"I'm sorry, Captain Unohana! Emergency patient!!"
The day was already over, and having been woken up by a tactlessly loud voice just as she had gone to bed, Unohana opened her eyes without even trying to hide her displeasure.
Today she had business elsewhere and couldn't be at the Fourth Division. Since returning the same day was troublesome, she decided to stay overnight at her destination and wouldn't return within the day.
Although she had given the address and told them to contact her if anything happened, she didn't think any urgent business would arise.
Just when she had assumed so, this happened. It was only natural that her mood would sour.
"I apologize, what is the matter?"
"Ah! I am terribly sorry. I am a member of the Fourth Division of the Gotei 13! I was told Captain Unohana of the Fourth Division is here."
"Haa, she is indeed here, but..."
"A critically injured patient has been brought in, and 4th Seat Yukawa is handling it, but we are short-handed! Since the 4th Seat said to summon the Captain immediately!"
Hearing the voice from afar, Unohana inadvertently sat up.
The one conversing was a servant of this house. And the other was her subordinate.
Even though all that was left was to sleep, having such things said was unbearable.
Something urgent had happened—and it must be a major incident for the subordinate who had been with Unohana the longest to wish for help.
Thinking so, she couldn't sit still.
She hurriedly jumped up and headed straight for the service entrance—the place serving as a gate.
"What is the commotion?"
"This is Lady Unohana! I apologize..."
"Captain! Captain Unohana!! It's an emergency!!"
The one bowing was the helper of the house she visited for business today.
In contrast, the squad member wearing the Fourth Division's Shihakusho—if she recalled correctly, it was 15th Seat Chigusa—didn't even look apologetic. As soon as she saw her face, she showed a complex expression that looked both relieved and tense.
"What on earth happened?"
"A critically ill patient!! 4th Seat Yukawa ordered us to call the Captain, so..."
"Calm down. I can understand that an emergency patient was brought in, correct?"
"Yes!"
"Then, the condition?"
"Um..."
When questioned, she was at a loss for words.
I see. From that reaction, Unohana had a fair idea of what had happened.
Most likely, an injured person—specifically, a severely injured person that the night shift squad members couldn't handle—had appeared. And she had been called to save that injured person's life.
Unohana concluded so.
"...Understood. Then I should go to the Fourth Division barracks, correct?"
"Y-Yes! That's right!!"
—Good grief. A precious vacation, and visiting an old acquaintance's house, only for it to end like this at the very last moment...
Thinking such things, Unohana turned back to the household members.
"I am terribly sorry. It seems to be an emergency. I am fully aware that this is rude, but I will take my leave for today. Could you please convey that to the master of the house?"
"Yes..."
Although unable to grasp the situation, they must have understood that something had happened.
The employee who came out to answer, though looking bewildered, replied as such.
—...What happened?
While rushing toward the Fourth Division barracks at full speed, Unohana asked that question in her heart.
As far as she remembered, there shouldn't have been any inpatients who required such urgent response—to the extent that the Captain had to intervene.
Why then did she have to dispatch a subordinate to summon her directly?
She couldn't understand.
She had trained Yukawa personally for hundreds of years, training her enough to overcome a minor emergency on her own.
Even in the previous Extermination Operation, she showed remarkable performance—both as a Fourth Division member and in terms of combat ability—and her ability was unquestionable.
Although it took time to train her to that extent, just a little more... in just another hundred years, the day her desire would be fulfilled should be close—she possessed enough ability to make Unohana harbor such hope.
—In other words, she found a severely injured person that she couldn't handle alone.
While heading to the Fourth Division barracks, she searched for possible scenarios and countermeasures along the way.
The Shinigami who came to pick her up—15th Seat Chigusa, if she recalled—had already fallen far behind and was out of sight, but without seeming to mind, she ran the path at full speed.
Before long, she arrived within the Fourth Division premises and rushed into the General Relief Station.
"Captain!"
"Captain Unohana! Why are you here!?"
There were several people present other than the squad members ordered to night shift.
Furthermore, there was an unfamiliar girl inside the station, shouting loudly toward the door of the Intensive Care Unit while female squad members watched over her.
"Brother! Do your best!! I, I am with you!! Please, please, don't lose!! The doctor promised too!!"
Her voice was hoarse, and she was gasping for breath. She must have been shouting for quite a long time. It must be painful even to utter a voice, yet the girl continued shouting without flinching.
Unohana felt surprise and interest in the figure of the girl continuing to throw her voice toward the treatment room.
"Who might you be?"
"...Eh?"
Perhaps her concentration broke as soon as she replied.
While coughing heavily, the girl looked at Unohana with a gaze still filled with strong will.
"I-I... am... cough cough!!"
"Don't push yourself. Just nodding or shaking your head is fine, so could you answer me?"
"..."
Seeing the girl nod, Unohana continued.
"Is the person in the Intensive Care Unit your family? And is it correct that the one treating him is a Shinigami named Airi Yukawa?"
"..."
"I understand."
Seeing the girl nod again, Unohana also nodded to show she understood.
"Someone, let this child rest. And I will enter the treatment room too!"
