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West Rukongai, West 7 District, outskirts.
As a district with a low serial number, even the outskirts of West 7 District still had a wide road leading directly to Seireitei.
On both sides of the road were dense forests, stretching along the ridge line into the distance.
The ridge line on the horizon connected with Shika Mountain in West 3 District, forming a vast mountain range that enveloped the five districts from West 3 to West 7.
Although the vast mountains were expansive, generally speaking, one would not get lost, as several districts were located in the mountain basin.
As long as one walked downhill, they would encounter residential areas, and there were also many cultivated fields among the mountains.
Silently, accompanied by a gentle breeze.
Four figures appeared on the path beside the mountain fields; it was Ishikawa Katori and his three companions, who had rushed here immediately after receiving the news.
"Did those kids just now say it was here?"
Ikkaku Madarame looked at the fields where the autumn harvest had ended, chuckling, "This scenery really brings back memories.
In recent years, large-scale cultivated fields like these have become rare in Seireitei."
"Heh heh, isn't this great?"
Ayasegawa Yumichika stroked the feather ornament near his eye, "If Shinigami also have to farm, then I really should consider whether to learn from Sir Ishikawa, because someone as beautiful as me will absolutely, absolutely not do such dusty work!"
"If you think it's dirty, then don't eat it."
Ishikawa Katori replied casually, his gaze fixed on the fields.
He was not unfamiliar with this place, as the crops in this entire large area were harvested solely by Ishikawa Katori.
According to the children who played with Kosuke, they were playing kick the can in these fields.
The boy with the best stamina among them kicked the can into the adjacent woods, and Kosuke went in to retrieve it but never came out.
Ishikawa Katori looked up at the sky; the sun was already setting in the west, which made him frown slightly.
Hopefully, there are still traces left.
Kosuke's disappearance was in the morning, but he only received the news in the afternoon, which was not Emi's fault.
After discovering Kosuke was missing, she probably searched for him herself initially.
Only when she couldn't find him did she think of contacting him, and from West 7 District to West 38th District, even by carriage along the fastest route, it would take at least half a day.
From this perspective, she had already found him as quickly as possible.
"I don't feel any residual spiritual power. Should we split up and search?"
Abarai Renji gazed around.
In his opinion, everyone splitting up and searching the entire mountain range with Shunpo would be the fastest way.
Even if nearly a day had passed, a normal Spirit Body, especially a child, could not have gone very far.
"No need for such trouble."
After saying that, Ishikawa Katori directly squatted on the ground and carved a circular magic circle on the ground with one hand.
"Heart of the South, eye of the North! Fingertips of the West, toes of the East! Gather with the wind, scatter with the rain…"
The ethereal chant slowly emanated, unhurriedly.
Ishikawa Katori's Reiatsu surged, and just before it surged, his face couldn't help but turn slightly pale.
Even with a full incantation, is it still a bit strenuous?
Bakudo No. 58: Kakushitsuijaku, is inherently a Kido that consumes a lot of Reiatsu.
And the 'Kakushitsuijaku: Modified', which Ishikawa Katori created the prototype for and the System perfected, increased the Reiatsu consumption several times over, making it extremely difficult for Ishikawa Katori to use due to his damaged Spirit Core.
Fortunately, Ishikawa Katori adjusted the range in time, only encompassing the nearby districts, which stabilized the magic circle, allowing him to finish reciting the subsequent incantation word by word.
"…Bakudo No. 58: Kakushitsuijaku: Modified!"
Buzz—
An invisible wave immediately spread out from Ishikawa Katori as its center.
"Modified?"
Except for Ikkaku Madarame, who was completely uninterested in Kido, Kiyone and Renji couldn't help but look at the modified magic circle on the ground.
But they did not approach rashly, instead holding their breath simultaneously, because from the Reishi fluctuations around Ishikawa Katori, it was clear that Ishikawa Katori's condition was not very good at the moment.
A rash disturbance could very likely interrupt the release of the Kido.
No traces were found in the surroundings.
Ishikawa Katori was not disappointed by this, because he never expected to track Kosuke's whereabouts with Kakushitsuijaku.
Although he possessed some talent, Kosuke himself could not exploit this power, and even if there were residual Reishi, it would have long disappeared after half a day.
"Hmm?"
Ishikawa Katori raised an eyebrow, his Reiatsu receding, and the magic circle, deprived of spiritual support, immediately dispersed.
"Did you find anything?" Ayasegawa Yumichika asked.
"Follow me."
Ishikawa Katori did not explain but instead sped directly into the distant woods.
Seeing this, the three followed closely behind Ishikawa Katori.
In the blink of an eye, the four entered the woods, finally stopping in front of a dense thicket of bushes.
Ishikawa Katori squatted in front of the bushes, his brows tightly furrowed as he stared at the thicket.
"What are you being so mysterious about?" Ikkaku Madarame said somewhat impatiently, "Even if a kid gets lost, he can't run far.
Instead of investigating so painstakingly, it's better to split up and search as Renji suggested."
"He wasn't lost; he was taken."
Ishikawa Katori pushed aside the bushes with his hand, and a ball woven from vines came into the three's view.
"What is this?"
"The 'can' in kick the can.
Kick the can usually uses iron or tin cans 10-15 cm high as the can, but it's hard to find suitable cans in Soul Society, so I made Kosuke a vine ball back then.
This is the vine ball I made for him."
"To increase the toughness of the vine ball, after weaving it, I carved Spiritual Crests on it to enhance its resilience."
"Are you saying someone cleared the residual spiritual power in the surroundings?"
Ayasegawa Yumichika frowned, already understanding Ishikawa Katori's meaning.
"Huh?"
Ikkaku Madarame and Abarai Renji looked at Ayasegawa Yumichika with some confusion.
Ayasegawa Yumichika sighed slightly, "Look closely, do you see any traces of Spiritual Crests on that ball?"
With that, he pointed to the vine ball in Ishikawa Katori's hand.
"Low Level Spiritual Crests carry extremely weak Reishi.
Although I don't know much about inscriptions, the inscriptions Ishikawa Katori carved should be the kind with weak effects, not carrying Reishi themselves, but relying on Soul Society's high Reishi density for replenishment."
"This kind of Spiritual Crest has an advantage: unless in a Low Reishi environment… that is, like the Human World, there's almost no possibility of wear and tear."
"So, for the Spiritual Crests to disappear, there's only one possibility: the Reishi in this area became weak or even disappeared at some point, and the Low Level Spiritual Crests on the vine ball, losing Reishi maintenance, naturally dissipated."
Ayasegawa Yumichika sneered, "However, Soul Society's high-density Reishi is almost ubiquitous; it's impossible for localized Reishi to disappear at some moment, unless someone, to eliminate their own traces, eliminated all the Reishi and their own presence in the entire area."
Ishikawa Katori looked at Ayasegawa Yumichika, nodded, and said, "Fifth Seat Ayasegawa is right."
He had to admit… among the Gotei 13 Squad Members who only knew how to hack and slash, Ayasegawa Yumichika was truly an anomaly.
"Only a Shinigami could do that, and even then, an ordinary Squad Member couldn't achieve it."
Abarai Renji's face showed a hint of confusion, "Someone so strong, do they really need to abduct a child from Rukongai? And after abducting him, they meticulously clear their traces of having been here.
How is that possible!?"
Although what he said might be inappropriate, if the missing child wasn't Ishikawa Katori's friend's child, the Gotei 13 would never have known what happened here.
Furthermore, even if they knew, the disappearance of one or two people wouldn't prompt a Shinigami investigation.
Only large-scale disappearances of Rukongai residents would attract the attention of the Gotei 13, so the other party had no need to be so cautious.
"It's not as difficult as you say; many spiritual tools developed by the Technology Development Bureau can achieve this."
Ishikawa Katori shook his head.
When he followed Ōmaeda and others to the Human World, those renegade Third Squad Seated Officers had used similar spiritual tools.
That being said.
But Renji also made a lot of sense; if it was just about taking a child, there really was no need to clear traces of their presence, unless the other party was certain that someone would come looking for the child, and that person might discover their traces.
In other words…
Himself!
The other party likely knew of his connection with Emi's family and anticipated that he might come searching for the missing Kosuke, which is why they were so cautious in clearing their traces, to avoid being discovered by him.
"I thought this would be a boring assignment, but now it seems to be getting interesting."
Ikkaku Madarame had clearly realized it too, grinning strangely, "Have you offended anyone recently? Is the other party coming for you?"
"If they were truly coming for him, they wouldn't clear their traces; instead, they would use that child to lure Sir Ishikawa over."
Ayasegawa Yumichika shook his head, "Does that child have anything special about him? Someone would actually risk being discovered by Sir Ishikawa to abduct that child."
