A Heart Settling Down

Crack!

A sharp cracking sound suddenly reached Xuanxin's ears. The next moment, the world before him collapsed and shattered like a broken mirror.

In the meditation room, Xuanxin also seemed to have been struck by something. His previously steady Reiatsu suddenly fluctuated violently.

Xuanxin's eyes flew open. Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his chest heaved.

The instructor, who had been watching the room with full concentration, immediately noticed the unusually violent fluctuation of Reiatsu around Xuanxin.

He hurried over to Xuanxin and looked at his sweat-soaked face as though he were looking at a monster.

Although Xuanxin's reputation as a genius had long since spread throughout the academy, seeing was believing. The instructor had never seen a genius enter his Zanpakuto's world on his first attempt at Jinzen.

The sudden burst of Reiatsu earlier had clearly been caused by the sword spirit kicking him out of its world. It was a pity he hadn't been able to release his Shikai on the first day. Otherwise, he would have broken Soul Society's record on the spot.

The instructor quickly crouched down, his voice carrying barely concealed excitement and tension. "Fujiwara, did you... get in just now? What did you see?!"

Hearing the instructor's question, Xuanxin steadied his breathing and told him everything he had seen and heard in detail.

After hearing Xuanxin's account, the delight the instructor had kept buried in his heart became a visible smile on his face. He then stood up, looked at Xuanxin's slightly pale face, and waved his hand generously.

"Haste makes waste. You've already done very well today. Go back and get some rest. As for your Hakuda class this afternoon, well... I'll give you the day off on your Hakuda teacher's behalf."

"Thank you, sir."

Xuanxin didn't refuse. He was indeed exhausted, so he picked up his Asauchi, bowed to the instructor, and left the meditation room, heading straight back to his single dorm room.

After he closed the door, Xuanxin's expression instantly grew grave.

He placed the two standard-issue Asauchi on the table and leaned in to examine them closely. Sure enough, the oddity he had subconsciously noticed the moment he exited Jinzen hadn't been an illusion.

At the base of each Asauchi's blade, which had once been as smooth as a mirror, was a crack barely visible to the naked eye!

"How did this happen?"

In all of Soul Society's history, he had never heard of a Shinigami physically cracking an Asauchi by performing Jinzen!

Besides, weren't all Asauchi forged by Ōetsu Nimaiya? That made it even less likely that they were defective.

But why had they cracked? Was it because he had communicated with two swords at the same time?

Xuanxin refused to accept it. He took a deep breath, brought himself back to his best condition, then closed his eyes and tried to enter Jinzen again.

The entire process was still exceptionally smooth, without the slightest resistance.

But the result was the same. When he tried to leave his spot and go farther, the familiar sound and sensation of shattering came again.

Once again, Xuanxin was forced out of Jinzen.

Xuanxin's eyes snapped open. He looked down and saw that the crack in the standard-issue Asauchi in his hand, originally only as thick as a strand of hair, was now as thick as a spider's thread and had spread outward by half an inch!

The evidence was before him. Xuanxin finally confirmed one thing: the problem wasn't his communication technique, but the limits of the "vessels."

Xuanxin leaned back in his chair, feeling somewhat helpless. Looking at the Asauchi on the table, both on the verge of shattering, he sank into deep frustration.

What kind of Shinigami didn't have a Zanpakuto? No matter how skilled he became at Zanjutsu, his future potential would be firmly capped.

Just as he was at a loss, something on the edge of the coffee table suddenly caught his eye.

It was a little black cat figurine made of porcelain that Yoruichi had casually left behind to tease him.

Looking at the black cat, Xuanxin felt as though lightning had flashed through his mind. He sat bolt upright, his eyes lighting up.

He remembered the heavy satin-lined wooden box Yoruichi had insisted on pressing into his arms before the school term began.

This is a treasure I personally dug out for you from the lowest level of my family's treasury! It's a genuine Divine Gift Armament.

At the thought, Xuanxin spun around, went to his bed, and pulled out the wooden box he had kept carefully stored there.

Click.

The latch sprang open. Two Divine Construct tachi of exceptionally antique workmanship lay quietly in the satin, emitting powerful fluctuations of Reishi.

"I wonder... can you withstand it?"

Xuanxin took a deep breath, his gaze becoming resolute.

