Chapter 5: Ichigo's Tutor Is That Man
The Spirit Arts Academy's student uniforms were standardized, a kimono based design with subtle variations. Paired with the wooden school buildings, the whole campus felt like an old style private academy.
Even so, some people were never going to blend into that atmosphere and become ordinary students.
For example, Shimiya Takeru and Ichigo.
And Hachihara Kumoru.
No one doubted her claim of loving Human World culture. Her look was far too trendy. Light lip gloss and eyeshadow, carefully drawn brows, long golden hair tied in a side ponytail, and smooth tanned skin with a rich, chocolate like tone.
She was the very picture of a high school gyaru, heavily influenced by fashions from the World of the Living.
Ichigo could not help asking, "Did you just come from the Human World too?"
"Nope, I was born in Seireitei. My family runs a clothing shop. They borrowed a lot of trends from Human World fashion, and the store blew up. I got curious, started looking into it, and then I just could not stop."
Hachihara waved cheerfully like a beckoning cat as she revealed her personal details without a care in the world.
"I can tell..."
Ichigo's mouth twitched as he forced himself not to comment on the makeup. For anyone with normal taste, gyaru style beauty was a bit too sweet, like coffee with way too much sugar.
"Clothing from the World of the Living, huh. That is different from Rukongai. Seireitei is more progressive than I thought," Takeru mused.
"Oh, that is not good," he added a moment later.
"What is wrong?"
Rindo Yu wrote on the desk in front of him.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about our future living expenses."
"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked automatically.
"Well, back in the Human World, you did part time jobs on holidays too, right?"
"Yeah... I think I get what you are saying. You want to earn some money so we can live comfortably here, so you were planning to copy some Human World business ideas. As long as one product hits, you would never have to worry about money again."
"Exactly. But what Hachihara said reminded me that the Soul Society only looks backward on the surface. In reality, it might be deliberately so. Some of those ideas already exist, and for others the market demand might not be there at all. I still need to test that theory, but in short, making money is not going to be easy."
Takeru felt a little regretful.
He had originally wanted to build a Shigong Zaibatsu in the Soul Society and show those nobles, who clung to their past glory, what a new era capitalist really looked like.
"Now that you mention it, our living allowance is paid by the Academy and only covers basic food and clothing. Hoping for extra, like buying a few sets of Human World clothes from Hachihara's shop, is pushing it."
Ichigo scratched his head, finally realizing how tight things would be.
"If you come by, I can give you the lowest discount," Hachihara said with a grin, flashing a peace sign in front of her eye and winking cutely.
"We can talk about that later."
Seeing the teacher walk in, Takeru took the initiative to end the conversation.
From that encounter onward, the three slowly grew closer.
Mostly because Hachihara persistently hunted them down after class to chat about Human World topics.
From the outside, it looked like the Prodigy Duo had already pulled Rindo Yu, the "fourth place" student of their year, into their orbit, forming the most eye catching little group in the Academy.
Other students were jealous and wanted to approach them, but that seventh seat level spiritual pressure threshold hanging over their heads made them hesitate at the door.
Without anyone really noticing, a week passed.
New subjects were rolled out one after another.
Takeru, who had a high enthusiasm for learning, barely noticed the days going by.
One afternoon in the kendo hall, a thunderous strike crashed into Ichigo's body. If the weapon had been a real sword, the slash would have opened a huge wound from his shoulder to his abdomen, cutting through his ribs and exposing his internal organs.
He was very grateful it was only a wooden sword.
That meant he still had a chance to turn the tables.
"I am not going to lose to the same move twice."
He blocked the strike, braced his stance, and counterattacked in the moment when his opponent's motion overextended.
From the standpoint of fighting spirit and reaction speed, he was excellent. The kendo instructor watching from the side gave him a silent rating of "outstanding."
Unfortunately, Shimiya Takeru did not seem human.
He took every one of Ichigo's follow up blows with calm stability. His stance did not even wobble, like a rocky reef braced against crashing waves.
Once he got used to the rhythm of Ichigo's attacks, he suddenly stepped forward after a block, like a riot officer driving a suspect back with a shield, using the weight of his body and the reach of his weapon to force Ichigo to retreat until he stumbled.
Then he abruptly pulled back just enough to open distance and landed a clean tang bamboo style strike straight to the front, knocking Ichigo flat.
In practice, it looked less like a kendo technique and more like he had simply bulldozed him over with raw power.
"Damn it. Your swordsmanship and fighting skills are nowhere near as refined as mine, but no matter how hard I try I still cannot beat you."
Ichigo rubbed his sore wrists, feeling both frustrated and helpless.
"That is the charm of stats," Takeru replied, taking the towel Hachihara handed him and wiping the sweat from his face.
"But you are improving fast. You can keep up with me for this long now. At first you were going down in one hit. I think it will not be long before you can..."
"Before I can beat you?"
