Chapter 23: Stealing Business from the Fourth Division
Fourth Division, Comprehensive Relief Station.
"All done! That should do it."
Yamada Hanataro wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked with satisfaction at the corridor he had just scrubbed clean.
Outside the window, the high sun poured in, making the polished wooden floor gleam.
After hard work, glancing at that bright view brought with it a quiet sense of fulfillment that was hard to describe.
"Yamada."
Hearing someone call out, Hanataro paused and turned around. A serious looking man with blond hair and glasses was walking toward him.
It was the Third Seat of the Fourth Division, Iemura Yasochika.
"You have been working hard. Having a Seventh Seat doing this kind of chore is truly something."
"This is what I should be doing," Hanataro said quickly. "A good sanitary environment is good for the patients' recovery. Besides, the Comprehensive Relief Station is huge, and there are not many of us in the Division. Since I had some free time, I could not just stand by and watch everyone else busy. I might as well help out."
Looking at the small, slightly hunched officer scratching his head with a foolish smile, Iemura suddenly felt genuinely relieved.
This was the kind of talent the Fourth Division needed.
Even if his personality was timid, he was still much better than that Eighth Seat, Ogido Harunobu, who always managed to drag down his reputation.
More importantly, Hanataro could even handle treating those barbarians from the Eleventh Division.
"Oh, right."
Something seemed to occur to Iemura.
"Yamada, Seventh Seat."
"Yes!"
The solemn address made Hanataro straighten on instinct.
"Have the people from the Eleventh Division been coming less often lately?"
"Huh? Oh… yes, that is right."
Among the Gotei 13, the Eleventh Division was the most troublesome.
They were either fighting, on their way to a fight, or looking for the next one.
After returning from the front lines, they kept sparring back at their own barracks.
Old wounds had not healed before new ones were added.
Too many people, injuries too serious, and their attitude was uncooperative and rude. The workload was always unusually heavy. If the task of treating those idiots was dumped entirely on Hanataro, then even with his excellent medical skills, he would have been completely swamped.
He would never have time to spend an entire day cleaning corridors.
So if this situation appeared, it could mean only one thing.
The number of Eleventh Division patients had dropped sharply.
In one sense, that was a good thing. But it was also suspicious.
"Um… did something happen, Iemura, Third Seat?"
Noticing that Iemura's expression was not very good, Hanataro asked carefully.
"Something did happen."
Iemura frowned deeply.
"The other Divisions are fine, but if the Eleventh Division has fewer patients, it definitely means some unknown incident has occurred."
"An incident… It should not be that serious, right?"
Hanataro scratched his cheek.
The next moment, Iemura suddenly leaned forward, looming over him like a mountain.
"Yamada, Seventh Seat, you are underestimating the seriousness of the situation!"
"This is the Eleventh Division we are talking about! Can you imagine them suddenly settling down and not getting themselves beaten half to death?"
"T… that is indeed hard to imagine."
Hanataro raised both hands in surrender, a nervous laugh spilling out as cold sweat trickled down his neck.
"So there must be something fishy going on. I must investigate this thoroughly. I will stake the dignity of the Fourth Division on it. I absolutely will not allow anyone to spread rumors that 'the Fourth Division has problems' and that is why no one comes anymore."
Iemura slowly pulled back his oppressive aura, adjusted his glasses, and spoke in a low, resolute tone.
Just then, a nurse came running down the corridor.
"Yamada, Seventh Seat! Ah, Iemura, Third Seat, you are here too. Sorry to interrupt, but someone from the Eleventh Division has just been sent in injured."
Hanataro and Iemura instinctively exchanged a look.
"Let us go. We can ask them directly."
"R, right!"
Before Hanataro could even agree, Iemura grabbed him and charged toward the treatment room.
As soon as they reached the door, they heard someone arguing loudly inside.
The content was infuriating.
"What!? I have to rest for three hours before I can move my arm? Are you kidding me? Think of something. I have a man's duel tomorrow. Do you want me to miss it?"
"Hey, hey, hey! Why can't I get it wet? It is just a slightly larger cut on my chest. It is a sword wound. The size proves how brave I was when I cut down my opponent. That is a badge of honor. And you are telling me that after I risked my life to win, I cannot even take a proper bath? Is that how the Fourth Division treats warriors? When are your treatment standards going to improve?"
"Honestly, if I had not lost all my stuff gambling, who would come to the Fourth Division willingly? A bunch of cowards who only know how to hide at the rear. Our Division has plenty of people who can do first aid on the battlefield. Look, they wield swords and cut people. You lot, even if the enemy broke into your house, would still stick your heads in the sand like ostriches."
"Forget it. Just give me something to stop the bleeding and bandage it. I don't want to waste more time here."
Outside the door, Hanataro's body trembled slightly.
He was not the one radiating killing intent.
That heavy pressure was all pouring off Iemura standing beside him, his face ashen with anger.
