Becoming a Teacher

The next day, outside the Shin'ō Spiritual Arts Academy.

"I never thought we'd come back here again," a young man in a black shihakushō said with feeling. His long black hair fell behind his shoulders, fluttering as a breeze swept past. His black eyes were filled with nostalgia.

"Yes, I really miss the time we spent here back then," a young woman's voice sounded. She too wore a black shihakushō, and her short purple hair hung loose. Her golden eyes and her smile gave people an immediate sense of warmth.

A man with pale blond hair beside them pointed at a group of students and said, "We spent five years here too. Seeing them is like seeing how green we were back then."

The two men and one woman began talking about amusing things that had happened during their school days. Of course, they were Ye Yang and his two companions. They had received their letters of appointment yesterday, telling them to come to Shin'ō as teachers. Though they thought it was absurd, the appointments had already been made, leaving them no say in the matter. They could only make the necessary preparations and report for duty today.

Soon, they arrived at the principal's office. Shin'ō's current principal was still Captain-Commander Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai, but as the Captain-Commander of the Thirteen Divisions, he spent most of his time in the First Division captain's office. He rarely appeared at Shin'ō, coming only when the sixth-year students graduated.

But the moment Ye Yang pushed open the principal's office door, they saw an old man's back. He wore a captain's haori, and the large character "one" on it proved his identity. It was none other than Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai, Captain-Commander of the Thirteen Divisions!

He turned to look at the three of them, struck his cane heavily against the floor, and said, "You have arrived."

Though shocked that the Captain-Commander himself had been waiting for them, the three answered in unison, "Yes! Yoruichi Shihōin, Ye Yang Shihoin, and Kisuke Urahara reporting for duty!"

Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai looked at them for a while, then nodded, clearly satisfied. "Do you know why I waited here for you?"

"No," the three answered truthfully.

"I personally issued those appointments. I know that upon graduating from Shin'ō, you became Seated Officers and even a lieutenant. It has been only ten years since you graduated, has it not?"

"Yes. This year marks exactly ten years."

Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai's commanding voice rang out. "Here is the situation. I have heard some of your performances in your divisions from Tono. Recently, a captain proposed sending Seated Officers and even lieutenants from the Thirteen Divisions to teach at Shin'ō. Considering that you left Shin'ō not long ago, I chose you for the task."

"Yes! We won't disappoint you, Captain-Commander! We'll do this job well!" the three said together.

"Mm. You may go."

"Yes!"

The three left the principal's office and breathed a long sigh of relief. The pressure the Captain-Commander exerted was simply too great. He had only stood there, yet they had felt unable to breathe. He was like a great mountain towering before them, leaving them unable to muster any thought of resistance.

The three went to the academic affairs office to report in and received their class schedules. They would be teaching Class One of the third year. The third-years had already studied the four Shinigami arts of Zankensōki, and their job was to teach the students how to apply them.

The morning lesson was Kidō, so they went straight to the class. The moment the three arrived at the classroom, it fell silent. Ye Yang stood in the middle, Yoruichi on the left, and Urahara on the right as they walked up to the podium.

Ye Yang looked at the students and said slowly, "Good morning, everyone. You may not know me yet. I'm your new Hakuda teacher, Ye Yang Shihoin." He then pointed to Yoruichi and said, "This is your Shunpo teacher, Yoruichi Shihōin, and he's your Kidō teacher, Kisuke Urahara. All right, if you have any questions, go ahead. It's fine. It's still break time, so you can ask whatever you like."

First, a boy stood up and asked, "Are you the Shin'ō Golden Triangle who graduated ten years ago?"

"Yes!"

The room immediately erupted in commotion. The three had no idea how highly regarded they were at Shin'ō. There, they were hailed as geniuses who appeared in Soul Society only once every few decades. Although they had spent five and a half years at Shin'ō before graduating, everyone suspected they had simply been unwilling to graduate early. Sure enough, a month later, news came that they had become Seated Officers, and Yoruichi had even become a lieutenant! The news further confirmed what everyone thought. The academy's students gradually dug up their stories, and they became a Shin'ō legend!

Another girl said, "Miss Yoruichi, what's your relationship with Mr. Urahara?"

"Huh? We're friends," Yoruichi answered as if it were obvious.

"Just friends?" the girl pressed, unwilling to give up.

By then, even Yoruichi couldn't miss what she meant. She appeared in front of the girl in an instant and knocked her on the head. "Don't go saying things like that. What would someone your age know?"

