Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 115 - Helping with Farm Work

"Let's dig in!"

Evening. Momo Hinamori came home cradling a fat, round watermelon and invited Wayne to share it. In the process, Wayne confirmed something he'd half-expected: he did feel hunger. That discovery left Momo equal parts thrilled and stunned.

Thrilled, because her big brother had the potential to become a Soul Reaper. Stunned, because that potential seemed to tower far above her own. By the time more than half the watermelon was gone, he still wasn't full.

"Sorry, Momo. Seems like I eat way too much." Wayne scratched the back of his head, a little sheepish.

Then again, he had once been a Vasto-level powerhouse. After a decent sleep and half a watermelon, he could already feel Reishi beginning to collect inside him. It was still chaotic, no pattern, no order, just restless surges, but Wayne trusted that given enough time, it would settle into a stable circuit on its own. When that happened, he'd be able to absorb Reishi rapidly. The condition was simple: enough food to keep the engine fed, or some other method of replenishing his Reiryoku.

"Not at all, hehe! Big Brother eating a lot is a good thing — it means you have great potential to become an outstanding Soul Reaper!" Momo said brightly.

"Starting tomorrow, I'll help out with the farm work too. Can't just sit at home all day waiting to be fed."

"But, Big Brother, your eyes..."

"It's fine. I was like this in my previous life as well. I'm used to it." Wayne lied smoothly. "I'll just need Momo to find me a long stick to use as a guide cane."

"Mm, that's easy. Shiro-chan's house has plenty of vine stalks. I'll borrow one from him tomorrow." Momo took another slice as she spoke.

"Mm. Sorry to trouble you."

"Hehe, no trouble at all! If Big Brother comes to help at Shiro-chan's, I'm sure Shiro-chan and Granny will both be happy."

"Speaking of which, Momo — how long have you and Shiro-chan known each other?" Wayne fell into using Toshiro's nickname without thinking about it.

"Mm... a long time, I think? Ever since Shiro-chan was born next door, we've always been together." Momo tilted her head in thought. "Should be over ten years by now."

"This morning I heard you two talking about becoming Soul Reapers. Do you really want that, Momo?"

"Yes, absolutely!" Momo nodded. "For us soul residents of Rukongai, becoming a Soul Reaper is the only real path to a better life. It's not so urgent for me, but Shiro-chan still has his elderly grandmother to look after. So I want to become a Soul Reaper as soon as I can — so Shiro-chan's grandmother doesn't have to wear herself out taking care of him."

"Is that right? Momo really is kind-hearted." Wayne smiled.

"Hehe, of course, it's not like I'm completely selfless either." Momo stuck out her tongue. "Before Big Brother Tsukishiro arrived, I'd seen it happen plenty of times from a distance — people from our West Street becoming Soul Reapers, joining the Gotei 13. That's a real honor around here. And after those people made the cut, their families were all taken care of. One Soul Reaper even became a retainer to the noble families, and her whole household got to move inside Seireitei's inner city with her. The gap between high and low doesn't disappear, but it was more than enough to pull her family out of poverty."

"So Momo wants to become a Soul Reaper to change her own circumstances?"

"It's more like... longing." Momo Hinamori's cheeks went pink. "I look up to the Soul Reapers who protect everyone. I want to become someone that strong too."

"Haha. Big Brother believes you'll get there." Wayne smiled.

She'd get more than that. One day she'd make Lieutenant, even if every step of it was being moved around on Aizen's board. At least Momo's future was bright, on the surface. But Aizen's betrayal... he had no idea how badly that would hurt her. And then there was himself.

He cut the thought off before it went any further. His own future was still unwritten. And one day, he would face Aizen directly. He just didn't know when.

They finished the entire watermelon between them. Night settled in without incident. Momo turned in early, a full day of work had drained her, and she dropped off quickly. Wayne lay there quietly, wondering whether she'd already started to sense the Reiryoku inside her.

"Should walk around the streets when I get the chance. At least gather some information on where the timeline stands right now." With that thought, he lay down not far from where Momo slept.

Momo had brought back a set of bedding from Shiro-chan's house today, which saved Wayne from spending the night flat on bare floor.

