Chapter 3

Haruto was that unconventional note.

"Byakurai!"

"Just as I thought."

Mutsuki Shōkaku's gaze had remained fixed on Haruto.

When he clearly uttered "Hadō #4," she knew their earlier exchange hadn't been a joke.

"Just like before, he used Byakurai with the incantation omitted."

"Eishōhaki."

Once a practitioner's mastery of a Kidō spell passed a certain threshold, they could release it without an incantation.

The advantage was speed:

Omitting the incantation made a Kidō spell harder to guard against.

The drawback was a lack of power:

Depending on the practitioner's mastery of the spell, a Kidō cast using Eishōhaki would have only one-tenth to one-third of its full power.

Given the inherently low destructive power of Hadō #4, Byakurai, most of the uses recommended in the textbook involved using the electric shock released from the index finger to paralyze an opponent for a very brief time.

To be precise,

the spell could only be used to capture ordinary souls.

Even with the full incantation, Byakurai only paralyzed its target for a little longer. Moreover, the difficulty of controlling the arc of electricity released from the fingertip rose sharply even if one only wanted to hit a slightly more distant target.

Seen that way,

Byakurai was a Kidō spell that could only be used to full effect with Eishōhaki.

"Even a Byakurai cast without the incantation at the highest level of mastery, retaining a third of its power, couldn't come close to Shakkahō..."

Haruto made it look easy, but Mutsuki Shōkaku, as a high-ranking Seated Officer, knew just how difficult it was.

"...Right?"

Then a streak of pure white lightning flashed through the air and pierced straight through the center of the target opposite him—

"Bzz!"

The booming thud came half a beat after the flash.

"Crack!!"

With a crisp shattering sound, the target exploded into countless flying fragments.

"..."

The training ground fell silent for an instant.

Then came a chaotic series of explosions and a clamor of curses.

Not everyone could withstand outside interference while casting Kidō... especially when confronted with something so shocking.

In Mutsuki's eyes as an examiner, if that much interference was enough to throw their Reiatsu out of balance, they wouldn't escape a C grade, whether or not they managed to cast Shakkahō properly afterward.

However,

Mutsuki's attention wasn't on those supporting players at the moment.

"Completely pulverized."

"Even a Fifth Division member... no, even a lower-ranking Seated Officer using an intermediate Hadō in the thirties could probably only do about this much, right?"

The number of Seated Officers varied from division to division, but generally, lower-ranking Seated Officers referred to those at 10th Seat and below.

The title might not sound impressive, but in a division with hundreds of members, rising from an ordinary member to a Seated Officer was no easy feat.

The destructive power of Haruto's Byakurai was enough to astonish a high-ranking Seated Officer like Mutsuki. Mutsuki Shōkaku still had a vivid impression of Haruto shattering a target with Byakurai last year, and its destructive power had actually increased since then.

The speed and accuracy of Byakurai went without saying; the main flaw people criticized was its power. But when even that power, the thing Byakurai lacked most, was enough to pulverize the center of a target in an instant—

"A grade, Haruto."

Whether for public or private reasons, Mutsuki would have given him that grade.

"It still affects my body."

Haruto shook his arm hard, dispelling the numbness and tingling from his fingertips.

Extracting Reiatsu from his Hakusui, gathering it at his fingertip, and releasing it, all within two short seconds, was an enormous test of his physical condition.

And Haruto's greatest weakness happened to be his physical condition.

Calling him slender would have been putting it kindly. If he hadn't gotten into reasonably good shape through training at Shin'ō Academy over the years, his old physique could easily have been described as frail enough to be blown over by a breeze—and that was the greatest limitation on his Kidō.

"At least the result was good."

Haruto's fingers gradually returned to normal.

"That Byakurai was powerful enough to rival most intermediate Hadō. That proves my initial idea was right: practicing intermediate Hadō isn't worth the effort."

Haruto hadn't lied to Mutsuki: he really wasn't good at intermediate Hadō.

"B grade."

"C grade."

As Haruto walked out of the training ground, the grades of the other students were announced one after another behind him. But after Haruto's "disruption," the results for this group were noticeably worse than those of the previous groups.

Just as Haruto was about to step through the gate—

"I object!"

The extraordinarily loud shout instantly drowned out Mutsuki's announcements. Everyone inside and outside the training ground turned toward the source.

"Munechika..."

Mutsuki raised an eyebrow in displeasure.

If any other student had dared to embarrass her at a time like this, Mutsuki would have made sure they saw the authority of a Seated Officer.

The problem was,

Mutsuki knew the student making a commotion here:

His buzz cut looked like it had a considerable affinity with the strong, but unfortunately, because a thin layer had been left at the end, it had failed to break through the limiter. Paired with a modern sakayaki tied at the back of his head, it was quite a striking sight:

Mikazuki Munechika.

