Because Fūjin Taichi was a "legal resident" of Seireitei,
idanbō Ikkanzaka merely lowered his head, gave him a brief glance, and let him pass.
Moments later, the four Sekki-seki walls—each as massive as a small mountain—vanished once again…
Tap… tap…
Tap… tap…
Fūjin Taichi walked slowly along the road leading toward the Shin'ō Academy.
As he rounded a corner, he ran into several gorgeously dressed noble Shinigami approaching from the opposite direction.
There were both men and women among them, chatting and laughing.
Some were unfamiliar faces—but one was unmistakably familiar:
Tsunayashiro Tokio, the one who had "gone their separate ways" with Taichi that day.
When he saw Taichi, Tokio froze slightly, instinctively opening his mouth as if to greet him—
only to realize that Taichi seemed not to have noticed him at all, walking straight past without even a glance.
"..."
Tokio could only suppress the thought of reconciling and continue onward in silence with the other trainee Shinigami.
"Eh? I didn't see wrong just now, did I?"
"That guy was carrying two swords, right? And they didn't look like Asauchi…"
"Huh? That's impossible. There's no way those were Zanpakutō, right?"
"He's barely that old—shouldn't he be from the same class as Tokio?"
As the second speaker finished, they turned to look at Tokio.
"Ah…"
Tokio's feelings were complicated.
Although Fūjin Taichi came from Rukongai, they had once shared a life-and-death experience and spent quite some time together.
Honestly, he hadn't disliked him.
If he were to truly cut ties, it felt… uncomfortable.
But apologizing?
Where would that leave the pride of someone from one of the Four Great Noble Houses?
"Hey, Tokio? Tokio?"
Seeing him remain silent, the earlier speaker called out twice.
"Ah… forget it!" Tokio waved it off.
"The banquet's about to start. Let's hurry."
With that, he led the group down the street, their figures slowly disappearing beneath the brilliant early-morning sun.
...
Two days later, in the morning, a fine drizzle suddenly fell over Soul Society.
Patter, patter—
Rain struck the roof of Training Hall No. 10 at Shin'ō Academy, sounding like mung beans rattling against the bottom of a porcelain bowl.
"Hakuda is a combat style that relies on bare-handed techniques,"
the instructor announced.
"Although we Shinigami don't use it often, I still require you to master at least the basics!"
The Hakuda instructor for First-Year Class One was Yagyū Kyūbei,
a middle-aged man with a short, stocky build and an unpleasant face.
He wore a pristine white martial arts uniform, with a brown chest guard layered over it.
From a distance, he looked like a ninja turtle with a tiny mustache.
"Yes, sir…"
Hearing that "Hakuda isn't commonly used," the eighty-plus trainees immediately lost interest and responded half-heartedly.
"Bastards!"
Kyūbei barked furiously.
"I said not commonly used—not useless!"
"Remember this: a Shinigami's Zanpakutō is not omnipotent!"
"If one day your Zanpakutō becomes unusable, tell me—
how do you plan to keep fighting?"
"Kido!"
Abarai Renji shouted out without hesitation.
Though bad at Kido, that never stopped him from loving the spotlight.
"Idiot!"
Kyūbei snapped mercilessly.
"You must be that Fūjin Taichi who spouted nonsense like 'one-hit kill' in Saitō-sensei's class, right?"
"Now that I see you in person, I can tell—
your reputation is well deserved. You really are hopelessly stupid!!"
"…Yes, sir…"
Renji lowered his head in embarrassment, though his face twisted awkwardly—
clearly struggling not to laugh himself to death.
"..."
Taichi, who had somehow taken a stray bullet for no reason, felt countless gazes of sympathy land on him.
In his heart, he thoroughly cursed Abarai Renji's ancestors for eighteen generations.
"I'll say this again!!"
Kyūbei roared.
"Kido may be powerful, but in real combat, you'll be killed before you even finish chanting!"
"Perhaps there are idiots like Fūjin Taichi who will argue back,
spouting nonsense about chantless casting, instant activation, or one-hit kills—"
"So let me make this perfectly clear here and now:
Kido cast without incantation suffers a massive drop in power—
sometimes down to one-tenth of its original strength!"
He paused, then continued:
"To cast Kido without chanting, you must have exceptional mastery over that spell,
allowing you to precisely and rapidly adjust your spiritual power for instant activation!"
