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Anxiety—
Walking on the streets of Seireitei, Ishikawa was filled with nothing but anxiety.
Although the Central 46 incident was resolved with unexpected help, thinking about what he did in Hueco Mundo, Ishikawa always felt as if a pair of eyes were secretly watching him.
He only hoped now that the Supervisory Team, the Technology Development Bureau, and the Image Hall would pay more attention to him, at least so he wouldn't be silently taken out by someone.
Originally, Ishikawa's plan was to go to the Onmitsukidō, but after entering Seireitei, Ishikawa changed his mind.
Compared to the Onmitsukidō, he felt safer staying at the Comprehensive Relief Station.
Although the Squad Members of the Fourth Division were not skilled in combat, their Captain alone was enough to bring Ishikawa a sense of security that even all members of the Onmitsukidō, including Soi Fon, did not possess.
He entered the Comprehensive Relief Station with practiced ease, greeted the front desk, and then smoothly changed into the work uniform handed to him by a Squad Member; the whole process was fluid.
But this was understandable…
Although he didn't come every day, nearly six years had passed since Ishikawa first entered the Comprehensive Relief Station, and many official members of the Fourth Division had even been trained by Ishikawa.
Today, Ishikawa basically held a status equivalent to a Vice-Captain in the Comprehensive Relief Station, and countless Gotei 13 Squad Members had received proper treatment from him.
Stepping into the examination hall, it was as quiet as ever.
There were only a few scattered patients on the beds in the hall, and after examination, they were all sent one by one to passages like the 'Image Room,' 'Hospital Ward,' or 'Operating Room.'
"Mr. Ishikawa, you're here?"
A black-haired girl spotted Ishikawa at the hall entrance and immediately came over, smiling, "I heard you got into trouble again?"
"It's not really trouble, just some misunderstandings."
Ishikawa habitually showed a smile, then looked at the emblem on her chest: "Yugu, have you joined the 14th Upper Relief Squad?"
This black-haired girl was Nao's During the same period and roommate, and also one of the first Fourth Division Squad Members to follow Ishikawa to learn Kido. Six years later, she had transformed from a new Squad Member into a member of the Upper Relief Squad.
"Yes, I applied myself. It's nice to be in the same relief squad as Nao."
"Indeed, it's good to have a familiar face."
After chatting with Yugu for a while, Ishikawa asked somewhat puzzled, "Why are there so few people today?"
Although the Fourth Division's Comprehensive Relief Station wasn't very busy during peacetime, even if there were no patients, the on-duty relief squad would usually be on standby in the examination hall. It wouldn't be like this, with only a few scattered Squad Members remaining.
"Everyone went to watch Captain Kogetsu treat someone, and to see if there was anything they could help with."
Yugu paused, then continued, "The Shinigami stationed in the Human World from the Tenth Division was severely injured. It's said he was ambushed by several Hollows and was on the verge of death when he was brought in. I don't know how he's doing now."
"Then I'll go see if there's anything I can help with."
After bidding farewell to Yugu, Ishikawa walked directly towards the passage marked 'Operating Room.' Soon, he arrived at another large hall.
At this time, many Squad Members had gathered in the hall, mostly surrounding an Operating Room.
"Oh, Mr. Ishikawa."
"Ishikawa-sama, long time no see."
"Ishikawa-sama, you've come at just the right time. Hurry and go inside to see."
"..."
When they saw Ishikawa arrive, everyone made way for him.
Ishikawa nodded to the crowd, then stepped into the Operating Room. At this moment, Isane was focused on providing emergency treatment to the patient. Although she heard the sounds outside, she didn't look up to greet him.
Across from Isane, Yamada Hanatarō was nervously assisting.
Only the four Squad Members responsible for maintaining the 'Pure Air Barrier' nodded to Ishikawa as he entered, as a greeting.
"I'll take over."
Ishikawa came beside Yamada Hanatarō and gently patted his shoulder.
The nervous Yamada Hanatarō only then noticed Ishikawa's arrival. He was slightly stunned at first, then joyfully moved aside, but did not leave. Instead, he stood by and observed with extreme seriousness.
Ishikawa lowered his head to examine the injured person and found that the injuries were indeed extremely severe.
This was a middle-aged man, appearing to be in his late 30s or early 40s. His shinigami uniform was badly torn, and his upper body was covered in scorch marks similar to those from an explosion. The most severe injuries, however, were bite marks. Huge, ferocious tooth marks stretched from his left shoulder to his right waist, and some of the deepest marks went all the way through, as if half of his body had been bitten off.
