Chapter 57: Incident (3,000 words, please read on) (Ch 57)

Three days later, on Karakura-cho West Street—
“The sunlight in the real world is no different from that in Soul Society.” Shihouin Yoruichi stood on the roof of an attic, one hand on her waist and the other hand covering her forehead. The West Street of Karakura Town was in her sight.
A baby-faced girl jumped onto the roof and instantly appeared in front of Yoruichi. She was Yoruichi’s teammate in the actual combat assessment.
“Big sister, have you noticed anything unusual here?” asked the baby-faced girl.
“No…” Shifengyuan Yoruichi sighed, “I can’t eat or touch anything I see. This world is so boring!”
After two or three days of patrolling, she was already somewhat tired of the task.
This task is really too boring!
During the daily patrols, nothing unusual was found. There wasn’t even a single Vulture in the West Street area!
Yesterday, a group of students encountered Xu who ran over from East Street, but her group had never encountered him before. It made her feel itchy and as if she couldn’t display her abilities.
“It looks like our team will have to spend this round of patrol mission peacefully.” The baby-faced girl said, “I hope something happens, so that I can get extra points.”
A short-haired young man suddenly appeared beside the baby-faced girl and said, “Big sister, I’ve checked here too, and there’s nothing abnormal.”
“The only one missing is Rii. When she comes back, go report to Mr. Kadori and Ms. Kawada.” Shihouin Yoruichi nodded and said.
At this moment, she raised her eyebrows and sensed an unusual spiritual pressure fluctuation coming from afar.
“Did you encounter a Hollow?” Ye Yi waved her hand, “It seems that Li Yi is in trouble, let’s go and support her!”
Yoruichi and the young man disappeared in a flash, while the baby-faced girl summoned the Hell Butterfly and reported the situation: “Teacher Kadori, Ms. Kawada, we have discovered the spiritual pressure fluctuations of the Hollow on West Street. Hoshino Rie is near the fluctuations, and we are heading to provide support now.”
“Be careful.” The voice of Shikatari Nanazuki came from Hell Butterfly.
…
Hoshino Rie found a “whole ghost” in a house.
Normally, the souls of humans who die in this world will go to Soul Society on their own.
However, there are some souls who still have obsessions in the human world for some reason. They will not take the initiative to go to the Soul Society, but will stay in the human world and become “whole souls”.
The obsession of the “whole soul” is too strong, and the chain called “Chain of Cause and Effect” tied on its body will be corroded by its own obsession. At this time, the “whole soul” will become an evil soul, that is, “Xuan”.
Therefore, it is also the duty of the God of Death to send the “whole soul” to Soul Society.
The “whole spirit” discovered by Hoshino Rii is a little girl who was wearing an exquisite little kimono. She should have lived on West Street during her lifetime.
“Big sister, can you see me?” The little girl noticed Hoshino Rii’s gaze and couldn’t help feeling surprised. No one here could see her, and now she finally met someone who could see her.
The little girl had never seen any other “ghosts”.
During this period, the gods of death often patrolled West Street, so most of the “whole souls” here had been sent away. She was a newly born “whole soul” and therefore became the one who slipped through the net.
“I am the God of Death. Don’t be afraid. I am here to send you to Soul Society, where all ‘people’ can see you and communicate with you.” Hoshino Rie said patiently.
“But…” The little girl rubbed her fingers, looking a little nervous, “I don’t want to leave yet…”
“Little sister, why do you still want to stay here?” Hoshino Liyi squatted in front of the little girl and said gently, “Are those your family members in there? If you stay here, it will not be a good thing for you or them.”
“My mother is sick. I want to wait until she gets better before leaving.” The little girl said timidly.
“Oh…” Hoshino Rii scratched her face, feeling a little embarrassed.
From the perspective of her duty, she had to send the little girl to Soul Society using Soul Burial now, but seeing that the little girl was so young and her only wish was to see her mother’s illness get better, she couldn’t help but feel compassion.
“Then why do you stay here instead of staying with your mother?” asked Hoshino Rii curiously.
If the little girl was obsessed with her mother, she should have stayed with her mother, but now she was in an uninhabited room.
“Dad said I was sick and couldn’t visit Mom, otherwise Mom would get sick too…” the little girl said frustratedly, “I went to see Mom secretly before, maybe it was because I was sick that Mom got sick too, so I didn’t dare to see Mom, for fear that her illness would get worse…”
The medical level was very low in that era, and a high fever took the little girl’s life.
“You are a spirit now. No matter what illness you had before, it is gone now. So your mother’s illness has nothing to do with you.” Hoshino Rie touched the little girl’s head and comforted her.
When the little girl heard that her mother’s illness was not caused by her, she immediately felt relieved of a lot of her guilt.
“Sister Death, have I caused you any trouble?” The little girl bit her lip and continued, “If that’s the case, I’ll leave with you, but… can you let me go see my mom before I leave?”
