One week later, in the Yuyama District of East Rukongai's District 68. In less than a year's time, Shinigami had once again graced this place with their presence.
Wearing Kōki, which had transformed into a Hannya mask, Kōe walked down the sole main street of the Yuyama District, glancing left and right. Following behind him was a woman with short, light purple hair—none other than Squad 4's Kotetsu Isane.
The Yuyama District was safe, but it was also incredibly desolate. Very few of the surrounding houses were intact, and most of the roof tiles were missing more than half their pieces.
Actually, this was considered the better part. If the two of them bypassed these roadside houses, they would find nothing but a chaotic mess of thatched cottages behind them, or even shacks cobbled together from a few broken wooden boards. The so-called "sole main street" wasn't the only one originally designed; rather, the other main streets had all been choked into narrow alleys by these illegal structures.
Naturally, the two weren't here for a date or a friendly hike. In fact, they couldn't even be considered friends right now—merely acquaintances.
Originally, Kōe wasn't included among those tasked with capturing the ten escaped convicts. However, he had been fretting over finding an excuse to ask Yamamoto for the Quincy. With ready-made merit sitting right in front of him, how could he possibly let it slip by?
It was rare for Kōe to be this proactive, and Yamamoto was pleased to see him taking the affairs of the Seireitei so seriously. Although Squad 1 traditionally didn't involve itself in such operations, adding one more person wasn't a big deal. So, with a grand wave of his hand, Yamamoto allowed Kōe to join the manhunt as the fifth support member.
"Lieutenant Shihouin, aren't we being a bit too half-hearted about this?" Kotetsu Isane asked timidly.
Like Kōe, Kotetsu Isane had volunteered to come. Her personality used to be far too cowardly, a flaw she had acutely realized after her experiences on the Plains of Slaughter a century ago.
Isane had joined Squad 4 to save more people. Kōe's words back then had made her understand that to save others, she needed to be brave—or at the very least, she couldn't allow herself to be the reason someone else lost their life.
Now, she was changing bit by bit. Perhaps her disposition was still a little weak, but she at least dared to voice her opinions. Doing so in front of Kōe, who had left a slight shadow of trauma in her heart, was already a massive challenge for her.
Indeed, Kōe looked as though he were here sightseeing. The Yuyama District was large to begin with, and coupled with its dense population and chaotic housing, there was a high probability of someone hiding here. Even if they didn't check every single house, shouldn't they at least ask the residents if any strangers had come by recently?
"I want to catch those people even more than you do, so just relax and trust me," Kōe replied casually, continuing to lead Isane on their stroll down the street.
Seeing this, Isane didn't press the issue. In her eyes, Kōe was nothing like Sasakibe Chōjirō, whom everyone jokingly called the 'non-combatant Lieutenant.' In fact, she felt that this newly appointed Squad 1 Lieutenant was currently the most terrifying lieutenant in the entire Seireitei.
If Kōe could hear Isane's inner thoughts right now, he probably wouldn't be able to hold back a laugh. After all, compared to his own act of playing the useless playboy, Sasakibe was the true master of acting.
The man had clearly achieved Bankai ages ago. Yamamoto had even told him that Sasakibe had mastered his Bankai in a mere month. Furthermore, while testing Sasakibe's Bankai, Yamamoto had been left with a permanent scar on his forehead—a feat very few in the Seireitei could ever hope to accomplish.
Yet a man like that never participated in any battles during peacetime, and his limited sparring sessions with other Captains always left much to be desired. A genius pretending to be a fool for over a thousand years—such dedication forced Kōe to give him a mental thumbs-up and praise him as a veteran actor!
However, Kōe's mask could only see spiritual power, not peer into people's hearts. And even if he could, he wouldn't share these things with Kotetsu Isane anyway.
"You must be tired from walking, right? Let's go to the house next door to rest for a bit and ask for a cup of water," Kōe said, suddenly stopping in his tracks and turning back to Isane.
"Tired?" Isane was a bit confused. Although the two of them had been walking for no less than an hour, if they complained of fatigue from just that, the Soul Society would have been overrun by Hollows long ago.
"Don't be so serious!" Kōe patted Isane on the shoulder and said with a smile, "There's nothing wrong with slacking off every now and then!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Kōe walked over to a thatched cottage on the left and knocked on the door.
"Is anyone home? If it's not too much trouble, could we get a cup of water?" Kōe shouted. Seeing no response, he pushed the door open himself. "If no one's here, I'm just going to let myself in!"