"How did he get bitten like this?"
Ishikawa did not interrupt Isane's surgery. Instead, he raised his hand and activated Kaido, stopping the patient's bleeding while repairing the wounds that Isane had already treated. At the same time, he used his own Reiatsu to protect the patient's Soul Binding, Soul Sleep, and other vital points, making Isane's surgery more convenient.
Seeing this, Isane looked up and nodded to Ishikawa, then lowered her head again, focusing even more intently on the surgery.
With their incredibly skilled cooperation, the surgery speed immediately accelerated.
Before long, the emergency treatment surgery was completed.
"Phew—"
Isane let out a breath, then smiled at Ishikawa: "You really came at a convenient time. I was just wondering if I should ask someone to invite Captain Unohana."
"Even if I didn't come, Hanatarō would have been fine, it would just take much longer for the surgery."
"No, I wouldn't have been able to~"
Hanatarō quickly shook his head: "My heart was about to jump out of my chest from nervousness earlier."
"Heh heh."
Ishikawa chuckled at his words and didn't say much. Yamada Hanatarō's Kaido skill could be said to be outstanding even among the Gotei 13, but his lack of self-confidence affected his performance.
Kotetsu Isane then said, "I can handle the subsequent Reishi suturing myself."
Ishikawa nodded and turned to leave the Operating Room. Reishi suturing didn't require much skill, so Ishikawa usually just handed it off to other Squad Members to handle. Kotetsu Isane, however, was different; after every treatment, she would finish the procedure herself, confirming there were no issues before handing it over to the relief squad for follow-up treatment.
After leaving the Operating Room, Ishikawa didn't leave. Instead, he got two cups of water from the dispenser and sat outside the Operating Room.
He was idle anyway, so he might as well stay here and see if he could get Isane's affection level to break through 60 points, which was the friendship cap. Although Ishikawa already had many friends, and even dozens of female friends with 60 points of friendship.
But among the extremely rare female Vice-Captains, Kotetsu Isane was the only Vice-Captain whose affection for him reached 60 points.
Current experience points: 64600.
If it were for dealing with emergencies in normal times, a reserve of 60,000 experience points would be completely sufficient.
But today was different from the past...
This trip to Hueco Mundo exposed his identity.
Although Ishikawa felt that...
Given that person's personality, he might be like a relatively strong ant walking past in his eyes, too lazy to even lift a foot to step on it; but this time... his actions were no longer just simply passing by him, but climbing onto his foot and doing a dance.
This clearly made it possible for him to take action against him, as could be seen from the video received from the Image Hall.
Although he narrowly escaped, Ishikawa couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't continue to make a move against him.
High-intensity surveillance by departments like the Supervisory Team alone might not guarantee his safety.
So, to be on the safe side, it was more prudent to save up more experience points.
And the fastest way to gain experience points was to have Kotetsu Isane's affection for him break through 60 points, converting her affection into love points.
Over the years, besides Huimeili, there were indeed some female friends whose affection for him broke through 60 points, but they were mostly commoners from Rukongai and Seireitei's Commercial Street. Their affection, even if multiplied by ten, didn't bring Ishikawa much experience.
Moreover, for caution's sake, Ishikawa would only raise the love value to 65 points, then use methods like drawing a clear line or subtly indicating that he only considered the other party his best friend, to prevent their love value from increasing further.
After several experiences, Ishikawa found that the love value after breaking through 60 points of affection was not as terrifying as he imagined. As long as it was maintained at 65 points, it basically only meant they had a certain degree of male-female affection for him.
As long as Ishikawa was careful and avoided actions that could easily cause misunderstanding, the other party wouldn't even realize that their feelings were love.
Furthermore, after a period of no contact, these 5 points of love value would disappear with time, gradually returning to the original 60 points of affection.
Although Kotetsu Isane's status and strength were higher compared to them, judging from these examples, getting Kotetsu Isane's affection for him to break through 60 points should not cause any trouble; at worst, he would just avoid her when coming to the Comprehensive Relief Station in the future.
However...
How to break through?
Love, after all, is different from friendship...
To be honest, even to this day, Ishikawa hadn't figured out what he had done to make those female friends whose affection for him broke through 60 points develop such feelings.
No...
He hadn't done anything at all. He had just interacted with them as usual, and then it inexplicably broke through.
If Ishikawa were to deliberately try, he wouldn't know how to do it.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited until now.
Not much is needed...
As long as Kotetsu Isane's love value for him could reach 65 points, that would be enough.
