Sasakibe looked surprised. "Are you... planning to reopen the Genryu School?"
Yamamoto shook his head. "Of course not. This old man does not have that much time to teach these days. I am merely filling in for a few classes as the headmaster of Shin'o Academy."
Even if he was not reopening the Genryu School, Yamamoto's answer still startled Sasakibe. He had not expected the Captain-Commander to take such an interest in the matter.
By then, the fight below had already ended. Though Luke's overall speed was slower than Yoruichi's, he had won their Hakuda spar.
"Interesting. The little girl from the Shihouin Clan did not lose to Luke because her Hakuda was inferior," Yamamoto said.
"She lost because of her judgment."
"Judgment?"
Sasakibe had not paid close attention to the fight and asked curiously.
"Combat is like answering a series of multiple-choice questions. How do you break down the enemy's move? Once you have, how do you counterattack? Every exchange is a process of making choices."
Yamamoto turned to him. "Chojuro, tell me. How do you make decisions in battle?"
Sasakibe considered the question before answering, "Actual combat is complicated. If you break the process down, every move is a contest of judgment. For me, it is probably simply reacting to what I see. If an opponent launches a frontal slash and I judge that I cannot strike back in time, I pull my blade in and defend. If my sword can reach them first, I attack a vital point..."
He paused, then added, "If battle is a multiple-choice question, there are too many possible answers—and the opponent has just as many. A single changed choice can alter everything, making it impossible to predict. Thinking about it carefully, most of my judgments are instinctive."
"Instinctive, you say."
Yamamoto looked at Sasakibe, leaving the vice-captain uncertain whether that was praise or criticism.
After a moment's thought, Sasakibe elaborated. "In short, daily training is important. Much of the time, muscle memory makes those decisions for me in battle. Calling it instinctive is not entirely wrong."
"You are neither entirely right nor entirely wrong."
Yamamoto nodded. "That is why a qualified Soul Reaper must train every day and never grow lax. Combat skills carved into one's bones can save one's life in a desperate battle. But..."
Sasakibe immediately knew the Captain-Commander was getting to the heart of the matter. He listened with utmost respect.
"...Chojuro, some people do not make choices in battle through techniques forged by endless tempering, nor through muscle memory built by daily practice. They rely on... innate instinct."
Yamamoto's aged eyes narrowed as he watched Luke wipe away his sweat below. "With every move, he instinctively chooses the optimal answer. That is why he can win even when the girl from the Shihouin Clan suppresses him with speed."
"Innate instinct..."
Sasakibe mulled over those words. In battle, he truly had no time to think through so much. Even when he had a strategy, it was a long-term plan rather than something fixated on a single exchange.
In the instant blades crossed, neither side had spare time to think. All one could rely on was instinct—or, as he had called it earlier, the subconscious.
His expression turned grave as he looked toward Luke. If this young man truly possessed the instinct to make the optimal choice in combat, then would he not be practically invincible whenever Spiritual Pressure was equalized?
According to the Captain-Commander's explanation, combat skill and the ability to make the right judgment were separate things.
Put simply, if their Spiritual Pressure were equal, Yoruichi might be able to kill ten Hollows with one punch while Luke could kill only eight. That would mean Yoruichi's Hakuda skill was superior.
But deciding whether to throw a punch or a kick was another matter entirely—the quality of one's judgment. If Yoruichi made the wrong choice and missed, while Luke made the right choice, then even if his attack was weaker, he would still avoid the enemy's damage and inflict effective harm in return.
Seen that way, the ability to make choices in battle might be even more important than combat skill itself.
Instinct...
"Let us go. We will return the day after tomorrow," Yamamoto said.
The class was over, and he intended to come back during the next Hakuda lesson to teach that overconfident brat a lesson.
*
"Why do I suddenly have the chills? Did I not eat enough at lunch? Am I lacking nutrition or something?"
Luke had just felt a wave of cold wash over him, as though something terrifying had fixed its eyes on him. But after looking around, he saw no one particularly dangerous.
"Luke, come on. Next class is Zanpakuto Resonance," Aizen called out to the thoughtful Luke.
After two months together, the two had grown increasingly familiar with one another.
And Aizen had to admit that, aside from Spiritual Pressure, the talent Luke displayed in every other area did not lose to his own. If anything, it surpassed it.
What made Aizen feel as though iron was failing to become steel, however, was Luke's painfully slow progress in Spiritual Pressure.
By Aizen's standards, Luke unquestionably had the talent to train Spiritual Pressure. Yet for the past two months, he had been incredibly lazy and had stopped joining Aizen for late-night training.
It was all Captain Unohana's fault...
Aizen could not understand why Luke was so obsessed with Kaidō. In his view, rather than practicing Kaidō for use after getting injured, it was better to raise one's strength to an overwhelming level and crush every opponent without getting hurt in the first place.
He could also tell that Luke possessed a powerful obsession with becoming stronger. That made it even harder to understand why Luke was slacking off in Spiritual Pressure training, the most direct path to greater strength.
Well, calling it slacking off was not quite right. Luke still trained seriously during the three Spiritual Pressure classes each week. The real reason he no longer trained with Aizen at night was that Luke had recently been so... drained.
Who knew what he did with Captain Unohana every day? Whenever he returned to the dormitory, his steps were unsteady and his face pale. He would lie on his bed, chat with Aizen for a while, then fall asleep without training his Spiritual Pressure at all.
Could Luke be so devoted to Kaidō because... he had fallen for Captain Unohana?
Aizen felt that he might have uncovered the truth. Otherwise, how could he explain why a battle-crazed brute like Luke spent every day practicing Kaidō instead of Spiritual Pressure?
With that thought, Aizen could not help saying, "Luke, don't you think you should show a little restraint lately?"
"Huh? Restraint with what?"
Luke stared at him blankly, having no idea what Aizen meant.
After carefully choosing his words, Aizen said, "I know Captain Unohana is very charming, and doing... forbidden experiments with a female teacher can be exciting. But you wear yourself out every day. At this rate, when will you ever achieve Shikai?"
Luke: ???
Captain Unohana had told him to keep their after-class instruction confidential, so he had never mentioned being cut down every day to Aizen.
Sosuke, how exactly did you figure out that I perform forbidden experiments with Captain Unohana every day?
And aren't you misunderstanding something? It is not like I have some weird fetish. Why would getting cut down be exciting?
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