Taking off his hat, Kisuke reintroduced himself, "It's a pleasure to meet you in person. And Serafall-sama is correct, I'm the one who shed light on this issue to your daughter."
"I see. I'll assume that it's for a good reason, but how were you able to get hold of this information?" asked Dylan with inquisitive eyes. Depending on his answer, it would look like Kisuke was already targeting the Sitri Clan a long time ago by acquiring this piece of sensitive information.
In face of this, Kisuke just calmly smiled, "I know your concerns, Dylan-sama, but please rest assured that I was only able to take note of this earlier."
Dylan's brows rose, "Earlier? Are you trying to say that you noticed something amiss with me just from our short interaction and through a holographic image? You do know that even my family didn't notice anything, right? Yet you claim you were able to see through me just like that?"
"That's correct."
"So I'm supposed to believe that? Might as well say that you have a cure for it," Dylan sneered at him.
Chuckling, Kisuke replied, "Of course not~. I wouldn't have something so convenient~."
Dylan was about to reply but Serafall interrupted him and asked Kisuke, "Ki-tan! Couldn't you do something? Since you noticed it, you might already have an idea of how to resolve this... Please."
"Serafall. You believe him?" asked Dylan.
Serafall stared straight towards her father's eyes and answered, "Yes."
"But..." However, before Dylan could continue, he felt a hand on his right shoulder and looked over it, "Cordelia... Even you?"
"It's a stretch to say that I trust him, however, I trust our daughter." Cordelia then looked towards Kisuke, "Young man, although you already said that you don't have a cure for it, I hope there are some actions that you think we can take?"
Kisuke nodded, "Of course. That's the reason that I'm here. Even though I noticed Dylan-sama's ailment, I don't know much about it. So if you were to allow it, please let me do an in-depth check-up on you. That way, I may be able to find at least something that can suppress the symptoms."
Silence then engulfed the room as Dylan and Kisuke stared at each other. A minute later, Dylan sighed, "Fine... I'll trust my daughter for now. What do you need? We have a complete set of medical equipment within the mansion but we have better ones in our territory's institution."
"I'm sorry but the equipment that I use is a bit special which I made myself so we have to do it in my place."
Startled, Serafall asked, "Your place? But you..."
"It's fine. Either way, I already planned to abandon it for a better location. With that, let me take my leave first as I have to prepare a few things. Serafall-sama will be leading you." Not waiting for anyone, Kisuke teleported away.
Dylan turned to Serafall and asked, "His place?"
"It's a bit of a special place, but for now, let's prepare to leave," answered Serafall.
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Half an hour later, Serafall, Dylan and Cordelia arrived in the middle of the underground wasteland and the one who welcomed them was the Dragon God, "...This way." Ophis then turned towards a certain direction and started walking.
Dylan's mouth twitched at their reception, "T-this is..."
"Let's go, dad, mom," urged Serafall as she followed Ophis.
Dylan and Cordelia looked at each other and decided not to say anything and follow.
Some time later, they reached Kisuke's 'clinic' and entered. Waiting for them inside was Kisuke, not in his shihakusho but instead a traditional white lab coat, "Welcome~. Dylan-sama please change into this. You may use that room."
Dylan nodded at him and took the white robe that Kisuke passed him and went towards the room he pointed. Kisuke then turned towards the girls and pointed towards a table with some sweets and warm tea, where Ophis was already helping herself, "Please wait over there. It may take half an hour to examine everything."
"I'll be leaving my husband to you," Cordelia then smiled, "And if you can find a solution, then I'll automatically approve of your relationship with my daughter~. So do your best."
Kisuke grinned and replied, "I guess I have to put in some effort~." He then turned towards the room where Dylan went and before he entered the room, he declared, "I'll do my best~."
Cordelia suddenly turned to Serafall when Kisuke went away, "What about you? Isn't it about time you find a man for yourself?"
"I don't need it and neither do I want it!" answered Serafall immediately as she sat down beside Ophis.
Cordelia gave her a look of suspicion and asked, "Hmmm... You are not aiming for him, right?"
Serafall was startled at her mother's words, "W-wha...! No! Ki-tan is a good friend!"
While the mother was poking fun at her daughter, Kisuke started Dylan's examination. But instead of half an hour, it took Kisuke an hour to do everything after getting Dylan's permission to try out some possible cures.
"Whew~... Congratulations, Dylan-sama. It's done." Kisuke used his magic to clear the sweat that had been accumulating on his head.
Dylan stood up and looked at himself. He did some stretching and some exercises and was able to confirm that the symptoms that has been plaguing him had disappeared, "It's really gone? I'm cured?" muttered Dylan as he looked at his hands which his former strength had returned to.
