Ichigo didn't understand many things; he was just a poor student in a Japan public high school who frequently failed his exams.
But he believed Chun's words because, regardless of whether he understood them or not, when Chun was spouting those grand principles to him, when he was thinking about those issues, he truly had no time to ponder who he was.
Studying wasn't for him, Ichigo ultimately chose training. Hirako's car quickly pulled up beside Ichigo.
"They just left yesterday, and they're coming back today?"
"Ah~, I want to know, if I don't count the powers I was born with, what level would I be at?"
Hirako smirked. "It'll be tough. If you don't experience that kind of growth you had before, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle the comparison."
"Tch, you underestimate me. Stop talking nonsense."
"Okay, okay~, you're the young master, we're all here to serve you," Hirako said with a grin, completely unserious.
Ichigo opened the car door. "You're also Jun Shimizu's subordinates?"
"I wouldn't call him a subordinate, but I'd say we had a relationship."
"I see~" Ichigo looked at the scenery outside, his mind wandering.
During training, Ichigo still trains Ichigo. He's already incredibly strong, and apart from Hirako and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi, there's no one else here who can provide him with proper guidance.
Furthermore, the Visoreds also need to eliminate the Hollows and Arrancar appearing in Karakura Town, making it even more impossible for them to train with Ichigo. Ichigo wouldn't know what to train for on his own.
It was already evening, Hirako had just returned from a patrol. He was watching Ichigo's training and was starting to see what was going on.
"It seems like your current training method isn't working."
"What's the meaning?"
"You're lacking in too many fundamentals, such as Zanjutsu and Kidō. So since you've chosen the accelerated path, then just continue with the accelerated path. Just train your Getsuga Tenshō to its limit; there's no other choice."
Ichigo, "So I'll just keep swinging Getsuga Tenshō here?"
"Well, that's how it is," Hirako shrugged. "My skill level is about the same as yours. Does Jun Shimizu have any guidance for you?"
"How do you know I've seen him?"
"Haha, if you hadn't seen him, you wouldn't have come back."
Ichigo didn't say anything, but he realized in his heart that these people had seen through him long ago. They hadn't even considered teaching him anything, and Ichigo himself didn't really want to learn; he didn't have the patience, and he knew that too.
So it's come to this, let's do it. Getsuga Tenshō is my only ultimate move, and I've figured out the fighting style that suits me best: head-on confrontation. So let's keep practicing like this.
Since I'm not particularly smart, this kind of method that doesn't require much brainpower suits me quite well.
Ichigo continued Getsuga Tenshō until midnight Hirako reappeared at the Training Ground, carrying some food and bringing Ichigo's body over. "Come and rest for a bit."
"Oh~", Ichigo also felt a little tired, so he came over and started eating with Hirako.
What are your thoughts?
"Uh, what do you mean?"
Hirako looked at Ichigo's questioning face and sighed helplessly, "When you practice, no matter what, think about why you're practicing, okay? When you unleash a move, is it too fast or too slow? Is it better to use more force or less? If you don't think about these things, what's the point of your training? Is it just to use up all your Spiritual Power?"
"Uh," Ichigo scratched his face awkwardly, "I think about these things when I'm fighting."
Hirako slapped himself across the face. "Shouldn't you be thinking about how to win during a battle? Observe your enemy's weaknesses! Thinking about how to become stronger during a battle? How much do you underestimate your enemy? Or are your enemies all too weak?"
"Haha"
Do you really think that the self-enhancement you thought about during battles truly made you stronger?
"You mean I was under that threshold before, right?"
"I think so. Without this threshold, how could anyone become stronger in battle? I've lived in Soul Society for so many years, and I've never seen anyone suddenly become so much stronger in battle, unless it's a battle breakthrough that leads to Shikai or Unboxing, not a direct increase in one's attributes like you do."
"So I won't have this ability anymore, right?"
"I don't know, but you can keep trying. Maybe you can do it; after all, you are extraordinary."
Ichigo couldn't tell if Hirako was being sarcastic or not, so he scratched his head and said, "Never mind then, I'll change."
"Then I wish you a speedy recovery and that you'll get rid of those bad habits."
Ichigo nodded, eating his food, glanced at Hirako, and suddenly asked, "Have you lived in Soul Society for a long time?"
Why ask that? It's been over seven hundred years, what's wrong?
Seven hundred!?
"Ah, that's how it is in Soul Society. We Captain-level powerful Soul Reaper can live for a very, very long time. Ōtoribashi is even older than me, and the rest of the younger generation are all three or four hundred years old."
"Wow!" Ichigo was genuinely startled. "No wonder Rukia said she was more than ten times my age, it was actually true!"
"Of course it's true. What? You've fallen for that little girl from the Kuchiki Clan?"
Ichigo blushed slightly, but still nodded, "Ah."
"Hehe, good luck! The Kuchiki Clan isn't easy to deal with."
"I'll try my best. You know that Rukongai that I heard Jun Shimizu talk about?"
Hirako's dead fish eyes widened. "Are you an idiot? I've lived for over seven hundred years, how could I not know about Rukongai?"
"Haha," Ichigo scratched his head, "Was Rukongai this dilapidated seven hundred years ago?"
Shinji Hirako was very clever. In fact, from the Ichigo mentioned Rukongai, he knew he would have to face this issue sooner or later. Ichigo asked the question, Hirako let out a long sigh.
"So, we still have to face this problem, huh? Tsk tsk~, this is Jun Shimizu's ultimate weapon against Soul Society."
"Why?"
