine."
At that, Ichigo, Hachihara, and Rindo Yu all froze for a moment.
…
Omaeda, just back from patrol duty in Rukongai, felt uncomfortable all over.
"Honestly, our Captain just opens her mouth and dumps a bunch of weird work methods on me, telling me to train the squad while investigating. She is really too willful. At this rate, nobody is ever going to marry her…"
He suddenly spotted someone ahead and hurriedly shut his mouth.
He relaxed only after seeing who it was, then put on his Vice Captain act and swaggered over.
"What are you two brats doing here? The dormitory is not this way."
"Brother Kurosaki and I are heading to the commercial district to sell something," Takeru said, pointing at Ichigo, whose expression was a bit stiff.
"Is that so… Wait, selling things, not buying? With your financial situation, what could you possibly be selling? Do not get involved in anything shady. Even if Captain Aizen forgives you, this Omaeda will not sit back and watch."
"Thank you for your concern. This guy's family ran a hospital when he was alive, and they have a family herbal formula. It only has small effects like regulating the stomach and intestines, balancing gut flora, reducing liver and stomach fire, and easing mental anxiety, but I thought there might be a market for it, so we tried making some to sell."
"Did you hit a wall?"
Omaeda was instantly delighted.
He did not truly wish misfortune on others, but the two kids in front of him were geniuses, future Captain candidates. It was rare to find something to laugh at them about.
"Yes," Takeru said.
Ignoring Ichigo's almost out of control expression, he let out a helpless sigh.
"I do not know why, but after drinking the medicine, people cannot help wanting to go to the restroom, and some spiritual power drains away too. On top of that, all the injuries on their body vanish along with it."
"With a laxative that weird, it would be strange if you did not hit a wall," Omaeda snorted.
"Wait… what did you say?"
His eyes flashed.
"All the injuries on the body vanish along with it?"
"Even though I do not understand the principle, that is what happens," Takeru said, raising an eyebrow.
"What is it? Are you interested in this laxative?"
"How could I be. It is just a laxative. My family is in the jewelry business. Something like that does not suit my status."
Omaeda coughed lightly and then changed the subject.
"But since we fought side by side, and you saved my life, as a rich man I cannot be worse than a commoner when it comes to gratitude. So this wound medicine… no, this laxative, sell it to me."
"It just so happens the Second Division has been working very hard these last few days. Nobody has been eating well. Their stomachs are definitely suffering. It might come in handy."
"This is a win win situation."
"Indeed, that would be perfect," Takeru replied without hesitation.
Then the two sides started discussing the terms.
Omaeda wanted to buy the prescription outright, but Takeru refused immediately.
So Omaeda ruthlessly slashed the price.
"Five thousand rings per portion, which is five thousand yen. That is already a big favor," Omaeda said.
"That is absolutely impossible. The cost of acquiring the materials alone is higher than that. I will compromise. Fifty thousand."
"???"
Omaeda almost asked if this was what he called compromise, stomping on his head.
"Ten thousand," Omaeda countered. "I will buy in bulk, and I might sell them to other Divisions too. You will make huge profits then."
"In that case, why do we not find a few more distributors and let you compete with each other?"
Takeru looked as if he had just suddenly realized something.
Omaeda cursed himself for miscalculating and quickly shouted, "Twenty thousand, and I want exclusive distribution. This is the final price. Take it or leave it. Do not forget, I am from the Onmitsukido. I have the authority to shut you down."
"You really do not play fair. But fine, it is only a laxative business. No need to be so petty. We will do it your way. How do we handle delivery?"
"Wait for my notice. I will send someone to the Spirit Arts Academy to find you. I want one hundred portions in the first batch. If the effect is good, I will order more. Any problem?"
"No problem. Then, I look forward to working together."
Takeru and Omaeda shook hands with bright smiles.
The two parted ways.
Once they had walked out of Omaeda's line of sight, Ichigo, who had been silent the whole time, finally let out a long sigh.
"That was close. I thought that guy was going to see through us."
"How would he? He is in a great mood right now," Takeru said.
His tone was calm, with none of the helplessness he had shown earlier when the medicine hit a wall and the price was cut down.
Ichigo could not help laughing in disbelief.
"That is true. When we tried to sell it as healing medicine, it did not move at all. But the moment we sell it as a laxative, someone thinks he has found a huge bargain, discovered a new use, and can not wait to grab it."
"One hundred portions, made with hot spring water and your own medicine, practically no cost. In just three days, we will have two million in hand. That is about a Captain level Shinigami's monthly salary. And this is only the beginning. Once he gets a taste of it, he will definitely keep ordering. We will surpass a Captain in no time."
"I never thought we would reach that financial freedom you talked about like this…"
Everything that happened today had completely refreshed Ichigo's worldview.
At the same time, he sincerely admired Takeru's mind.
"Um, Takeru…"
"Say it."
"Do you think I still have a chance to become as eloquent as you?"
"…"
Takeru stopped walking and slowly looked Ichigo up and down.
"Do you believe you can reincarnate into the ninja world?"
"…?"
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