Chapter 50

Female Soul Reapers were far less accomplished than male Soul Reapers in Soul Society. Generally speaking, anyone with ambitions for the future, or who was focused on the sword, would never let himself fall into a social circle like this... Even if these female Soul Reapers were all nobles, they would rarely be able to offer much help in the future.

As for marrying into a noble family—

It was indeed the fastest way to become a noble, but no matter how gifted a man was, people would easily gossip about him behind his back...

Kōga Kuchiki was one such example.

"No, I'm on pretty good terms with Munechika too."

Haruto argued back righteously.

"Beating him up in front of hundreds of people—"

"You call that being on good terms?"

Byakuya rolled his eyes at Haruto again.

"There are all kinds of ways to be on good terms..."

"Forget it."

Haruto, who had originally wanted to joke around a little more, sighed.

"There are lots of reasons."

"To give you the simplest example: even if girls are a little weaker, at least they're pleasant to look at."

"Isn't Munechika a perfect example? I don't like Juzu's personality, but she really knows how to bring out a guy's desire to protect her."

"Put another way, she makes guys feel capable."

"That's enough."

Haruto explained, saying more than he usually did.

"But the guys in our class, nobles or commoners, every last one of them..."

"They're all trash."

Haruto delivered his verdict without the slightest courtesy.

"Oh?"

"So you're finally willing to say what you really think?"

Byakuya looked at Haruto with an expression that said he'd known it all along—he naturally excluded himself.

"I've always thought that when it comes to conceit, you're a lot prouder than me, the member of the Four Great Noble Clans you're always talking about."

Byakuya no longer had his arms folded. Instead, he leaned against the backrest and rocked as he spoke.

"I do it to uphold the Kuchiki Clan's honor, but you—"

"You genuinely think they're no good."

Class One was already made up of the most gifted sixth-year students at Shin'ō Academy, yet Haruto made them sound worthless.

If word of this got out, there was no telling how much of a stir it would cause.

"Right, but I don't mean it maliciously."

"How so?"

He had just called them trash, yet he claimed he meant no harm.

Haruto's words succeeded in catching Byakuya's attention. Not only that, but even the girls who had been chattering noisily a moment ago turned to look at them.

"With their talent, even if they become Soul Reapers, the greatest achievement they might ever manage in their lives would be becoming low-ranking Seated Officers."

"Most of them are commoners, along with a few lower nobles."

"The lower nobles are shields the upper echelons of the Seireitei use to obscure the conflicts caused by class divisions. Once commoners become Soul Reapers, they don't even get a chance to quit—for students without talent, becoming a Soul Reaper means a slow death... If being treated as trash could spare them that fate, I think that would actually be pretty good."

"..."

Haruto's words brought silence to the room.

"If Captain-Commander Yamamoto heard you say that, I'm afraid even grabbing his weapon and burning you to ashes wouldn't be enough to vent his anger."

Byakuya, who was best qualified to respond, spoke up.

"It's just one young man's opinion. With Captain-Commander Yamamoto's magnanimity, I'm sure he wouldn't stoop to arguing with a child."

Haruto shrugged.

"..."

"Oh, right!"

Kiyone clapped her hands hard, drawing everyone's attention.

Their conversation had gotten a little heavy just now—ordinary girls might not have been interested in the subject, but everyone present came from at least a middle-ranking noble family and was very sensitive to it—so Kiyone had to forcibly redirect everyone's attention this way.

"A-Qing."

Kiyone said to Haruto:

"I remember when we talked about Zanpakuto before, you mentioned that no students had mastered Shikai yet, right?"

Haruto could talk freely with Nanao about Kidō, but when it came to Zanpakuto, Nanao couldn't be much help.

Haruto had talked with Isane and her sister a lot about that subject.

"...Right."

Haruto glanced at Byakuya before answering.

Byakuya had only mastered Senbonzakura half a month ago, and his status as a student was largely nominal.

"Hehe."

Kiyone puffed out her petite chest and put her hands on her hips.

"That record's been broken now!"

"...Huh?"