Clutching her head, the girl murmured aggrievedly, "But that's how it is. You won't even let me say it..."

Yoruichi was completely at a loss, her expression as ugly as could be. Ye Yang saw it and burst out laughing, prompting Yoruichi to shout, "What are you laughing at? Stop laughing! Just wait until your luck runs out!"

The world was fair. Whenever you laughed at someone else, you had to watch out that you didn't make a mistake yourself. Sure enough, another girl asked, "Teacher Ye Yang, do you have a girlfriend?"

Ye Yang froze for a moment. "No."

Almost instantly, five or six girls appeared around him, chattering away. "Teacher Ye Yang, what do you think of me? I'm cute, aren't I?"

"Teacher Ye Yang, I'm single too," another girl said.

"I'm Ao Suzuki, the eldest daughter of the Suzuki family. Teacher Ye Yang, can I go to your house and propose?"

"Teacher Ye Yang, I've admired you for a long time. Let's be a couple."

"Teacher Ye Yang is mine."

"You can't say that. Teacher Ye Yang belongs to all of us..." The last girl, who had long hair, had the final word.

Even though Ye Yang had faced Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryūsai and fought an Adjuchas-class Menos Grande, neither compared to the situation he faced now. They clearly wanted to devour him!

Surrounded by the girls, Ye Yang stood rigid, unsure how to respond. Even his hands were frozen in midair, and his face flushed red in an instant. After all, in both his previous life and this one, he had never encountered anything like this. He had never even been in a relationship.

He could only cast Yoruichi a pleading look. She merely watched him without speaking, an amused smile on her lips, as if to say, See? Karma came fast.

Ye Yang really felt like crying but had no tears. Kisuke Urahara merely said, "Oh my! It looks like the girls really like you, Ye Yang. I'm a little jealous. Hey, who stepped on me?"

Beside Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi pretended she knew nothing.

"Ding!" The class bell rang, rescuing Ye Yang.

The students immediately quieted down and returned to their seats. Ye Yang nodded as he watched. When it was time to relax, the class had a friendly atmosphere, but when it was time to get serious, they didn't slack off in the slightest.

At that moment, their homeroom teacher entered the classroom. He walked up to the podium and said, "I'm sure you've already met these three teachers, so I won't introduce them again. This period is Kidō. Now, everyone, follow me to the Kidō classroom."

The whole class went to the Kidō classroom. It was called a classroom, but it was actually a training ground. After telling Ye Yang and the others a few things to keep in mind, the homeroom teacher left.

Since it was a Kidō lesson, neither Ye Yang nor Yoruichi moved. They simply watched Kisuke Urahara. When it came to Kidō, he was the genius.

He said, "You only know how to learn and use Kidō, but do you know the principles behind it?"

He continued, "Kidō uses an incantation to arrange Reishi in a particular order, then releases the Kidō through its true name. Once you're familiar with a Kidō spell, your body remembers the order of its Reishi. That lets you arrange the Reishi instantly and release the spell simply by calling its true name. That's what's known as Incantation Abandonment."

A boy then asked, "If you've remembered the order of the Reishi, why do you still have to say its true name? Can't you just release the Kidō?"

Kisuke Urahara smiled. "Good question. I've studied that myself, but the conclusion I came to was that you can't. There seems to be a rule in this world, which I'm calling the Incantation Rule for now. If you don't call out a Kidō spell's true name, you can't release it, no matter how strong you are!"

"Not even the Captain-Commander?"

"No." Kisuke Urahara's face showed confidence. He had spent a long time researching this subject and was very confident in his findings.

He then told the students, "Start training in your usual order, one at a time. I'll give you guidance. Use Shakkahō to practice."

"O sovereign! Mask of flesh and blood, all things in creation, flutter of wings, that which bears the name of man! Heat and strife, surging waves of the sea, march south! Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" A palm-sized fireball shot from the student's hand and struck the bullseye, blasting a hole through it.

Kisuke Urahara said to the student, "Your Spiritual Pressure control is good, and your aim is excellent, but the power is a little lacking. Watch carefully. Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" A fireball the size of a washbasin appeared and smashed the entire target to pieces.

Kisuke Urahara's Shakkahō with Incantation Abandonment stunned the students. If it was that powerful without the incantation, how powerful would it be with it?

"Next."

"...Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" As the incantation ended, a fireball the size of two hands hurtled toward the target. Unfortunately, it missed, only grazing the edge.

"Your spell is quite powerful, but your Spiritual Pressure control is still lacking. You need to work harder on that," Kisuke Urahara advised.

"Next..."