School Is About to Start

Xuanxin was still asleep when a servant of the Shihoin Clan woke him and, under the cover of several people dressed in black, "invited" him to the family's private medical room.

There, Xuanxin was made to undergo a thorough, detailed examination covering everything from his bone age and physical strength to his Reiatsu reserves, Hakusui, and Saketsu.

Four hours later.

Xuanxin's complete report was placed on Seigen's desk. As Seigen read it, a rare crack appeared in his usually unflappable expression.

"Are you sure the testing equipment didn't malfunction?" Seigen asked, staring at the figures on the report, his voice slightly lowered.

The head of the medical team prostrated himself on the floor and replied, a trace of barely contained excitement in his voice:

"Master, I checked three times. The young master whom Lady Yoruichi snat... invited back shows no signs of systematic training, nor have any Kidō techniques been implanted in him. He is entirely undeveloped."

Seigen drew a sharp breath.

According to the report, Xuanxin's current Reiatsu was already sufficient to secure him a place in Class One without an entrance exam.

Judging by his bone age, Xuanxin seemed to be even younger than Yoruichi. Yoruichi possessed the purest Shihoin bloodline and had grown up immersed in the finest resources Soul Society had to offer, which was how she had earned her current reputation as a "genius."

Yet this boy named Xuanxin was only a wandering soul who had drifted through Rukongai and nearly starved to death. Through sheer talent alone, his Reiatsu reserves had already reached such a terrifying level!

Given time and a little polishing, just how brilliantly could this rough stone shine?

Seigen then dismissed the servants and closed the report. A trace of hesitation flickered in his deep-set eyes. But when he raised his head again, it had vanished completely. He spoke decisively.

"Pass down my orders! As of today, all restrictions on Fujiwara Genshin's movements are lifted. His food and clothing in the residence are to match the standards of the main family's direct descendants, second only to Yoruichi's."

"Also, inform Yoruichi's tutors that Xuanxin is permitted to join her in her daily physical training, her basic instruction in swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, movement, and Kidō, and even her general education in noble affairs!"

Seigen turned to look out the window at the spacious private training ground, a meaningful smile curling his lips.

Let me see just how much of a surprise an unpolished gem of unknown origin like you can bring me, Fujiwara Genshin.

Chapter 3: School is about to start

With a written order from Seigen, Xuanxin's treatment in the Shihoin Clan soared, becoming almost no different from that of a young master of the main family.

As though it had sprouted wings, word of the order spread rapidly and caused an uproar among the nobles under the Shihoin family. For a time, undercurrents stirred.

The young noblemen who had already set their sights on Yoruichi or hoped to rise through a marriage alliance all gnashed their teeth in secret.

Since they couldn't lay a hand on Xuanxin inside the residence, they would find a chance outside, throw a sack over this clueless brat's head, and teach him his place.

Yet these people spent months lurking around the Shihoin Clan's grounds. Forget throwing a sack over him—they didn't get their hands on a single white hair on Xuanxin's head.

Because the brat never went out at all! Even the number of times Yoruichi ran away from home over those months could be counted on one hand.

Faced with this string of unusual developments, the lesser nobles began to panic. They privately wondered whether their little schemes had angered Seigen, prompting the old fox of the Shihoin Clan to make a move against them and keep Yoruichi from running out.

The truth, however, was never that complicated. Yoruichi slipped out less often simply because she was captivated by Xuanxin's good looks at home.

At first, considering that Xuanxin had only just been pulled back from the brink of death, Seigen had given him the simple task of nurturing his soul and recuperating, without burdening him with heavy coursework.

But Seigen stumbled upon a curious phenomenon: as long as Xuanxin was present, Yoruichi never missed a lesson!

Even in the etiquette class she had once resisted most, she showed up on time every day as long as Xuanxin sat beside her.

Thus, after the humble old father had fully mastered this "Yoruichi trap," the handsome, white-haired boy had the honor of becoming his "ultimate weapon" for keeping his daughter from running away from home.

And so that she could be with Xuanxin every day, Yoruichi gritted her teeth and dragged him to class with her.

The problem of skipping class had been solved, but her tendency to get distracted during lessons only grew worse.

In class, Yoruichi often rested her cheek on one hand, unable to take in a word the tutor said as she stared blankly at Xuanxin beside her, the smile on her lips impossible to suppress.

Under the Shihoin Clan's care, with no expense spared, Xuanxin's once-gaunt and frail body gradually filled out.

His upright bearing, already handsome face, and flowing white hair embodied the very picture of a gentleman as gentle and refined as jade.

