Chapter 16

"?"

As Byakuya dodged the Asauchi, he also saw the cord of Reishi light wrapped around its sheath.

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa."

Whoosh!

Like a tetherball, the Asauchi carried the cord of light around Byakuya and bound him in an instant.

Though Byakuya had been as careful as he could, apparently he still hadn't been careful enough. Since he had known all along that Haruto could use Twofold Incantation, he should have been even more wary of traps hidden beneath the Kidō in plain sight.

"Hadō #11."

Orange lightning rapidly spread along the cord of light and onto Byakuya.

"Tsuzuri Raiden!"

Crackle.

As lightning coursed over Byakuya, several thick wisps of black smoke immediately rose from his body. The intense paralysis restrained him even more effectively than the Bakudō.

The Hadō Haruto used most often was Byakurai, but it wasn't the only one he had mastered. He was quite fond of lightning-based Hadō in general.

If Tsuzuri Raiden didn't have to be conducted through a connection, he might have used it even more often... though in that case, Byakuya might have been prepared for it.

Meanwhile.

"Hadō #33."

While his opponent was unable to fight back, Haruto turned sideways and raised an arm, aiming the center of his three spread fingers at Byakuya in the distance.

"Sōkatsui!"

A pillar of pale blue fire roared toward him—

Boom!!

"Do you admit defeat?"

"I admit... my ass!"

The two sat cross-legged in the middle of the training ground.

Byakuya folded his arms, his face full of defiance.

The damage caused by Tsuzuri Raiden and Sōkatsui, on the other hand, had mostly healed by now. After all, Byakuya was now Vice-Captain-level with Fifth-Class Reii; Haruto's Kidō couldn't do much damage to him.

The rules of their sparring matches had never changed:

Anyone caught off guard and hit in a vital spot by Kidō or an Asauchi could be declared the loser on the spot.

"Eishōhaki, Twofold Incantation, modified Kidō, combined Kidō."

Byakuya unfolded his fingers and began counting them off one by one... listing just how unscrupulous Haruto had been.

"It was a mock battle. Mock, you understand?!"

Byakuya repeatedly emphasized the purpose of the match.

"Even the Kidō Corps doesn't pull this many tricks when they fight, all right?"

"..."

Haruto curled his lip.

"Your Reiatsu is already Vice-Captain-level. Let's not worry about the future for now, but shouldn't your opponents in mock battles be modeled on vice captains at the very least?"

This time it was Haruto's turn to count on his fingers as he reasoned with Byakuya:

"Bringing up the vice grand kidō chief would be unfair, but pick any division's vice captain who's good at Kidō, and they'd pull these fancy tricks even more intensely than I do."

"You admit that, don't you?"

Unexpectedly, after all Haruto's earnest reasoning, Byakuya had completely missed the point:

"Vice captain?"

"Hm?"

Haruto raised an eyebrow. He had no idea what Byakuya meant.

"Are you saying I should already be fighting Vice-Captain-level opponents?"

"...Sigh."

Haruto pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a long sigh.

"Young Master Byakuya, can you have a little self-awareness?"

"Measuring Reii really isn't fashionable in the Seireitei anymore, but you should still have some damn idea of how strong you are."

The battle just now had involved some back-and-forth, and including the time they had spent talking trash, it had lasted a little over two minutes. But without the restriction on Shunpo, Haruto's Kidō wouldn't even have had a chance to lock onto its target, and Byakuya could have finished him off in two exchanges.

"That sounded pretty harsh, but I kind of feel like you were praising me?"

"...Yes!"

Haruto gave an emphatic answer through gritted teeth.

Those words weren't dishonest. The main issue was that Haruto had thought of the possibility that Byakuya would keep dragging him off to practice in the future. It was hard to say whether the captains of the Gotei 13 were busy or had time on their hands, but the vice captains were definitely worked to death.

Even if he was the young master of the Kuchiki Clan, they wouldn't have the energy to cater to him.

"Oh, come on."

Hearing Haruto's words, Byakuya scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I'm really not as impressive as you say~"

Given Byakuya's status, he certainly heard plenty of flattery, but most of it came from people he already looked down on. His relatives who truly cared about him, on the other hand, rarely praised him for fear that his youth would make him arrogant.

The same was true of Haruto.

