Chapter 8

Compared with Shakkahō, whose attributes were well balanced, Ōkasen and Sōkatsui, the next two spells in the sequence, were noticeably more spectacular to look at.

But while Ōkasen and Sōkatsui were not significantly better than Shakkahō, they were more than twice as difficult to learn. For Spiritual Arts Academy students whose goal was to graduate, they were clearly a lot of effort for little reward.

Of course.

For prospective students who had yet to begin studying Kidō in earnest... who didn't dream of standing out from the crowd?

"I mean the one that knocked Sōkatsui off course!"

"This..."

Pages of textbooks flipped rapidly as they searched through the Kidō numbered around thirty over and over again.

"It isn't in the book either!"

Just as the spectators were all chattering at once...

"Hmph."

A figure in a pitch-black shihakushō leaned quietly against the wall at the edge of the training ground.

Shinji Hirako folded his arms and mercilessly spat out the blade of grass that had spent a long time in his mouth, now chewed to pulp.

"Bunch of brats."

Shinji Hirako looked away from the stands and toward the center of the training ground in the distance.

"There aren't any low- or mid-level Kidō that can deflect an attack."

"..."

"Hadō #1: Shō."

In the eyes of someone at Captain-level, Haruto's technique might as well have been playing in slow motion. There was no way he could hide it.

"The difference between their Reiatsu isn't anywhere near that great, which means..."

"Hanki Saisai."

A gentle, calm female voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

"Just a shortcut."

Without turning his head, Shinji Hirako picked up where the woman had left off.

"True Hanki Saisai completely cancels out an opponent's Kidō with another of the same nature and power. Even among those at Captain-level, there are only a few who can pull it off in actual combat."

Shinji Hirako kept replaying the scene he had just witnessed.

"That kid only imitated the technique behind Hanki Saisai to weaken the flames. Otherwise, a single Shō couldn't have deflected Sōkatsui."

"But that's a necessary first step toward mastering Hanki Saisai."

"That's true enough."

"..."

After a brief silence, Shinji Hirako finally turned and met the newcomer's gaze.

"Long time no see, Third Seat Hirako."

Lisa Yadōmaru pushed up the red-framed glasses on her nose as she spoke.

"What a coincidence, Lieutenant Yadōmaru... Did you come all this way just to say hello?"

Back in the assembly hall, their "workstations" had been rather far apart, and the graduates had all been peppering them with questions like curious children, so neither of them had found time to talk.

"No."

Lisa Yadōmaru promptly dispelled Shinji Hirako's flattering assumption.

"Captain Kyōraku ordered me to come take a look at him."

"Hm?"

Shinji Hirako was a little surprised.

"Never mind that he's only a Shin'ō Academy student. Even if there really were something suspicious about him, surely someone that weak wouldn't warrant special instructions from Captain Kyōraku?"

"Don't tell me..."

There were only two reasons the Eighth Division would have its eye on someone: either they were involved in certain sensitive intelligence or suspected of a crime, or they were being recruited.

Considering that he was a student and had just shown the rudiments of Hanki Saisai—

"His teacher is a Seated Officer in the Fifth Division."

Shinji Hirako hadn't considered that possibility at all before, but judging by Lisa Yadōmaru's attitude, he felt he ought to make a move too.

After all...

These days, there weren't many students who dared to take part in a Live-Blade Match.

If the captain and lieutenant of the 11th Division had been here instead, they probably would have jumped straight into the arena to snatch him up. They wouldn't have cared whether Hadō was his specialty, or even whether he had graduated. And while the Fifth Division wasn't full of muscleheads like the 11th Division, it was responsible for rescue operations and had high standards for combat ability too.

Incidentally.

Although the two people in the Live-Blade Match were both students, the Mikazuki Clan name made it clear that, barring any surprises, one of them would be trying his hardest to get into the Sixth Division in the future.

But—

"Which Shin'ō Academy student doesn't have a Seated Officer from the Gotei 13 as a teacher?"

"...I guess you've got a point."

Lisa Yadōmaru's words made the habitually easygoing Shinji Hirako give up at once. He was only a Third Seat; he could leave that sort of thing for the captain and lieutenant to worry about.

"Hah!"

Munechika's body rose and fell with his heavy breathing. The right arm he had used to release Sōkatsui dropped limply, like a sailing ship's mast snapped by cannon fire.

The sudden acceleration of the incantation at the end had not only consumed a great deal of his physical and mental energy, but had inevitably injured Munechika's arm as well.

His tendons and muscles were twitching slightly from the Reiatsu that had surged through them, and his palm had been scorched pitch-black by the flames that had coursed over it. The bits of char scattered on the ground and the strips of flesh exposed on his palm showed just how severe the injury was.