Squad members came and took the girl away. Watching that, Unohana also entered the treatment room.
Changing into surgical scrubs and hurriedly finishing hand disinfection, she rushed into the operating theater.
"I'm late!"
"Captain!!"
As soon as she appeared, everyone present showed expressions of relief.
This seemed true even for Airi, who had been managing the scene until just moments ago, as she stopped the hands that had been working on treatment.
"Ar, e...?"
As soon as she stopped her hands, her condition became strange.
Losing consciousness, she collapsed unsteadily like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
"!"
"4th Seat Yukawa!!"
Isane, who was nearby, hurriedly caught her.
Perhaps because she had a similar build, she managed to support her without collapsing. If it had been other squad members in the operating theater, they would likely have fallen together.
"...She has fainted."
She was exhausted enough to be understood at a glance.
Just looking at her limp state, one could tell something extremely nerve-wracking had happened. probing her Reiatsu, it had decreased significantly more than usual.
If she continued to consume Reiatsu until reaching this state, it wouldn't be strange for an average Shinigami to become like a mummy.
"It's no wonder. The Squad Leader continued the procedure with tremendous momentum while giving us instructions, and performed Reiatsu treatment for a long time..."
"What happened?"
"That is...—"
To Unohana's question, the squad members present answered.
That they discovered a severely injured person around midnight. Thanks to frantically continuing treatment until now, they passed the critical point. That the girl outside was the patient's younger sister, and believing Airi's words, she had been desperately calling out to him.
"...I see."
Having finished hearing everything—though briefly due to the situation—and checking the patient's condition once more, Unohana groaned lightly.
"Quite a procedure. With this, there should be no problem."
"Eh! Is that true!?"
"It is not a lie. The condition is stable, and from what I heard and just saw, appropriate measures seem to have been taken for all fatal areas. True, fine treatments remain, but any Fourth Division member can do those."
Having said that much, Unohana looked once at the operating table, then returned her gaze to the squad members.
"If you had waited for my arrival, this patient would not have been saved. Everyone, you worked very hard."
"We did it...!!"
"Thank goodness... thank goodness..."
As expected, the sense of security is different when the Captain asserts it. Even though the procedure isn't finished yet, they raise voices of joy. Female squad members like Heike are even shedding tears.
Glancing at them, Unohana turned her gaze to the remaining one—or in a sense, two, since she was holding her.
"Officer Kotetsu."
"Y-Yesss!"
"Take her outside. She is useless now, so let her rest slowly."
"Yes!!"
Supporting Airi by lending a shoulder, Isane replied proudly.
"Ah, also. Convey to the girl waiting outside that his life has been saved. She seems to have been calling out the whole time."
"Understood!"
Watching her back as she left the operating room a step ahead, Unohana turned back to the patient.
"Now then, that child did this much. I should at least handle the remaining treatment."
However, as she herself said, the remaining treatments were only those a newcomer could handle. While quickly finishing the work alone, Unohana was satisfied with the treatment results.
—Thinking, "Has the flower finally bloomed?"...
"Nn... huh...?"
'Good morning to you.'
Yes, yes, Vietnam, Vietnam.
...Eh? Nubatama?
"What time is it!?"
"Hueh!? I'm sorry, I wasn't sleeping! I wasn't sleeping!!"
When I inadvertently jumped up, a flustered voice sounding half-asleep echoed right next to me.
"This place is..."
Looking around, this is a sickroom in the barracks, one of the rooms. A private room for inpatients. A futon was laid out, and it seems I was sleeping there.
And looking next to me, there was—
"Umm... are you awake?"
—Isane was there.
Ah, it's not like we were sleeping together. She is just sitting seiza next to me.
Did my voice half-wake her up? Her eyes look hollow, or rather half-asleep; her eyes aren't focusing.
"...Ah! Yes, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm awake!"
"I-I see... or rather, what happened since then? Why am I sleeping here?"
"Umm, that is...—"
Listening to Isane's explanation, I see, it seems I fainted from relief the moment Captain Unohana arrived. I loosened my nerves which were originally stretched taut, and the drop seemingly hit me all at once.
A doctor who has fainted is nothing but a nuisance. After being ordered to leave, I was apparently laid down here.
Come to think of it, my eyes feel bleary, my head feels heavy; symptoms of fatigue are appearing.
However, the treatment itself seems to have been successful. Thank goodness, thank goodness. As expected of Captain Unohana. If she hadn't made it in time, who knows what would have happened...
"—...I see. Thank you."
...Ah! No good, I have to apologize for that.
"I almost forgot. I'm sorry for speaking roughly in the operating room."
"No! Not at all!! I-I am the one at fault... Even though you counted on me, I couldn't be of any use at all..."
When I bowed my head, Isane also bowed her head.
So, a 4th Seat and a new recruit are bowing to each other.
What is this situation?
"Doctor!!"
Then, that girl burst in there.
"Thank goodness! You woke up!! Doctor, thank you very much!! Thanks to you, Doctor, Brother is... Brother is... I, I... misunderstood... that my family would disappear... that he might die... I was wrong!! Thank you for keeping your promise!!"
