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
[Emi Affection +1, gained 160 EXP, current Love Value: 69]
"...Thank you so much. For Kosuke to go through something like this, if you hadn't been there, I don't know what I would have done..."
Two days had passed since the battle with the black-cloaked figure.
During these two days, Captain Soi Fon's application was successfully approved, and Kosuke was sent to the Comprehensive Relief Station for examination. Ishikawa Katori wasn't very clear about the results of the examination, but he had already received permission to send him back to his mother.
"Mom, I'm really fine. All those nurses took good care of me."
Kosuke patted Emi's back, saying obediently, "And these past few days, Ishikawa-nii even took me to play on some very beautiful streets there. Please don't cry anymore."
"That's good~ That's good..."
Despite her words, Emi still meticulously examined her child from head to toe.
Ishikawa Katori smiled at the sight, but a strange glint flashed in his eyes.
These past two days, he had also examined Kosuke, but even with his proficiency in Kaido, he hadn't found anything unusual about Kosuke.
Ishikawa Katori could only be sure that they must have taken something from Kosuke's body, but he had no clue what it was.
If the Technology Development Bureau were to examine Kosuke without regard for his life, it would be highly possible to determine what was missing from his body.
Due to Captain Soi Fon's proposal, apart from the Third and Sixth Squads having no interest, the Eleventh Squad not attending, and the Thirteenth Squad's Captain being absent due to illness, the Captains of the other Squads all agreed to send Kosuke to the Comprehensive Relief Station for examination.
Of course, this alone was not enough to be certain.
According to the 'good-guy' and 'righteous-person' personas of two certain Captains, it was normal for them to agree.
But that strange feeling was definitely not an illusion!
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Emi, Ishikawa Katori bid farewell.
Originally, Ishikawa Katori expected Emi to pull him back, asking him to stay for dinner or overnight. However, Emi unexpectedly did not try to keep him, but instead told Ishikawa Katori that he could come visit anytime in the future. This surprised Ishikawa Katori, who had already prepared his refusal.
But, this was also good.
After his Affection broke 60, Emi was the first woman, after Uzuki, to convert her Affection for Ishikawa Katori into Love Value.
For the past two days, Ishikawa Katori had been struggling with how to get Emi's Affection back to 60 points.
He even thought about whether he should beat Kosuke in front of her to make her think he was a child abuser... Later, he thought better of it, as it would ruin his reputation...
But now it seems that 69 points of Love Value probably means, "I don't have thoughts of dating you, but if you confess to me, I won't refuse." It hasn't reached the point of "I won't marry anyone but you."
If it was just like this, Ishikawa Katori felt that many people's Affection breaking 60 wouldn't be too much of a problem.
However, 10 points is one stage, and he didn't know what 70 would be like. In the future, it would be better to have less contact with Emi, and ideally, find a way to lower it a bit.
"Mom, why didn't you let me keep Ishikawa-nii just now?"
Kosuke watched Ishikawa Katori's back disappear, somewhat dejectedly saying, "I still really wanted Ishikawa-nii to play hopscotch with me again."
"Your Ishikawa-nii has a lot of things to be busy with."
Emi gently stroked Kosuke's head, saying softly, "And, your Ishikawa-nii is different from us. He has bigger goals, so we can't try to use his kindness to keep him by our side just because we like him."
"Mom is just an ordinary person and isn't suitable, but if you grow up healthy and study hard to become a Shinigami, you'll have a chance to follow in your Ishikawa-nii's footsteps."
Kosuke nodded, half-understanding.
...
In the following days, Ishikawa Katori basically maintained a two-point-one-line routine: receiving careful treatment at the Comprehensive Relief Station at night, and rebuilding the Squad barracks with hundreds of Eleventh Squad Members during the day.
The Everything Store was temporarily closed, allowing him to enjoy a rare period of leisure and stability.
However, compared to him, Ikkaku Madarame and the other two were much unluckier, constantly being called to the First Squad for questioning, but after half a month of investigation, the investigation was finally halted due to insufficient information.
"It's really beautiful."
Looking at the completely renovated barracks, Ayasegawa Yumichika patted the dust off his body: "I always hated the original dirty barracks. From now on, you'll specialize in maintaining our barracks for us. As long as it's clean enough, I'll pay you the commission."
"No thanks."
Ishikawa Katori glanced towards the backyard: "Your crazy Captain, his eyes have been looking at me strangely these past few days. Once I finish the final cleaning, I won't come back no matter how much money you offer!"
After nearly half a month of tireless effort, the Eleventh Squad's barracks had been rebuilt.
And to increase Yachiru's Affection, Ishikawa Katori worked extra diligently, not only reinforcing the original sparring platform but also renovating the surrounding lawn and trees. He also created many children's entertainment facilities for Yachiru in the courtyard, and meticulously decorated Yachiru's living quarters.
The entire Eleventh Squad had a simple aesthetic, but only Yachiru's living quarters... were forcibly turned into a children's playground by Ishikawa Katori.
Although it delayed the construction period, the rewards were quite substantial.
It directly caused Yachiru's Affection for him to skyrocket, reaching 39 points, making her, besides Isane, the Vice-Captain with the highest Affection for Ishikawa Katori.
Although there were only three female Vice-Captains who had Affection for Ishikawa Katori, besides these two, only Matsumoto Rangiku's Affection for Ishikawa Katori reached 15 points. Even Ise Nanao's previous 1 point of Affection for him mysteriously disappeared after he joined the Shinigami Women's Association...