The little girl was very sensible. Hoshino Liyi felt a little blocked in her heart and said softly: “Of course, I will go with you.”
“Thank you, Sister Death, my mother is there!” The little girl pointed in a direction.
Hoshino Rii took the girl’s hand and walked towards the backyard.
“There are so many people in your house.” Hoshino Rii saw people coming and going in the yard, and it seemed that everyone was in a hurry as if they had something urgent to do.
“It became like this after mom fell sick,” said the little girl.
Hoshino Rii took the little girl to a house, which was surrounded by people.
“That’s Daddy,” the little girl said, pointing to a worried young man.
The young man stopped the servant and asked, “What’s the situation? Has the midwife been invited?”
The servant bowed and replied, “Young Master, please rest assured. The midwife has already gone in.”
The young man nodded and paced back and forth at the door.
From time to time, a woman’s high-pitched wails could be heard from the house.
“Mom seems to be in pain, Sister Death, let’s go in quickly.” The little girl’s face was full of worry. She pulled Hoshino Rii’s hand, wanting to go in quickly.
Hoshino Rii suddenly realized and said with a smile: “It seems that your mother is not sick, but is about to give birth to a baby. Your brother and sister will be born soon.”
“Really? I’m going to have brothers and sisters?” The little girl’s expression changed from worry to joy. “That’s great. After I leave, my brothers and sisters can stay with mom for me!”
The little girl was too young to understand the concept of labor and delivery. She thought her mother was often feeling uncomfortable during this period because she was sick.
The two waited outside the house for a long time.
Hoshino Rie originally wanted to wait until the pregnant woman inside gave birth before taking the little girl in to see her mother, but after waiting for a long time, the waiting was still not over and the wailing of the pregnant woman in the house became weaker and weaker.
Hoshino Rii was a little worried and said to the little girl, “Let’s go in.”
In the room, several servants and midwives were assisting the woman in giving birth.
The woman’s hands were tightly grasping the edge of the bed. The wooden edge had been scratched by her nails, leaving many marks.
Her face was distorted and she looked extremely painful.
The little girl came to her mother and cried, “Mom!”
The woman opened her eyes and saw the girl. She immediately let go of the edge of the bed, grabbed the girl, and said weakly: “Mei? Mei, you’re here?”
“Mom, I’m here to see you!”
“Mei…I didn’t take good care of you…”
“It has nothing to do with mom. I just want to see her get better soon…”
“Mei…”
Both mother and daughter were in tears.
“Who is Mei?” the midwife said to the servant beside her, “Call her over, it will help Madam hold on a little longer!”
“Mei is… the lady’s deceased daughter.” The servant said helplessly.
“Oh no, the madam is already unconscious. Hurry up and bring the medicine over to keep her awake!” The midwife was shocked and said hurriedly.
The servant brought a bowl of medicine and asked the woman to drink it.
Perhaps it was the effect of the medicine, or perhaps it was because she saw her daughter, the woman’s mental state recovered a little.
After a while, the midwife was overjoyed: “It’s almost out!”
A few minutes later, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as a baby cried.
“Mother and child are safe!”
“I want to see my brother.” said the little girl.
“Hold the child for me.” The woman found that other people couldn’t see her daughter, so she asked the midwife to give the child to her. She didn’t care about other people’s strange eyes and held the child in front of her daughter, “Mei, this is your brother…”
“He doesn’t look like us…”
“He is still young…When he grows up, he will be like…”
Hoshino Rii looked at the scene in front of her, but a hint of doubt flashed through her mind. According to the girl, her mother should not be able to see her.
But now the woman saw her.
Most humans cannot see souls. Generally speaking, only people with psychic gifts can see and touch souls.
Suddenly, she heard a sound of breaking air from the right.
Bang——
Hoshino Rie only had time to draw out her Zanpakutō before she was blown away by a huge force.
She bumped into the solid wood table. The powerful impact force lifted the heavy solid wood table and sent it flying backwards, until it smashed the corner of the wall and stopped.
“Cough cough–” Hoshino Rii climbed up in a panic and tried to grab the Zanpakutō that fell beside her, but found that her hands could no longer move.
Hoshino Rie was horrified, her hand bones were broken!
Moreover, before she was knocked away, she had already seen clearly that the enemy was a Hollow, but she still could not sense the Hollow’s spiritual pressure.
This is a Hollow that is good at hiding its spiritual pressure!
“Mei, run!”
When Hoshino Rie heard the woman’s urgent cry, she quickly looked up and her pupils suddenly dilated.
A virtual figure came into view.
It has a long tail, and it must have used this tail to whip her away just now.
The most important thing is that the long tail has passed through the woman’s belly.
The woman didn’t know where she got the strength from, but when the monster appeared, she handed the baby in her arms to the little girl and pushed her away.