194 The Hangover 4

(E/D: This chapter was a pain to edit. I almost thought our dear Author got posses by a ghost or some Chinese hacker got into his account and wrote this chapter. To give you an example, Jushiro became Juahiro. So there might be some mistake, don't mind it.)

(Ryoto's pov)

What we heard from Kiyone was bizarre, to say the least. Apparently, Jushiro-senpai was training in the dojo. It wouldn't be strange for anyone other than him to train as Jushiro-senpai has a very sickly body. If he strains himself too much, he will cough out blood, so most of the time, he is resting. That way, he saves his strength for the time it is needed.

I remember giving him a lollipop to ease his condition a little, but I doubt it would be strong enough to allow him to train without any worries. At most, it would ease his symptoms so he wouldn't cough out blood as often as before for a short amount of time.

We entered the dojo to see Jushiro-senpai swinging his sword with a lollipop in his mouth.

He noticed us coming inside right away and seeing me, he smiled, walked up to me, and lifted me up by my armpits.

Jushiro: "Haha, if it isn't Yuuki-kun. I don't know how you did it, but I can't thank you enough!"

I'm starting to get a picture of what I did here, but there are still a lot of blanks that hopefully Jushiro-senpai has answers for.

Yoruichi: "Don't shake him too much, Ukitake! You are destroying the comfortable place I found!"

Jushiro: "Oh, excuse me."

He put me down.

Ryoto: "You know that I'm a lot more than just a comfortable place to lay down on, right?"

Yoruichi: "You're right. You are also a food provider."

I feel objectified, but if she allows me to pet her, then I don't mind. I thought I was a dog person until a cat allowed me to pet it. That was one of the best feelings I had ever experienced. Now I know that I just like animals in general. They don't judge you like people do.

(E/D: So he is being drawn to the Darkside.)

Ryoto: "Let's stay on topic."

I said as I started scratching behind Yoruichi's ears which she enjoyed. I noticed that girls enjoy my headpats, and they lose to the pleasure for a short few moments. Not that it's important.

Ryoto: "We came here to know what happened yesterday. None of us here remember what happened after the party, but we heard from the owner of the restaurant, and he said that we went with you."

Jushiro: "That's correct. I didn't want to leave all of you in that state. Four of you were very drunk and I wanted for you to sober up in my Squad's barracks, but you were a lot more lively and talkative than I expected you to be. Yuuki-kun especially. Everything you said was very interesting."

Ryoto: "Just to be sure, what did I talk about?"

I just hope I didn't say any of my secrets. I may(read; definitely) say something stupid, but even in a drunken state, I shouldn't reveal my secrets.

Jushiro: "There were a lot of interesting stories. There was one about an alien fiancé, a brother who is unlucky and can't confess to his crush, a superhero with a power of a spider, and a teacher who teaches his class how to kill him. You started to cry at the last one. You have a real talent for storytelling. I would like to hear more in the future if you have time. You should also write something for Sereitei Communications. They would appreciate your wild imagination."

At least he thinks that they were all stories that I made up. I mean, they kinda are just stories that someone made up, but not really. This thought opens up a whole can of thoughts. Do these fantasy universes exist because there are stories of them in other worlds or do they exist beforehand and the author wrote about them by accident? Is this the power of human imagination that creates new worlds, or are there an uncountable amount of universes?

I'm going off topic again.

Ryoto: "How about the lollipop you have? I gave you only one."

Jushiro: "After listening to you for a while, you called me the nicest person here and gave me more lollipops. You also explained their effects which I still can't believe. I'm not cured, but I can move more freely. You also promised to cure me in the future."

He said with a small laugh at the end.

Because my stupidity is often ignored when someone listened to me, I may have thought of that person as the nicest one in this world.

Jushiro: "But I must say that mysterious power of yours to cure is incredible. I was just testing the limits and how far can I push myself without consequences. It was a long time since I moved my body that much. I had fun, and it's all thanks to you. Haha!"

At least he is happy.

Rin: "What happened afterward? This doesn't answer a few things. Why does Ryoto have a tattoo, and why was he handcuffed?"

Jushiro-senpai put his hand on his chin and started thinking.

Jushiro: "That I don't know, but maybe Captain Unohana knows. She was the one who took you later that night. I called since her lieutenant was with you."

That means that we need to talk with Unohana.

We all thanked Jushiro-senpai for his time and help, but before we exited the dojo, he stopped me.

Jushiro: "Wait, Yuuki-kun. I want to ask you something, alone."

I was forced to put Yoruichi on Rin's head so we could be left alone.

Yoruichi: "Ryoto's head was more comfortable..."

Rin: "Do you really not want to walk on your own legs that much?"

Yoruichi: "Nah~."

The only one who bowed as she left was Isane. She is probably accustomed to showing respect to Captains. Or the three of us are the strange ones here.

As we were left alone, Jushiro-senpai dropped a bomb I didn't expect.

Jushiro: "Yuuki-kun, do you want to join my Division?"

That came out of nowhere.

Ryoto: "Jushiro-senpai, I'm flattered that you want me in your Squad, but I'm still only a first year, so I would like to ask why."

Jushiro: "There's no real reason. I am aware of your strength, and as Genryusai-sensei's student, you must have a lot of potential, so why not give you a place on my Squad? Of course, I would like you to learn at the Academy for at least a year or two."

It's not a bad idea. Being under Jushiro-senpai has some benefits. The 13th Division is relatively safe. Until about 50 years before Canon. That's when the Hollow that Aizen created attacked. The only problem would be leaving Rin alone in another Squad, unless...

Ryoto: "I appreciate this offer, and I hate to ask you this but would it be possible to get Rin in this Squad as well? I can assure you that she has the necessary ability. She even unlocked her Shikai."

Jushiro: "I don't see a problem with it. Rin, is it that girl from before? But why are you asking for this?"

Ryoto: "I promised myself that I won't allow Rin to get hurt, so until she gets stronger, I plan to keep protecting her. That's all there is to it."

I said everything honestly. I didn't see any reason to lie to Jushiro-senpai.

Jushiro: "I see. Oh, Youth."

He smiled gently.

I think he misunderstood something or is it the truth right now? I'm still confused about our relationship. We need to talk it out later.

Ryoto: "If you agree to that, then I don't see any reason to refuse your offer."

I agreed. To be honest, I don't exactly know how powerful Jushiro-senpai is, but he must be one of the most powerful ones if not for his sickness. I learned a lot from him on the side while Yama-jii was teaching me.

More the merrier, as they say. Who says that? I don't know. What I know is that I secured a safe Squad for myself and Rin, and that's a good thing.

Jushiro: "Now, I don't want to take too much of your time. You have something people waiting for you."

I don't do it often, but since Jushiro-senpai is doing me a huge favor by listening to my selfish request, I bowed down to show how grateful I am.

Ryoto: "Jushiro-senpai, thank you very much!"

He seemed surprised by my actions, and he quickly asked me to raise my head.

Jushiro: "Raise your head. I didn't do anything worth thanking for."

He says that, but it really means a lot to me. For that, I'll try my best to heal him to the best of my abilities.

I was about to exit, but Jushiro-senpai stopped me for the last word.

Jushiro: "Before you go, I would like to give you one piece of advice. Don't try to carry more than you can. Otherwise, you'll break under all that weight."

Ryoto: "What do you mean by that."

I feigned ignorance. It's not that I don't trust Jushiro-senpai, but trusting someone and talking about your problems to someone are two different things, at least for me.

Jushiro-senpai didn't seem offended by my answer and just smiled gently.

With that, I left.

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END

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