He closed his eyes and turned his attention inward, sensing the Reishi inside him, nudging it gently, coaxing it to move.

He tried running it along the same circuit a Hollow Beast would use. The Reishi refused immediately, the flow snapped apart, nearly knotting into a blockage. Fortunately Wayne had been working slowly the entire time, which kept it from turning into a full riot.

He let it spread into fine threads instead and simply watched. One pass, two passes, tracking where the Reishi moved on its own, learning the shape of its natural path. Once he had a clearer picture, he started trying to push the speed higher and pull in Reishi from outside at the same time.

It wasn't something that could be forced. The gap between what he'd been and what he was now ran too deep. He needed more Reishi first, enough to map the circuit properly.

After a few more cycles, Wayne exhaled, long and slow. He stopped pushing, let the threads settle, and sank into sleep.

---

Early the next morning, Momo woke before dawn and immediately caught herself mid-stretch, freezing in place, afraid of disturbing her new big brother. Wayne had already come awake the instant she stirred. He simply didn't move.

In his previous life, no one had ever slept within arm's reach of him, no one except Nel. His eyes had snapped open the moment Momo moved, every instinct locked on threat. Then the context caught up with him. Rukongai. Soul. He released a quiet breath and lay still.

When Momo saw her new brother hadn't moved, she let out a soft, relieved breath of her own. She padded silently out of the room and eased the door shut behind her.

The moment the latch clicked, Wayne opened his eyes.

He stared at the dim ceiling, brow drawn together. What identity was he supposed to wear when he met the people ahead of him? Someone like him, caught between two worlds, belonging fully to neither, probably didn't have a clean ending waiting at the end of this road. But then again, who knew?

After about half an hour, he got up and folded his bedding. The last time he'd done that, he'd been human. In all his years as a Hollow Beast, the thought had never once crossed his mind. Now, back in a human-form soul's body, the motion stirred something familiar, but his hands moved like they'd forgotten the steps.

He folded Momo's bedding too, then slid open the room's door.

Outside, Momo was sweeping the yard. She spotted him and her face lit up.

"Good morning, Big Brother Tsukishiro!"

"Morning, Momo." Wayne smiled quietly. Then he slipped back into character, the blind man, and began feeling his way around with careful hands. Momo put down her broom and guided him to a resting spot in the yard, settling him onto the seat there.

"Big Brother, we're heading to Shiro-chan's today. Are you sure you'll be alright?" She pressed a cup of water into his hands as she asked.

"Ah, no problem." Wayne took the cup. "One walk through the yard is enough for me to fix the layout in my head. I won't be getting in anyone's way."

"Mm, then let's go and see~ I'll finish up what I'm doing first." Momo smiled and headed back to her sweeping, picking up the pace. Wayne watched her quietly from where he sat, making no move to help and get underfoot.

She was done quickly. Momo led him out through the courtyard gate step by step, and the two of them set off toward the Hitsugaya house. Wayne tapped the guide cane she'd brought home yesterday against the ground as he walked, feeling out the path, performing it, at least. A walk that should have taken less than a quarter of an hour stretched to three quarters. At a certain point, Wayne found himself wondering if he was maybe laying it on a bit thick.

"Excuse us!"

"Excuse us."

They called in together from the doorway.

"Is that Momo? Come in, come in." A gentle, elderly voice from inside. Shiro-chan's grandmother.

"Granny, I'm here!" Momo greeted her warmly. "I've come to help again today."

"Mm~ Such a good girl. Thank you for coming to help this old woman every day." Wayne stepped through the door and took in Toshiro Hitsugaya's grandmother for the first time. A kind-faced elder with soft eyes. She still carried a full, healthy build, no Reiryoku of her own, but she'd been eating watermelon consistently, and the Reishi in it was doing the work. Standing a few meters away, Wayne could feel it plainly: Reishi that her body couldn't absorb was seeping out around her in a slow, steady bleed. Wasteful, in a way, but as far as nourishment went, it wasn't bad for her at all.

"And this is?"

"Granny, this is the one I told you about yesterday. He was born at my doorstep, and he's my big brother now. Tsukishiro Hinamori."

