"I'm home~"
"Thanks for your hard work. Let's wait for Nana a little longer, then we'll have dinner together."
"Hi~ Yuzu-senpai~ Is Isuzu-senpai in her room?"
"Yeah, she is. How did your Kidō training go?"
"I managed to cast the sixth spell today."
"That's amazing, Jun-chan!"
"Hehe~"
"Is that Jun back?"
"Hi~ Isuzu-senpai, it's me."
"Thanks for your hard work~ Come to my room."
"Okay~ okay~"
"I'll call you when Nana gets back, so study without worrying."
"Thanks, Yuzu(-senpai)."
After finishing his probing, Jun returned home and settled into his happy daily routine. He had always concealed his actual progress in Kidō training from the three girls, yet even his false progress looked like the work of a super genius to them.
Yuzu was no longer Jun's round-the-clock babysitter. She was a student in the current class herself and still had to prepare for graduation. Besides, Jun was on the right track now and didn't need a full-time nanny looking after him; it wasn't as if he had a disability. That was especially true of his Kidō training, and Yuzu was reassured knowing that he only rested at the Journal Hall.
Jun's genius had lately stirred up an extraordinary enthusiasm for training in the girls' dormitory. Yuzu was all right; perhaps she had naturally assumed the role of Jun's older sister or mother, and was more accepting of his genius. The other two had been somewhat spurred on, so they had been coming home rather late lately. Today was a rare occasion when Isuzu had returned early.
The drive to train wasn't all Jun had brought to the dormitory. There was also the exchange of insights into training. Soul Society's circumstances had actually been apparent from the original work: its broader social environment still had that very jianghu atmosphere.
People shared very little about their training, and the reason was the education system. Soul Society still relied on private schools and master-disciple teaching. As the saying went, "Teach the disciple everything, and the master starves." As a result, knowledge generally wasn't shared widely; everyone kept their own secrets close.
In such an environment, asking about someone else's training methods was deeply taboo. Insights had to be passed from the top down: only powerful people of high status could instruct weaker people of lower status. In truth, this system was bad for both the transmission of knowledge and the selection of talent.
That was also why a highly modernized institution of force like the Gotei 13, after a thousand years of development, had been so thoroughly beaten by surviving invaders from a thousand years earlier. There was only one fundamental reason: development was too slow, and the reserve of talent was inadequate.
Jun was someone who would change this system. He understood its shortcomings very well. Why had modern schooling replaced the master-disciple system? Because the latter couldn't supply the number of talented people needed for social development.
Of course, the master-disciple system had its advantages, and it hadn't been completely eliminated in modern society. Where did it still survive? In advanced research projects, for example, and in the training of highly specialized talents such as researchers, doctoral and postdoctoral scholars, and professional artists.
So Soul Society's current problem was that it had academies on the surface, but in practice, the basic personnel it trained were woefully unqualified, and there weren't enough of them.
This also had to do with Soul Society's current class structure: the Soul King Palace, the Five Great Noble Clans—the Shiba Clan had yet to be removed—then the upper, middle, and lower noble classes, noble retainers, ordinary Soul Reapers, and the high-ranked, middle-ranked, and low-ranked districts of Rukongai.
There were ten classes in all, arranged in a hierarchy of contempt from top to bottom. Even by the time of the original story, things were still the same, unchanged. Soul Society's entire social structure was extremely backward and stagnant.
Jun himself couldn't challenge this society. He hadn't thought about completely changing Soul Society—no, he had, but that was his ultimate goal, to be advanced through a series of plans. For now, he had no way to do it.
So he could only do what he could at present, relying on the advantage of his age, which was enormous. Being young allowed Jun to challenge conventional rules in certain ways, like exchanging experiences. Others wouldn't dare do it, but Jun did, because even if he were found out, he had an unparalleled excuse.
"I'm just a child. I don't know anything."
It was a shameless excuse. On the modern internet, people had already begun to condemn those who used it to shield bratty children, but what Jun was doing now required just such a shameless excuse. That was the advantage of youth! If he didn't use it, it would expire! Once he got a little older, he couldn't claim not to understand.
Jun kept pestering the three girls until they had no choice, and the atmosphere in the dormitory changed. Where there had been no exchange before, now everyone actively shared, and dinnertime in particular became a forum for discussion.
"How did Jun do today?" Nana had been the last to come back and didn't yet know about Jun's progress.
