Chapter 21: Selling to Whoever Has Money
Three days later, by the living world's calendar, it was "Golden Week."
The Soul Society didn't observe this holiday but had entered a new weekend.
Sōma dragged Ichigo and Rindō back to Rukongai early in the morning.
Without alerting the elders or Kūkaku, they headed straight into the woods in the outskirts.
This bizarre behavior puzzled Ichigo greatly.
"Sōma, what exactly are you up to? Did you leave something important here and bring us back to find it?"
"You're actually right. We are here to find something, but it's not mine. I don't even know what it looks like."
Sōma stood on a large rock, surveying the surrounding terrain as if confirming the direction to narrow down the search area.
"What kind of answer is that?"
Ichigo glanced back at his companion from the living group, hoping for an explanation.
Rindō shook his head slightly. Even with the sensitivity to perceive others' emotions, it didn't mean he could read minds.
However, one thing he could assert:
Sōma wouldn't do anything meaningless.
"After exchanging some information with the captain of the Second Division, I finally figured a few things out."
Sōma seemed to be addressing their confusion while also muttering to himself.
"That hot-tempered ice queen would share intel with you out of goodwill? You weren't tricked, were you?"
Having been arrested by his own side despite winning the fight, Ichigo held a particularly poor impression of Suì-Fēng.
"Why do you think I shared those paranormal case studies from the living world?"
"...What paranormal cases? Those are just fictional works... So, whether she deceived you is uncertain, but you definitely deceived her."
"As the saying goes, art imitates life. People can learn many novel things from literature, and then..."
"And then what?"
Ichigo frowned, his curiosity unwittingly piqued.
"Then, when you have someone to communicate with, you can't help but share impressions, often citing vivid examples related to your own experiences."
Sōma spread his hands.
"See? That's how intel comes."
"..."
Ichigo was speechless.
It took him a while to process.
So Sōma had done it on purpose.
The goal was to induce Suì-Fēng into connecting her own investigative findings with the stories he described, triggering associative thinking.
No matter what connections she made, she'd feel exhilarated—seeing the dawn of cracking the case and discovering more possibilities.
Suì-Fēng instinctively believed this was all Sōma's doing. As her favorability toward him greatly increased, she couldn't help but show off her "gains."
To enhance credibility and maintain her dignity and authority as a captain, she would inevitably present genuine and reliable intelligence as evidence.
Thus, there was almost no possibility of being deceived by false information.
Unless it was all an act from start to finish.
But that irritable, cold-faced woman had absolutely no reason to do so.
"Sōma, it's such a waste of talent for you to be a folklorist. If you became a diplomat, true world peace wouldn't be far away."
"Dealing with humans isn't as interesting as dealing with supernatural events," Sōma replied nonchalantly.
"Alright, let's get back on track. From what I learned from Captain Suì-Fēng about the circumstances before the two academy students went missing, combined with the dying words of that Hollow, I roughly understand the reason for their disappearance."
"Dying words? I remember it seemed to call out someone's name," Ichigo recalled, trying hard to remember.
"Not the one you shot to death, but the one I took down," Sōma interrupted.
"That guy said before dying that those two academy students seemed to have appeared in Rukongai because of some object, and had the misfortune of running into the Hollow. I'm certain that the object is somewhere in Junrinan. Now we need to go find it and claim it for ourselves."
"Wait a minute."
Ichigo asked with confusion.
"You said you'd claim it for yourself... Would the Second Division agree to that?"
"I kept this secret hidden."
"..."
Looking at Sōma's matter-of-fact expression, Ichigo's lips twitched slightly. Surprisingly, he didn't feel particularly shocked, because this was exactly the kind of thing the other person would do.
However, after learning about this, his negative impression of the Second Division captain inevitably faded somewhat.
Perhaps it was... sympathy.
"Based on the confirmed activity range of that Menos Grande and the area where academy students went missing, we can roughly deduce it's somewhere around here."
Sōma turned to look at Rindō.