Even Haruto hadn't expected this news:

"Kiyone, you mastered Shikai?"

Isane and her sister were both quite talented. After all, they were both destined to become vice-captains... Isane Kotetsu had even taken over Sister Hana's position.

But at this age—

Even Byakuya, who would become a captain at a young age, had only just mastered Shikai.

—It was a bit too young.

"No, no, no!"

Kiyone hurriedly waved her hands.

"It's my sister!"

"..."

Everyone's eyes gathered on Isane, and even Byakuya looked eager to give her a try.

"You don't all have to be so excited."

Haruto hurriedly stepped in to help Isane out—that much attention was already enough to turn Isane into a steam princess.

"Shikai..."

But before Haruto had finished speaking, Byakuya cut in:

"What's your Rei'i Grade now?"

"...Sixth Class."

"..."

Haruto, who had just been about to say, "Everyone can achieve Shikai sooner or later, so there's no need to get so excited," was also rendered speechless by Isane's answer.

Sixth-Class Spiritual Pressure?

Haruto himself had only reached that level five days ago!

Isane's family was a long-established middle-ranking noble family, so naturally they had a spiritual tool for measuring Reii. Haruto had been worried about embarrassing the girls before, so he had never asked... After all, it might have looked a lot like showing off.

"By the way, I have Seventh-Class Reii~"

As soon as Isane finished speaking, Kiyone pointed at herself and added that.

"Huh? Are you all that amazing? I only just reached Ninth Class... Even then, Mom and Dad praised me so much for it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to go play in the human world during the break."

Ayaka spoke with her eyes wide.

And after Nanao, the only one who hadn't spoken, said her piece—

"I... I only just reached Sixth Class during the break too."

Haruto seriously suspected that everyone had let him take the top seat.

Volume one: 033, Kidō chain break

The people gathered in the dorm room could put together a squad with every top-level combatant except a captain.

Of course.

Not everyone could turn all their Reiatsu into combat power like Aizen. In fact, even Aizen had wasted a great deal of Reiatsu after merging with the Hōgyoku.

Neither Nanao nor Isane had experienced any proper battles, so naturally their conversion rates were even lower.

And although they all had Sixth-Class Spiritual Pressure, if they really fought, Isane and

Nanao together would be no match for Haruto.

That was also why Byakuya lost interest in Isane after asking her Rei'i Grade:

If they both had Fifth-Class Reii, Isane, who had mastered Shikai, might have been worth sparring with. But with her Reii weaker than his and both of them having mastered Shikai, Byakuya knew the outcome without a fight.

Not only that.

Rei'i Grade, a method of assessing Reiatsu passed around among nobles, couldn't accurately determine a person's combat power. It was merely a relatively widely applicable standard.

Haruto was a good example:

Whether measured by a tool or his own senses, the resulting assessment of Sixth-Class Spiritual Pressure was actually only half his true Reiatsu level.

"You two..."

"You really caught up without a word."

For the same reason.

Both Nanao and Isane had come to train at Shin'ō Academy because of special circumstances involving their families. In the future, they only needed to join the Gotei 13 in due course; they didn't need to distinguish themselves at school.

So neither of them had mentioned her Rei'i Grade.

Inside Shin'ō Academy, Haruto certainly couldn't keep Kakushitsuijaku active all the time, since that would surely attract the attention of the higher-ups. But after spending so much time with them, Haruto had been able to get a vague sense of their strength.

He just hadn't expected them to improve so quickly.

"Isane's Shikai..."

Haruto glanced at the Zanpakuto Isane had placed beside her.

"Itegumo?"

He tried to recall Isane's Shikai. Although it had never achieved any notable results, Haruto seemed to remember seeing it:

On Sōkyoku Hill, when she and Vice-Captain Sasakibe had put on an act against Ichigo.

"Huh!?"

Haruto had spoken very quietly, but Kiyone still caught it—loud as she was, she had sharp ears.

"Sis, did you tell A-Qing in secret?"

Kiyone immediately turned to look at her sister.

"N-no, I didn't!"