"Yes. This 'sleep disease' that you experienced is when the soul's 'frequency' became out of sync with the body. And to cure it, I had to fix this problem," explained Kisuke.
"Out of sync? Isn't that a homunculus problem? How did you do it when I don't have a homunculus body?... Wait... Could it be..."
"It's as you've guessed. I directly adjusted the imbalance in your soul. Unlike real bodies, homunculus bodies were created 'adjustable' to better suit the soul. However, even though 'frequencies' of the soul are always changing ever so slightly, the artificial couldn't keep at it as well as natural bodies do, so the former would need constant medication depending on their 'cycle' throughout their lives."
"Without that, I had no choice but to adjust the soul directly. Nevertheless, this problem only occurred because the soul's 'frequency' changed too much that the body was having a hard time catching up until it couldn't anymore and the two entities disconnected, hence, leading to losing consciousness until the 'frequencies' were close enough to meet again."
Dylan became silent and thought for a few minutes before facing Kisuke again, "Mind if I take a look at my data?"
Without a word, Kisuke passed him the documents that recorded his state before and after his check-up.
Although he couldn't be considered an expert, he still had a vast amount of medical knowledge compared to ordinary people as he was always in talks with the medical experts in his territory and had to understand the things that were presented to him.
Dylan looked over his data for over ten minutes and sighed, "As expected... There are only a few things that I can understand from this. You really do have a special method of diagnosis."
"However, I can still confirm that I'm cured... At least, physically so I can't safely assume that you indeed found a way to cure this 'incurable' disease that was already present since ancient times. Though I'll have myself examined again by my doctors once I've returned. I hope this doesn't offend you."
Kisuke shook his head, "No. That's a natural step. You don't exactly know what I did and you need to take some precautions in case something out of the ordinary happens."
Dylan sighed, "In any case, if I'm really fully cured, I'd like to apologize to you for this behavior when we meet again. And hopefully, you can part with the cure. I'm willing to pay a large price."
"Hmm..." Kisuke stroked his chin and went towards one of the terminals, "I'd like you to receive it now as I don't know when we'll meet again. Naturally, I don't know if your 'sleep disease' is the same as the 'sleep disease' that has been plaguing others, but I could give you a diagnostic method for it along with the blueprints of the special equipment that you'll be needing."
"Of course, this 'cure' may be used for something other than its intended use so I'll also be adding a diagnostic method to figure out whether the soul was intentionally tampered with using this method." Kisuke then took out a USB stick from the terminal and passed it to Dylan, "As for the price, please consider it as a gift and my apology for dragging Sona along with me~."
While smiling, Dylan also glared at Kisuke, "Damn you... You just had to make it difficult for me to accept this."
Chuckling, Kisuke added, "Iya~. Please don't consider this as a bribe but as my good will~."
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Editors:
28th00: Does this count as a dowry for Sona (and Serafall, even if she's in denial)? Phis-chama is playing the part of a good guide, she's even sharing her snack time with others! I'm so proud of her!
Goyya: If they were to ask for a dowry, then they'll regret it. Too much of good is also bad, lol.
Staz Irvine
I'm sorry for posting everything just now!
m(。≧ _ ≦。)m
I completely forgot about it after posting in my Pat reon and only noticed it when I posted the next batch!
Thank you very much for your understanding~!
Serafall and Cordelia were getting worried because they had already been in the room for more than double Kisuke's stipulated time. However, it's not like they can just barge in since it may cause more complications than actually help.
Just as they were about to lose their patience, Kisuke and Dylan finally got out of the room and the latter was already dressed up with his former attire, "Darling... How was it?" Cordelia and Serafall immediately approached them.
Dylan didn't say anything immediately and instead looked at Kisuke for a moment before smiling, "This brat really did it. Not just a simple check-up, but he also went ahead and cured it for me."
The girls' eyes widened and extreme happiness overcame them, "Really!? Yaay!" Serafall opened her arms and was about to hug Kisuke out of appreciation. However, just as she was about to do so, she suddenly felt both of her parents' stares and became very conscious of her actions. So instead, she turned to her father without pause and hugged him, "Yaay!!!"
But instead of being glad of this change of heart, Dylan and Cordelia were instead even more surprised. Serafall was their daughter and even if they don't really like her antics, they knew her well. Serafall, if she was happy about something she would cling onto someone she's fairly close with without thinking about it.
Dylan and Cordelia only stared at her actions as a form of reprimand and also as a form of light teasing. Nevertheless, they didn't expect Serafall would suddenly become conscious of her usual actions.
While looking down at his smiling daughter, Dylan suddenly snapped his head towards Kisuke and declared with a glare, "I'll never give you Serafall!"
Of course, Kisuke and Serafall were dumbfounded, "Uhmm... It seems there's a bit of misunderstanding. I'm going out with your other daughter, Sona-chan, not Serafall-sama."