He reached out with both hands and gripped the hilts of the two Divine Constructs, one in each hand. Slowly closing his eyes, he once again pushed toward the desolate dojo deep within his soul.

Chapter 7: A Heart Settling Down

This time, however, the experience of Jinzen was completely different.

If communicating with the Asauchi before had been as smooth as water soaking into a sponge, now Xuanxin felt as though he had slammed into an indestructible block of iron.

"No good. I can't communicate with them at all. There's no response whatsoever."

After several fruitless attempts, Xuanxin opened his eyes, his face covered in sweat. He helplessly set down the Divine Gift Armaments, disappointment appearing on his face for the first time.

Now the problem was mired in difficulty once more: ordinary Asauchi couldn't bear the power of Xuanxin's soul, while the Divine Gift Armaments were impenetrable and impossible to communicate with.

Xuanxin sighed wearily, then casually placed the Divine Gift Armaments on the table beside the Asauchi.

Yet this thoughtless action broke the deadlock.

The moment the four swords came close to one another, a special resonance of Reiatsu rippled through the air without warning, brief but distinct. Xuanxin caught that momentary oddity.

That faint fluctuation felt like a homeless wanderer finally finding a place to settle down.

"Wait... so could I strip out the quality that lets the Asauchi receive a soul and put it into the shells of the Divine Construct tachi? Wouldn't that solve all the problems?"

The moment this crazy idea appeared, it took root and began to grow in Xuanxin's mind.

But he also knew he was a brute. He could do the manual labor, but for the parts involving technical work, he needed someone who was proficient in Kidō and Reishi technology and absolutely trustworthy.

Almost instantly, a figure appeared in Xuanxin's mind: someone who always wore a green-and-white striped coat outside the academy and liked tinkering with all kinds of strange things in an underground base.

"Maybe I should go ask Kisuke Urahara."

Having made up his mind, Xuanxin immediately wrapped the four swords tightly in strips of cloth, put them all in the box, and carried it on his back toward the third-year upperclassmen's area of Shin'ō Academy.

The atmosphere in the third-year training area was noticeably livelier than in the first-year area. Xuanxin was looking around, wondering where to find Kisuke Urahara, when a purple figure suddenly landed right in front of him, accompanied by a fragrant breeze.

"Xuanxin?!"

Yoruichi widened her golden eyes and looked at him in delighted surprise. She had never expected that blockhead, who normally knew nothing but following his training routine, to come to the upperclassmen's area of his own accord today!

Could it be... he's finally caught on? He came to see me?!

At the thought, the corners of Yoruichi's mouth began to rise uncontrollably. She put her hands behind her back and leaned slightly closer to Xuanxin, her voice full of barely concealed excitement.

"This is the first time you've come to the upperclassmen's area on your own! What, couldn't stand being apart for even half a day, so you came looking for me?"

Seeing the anticipation in Yoruichi's eyes, Xuanxin honestly shook his head and said seriously, "Well, Yoruichi, there's a problem with my Asauchi. I have an idea, and I wanted to see if Kisuke Urahara could help me solve it."

The air froze the moment Xuanxin said Kisuke Urahara's name. The radiant smile on Yoruichi's face abruptly stiffened.

She turned around and took several deep breaths, struggling to suppress the anger in her heart. Then, through gritted teeth, she said each word slowly.

"You... came all the way to the third-year area on your own for the first time, crossing half the academy... just to find that punchable blond?!"

"Yeah," Xuanxin answered seriously.

"..."

Yoruichi couldn't for the life of her understand how she had lost to Kisuke Urahara. How had some blond guy stolen him from her?

Completely oblivious to the danger, Xuanxin simply brought the box containing the four swords around from his back and explained, "I thought he might be the only one who understands this Reishi technology, so..."

Before Xuanxin could finish explaining his idea of "fusion," the weight in his arms suddenly vanished. He looked down and discovered that Yoruichi had snatched the box from him at some point.

Yoruichi stared fixedly at Xuanxin with her golden eyes, then forced a sentence out through her teeth.

"Fine, I get it. They're just a few lousy pieces of metal!! Five days! Give me five days, and before your next official Jinzen class, I'll get these pieces of scrap fixed up and delivered to you!"

Having made that promise, Yoruichi vanished from the spot with a swish, without giving Xuanxin the slightest chance to speak. The strong wind stirred up by her Shunpo blew his long hair into disarray.

