"Hey, Ryunosuke. It’s been a while. How about a spar with yours truly?"
Renji had spent the entire Kidō class dozing off and drooling, but the instant the teacher at the lectern announced the end of class, his eyes snapped open and he called out to me.
"Oh, Renji. Sorry, but I have another lesson with Lieutenant Kaien today, so I have to get going. Let’s do it next time."
My lessons with Kaien had continued all the way into my sixth year, the year I would graduate from Shin’o Academy.
Just as in the original story, Renji was always the top student in swordsmanship class.
Since those classes were conducted solely with unreleased Zanpakuto or Asauchi, I had not been matched against him in class after our first three years.
Instead, whenever we had a free period or personal training time, we would meet separately to spar.
"That’s a shame.... Tomorrow’s our last day at the academy, too. Guess our next match will have to wait until after we become Soul Reapers."
"Has it really been six years already...? I can’t believe we’re graduating from Shin’o Academy. Time sure flies."
"I thought you’d graduate in less than six years."
"Huh?"
"Everyone else knows you were offered the chance to skip ahead. I know it’s a little late to ask, but why’d you turn it down?"
Apparently, a student at Shin’o Academy achieving Shikai was regarded much more highly than I had expected.
But I had heard that Toshiro Hitsugaya had already mastered Bankai by the time he graduated from Shin’o Academy and was commissioned into the Tenth Division. Compared to that, achieving Shikai alone did not make me feel as though I was ahead.
At the time, I had also thought it would be better to remain at Shin’o Academy, where I was guaranteed time to train, than to rush into actual combat.
Besides, I enjoyed spending time with the characters from the original story—Momo and the others. Why would I go out of my way to skip ahead?
"It’s not like I’m a genius like Ichimaru, captain of the Third Division.... If I’d skipped ahead without mastering the fundamentals, I would’ve failed my first mission and wound up sprawled on the ground somewhere."
"Now you’re starting to sound like Izuru.... The two of you would be better off having a little more confidence in yourselves."
With that, Renji said he would see me later and headed elsewhere.
He was probably going to pester Izuru for a match. Aside from Izuru and me, no one at Shin’o Academy could give him a proper fight.
The content of my lessons with Kaien had changed from what he had initially described.
Basic spearmanship was an endless cycle of repetition, and he had already taught me everything he knew about creating techniques, so lately our lessons had focused primarily on sparring.
I was fairly sure he had once said something about being desperately short-staffed. Was it really all right for him to spend this much time on me?
Not that I, the one benefiting from it, had any reason to complain. When I asked him about it once, he said he intended to collect everything I owed him later.
"Ryunosuke, this is something that crosses my mind from time to time, but I get the feeling you’d do well in the Second Division too."
"Doesn’t the Second Division require service in the Stealth Force? My Zanpakuto’s ability doesn’t seem suited to assassination. It’s far too loud."
"The Stealth Force may form the foundation of the Second Division, but there aren’t many units within it that demand silence even during open combat."
Kaien leaned in and whispered that their captain could get awfully loud in battle as well.
"I’m talking about your fighting style. That division has a lot of people like you who focus on speed and ending things with a single blow."
"I didn’t know that."
Shin’o Academy did not teach us confidential details such as the specific combat styles of each division.
I straightened my posture, sealed the spear I had been pointing at Kaien back into its Asauchi form, and sheathed it.
Whenever Kaien started making small talk, it was a signal that the day’s lesson was over.
"We’re finishing a little early today, aren’t we?"
"You’ve got both your graduation ceremony and commissioning ceremony tomorrow, don’t you? It’d be a problem if you got hurt for no good reason."
"Have you forgotten that no matter how badly I got hurt, I always showed up perfectly fine the next day?"
Beneath Sōkyoku Hill lay a hot spring with incredible healing properties.
"The truth is, there’s something I wanted to ask you."
"Go ahead."
Kaien scratched the back of his head as though he were troubled, then continued.
"The thing is, you’re not the only one from your class who’s being commissioned into the Thirteenth Division."
"You mean Rukia?"
"Rukia Kuchiki— Wait, how did you know? Are you two close?"
"Rukia didn’t tell me herself.... I just had a feeling."
I had not become as close to Rukia as I had to Renji, Momo, or Izuru.
We were in different classes, and I was constantly leaving Shin’o Academy under the pretext of special lessons to receive private instruction from Kaien.
We only spoke occasionally.
"It’s not that there’s anything wrong with the girl, but no matter how I look at it... she doesn’t seem like she’ll have an easy time fitting in."
"Is that so?"
I played along, pretending not to know what he meant.
In the original story, if I remembered correctly, Rukia had been somewhat ostracized because she belonged to a high-ranking noble family and had been assigned to the Thirteenth Division without taking either the graduation exam or the enlistment exam.
"Some taciturn bastard asked me to look out for her, and I can’t stand watching one of my subordinates fail to adjust and end up isolated. Well, if you already know her, that makes things easier."
"Um... it’ll be my first time in the Gotei 13 too, so I’m not exactly confident."
I responded negatively for the time being.
Kaien’s intention was obviously for me to look after Rukia.
It was not that I objected. I wanted to become friends with Rukia too. In Bleach, she was practically the second protagonist after Ichigo.
But there was something more important. Kaien and Rukia absolutely had to become close. That was simply how the story was supposed to go.
"The way I see it, you’re the kind of guy who always says he isn’t confident, then gets the job done anyway when someone asks him to."
This was not how this was supposed to go.
"Don’t worry, you little punk. I’m not going to dump my responsibilities as lieutenant on one of my subordinates."
*
"Then... please wait here for just a moment— No, wait here... if you please.... The lieutenant will be here shortly."
The man seemed unable to decide whether he should speak respectfully to us or treat us as his juniors.
He apparently felt obligated to be deferential toward Rukia, a high-ranking noble, but having to show the same respect to me, an ordinary Soul Reaper, must have wounded his pride.
"Excuse me...."
"Yes! What is it?!"
Rukia seemed deeply uncomfortable with his awkwardly deferential manner.
"I’m only an ordinary new recruit. Could you please treat me more casually...?"
"Ah!! Yes! I shall be more careful from now on."
Despite claiming he would be more careful, he rubbed his hands together obsequiously and backed out of the room. It did not look as though his behavior would change anytime soon.
"Don’t let it bother you, Rukia. There may be people like him here, but the captain and lieutenant are both good people. I’m sure of it."
"Thank you, Ryunosuke...."
Rukia looked rather dejected as she said it.
Even at that very moment, we could hear several division members complaining outside the door, so my words did not seem to offer her much comfort.
Thud thud thud thud!
"Hey, hey, hey!! Where do you bastards think you’re slacking off?!"
But it would be all right. Kaien was someone who could become Rukia’s pillar of support without needing to dress things up with words.
Rattle!
"I’m Kaien Shiba, lieutenant of the Thirteenth Division! It’s good to have you with us!"
After chasing away all the division members whispering nearby, Kaien greeted Rukia.
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