Watching Xuanxin become more pleasing to the eye by the day, Yoruichi mentally patted herself on the back, immensely proud of her "wise decision" to insist on bringing him home.

But those pleasant days spent admiring him did not last long.

The new term at Shin'ō Academy had arrived.

On the day before classes began, Yoruichi threw a tantrum, as expected, insisting on taking Xuanxin to school with her.

This time, however, Seigen was unusually firm and flatly refused her request.

Seigen's official reason was that Xuanxin had missed the normal enrollment period. In fact, after discussing it with his advisers, he had concluded that Xuanxin's current soul strength was naturally sufficient for him to attend school.

But given Xuanxin's talent, it would be far too wasteful to treat him merely as a tool for keeping his daughter in line.

If, instead, Xuanxin remained with the family and used the Shihoin Clan's finest resources to build the firmest possible foundation and receive the most systematic education, the heights this boy could reach in the future would be limitless.

What was more, after secretly observing Xuanxin for the past few months, Seigen had long since seen through his character. The boy seemed aloof, but he placed great importance on gratitude and loyalty.

And Yoruichi had saved his life, while the Shihoin Clan had taken him in and nurtured him.

With those two things in mind, even taking the worst possible view, if Yoruichi ever did lose interest in the boy and "used him and cast him aside," Xuanxin's sense of gratitude and loyalty would at least make him willing to lend her a hand when she needed it, for the sake of what they had done for him.

Thus, nurturing Xuanxin was the same as personally securing the safest possible fallback for the Shihoin Clan and for Yoruichi's future.

Whether Xuanxin became Yoruichi's future partner or their last resort, the Shihoin Clan stood to profit enormously from the deal, whichever way Seigen looked at it!

So, no matter how Yoruichi wheedled or made a fuss, Seigen was determined to keep Xuanxin at home.

Of course, Seigen had another reason in his heart that he absolutely could not say aloud: if he let those two go to school together now, he didn't even need to think about it—if Yoruichi managed to study properly, it would be a miracle! His old heart really couldn't take that kind of strain!

In the end, her old father suppressed her objections by force, and Yoruichi had no choice but to go to Shin'ō Academy alone, puffing with indignation, and begin her life as a boarder.

At the academy, naturally, there was no shortage of young noblemen trying every way they could to curry favor with Yoruichi.

But Yoruichi never had a kind look for any of them. Her reason for rejecting them was brutally simple: none of them were as good-looking as Xuanxin!!

In Yoruichi's eyes, those pampered young wastrels with their unsteady steps weren't even fit to carry the shoes of the white-haired boy back home.

What was more, now that Xuanxin had changed into decent clothes and benefited from the Shihoin Clan's abundant resources, his looks were improving exponentially over time. He could almost be said to outshine those ugly wastrels at the academy in every respect.

When these bits of gossip reached the Shihoin Clan, Seigen let out a long sigh of relief.

Watching Xuanxin sweating profusely in the courtyard, he couldn't help but reflect that the boy wasn't entirely useless after all.

With such an exceptionally handsome "benchmark" at home, at least he didn't have to worry about some worthless pig outside getting its snout into his precious cabbage.

But whenever he thought of how Yoruichi behaved each time she came home on break, Seigen couldn't help frowning again.

Yes, he no longer needed to worry about the pigs outside. What he needed to worry about now was that his own little cabbage seemed to be throwing herself at the pig's mouth every time she came home.

Now, whenever Yoruichi came home, the first thing she did was find Xuanxin to see whether her father had secretly thrown him out or whether he had gotten bored and run off.

Only after that would she come report to Seigen. Sometimes, if her visit was short, she wouldn't even come see him, staying with Xuanxin until it was time to return to school!

She had even told Seigen frankly, without a trace of guilt, "If Xuanxin weren't still here, who'd bother coming back to this lifeless house?"

This made Seigen question his life. Could he, her own father, really be less important than some brat she had picked up outside?!

Meanwhile, Yoruichi, the "culprit" behind Seigen's soaring blood pressure, was quietly plotting how to get Xuanxin into the school "legally."

Throughout this time, Yoruichi never gave up on her private attempts to coax Xuanxin into changing his surname to "Shihoin," but the servants of the Shihoin Clan had evidently received strict training from their master.

Every time Yoruichi had set the mood and was just about to broach the subject of changing his surname, a servant or guard would barge in carrying tea or documents under some awkward pretext, forcibly interrupting her.

After her "surname-changing plan" was repeatedly thwarted, Yoruichi's thoughts began racing in a dangerous direction.