As for Matsumoto Rangiku, although she often came to the Everything Store to drink with Ishikawa Katori during the past half month, Ishikawa Katori always refused, citing his injuries not yet fully healed.
He genuinely didn't dare to drink with that alcohol-incarnate anymore, even feeling a bit afraid to interact with her...
Being friends with her not only cost money but also harmed his health!
However, having Yachiru was enough. Although Yachiru's Affection for him had also reached a bottleneck and could no longer be increased by simple flattery.
But the gains of these past half a month were enough to make Ishikawa Katori visibly happy.
[Current EXP: 22400]
With the healing of his Spirit Core, his Development Spiritual Mark could also be used again. Although the proficiency gained each day wasn't much, it was stable, with a little improvement every day. With accumulation, he might not even need to invest EXP to be promoted to Captain-level.
"Hoo—"
After finishing the last of the courtyard tidying, Ishikawa Katori distorted his waist.
"Katori-chan~"
Just then, Yachiru's petite figure ran in from outside, with cute blushes on both cheeks. As soon as she stopped, she shook the bag in her arms and said, "Look quickly, I received a gift from Mei-chan to celebrate me moving into my new room."
Mei-chan?
Ishikawa Katori was slightly startled, then realized that Yachiru was probably referring to the Vice-Captain of the Twelfth Squad.
Thinking of this, a strange glint flashed in Ishikawa Katori's eyes.
From a physiological perspective, that person was also a female, but from a biological perspective, Ishikawa Katori was a bit unsure. He also didn't know if her affection could earn him EXP, but since Yachiru could, she should also be fine.
However, increasing her Affection would be very difficult.
Because as far as Ishikawa Katori knew, that person basically had no emotions or preferences. Her only hobby was the same as her Captain's: conducting various experiments, and among them, her favorite experiment was... human experimentation!
"You want to be friends with me? Come~ lie down on the operating table first."
Thinking of that scene, Ishikawa Katori couldn't help but shiver. It was better to think of other methods.
Dispelling the chaotic thoughts in his mind, Ishikawa Katori looked at the small bag Yachiru was holding, and asked with some confusion, "What is this?"
The small bag contained four red wooden stakes, each about the thickness of a fist, subtly radiating Reiatsu fluctuations.
"It's called... um... that..." Yachiru's small face scrunched up. Finally, she placed the bag on the ground, rummaged through it carefully, then pulled out a tag and said, "Ah... right, it's a 'Hyperspace Transfer Stake'! With this, I can directly teleport from my room to the association's secret base from now on."
"The Vice-President also has one. Originally, whenever we went to the secret base, we would teleport directly from her place."
Hyperspace Transfer Stake?
A strange glint flashed in Ishikawa Katori's eyes. He had indeed heard of this item before. He first heard about it from the Supervisory Team... Vice-Captain Ōmaeda would always suddenly appear in the Squad barracks; he rarely saw him enter through the front gate, and he always suspected if Ōmaeda was climbing over the wall every day...
Out of curiosity, Ishikawa Katori secretly followed Ōmaeda and found that he indeed never left through the front gate after work, but instead returned to his Vice-Captain's Office. Shortly after, his Reiatsu would disappear, and he wouldn't emerge from the office until the next day.
When Ishikawa Katori caught him, he stammered and refused to say anything.
Finally, under Ishikawa Katori's persistent questioning, Ōmaeda told Ishikawa Katori that these 'Hyperspace Transfer Stakes' were actually Spirit Tools developed by the first Director of the Technology Development Bureau.
There were a total of eight Transfer Stakes. As long as four of them were placed in the Vice-Captain's Office and the other four at home, one could instantly travel between home and the Vice-Captain's Office.
However, because this Spirit Tool was created, Captain-Commander Yamamoto prohibited its use, citing that 'enemies might invade Seireitei using this.' So, Ōmaeda had always been using it stealthily.
And according to Ōmaeda, Kurotsuchi Mayuri had also set up similar devices throughout Seireitei, allowing him to instantly reach any corner of Seireitei. It was because he discovered this that he spent a large sum of money to order a set.
But that the Shinigami Women's Association also used this device was something Ishikawa Katori was hearing for the first time; it seemed they had kept it well hidden.
However...
Thinking about it carefully, the head of Onmitsukidō was also a member of the Shinigami Women's Association, so it was normal for Onmitsukidō not to find out.
Ishikawa Katori had also considered the Transfer Stakes before, hoping to get one for his Everything Store, but Ōmaeda sternly warned him... because neither he nor Kurotsuchi Mayuri had placed them outside Seireitei. If Ishikawa Katori were to place one in the Everything Store, Seireitei could easily be invaded.
So Ishikawa Katori gave up on that idea and instead tried to learn another forbidden technique. However, such forbidden techniques had been prohibited by the Central 46 a very long time ago, and all related information was destroyed. Even the Shiba family's library, which recorded all Kidō, had no record of them.
According to Kukaku, only the former Grand Kidō Master of the Kidō Corps knew them, and Ishikawa Katori truly couldn't find a way to learn any.
After helping Yachiru place the four Transfer Stakes in her room, Ishikawa Katori prepared to leave and return to Rukongai to prepare for tomorrow's reopening.
But a single sentence from Yachiru made Ishikawa Katori instantly discard that thought.
"Katori-chan, I'm going to the association for a regular meeting. Do you want to come with me?"
"Go!!!"
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