"Whew."

His breathing finally steadied.

"Just now..."

He didn't even bother to hide the frustration in his voice.

"What was that?"

Munechika stared fixedly at the two fingers Haruto had used to flick Sōkatsui away.

"Hadō #1: Shō."

"...Are you making fun of me?"

At Haruto's answer, Munechika's eyebrows twitched uncontrollably for an instant.

Hadō #1: Shō.

It was the first Kidō taught at Shin'ō Academy, and also the weakest numbered Hadō of them all.

If Byakurai cast by an ordinary Shinigami could at least numb an ordinary human, then Shō, at best, was about as powerful as a flick to the forehead.

For Shō to knock Sōkatsui aside, the difference in the two users' Reiatsu would have to be overwhelming. That was something that might happen if a captain of the Gotei 13 fought a Shin'ō Academy student.

"No."

Haruto casually flexed his somewhat stiff middle finger.

"That really was Shō just now... I just added a few personal insights to it."

Shō worked by firing a projectile of unaspected Reiatsu from the fingers, attacking in the direction the index finger pointed.

Its standard power alone was nowhere near enough to contend with a mid-level Hadō on Sōkatsui's level.

Although Haruto had appeared to use Eishōhaki to cast this Hadō, the amount of Reiatsu he had secretly expended was already more than ten times the usual requirement.

Haruto had also used two fingers at once. This was not simply to double Shō's destructive power; he had also relied on the natural difference in length between his index and middle fingers to create an angle across the few centimeters at their tips.

Much like a tank's sloped armor.

Drawing on his understanding of Hadō, Haruto had struck the weakest point in Sōkatsui's Reiatsu with a Shō that was just powerful enough to deflect it, no more and no less. Though Haruto specialized in only a handful of Kidō, when he really had to use them, he was far better than his classmates at both Shakkahō and Sōkatsui.

When Haruto had told Mutsuki Shōkaku he wasn't good at them, he had been comparing them to his own accomplishments with Byakurai.

"Personal insights?"

Those words were practically as mocking as they could get.

While his classmates were still struggling to meet the examination standards, Haruto had already begun upgrading Kidō.

The fact that he was operating on a whole different level showed just how extraordinary his talent for Kidō was.

"Don't tell me you're saying..."

Volume one: 006, you've collapsed

"Modified Kidō."

Lisa Yadōmaru quietly finished the sentence from outside the arena.

Shinji Hirako and Lisa Yadōmaru were some distance from the training ground's inner arena, but with their abilities, hearing what the two were saying was no challenge.

After hearing Haruto's explanation—

"Even you can misjudge someone."

Lisa Yadōmaru turned to Shinji Hirako as she spoke.

In terms of talent and ability with Kidō, Shinji Hirako was stronger than she was, even though she was the Eighth Division's lieutenant.

As for other areas...

The two had never tested themselves against each other, and Shinji Hirako had hardly ever shown anyone his Zanpakuto's

abilities, so Lisa Yadōmaru wasn't very sure.

It was only natural for her to have been mistaken, but Shinji Hirako hadn't contradicted what she had said about Hanki Saisai earlier.

"What are you talking about~?"

Shinji Hirako pursed his lips.

"I wasn't wrong. The technique that kid used really was a rudimentary form of Hanki Saisai. He just doesn't realize it."

Shinji Hirako lowered his head, his hanging bangs easily concealing his sharp gaze. He was carefully reviewing his own experiences learning Kidō in his mind... At the very least, he definitely hadn't been able to use a Shō that powerful at that age.

"Of course..."

"Judging by the direction of his training, he's probably planning to use nothing but Shō to deflect or cancel out an opponent's Hadō."

"That's ambitious."

Hanki Saisai required Kidō of the same nature and power. Using Hadō #1 alone to cancel attacks like this... Leaving aside how effective it would be in actual combat, merely being able to conceive of such a "lofty ambition" showed that he already had the most basic mindset needed to become strong.

"What?"

Lisa Yadōmaru looked at Shinji Hirako, who seemed to have grown a little interested.

"You gave up on recruiting him just now, didn't you?"

"...I never said that."

Shinji Hirako hurriedly denied it.

"Don't I know you by now?"

"But you aren't interested in recruiting people either, are you, Lisa?"

Shinji Hirako switched directly to her first name rather than continuing to use the perfunctory "Lieutenant Yadōmaru" from earlier.

"Like I said, this is an assignment from Captain Kyōraku."

"If you're interested, Shinji, why not go talk to Captain Kyōraku yourself... provided you become a captain first, of course."

Lisa Yadōmaru shot Shinji Hirako a glare.