"But I can responsibly tell you this—
even when captain-class Shinigami cast chantless Kido,
they often struggle to maintain even half of the original power!"
"So forget about idiotic talk like 'one-hit kills'!"
"..."
When Fūjin Taichi heard the words "one-hit kill," he couldn't help rolling his eyes. He raised his hand and asked,
"Sensei, what about instant-cast Kido plus Shunpo?"
"That would be stupidity piled on top of stupidity!!"
Yagyū Kyūbei stared at Taichi sternly.
"Your way of thinking is extremely dangerous, student! Whether it's Kido or Shunpo, both consume enormous amounts of a Shinigami's spiritual power!"
"And in battle, exhausting your spiritual power is one of the greatest taboos! Once your enemy notices that your reserves are depleted, your fate is death!!"
"Sorry—I, Abarai Renji, am a complete dumbass!!"
Taichi shouted back loudly, decisively ignoring the raging fury shooting from the eyes of a certain red-haired monkey beside him.
But deep down, his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere:
Shinigami cannot absorb spiritual power from the outside world, so they can only rely on their own cultivated spiritual pressure…
Which raises the question—
Why can Quincy absorb reishi from the environment?
And that Quincy Blut Vene and Blut Arterie sounded insanely powerful…
If his Shihakushō could gain those abilities too, how amazing would that be?!
"Alright, then—pair up for Hakuda practice!"
After explaining the fundamentals a bit more, Yagyū Kyūbei divided the class into pairs for hand-to-hand training.
Thus, the students of First-Year Class One split into duos, fighting barehanded—trading blows back and forth in heated exchanges.
Fūjin Taichi's partner was Hinamori Momo.
He knew she excelled at Kido, but her Hakuda likely lagged behind—after all, she was petite and slender, looking like a gust of wind could knock her over.
"Taichi-kun, please go easy on me!"
Hinamori bowed slightly, then assumed her stance and called out softly:
"Then—Here I go!"
"Taichi-kun? That sounds weird... whoa—"
Before he could even finish the sentence, Hinamori's figure blurred.
She had already leapt to his side and launched a flying kick straight at him!
Smack!
At the instant the kick connected, Taichi barely managed to block with both elbows—but the force still sent him flying.
BOOM!
He slammed straight into the dojo wall.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't expect Taichi-kun to be so… fragile…"
After pulling him out of the wall, Hinamori bowed repeatedly in apology.
"No—it's just that my Hakuda is really weak…"
Taichi was telling the truth.
Since enrolling, he had been focusing almost exclusively on a Shunpo + Iaijutsu one-sword style, along with left-hand instant-cast Kido as support.
Naturally, his hand-to-hand skills had fallen behind.
"Hey, hey, Taichi—you're way too weak! You're like a scrawny white chicken!"
Abarai Renji laughed, hands on hips, after kicking his opponent, Tsukimitsu Senpū, across the floor.
"Tch—Bakudō No. 1: Sai."
Seeing no one paying attention, Taichi raised his left index finger and pointed.
Instantly, blue spiritual energy formed rope-like bindings that wrapped around Renji's arms and legs like living creatures.
Thud!
Renji face-planted hard onto the floor.
"What?! Taichi-kun—?!"
Hinamori stared at the trussed-up Renji, then back at Taichi, her face filled with disbelief.
Could it be…
Had he actually done it?
"Shh."
Taichi raised a finger to his lips, signaling silence.
He released the Bakudō and said calmly,
"Just call me Taichi. Now—shall we continue?"
"Yes! I'll give it my all!!"
Taking Taichi for a low-key master, Hinamori no longer dared to underestimate him.
This time, she attacked with full force—
BOOM!!!
With a tremendous crash from the sky, the ceiling of Seireitei Academy's Training Hall No. 10 gained a new feature: a large, vaguely "太"-shaped hole...
To ensure everyone remembered this "negative example,"
Yagyū Kyūbei deliberately left the hole unrepaired.
Many years later, when his successor—Hakuda instructor Yagyū Jūbei—learned of the embarrassing incident involving the "Legendary Captain" Fūjin Taichi,
he deliberately chose not to repair it either.
And so, from that day onward, the peculiar '太 (Ta)'-shaped hole was never fixed—
eventually becoming a unique and iconic landmark of Shin'ō Academy.