"That's too much!"
Inside the teachers' office of the Shin'ō Academy, the teacher on duty responsible for checking the boys' dormitory tonight—Kurosawa Shinichi—threw the attendance register heavily onto the desk and said angrily:
"This is already the fifth time this week!
The student from Class 17 of the first year, Fūjin Taichi, has been absent from the dormitory for five consecutive nights!
I'm definitely reporting this to the Academic Affairs Office and getting that rule-breaking guy expelled!"
"Kurosawa."
Saitō Jūshirō raised his head from a thick stack of homework and calmly said:
"I'm already aware that Fūjin Taichi hasn't been returning to the dormitory on time. And it was with my permission."
"Huh? Senior Saitō!"
Kurosawa Shinichi pushed up the thick gold-rimmed glasses on his nose and looked at Saitō Jūshirō in disbelief.
"Why would you protect someone who breaks the rules like that? And he's even from a remedial class! He's from Rukongai, and his grades aren't particularly outstanding either!
In my opinion, even if someone like him joins the Gotei 13, he'll just be an insignificant nobody!
You should be focusing your attention on the Special Advancement Class instead!"
"Enough nonsense, Kurosawa!"
Saitō Jūshirō's eyes flashed with anger as he sharply reprimanded him.
"My Saitō family has cultivated members for the Kidō Corps for generations in Seireitei. Do I really need you to teach me how to do my job?!"
"O-Of course not, Senior Saitō… I… I was just worried…"
Kurosawa Shinichi immediately lost his earlier confidence when he saw Saitō angry. He lowered his voice and explained:
"Since you insist on protecting that guy… I'll just pretend I didn't see anything."
"Hmph."
Saitō Jūshirō snorted coldly and walked to the window of the office. Looking at the dark night sky outside, he said slowly:
"Kurosawa, don't underestimate that kid.
I believe that none of the students in the Special Advancement Class will achieve more than him in the future."
"Senior Saitō… do you really think that highly of Fūjin Taichi?"
"Mm."
With his hands behind his back, Saitō Jūshirō gazed into the deep starry sky and said meaningfully:
"Geniuses often shine only briefly, and their future achievements can almost be predicted.
But the growth of late bloomers may look ordinary… yet their future is filled with unknown possibilities."
"I see…"
Although Kurosawa Shinichi didn't really agree, he still outwardly acknowledged Saitō's words.
Saitō Jūshirō knew Kurosawa was just humoring him, but he didn't bother explaining further. After staring at the night sky for a while, he returned to the desk and continued grading homework.
...
The Next Day – Early Morning
Dawn had broken.
But the sun had only poked out half its head, like a child reluctant to get out of bed—peeking shyly from under the blanket with one eye.
"Phew…"
After staying awake all night, Fūjin Taichi scooped up a handful of water from Little Mirror Lake and washed his face.
He rubbed his face vigorously a few times. Once he felt a bit more awake, he picked up the Asauchi and placed it back at his waist.
Although calling it an Asauchi wasn't entirely accurate anymore.
Its proper name was now Zanpakutō – Hōō (Fire Phoenix).
Another fire-type Zanpakutō had appeared in Soul Society.
The scabbard hadn't changed much from before.
But the blade had become an eight-sided Han sword style, about three feet long. Its body was as white as ivory, while the hilt resembled a blooming paulownia flower, glowing faintly with intertwined red and black light.
By now, Fūjin Taichi had already confirmed the approximate timeline of when he had transmigrated into Bleach.
It was roughly 50 years before the main storyline, and there were still about six years before Rukia Kuchiki would enroll in the academy.
Which meant…
Six years later, he might have to face a brutal graduation examination.
If the story followed the original plot, among all the sixth-year students participating in that test, only Shūhei Hisagi survived.
But thinking carefully…
That test might have only targeted the Special Advancement Class.
After all, no matter how arrogant Aizen was, he wouldn't recklessly kill over 1,600 Shinigami students from the same year. That would immediately attract suspicion from Seireitei.
So after obtaining his Zanpakutō, Fūjin Taichi didn't relax at all.
Instead, he decisively threw those worries aside and continued training.
If possible, he planned to achieve something like this:
1 year after graduation → become a Vice-Captain
3 years → become a Captain
6 years → surpass the Captain-Commander
9 years → beat Yhwach senseless
12 years → break the fourth wall
At that point, crushing Aizen would be no harder than crushing an ant.
