Treatment

After that, under Taume Yoshigami's arrangements, Akira was placed in a relatively decent house to make preparations. Then Taume Yoshigami hurried off to prepare.

A long while later, led by Taume Yoshigami, an elderly woman with graying hair and an unusually withered spiritual body walked in, holding a little girl who looked about seven or eight by the standards of humans from the World of the Living.

"Akira, take a look. Can they undergo that Kaido treatment?"

Taume Yoshigami spoke in his usual loud, easygoing tone, seemingly trying to ease the elderly woman's nervousness.

After preparing in the house for a long time, Akira, who had fully entered his working state, nodded and answered, "Yes. Leave it to me."

"Good."

Taume Yoshigami turned and walked out with light steps, not forgetting to close the door for Akira.

"Do not be nervous."

Akira guided the elderly woman, who was holding the little girl, to sit down. His voice was gentle and warm, as if he were only chatting with her in daily life to ease their emotions.

"What should I call you?"

"Sorry. It has been too long. I have forgotten."

"And this little girl is?"

"She is my adopted granddaughter. When I found her, she was still only this tall, crouching under the eaves and crying without stopping..."

Perhaps Akira's gentle warmth opened the elderly woman's desire to speak. She talked almost endlessly, every word circling back to the little girl in her arms. A little light seemed to appear in her eyes, as if that little girl had already become all of her support and all of her light.

From the information the elderly woman revealed, Akira also learned that the little girl was a soul brought from the World of the Living by a Shinigami's Soul Burial, randomly sent to this remote, poor, and somewhat chaotic district of Rukongai.

Because the little girl possessed a bit of spiritual power, she would feel hunger and needed to eat from time to time. That made life extremely difficult for the two of them. Even so, the two lonely souls still depended tightly on each other until the little girl suddenly fell unconscious.

"Then, regarding the possible consequences that Soul Transplant may have on your spiritual body, do you understand everything?" Akira asked in final confirmation.

"Yes. I will be in your care, sir."

The elderly woman nodded. She looked down at the little girl in her arms, whose eyes were numb and dull, without the slightest expression.

"This child is everything I have. If she can recover, I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life."

"Good."

Akira nodded solemnly. Then he carefully examined the grandmother and granddaughter before having them lie together on a wide bed.

"Then I will begin. Sleep well. After you wake, your granddaughter will be able to laugh normally again."

After that, Akira drew the Zanpakuto at his waist and released it. He controlled two blades of grass to coil around their spiritual bodies, continuously repairing them. Only then did he truly begin using the Kaido for Soul Transplant.

Outside the house, Retsu Unohana stood on a rooftop, watching Akira perform Soul Transplant through the window. She carefully observed every detail, prepared to appear at any moment and correct things for him if needed.

Even Retsu Unohana believed that treating people this way would only spread the wound from one soul to two souls, making it a meaningless act.

Especially since what these residents had lost was mainly the emotional portion of the soul. Even after Soul Transplant, both spiritual bodies would inevitably retain some emotional defects.

From Retsu Unohana's position, the only benefits of such a painstaking effort were that Akira might earn some goodwill from Shinigami born in Rukongai and that it would help Akira's own growth.

But as Akira's Soul Transplant entered the correct track without the slightest mistake, a trace of admiration flashed through Retsu Unohana's eyes.

'As expected, Akira's talent is truly outstanding.'

After that, relieved, Retsu Unohana no longer kept all her attention on the house. Instead, she began thinking about the problem behind this small-scale soul-loss incident.

"Judging by what we currently know, this is highly suspicious. It cannot be treated as an ordinary incident. It will be necessary to remind the Captain-Commander to take it seriously..."

Retsu Unohana murmured softly.

...

Akira naturally did not know that Retsu Unohana was secretly watching him. After successfully using Soul Transplant to place a portion of soul as a spiritual body anchor, restabilizing the little girl's spiritual body and supplementing part of the missing emotion in her soul, Akira, whose forehead was already covered in sweat, finally let out a breath.

Even then, Akira did not stop. He did everything he could to complete the little girl's final spiritual body repair.

Fortunately, his studies in the Fourth Division during this period had given Akira a breakthrough-level understanding of the structure of spiritual bodies. The little girl's spiritual body had not collapsed completely either; it only needed to be repaired with Shinra Bansho's ability.

A short while later, after the green light representing Kaido faded from Akira's hand, he did not forget to give the somewhat adorable little girl one final examination.

'Good. There are no unintended additions to her body, and the repaired spiritual body will be able to develop normally from now on.'

Looking at the little girl lying before him, Akira could not help nodding in satisfaction over the process of his first large-scale Kaido treatment.

When Akira opened the door, Taume Yoshigami, who had been waiting outside for a long time, hurried over and urgently asked, "Akira, how did the treatment go?"

"Sorry..."

Akira said it politely by reflex. In an instant, Taume Yoshigami's face turned white, his eyes went completely red, and his whole body looked ready to collapse.

Seeing that, Akira quickly finished the sentence. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. The treatment was very successful. They only need to rest for a while before waking up."

Taume Yoshigami's nearly broken expression froze. Between laughter and tears, he said, "Akira, can you not pause like that when you talk?"

"Clearly, you were too impatient."

Akira spoke with an innocent expression, looking nothing like someone taking revenge on purpose.

After a pause, Akira looked at Taume Yoshigami's reaction and asked curiously, "Do you have some relationship with them?"

Hearing that, a trace of remembrance appeared in Taume Yoshigami's eyes. He said nostalgically, "That is a story from more than ten years ago. If not for her kindness, I probably would have..."

Before Taume Yoshigami could finish, Akira interrupted without the slightest hesitation.

"Stop, stop. Please call in the next resident who can undergo Soul Transplant."

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