Reporting In

"The clan head has given an order! Young Master Xuanxin, it's almost time for you to enroll. If you delay any longer, you may miss the opening ceremony! Please leave at once!"

Yoruichi: "..."

Seeing Yoruichi's murderous glare, Xuanxin closed the wooden box and slung it over his back, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from rising slightly.

Then he said to Yoruichi, "Let's go. It's almost time, and I've never been to Shin'ō Academy before."

After taking two steps, Xuanxin seemed to remember something and glanced around. "Oh, right, where's Kisuke Urahara? How come I haven't seen him today?"

Yoruichi's expression instantly stiffened, and her eyes began darting about guiltily.

"...He... he hasn't been feeling well lately. I think he... fell down when he went out. Yes! He had a fall!"

Chapter 4: Reporting In

With the box on his back, Xuanxin followed Yoruichi out of the Shihoin family gates, truly stepping beyond them for the first time.

Along the way, Yoruichi tirelessly explained the basics of Shin'ō Academy to Xuanxin. In fact, before they set out, Seigen had already arranged for a tutor to go over every one of those rules with him.

But seeing how excited Yoruichi was beside him, Xuanxin couldn't bring himself to interrupt her. He listened quietly, treating it as a chance to review what he already knew.

Before long, as Yoruichi continued her explanations, the two arrived before a magnificent gate. On its plaque were several large characters written in a bold, sweeping hand: Shin'ō Academy.

The area outside the academy gates was already buzzing with voices.

Xuanxin stopped and looked over the queue on the outskirts, which stretched as far as the eye could see. Most of those waiting there were ragged wanderers, and only a precious few among them would be accepted.

In those ragged people, Xuanxin seemed to see himself two years ago, when he had been on the verge of starving. If he hadn't happened to meet Yoruichi after she snuck out, perhaps his soul would have long since dispersed.

At that thought, Xuanxin turned to the girl beside him and said earnestly:

"Yoruichi, thank you."

The sudden thanks struck Yoruichi like a perfectly aimed fastball, bringing her down.

Yoruichi froze on the spot. The quick reflexes she displayed on the training ground failed her in that instant, and even her brain overloaded and stopped working.

After quite a while, a blush reached her ears, and Yoruichi finally came to her senses and stammered in confusion:

"Wh-what are you bringing that up for? Anyway, hurry up. Don't keep the teacher waiting too long."

"All right."

At Yoruichi's words, Xuanxin started toward the long queue.

But he had barely taken half a step when Yoruichi grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him right back beside her.

"Where are you going? You don't have to line up here. The old man already submitted your information through a special channel. Just come with me and report in over there."

Xuanxin paused in surprise.

He had assumed that when Shihoin Seigen said everything had been arranged, he had only meant that the things needed for registration had been prepared.

He had never imagined that those arrangements meant sending him straight into Class One through the Five Great Noble Clans' channel.

From that moment on, in the eyes of the outside world, he had also been indelibly tied to the Shihoin, no matter what.

But things had already come to this, and Xuanxin didn't intend to make a fuss. Besides, without Yoruichi, he would probably have turned into Reishi and returned to this world, just as he had thought earlier.

So he might as well use the back door. It wasn't as though there was no benefit to it; at least he wouldn't have to stand in line under the sun.

He followed Yoruichi toward the special channel for nobles. With her leading the way, their journey was completely unhindered. Every noble student who saw Yoruichi reacted like a mouse seeing a cat. Apparently, these people had taken plenty of beatings from her.

As soon as they entered the academy, Kisuke Urahara, dressed in the same fashion as Ramesses II, came limping over on crutches.

"Hey... Xuanxin... Yoruichi... g-good morning..."

The newcomer spoke with a lisp, struggling to raise a hand in a cast as he greeted them.

Xuanxin looked at the man wrapped head to toe in bandages. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, he asked earnestly, "What happened to you? Weren't you just fine before? You..."

The question made Kisuke Urahara so agitated that his speech, already muffled by the bandages, became even harder to understand.

"Xuanxin... you have no idea. These injuries, actually, they're... they're..."

Kisuke Urahara had wanted to expose the true nature of the purple-haired woman behind the innocent Xuanxin. But just as the words were about to leave his mouth, a chill shot up the back of his neck without warning.

