Restricted Death

Chapter 163 Returning to the Fourth Division

Rukia stared at the ripples in the glass, her knuckles turning white, her own shattered reflection mirrored in the water.

She let out a soft laugh for no reason; she had hoped that the letter would say something she never expected, or express some kind of bitterness she could not imagine.

But now it seems that he can even say an apology so easily.

It was indeed a luxury, but he had no particular reason for it.

Rukia looked up and stared directly at Shin's face, who was calmer than she had expected. In comparison, all her own complicated inner turmoil seemed even more ridiculous.

“Rukia,” Shin said again.

"I don't see you as someone to take advantage of. What I said to you back then was truly from the heart. If I like you, I like you. However, I'm not someone who can be loyal to only you forever. You might think it's shameless of me to say such things, but that's exactly who I am."

"..."

After hearing what he said, Rukia remained silent for a moment before suddenly letting out a cold laugh: "So, Lieutenant Kotetsu is also a victim like me?"

"If you think she's a victim, then so be it."

Rukia was furious: "What you're saying sounds so high-sounding. If you really liked someone, if you really loved someone, how could you change your mind? In the end, you still didn't consider that person to be that important to you, that you could just throw them away like that!"

"Maybe."

Shin didn't choose to argue with her, which made Rukia feel even more powerless.

This is the sadness of looking at someone you like, but no longer being moved by them.

"I'm so stupid."

Rukia lowered her head, and after a moment, she put down the water glass, stood up, and walked straight to the entrance.

There were no words of farewell, only the sound of the door closing.

Rukia, having left Shin's house, had a look of bewilderment in her eyes, and she felt a strong sense of resentment welling up inside her.

I came here seeking an answer, but now that I know, I don't feel any better. Instead, I still can't let go of those feelings.

What exactly should we do...?

Is he really just someone who isn't worth my time and effort?

She had always viewed Xin through a beautiful lens, and even now that he had done something unacceptable to her, she still subconsciously felt a sense of resistance towards it.

Perhaps...

Perhaps it's not as bad as I think; there's something else I don't know.

When this thought crossed her mind, reason told her to face reality.

Caught in a state of confusion and inner turmoil, Rukia didn't even know how she got home.

#
Two days later, the Fourth Division suddenly sent in a seriously injured patient.

He was a Shinigami stationed in the human world. During a battle with a Hollow, half of his body was smashed. Fortunately, Shinigami who rushed to his rescue arrived in time. However, the Shinigami's injuries were extremely severe, and the medical Shinigami on field duty were unable to heal him. They could only do their best to keep him alive and quickly sent him back to the Fourth Division.

When Kotetsu Isane saw the man's injuries, she was shocked. His body, covered by gauze, was a bloody mess, and it was incredible that he was still alive.

She first examined his body, her expression extremely solemn.

This level of injury is extremely difficult to treat, requiring the captain's personal intervention, and possibly the assistance of the 12th Division.

She quickly went to see Unohana Retsu and explained the situation.

"How pitiful." Upon hearing this, Retsu Unohana simply said calmly.

"Captain?" Kotetsu Isane didn't understand what she meant.

“He’s going to die, it’s so pitiful, but with his injuries, it would be normal for him to die now,” Retsu Unohana said.

Kotetsu Isane's voice was urgent: "Captain, how can you be sure he'll die if we haven't even tried? You should at least go and take a look. I believe you can definitely save him!"

Unohana Retsu simply sat there calmly, picked up the teacup on the low table in front of her, her movements unhurried and unhurried, showing no intention of getting up, and even revealing a bit of the cursed spirit lock on her wrist.

Do you think I can save him now?

Kotetsu Isane paused for a moment, then quickly said, "In this situation, we can apply to have the restrictions lifted on you. The vice-captain of the Sparrow Division also mentioned that."

Retsu Unohana said, "From the time I applied to the higher authorities, to the time it was approved, and then to the time they came to remove the shackles from me, how long does it take? Can a wounded soldier lying in a hospital bed endure that long?"