As soon as she entered the room, she hugged me with the momentum of a tackle and is saying something... but what was wrong? Probably something related to what this child was thinking or something.
As expected, it's impossible to grasp the feelings of a girl whose name I don't even know.
"Calm down, okay?"
I pat her head to calm her down for now.
"Umm... come to think of it, I haven't heard your name yet. My name is Airi Yukawa. What is your name?"
"...I am Soifon! Doctor Yukawa!!"
"I see, Soifon-chan."
She is full of energy.
...Huh? I feel like I've heard it somewhere... or rather, the word Soifon is somehow stuck in a corner of my memory...
...Eh, no way? Could it be...?
"Soifon-chan, what is your brother's name?"
"My brother? He is called Gengoro Soifon."
Hmm, this is... confirmed, I guess.
"I see, thank you. I missed hearing his name. Your brother needs to stay in the hospital and rest his body for a while, but once that's over, he'll get better. Please wait until then."
"Yes!!"
She looked puzzled as to why I was asking such things now, but when I explained the reason, she broke into a smile as if convinced. It's a sparkling, radiant smile.
—She is the future Captain of the Second Division, Soifon, isn't she, this child.
Come to think of it, Nubatama, you were quiet this time.
'Rude! That makes it sound like I'm a NEET!! Even I have at least one or two errands to run!!'
Errands, huh... you weren't doing anything strange, were you?
'No, no, nothing. Just, I want you to let me sleep a little more... I don't want to work... If I work, I lose...'
Ah, she fell asleep.
Or rather, with that way of speaking, aren't you really a NEET...
In that room, Gengoro Soifon, who had miraculously returned from the brink of death after major surgery, was laid down.
Although the anesthesia hasn't worn off and he hasn't regained consciousness yet, his breathing sounds are like those of a healthy person. Without the bandages wrapped around his whole body, one would believe it if told he was sleeping soundly.
And inside the room, there were two other Shinigami besides him continuing to sleep.
Both of them were repeatedly and enthusiastically looking back and forth between the sleeping Gengoro and the papers in their hands—the medical records that had just been completed.
"To think it's all over when I thought I rushed here in a hurry after being beaten awake at dawn... Good grief, my subordinate is excellent."
Eventually, one of them muttered with a tone mixed with sarcasm.
He showed a sharp look in his eyes and a composed demeanor, and thoughtfulness could be felt from his behavior.
"Oh my, she is not your subordinate, but someone I trained, you know? Lieutenant Yamada."
"...Even so, she is a squad member of the Fourth Division, so there is no problem calling her a subordinate, right? Captain Unohana."
An exchange like a serious match called words.
The name of this man with Unohana is Seinosuke Yamada, and he is also the man currently entrusted with the position of Lieutenant of the Fourth Division.
He is one of those Airi hurriedly summoned upon examining Gengoro's injuries.
However, since he was in a location farther than Unohana, by the time the squad member calling him appeared, it was already after dawn, and when he came to the Fourth Division barracks, the sun had completely risen.
Seinosuke, having arrived like that, was examining Gengoro's condition with Unohana.
"I heard he had sustained serious injuries that wouldn't be strange if he died, but this is splendid. I am glad that person has finally blossomed."
"Do you think so too?"
"Of course. Even though she is older than me, her rank is far below. It was awkward every time I gave orders."
Unohana giggled at Seinosuke saying that.
"Nothing but lies. You wouldn't care about such things, would you?"
"That is unexpected. I intend to possess at least minimum courtesy, and I respect an opponent who could perform this much treatment... well, assuming this treatment record is accurate."
"Are you doubting it? There is the testimony of the colleague who brought him here, and the testimony of the seated officers who participated in the treatment. I participated in the treatment only at the end. At least there are no lies."
Unohana retorted looking slightly annoyed, but this time Seinosuke sighed.
"Then assuming it is all fact, it means she healed all these injuries... which means she possesses treatment skills surpassing even me."
Seinosuke's skill in Kaido stands out from the crowd.
Even in the Fourth Division, it is said to surpass even Unohana.
In other words, it means Airi healed serious injuries that even the currently most excellent Kaido user would judge as "impossible" upon seeing.
And that by someone who had been smoldering as an underling for many years. Even if suddenly confronted with such a fact, it is natural for Seinosuke not to believe it.
"That is exactly what you said yourself, isn't it? 'Finally blossomed', that's all it is."
"Does that mean 'blue comes from indigo yet is bluer than indigo'—admitting that she surpassed you, her master?"
Both fell silent, and a dangerous atmosphere flowed in the sickroom.
"...Well, fine. She has the track record, and the timing is just right. It's a good opportunity. It's about time that person was rewarded."
Eventually, as if giving in, Seinosuke spoke.
"If the Captain is fine with it, I will prepare for the handover... what will you do?"
"There should be no problem. I will proceed with preparations on my side as well."
"Very well. In reality, it will probably be from the beginning of the next fiscal year, but let's proceed as such."
After such an exchange, the two nodded to each other and left the sickroom.
Still harboring their respective intentions.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]