Kapitel 60: Treatment Plan

"Captain Ailin, the reason why Lady Kuchiki's soul is gradually deteriorating is because your spiritual pressure is too powerful. Lady Kuchiki who often stays by your side cannot withstand the oppression brought by your powerful spiritual pressure."

"Mm." Ailin nodded.

He didn't realize this at first, but after Captain Retsu Unohana of the 4th Division pointed it out, he naturally understood the reason.

Upon hearing Kisuke Urahara's words, Haruko Kuchiki couldn't help but turn pale. She gripped Ailin's hand much tighter.

As Ailin's wife, not only had she failed to properly accompany Ailin, but her own weakness was also dragging Ailin down. This was a wife's shame.

"Vice-captain level Soul Reapers and above who go to the Human World must have their spiritual pressure sealed unless they are on special missions. I believe Captain Ailin also knows the reason for this?"

"Mm. Powerful spiritual pressure can oppress human souls in the Human World. After frequently receiving stimulation from powerful spiritual pressure, some people will awaken their own spiritual power and gain the ability to see spirits.

And souls with spiritual pressure are the tastiest food in the eyes of Hollows. With no means of fighting back against Hollows, having spiritual power will only make humans die faster in the Human World. That's why powerful Soul Reapers have their spiritual pressure limited when entering the Human World. It can be considered as a protection for the humans there."

"Not bad, Captain Ailin understands it very thoroughly. In fact, Lady Kuchiki's situation is the same as those humans who awakened their spiritual power."

As Kisuke Urahara led Ailin and the others forward, he explained to Ailin, "However, compared to Lady Kuchiki, the human souls have a body that perfectly matches with them."

"So after the human souls receive damage from powerful spiritual pressure, their body will nurture and restore their soul, allowing their soul's power to break through the limit and awaken their spiritual power. For me, healing Lady Kuchiki completely isn't difficult at all.

But even if Lady Kuchiki makes a full recovery, if she continues staying beside Captain Ailin, her soul will start deteriorating again in less than two years. And the speed of deterioration will become faster and faster until it exceeds my ability to treat."

Ailin nodded. Just as Kisuke Urahara said, merely restoring Haruko Kuchiki's soul wouldn't resolve the root issue. Unless Ailin and Haruko never met again, it would only be treating the symptoms and not the cause.

"So? What is 3rd Seat Urahara's plan to treat her?"

But having listened so far, Ailin already basically guessed what Kisuke Urahara was planning for Haruko Kuchiki's treatment. After all, in Ailin's memories, Kisuke Urahara's specialty had always been creating "Gigai".

More than 200 years later, after Isshin Shiba lost his Soul Reaper powers, he relied on the Gigai specially tailored for him by Kisuke Urahara. And even successfully had 3 children with Masaki Kurosaki.

This showed that the Gigai Kisuke Urahara made for Isshin Shiba was a perfect match for Shiba Isshin, truly allowing the Soul Reaper Isshin Shiba to become the human Isshin Kurosaki.

As expected, Kisuke Urahara's next words confirmed Ailin's guess. "Captain Ailin, my idea is for Lady Kuchiki to become a 'human'."

"I will specially create a prosthetic body called a Gigai that completely matches Lady Kuchiki. Relying on that body to nurture Lady Kuchiki's soul, after a period of time, her soul can be fully restored. But of course, as Captain Ailin knows, Gigai can only function in the Human World. In other words, for Lady Kuchiki to recover, she must head to the Human World. And..."

Kisuke Urahara stared at Ailin, observing his expression while slowly saying, "Captain Ailin, because Lady Kuchiki is not a Soul Reaper, once she enters the Gigai, she won't be able to leave the Gigai unless she dies."

Ailin's pupils shrank. Clearly, he understood the implication behind Kisuke Urahara's words. After entering a Gigai perfectly tailored for her that could nurture her soul, Haruko Kuchiki would no longer be a soul-only "Whole", but instead a "human" with a body that could only live in the Human World. Since she would become human, naturally her soul could only leave her body after death.

Kisuke Urahara wanted Ailin to leave Soul Society and Seireitei!

He couldn't see through Ailin and was unclear just how much Ailin knew and what choices he might make in the future. Hence, under the guise of treating Haruko Kuchiki, he wanted to have Ailin stay far away from Soul Society.

As long as Ailin left Soul Society, he would be unable to sense the "Soul King's" secrets and thus wouldn't do anything outside of Kisuke's ability to handle.

It wasn't that Kisuke Urahara didn't trust Ailin, but this was something every person capable of sensing the Soul King's secrets had to go through.

The Soul King was the "cornerstone" that stabilized the worlds. If even the slightest problem occurred with that "cornerstone", the worlds would descend into chaos and destruction.

This was why Ichibe Hyosube created the Zero Division and had them guard the Soul King Palace to protect the Soul King. Why Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto established the Thirteen Court Guard Squads to safeguard Seireitei and become the first line of defense protecting the Soul King.

This was the path the "martial artists" chose after learning of the Soul King's secrets. And the intelligent ones were all preparing contingency plans for themselves.

For example, the now destroyed Great Noble Clan - the Tsunayashiro family. They had secretly amassed the Soul King's powers in the shadows, wanting to nurture a "Soul King Candidate" that they could control. With a Soul King Candidate under their grasp replacing the actual Soul King.

Sosuke Aizen had also reached a certain stage and came into contact with the Soul King's secrets before deciding to become the "Soul King" himself.

"No one stands atop the heavens from the start. Neither you nor I, not even the gods started there. But the empty throne in the sky must have an end to its vacancy. From now on, I will stand at the top."

Even Kisuke Urahara was preparing for possible future crises related to the Soul King with his own choices. Like the Tsunayashiro, Kisuke Urahara was also currently nurturing a "Soul King Candidate".

But unlike the Tsunayashiro, he had no intentions of controlling the "Soul King Candidate". He merely hoped that the "Soul King Candidate" he created could restore stability to the world when problems occurred with the actual Soul King.

Now, Kisuke Urahara was also showing his hand to Ailin. For Haruko Kuchiki to recover, she must become a "human" in the Human World. And with Haruko possessing spiritual pressure, she would definitely frequently come under attack by Hollows.

When that happened, Ailin would have no choice but to accompany Haruko in the Human World, or choose to station Soul Reapers to constantly protect her.

The two choices would decide how Kisuke Urahara treated Ailin in the future.