Left standing there, Xuanxin scratched his head, utterly baffled. "What was that about? Why was she so angry?"

Meanwhile, deep inside Shin'ō Academy's hospital.

Kisuke Urahara was lying comfortably in a hospital bed, peeling an orange. Just as he was about to toss a segment into his mouth, the window was kicked open with a bang!

He watched in horror as the purple-haired bully radiating a terrifyingly oppressive aura jumped down from the windowsill and slammed a heavy cloth bundle onto his bed with a clang.

"L-Lady Yoruichi... what are you doing now? I didn't do anything to upset you today! And I haven't even been discharged yet!!" Kisuke Urahara huddled trembling against the head of the bed.

"Cut the crap. I have a job for you. Xuanxin's Asauchi can't withstand his soul, and they're about to break. I don't care how you do it; fuse these four swords within five days, got it!!"

Kisuke Urahara looked at the four swords and cried out, "Huh?! Come on, do you think I'm Ōetsu Nimaiya?! The Reishi rejection and forging temperatures involved in this, I..."

"Ow!" As Kisuke Urahara cried out, Yoruichi slammed a token engraved with the Shihoin family crest against his forehead.

"I said I don't care what it costs! Take this token and use whatever my Shihoin family has however you like."

With that, Yoruichi grabbed Kisuke Urahara by the collar and hauled him up, a dangerous red light flashing in her eyes.

"Five days. If you do it, I'll cover for you whenever you conduct forbidden experiments underground from now on. If you can't, you can sleep forever in that underground base."

Looking at Yoruichi's dangerous gaze, Kisuke Urahara swallowed, gripped the token tightly, and said through clenched teeth, "O... okay."

Only then did Yoruichi throw Kisuke Urahara back onto the hospital bed. She muttered to herself, No! I have to pick up the pace again, and from now on I can't just watch out for women. I have to watch out for men too!

With that thought, Yoruichi left the infirmary and went to the secret base Xuanxin had dug out earlier to study the book on the Cat Transformation Technique.

Meanwhile, having lost both his Asauchi and Divine Gift Armaments, Xuanxin suddenly felt a sense of emptiness in his heart.

But there was nothing he could do now, so he could only return to his room with that empty feeling and begin reviewing his two Jinzen sessions from that day.

As he reviewed them, he finally noticed a detail he had overlooked: the faint, hidden but genuine sense of rejection he had felt when he entered his Zanpakuto's world.

Rejection. Was the Zanpakuto rejecting him? Or were the materials of the two Divine Constructs rejecting him?

Xuanxin couldn't make sense of it, but with no opportunity to test it now, he could only set the question aside for the time being.

The next day, classes proceeded uneventfully as usual.

After afternoon classes ended, Xuanxin was about to return directly to his single dorm room for extra physical training, as he did unfailingly every day, when a somewhat nervous voice suddenly called out behind him.

"Class rep! Class rep! P-please wait!"

Xuanxin stopped and turned around. A burly, fat young man in a noble's school uniform made from excellent fabric was jogging toward him.

The young man ran up to him, caught his breath, and straightened his custom-made uniform before introducing himself in a somewhat ingratiating tone.

"Class rep, I'm from the Ōmaeda family. My name is Marenoshin Ōmaeda. This weekend, a few classmates of some 'standing' are planning to get together at a restaurant on Second Street. You're quite the star at the academy now, class rep. Would you honor us with your presence?"

Xuanxin knew of the Ōmaeda family. They were retainers of the Shihoin, so there generally shouldn't be any danger.

After thinking for a moment, Xuanxin said calmly, "If it's a class gathering, then let's invite everyone in the class. If the cost is a problem, I can..."

At Xuanxin's words, the fat on Marenoshin's face visibly stiffened for a moment. But he still smiled and said:

"You're joking, class rep, you're joking! Since you've asked, we'll bring them along, all of them! I can't speak for anything else, but my Ōmaeda family can afford to reserve a restaurant!"

He patted his chest as he agreed, then turned to inform the others. But after only a couple of steps, Marenoshin stopped, scratched the back of his head, and said in some surprise, "Honestly, class rep, I never thought you'd bother with this. We always thought you couldn't stand spending even one extra second with the likes of us."