First, his heart was "stitched" back together. Then came the reconstruction of his bones, followed by the fusion of flesh and blood.
Perhaps because his injuries were so severe—or perhaps because Unohana wanted him to truly experience the mysteries of Kaidō—the restoration took a long time.
About half an hour later, Luke watched as Unohana's delicate hand passed over his chest and abs before finally stopping at his waist. At the same time, every mark on his body vanished completely.
"So this is advanced Kaidō... It really is powerful."
Luke sounded impressed. "But I feel like it isn't fundamentally different from the Kaidō we learned in class. Your control is simply more refined, Instructor Unohana, and you're using far more Spiritual Pressure."
Unohana's eyes held both appreciation and a trace of expectation. "Your comprehension is exceptional. You're right—Kaidō has no strict levels. Its effectiveness depends mainly on control. It is a skill honed through practice, though talent matters greatly as well."
"I think I get it. Let me try."
Luke rose to his feet and glanced down at his ruined academy uniform, which had been split open by her blade. He only had one set of clothes. It looked like he would have to borrow a uniform from Sosuke tomorrow.
He walked over to his workbench, took out the terrified white mouse, and swiftly ran a small knife across it, opening its entire chest cavity.
Then Kaidō light rose from his hand. Closing his eyes, he began treating the mouse.
He needed to envision it as it had been when whole, then restore it...
He needed to control the spirit particles with greater precision, like threads...
Five minutes later, Luke stared thoughtfully at the white mouse, which had already gone cold.
"Your method was broadly correct, but your efficiency is too low," Unohana commented from the side. "A fatal wound will not give you that much time to repair it."
After thinking for a moment, Luke took two steps back and looked at her. "Instructor Unohana, let's do it again."
"Oh?"
Unohana looked mildly surprised, though she understood what he meant. "It seems you truly want to learn Kaidō that can be used in battle."
In the next instant, Luke saw another fountain of blood. Even though he had prepared himself this time, he still failed to catch the motion of Unohana's attack.
As Unohana watched Luke lying beneath her, carefully sensing every detail of her technique, she felt that coming here today had truly been worthwhile. The child she had casually brought back from Rukongai had given her one surprise after another.
She had invited Luke in the first place because of an instinctive feeling that he was her kind of person.
Like two beasts meeting on the wilderness, they needed only one glance to recognize the savagery in each other.
Yet Luke had exceeded even her expectations. In swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, Flash Step, and Kidō, his talent was first-rate. And his reason for learning Kaidō was the very same as hers.
What reason did she have not to teach him?
North Rukongai's Eightieth District—Zaraki District—really did produce remarkable people. Long ago, she had encountered a child there whose strength had driven her to "despair." Now, she had found Luke there as well.
She had no idea where that child was wandering now, but Luke was an equally promising prospect.
Looking down at the ruggedly handsome face beneath her, Unohana's lips unconsciously curved upward. In the future... just how much would he be able to entertain her?
The sun gradually dipped lower. Shin'o Academy's students had finished another fulfilling day, while Luke's day in the Kaidō classroom had been fulfilling in an academic sense—and utterly draining in a physical one.
When the classroom door was unlocked with a key, the student assigned to clean the room that day froze at the sight before him.
This was a murder scene!
Blood still dripped from the crimson-stained ceiling. The blood on the floor was even worse, and the air was thick with a sharp, metallic stench.
There were two people in the room. One was Instructor Unohana, the teacher everyone adored. At that very moment, she was running a hand over a male student's abs...
What incredible muscles...
No, wait. What the hell was he thinking?
No, that was not the problem. What the hell was he looking at?
Inside a classroom that looked like a murder scene, Captain Unohana—the most popular Kaidō instructor at Shin'o Academy—was touching the bare torso of a male student?
Screech.
He shut the door.
He had to have opened it wrong. He must have seen it wrong.
Screech.
When he opened the door again, the two people inside had already separated. One stared at him with an odd expression, while the other looked at him with narrowed eyes and a gentle smile.
"Um... Instructor Unohana, I... I didn't see anything."
He stiffly turned around, intending to flee the "crime scene." Damn it, why did he have to be on cleaning duty today?
But before he could even finish turning, Unohana called out to him.
"Excuse me, student on cleaning duty. I'm terribly sorry for giving you unnecessary extra work. We were only practicing Kaidō just now."
"Practicing Kaidō?"
The cleaning-duty student suspiciously glanced at the white mice locked in their cages. Could mice really bleed that much?
And that junior standing beside Instructor Unohana—why did he look so completely drained? His face was pale, and he could barely stand. Was that also a side effect of practicing Kaidō?
The blood... it could not possibly be the junior's, could it? No, impossible. Instructor Unohana was such a gentle person. There was no way she would use a student as practice material. He was definitely overthinking it.
Clutching his broom and mop, he nervously entered the classroom. "Then... I'll start cleaning?"
"Sorry for the trouble," Luke said apologetically.
He did not think this would lead to any strange misunderstandings, but bloodstains were undeniably difficult to clean. The other student would probably be here for a long time.
Luke had originally intended to help, but right now he felt far too weak.
Kaidō was not omnipotent. Unohana could heal his wounds, but she could not completely restore all the blood he had lost.
Unohana had let him experience the process three times. Even with Luke's ironclad physique, he could not shrug off that much consecutive blood loss. He needed to hurry to the one place where he could replenish himself—the cafeteria.
"That will be all for today. Let me see... our next Kaidō class is the day after tomorrow. Prepare yourself well until then."
Unohana lightly crossed the bloodstained floor. Looking back over her shoulder, she smiled gently. "Next time, I will be stricter."
Luke rubbed his chest, wondering if Instructor Unohana might accidentally cut him to death one day.
Thinking about it, he still had a long road ahead if he wanted to graduate early.
At the very least, every mandatory class and every elective he had chosen needed to satisfy its instructor. If even one of them refused, he would never be able to speedrun graduation. And he had no idea whether Shin'o Academy would arrange some special examination for a genius trying to skip ahead and graduate early.
Luke passed by the still-dazed cleaning-duty student and shook his head, setting those thoughts aside for now.
His top priority was getting to the cafeteria and eating a massive meal. He had no wounds on his body, but his Life Source was down to only 40%.
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