Kotetsu Isane was stunned. Admittedly, what Unohana Retsu said was true, but as a medical reaper, she really didn't want to miss any opportunity.

The image of the dying wounded soldier flashed through Yongyin's mind, and she gritted her teeth and said, "I'll go and submit the application to the First Division right now."

After saying that, she quickly left the captain's office, intending to go to the First Division herself to explain the matter.

Yongyin's mind was in a mess, not only because she was anxious about the urgent situation of the patient, but also because of her captain's indifferent attitude towards life.

The captain said it was a pity, but there was no trace of regret in his expression.

In the past, people have died in the Fourth Division. Some patients with incurable diseases and injuries eventually passed away at the hands of the captain, but the captain would feel sad about it back then.

Why now...

Captain, you've really changed so much.

Before leaving, Yuon instructed a member of the Fourth Division to immediately go to the Twelfth Division and send someone to help with the treatment, and asked Ie-mura to go and take care of the wounded soldier.

After finishing these tasks, she remembered something and summoned the Green Deer.

"Could you please go to the Tenth Division..."

#
The letter was hurriedly brought back to the Fourth Division by Qinglu. Along the way, Qinglu had already told them the general situation, and they went straight to the medical room of the wounded soldier.

“Tachikawa… Captain?” Iemura was very surprised to see Shin arrive.

"How is the situation?" the letter asked succinctly.

Yi Jiangcun hurriedly said, "The injuries are extremely severe. Half of his body is shattered, and his spiritual energy is now dissipating."

He also looked somewhat anxious. This injury was beyond the scope of what Hui Dao could heal. Everything in Soul Society was made of spirit particles, including the human body.

The spiritual particles that make up the body begin to dissipate; this is a sign of death.

Even Captain Unohana couldn't do anything about it.

Ie-chūriki had already realized that his return path was useless. All he could do now was to keep filling the wounded man's body with his spiritual power to slow down his death and hold him until Captain Unohana arrived.

Xin didn't say much, only saying, "Leave it to me."

The dissipation of spiritual particles was not a difficult task for Shin. His Zanpakuto's ability was not to use the return method. As long as the person was not completely dead, he could save them from any kind of injury.

Yijiang Village quietly stepped aside, not daring to disturb them.

Xin first used the power of "stagnation" to stop the dissipating spiritual particles, and then applied the power of "retrogression" to him as well.

Amidst the incomprehensible gazes of Yijiang Village, the wounded man's body began to heal itself.

However, because this person had very little spiritual energy left, it still took Xin a lot of effort. The "Retreat" technique consumes extremely high spiritual pressure when healing others' injuries.

Xin thought that it would be great if he could master the ability to draw upon external spiritual particles in the future.

And indeed, such power exists, and it is used by the Quincy.

"Captain Tachikawa, how... how did you do that?" Iemura murmured, his eyes wide as he watched the wounded man recover.

"I guess I'm a bit special," Xin chuckled lightly.

When Shin walked out of the medical room, he saw Kotetsu Isane leading Sasakibe Chojiro back to the Fourth Division.

Both men were taken aback when they saw the letter.

"The person is alright now, thankfully we arrived in time," Xin said. "If it had been any later, the person would have been completely dead."

Kotetsu Isane breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, "That's good."

She trusted Xin's healing abilities enough, otherwise she wouldn't have specifically asked Qinglu to call Xin.

Shin looked at Chojiro of the Sparrow Club and said, "Vice Captain Sparrow Club, I think we need to reconsider the punishment for Captain Unohana. What if this happens again in the future? If I'm not in the barracks today, the Thirteenth Squad will lose another comrade."

Chojiro Sasaki pondered, "I will explain what you said to the Captain-Commander. We really owe a lot to Captain Tachikawa today."

He then went into the medical room, and Kotetsu Isane followed him in.

Shortly after, Chojiro Sasaki came out. "Now that things have been settled, I'll head back. I'll explain today's events in detail to the Captain-Commander, and I'm sure he'll understand what you, Captain Tachikawa, have to say."

