Chapter 12
"Hadō #1."
The instant Haruto raised his finger—
"Hey!"
The boy's eyes flew open.
"What are you trying to do to me?!"
The words came tumbling out at breakneck speed.
"Shō!"
"!!"
As the final word of the incantation rang out, the boy had no time to be surprised. He hurriedly sidestepped the Reiatsu projectile flying straight at his forehead.
"Bang!"
A branch snapped off the locust tree outside the window.
Tender leaves scattered like snowflakes, and the swirling wind sent the boy's flowing black ponytail flying in every direction.
"Hmm..."
Faced with the question, Haruto slowly rubbed his chin with the same hand he had just used to cast Hadō.
"Getting hit by Shō doesn't hurt."
"Want to take a look at that tree outside before you say that?"
The boy's voice shot up several notches. If it had been an ordinary Shō, he wouldn't have bothered dodging, but the one Haruto had used was almost as powerful as a Shakkahō without the flames. If he hadn't dodged, he would have been in trouble!
"Weren't you the one blocking the entrance first?"
Haruto retorted without the slightest restraint.
"I was doing Jinzen. Do you even know what Jinzen is?"
The boy tried to drown Haruto out by raising his voice even louder.
Sometimes Haruto even suspected that the doors were so well soundproofed precisely to deal with situations like this.
"Don't think I don't know better. Who can still sense what's going on around them while meditating in Jinzen?"
"Besides, meditating in Jinzen in a semipublic place? Were you practicing your ability to resist interruptions?"
"...Tch."
The boy clicked his tongue under his breath.
At this point in the conversation, he clearly couldn't argue back against Haruto, so he could only vent his displeasure this way.
"That's because I trust you. You know what trust is, right?"
"Well, thank you ever so much."
"..."
The boy gave up on the war of... words altogether. If he wanted to beat Haruto in a verbal duel, his training was still far from sufficient.
Once I get home, I'll go practice on that cat demon.
The boy quickly made up his mind. After all, that was how he had trained his Shunpo.
And when he thought of Shunpo—
"Hmph!"
The boy folded his arms and forced one last sound of defiance from his throat.
"Oh my?"
Haruto wasn't about to indulge him. He folded his own arms and answered in a mocking tone.
"Why has young master Byakuya suddenly turned tsundere?"
"I told you not to call me young master."
The boy's pretty eyebrows nearly knotted into a frown.
When other people called him that, they were always perfectly respectful, but coming from Haruto's mouth, it sounded unbearably awkward.
"Okay, okay, okay. Yes, yes, yes."
Haruto answered at once, as if racing to be reincarnated.
That was right.
The person living under the same roof as him was the grandson of Ginrei Kuchiki, head of the Kuchiki Clan and captain of the Sixth Division:
Byakuya Kuchiki.
For now, though, Byakuya didn't have to shoulder the crushing responsibilities of being a clan head, captain, husband, and older brother all at once. Big Byakuya hadn't yet turned into the expressionless man he would become; he was just a brash little brat.
And as their conversation showed, his relationship with Haruto was a far cry from what outsiders imagined.
"Hey."
After their usual exchange ended, Byakuya Kuchiki sidled up to Haruto with a mischievous grin.
"...What?"
Haruto hung his kariginu in the entryway as he responded to Byakuya, who was up to who knew what again.
"How's your Shunpo coming along?"
"Stage two."
All right, Haruto knew what Byakuya was plotting now.
"Stage two after mastering it, or stage two while you're still practicing?"
"#!"
A vein throbbed on Haruto's forehead.
This brat was seriously competitive... though Haruto wasn't much better himself.
"I'm practicing—"
Before Byakuya could speak, Haruto immediately shot back with a question of his own:
"Never mind me. How's your Shikai coming along?"
"Ahh~"
The moment Haruto heard Byakuya's tone, he knew he'd fallen for it... He hadn't lost in quite a while lately, and it had made him underestimate this guy a little.