However, the moment he opened the door, a little girl who looked to be only fourteen or fifteen, with a slightly dirty face and short orange hair, ran over holding a clay cup. She was startled by the Hannya mask on Kōe's face. If Kōe hadn't been quick with his hands, that cup of water would have been lost.
"Shi-Shinigami-sama, here is the water you asked for!"
"Aren't I already drinking it?" Kōe teased. He tilted his head back, finished the water, and handed the cup back to the little girl, continuing to ask, "Are you the only one home?"
"Cough!" A heavy cough came from the inner room. The little girl glanced back and replied haltingly, "Th-There's also my father, and, my younger brother."
"Oh? From the sound of it, your folks' health isn't too good. Since I drank your water, I should show some appreciation." Kōe patted the little girl on the head and shouted loudly toward the door, "Isane, prepare to heal!"
"There's no need, Shinigami-sama!"
The little girl hurriedly waved her hands in refusal, but the Shinigami with the terrifying mask had already vanished from her sight. She suddenly found herself flying toward the door, where another female Shinigami appeared just in time to catch her steadily in her arms.
"Ah!"
A sudden scream echoed from inside the house. Hearing it, the little girl began to struggle desperately, twisting her head and muttering repeatedly, "Gin, you can't be hurt, you absolutely can't be hurt!"
"Gin? Is that this brat's name?"
Kōe's figure reappeared at the doorway. In his left hand, he held a bleeding middle-aged man by the collar, and in his right hand, he supported a little boy with yellowish-gray hair whose large eyes were blinking rapidly.
Through the Kōki mask, Kōe could only see spiritual power. Since the vast majority of commoners in the Rukongai lacked spiritual power, using Kōki to search for the convicts was actually a very efficient method.
Just moments ago, he had looked through Kōki and seen three people with spiritual power inside this house. Two of them were weaker, their silhouettes clearly belonging to children. The remaining one was an adult, significantly stronger than the two brats.
However, "stronger" was a relative term; the adult barely reached a level two in spiritual power. It definitely wasn't one of the escaped convicts he was looking for.
Initially, Kōe hadn't thought much of it. Running into a couple of commoners with spiritual power occasionally wasn't all that surprising. But as he got closer, he saw the adult's hands actually wrapping around the necks of the two kids. It went without saying what that meant.
In broad daylight, under the clear blue sky! If he hadn't seen it, he would have let it go, but for someone to attempt murder right under his nose? That was treating Shinigami with far too little respect! Still, for this thug to warrant a Lieutenant taking action, it could be considered an honor.
"Gin!" Seeing the little boy in Kōe's hand, the little girl jumped down from Isane's arms and cried out happily.
The boy named Gin smiled and replied, "Don't worry, I'm fine."
"You really are fine, but isn't that thanks to me?" Kōe tossed the man in his left hand aside, held Gin up with both hands, and said seriously, "Shouldn't you say thank you?"
"Th... Thank you..."
"That's more like it!" Kōe smiled and set Gin down on the ground. "Go play with your big sister!"
"Thank you, Shinigami-sama!" the little girl shouted her gratitude. After bowing to Kōe, she grabbed Gin's hand and ran off.
"Lieutenant Shihouin, this man isn't the person we're looking for."
"I know. He probably sneaked in from beyond District 70. People like this have truly gone mad from hunger." Kōe looked at the man on the ground, his eyes full of disgust. "Heal him, but don't let him stand up again. I want him to have a mouth full of teeth but be completely unable to bite anyone!"
After simply stabilizing the man's injuries and severing the use of his legs with spiritual power, Kōe and Kotetsu Isane left the Yuyama District.
Just moments ago, they had received a Kidō transmission: "Traces of the escaped convicts have been discovered on the outskirts of District 69 ahead. Requesting backup."
The impoverished Yuyama District didn't undergo any changes due to their arrival, but two little ones had gained a new hope for the future because of Kōe.
"Gin, let's become Shinigami, okay?"
"Weren't you hurt because of Shinigami before? I thought you really resisted the idea of them."
"It's different now. Just like that Shinigami-sama from earlier, he was really good! We can become Shinigami like him, and that way, we can protect even more people!"
"Alright, today is your birthday anyway, so whatever you say goes." The little boy named Gin smiled and said, "Let's go become Shinigami, Rangiku."
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