Ever since they had grown close, it was rare enough for Haruto not to take a roundabout jab at him, let alone praise him to his face.

"Still, I think you're actually right, Haruto."

Byakuya gave Haruto two hearty pats on the shoulder.

He was still quite a bit shorter than Haruto, but since one of them was standing and the other sitting at the moment, Byakuya somehow managed to strike a condescending pos... expression.

"The people I need to surpass right now should be the vice captains of the various divisions!"

"...What's with that look?"

With a slight effort, Haruto shook Byakuya's hand off his shoulder.

"Why, I'm urging you to work harder, of course."

Byakuya put on a bizarre imitation of a mature expression.

"Seventh-Class Reii..."

"As long as you're not Vice-Captain-level, I can't fight you at full strength. If this keeps up, I'm afraid I'll forget I can even use Shunpo in a real battle~"

"#!"

If the brat's Shunpo weren't a little too fast, Haruto would have beaten him up on the spot.

"So!"

Byakuya sidled over again with a cheeky grin.

"To help you catch up sooner..."

Byakuya pulled out a small, exquisite square box tied with a cord from somewhere.

"It's for you. No need to thank me."

Volume one: 010, a big (pale) thigh

"What is this?"

Haruto examined the box in his hands for a while.

He didn't feel burdened by the favor. Once he had made sure it wasn't one of Byakuya's pranks, he casually pulled open the cord on top.

Inside.

Mist swirled and churned within a glass bead as clear and translucent as jade.

"..."

At the sight, even Byakuya paused in surprise for a moment: it was his first time seeing what was inside the box too.

"You know about my father's condition, don't you, Haruto?"

"Yeah."

Byakuya's father, Kuchiki Sōjun, was the current vice captain of the Sixth Division.

He was a prodigy in both Kidō and Zanpakuto. Next to his father, even Byakuya had little claim to the word genius.

Unfortunately.

Kuchiki Sōjun was in poor health, even worse than Jūshirō Ukitake, captain of the Thirteenth Division. Even a little fighting would leave him bedridden for a long time.

If not for that.

Kuchiki Ginrei would have handed over his duties as clan head and captain to him long ago, and wouldn't still be fighting on the front lines at his age.

"To help Father recover his health, Grandfather searched all over Soul Society for different methods."

"The most effective one..."

Byakuya pointed to the glass bead in the middle of the box.

"Was this."

"So what exactly is it?"

Haruto carefully picked up the glass bead from the box.

"The Heavenly Bedding Pill, invented by Kirio Hikifune, captain of the Twelfth Division."

Kirio Hikifune?

Haruto was certainly no stranger to that name:

The current captain of the Twelfth Division, who would be promoted to the Zero Division for laying the foundations for the development of the Gikongan, a purple-haired, gorgeous beauty known as the Ruler of Grain.

"Captain Hikifune's most remarkable ability is putting her own Reiatsu into food in an ownerless state, causing the Reiatsu level of whoever eats it to soar."

Even without considering the technology related to Gikongan, Kirio Hikifune's ability could only be called monstrous. Though it couldn't raise their upper limit, it could bring any Shinigami's Reiatsu to their own limit as quickly as possible.

Of course.

That was provided the eater's body could withstand their own Reiatsu. Otherwise, the sudden influx of power would only cause their body to burst, killing them.

Of course, those weren't the only limitations on Kirio Hikifune's ability. Making food with such powerful effects also consumed an enormous amount of her own Reiatsu. Kirio Hikifune first had to spend a long time eating until she became enormously fat, storing enough Reiatsu in her body to meet the immense demand of preparing the food.

"To make sure the Shinigami who ate her food had bodies strong enough to withstand the surge in Reiatsu, Captain Hikifune invented this Heavenly Bedding Pill."

"...How come I've never heard of it?"

Haruto looked at the Heavenly Bedding Pill in his hand, puzzled.

"Of course you haven't."

"The materials for making it are rare, and its safety can't be guaranteed, so after she made three of them as an initial experiment, the Central 46 Chambers classified it as a forbidden item and prohibited its production."

"What materials?"

Though the Central 46 Chambers at this time were a bunch of hidebound old bastards, their cautious way of doing things did indeed suit Shigekuni Yamamoto's requirements.

Something the Central 46 Chambers had classified as a forbidden item...

"Hollows."

"Huh?"

Haruto suspected he had misheard.