Wings Growing Stronger

A faint sound woke Hu.

The door slid open, so softly it was like the morning breeze brushing against window paper.

He opened his eyes groggily and instinctively looked toward the door, still mumbling, "Instructor Cilian, why are you so early today..."

Then he froze.

The person standing in the doorway wasn't Cilian.

It was Fon Shaoling.

She wore an outfit Hu had never seen before: a pale cyan short jacket made of soft, comfortable-looking fabric, with delicate little white patterns embroidered on the cuffs and collar that were almost impossible to notice without a close look. Below was a pair of navy-blue hakama that reached her ankles, giving her a neat, crisp appearance. A thin, light-gray sash was tied around her waist, with a small golden Fon Clan crest hanging from it, glinting faintly in the morning light.

Instead of wearing her hair loose as usual, she had tied it simply at the back of her head, revealing her fair neck. She wore no makeup, yet had a freshness particular to the early morning.

Hu stared, transfixed.

"Yexing-san?" Fon Shaoling tilted her head, a hint of confusion in her golden eyes. "Are you awake?"

Hu abruptly came to his senses and sat bolt upright, nearly tumbling out of bed.

"Sh-Shaoling?! Why are you here?!"

Fon Shaoling laughed softly, entered the room, and sat down by the table.

"I came to wake you up," she said brightly. "Your Kidō training starts today. Did you forget?"

Hu rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up.

"But... doesn't Instructor Cilian usually wake me up?"

Fon Shaoling nodded, a subtle look flashing in her eyes.

"Instructor Cilian did something unusual and submitted a request for leave today," she said. "He'll be resting for the next half month. He went out early this morning."

Hu blinked.

"Leave? Instructor Cilian?"

"Mm." The corners of Fon Shaoling's lips rose slightly. "I thought it was unusual too. He never takes leave of his own accord. But—"

She paused and looked out the window, a hint of relief in her voice.

"It's a good thing he's willing to rest of his own accord."

Hu looked at her, feeling that her tone today was a little different from usual. More... relaxed? More like an ordinary girl?

"Let's go." Fon Shaoling stood up. "The Kidō Practice Room is quite a way from here. We can talk on the way."

The two walked side by side through the Fon Clan's corridors.

The early morning sun slanted in, casting long shadows on the floor. Bamboo leaves rustled in the distance, punctuated by the occasional birdcall.

Hu stole a glance at Fon Shaoling beside him.

She walked lightly, her steps short but steady. Her pale cyan jacket swayed gently with her movements, the little flowers on its cuffs appearing and disappearing in the sunlight. Her profile was bathed in a faint layer of morning light, and her eyelashes cast shadows on her cheeks like two little fans.

"Yexing-san."

Hu hastily looked away.

"Mm?"

Fon Shaoling didn't look at him. She just gazed ahead, her tone as casual as if she were talking about the weather.

"Have you gotten used to staying with the Fon Clan these past few days?"

Hu thought for a moment.

"I think... so," he said. "It's completely different from my old life, but everyone here has taken good care of me. Instructor Cilian is always serious, but he gives me his most sincere advice when it matters; Instructor Sakiro teaches me very diligently; and although I haven't spent much time with Instructor Tessai, he still gave me his notes on Hakuda after I passed the assessment. And Shimizu..."

He paused.

"How is Shimizu doing?"

The corners of Fon Shaoling's lips curved slightly.

"He's recovering well. He could already get out of bed and walk a few steps yesterday. Keiko went to see him, and the two of them cried their eyes out in the infirmary."

Hu smiled too.

"That's good."

They walked a little farther. Then Fon Shaoling suddenly asked another question.

"What about Soul Society?"

Hu fell silent for a while.

"To be honest, when I first got here, my mind was a complete blank," he said. "Even after I learned I'd died, it didn't feel very real. I always felt far removed from this place. None of it felt real, and I didn't know what to do.

"After that, I heard Jiku'a's voice and learned my Spirit Body was in terrible condition, but that didn't feel real either. I thought I'd just go wherever I ended up. Some part of me must have still felt that I didn't belong here.

"Then I met you, fought for the first time, got a name, met the people of the Fon Clan, met Shimizu... I guess I gradually got used to it."

He scratched his head.

"There's still a lot I don't understand, and a lot of things... I can't do. But I think I'm slowly starting to feel like I can fit into this world."

Fon Shaoling nodded gently.

She said nothing, but Hu noticed that her smile had grown a little wider.

Hu couldn't help looking at her again.

Sunlight fell on her, making her pale cyan jacket look especially soft. Only then did he notice that the patterns on it weren't random embroidery—they were tiny bees, one after another, hidden along the edges of the cuffs, collar, and hem. Without looking closely, he wouldn't have noticed them at all.