She dug up an ancient family text from somewhere and secretly began studying the obscure "Cat Transformation Technique"! Her plan was a clever one:

As long as I learn it first and then teach it to Xuanxin, he'll be able to turn into a cat and appear openly under the covers in my dorm room! And then...

Of course, Xuanxin knew nothing of the dangerous "smuggling plots" in Yoruichi's head.

At the moment, Yoruichi, who had slipped home for the weekend, was pulling Xuanxin along to meet a somewhat scruffy blond boy in a bucket hat—Kisuke Urahara.

Under Yoruichi's lead, the three of them planned to dig out a hidden space beneath Sōkyoku Hill.

But Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi had plenty of classes every day, so Xuanxin, who had nothing to do at home, ended up as the unfortunate main laborer on their "secret base."

Xuanxin, however, had no complaints. On the contrary, he threw himself into the work.

That was because the thoroughly scheming Kisuke Urahara had told him that Sōkyoku Hill was a key location in the Seireitei, where Reishi detection was extremely sensitive. If they used Reiatsu or Kidō to dig, the Gotei 13 would immediately notice.

More importantly, Kisuke produced a shovel from somewhere and solemnly fed Xuanxin a line:

"Don't think of this as an ordinary shovel. It's the best tool for training your body! Every time you break through hard rock and soil underground, you're training yourself!"

But the truth could not be hidden forever.

When Yoruichi learned that Kisuke Urahara had actually used such an outrageous story to trick Xuanxin into becoming a free "human excavator," she flew into a rage on the spot.

That afternoon, under the pretext of a spar, Yoruichi beat Kisuke Urahara so badly on the training ground that he questioned his life, leaving him to lie comfortably in the Fourth Division's medical ward for a full week.

After venting her anger, Yoruichi stormed off to the underground base, intending to expose Kisuke's lie to Xuanxin.

But when she went inside, she saw Xuanxin bare-chested and drenched in sweat, swinging his shovel. Every stroke carried a faint whistle through the air, as though he really were undergoing some form of arduous training.

Seeing Xuanxin working so enthusiastically and believing the "outrageous theory" without question, Yoruichi opened her mouth, but ultimately couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth for fear of dampening his enthusiasm.

But she had to vent that inexplicable anger somewhere.

And so, five hours after being discharged from the Fourth Division, Kisuke Urahara successfully found himself back in a hospital bed. Perhaps Yoruichi had already forgotten that the person who had originally suggested tricking Xuanxin into doing the work seemed to be none other than herself!

Spring gave way to autumn, and two years passed in the blink of an eye. At last, the day of Xuanxin's formal enrollment arrived.

With the Shihoin Clan lavishing resources on him without regard for the cost, Xuanxin had long since undergone a complete transformation.

Years of swinging a sword and digging had given his muscles streamlined contours full of explosive power.

When he stood in the study in his neat white school uniform to say goodbye, even the habitually fastidious Seigen had to admit to himself after studying him for a long while:

He does look quite good... Hmm, the boy now has nine-tenths of this old man's good looks in his youth.

Just as Xuanxin was about to turn and leave, taking his first steps out of the Shihoin Clan's estate, the urgent sound of a Shunpo cutting through the air came from the corridor.

"Xuanxin! Wait!"

Yoruichi's figure appeared in the doorway with a swish. She had clearly raced all the way from somewhere, and a fine sheen of sweat still covered her forehead.

She strode up to Xuanxin and stuffed a heavy, elongated wooden box wrapped in splendid silk into his arms.

"What's this?" Xuanxin caught it instinctively.

Yoruichi folded her arms, raised her chin, and smiled proudly.

"A present to celebrate your release from the cage! The way you usually move looks well suited to dual wielding, so how could you go without good swords? Open it and have a look. I just went into the innermost family treasury and picked these treasures out for you myself!"

Xuanxin was taken aback. He untied the silk around the box and lifted the lid. Inside lay two tachi of plain, ancient craftsmanship.

He looked up at Yoruichi's bright, expectant eyes, and his own gaze gradually softened into a barely perceptible warmth.

"Thank you."

Xuanxin looked at her and spoke softly, but with complete sincerity.

At the sight of Xuanxin's gentle expression, Yoruichi's heart skipped a beat. She realized this was a heaven-sent opportunity! Her eyes rolled, and she immediately leaned closer, saying with a smile:

"Since you're so grateful, how about, in return, you go ahead and..."

"Lady Yoruichi!!"

Before Yoruichi could get the word "Shihoin" out of her mouth, her personal servant, who had been standing by like a wooden post, suddenly raised his voice. He slid between them with speed rivaling a Shunpo and shouted at the top of his lungs: