But Yoshoi didn't forget his real purpose for being there.
After asking a young lady from the Fourth Division about where the Ninth Division's wounded were, he made his way over.
Hisagi is a seated officer; he doesn't stay with ordinary squad members in a communal ward—he has a private room.
Yoshio knocked. Hearing a "come in," he opened the door.
Entering, he found Hisagi lying in bed.
Hisagi was indeed badly injured—half his body was wrapped in bandages, and there was a strong smell of medicine.
Yoshio set the fruit on the table, then sat by the bed.
"I'd heard you were alive, but seeing you walk in safe and sound…"
Hisagi said quietly, "That's good."
"Barely," Yoshio said sincerely. "I almost died, but Captain Aizen arrived at the last moment."
"Bastard, lying to me?" Hisagi glanced at him, then looked away. "I've heard. You're the one who took that hollow down."
"Just luck." Yoshio shook his head.
"Truth is, I couldn't beat him."
"Doing that much is already impressive you did well."
At that moment, Yoshio noticed Hisagi's favorability toward him had risen to eighty, which meant he permanently obtained the [Black Sun] ability.
He couldn't help but chuckle. "Maybe I'll get promoted to Lieutenant because of it."
"Is Lieutenant Ichimaru going to the Third Division?"
"Yes. He already has the talent to be a captain; there's just no vacancy yet."
Yoshio said mildly, "You really need to recover. These past few days were too intense—I feel like drowning myself in booze."
"Isn't it a bit much to make a patient drink?"
"Mr. Hisagi…"
Suddenly, a voice sounded outside the door, and a short shinigami walked in.
Seeing Yoshio, he was a bit startled, then hurriedly lowered his head.
"Mr. Hisagi, do you need your dressing changed?"
"I say, Hanatarō, we're both seated officers; no need for honorifics, right?" Hisagi couldn't help saying.
"Th-That won't do," Hanatarō waved his hands frantically, flustered. "I'm in the Fourth Division…"
"What about the Fourth Division?" Yoshio asked him.
"Uh…" Hearing Yoshio speak, Hanatarō got even more nervous and didn't know what to say.
"Doctors are no different from warriors on the battlefield. No—if there is a difference, doctors might be even more important," Yoshio told Hanatarō.
He also glanced at Hanatarō's Souls Ability.
["Healing Wave: Releases a light wave with healing properties. The wave can be continuously passed among multiple people. Once the wave passes through you, injuries heal rapidly."]
Sure enough, it's similar to the Kaido, and it's group healing at that. Excellent—decided, I'm making friends with you.
"As I see it, Gotei 13's pay is even lower than the Fourth Division's. Unbelievable."
In fact, it's not unusual for officers' pay to be higher than medics', but the Fourth Division isn't just underpaid—their status is rock bottom; sometimes they even have to do cleaning work.
"N-No… don't say that," Yamada Hanatarō said in a panic. "We lack combat ability and can't go to the front lines; lower pay is normal. That's the Central 46's decision!"
"Best be careful with that sort of talk," Hisagi added.
"You two really are cautious," Yoshio clicked his tongue, then said to Hanatarō, "By the way, isn't it time to change Hisagi's dressing?"
"Oh, right." Hanatarō hurriedly took out some medicine, then glanced at Yoshio again.
Yoshio stood up on his own.
"All right, you two treat him. I'll head out first."
Yoshio rose and left the room.
After exiting, he didn't leave immediately. He lingered nearby, chatting with a few seated Fourth Division officers.
Fourth Division folks were pretty easy to get along with. Perhaps because their status was so low ordinarily, when an officer from another squad treated them with respect, he won their favor at once.
What surprised Yoshio was that, aside from Hanatarō, all these seated Fourth Division officers had combat-type soul abilities.
Things like ["Chain Lightning,"] ["Blizzard,"] ["Heavy Strike,"] ["Flame Storm,"] ["Sandstorm"]…
They all seemed troubled by their lack of combat effectiveness. No wonder they were so deferential to members of other squads—deep down, they probably thought being able to fight on the front lines was better.
Unfortunately, he didn't see the Fourth Division captain or Lieutenant, so he had no idea what Isane Kotetsu's and Retsu Unohana's soul skills were.
But thinking about it, becoming Fifth Division's Lieutenant under Aizen seemed more advantageous.
That is, he'd have more chances to meet other squads' captains and Lieutenants.
The Gotei 13 has something called the "captains' meeting," where captains and Lieutenants go to the First Division for meetings.
Of course, the captains meet, and the Lieutenants wait in another room.
That would give Yoshio more opportunities to interact with people from other squads.
Another important point: once he became a Lieutenant, he'd essentially be "Captain-class" within the Seireitei—in other words, a star in the Seireitei.
Maybe many people would swoon over him.
Haha—envisioning his future, Yoshio grinned like an idiot.
"What a silly grin."
A complaint came from ahead.
Snapped back to reality, Yoshio looked at the blonde, blue-eyed, voluptuous girl in front of him and couldn't help saying, "Ms. Rangiku, what brings you here?"
"What do you mean 'why am I here'?" Matsumoto Rangiku huffed. "I heard you all came back injured from the mission, so I came to see you. And the moment I arrive, I see you grinning like a fool."
"I'm fine." Yoshio sighed. "Hisagi is the one who's seriously hurt; I just left his room."
"That Hisagi… what rotten luck."
"By the way, I heard you killed the Third Squad Captain. True?"
"What?! It's already reached your ears? And getting more exaggerated by the minute?" Yoshio complained. "What next, that I one-shotted a captain?"
"So what actually happened?"
"The Third Squad Captain was parasitized by a hollow; his spirit was battling the hollow. He was also badly injured by Aizen and barely escaped.
"At that moment, I brought him down. I just picked up the leftovers. If it had been a real fight, how could I possibly defeat a captain?"