Bang.
Iemura shoved the door open, eyes cold as he stared at the few burly Eleventh Division men making trouble for the nurses.
"You…"
"We are sorry!"
The fierce Eleventh Division ruffians dropped to their knees with a thud and begged for mercy.
Iemura's building anger suddenly had nowhere to go, and he froze for a moment, at a loss for words.
Are these really Eleventh Division guys?
Just as that thought formed, a slender, delicate hand landed lightly on his shoulder.
A gentle voice, carrying the faint fragrance of flowers, sounded beside his ear.
"Iemura, Third Seat, you opened the door a little too forcefully. Please be gentler next time."
"?!"
Iemura's body stiffened, a fine layer of sweat instantly forming on his forehead.
He looked down at the ruffians kneeling on the floor and finally understood what was going on.
"Yes, Captain Unohana. I will remember."
"Good."
Iemura respectfully stepped aside to make way.
The gentle woman who had somehow appeared behind him narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly and turned her gaze to the Eleventh Division men.
"If you have complaints about the Fourth Division," Retsu Unohana said softly, "why not tell me directly? Why bully my subordinates?"
The ruffians' faces instantly went pale, as if all the blood in their bodies had been sucked out, and with it, all their bravado.
"No complaints! No complaints at all. We were just… acting."
"Yeah, acting!"
"To confuse the enemy. We pretended to quarrel to lower their guard."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Unohana smiled like the picture of warmth and kindness.
"In that case, since you have no complaints, I have one."
"Please, go ahead."
The ruffians' smiles were uglier than crying.
"As far as I know, the Eleventh Division's attendance rate has not dropped. You still clock in on the battlefield just fine."
"But the number of patients coming to the Fourth Division has decreased. If I am not mistaken, you seem to have acquired other means of treatment, yes?"
Unohana's words cut straight to the heart of the matter.
Iemura could not help glancing at her, thinking, Captain Unohana noticed this a long time ago, didn't she?
"This…"
The ruffians looked at each other, bitter expressions on their faces.
They regretted coming even more now.
This was bad.
Seeing them hesitating and trying to silently communicate with their eyes, Unohana's smile did not change, but her tone grew pointed.
"Let me remind you of one thing. I am also a Captain."
"I am not quite like the subordinates you mentioned… the ones who can only stay behind the lines. I can pick up a sword and fight."
"?!"
…
The next day, inside the Medical Analysis Room.
"As expected of Captain Unohana. The truth was uncovered in no time."
"It was thanks to the Eleventh Division's unconditional cooperation," Unohana replied mildly.
Hearing her modest words, Iemura and Vice Captain Isane Kotetsu both felt their mouths twitch slightly.
With her personally asking, would they dare not cooperate?
This kind of prestige, that could make the entire Eleventh Division lower their heads, was something only two or three people in the Soul Society possessed.
If it had been anyone else investigating, this would have been much harder.
"Anyway," Isane said, looking at the experimental table, "is this medicine the reason the Eleventh Division stopped coming to us?"
Her gaze fell on the small bottle placed there.
The bottle itself was nothing special, just a cheap standard container anyone could buy.
What mattered was the cloudy liquid inside.
It looked a bit like sake, a faint yellow color.
Even after the cork was pulled, there was no particular smell.
Yet according to Eleventh Division testimony, after drinking it and then going to the restroom, all the injuries on their bodies would disappear.
Of course, overly severe wounds were another story.
Limbs that had been severed, missing organs, those kinds of injuries were impossible for it to handle.
But beyond that, even a deep sword gash running from shoulder blade to lower abdomen, with bone fully exposed, could be taken care of effortlessly.
That was astonishing.
In the Fourth Division, this kind of injury would normally require one or two full treatment teams, over a dozen people, working for one or two hours just to stabilize things. After that, several days of careful recuperation would be needed for full recovery.
Yet those barbarians in the Eleventh Division could be leaping around again just by downing a small bottle, at most one hundred milliliters, and then visiting the restroom.
When Isane and Iemura first heard about it, they had found it almost impossible to believe.
But now the evidence was sitting right in front of them. There was no way to deny it.
Fortunately, relying on her overwhelming authority, Unohana had managed to obtain several samples from Eleventh Division members for research.
The first priority was to determine whether the medicine was harmful.
Anything else could wait until after the analysis.
Several hours later, Isane and Iemura were soaked in sweat.
"We still cannot figure out what is in it," Isane muttered.
"Ninety percent water with minerals? That cannot be right. What kind of water would have this terrifying effect?" Iemura said, frowning over the report.
"It is hot spring water."
"?"
The two of them looked up at Unohana at the same time.
"Captain? What did you say?"
"It is hot spring water," Unohana repeated quietly.
But the two still did not understand.
That answer was somehow more baffling than hearing it was just plain water.
Hot spring… water?
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