Kisuke Urahara looked toward the source of the chill and saw Yoruichi standing behind Xuanxin, radiating a terrifyingly oppressive air. A dangerous red light seemed to flicker in her golden, catlike eyes.

So, halfway through his sentence, he forcibly swallowed the rest.

Puzzled by Kisuke Urahara's hesitation and fearful gaze, Xuanxin turned to follow his line of sight, but saw only Yoruichi absentmindedly looking away.

Xuanxin tilted his head and looked back at Kisuke Urahara.

But as Xuanxin's gaze shifted, so did the atmosphere around Yoruichi. Once he was no longer looking at her, she fixed Kisuke Urahara with another fierce glare and even made an undisguised slashing motion across her throat.

The threat could not have been clearer.

"Gulp."

Watching Yoruichi's threatening gesture, Kisuke Urahara swallowed and quickly changed his story.

"Well... actually, I was practicing Shunpo last night. You know Shunpo. I got impatient and didn't control my strength, so I smacked right into a tree. Yes, right into a tree. Ahaha... funny, isn't it?"

Kisuke Urahara forced out a few strained, bitter laughs.

"So that's what happened. You'd better be more careful from now on, though. Anyway, I'm going to report in over there."

Although Xuanxin suspected there might be quite a bit of embellishment to the story, Kisuke Urahara was unwilling to say more, so he couldn't very well press him. He offered a few words of comfort and started toward the registration area with Yoruichi.

But Yoruichi, who was usually glued to Xuanxin's side, stopped and said, "You go ahead on your own, Xuanxin. Kisuke Urahara and I have some things to take care of, so I won't come with you."

She waved at Xuanxin as she spoke. Suspecting nothing, he nodded and headed toward the registration desk alone.

Seeing Xuanxin about to leave while Yoruichi stayed behind, Kisuke Urahara knew he was in trouble and went after Xuanxin on his crutches.

But before he could take a single step, Yoruichi pulled him right back to where he had been. Then she lowered her voice and threatened him:

"You had the sense to keep quiet this time, and you reacted pretty quickly! But I'm warning you: if you let even half a word slip in front of Xuanxin and ruin my image..."

Yoruichi raised her fist and waved it in front of Kisuke Urahara's face. "You'll bear the consequences!"

Kisuke Urahara felt like crying but had no tears. Pointing at his bandage-covered head, he asked Yoruichi the question he had wanted to ask all along.

"Come on... Yoruichi. It's been almost two years since I tricked Xuanxin into doing the hard labor of digging an underground base, hasn't it? And you've beaten me into the Fourth Division several times already. Why won't you let me off?"

Yoruichi froze at Kisuke Urahara's piercing question.

Then she blinked her golden eyes and searched her memory for the reason she had beaten him up yesterday.

But after thinking for a long time, she realized that she really hadn't had any particular reason. Her hands had simply been itching, and she had wanted a punching bag.

Knowing she was in the wrong, Yoruichi guiltily looked away and awkwardly brushed nonexistent dust off her hands.

"Well... maybe... um... oh, right, I have something to discuss with Xuanxin. Just don't forget what I told you."

With that, she used Shunpo and vanished, leaving only Kisuke Urahara staring blankly and a few fallen leaves scattering in the wind.

After parting from the two of them, Xuanxin headed alone to the registration desk reserved for nobles.

As outside, registration involved a series of procedures, including identity verification and a Reiatsu test. The requirements here were simply more relaxed, and the surroundings were a little cleaner and tidier.

Xuanxin's Reiatsu had met the enrollment requirements two years ago. After spending the past two years recuperating, he could now qualify for Class One even through the ordinary Rukongai soul registration channel, let alone this more lenient channel for nobles.

Everything had gone smoothly until the final step, identity verification, where things hit a snag.

The instructor in charge of checking the records searched for a long time but couldn't find a file for "Fujiwara Genshin."

Instead, he found an application with identical information and the Shihoin main family's crest, but with "Shihoin Genshin" written in the name field.

Xuanxin took the form and looked at the altered writing. Recognizing the handwriting, he smiled helplessly and said:

"Sorry, someone in my family made a mistake. My name is Fujiwara Genshin."

To confirm his identity, Xuanxin also took out the identification Seigen had given him.

