WE DO knot ALWAYS LOVE YOU Part 11 Full Translation

Marriage Registration



3

pages 121-129



Squad 4 barracks office.

After finishing her patrol of the Coordinated Relief Station, kotetsu Isane returned back to the squad barracks, “I’m back~!” she called out whilst opening the door of the office.

“Wel-come w-ack w-ig sis”

The younger sister Kiyone who was grappling with piled up paperwork on the tabletop lifted her face up and replied whilst her mouth remained stuffed with suzu castella*. (*Bell shaped Japanese sponge cake)

“Oh! Eating sweets during work again!”

“It’s fine! It’s only us! I need to consume enough sugar because I use my head for paperwork”

“You did that at the 13th division too right? Without eating sweets”

"No no, the amount of paperwork at the 4th division is different! I absolutely cannot do without eating this~”

Kiyone said whilst tossing the suzu castella up into the air, catching it with her mouth before eating it. She did not stop herself from eating even as Isane chided her “Ugh! Can you not spill any sugar on the documents?”

“Oh yeah, before coming here just now, I saw Kuchiki san and Abarai kun!”

“Oh! they said they were getting married right?”

“Yup! They’ll both keep up as vice captains so, they said they appreciate your continued support. It looked like they were in the process of going to file their marriage registration at the Gotei Soldier Record Administration Bureau.”

“Oh, it’s near this place”

“I was asked if the wait for the Soldier Bureau was long, so I informed them that it’s quick around there”

As the name suggests, the Gotei Soldier Record Administration Bureau, is the administrative office that manages the information and data of soldiers belonging to the Gotei 13, and since it is only off duty officers who visit the reception window, the waiting time is remarkably short compared to that of the Personnel Record Administration Bureau.

“When I became vice captain, I also went there to adjust the record of my squad affiliation…… it’s already been three years since then……”

After the death of former captain Unohana Retsu, Isane was urgently appointed as squad 4 captain. It was a compulsory appointment where refusal or putting it on hold for later could not be permitted. Squad 4 is a facility that includes the Coordinated Relief Station which is a hospital for shinigami, it was impossible to proceed forward in the absence of a leader at a time when they had numerous wounded people from war.

[ “It may be difficult but, I have no choice but to request this of you…… I’m sorry” ]

Kyoraku himself visited Isane, he left behind a written appointment letter. For a short while, Isane stared in blank amazement at the letter, snapping up she chased after Kyoraku, she caught up with him at the spot he had exited the squad barracks, she put forward her wish to have Kotetsu Kiyone installed as her vice captain at the same time as her own inauguration as captain.

“Hey, big sis. Your vice captain, why was it me?”

Kiyone asked without pausing her hands from her task.

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“Come to think of it, I believe I’ve never asked you. Since we grew accustomed to working around each other as soon as I took office, we were able to do our best, right? Both of us were feeling down on top of that……”

“…… that’s why, I wished that”

Isane muttered those few words whilst processing the paperwork one by one.

“At that time, I……wanted to stay close to Kiyone, and I wanted Kiyone close to me so I can be there for her”

Isane with Unohana, Kiyone with Ukitake. They had just lost partners that they had felt a mutual sense of reverence for. Isane thought they could not overcome it unless they supported each other.

“Of course, not only that! Kiyone’s kaido* (*healing kido) ability was also taken into account!”

“Yeah, thanks…… but is it enough to be nominated for vice captain?”

Kiyone laughed and turned her head, becoming a little shy at the serious tone of the conversation.

“What are you talking about! You were number one out all your classmates in kaido!”

“I guess so~ but learning in a classroom as opposed to practical training was completely useless”

“seems that it was written in the data of the academy that your kaido ability was so high that they had to supplement that more……captain Unohana put off saying it all that time. In truth, Kiyone, you were supposed to be assigned to the 4th division.”

“Really!? If I remember correctly I wrote down my wish to join the 4th division on the course evaluation report……”

Isane revealed​ that her younger sister wished to work at the same squad, Unohana smiled softly at Isane and informed her of the true state of affairs.

“Just before the official decision was made, Genryusai sama suggested to the head of the Academy and captain Unohana that Kiyone be assigned to the 13th division. Captain Unohana said that they wanted to place a young person whose speciality is kaido near captain Ukitake…… particularly at that time, Captain Ukitake’s health had become discouraging, captain Unohana would frequently go up to ugendo* for his medical treatment.”