The young man outside the training ground was shorter than Haruto, but muscular and robust. He was Mutsuki Shōkaku's "neighbor": both the Mutsuki Clan and the Mikazuki Clan were mid-ranking nobles entitled to live on the outskirts of the Seireitei.

Although Mutsuki Shōkaku was Munechika's teacher, her noble status was lower than his.

Had she not become a Seated Officer in the Fifth Division, she, despite her noble birth, would have had no path open to her but to marry another noble.

Even after joining the Gotei 13, the shackles binding her hadn't completely disappeared. If she couldn't show her family that she had the potential to rise further, sooner or later she would meet the same fate. Noble influence in the Seireitei extended into every aspect of life in Soul Society, and her current standing alone couldn't guarantee her a worry-free future.

However...

"Are you questioning me?"

The fact that Mutsuki Shōkaku had dared to step outside her insular noble household showed that she wasn't willing to be constrained by all those rules.

This was Shin'ō Academy, founded by Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, and she was a Seated Officer of its Fifth Division.

As an academy founded by Captain-Commander Yamamoto, who had wrested the all-important military authority from noble rule, this was already the place in all of Soul Society where one had the least need to worry about noble influence.

Besides, Mutsuki Shōkaku's immediate captain... the Fifth Division was famous throughout the Seireitei for protecting its own.

That was why Mutsuki Shōkaku dared to say it.

"..."

The 7th Seat's Reiatsu bore down on Munechika without restraint. The trace of killing intent mixed into it left him unable to speak, the hairs on his body standing on end.

"...I'm sorry, Mutsuki."

The noble upbringing Mikazuki Munechika had received from childhood as his family's heir made him bow his head and apologize swiftly and decisively:

"My attitude was too rash just now. Please overlook it for my family's sake, Mutsuki. And I wasn't questioning your judgment. It's Haruto... he definitely used some underhanded trick just now!"

Munechika changed tack, turning a sharp, vicious glare on Haruto.

"You suspect Haruto of cheating?"

Mutsuki pressed her temples, feeling a headache coming on.

She knew Munechika's situation. He and Haruto had both spent five years in Class One, and their "relationship" was far worse than a little strained.

Whether in popularity—specifically with the opposite sex—or grades, Haruto was always just a little ahead of Munechika. Even the noble status Munechika took the most pride in had become somewhat insignificant after Haruto attached himself to the young master of the Kuchiki Clan.

Not to mention that plenty of other students at Shin'ō Academy weren't impressed by nobles.

"Yes!"

Munechika's voice rang out so loudly that even students and teachers at several other training grounds turned their gazes this way, deliberately or otherwise.

"..."

Mutsuki glanced at the target, now reduced to fragments.

"Where's the evidence?"

"The destructive power of Byakurai cast without an incantation could never compare to the higher-level Shakkahō. As for evidence... I think Haruto ought to know which is more serious: stealing a noble family's secret teachings or cheating on an exam."

Munechika spoke with absolute certainty.

"..."

Haruto glanced speechlessly at the smug Munechika.

There was nothing fundamentally wrong with what he had said.

The difficulty of casting Kidō and the amount of Reiatsu it consumed did increase along with its number. In particular, every thirty numbers marked a dividing line, with a vast difference between the Kidō spells on either side of the threshold.

But!

That theory only applied at the student stage. More precisely, it only applied within Shin'ō Academy. It was the same principle as learning physics: one always had to start with "incorrect" classical physics.

According to the textbooks, Byakurai naturally couldn't compare to the higher-numbered Shakkahō. The simplest and most reliable way to overturn that conclusion was through the secret Kidō teachings of the various noble families:

Either modifications to existing Kidō spells or entirely original ones.

The former...

was the basis of Munechika's accusation against Haruto.

It had to be said,

Munechika's guess wasn't actually wrong. If Haruto had researched Byakurai on his own, he certainly couldn't have

achieved his current results so quickly.

Haruto had indeed drawn on the Kidō experience of two noble families:

The hefty book Nanao Ise always carried under her arm was the only existing copy of her priestly family's secret Kidō teachings, dating back as far as the first captain of the Eighth Division a thousand years ago: Katori Batsu'unsai.

Haruto had received plenty of generous help from Nanao.

When he first approached Nanao, he had actually been strongly motivated by self-interest, but as they spent time together and Haruto gradually came to know her, he took the initiative to tell her what he had planned.

She...

agreed to Haruto's request to borrow it without hesitation.

It could be said that Little Nanao deserved immense credit for Haruto's current achievements in Kidō. As for the key to taking his Byakurai a step further, it had undoubtedly come from the Kuchiki Clan, which had systematically researched the spell.

The gap between the Four Great Noble Clans and mid-ranking nobles was beyond comparison:

The secret teachings Munechika regarded as immensely precious were, to a major power like the Kuchiki Clan, little more than a small gift to make friends with.

At least, to the fabulously wealthy young master of the Kuchiki Clan, who had no awareness of his own wealth, mere secret Kidō teachings weren't worth mentioning.

"Mikazuki."