And the golden clan crest at her waist shimmered with flecks of light in the sun.

"What are you looking at?"

Hu abruptly came to his senses and found Fon Shaoling looking at him with her head tilted, a teasing smile in her golden eyes.

"N-nothing!" Hu's face turned red.

Fon Shaoling laughed softly but didn't press him.

She simply turned around and continued walking.

"We're almost there."

Hu followed Fon Shaoling through a maze of turns until they finally stopped in front of an inconspicuous door.

"We're here."

Fon Shaoling pushed the door open and stepped aside to let Hu in.

Hu walked in and found himself in an empty room. The walls were plain white, the wooden floor was light-colored, and the windows were set high up. Sunlight slanted in from above, casting patches of light across the floor.

There was nothing in the room.

No bookshelves, no books, no tables, no sign of anything related to Kidō.

Hu froze.

"This is... the Kidō Practice Room?"

"Mm." Fon Shaoling nodded and walked to the center of the room. "This is the theory instruction area."

She crouched down and gently pressed a spot on the floor with her finger.

Click.

A mechanism sounded softly.

Then the walls began to move.

The wooden latticework on the walls, which had seemed to be decorative, began folding outward, revealing things hidden inside. Books slid out of the concealed compartments one after another, landing securely on platforms that rose from the floor. Sections of the surrounding floor also folded open, and slender pillars rose up, each supporting a stack of books.

One book, two books, ten books, twenty books—more and more emerged from every direction, arranging and stacking themselves in the air as if alive. In the end, they formed pillars of books all around him and Fon Shaoling.

Hu's mouth fell open, and for a long time he couldn't speak.

"Th-this..."

Fon Shaoling stood up, brushed nonexistent dust from her hands, and walked to the only lectern in the center of the room. She turned around, reached for a pair of glasses on the lectern, and gently set them on the bridge of her nose.

Hu froze again.

They were a perfectly ordinary pair of thin-framed glasses, but the moment she put them on, her whole demeanor changed, becoming more intellectual.

"Yexing Hu." Fon Shaoling's voice was a little more formal than usual too. "Starting today, I'll be your Kidō teacher."

Hu's mouth fell open.

"Y-you?!"

The corners of Fon Shaoling's lips rose slightly.

"What? Can't I be?"

"No, it's just..." Hu tried to calm himself down. "But you..."

Fon Shaoling didn't answer. She simply raised her left hand, and her sleeve slipped down to reveal a short sword. It was much shorter than an ordinary Zanpakuto, with a dark-purple sheath engraved with golden bee patterns.

"Although I usually focus on clan affairs, I'm still a direct descendant of a lower noble family, and I did formally graduate from Shin'ō Academy. I'm a fully qualified Soul Reaper," she said calmly. "Although I rarely have opportunities to fight, I did graduate with top marks in Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō. Kidō in particular is my specialty. I even go back to the academy as a guest lecturer from time to time."

Hu stared at the short sword, and images suddenly flashed through his mind.

Soi Fon in the original story... used a short sword too. And her mastery of Kidō... really didn't seem to be lacking, did it?

He recalled the figure who had used Shunkō in the original story. That move seemed to be a combination of Kidō and Hakuda.

Are all members of the Fon Clan highly talented in Kidō?

He raised his head and looked at Fon Shaoling.

Her gaze was calm, but Hu had the feeling that beneath that calm was a hint of... anticipation?

"Then I'll be in your care for the next month, Teacher Shaoling," he said.

Fon Shaoling's eyes lit up slightly.

"Leave it to me, Ye Xing-kun." She then turned around and pressed another mechanism on the lectern.

Click.

The pillars of books around them suddenly began to move again. The books spun and shifted, finally forming an enormous formation around the two of them.

"You've never studied Kidō before, have you, Ye Xing-kun?" Fon Shaoling asked in a teacherly tone, though she already knew the answer.

"That's right, Teacher Shaoling," Hu played along.

"I see, you've never studied it... then it can't be helped." Fon Shaoling spoke calmly as she pushed up her glasses, a mischievous smile appearing on her face. "In that case, over the next few days, you'll need to memorize everything in these books."

Hu froze and looked around...

"Memorize... all of it?"

"Mm." Fon Shaoling nodded. "Memorize it first, then understand it. The theoretical framework of Kidō is vast. You don't have time to memorize it while practicing; it would be too disjointed."

Hu looked at the densely packed pillars of books around him, at the crowded lettering on their spines: "Basic Theory of Hadō," "A Detailed Explanation of Bakudō," "The History and Development of Kidō," "The Relationship Between Reishi Composition and Kidō," "The Essentials of Incantations," "The Combined Use of Kidō and Zanpakuto"...

He suddenly remembered his school days.

All those texts he could never finish memorizing, all those formulas he could never get down, all those nights he'd stayed up cramming before exams...