The teacher in charge of registration looked at the identification, then at the information on the form, and muttered, "Honestly, nobles are getting more and more careless these days. I'll let it go this time for the Shihoin's sake, but be more careful next time."

He took out a writing brush, completely erased the previously altered name, and changed it to Fujiwara Genshin.

In a corner of the corridor not far away, Yoruichi had watched the entire time as the "proof of marriage into the family" she had painstakingly altered was crossed out with a stroke. Seeing her plan fall through once again, she couldn't help growing irritated.

But as she looked at Xuanxin's delicate, innocent face, her fists clenched and unclenched, and she still couldn't bring herself to hit him.

Just as Yoruichi was full of anger with nowhere to vent it, Kisuke Urahara happened to come over on his crutches.

"Tap, tap, tap."

Each tap of his crutches seemed to strike not the floor, but Yoruichi's taut nerves.

Kisuke Urahara looked toward Yoruichi, who stood a short distance away, and said, "Yoruichi, has Xuanxin finished reporting in? He..."

"Whoosh."

Before he could finish, Yoruichi spun around and appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye. She seized him by the collar, and a burst of violent Reiatsu exploded beneath her feet.

Then Yoruichi vanished with the terrified Kisuke Urahara, using Shunpo at a speed even the teachers couldn't hope to match.

Having completed his enrollment, Xuanxin had intended to meet up with the other two before going to collect his Asauchi. But when he reached the corridor, all he saw was a lonely pair of crutches left behind.

"Where are they? Weren't they just here? And these crutches—has he recovered?"

Xuanxin scratched his head in puzzlement.

Since he couldn't find them, he simply followed the signs to the quiet room where Asauchi were distributed.

Before he enrolled, Seigen had repeatedly impressed upon him the importance of Asauchi. Now he could finally see these unusual weapons capable of bearing a soul, something he had long been looking forward to.

Following the signs around him, Xuanxin soon arrived at the place where Asauchi were issued. Sure enough, he heard those familiar words once again.

"The new students' Asauchi are over there. Take your form and choose one yourself. Remember, this Asauchi will stay with you, and it will be vitally important to you. You mustn't be careless."

Xuanxin already knew that all Asauchi were the same. The reason Zanpakuto came in so many different forms was their owners' souls. The teacher emphasized choosing carefully simply to make the students take their Zanpakuto and Jinzen seriously.

Looking at the room full of Zanpakuto, Xuanxin ultimately followed his heart and asked the question that would change his life:

"Excuse me, sir, may I have two Asauchi?"

The instructor, who had been looking down as he sorted the register, suddenly froze.

He had worked in logistics at Shin'ō Academy for many years. He had seen students who were picky and students who complained that the scabbards weren't attractive, but never one who asked for two right off the bat!

The instructor's expression hardened, and he scolded Xuanxin, "Do you think this is a cafeteria where you can ask for a double serving? A Soul Reaper's soul can only be projected onto one sword. Every new student has only ever been allowed one!"

Faced with the teacher's reprimand, Xuanxin replied without changing expression, "Yes, I know that, but I still want two Asauchi. I hope you can make an exception for me."

"Nonsense! Keep your feet on the ground instead of reaching beyond your grasp! Jinzen with one sword is enough to keep you new students occupied for years, and you want to communicate with two at once? Students these days, honestly..."

The instructor was about to point a finger in Xuanxin's face and give him a thorough "lesson in love" when the application form Xuanxin had submitted caught the corner of his eye.

When he saw the mark representing the Shihoin main family, the words in his throat fell silent.

After a brief stalemate, the logistics teacher cleared his throat twice. His expression shifted for a while, and in the end, adhering to the principle that one less problem was better, he let out a long sigh.

"Fine, fine. Since you were recommended by the Shihoin family... But I'm warning you, don't bite off more than you can chew. If you fail the Jinzen portion of your final assessment and get expelled, don't say I didn't warn you!"

Shaking his head and lamenting how young people these days didn't know their limits, the teacher made an exception and registered two Asauchi for Xuanxin.

Xuanxin thanked him politely, put away the two standard-issue Asauchi along with the two Divine Gift Armaments Yoruichi had given him earlier, and turned back toward the place where he and Yoruichi had agreed to meet.