"Rindō, could you ask your animal friends for help? I don't think we can find it through normal methods. Otherwise, the Onmitsukidō wouldn't have worked all night without even knowing where the bodies are."
"You mean the two academy students' bodies are with that thing?"
Ichigo instinctively scanned their surroundings, trying to spot something unusual in the dense mountain forest.
But he couldn't.
Sōma couldn't either.
The only one who could was Rindō.
Rindō didn't disappoint Sōma, taking on the responsibility without hesitation.
But it would require some time.
After all, nobody knew what that thing looked like.
They could only first search for animals that had seen the two academy students, then use them to pinpoint their last known location.
Most of the day passed unnoticed.
As the news spread among the animals in this area.
Finally, just before sunset, a lark brought good news.
It had seen the two academy students.
And witnessed with its own eyes a monster following them into a cave!
"If we make big money from this later, I'll definitely get your bird friend the best bird food."
Sōma's spirits lifted.
Nearby, Ichigo also breathed a sigh of relief—after waiting most of the day, they finally had results.
"Speaking of which, so that's your plan. Doesn't really seem like your style."
"How so?"
"It's too normal."
"...Then let me tell you something else that you'd consider normal."
On their way to the incident site following the lark, the atmosphere had been quite relaxed and pleasant, but Sōma's few words quickly made Ichigo lose all sense of ease.
"Right now we're still living on Shin'ō Academy's merit scholarships, we can't even afford clothes from the living world. Yayahara has treated us to so many lavish meals for free. Even though we're friends, do you want to keep freeloading forever?"
"A Shinigami's basic salary is equivalent to about 200,000 yen in purchasing power in the living world. Only when you become a seated officer can you barely start saving money. Promotion to captain gets you about ten times an ordinary squad member's pay, but all that seems very distant to us right now."
"So if we can achieve financial freedom at this stage, or at least have some income coming in, we can improve our quality of life before becoming captains."
"I'd really love to hire a few maids to take care of my daily needs. Not only would it be convenient, but it would free up time to focus on training."
Sōma's words struck a chord, leaving Ichigo completely unable to refute them. He even had to admit that what Sōma said made sense.
...
...
Soon, the three arrived at the dense forest at the mountain cliff's base.
Sōma immediately sensed something was wrong.
"No wonder it's so well hidden—there's a barrier here."
One could only say it was extremely sophisticated, far beyond what academy students like them could currently imagine.
A barrier concealed the entrance to the underground cavern.
Even with extensive manpower conducting a thorough search, it would be nearly impossible to detect.
Only by physically touching a specific spot on the ground could one sense the barrier's presence and thus discover the cavern entrance.
Beyond its concealment, however, the barrier offered no additional functions.
They passed through it almost effortlessly.
Descending along the stone steps.
Before long, the view suddenly opened up, revealing what seemed like a miniature world.
"It's huge."
Ichigo exclaimed in awe.
Sōma was also observing. This place, buried hundreds of meters underground, had been hollowed out by some unknown means, forming a vast space no smaller than a modern sports arena.
Jagged rock formations, bright as daylight, steam rising, temperature slightly higher than outside, and somewhat humid...
Such an environment inevitably brought to mind Yellowstone Park with its volcanic features.
Especially since directly ahead, a small waterfall roared, its endless flow crashing into the pool below, from which the heat and moisture originated.
The three of them remained vigilant against potential sudden changes in this unfamiliar environment while searching the area.
But after looking around, they found nothing.
Eventually, they arrived at the edge of the pool.
Listening to the white noise of the waterfall, Ichigo was about to say something when he saw Sōma fall silent for a moment, draw his Zanpakutō, cut his fingertip, and place it in the water. He quickly called out:
"Hey, Sōma, what are you doing?"
Rindō also cast a puzzled and concerned glance.
Sōma silently withdrew his hand and showed them the injured finger.
"The wound... disappeared."
Ichigo's pupils contracted. He hadn't seen any signs of the other using Kaidō for treatment.