"Before you can lose more gracefully."
Ichigo's temple twitched. He forced a smile and said, "Oh really? Want to try again? I feel like I can still fight. Use your little trick from before and see if it works a second time."
Takeru gave him a look that could only be described as pitying.
"Do not waste your strength. Even if I do not use any strategy and just trade blows with you, I can still win on endurance alone. I just do not want to waste that much time, which is why I have not done it."
"You jerk... just you wait."
Ichigo ground his teeth and quietly vowed to find a chance to get him back.
"You two are really fired up. Are all students from the Human World like this?" Hachihara said, watching them.
"That depends on the country. This guy is simply disgusted by his own Kido. He feels that with Kido that self destructs, he is destined never to become well rounded, so he has no choice but to desperately make up for it in other areas."
Takeru mercilessly exposed Ichigo's thoughts.
Over the past week, everyone's classroom performance had perfectly highlighted the importance of talent.
Take their little group.
Hachihara was lively, energetic, and sharp. She learned fast in every subject, but she was willful and only really interested in physical basics like Hakuda and Shunpo. Zanjutsu and Kido bored her, so her grades there were mediocre.
That kind of lopsided performance gave the instructors a headache. They quickly attached a label to her in their hearts: problem child.
Rindo Yu, despite being deaf and mute, possessed a surprisingly strong inner spirit and an abnormally precise control over spiritual power.
He was practically a born Kido saint, as if every spell was whispered to him by the gods.
In other areas he was only as good as one would expect of a Class One student, but unlike Hachihara he was diligent and serious about both studying and training.
Ichigo, on the other hand, excelled in Zanjutsu and Hakuda. His fighting talent was so obvious that every instructor who saw him was impressed, calling him a natural born powerhouse and a perfect future successor to the Gotei Thirteen captains.
Then they heard that he had nearly blown up the entire training ground with a single Shakkaho in Kido class.
After that, they fell silent.
They did not take back the "future captain" evaluation, but in their hearts they added a little note in parentheses: Eleventh Division only.
And finally, there was Shimiya Takeru.
His performance matched his reputation as the highest scoring entrance candidate in Academy history.
He was the traditional genius people imagined when they said the word.
Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, Kido, he was proficient in all of them.
On top of that, thanks to the physical specialization and growth buff granted by the dragon's blood from the fairy tale, he had overwhelming natural advantages in Zanjutsu and Hakuda.
Because of that, Ichigo's plan to take first place in those two areas, catch up in strength, and reclaim his pride had already fallen apart.
"You only know Shakkaho. It is not like your Kido is that much better than mine. And when it comes to fighting like your life depends on it, you are in no position to talk about me," Ichigo muttered.
"You stay up late to train in secret instead of sleeping. I have no idea where you get that kind of stamina," Ichigo shot back.
"?"
Hachihara's eyes widened as she stared at Takeru in disbelief.
In her eyes, Ichigo was already extremely diligent, spending most of his free time training and studying. He was nothing like the rebellious type he appeared to be. He was almost boringly honest.
She had not expected there to be someone even more extreme.
Training all night? It had only been a week since they enrolled.
Was that really necessary?
"I only tried that once. You just happened to find out," Takeru said.
That had been his experiment with the compound potion.
It had proved that the potion only wiped away the exhaustion from staying up late. It did not refill the energy drained over the course of a full day.
So he had decisively dropped that plan.
At that moment, Rindo wrote a line of text.
There is a calligraphy class this afternoon. Are you going?
"Calligraphy class, huh... I am not really interested. Even if the teacher is supposed to be a very popular captain, I do not want to miss the shipment of Human World goods that just arrived, so I will pass," Hachihara said after tapping her chin and thinking it over.
"Same for me. I already scheduled a spar with the Zanjutsu instructor, so I cannot bail. But I do have something to discuss with the calligraphy lecturer, so I will go find him after class," Ichigo added.
Despite the Headmaster bending the rules for him, cultural literacy was still Ichigo's weak point.
That weakness showed up in every class.
Sometimes he simply could not parse the grammar in the textbooks and got stuck, often having to ask Takeru to explain it to him.
Ichigo hated bothering others.
Luckily, the Headmaster had been prepared and had already found him a tutor in advance.
It was the calligraphy lecturer.
The man rarely showed up to teach, so today was the first real chance to meet him.
"Then Rindo and I will go take a look," Takeru said after thinking for a moment.
A normal calligraphy lecture he would happily skip.
But he was absolutely not going to miss a chance to attend that man's calligraphy class and broaden his horizons.
"Oh, see you after class then."
Ichigo's mood immediately lifted. He felt that while Takeru was stuck in some cultural class, his own training would finally have a chance to catch up a little.
He did not realize that Takeru still had a physical growth plus one thousand buff.
At least when it came to basic Zanjutsu and Hakuda training, there was probably no way to close that gap through ordinary effort alone.
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