A Strange World, a Strange Voice

"Let's put the Spirit Orb Core aside for now."

"Next, I'm going to teach you the Shinigami's Shunpo. It's the most basic of the basics, nothing difficult. Watch closely and learn..."

Twenty minutes later.

Ganju coughed hard twice, his face a picture of disbelief squared. He had just taught Dōsan the key points of Shunpo, and after a brief period of adjustment, Dōsan had mastered it.

Although Dōsan was now clinging to the roof like a spider because he couldn't properly control his Spiritual Pressure output, what he had done was undoubtedly Shunpo.

Thirty minutes to master the Shiba Clan's secret technique, twenty minutes to learn the basics of Shunpo.

Ganju gulped. It wasn't as though the Shiba Clan's secret technique was all that difficult.

But at the start, Ganju could tell that the Hakuda Dōsan Hanyū used was rough. He really was a newcomer who had only just gained control of his Spiritual Pressure.

Ganju had tested him with the Spirit Orb Core partly to tease him, but it really was a basic skill.

From Dōsan Hanyū's performance, he could tell that he really was a beginner.

But that inexperience had only lasted at the beginning.

Once he became familiar with Spiritual Pressure, Dōsan Hanyū improved before his eyes.

At first, Dōsan had struggled to control his strength, charging and crashing around. Now he was growing more and more accustomed to it, and Ganju felt as though he hadn't woken up yet.

Dōsan crouched on the ground, panting slightly. This was his second encounter with Spiritual Pressure. His body's hidden potential had only just been unlocked, and he was already using it so frequently. Even though it hadn't been long, Dōsan was somewhat tired.

Under Ganju's careful guidance, he had managed to use Shunpo at a basic level. But as at the beginning, he couldn't properly control his Spiritual Pressure output, which sent him leaping all over the place.

With his recent experience, however, Dōsan was gradually adapting.

Dōsan gathered Spiritual Pressure in the soles of his feet. His whole body was like a wire carrying an electric current, Spiritual Pressure running through it.

With a whoosh, Dōsan used Shunpo and arrived in front of Ganju almost instantly.

Hakuda was the output of Spiritual Pressure, while Shunpo was its control.

Having executed Shunpo perfectly, Dōsan landed in front of Ganju just in time to see him pinching his own face.

"You've m-mastered it completely?" Ganju's voice trembled slightly.

Dōsan looked a little startled, but he didn't think much of it. "Ganju-san, I still have some questions about Shunpo..."

"Mm-hmm." Ganju nodded as if he understood the question Dōsan was about to ask. "Okay, I get it. Let's move on to the next thing."

Stop right there. If you actually ask, how am I supposed to explain it? Make something up?

Don't joke around. When you're dealing with a genius, it doesn't matter if he learns everything right away. I've trained for decades, so I have things I can teach him.

But I'm afraid he'll ask questions.

What if this monster takes something I make up seriously and actually manages to do it?

Dōsan Hanyū was a little puzzled. The same thing had happened just now: he had plenty of questions, but Mr. Ganju hadn't been willing to answer them.

Why?

Dōsan Hanyū pondered.

"My older brother Kaien once said, 'Training is something you have to hone on your own. If I teach you everything, you'll only become another me.'"

Dōsan looked over and saw the wisdom shining in Ganju's eyes.

I see!

"Next, I'm going to teach you something unique to Shinigami and the hardest of their arts to learn. It's called Kidō."

Dōsan immediately straightened his back a little more, his eyes fixed on Ganju without blinking.

Seeing the serious look on Dōsan Hanyū's face, Ganju felt rain falling in his inner world. This was his last trump card. If Dōsan learned it before dinner, he would have no choice but to run.

A serious look flashed in Ganju's eyes. He pressed his index and middle fingers together and pointed them at Dōsan Hanyū, chanting, "Energy drifting through the earth, cry out in confusion. Bakudō #1: Sai."

As Ganju finished chanting, Dōsan's pupils contracted. He keenly sensed the spiritual energy drifting around him, and then his limbs stopped obeying him, as though they had been bound together by invisible ropes.

Dōsan tried to break free, but he couldn't. The drifting Spiritual Power clearly wasn't strong, yet no matter how hard he strained his wrists, he couldn't escape.

A moment later, Ganju released the spell.

"Dōsan, that's Kidō. A true genius needs to try things for himself. From here on, you'll have to figure it out on your own!"

Ganju waved a hand, then, as soon as he finished speaking, flopped down in a corner and closed his eyes.

This time, Ganju wasn't trying to make things difficult for Dōsan. He was only half-versed in Kidō himself. At his current level, he could only use low-level Kidō and couldn't explain much about it.

Ganju's only thought was to hold out until dinner, so he could at least avoid embarrassing himself too badly.

No, that's impossible.

Kidō isn't something you can learn just because you want to. Plenty of Shinigami spend their whole lives mastering only one or two familiar Kidō spells.

The difficulty had increased.

Ganju had finished his demonstration, but Dōsan couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Before, he had at least had some idea where to start. But with this Kidō, Dōsan couldn't even figure out the basic principles: whether it involved releasing or controlling Spiritual Pressure, or what rules it followed.

Dōsan understood none of it.

For a moment, the training ground fell still.

The training ground was enclosed by sekkiseki, which blocked Spiritual Pressure.

Isshin and Kūkaku, still chatting outside, were still practicing the basics, such as Hakuda and the Spirit Orb Core. How could they have imagined that in less than an hour, Dōsan had nearly finished six years' worth of Shinigami coursework?

On the training ground, Dōsan Hanyū released his Spiritual Pressure and recited the release phrase from earlier. "Energy drifting through the earth, cry out in confusion. Bakudō #1: Sai."

Dōsan pointed, and the Spiritual Pressure did cause a ripple in the space before him. But as the caster, Dōsan could tell he had failed.

This was nothing like the "Sai" Ganju-san had described.

Dōsan didn't lose heart and continued chanting.

But as time passed, Dōsan Hanyū made no progress.

Kidō was unlike Shunpo, slashing, or Hakuda, techniques one could even learn on one's own through constant fighting.

As a secret Shinigami art, it couldn't be performed so easily, even if one knew the incantation.

Compress Spiritual Pressure and project it outward?

No.

The sensation of binding.

No.

Dōsan tried nearly every possibility he could think of, but he was always far off the mark. A few times, the Kidō he released even had some destructive power, but that was clearly not the effect of "Bakudō #1: Sai."

Releasing Spiritual Pressure so intensely for the first time in his life was starting to take a toll on his body. Sweat began to drip from his forehead, and his breathing grew ragged.

Dōsan felt as though he had been training for a long time,

continuing to chant, continuing his strenuous training.

Luck always favored those who worked hard.

And in Dōsan's world, he didn't know how long he had been training like this.

An hour, or three?

By the end, chanting had even become instinctive to Dōsan.

Dōsan shook his head sharply, trying to drive away his fatigue, but his vision went hazy, as if he were anemic. He shook his head again and came to his senses, only to find himself in a world of white.

There was nothing around him: no blue sky, no sand or stones, no sound, not even the smells of the real world.

There was only an expanse of cloudlike whiteness.

His heart tightened slightly. Rather than move immediately, Dōsan cautiously reached out an arm and stirred the mist around him.

"Again?"

The frequent nightmares over the past month had given him considerable resistance to events like this.

Could I have fallen asleep because I was too tired from training?

That was Dōsan's first thought.

After a while, there was still no movement around him, so Dōsan tried extending his right leg.

Before his foot could touch the ground,

[Call my name]

The voice was indistinct, neither clearly male nor female, and it echoed in Dōsan's ear.

"Who's there?"