After Chojiro left, Kotetsu Isane hesitated for a moment before approaching the letter.

"Thanks to you today, otherwise that person would be dead," she said softly.

“Indeed, it’s all thanks to me.” Xin chuckled. “But there’s no need to thank me; that person should be thanking me.”

"..."

Kotetsu Isane fell silent. After the two had finished discussing business, she seemed to have nothing more to say.

"Are you calm now?" Xin suddenly asked.

"What?" Yongyin didn't react for a moment.

"Didn't you say you needed some time to calm down? Have you calmed down yet?" Xin asked.

"..."

"Letter... I have something to tell you."

"Perfect timing, I'd also like to talk to you about something. Let's go to your office first."

The two walked into the office of the fourth division vice-captain, one after the other.

However, the moment Shin stepped one last foot across the threshold, he quickly closed the door behind him, pulled Yongyin into his arms, and pressed her against the back of the door before kissing her.

"Well!"

Yongyin struggled at first, but her movements were not very violent; it seemed to be just a symbolic resistance.

During this time, she hadn't stopped thinking about Xin for a single day, and all that longing surged forth at this moment. She responded passionately to Xin's kiss, just like they used to.

Xin's hand roamed over her body, found a gap between her clothes, and reached inside, but was suddenly grabbed tightly by Yongyin's hand.

Xin wanted to break free and comfort her as he had done when they first got together, but he found that Yongyin's grip on his wrist was tighter than he had imagined.

Yongyin tilted her head back slightly, pressed her forehead against Xin's forehead, breathed softly, and whispered, "Take it out."

"..."

Sensing the firmness in Yongyin's words, Shin did not insist, but instead pulled his hand out of her clothes as instructed.

Yongyin breathed a slight sigh of relief, pushed the letter aside, and tidied her clothes and hair.

"What do you want to say to me?" she asked.

"I miss you."

"……Um."

Yongyin simply nodded slowly, but a hint of disappointment showed in her eyes.

She had thought that after this period of separation, Shin would say something special, about how he was handling their relationship, or about what had happened between him and the captain...

nothing.

If you miss her so much, why don't you come and find her?

Yongyin quickly dismissed these thoughts, feeling that she had no right to blame Shin or anything like that.

After all, it was I who told him we needed to calm down for a while.

"Shin, have you thought about our future?" Yongyin asked softly again, "What will our future be like? Will it be the same as before?"

"Xin, I feel that there has always been a distance between us. I want to understand you more deeply, but I have never been able to. It's as if you are avoiding my exploration of you. Xin, in your heart, are you actually resisting me?"

"..."

Shin was taken aback by Yongyin's words; he hadn't expected Yongyin to have realized this.

Or perhaps he himself didn't even realize it.

It wasn't that Xin was hiding too many secrets in his heart and was afraid of being discovered, which is why he rejected the outside world.

Rather, Xin himself possesses memories of two lifetimes, and he instinctively sees himself as an anomaly in this world, different from others.

Rukia and Hinamori didn't realize this, nor did Shuhei and Kaien, but Isane, who had established a romantic relationship with Shin and spent every day with him, did.

Yongyin looked down at him, as if waiting for him to say something, but only silence answered her.

She smiled bitterly, recalling the kiss just now, recalling her time with Xin over the years, and their entanglement... She had thought that she and Xin could reach into each other's hearts, but that was not the case.

She was unaware of many of Xin's true thoughts.

And Xin didn't seem to value her that much.

Regarding the captain's situation, she had clearly expressed her attitude to Shin a long time ago, but Shin still refused to discuss it with her and insisted on going his own way, without considering her feelings.

The reason they are in their current situation is not solely due to Captain Unohana's actions; that was merely a catalyst.

Yongyin leaned against the back of the door, let out a long sigh, and said slowly, "I originally thought that everyone should have their own secrets and their own space, and should not interfere too much with each other."

"But the space I left for you has become a chasm separating the two of us."

"letter……"

"Would you really love someone with all your heart?"

(End of this chapter)