(*ugendo - Ukitake’s quarters where he would often go to rest)

“Right it was like that……! At the time, though I also talked about it to you big sis, it was strange that they immediately sent in a fresh recruit to be the captain’s personal guardian. I see……Genryusai sama……”

Kiyone once again recalls how truly loved captain Ukitake was by everyone. New recruits themselves as well as veteran soldiers alike held deep admiration for Ukitake whenever they encountered him, Kiyone instantly came to love him a lot.

“When Kiyone joined squad 13, captain Ukitake started to gradually recover…… and when captain Unohana returned from her house calls, she would speak highly of Kiyone, I was very happy”

“What a wonderful younger sister” she would say as Isane remembers being beyond ecstatic about that herself.

“Because Kiyone has the seal of approval from captain​ Unohana, she can confidently bear the title of squad 4 lieutenant, so that’s enough!”

“It’s not that I’m losing my self-confidence but……thanks big sis”

Kiyone smiled reaching her hand out towards the suzu castella. However, the inside of the paper bag was empty already.

“Oh, it’s all gone. Big sis, don’t you have anything sweet?”

“You’re still eating? Don’t you have dinner?”

“Even though I’m full I still have room for dessert, so It’s fine~”

Whilst she said that, Isane opened up a cupboard which was tightly packed with sweets.

“There’s so many! Does my big sis really eat sweets like this……?”

“Those are snacks for the flower arrangement class. Everyone has tea and sweets whilst observing the flower arrangement”

Unohana used to host monthly flower arrangement classes, now Isane continues to do so. Kiyone does not participate because her legs get too numb whilst sitting on her heels, however it is a popular class where most of the female troops of the 4th division attend.

“Even so, it looks like a lot……”

The shelves were crammed full with a variety of sweets.

“……I just had to buy those. They were sweets that Yachiru chan liked.”

——————-

It was the last words Isane exchanged with Kusajishi Yachiru.

As she applied the reiatsu healing treatment in both of Yachiru’s arms which ended up broken and fractured by Sternritter V ‘The Visionary’, Gremmy Thoumeaux’s ability, Kiyone was finally able to release the breath she had held in.

“Phew……with this, you should be able to move one way or another”

“Thank you Kote-chin!*”

(*Just in case you’ve forgotten Yachiru calls Isane ‘kote chin’)

Smiling and getting up, Yachiru looked up at the “stage” Gremmy had produced. Zaraki Kenpachi and Gremmy battled on top of an enormous cuboid that was formed by raising up the ground.

“I have to go!”

“Aah, please wait lieutenant Kusajishi! You shouldn’t move around so vigorously yet……”

Isane’s outstretched arm slipped through quickly as she broke off into a run.

“Finally……Finally Ken-chan can call out to me……”

She faintly murmured.

Those were Yachiru’s words, the last that Isane had heard.

——————-

“Since there is no longer a chairwoman, the Shinigami women’s Association meetings do not take place anymore……vice president Nanao san is busy, and Research and Development is in charge of Nemu san who is currently still a baby……”

Kiyone resumed her work whilst gulping down konpeito* (*a type of Japanese candy), Isane leant forward with an “eh!?”

“Nemu san, she’s already grown up to the state of a baby!? The last time I saw her she was not yet completely……”

She recalls being absolutely perplexed at being introduced to “Nemuri Hachigō”, a clump of flesh floating around inside a transparent cylinder filled with culture fluid.

“Because everyone was saying they were scared and they didn’t want to go, during this time I had to take the medical examination results from those guys at the Department of Research and Development, right? So, I saw Nemu san at the time, she was wildly crawling around the department. When I greeted her, she stopped and bowed her head……it was cute”

Hachigō was created based on the brain retrieved from the artificially created soul Nemuri Nanagō, although the body is different, Nanagō’s memory and spirit is being taken over.

“Haa……I want to see……! I wonder if it’s okay if I also go and see her?”

“Why not? I got the impression that Captain Kurotsuchi can’t help but brag about her”

Isane instantly broke into a smile and said “I wonder when is good” she happily turned over the tabletop schedule book, suddenly she lifted her face as if something had just struck her mind.

“Shall we also invite everyone when we go to meet Nemu san……? The Shinigami Women’s Association”

“……yeah, I think that’s a great idea!”

Kiyone nodded in agreement and gave a broad smile.

This was the first step towards the launch of a new order of the Shinigami Women’s Association.

End.

Marriage Registration ‘4′ is up next (reminder - there are 6 ‘chapters’ in total in the Marriage registration section) I’ll hopefully get to type that up soon.