A familiar sense of anguish rose from the depths of his heart.

"No..." he murmured.

Fon Shaoling tilted her head.

"No what?"

Hu wanted to cry, but had no tears.

"Nothing..."

"Don't worry, I won't make you memorize every book from beginning to end. I'll mark the important parts." Fon Shaoling gave him a kind smile.

But in Hu's eyes, it was as if he could see the teachers who had coaxed him into memorizing texts and formulas before...

The morning's Kidō study slowly unfolded amid Hu's painful memories.

That afternoon, the training ground still held the same endless array of plum-blossom posts.

Hu didn't know if it was just his imagination, but the wooden posts seemed thinner and farther apart than yesterday.

Sakiro stood at the starting point, leafing through the notebook she used to record data.

"Yesterday's farthest distance: two hundred and forty-seven meters." Her voice was utterly flat. "Today's target: three hundred meters."

"Wasn't the assessment supposed to be tomorrow?" Hu didn't quite understand.

He looked at the posts ahead. Each was thinner and farther away than the last. The farthest one had become an almost invisible speck in his eyes.

"If you don't reach three hundred meters today, does it make a difference whether you're assessed today or tomorrow? The final assessment time was set for people who leave themselves to luck. A truly strong person won't rely on something so intangible. A distance reached through training will always be more reliable than one reached through luck." Shakiro closed her notebook and kept her eyes on Hu until he took his position.

"Begin."

At her command, Hu began training.

Fifty-three meters. He stood firm.

Seventy-eight meters. His feet wobbled slightly.

One hundred and twelve meters. He took a deep breath.

One hundred and forty-seven meters. He steadied himself.

One hundred and eighty-three meters. The wind was a little strong, and his body swayed, but fortunately he adjusted in time.

Two hundred and fifteen meters. The post was now only as wide as his palm. As he landed, his toes slipped along the edge, and he nearly fell.

Two hundred and forty-seven meters. Yesterday's limit. He landed on the post, his calves already starting to tremble.

"Continue." Sakiro's voice came from behind him, utterly devoid of warmth.

Hu gritted his teeth and stepped forward again—

Two hundred and sixty-three meters.

The instant he landed, his foot slipped and he toppled backward. He swung his arms wildly, Reishi surging into his legs as he forcibly pulled himself back. The post shook violently, but he finally steadied himself.

His heart pounded.

"Two hundred and sixty-three." Sakiro's voice rang out. "Continue."

Hu panted heavily as he looked ahead.

The next post was marked at two hundred and seventy-eight meters.

It was as thin as a needle, swaying slightly in the wind.

He took a deep breath and concentrated Reishi in his legs—

He stepped forward.

Wind roared past his ears as the post grew larger and larger before his eyes—

His foot landed on that "needle."

The post shook violently, and his body swayed with it, his arms flailing wildly—

But he still couldn't steady himself.

He slipped off the post and crashed heavily to the ground.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Hu pushed himself up, gasping for breath.

Sakiro used Shunpo to appear above him and looked down at him.

"Failed after two hundred and sixty-three meters." She made a note in her notebook. "Again."

Hu got up, rolled the shoulder he had hurt in the fall, and returned to the starting point.

The second attempt.

Fifty-three meters, seventy-eight meters, one hundred and twelve meters, one hundred and forty-seven meters, one hundred and eighty-three meters, two hundred and fifteen meters, two hundred and forty-seven meters—

Two hundred and sixty-three meters. This time, he held his footing.

Two hundred and seventy-eight meters. His foot landed on the stake, and he swayed three times before steadying himself.

"Two hundred and seventy-eight," Sakiro said. "Twenty-two meters to go."

Hu raised his head and looked at the next stake.

Two hundred and ninety-three meters.

It was thinner than the last one.

He took a deep breath and stepped forward—but

The moment his foot landed on the stake, he knew something had gone wrong.

His entire center of gravity tilted to the left, and no matter what he did, he couldn't pull himself back.

"Ah—!"

He fell to the ground again.

Sakiro appeared by the net, looked down at him, and made another note in her notebook.

"Failed after two hundred and seventy-eight meters. Again."

And so came the third attempt, the fourth, the fifth...

After who knew how many attempts...

Two hundred and ninety-three meters! He held his footing.

But when he looked at the stake three hundred meters away, his legs had already begun to tremble. He hesitated, then stepped forward—

While still in midair, he knew the flow of his Reishi hadn't kept up.

He was half a meter short.

His fingers just barely touched the stake, but his whole body was already falling.

"Again!"

The sun began to sink in the west.

Hu lay sprawled on the ground, his whole body feeling as if it had fallen apart. His clothes were soaked with sweat, his hair plastered to his forehead, and he was gasping for breath.

Countless failures... always falling short in that final stretch.

Sakiro stood beside him, looking down at him without a word.

Hu rolled over and looked at the sky.

The horizon had already taken on a faint orange hue.

"Instructor Sakiro..." he said hoarsely, "if I were on flat ground, could I already make it to three hundred meters?"

Sakiro was silent for a while.

"Maybe, but... only if you can control your landing point down to the smallest detail can you make it every time. That's what I'm asking of you. If you think you can't do it, you can use Shunpo on flat ground now. As long as you go more than three hundred meters, I'll count it as a pass." Shakiro lowered her head, hiding her eyes beneath her bangs, and fell silent.

Hu closed his eyes and sighed. He slowly got up, scratched his head, and stood on the stake. "I haven't reached three hundred meters yet. Let's keep going, Instructor Shakiro."

Shakiro raised her head, revealing her eyes, and looked at Hu's back. A smile tugged at her lips, only to vanish immediately. She jumped onto a stake beside him.

"Begin!"

Hearing her, Hu used Shunpo once more...

At last, he once again reached the final stake. He raised his head and looked at the stake three hundred meters away.

As thin as a needle.

As distant as the horizon.

"The last one," Sakiro's voice came from behind him. "Think it through before you move."

Hu took a deep breath.

This time, he didn't rush to mobilize his Reishi.

He simply looked at the stake, at that tiny point. From the beginning, when Sakiro had corrected his gait by tapping him with a wooden stick, to being kicked along by the Onmitsukidō all the way through Sizhuzhai, to the grueling training of the past two days—he glanced again at Shakiro. The instructor seemed to have placed something in him, and whatever it was, it had to be something that could give her hope...

Three hundred meters.

He closed his eyes.

Shimizu's face appeared in his mind, lying in a hospital bed. He remembered Cilian's words from last night again: "Just a bird that doesn't think about filling out its own wings?" He pictured Fon Shaoling earnestly explaining the principles of Kidō to him that morning:

Everyone is expecting me to grow, and now it's time to answer their expectations.

He opened his eyes.

Reishi began to gather in his legs. It began to flow steadily and evenly. He focused all his attention beneath his feet, on that tiny point.

He stepped forward once more.

In that instant, the world seemed to fall silent.

He couldn't hear the wind or his own heartbeat. All he could see was the stake drawing closer and closer—

His foot landed on the stake.

Not his toes, but the entire sole of his foot.

The instant he landed, his knees bent naturally, his body leaned slightly forward, and his center of gravity settled firmly over his foot. Reishi seeped from his sole, gripping the surface of the stake like a suction cup.

The stake swayed.

It steadied after that single sway.

Hu stood on the stake at three hundred meters, holding his landing position. He slowly straightened up and looked down at his feet—he was indeed standing on that absurdly thin stake.

He had done it.

Suddenly, applause came from behind him.

For an instant, Hu thought it couldn't be Instructor Shakiro. Instructor Sakiro would never clap.

He turned and saw Sakiro standing on a stake not far away. There was no notebook in her hands; she was clapping them together.

Hu looked at Shakiro in surprise.

Sakiro was smiling.

Her smile was brilliant, her eyes curving into crescents and the corners of her mouth lifting high. She looked nothing like the instructor she usually was. Because he had never seen her smile before, it was especially dazzling.

"Instructor Sakiro... so you can smile?"

Sakiro's smile froze for a moment.

Then she used Shunpo to appear in front of Hu and raised a hand to rap him on the head.

"Thock!"

Clutching his head, Hu fell straight off the stake.

"That hurt!"

Sakiro looked down at him from above, the smile returning to her face. "Of course I can smile," she said. "As long as you meet your training targets and pass your assessments—I won't just smile, I'll smile brilliantly."

Hu rubbed his head and looked up at her.

Sakiro had already resumed her usual stance, but a slight curve remained at the corners of her mouth.

She cleared her throat, and her expression grew solemn.

"Yexing Hu."

Hu hurriedly stood straight—though standing straight on a stake required tremendous balance.

"I, Sakiro, in my capacity as the Walking Assessment examiner, hereby formally declare—"

She paused and looked at Hu.

"You have passed your 'walking' assessment with flying colors!"

Though Hu felt so exhausted he was about to collapse, hearing those words with his own ears felt different. He began to grin.

Seeing his silly expression, the corners of Sakiro's mouth curved upward again.

"Congratulations."

This time, her smile was gentle, full of sincere congratulations.

Hu looked at her and suddenly felt that his efforts had truly borne fruit.

"Thank you... Instructor Sakiro."

Sakiro nodded, then left using Shunpo.

Hu lay alone on the ground, watching the setting sun sink bit by bit, staining the entire sky orange-red.

He smiled. Though he was in a terrible state, he had done it. He headed toward his room.

His steps were much lighter.