Hirako's sharp gaze instantly returned to its deadpan expression as she sized Ichigo up. "Are you really a Japan high school student from modern society? What's your score on Japan?"
Ichigo immediately jumped up like a boiled crab, "I'm so sorry I'm such a bad student!"
"You've done more than just wrong me; you've wronged your parents and yourself, okay? No wonder you get along so well with those guys in Soul Society now."
"What's the meaning?"
"You're all cut from the same cloth, aren't you? I used to be pretty much the same as you, but then some things happened that made me no longer stand on the Soul Society's side. Want to hear about it?"
Ichigo nodded hurriedly, Hirako, having put away his usual jovial manner, began to speak with a heavy heart.
"We poor souls who were framed by Aizen originally numbered 34, but as you can see now, there are only Eleven of us left. Four others have parted ways with us, and 18 have joined Jun Shimizu's side."
"Oh," Ichigo, though a poor high school student, wasn't bad at elementary school addition and subtraction. "Wait a minute! There are only 33 people. Didn't you say there were at least 34?"
Hirako nodded sadly, "You were right, that person is dead."
"Uh, sorry"
"You're not the one who needs to apologize. He didn't die in an accident or at the hands of a villain; he died at the hands of one of our own. That's why we parted ways with the other four."
"More than three hundred years ago, there was a woman in Soul Society named Kakyō TACHIKAWA. She pioneered a new path in Soul Society: she taught the children of Rukongai knowledge and how to become Soul Reaper."
Ichigo scratched his cheek, Hirako clicked his tongue, "Just think of it this way: Kakyō TACHIKAWA made ordinary people into billionaires."
Are Soul Reaper and billionaires the same thing?
"So, who do you think is more powerful, Soul Reaper in the Soul Society or a billionaire in the World of the Living? You're just an ordinary person, not even a particularly wealthy one, and your family is fairly well-off. Can that billionaire just kill you whenever he wants?"
What right did he have to kill me?
"Soul Reaper can kill Dead Souls at will; you see, Soul Reaper is more powerful than a billionaire."
Ichigo Silence.
"Kakyō TACHIKAWA is turning ordinary people into Soul Reapers. This makes some people very angry. Even billionaires can't kill people at will, but Soul Reapers can. As long as no one cares or takes it too seriously, Soul Reapers can do whatever they want with the Dead Souls in Rukongai. Kakyō TACHIKAWA is changing all of that."
"She didn't succeed. She only changed part of it, but that wasn't enough. Some people weren't willing to accept it, so she died. She was assassinated. Don't you understand?"
"Hey! Even if I'm a terrible student, I know about the Meiji Restoration! I know a little bit about it!" Ichigo finally understood the pain of being a poor student. "She was killed by those in power. Aren't Soul Reaper the rulers of Soul Society?"
"Haha, I didn't expect you to understand these things. That's right, I'm indirectly responsible for the murder of this great woman. This is something I've only come to understand in recent decades."
"Many of the younger generation who are now Soul Reaper owe their status to this woman. Because of her efforts, the number of Soul Reaper has increased over the decades, leaving Soul Society with no other option but to increase Soul Reaper numbers."
"Then Jun Shimizu told us that Kakyō TACHIKAWA was his disciple, and that the great woman did what he did because he told her that was the way to save Rukongai."
"Oh~ and then the eighteen people betrayed us, I understand, I understand," Ichigo was finally able to understand something using his own knowledge, and he was very excited.
"Initially, there weren't eighteen people, only Jūshirō. But even after they left, they didn't completely cut off contact with us. Jun Shimizu's influence in the World of the Living is enormous, so we inevitably had some dealings with them, and then two more people were drawn to them."
"Let alone two people, if I didn't believe there was still hope for Soul Society, I probably would have joined Jun Shimizu's faction too. After all, I have absolutely no idea what that guy's motives are."
"Putting that aside, after sixteen people left, some of us became very dissatisfied with Jun Shimizu, even calling those who left traitors. Do you think they were traitors?"
Ichigo scratched his head, "Is this it?"
"As expected, you and those people from Soul Society get along very well."
"But aren't you all part of the same group? You're all from Soul Society, so leaving would be betrayal, wouldn't it?"
"So if you're in a criminal organization and you surrender to the police, is that also a betrayal?"
"Uh, is Soul Society a criminal organization?"
Don't you think so?
Ichigo thought for Ichigo, "It really seems to be true."
"Whether it was true or not, later another person wanted to leave, and she secretly ran away, which made the person who called them traitors even angrier, and then a tragedy occurred."
"The person who secretly ran away had two good friends. When those two friends found out that he had run away, they told us that they also wanted to leave, and then..."
Ichigo swallowed hard; he could roughly guess the outcome.
"Yes, that angry guy went berserk and killed one of them. Then we fought, and in the end, the Eleven us separated from those four. The last one, who wanted to leave, left with immense hatred for us. She believed we were all evil and that Soul Society was the source of all evil."
"Is it right to kill a traitor?"
Ichigo couldn't answer Hirako's question, because no matter how you looked at it, it was the angry person's fault.
Is killing someone out of anger, killing one's own companion, the right thing to do?
"Of course that's wrong," even Ichigo, as much of a slacker and academically challenged as he was, knew this wasn't right.
Hirako scoffed, "People like that are everywhere in Soul Society."
After speaking, Hirako got up and left. Ichigo also fell into deep thought. He thought of the Soul Society he had seen when he went to Rukia. At that time, he felt that this world was wonderful, but now, Ichigo a chill run down his spine.