"Tap… tap…"
"Tap… tap…"
Fūjin Taichi slowly walked back toward the dormitory. Along the path, cherry blossom petals and fallen leaves drifted down from the trees, scattering over him like a gentle rain of sakura.
"Hey! Taichi!"
Not long after, he returned to the dormitory.
Since it was the weekend, most of his roommates had gone out. He planned to take the opportunity to catch up on sleep, but someone suddenly called out to him from outside the door.
Creaaak.
Kibune Makoto, carrying her Asauchi and folding her arms, walked in from outside and shouted at the confused Fūjin Taichi:
"If you're free these next couple of days…
why don't you come with us to Junrinan?"
Junlin'an is District 1 of the West Rukongai, the place with the best public security in all of Rukongai. The area is lush with vegetation, located close to the entrance of the Seireitei, and children from the district often get the chance to enroll in the Shin'ō Academy.
As mentioned before, the Soul Society is like a fried egg. The golden yolk in the middle is the Seireitei, while the surrounding egg white is the Rukongai.
The former is where the nobles and the Shinigami live. It has beautiful scenery, exquisite food, and supreme honor and authority.
The latter is where all wandering souls arrive after leaving the Human World, guided there by Shinigami through the Soul Burial ritual and issued a registration pass.
Here, the East, South, West, and North each contain 80 districts.
District 1 has good security, a pleasant living environment, and plenty of food.
However, as the district numbers increase, resources become scarcer and the living conditions worsen, eventually leading souls to determine survival through killing each other.
It is said that District 80, the worst area of Rukongai, is completely barren. Famine is everywhere, public order practically doesn't exist, transportation basically means walking, and communication basically means shouting…
What puzzled Fūjin Taichi was that Kibune Makoto, someone who had never been particularly friendly toward him, had suddenly taken the initiative to invite him to visit Junlin'an.
As a transmigrator, Fūjin Taichi didn't believe he possessed some kind of protagonist's halo that would allow him to become friends with someone like Kibune Makoto in just a few days.
In fact, ever since enrolling, because they were in different classes, the only time Fūjin Taichi and Kibune Makoto ever saw each other was during large lectures. They hardly had any time to interact otherwise.
So although Fūjin Taichi felt curious about Kibune Makoto's behavior, he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he forced out a delighted expression.
"Makoto! I'm so touched—"
"Call me Kibune," Makoto Kibune replied coldly, crossing his arms.
"Oh! Okay, Makoto!"
Although Fūjin Taichi had originally wanted to stay in the dormitory and sleep properly, he figured his roommates might come in and out and disturb him anyway, so he accepted Kibune Makoto's invitation.
"You…"
Kibune Makoto stared at Fūjin Taichi with his pale gray eyes.
"Just call me Kibune, like before. We're not that close.
Actually… this time it was Hoko who asked me to invite you. It wasn't my idea."
"Hoko?"
Fūjin Taichi scratched his chin, puzzled.
I barely interact with her either. Why would she suddenly invite me over?
"Hey!"
Seeing the suspicion on Fūjin Taichi's face, Kibune Makoto became annoyed.
"When someone kindly invites you as a guest, you either accept it politely or refuse directly! Is there really a need to be this suspicious?!"
"Oh."
Fūjin Taichi stuffed the bedding he had just laid out back into the cabinet, then inserted his Zanpakutō into his belt. After that, he followed Kibune Makoto out of the Shin'ō Academy, heading toward Junlin'an, District 1 of West Rukongai.
On the way, Kibune Makoto secretly observed the Zanpakutō at Fūjin Taichi's waist. It seemed different from his own Asauchi, though he couldn't quite explain how.
Could it be that this guy has already released his Zanpakutō?
The thought made Kibune Makoto shiver for a moment, but the next second he laughed at himself.
"It's only been a few days! How could someone like Fūjin Taichi, who keeps getting knocked unconscious during sparring practice, possibly have condensed his own Zanpakutō already?"
Although Kibune Makoto didn't think he was a once-in-a-year genius like Ichimaru Gin, he was definitely far stronger than someone at the bottom like Fūjin Taichi.
After all, as he often said:
"Hey! You guy who was picked up from the roadside… in the end, how are you any different from those stray dogs staring up at the stars?"
...
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