"Could it be someone from the Twelfth Squad… uh…"
Abarai Renji stopped mid-sentence, noticing the three looking at him simultaneously, and couldn't help but feel a little guilty, "Um… Sir Ishikawa… didn't you just say that the Technology Development Bureau has such spiritual tools, so… that's why I had this guess…"
That being said…
But his thinking of the Twelfth Squad wasn't just for this one reason.
It was because the people there always felt quite crazy to him… researching spiritual bodies, especially spiritual bodies with the talent to become Shinigami.
Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri was entirely capable of doing such a thing.
Although it was just a rumor, there were often rumors of Kurotsuchi Mayuri experimenting on Twelfth Squad Members.
"It's not entirely impossible."
Ayasegawa Yumichika chuckled, then looked at Ishikawa Katori, who was deep in thought, "What do you think?"
Ishikawa Katori hesitated for a moment, then said, "That child is actually a bit strange."
"Strange?" The three were startled.
"He died in the Human World a year ago and came to Soul Society."
Ishikawa Katori organized his thoughts and continued, "When he first became Ms. Emi's child, his spiritual power wasn't strong, but when I saw him a while ago… he already possessed the qualifications to become a Seated Officer.
However, at the time, I didn't think much of it, only assuming that his talent gradually manifested after coming to Soul Society, a world with high Reishi density."
"But I just had a thought…"
Ishikawa Katori paused, frowning, "Is there a possibility that his original talent was only what I first saw, but during this year in Soul Society, his Spirit Body underwent some change, or something integrated into it, which caused his Spirit Body's talent to grow?"
"Why would you think that?"
Ayasegawa Yumichika asked with some confusion, "Did you discover anything on him?"
"No, but he gives me a strangely peculiar feeling."
Ishikawa Katori shook his head, "I once fought a notorious villain from West 80th District.
His spiritual presence was extremely unstable, and his Spirit Body already showed signs of collapse during our battle.
And just before he died… a strangely peculiar feeling suddenly arose in my heart."
The notorious villain Ishikawa Katori mentioned was Genji, whom he had fought once before.
After that battle, when Ishikawa Katori recalled it, he noticed something… Genji seemed to regain his sanity at the moment before his death.
Ishikawa Katori remembered this precisely because a strange feeling had appeared in his heart at that time.
That feeling was extremely bizarre; if he had to describe it with any words.
It was somewhat similar to… a sense of presence?
A presence so faint it was imperceptible, yet one that could not be ignored.
But at the time, Ishikawa Katori, due to his extremely poor condition, only wanted to kill the opponent and didn't pay attention to that presence, which only appeared for a brief moment from Genji's regaining consciousness to his death.
After all, Genji himself gave off a feeling of being forcibly pieced together, so it was normal for him to be a bit strange.
But now, recalling it…
Ishikawa Katori realized that the feeling Kosuke gave him was very similar to Genji's moment of lucidity; both gave Ishikawa Katori a peculiar sense of presence.
If Kosuke hadn't been abducted, Ishikawa Katori would have been unable to connect the two, because that sense of presence was completely integrated with the surrounding environment, making it impossible to detect through investigation, and looking at Kosuke now, there was no abnormality whatsoever.
But…
If he compared Kosuke when he first arrived in Soul Society with Kosuke whom he saw a few days ago, Ishikawa Katori once again felt the same sensation he had experienced when Genji was on the verge of death.
In the instant before Genji's death, his body had disintegrated, and the things forcibly integrated into his body had also dispersed, meaning that Genji, who regained consciousness at the moment of death, was his original self.
And the feeling Kosuke gave Ishikawa Katori was somewhat similar to Genji in that fleeting moment.
"What exactly is that feeling?"
Ishikawa Katori frowned deeply; his instinct told him that feeling was very strange, but his senses were completely unaware of it, otherwise Ishikawa Katori would have felt it when he saw Kosuke a few days ago.
But if it really was as he suspected…
Then the person who abducted Kosuke should be able to detect that 'something' that both 'Genji' and 'Kosuke' possessed through some method, instead of relying solely on a feeling that seemed like a 'delusion' to distinguish it, like himself.
The most important point was that Ishikawa Katori had heard from a Supervisory Team Squad Member that after his battle with Genji, someone had cleared the battlefield traces, and when the Onmitsukidō went to investigate, they found no residual spiritual presence whatsoever.
Is there a possibility that the person who cleared the traces wasn't doing so to remove battle evidence, but rather to retrieve something that was originally inside Genji's body?
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for dozens of advance chapters for over a dozen fics | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter