"The character balance!"
"Ooh!! As expected of my Lady!! Your continued training is certainly not for show!! Even a gymnast would pale in comparison!!"
When I raised my leg vertically as requested, the rubber ball rejoiced greatly.
The completely black rubber ball, which shouldn't even have distinct colors, seemed to be visibly excited—its face, or rather its whole body, turning bright red—only at this moment.
"Oh! Amazing!! Your hakama has slipped, exposing everything!? String panties... no, no, those are loincloths!! Even those plump thighs are exposed to the light of day!! I have just become a witness to a new history!!"
"Take that!"
Since the rampage was going too far, I delivered a serve to knock it away as punishment.
"My apologies, my apologies. After all, it was a sight that could be mistaken for the descent of a deity..."
"Descent of a deity..."
...You're saying that...? Wait, are you allowed to say that?
"Perhaps 'God has come!!' would have been better?"
"I don't know!!"
Dedicating free time to continuing Zanjutsu (Blade Zen), and continuing to interact and connect with my Zanpakuto for decades.
I've become able to converse, but I still haven't heard its name. Today, too, I practice Zanjutsu, enter the inner world, and train.
Wait, are we really communicating in this way?
Even just now, I did what this rubber ball requested... will something like the "character balance" really help me hear the name?
'Isn't this just sexual harassment taking advantage of my position!?'
"Hey, Mr. Rubber Ball... is this really how I'll learn your name? The training I know is more like—'I trained hard!'—I thought I'd be doing something like that..."
"Kukuku... Hahahaha...!! Ah-hah-hah-hah-hah!!"
A three-stage laugh!? ...Which villain are you?
"Ah, I wanted to try that just once... oh, right, right. We were talking about how to learn the name. Getting off the main topic seems to be my bad habit..."
I really know that well after about fifty years of interaction.
"To conclude, I would say 'conversation' and 'synchronization' are necessary to achieve Shikai. You know that too, my Lady, don't you?"
"That's true, but shouldn't there be more to it? I've just been having silly conversations and holding mimicry contests with you almost every day?"
"What! Does my Lady say she wants to do something like the training with Captain Unohana every day!? That is utterly... a choice I cannot make... What a noble choice that would be...!! As expected of my Lady!! Sasuga, written as 'stone flowing'!!"
Ugh... When you put it that way, you have a point.
"Well, putting jokes aside—"
"Hey."
"—A path that is visually flashy and easy to understand, like in a comic, is not the only way to Shikai! Just as no two people possess exactly the same personality or tastes, every Zanpakuto is different. So the method also varies. Isn't it much better if idle chatter works?"
"That is..."
I can't argue with that.
"It's true, I suppose... since it was mostly just small talk, I didn't feel like I was training... I'm sorry."
"Nhooo\~! That melancholic expression is irresistible!! Deity! This is a deity!! Best girl! My absolute favorite! Eh...!!"
"Take that!"
It still flies well, doesn't it?
"Well, there's no need to keep worrying so much. While there are Soul Reapers who awaken to Bankai and leave their names in history, it is also natural that there are those who end up without even achieving Shikai. The important thing is to continue challenging yourself without giving up."
"That's true. I'm sorry, Mr. Rubber Ball, I guess I was feeling a bit down."
"Not at all! Seeing your sad expression and being knocked away are both rewards for me! Until my Lady is able to hear my name, 'Shagatamamushiro', I will accompany you in your sexual hara... no, I mean!! Your training every day!!"
"Thank... you?"
... Hmm? What did he just say...?
"Hey, Mr. Rubber Ball. Did you just say 'Shagatamamushiro'?"
"Nhoooo!? Could it be, could it be that you heard the name!?"
"It's true, right? The name is 'Shagatamamushiro', right!?"
"That is correct!! That is my—no, it is my name—albeit a temporary one!!"
"I did it! I did it!! Does this mean I can perform Shikai now!?"
"Indeed, indeed!"
O-Oh, thank goodness... It was long. It was truly long to get here...
"Hahaha, thinking back, it's been about one hundred and fifty years since my Lady first held the Asauchi... We finally made it this far, haven't we?"
"It was long... It was truly, truly long..."
Ah, what is this? The tears won't stop flowing from my eyes.
My peers kept moving ahead, but I remained unable to perform Shikai... I thought just hearing the name wasn't that difficult... but it took me a century and a half...
"Shagatamamushiro!! I look forward to working with you from now on, Shagatamamushiro!!"
I was so happy, so happy, I called the name many times.
There were various things that happened, but a happiness so immense that it made all those things irrelevant completely filled my heart.
"Well, the sun has set now... Hado \#2: Byakurai (Pale Fire)."
—The next day.
Having finished my duties in the Fourth Division, I came to the training grounds.
This is the training area for the Fourth Division soldiers, located in a corner of the compound, but perhaps due to the squad's specialty, not many people use it. There are even Soul Reapers who have never used it outside of mandatory combat training sessions.
In this case, I'm rather grateful for that.
After creating light with Hado to secure my vision, I suppress my impatient feelings and draw my Zanpakuto.
"Writhe—!"
By chanting the release command and calling its name, the Shikai of my Zanpakuto is completed, and its power is released. At the same time, the shape of the Zanpakuto itself also changed.