And Byakuya didn't disappoint Haruto, quickly confirming his suspicion—
"Why do you think I was sitting here?"
Volume one: 008, Reii
"Come on..."
Haruto looked at the grinning Byakuya and forced himself not to fire a Byakurai at him.
"So you haven't gone home yet, and you even waited here in the dorm entrance on purpose, all so you could test it on me?"
"I told you, it's called trust. Don't you understand?"
Byakuya wasn't wrong.
Whether Shikai or Bankai, a Zanpakuto's abilities were extremely important information to a Soul Reaper. Before those abilities became widely known, their wielder would never reveal them to anyone who wasn't a very close friend.
Still.
No matter how Haruto looked at it, he felt Byakuya had come over specifically to show off.
"What class is your Reii now?"
After hesitating for a moment, Haruto didn't reject Byakuya's request outright. Instead, he asked a question that wasn't particularly related.
"Fifth."
"..."
Reii:
A standard of measurement used among nobles, referring to the concentration of Reiatsu residing in Reishi. Since a Soul Reaper's body was made of Reishi, their strength could be roughly gauged by their Rei'i Grade.
Reii classes were ranked from lowest number to highest.
First through Third-Class Reii were Captain-level, fourth and fifth were Vice-Captain-level, and sixth through twentieth ranged from Seated Officers to ordinary squad members.
Byakuya had said his Rei'i Grade had reached fifth class.
In other words.
Even setting his status aside and judging by strength alone, Byakuya was already qualified to serve as a vice captain in the Gotei 13.
"Is this fun for you?"
Haruto glanced at Byakuya.
"You're Vice-Captain-level with Fifth-Class Reii, and you came here to bully an ordinary Spiritual Arts Academy student with Seventh-Class Reii?"
Byakuya was quite a bit younger than Haruto.
The last time Haruto had been fortunate enough to accompany Byakuya to the Kuchiki Clan, they had tested their Rei'i Grades. Byakuya had been at sixth class then, just a little higher than him. Only three short months had passed, yet Byakuya had already crossed the threshold into Vice-Captain-level.
Of course Haruto was surprised.
He himself was already a one-in-a-thousand talent at Shin'ō Academy, yet his rate of progress still couldn't compare to Byakuya's.
Proportionally speaking, noble bloodlines were much more likely to produce geniuses to begin with, and even among geniuses, their rate of improvement was extraordinary.
Haruto really wanted to say...
I could take his place.
"An ordinary student?"
Hearing Haruto's claim, Byakuya's mouth twitched too.
"Go on, find me another student at the Spiritual Arts Academy with Seventh-Class Reii."
"...You just weren't around at the right time."
Haruto wasn't just being stubborn.
Shin'ō Academy really didn't have many noteworthy students at the moment, but in a few more years, two little white-haired kids would quickly break these insignificant records.
"Besides."
Byakuya hadn't taken Haruto's earlier words to heart.
"You think I wanted to?"
"I've been sitting here waiting since morning training ended, and I haven't even eaten... Why did your exam take so long?"
Although Byakuya was nominally a student at Shin'ō Academy too, he had actually come at the start of his fifth year under the Kuchiki Clan's arrangements, to experience the life of a normal Soul Reaper and "improve his interpersonal skills."
Byakuya didn't need to take exams at all.
"They put me near the back when they randomized the order."
Haruto had no intention of telling Byakuya about the Live-Blade Match, lest he start asking questions.
"...You're really lucky."
Byakuya tossed out a mild jab.
"So are you."
After all, it was Byakuya who had been waiting for him, so Haruto hadn't suffered any loss.
"..."
"Let's get back to what we were talking about."
They weren't talking particularly quickly, and Haruto hadn't been idle either. By now, he had walked into the room. Thanks to Byakuya, he finally got to enjoy living in a big house, something he hadn't experienced in his first four years.