After making sure that Irina and Akeno would be alright, everyone left the room and moved to the conference room before activating the barrier that blocks most of the information from getting out.
The barrier's activation woke Kisuke up momentarily, but after figuring out that nothing was wrong, he closed his eyes once again. Since they'd activated it knowing that it was only him that could hear what they were going to talk about, Kisuke guessed that they didn't want him to hear any of it and he respected that, before immediately going back to his slumber.
"Is it necessary to activate the barrier?", Yoruichi asked as she sat down on her usual seat.
Serafall went to her own seat and answered, "It isn't. But I want to keep this between us for now. Having Kisuke hear what we're about to talk about won't do him any favors."
Judging from Serafall's tone, Yoruichi already had several guesses as to what she wanted to address, 'Should I say that 'As expected of her'? As someone who could see this group from the outside, it was only a matter of time before she noticed its biggest flaw. Since everyone already has enough ability to fend for themselves even without us, I guess this is truly a good time.'
Serafall was able to read Yoruichi's expression and sighed, 'Since she didn't say anything, I guess she's also aware how skewed this group is in depending on only one person who can do it all.'
All the while, the rest, except for Hestia, were still clueless about Serafall's intentions.
Once everyone got comfortable in their seats, except for Line since she thought that she didn't belong here, Sona asked Serafall, "What do you want to talk about Nee-sama? If it's important, shouldn't we wait for Irina and Akeno to wake up and Koneko and Kuroka to return?"
Serafall reclined to her seat and with an uncharacteristically serious voice, she answered, "It's very important, but I didn't gather all of you here to decide anything so relaying what will be said here to others would be enough."
She then looked around before continuing, "As it is now, the moment Ki-tan fails at something important, this group will follow with a collapse. I may not be an expert when it comes to romance, but even I can see that this isn't very healthy."
While Hestia and Yoruichi remained silent, the rest were having various degrees of reactions. However, none of them had any words of rebuttal.
At least, this kind of reaction gave Serafall a sigh of relief, because this signifies that they're aware of the problem, but chose to ignore it until now. Whether it's because of their unconditional trust in Kisuke or something else, this has caused them to only blindly see what lies in front of them.
But before Serafall could say anything further, discussions started popping up among everyone, talking about the real nature of the problem. While Serafall and Hestia were shocked seeing this, a small smile only blossomed on Yoruichi's face as she rested her head on her propped-up arm and thought, 'If you think they are just mindless followers, then you're seriously underestimating them. Insulting them even. The current state of affairs only came to be because they are too busy trying to catch up by following the easiest way for them. A path that had been laid in front of them.'
After a short while, they finally pinpointed the exact reason for Serafall's words. Aside from fighting, there's nothing else they can really do. With Kisuke doing anything from logistics to research and development. The moment he fails is the moment that everything will crash down on them.
"...I see... With our current set up, instead of lightening it up, we're only adding more to his burden even if all we want is to stand up by his side.", Sona muttered while pursing her lips.
"Without expanding our expertise, the burden that we're causing will only continue to increase.", added Aika while rubbing her chin.
Line hesitated for a moment before voice out her question while raising her hand, "...T-then what shall we do?" Although she didn't have any experiences with a conference like this where she could voice out her opinion even back in Loki Familia, she's not sure if she really needed to ask the obvious. Even then, she wanted to make a move forward and this was her first small step.
At her question, Artemis was the one who answered, "For starters, think of your own interests outside of fighting. Having an interest is very important if you want to go far with what you want to do. If you're only going to do it for the sake of lightening Kisuke's burden, then forget it since most likely, you'll only fail."
Yoruichi nodded at her statement and added, "Artemis-sama is right. Thinking about Kisuke's well-being is good, however, as that guy himself said, never center yourself around him."
Aika then suddenly raised her hand and stood up, "Here, here, here!"
"Go ahead."
"Since we're finally doing something different then I'd like to express my desire from long ago!", crossing her arms, Aika continued with a big smile, "Ever since I became a Shinigami and started learning various Kidou Arts, I've always been interested in the study of Souls!"
"Oh?" Yoruichi's brows raised and were aware that Aika was a fast learner when it comes to Kidou Arts even compared to the students of the Shinigami Academy, "How come I'm only hearing this for the first time today?"
Aika scratched her head in embarrassment, "Well... There's really no chance to tell you nor Kisuke. Besides, it's only my interest and I'm already swarmed with my swordsmanship and Kidou studies. Not to mention our regular dives into the Dungeon."
Serafall could finally see why their 'creativity' was being suppressed. It's simply because they don't have time for anything else with the threats always around them and they don't really want to be forever protected by the person they followed.
Yoruichi grinned and said, "I see... Then from now on, we'll stop your Kidou studies and replace it with basic Souls studies. And maybe in the near future, you'll be able to assist Kisuke with his own research." In the first place, the basic Souls studies should have come first before the Kidou Arts studies. But due to their circumstances, it would be better for Aika to be able to use spells that were unique to the Shinigamis.
No one really expected it, not even Kisuke nor Yoruichi, but in the future, where most of their problems were already resolved, Aika would become an advisor to the Shinigami Research and Development Institute of the Soul Society and even become an Honorary Vice-Captain of the 12th Division.
Editors:
28th00: I wonder how many hundreds of chapters that last bit is?
Goyya: Sadly, I don’t intend to go that far. At most, just an Epilogue or an Extra Chapter.