In other words—
Ichigo and Rindō instinctively looked at the steamy, hot spring-like pool.
"I think I know what this place is."
Sōma stood up, his tone distant.
"A hot spring created by Kirinji Tenjirō, a healing facility that embodies the pinnacle of Kaidō technology."
"Never heard of him."
Ichigo and Rindō looked bewildered.
Of course, they hadn't.
Even many people were unaware that the hot spring in Urahara Kisuke's secret base beneath Sōkyoku Hill was modeled after this very hot spring.
However, Sōma only knew that the "prototype" Urahara referenced was located somewhere in Rukongai, but not the exact location.
He never expected to stumble upon it this time.
Suddenly, Sōma's gaze sharpened.
Ichigo and Rindō noticed it too.
Two severely damaged Shin'ō Academy uniforms drifted over from the water's surface.
Though unexpected, it made sense.
"Hey, Sōma..."
Ichigo stared at the two uniforms and suddenly spoke.
"Hmm?"
"They probably didn't come here for no reason, right?"
"Yeah."
Sōma's expression remained neutral, his tone flat, as if discussing someone else's matter, yet it concerned them.
"Just a guess... The missing student from Class 2 is of noble birth, and the one from Class 1 is from Rukongai. They didn't know each other and had no interaction. But because of our presence, Class 1 has garnered unusually high attention this year."
"You've seen how nobles treat those from Rukongai."
"The two missing students had similar entrance exam rankings. You could say that if their rankings were swapped, the candidate entering Class 1 would change."
"Perhaps because of this, the missing student from Class 2 not only disliked them but harbored deep-seated envy and resentment."
"So he targeted another missing person, attempting to find an opportunity to expel them from Shin'ō Academy and take their spot himself."
"But while keeping watch, he noticed the other's suspicious movements and followed them here."
"As for how the missing person from our class learned of this place, it's either through sheer luck or hearing about it from someone else."
"After discovering this place's miraculous properties, both wanted to claim it for themselves. But neither expected a Menos Grande following behind them, so neither gained any advantage... or perhaps not entirely."
Sōma suddenly thought of something and narrowed his eyes.
"That Menos Grande could evade Seireitei's surveillance and hide in Rukongai might be related to it having devoured a Zanpakutō and soaked in this hot spring."
"After hearing that, I don't even want to get in anymore."
Ichigo made a disgusted face.
"What are you afraid of? It's flowing water."
"That's still disgusting... But speaking of which, Sōma, you said on the way here you wanted to use this opportunity to make money. Looks like your plan is going down the drain~"
"What are you talking about?"
Sōma watched Ichigo gleefully making puns with complete composure.
"Who said we can't make money from this?"
"Huh? No, don't tell you want to open a bathhouse?!"
Ichigo was astonished.
"That's too troublesome. It'd be better to just bottle this hot spring water and sell it as medicine. You've seen how incredible its healing effects are."
A shrewd light sparkled in Sōma's eyes.
"Would anyone actually buy it? That's just... weird."
"Why wouldn't they? Imagine if someone got injured protecting you, lying on the ground, unable to move. You could defeat the enemy, but couldn't save them. At that point, you wouldn't hesitate to use even stranger, more questionable things than hot spring water. Am I wrong?"
"..."
Ichigo's breathing halted as he stared blankly, seemingly resonating with the scenario Sōma described.
"No... you're not wrong."
"So the water transportation job is yours. I'll contact the buyers."
Sōma patted his shoulder with a satisfied expression.
"What?!"
"If you have complaints, I can handle them myself. But don't come asking to borrow money later."
"...I didn't say I wouldn't do it. But who are you planning to sell to? Don't get us reported."
"Whoever has money."
Sōma responded to Ichigo's grumbling with his usual matter-of-fact attitude.
"There's no chance of being reported, because our buyer handles the reporting department."
"..."
Ichigo and Rindō exchanged glances, their minds involuntarily conjuring the image of that unfortunate figure still patrolling the streets of Rukongai.