Generally, even after Shikai, it often remains a sword, with changes mainly to color, blade, or parts, but in some cases, it can become a spear or a flail with a chain.
Like the abilities, the shapes also vary greatly.
And in the case of Shagatamamushiro.
The basic shape remains that of a sword. However, the entire blade turns jet black.
From tip to root, it is all jet black, giving the visual impression that the body of the Shagatamamushiro I met in the inner world is clinging to it.
That is the only change.
The guard is yellow and round, and the handle wrap is red, which is the same as when it was an Asauchi.
However, since the shape of the Asauchi itself can be changed somewhat freely by the Soul Reaper's control over their spiritual pressure, the only real change is the blade turning completely black.
"Somehow... why does it look a little ominous, I wonder?"
I lightly swung the sword two or three times to check the balance and feel—but this is also the same as when it was an Asauchi. There really is no major change in shape.
"Well, I'd be troubled if it changed, so I have no complaints."
If it changed into a spear or an axe or some other weapon, I'd have to learn how to handle those weapons too.
For me, who is slow to learn and grows slowly, having no change is actually a blessing. I only need swordsmanship.
I have zero confidence in being able to learn spearmanship or anything else.
"Next is confirming the ability. I heard this directly from Shagatamamushiro, though..."
While mentally repeating the ability I heard along with the name yesterday, I lightly slash the ground with the tip of the blade as a test.
And when I step onto the area I just slashed—
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!?"
—I couldn't get any footing at all.
I've trained my core quite a bit, so I was confident I wouldn't fall even running through muddy ground in the rain, but this is on a different level.
My footing slipped, and I lost my balance.
"This... used incorrectly, it could be incredibly dangerous..."
I now stroke the part where I slipped with my hand.
Just like when I stepped on it, my fingertips slide smoothly without any resistance, amusingly slippery. There isn't even the slightest catch; it feels as though I'm not touching the ground at all.
—Manipulate the friction of the area touched by the blade.
Simply put, this is Shagatamamushiro's ability.
Hearing just that, you might think it's a plain ability, but if mastered, this is a terrifying power.
If set up like a trap, just as I just slipped, the opponent who steps on it will certainly be left with a huge opening. Because they will definitely fall.
If applied to one's own body, physical attacks, whether punched, slashed, or stabbed, can be completely neutralized.
What's more terrifying is that it doesn't just reduce friction.
If you greatly increase the friction on the soles of your feet, the resistance with the contact surface increases, allowing for sudden braking.
It's not impossible to achieve even faster movement by applying this resistance.
"Plus, it feels slimy..."
My fingertips, which were stroking the ground just now, feel slick, as if they touched oil. If I look closely, there are several black dots, like stippling.
It makes sense that it's slick since it manipulates friction, but what are these dots...?
"I shall answer you!!"
"—Eh!? Sh-Shagatamamushiro!?"
"That is right!! I have achieved Shikai now! It seems I can now call out like this... Oh, thinking that I can talk with my Lady anytime from now on, my heart is fluttering with excitement!!"
"I-I see..."
Ah, you might know already, but...
Shagatamamushiro's voice cannot be heard by others. It is only words thrown from inside me, directed only at me.
"Yesterday I told you I manipulate friction, but in reality, it's slightly different. Those black dots are me applying my own body."
"Your b-body!? Aren't you a rubber ball?"
"Of course I am not! How rude. Even for my Lady, there are things that should and should not be said!"
"Then, then what exactly are you...?"
"I am a slime mold—to put it simply for my Lady, I am a Slime."
"A Slime!?"
The image that came to mind was not a creature that looked like a certain water droplet shape with two eyes and a mouth that would make a "Pikie" sound and spit scorching flames or use Megante if trained up to level 99—but rather an amorphous organism that is thick, sticky, gooey, and slippery, like an amoeba.
"...So, by touching with the blade, you are applying your body. Your body's ability itself is to manipulate friction. The stickiness is because you are a Slime. And the black dots are because the summoned jet-black rubber ball clung to it—is that right?"
"Indeed, my Lady is quick to understand and wonderful! Ah, I can also manipulate the stickiness as a by-product!"
"Wow, it's true..."
When I tried it, the slipperiness increased even further, becoming like a liquid thickened with potato starch or water mixed with glue.
Oily, viscous fluid clung to each of my fingers, and when I rubbed my fingertips together and pulled them apart, a thread of viscous fluid bridged between them.
The turbid, sticky fluid spread across my palm.
"Mhooooh!! This is, this is just!! The sight is criminal!!"
"W-Why are you getting excited...? Also, how do I get this off? Is there no way to deal with it, like if I leave it for a while it dies out on its own, or if I expose it to sunlight it instantly decomposes?"
"If you release Shikai, everything will disappear cleanly, but if you want to remove just one area, fire is my weakness."
"Fire?"
I offered my slimy fingertips to the Byakurai (Pale Fire) I had created as a light source. And then—
"Whoa!?"
—It burned up with more vigor than expected, but also burned out in an instant.
Ah, it's not slimy at all anymore. Only the viscous liquid part really burned away. And I didn't get burned at all.
"How is it!? How is it!? My Lady may swell that large chest of yours with pride and boast about it all you want!!"
Indeed, although its quirks are strong, it seems like a powerful ability.
However...
'...Now I can converse with this guy anytime... I feel tired already...'
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]