With Aika good to go, the next one to express their interest was Line and without any surprise, she said, "I want to continue what I'm doing and maybe expand my medical knowledge and expertise to other branches such as the physical and soul aspects."
"Aren't you doing great right now? Wouldn't you just overwhelm yourself if you ask for more?" Artemis asked full of skepticism. She didn't want her to push herself too much, as compared to all the children she had met in the past, she was already a top-notch healer that everyone would scramble for.
Line immediately shook her head, "I can heal most injuries, yes. I can even treat the curse that hit me and everyone in the Loki Familia thanks to the extensive Magic knowledge that Kisuke-san passed on. However, I can only do that with the use of Magic. There would definitely be a time where I won't be able to use my magic and I'll be next to useless."
Yoruichi nodded in understanding, however, she had to warn her, "Are you sure about this? It's going to be extremely hard. What you're going to learn would be far beyond your notion of reality. If you're not careful, it may change who you are now. That's how big of a difference the knowledge you have compared to the knowledge we know of."
But without any hesitation, Line nodded, "I'm prepared! Kisuke-san already warned me of this even before he started teaching me."
"Great. However, that's not what concerns me the most. Let's say you've successfully learned all of this, what do you think would happen?"
Line was silent. She thought about it for a while but the only answer she came up with was she'll be a lot better at treating and saving other people.
Guessing what she's thinking, Yoruichi continued with a grin, "What I meant is, are you prepared to become the enemy of the world once this knowledge is passed on to you?"
"W-what...?" Different from before, Line was speechless this time. She would have never thought that such a question would pop up for her to answer. In confusion, she unconsciously looked towards the Deities in the room and found them making complicated expressions, making Yoruichi's question a lot more serious than she initially thought, "T-that... what does that mean?"
To her question, Hestia was the one who answered while looking straight into her, "Kisuke-kun's medical knowledge... Goes against the natural order of things. As you've already heard earlier, Irina-kun and Akeno-kun supposedly died, and yet, they are still somehow alive. As Artemis's children, she couldn't be mistaken nor could it be faked since she would be able to immediately tell if someone tampered with her Falna. And even before that, I doubt Kisuke-kun and Yoruichi-kun have any reason to tamper with it. If by any chance they needed to touch the Falna, I trust that they'll be telling me about it."
"Not just the Gods of Death, Reincarnation, or other Deities that oversee the cycle of life, but all Deities would frown upon reversing death outside of the Falna-granted skill's 'miracle'. With that in mind, you should be able to understand why you could become the enemy of the world. It's because you're about to acquire the power to ignore the laws of this world."
Before Line could even process everything, Yoruichi added, "If you're thinking that you should only be taught enough that it won't reach that point then forget it. Giving you a half-assed knowledge would not only endanger you, but also everyone around you."
Seeing this would be a good chance since Line wouldn't be able to provide an answer right now, Serafall also chipped in her own warnings, "And since you'll be studying medicine, be aware that you won't just be able to concoct medicine to restore health but make one to completely destroy it. In other words, you'll be able to make poisons. Depending on your stance, we may or may not allow you to go further than this."
With all the acting leaders staring daggers at her, the pressure on Line was immense and made her incredibly nervous and fearful. But before she could give a haphazard and panicked answer that they might want to hear, someone took her cold shaking hands.
The surprising warmth shocked and cleared her mind a little bit. Slowly, she lifted her face up and saw Sona smiling gently at her, "This is a lot to take in so you don't have to answer now. Go take some rest first and contemplate on them slowly." Sona then looked towards Medusa and said, "Medusa-san, We'll leave her to you."
Medusa saw her wink at her and nodded, "Understood. Line-san, I'll accompany you to your room."
As Medusa slowly escorted the disgruntled Line and went through the door, Sona suddenly called out to her once more, "Line-san! Whatever your decision is, please don't forget that nothing will change. You'll always be our precious comrade."
Line quietly looked at her with unsure eyes for a moment before leaving.
After the barrier went up again, Aika suddenly asked, "Is it fine to bombard her like that? I feel bad for her."
Hestia heaved a large sigh, "It's fine. All this time, despite being with everyone, she's always been unsure of what she should really do and the only thing she can do to escape from those thoughts are her studies and research making her feel disconnected from the rest of us. While this may be hard on her, it should force her to think about the future and the position she's in, and by extension, she should be able to at least have a clear goal other than 'tagging' along."
While looking at Yoruichi and Serafall, Artemis asked, "But are you really sure about this? You've already repeatedly expressed that you don't have much time and I don't think you'll be able to wait for her to decide. It's not something that one can give an answer to within a few days or even years in time."
Without any hesitation, Yoruichi gave an answer that surprised both Artemis and Hestia, "We'll leave her. We'll give her as much time as we can since Kisuke is really looking forward for her to take his mantle as a medical practitioner. However, when the time comes that we need to move on, bringing her, who can't look forward to her own future, would only cause her own demise. As good as Kisuke is at nurturing people, he's not that great at preparing them."
"Well, even if that turned out to be the case, she's already sure to succeed... By this world's standards, anyway."
Sona then sat back down while saying, "We don't really have to worry about that. Medusa-san is with her and I think she'll be able to help her splendidly. No matter what decision she comes up to, she first needs to have some trust in herself and get out of everyone's shadow."
Yoruichi eyed her before smiling, "It seems that it wasn't just your magic that improved. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear some details about it later."
"Sure~"
Editors:
28th00
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