Kotetsu Isane's affection, from 59 points to 60 points, 1 point provided Ishikawa with 5120 experience points. This means that if it could break through 60 points, then 1 point of love value could provide him with 51200 experience points.
If it's 5 points...
That would be 256,000 experience points, enough to handle most situations.
"What are you thinking about?"
Just then, a voice interrupted Ishikawa's thoughts.
He looked up and realized that the 14th Upper Relief Squad members waiting outside the Operating Room had already pushed the patient towards the Hospital Ward, and Kotetsu Isane, who had been inside the Operating Room, had come to his side at some point.
"Nothing."
Ishikawa's eye twitched slightly, and he somewhat guiltily handed a cup of water to Kotetsu Isane.
"Here, have some water to moisten your throat."
It would be strange if he wasn't feeling guilty, after all, he had just started considering how to make Kotetsu Isane develop feelings for him...
Kotetsu Isane looked at Ishikawa strangely, but didn't refuse. After taking the cup, she sat beside Ishikawa and began to drink.
Looking at Kotetsu Isane sitting beside him, Ishikawa hesitated.
Based on past experience, some accidental, out-of-line actions could very likely lead to unexpected changes.
He just didn't know...
Could this experience be applied to Isane?
However, what he referred to as an 'out-of-line action' was actually just physical contact that happened when he instinctively reached out to help someone who had fallen. Sometimes, it was precisely these small actions that caused the other person's affection to break through 60 points.
But those were all things Ishikawa did unintentionally; he never thought about them in that way and quickly maintained a respectful distance.
Ishikawa also didn't know if doing it actively would be considered an offense, or if it would cause any misunderstandings?
Or even have a counter-effect, causing affection to drop instead of rise?
Ishikawa looked at Kotetsu Isane's left hand resting on the chair, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes.
He'd risk it!
After a struggle, the temptation of experience points made Ishikawa grit his teeth, make a decisive move, and reach out his right hand... his index finger, and drew it across Kotetsu Isane's hand.
"Hmm?"
Kotetsu Isane turned her head, somewhat puzzled: "Is something wrong?"
"..."
Ishikawa looked at the unchanging affection interface, shook his head slightly, and smiled, "Nothing, just a drop of blood on your hand. I'll wipe it off for you." With that, Ishikawa wiggled his index finger, on which a faint reddish stain could be seen.
Forget it—
Compared to raising affection this way, Ishikawa would rather go fight Captain Unohana. At least there's no psychological burden, and maybe his Zanjutsu proficiency would skyrocket.
This kind of thing was completely unsuitable for him.
Shaking his head, Ishikawa put down the water cup and stood up, saying, "You go ahead and be busy. I'll go check on the Hospital Ward."
"Wait a moment."
Kotetsu Isane stopped Ishikawa, then took a roll of wet wipes from a nearby medical bag and handed them to Ishikawa: "Take these. These are the latest product from our Shinigami Women's Association. Although sales aren't great, they're very convenient for cleaning when you're out, it's just that the smell isn't very pleasant."
Ishikawa looked at the box of wet wipes, his gaze a bit strange.
It would be a miracle if these sold well. Even without touching them, Ishikawa could smell that the wet wipes had been soaked in various herbal solutions used for disinfection.
Using herbs for disinfection is indeed a good method, but you should at least mask the smell of the herbs.
"This smell is a bit strong..."
Ishikawa shook his head: "You should keep these for yourself. Also, don't produce any more of these. I'll try to improve them at the next meeting."
"...Uh."
Kotetsu Isane's face couldn't help but flush upon hearing this, because these wet wipes were her suggestion and she had provided the formula.
When she first made them, she thought that anyone who knew a little about herbs would understand the benefits of these wet wipes. But it turned out... she found that very few people actually understood herbs, and the few who did were extremely resistant to this smell.
However, Kotetsu Isane truly hadn't expected that even Ishikawa, who was very knowledgeable about herbs and whom she believed would understand her painstaking efforts, would directly express his rejection...
"You take them to use. I have plenty more here."
Kotetsu Isane stood up, grabbed Ishikawa's hand, and directly shoved the box of wet wipes into Ishikawa's hand, then turned and walked away.
"Hmm?"
Ishikawa looked at the wet wipes in his hand, or more accurately, at the hand that Kotetsu Isane had just grabbed. After a long moment, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
Hmm...
Very moist!!
However, he should still go fight Captain Unohana.
This kind of contact simply couldn't increase affection points!!
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