CH 160: SHOULD WE TAKE HER IN?

"The good news is that, while a little malnourished, she shows no sign of abuse."

Standing up in front of a ward, Unohana spoke to Gojo while looking at the soundly sleeping girl.

Even though the girl should have been about twelve years old, at first glance one would think that she was only 10 or even lower.

Still, that was all there was to it. She had no wounds nor signs of sexual abuse. Whoever imprisoned her there at least didn't want to hurt her.

"She wasn't mentally abused either which is also a relief. But because of her circumstances, her emotional development has been severely affected."

Unohana continued her diagnosis. The girl that Gojo had brought was a very interesting case. Physically speaking, the girl seemed to be just a normal human. But of course, that wasn't the case.

"She survived one entire week without any water nor food. If not for the fact that she was a fullbringer, she would have died."

Unohana muttered to herself, Fullbringer was an interesting type.

In the human world, there existed three types of humans with special abilities.

The first one were High-Spec humans. Those humans generally had nothing particularly special about them aside from the fact that they could see hollows. Some of them could become a little stronger than normal but that was generally as far as it went.

The second type were Quincys. Humans who for some reason had the power to erase Hollows and Shinigami to nothingness and control Reishi.

In Unohana's opinion, rather than saying that Quincys were humans with special power, it would be more accurate to say that Quincys were a race of beings with a genetic makeup nearly identical to that of humans.

For her, Quincys were to humans, what humans were to monkeys. A form of evolution.

Finally, the last type were Fullbringers who for all intent and purpose were humans but who, for some reason, had the Reiatsu of hollows in them. Unohana never really researched their kinds because there were simply too few of them.

"To get a better understanding of Fullbringers, I guess Kisuke or Mayuri are the ones to ask."

Gojo agreed. One of the reasons he was so interested in Fullbringers was because of the power they had to manipulate 'souls' and through it, control physical matter.

Out of the four special races, the two spiritual races, Shinigami and Hollows, used their power by directly manipulating the energy inside them.

Meanwhile, the two physical races, Quincy and Fullbringers, used their power to manipulate the world around them.

And at the center of all of this were humans who could become either of the four.

This world was really fascinating.

'I wonder what race the Soul King is.'

Gojo thought about this before shrugging. If he had stayed and become a captain he could have visited the Soul King Palace once he joined division 0. But things were what they were.

He was sure that he could enter the Palace all by himself but by using the Canon of the Shiba family for example, no matter how strong he was currently, Gojo didn't feel like fighting against those Royal Guards for no reason.

At least now wasn't the time for it.

"Well, let's focus on the girl. Now that I have taken her in, I will go all out. Nemu–"

" —I have already checked. Aura Michibane. The name Michibane comes from the side of the mother. She died in childbirth. From here on, there are no particular records about Aura. No school. No hospital. Nothing. It's clear that she has been imprisoned her entire life. The relatives on the mother's side are still alive."

Nemu took another file and continued,

"No particular information about the father aside from the fact that he worked in the underworld. I believe that he is a Fullbringer. But there is no definitive proof. His body was found in another city. There are no wounds on him nor any signs of poisoning or trauma. Cause of death: unknown."

'Hum…'

"Did you inspect the body?"

"Yes. From the residual energy around it, I believe what he received was a fatal wound to the Soul."

"Was he killed by Shinigami? How intriguing…"

"Should we ask the girl if she knows anything?" Unohana proposed calmly but Gojo shook his head in denial.

"Let's give her some time first. She needs to rest and understand that we wish her no harm."

Unohana smiled at the obvious care Gojo was showing.

"It seems like you really have a thing for taking in strays. Is it a habit from when you were alive?"

"I guess so?" All Gojo could do was give a bitter smile. After all, it wasn't wrong. He always ended up taking in people with special circumstances and cared for them in his own way.

"Well, in her case, there isn't much we can do. If she wishes to go back to her family, we will send her back."

"You think a girl so young with basically no knowledge of the world can take such an important decision alone?"

"It doesn't really matter. We can't keep her against her will after all. Furthermore–"

Taking the file about the maternal family of Aura, "Her family seems to be composed of good, normal folk."

"The problem is…She isn't normal. While it's still dormant, I feel a ridiculous amount of Reiryoku in her. So much that I wouldn't be surprised if it surpassed that of an average captain. She is only 12."

It was clear that Aura was destined to become a powerhouse of the likes never seen before. At least this was what would happen if she didn't get killed first.

"A girl like her is a delicacy amongst delicacies for Hollows. Send her to a normal family? *scoff* Might as well sentence her and her entire family to death. I shouldn't need to tell you all that."

"Well…Let's deal with one thing at a time."

He pinched his eyebrows and waved his hand in order to change topics. He didn't want to dismiss Unohana like this, but the case was hard enough. He knew logically that the best for Aura was to stay with them but one shouldn't try to rationalize the feelings of a young child.

"Either way, this isn't black or white. If she chooses to live a normal life, I could simply seal all her power or protect her with different seals. There is always a solution."

Nodding to himself, he suddenly thought about something,

"Where are Senna and that Quincy girl?"

Gojo generally avoided spreading his sense too widely when it wasn't necessary. Senna wasn't a little girl anymore after all. It would be quite awkward if he saw things he shouldn't.

"They are in the garden. Masaki seems to be awed by the different flowers."

"Fufufu~! This girl has good taste."

Unohana laughed. She was the one who took care of the garden so she was quite happy to have it praised.

"Well, let's meet them then. It seems like little Masaki wants to enter the Gojo family in a different way. Hahaha."

Watching a blooming pink spring was truly interesting.