"He was amazing. He's already reached the sixth spell," Yuzu said as she put food in Nana's bowl.
"Huh!? The sixth spell? It's only been a month, hasn't it? You've got to be kidding!?" Nana was so shocked she couldn't even eat. After twenty-six years of training, she was still three spells short of the graduation requirement, while Jun had reached six in a month. It was simply unimaginable.
Jun nodded innocently. "I'm not lying to you, Nana-senpai. I finished training in the sixth spell today. Actually, Kidō—"
"Is really easy!" Nana cried in despair. "That's you! For me, Kidō is hell~~~!!"
This was a familiar scene that played out every day. Jun, Yuzu, and Isuzu exchanged smiles, while Nana alone puffed out her cheeks in a sulk. The three of them could still discuss Kidō with one another, but to Nana, their discussions might as well have been an indecipherable heavenly book.
The discussion soon began. Hadō spells four through nine made six in all. Starting with the fourth spell, Byakurai, they went through lightning, fire, wind, earth, darkness, and water—a full round of elemental attacks.
Bakudō spells four through nine were somewhat more interesting. The fourth, Hainawa, tied things up any damn way; the fifth, Nail, was the first Bakudō to use sealing pillars; the sixth, Flower, resembled an afterimage; the seventh, Kin, was an incredibly sturdy steel cable; the eighth, Shō, was a shield; and the ninth, Geki, used red light to tie an opponent up any damn way.
In short, Bakudō either tied the enemy up any damn way or tied up the user any damn way. The tighter the binding, the better.
So it was simple to understand. The difficulty lay in manipulating Reishi, and Jun could be said to be exceptionally gifted in that regard. When manipulating a certain amount of Reishi, he could control it as easily as his own limbs. That was a matter of talent. None of the other three girls could do it, no matter how much or how little Reishi they manipulated.
As they chatted, Jun could use a child's wildly imaginative curiosity to explore more advanced Kidō knowledge. When speculating about certain things, he would sometimes say something so fantastical and obviously false that the three girls burst out laughing, and then he would get the correct information from their explanations.
As they talked, Jun steered the subject toward incantations. He took the opportunity to complain, though it was really another ploy.
"Even though I haven't started training in Kidō beyond the tenth spell, memorizing the incantations is already exhausting~ Don't you senpais have a better way?"
"Exactly! Those incantations are a nightmare! A nightmare!!"
"Nana~ Don't measure Jun by your own blockhead standards~"
"Mmm~~ Yuzu~~"
Isuzu, who had been smiling as she watched, finally spoke. "Jun really has brought everyone a lot of changes lately~ Before, if Nana had said something like that, I would have gotten angry~ Now I don't get angry at all~ Hehe."
"Huh? Why would you get angry?" Nana Onibe looked utterly baffled.
"It's because Isuzu will be joining the Kidō Corps in the future, right? Insulting Kidō is a very serious matter~ Nana, you're always so careless. You really shouldn't be~" Even though Isuzu had said she wasn't angry, Yuzu hurried to smooth things over.
"Okay~ I apologize. I'm sorry."
"Well, well~ It's all right. I know that's just how Nana is, so I can't get angry. But..." Isuzu suddenly opened her eyes wide, and in an instant her whole bearing changed. "It's time for remedial lessons! Nana, you're not allowed to zone out again!"
"Yes~ A thousand apologies, Takasugi-sensei, um~, why did I call you Isuzu-sensei?"
After a round of laughter and commotion, Isuzu began properly explaining the basics of Kidō. This really was the first time Jun had heard this information.
It was impossible to talk about Kidō without mentioning the Kidō Corps, and there was plenty to say about the Kidō Corps.
Isuzu didn't know about the first Thousand-Year War, which had been hidden from history, but she knew that the Gotei 13 didn't have as long a history as the Kidō Corps.
From the information Jun had gathered, it had probably gone something like this: perhaps the Kidō Corps hadn't yet borne that name before the first Thousand-Year War, but it was undeniably the power of Kidō that had sealed the invading Quincy at the end of the war. That showed that Kidō had existed in the previous era, and that it had been extremely powerful.
Isuzu's explanation was filled with concepts concerning gods, Heaven, sinners, and Hell, and she pointed out many related connections in the incantations.