"That's right, dad... What are you talking about?"
"Nothing... I'm just reminding him."
On the side, Cordelia only chuckled, "Kisuke-kun, however may we pay this debt to you?"
"Please don't think about it anymore. Just you approving my relationship with Sona is more than enough." replied Kisuke as he looked at his wristwatch, "I'm sorry, but I cannot entertain you any longer as I need to do something else."
Dylan fixed his clothes and said, "It's fine. We already bothered you long enough. I have to return now for further examinations. Let's meet again some other time." He then faced Cordelia and Serafall, "Let's go."
"I'd like to stay longer. I need to discuss something with Ki-tan," replied Serafall.
Seeing her serious demeanor, Dylan nodded, "Alright. We'll go first. Once again, I thank you for your efforts, Kisuke Urahara. I'll make sure that your 'cure' won't be misused."
"You're very much welcome~. And if you are planning to release this to the public, please don't add my name to it. We wouldn't like unnecessary complications and I don't really like fame either. I'm just a pursuer of knowledge and nothing more."
Dylan closed his eyes and answered, "I see. I'll take note of that. Well then, goodbye." He and Cordelia then teleported away.
"Well then, when are they willing to meet up?" Kisuke disrobed his lab coat and put on his shihakusho as he asked Serafall.
"Athena told me that she'd like to meet you as soon as possible. Not just that, she wanted you to meet another person, though she didn't reveal the identity of her companion," replied Serafall.
Kisuke nodded, "Alright. Please send them the coordinates of this place in ten minutes. I'd meet them now."
"You did say that you already planned to abandon this place, but are you sure? This is your only base of operation, right?"
"Right. That's why I already took some steps to make another base and in just a few minutes, I can already start making that base in earnest."
"But this next base is still in the Dimensional Gap, right? Then isn't it a bit counterintuitive to create another when there isn't much advantage to gain? I think this will be just a useless effort."
"I know, but it isn't going to be in the Dimensional Gap. It's the most secure location for most people, but I happen to know a better one so I'm going with that."
"Hmmm... I see. But you have to invite me over! That's a must!"
"Of course~! Anything for my sister-in-law~!"
"Don't call me that! At least defeat Sirzechs-chan before calling me that!" hollered Serafall.
"Got it. I'll work hard, Sera-tan~."
"Umu!" Serafall nodded in satisfaction. However, deep inside, she was surprised at how much she didn't like the 'sister-in-law' call and thought, 'It's really hard to let go of my dear cute little sister, even if it's to Ki-tan.'
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Half an hour later, a teleportation circle in the middle of the hideout emerged and Kisuke and Serafall got ready. A few seconds later, two cloaked figures appeared and walked out of the magic circle.
"Welcome, guests. I hope you don't mind the reception here," Kisuke greeted them.
The taller one of the two stepped out and removed the hood of her cloak, revealing the familiar wavy-black-haired beauty, Athena, "It's been a while, Kisuke Urahara. I didn't want us to meet like this, but the situation is urgent. Thank you for having us."
Unlike her former bossy attitude, Athena mellowed out and gave proper respect to Kisuke. At this point, she didn't see him as an enemy anymore but a 'savior' and potential comrade.
Kisuke smiled at her and replied, "It's a pleasure to have you here." He then looked towards her still cloaked companion. As his eyes landed on her, she shook but immediately stopped. However, the fear emanating from her is obvious to everyone.
Seeing this, Athena spoke up, "Kisuke Urahara... About her..." But Kisuke raised his hand to stop her, "Please just call me Kisuke."
Kisuke stepped forward and started walking towards the figure behind Athena. Noticing this, the figure visibly shook again and tried to hide behind Athena. Thanks to this and the somehow familiar aura she's emitting, Kisuke figured out the identity of Athena's companion, "I didn't expect to meet you again. Nyx-san, was it? Welcome to my humble abode."
Without much choice, the shorter figure removed her hood, showing her long black hair, pointy ears, and childish face. However, contrary to her cheerful demeanor that Kisuke remembered, Nyx right now was very haggard and had eyes full of fear, "G-good day to you... K-Kisuke Urahara," replied Nyx with a shaking voice.
If it was a normal opponent that defeated her, she would have honorably admitted her defeat with a satisfied smile. However, the Kisuke she met that day not just almost instantly killed her, but also gave her quite a bit of trauma. It already took her every bit of courage just to appear in front of him.
"Please follow me. Seeing you two here, it looks like it'll be a long discussion. Let's talk over some tea." Kisuke invited them inside his lodging.
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Editors:
28th00: They're gonna be even more unnerved with Phis-chama just sitting there, watching them, nomming on some cookies. Very unnerved.