"First time meeting you. Hello. I'm Momo's big brother, Tsukishiro Hinamori." Wayne greeted her with a polite dip of his head.

"Ah, yes. Shiro-chan mentioned it. A young man around twenty, born near Momo's house. That's why she came by to borrow bedding."

"Sorry for the inconvenience." Wayne nodded slightly. "As thanks, I'd like to help Momo and Shiro-chan take care of the watermelon field while I'm here."

"It's Toshiro!" Shiro-chan cut in from the side, clearly unimpressed. "But, Big Brother Tsukishiro — your eyes..."

"No hindrance. Give me a little time to learn the layout and I can make myself useful."

"Mm. Then we'll be troubling you, little Tsukishiro." The grandmother showed no unease about Wayne's sudden appearance. She'd lived her life by Soul Society's customs, and by those customs, the moment Wayne had come through the Hinamori door, he was family. That warmth came through plainly.

"Shiro-chan." She called softly.

"Yes, Grandmother?"

"Take little Tsukishiro out to the backyard and show him around."

"Sure." Toshiro's tone was flat, but his manners held. "Big Brother Tsukishiro, follow me."

"I'll be in your care." Wayne followed him into the backyard, cane in hand. Behind them, Momo stayed with Toshiro's grandmother to help with some needlework for extra income.

"This is our backyard, Big Brother Tsukishiro." The two of them arrived, and Wayne took it in, a wide sweep of deep green. Between the melon vines, Reishi was drifting in from all sides, drawn slowly toward the field.

In the real world, watermelons were seasonal. In the Soul Society, as long as the soil held enough Reishi, crops would grow, grains, vegetables, fruit, whatever was planted. Growth speed depended on how fast Reishi gathered in the surrounding earth. Hit the right conditions, flood the ground with Reishi, and melons could ripen in a month or two.

"Just as I thought. Where things are growing, Reishi density runs high." Wayne filed that away. Moving somewhere near here might not be a bad idea, ideally close to the watermelon field. The problem was that every dwelling in Rukongai was registered by Soul Reapers under official records. Relocating wouldn't be simple.

Shiro-chan walked him through the whole yard, river, water vat, fertilizer storage, tool shed. Then he led Wayne along the edge of the melon field and laid out what the job actually was: drive off the birds and badgers that wandered in, make sure nothing damaged the melons. Watering was also an option on regular days, but he'd need to watch his feet.

Wayne kept a faint smile and said nothing.

First day on the job. Under Shiro-chan's lead, Wayne started getting a feel for the work, even though his eyes worked perfectly fine, he had to keep pretending they didn't. That was the annoying part. Still, patience was one thing he'd never run short on. Seasons of hunting and fighting had ground that into him. Even so, he found himself thinking that after a while, it'd be worth building Shiro-chan's family a proper irrigation setup. Carrying water bucket by bucket was a real drain on time and effort, and the water diversion problem was worth solving properly.

"By the way, Big Brother Tsukishiro, Momo told me you feel hunger too?" Shiro-chan asked, scooping water with a ladle and pouring it along the rows.

"That's right. And... my appetite is apparently pretty large." Wayne answered, running his hand along the nearest melons to gauge their positions, then watering carefully.

"Are you going to become a Soul Reaper too, then?"

"...I'm not sure." Wayne's hand paused for a beat. "I don't have the same kind of longing for it that Momo does. But if I had to give a reason, I do have one."

"Oh? What is it?" Shiro-chan looked curious.

"Well..." Wayne let the pause sit for a moment. "To protect that little sister who wants to become a Soul Reaper. Make sure she doesn't get hurt."

"..." Shiro-chan clearly didn't think much of that answer.

"Hahahaha, and to protect you and Granny too, obviously." Wayne laughed, reached over, and found the top of Shiro-chan's head by touch, and started ruffling the silver hair thoroughly.

"Uwah! Let go, Big Brother Tsukishiro!" Shiro-chan squirmed, got nowhere, and switched to defiant. "Don't underestimate me. I'm strong too!"

"We'll talk about that when you're old enough to enroll." Wayne's hand showed no interest in stopping.

"Aaagh! Cut it out!"

➤ Next: Shin'ō Academy