Ruler = flames. In virtually every Hadō related to flames, the first line of the incantation began with "Ruler." The Ruler was said to be a powerful god of flame.
For example, Hadō #31: Shakkahō.
Incantation: "O Ruler! Mask of flesh and blood, all things in creation, soar on wings, that which bears the name of man! Heat and strife, surge across the sea and southward, march on!"
Evil Beast = lightning. The Evil Beast was a demonic beast of Hell that had been slain. The gods dismembered its corpse and handed it to the Soul Reapers to seal. All incantations related to lightning had to involve parts of the Evil Beast.
For example, Hadō #63: Raikōhō.
Incantation: "Bones of the beast scattered across the stars, spire, red crystal, wheels of steel. Move and become the wind, halt and become the void. Let the sound of clashing spears fill the empty city!"
Wind = Glorifier. Like the Ruler, this one was a god. The first line of every wind-related incantation was "Glorifier!" followed by xxxx.
Earth = Nurturer. As above, a god; the incantation had to begin with "Nurturer."
Darkness = Iron Princess. She, too, came from Hell and was said to have been sealed after her defeat. All incantations related to darkness had to contain punishments and curses directed at her.
For example, Hadō #90: Black Coffin.
Incantation: "A murky crest seeps faintly forth, a wild and insolent talent; surge, denial, paralysis, an instant, obstructing long sleep. Crawling Iron Princess, a doll of clay that endlessly mutilates itself! Unite, rebound, extend to the ground, and know your own powerlessness."
Then there were the special existences: the Dragon, and the Venerable, another god of Heaven with no attribute. These made up all of Hadō.
Bakudō drew on more things than Hadō, though they were relatively less impressive.
For example, those with rope-binding abilities had to mention an existence called the "Black Dog of Rondanini." Legend had it that this one was the Iron Princess's servant and had been bound by the gods, leading to the Iron Princess being sealed. Thus, all binding-type abilities required an incantation invoking this one.
Then there was light. The word in light incantations was simply "light." This was a god, and also a person, an exceedingly special existence.
Next came the Four Holy Beasts: the Azure Dragon, Black Tortoise, Vermilion Bird, and White Tiger. These four were also key to Bakudō.
There was also the Favored Child of Heaven, a sage said to possess an indestructible iron wall. Barrier-type Bakudō had to mention this figure or a treasure once owned by him.
By the end of the explanation, not only Jun but Yuzu and Nana were also thoroughly bewildered. They gazed at Isuzu in admiration, and even a boss like Isuzu, outwardly blank but inwardly calculating and normally so composed, felt a little giddy.
Yet Jun extracted information from that flood of words and, combining it with what he knew of the Bleach backstory from his previous life, seemed to have confirmed the existence of the two planes, Heaven and Hell.
Come to think of it, there really had been an invasion-of-Hell story in one of the original Bleach movies, though Jun hadn't accepted that movie before. He had also been somewhat dismissive of the claim that Heaven had created Soul Society and Hell had created Hueco Mundo.
But now, could all of that really be true? It was a little hard to accept. Didn't it completely upend his worldview?
The gods had helped humans defeat Hell, and then the gods had created Soul Society while Hell had created Hueco Mundo. Yet Hueco Mundo was who knew how many times larger than Soul Society, and Hollows were much stronger than Soul Reapers.
Take the Arrancar, for example. If Bull-Head Ichigo hadn't appeared against Ulquiorra, Byakuya and Zaraki would basically have died in Hueco Mundo. Starrk, the first Arrancar, was also ridiculously powerful. If Kyōraku's Zanpakuto hadn't had a special, rule-based ability that let him take Starrk down by trickery, Starrk might well have been able to turn the tide of battle to some extent.
Moreover, Starrk, the first Arrancar, hadn't been created by Aizen; he had removed his own mask. In other words, given enough time, Hollows could become Arrancar on their own. The Soul Reapers simply couldn't win unless every one of them could use disintegration like Ichigo.
So had Heaven won or lost? Why was the place it created inferior to the other side's, and why was the power it bestowed on humanity inferior too? How could the winner be so embarrassing?
All in all, the mass of information left Jun somewhat dizzy and his worldview shaken.
"Yare yare~ What I learned today was really explosive." Even as Jun lay in bed, he couldn't stop thinking about it. Looking at the lights outside, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
What does Aizen think about all this? He loves reading so much, he should know about it, right? Why not go ask him?