The Dream Was to Join a Cushy Division

Soul Society, Shino Academy

At this moment, the Main Hall of Shino Academy was crowded with students and even teachers dressed in the academy's uniforms.

Today was Shino Academy's annual graduation ceremony. As one of this year's graduates, Nanye Cheng stood among the graduating class, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

"Yoru Machi, which division are you planning to join later?" The one asking Yoru Machi was a man with narrow eyes, a rather fierce expression, and a head as shiny as a steel ball.

The light reflecting off his bald head under the sun was so blinding that, aside from Yumichika Ayasegawa, who was quite close to Ikkaku Madarame, almost no one stood near them.

"Haven't I said it long ago while we were at Shino Academy?

"My dream division is the Fourth Division. If that doesn't work out, then I'll join the Thirteenth Division. In any case, there's no way I'm going brain-dead like you two and join the Eleventh Division!"

The Gotei 13 was one of the Soul Society's important institutions, a special force responsible for maintaining order in the Soul Society and the Human World. Souls who joined the Gotei 13 had generally secured a government post, and only then qualified to be called "Soul Reapers."

Shino Academy was an institution in the Seireitei that trained Soul Reapers. Souls from Rukongai with decent aptitude and strong Reiryoku generally came here to study, learning the Soul Reaper arts of Zanpakuto, Kidō, Hoho, and Hakuda to become apprentice Soul Reapers.

After completing their studies, the heads of the Gotei 13 arranged for their divisions to recruit new members here every year.

Whether ordinary souls or Soul Reapers, the beings living in the Soul Society were fundamentally Spirit Bodies, and generally did not face limitations such as lifespan.

But being a Spirit Body did not mean one could not die. For the impoverished residents of Rukongai, becoming a Soul Reaper in the Gotei 13 was indeed a desirable government job, but work that required wielding a blade was often accompanied by an extremely high fatality rate.

For that very reason, whenever Shino Academy's graduation day arrived each year, the Gotei 13 divisions short on manpower came here to recruit.

In the spacious hall, graduates bustled about and looked around at the banners representing the various divisions, pondering their future lives.

Getting assigned a government job immediately after graduation might have sounded good, but most Shino Academy graduates knew perfectly well that joining the Gotei 13 was highly dangerous. One wrong move, and they might end up cremated on the spot.

Thus, Shino Academy students were exceptionally cautious when choosing a division. Once they had made their choice, it was almost impossible for ordinary Soul Reapers to transfer divisions midway.

There was no absolute fairness in the world, and no matter where one went, class differences always existed.

Neither members of the Four Great Noble Clans nor people with influential backing, they were merely small fry. It was already good enough to land a government post—what right did they have to be picky?

At the very least, compared to the ordinary souls in Rukongai who went hungry at least twice a day, work in the Gotei 13 might have been more dangerous, but its benefits were already quite good.

"No way! You really plan to join the Fourth Division and Thirteenth Division? I always thought you were joking before.

"You're so good at Zanpakuto, Kidō, Hoho, and Hakuda, yet you want to join the medical division and the Purification Squad? That's ridiculous!

"Why not join the Eleventh Division with Yumichika and me? The Eleventh Division is a combat division. Hot-blooded battle is a man's romance. With your strength, are you joining a medical division or the Purification Squad so you can retire in peace?"

Yoru Machi, Ikkaku Madarame, and Yumichika Ayasegawa had met in Rukongai.

Because order in Rukongai was chaotic, Yoru Machi had clashed with the two of them at the time, and they had fought one another.

It was also because of that fight that Yoru Machi formed a certain friendship with them, and the three of them came to Shino Academy together.

Ikkaku was a loyal man who admired very few people. Back in Rukongai, he had always been a local boss of sorts, until he encountered Yoru Machi and another man named Kenpachi.

His battle with Yoru Machi had been tolerable. Though he ultimately lost, he had at least been defeated after an evenly matched fight.

But when facing the man named Kenpachi, Ikkaku had been utterly crushed without the slightest ability to fight back!

Later, Ikkaku learned that Kenpachi had gone to the Seireitei and become a Soul Reaper in the Gotei 13. Wanting to follow him, Ikkaku had agreed without hesitation when Yoru Machi suggested going to Shino Academy, even bringing along his close friend Yumichika Ayasegawa.

"Who's joking with you? What do you think I've been training Kaidō for all this time? It's to become an outstanding Medical Ninja... ah, damn it, an outstanding member of a healing division.

"What the hell would a muscle-brain like you understand? Charging into battle alone is just hero worship. My dream is to become a logistics worker who contributes silently behind the scenes."

As he said this, Yoru Machi even wore an expression that was both solemn and burdened with a great mission. If strangers unfamiliar with him had seen it, they might have been moved by his spirit.

However, Ikkaku and Yumichika had known Yoru Machi for years. Seeing him put on such an act, they could not help voicing their complaints at the same time.

Ikkaku: "You're just afraid of trouble, aren't you?"

Yumichika: "No, I think he's afraid of dying... Sometimes, I truly don't understand it. Yoru Machi's strength is clearly among the best of this year's graduates.

"Yet in every assessment, he always suppresses his results to somewhere in the lower-middle range. Isn't it good to stand out because of your excellence? Or are you afraid of something?"

Unlike Ikkaku, that muscle-headed idiot, Yumichika was definitely the intelligent type. He had noticed it ever since they entered Shino Academy together.

Of the Soul Reaper arts of Zanpakuto, Kidō, Hoho, and Hakuda, setting Hakuda, Hoho, and Kidō aside for the moment, Yumichika, who had fought Yoru Machi before, knew that Yoru Machi's skill with the blade had already reached an extremely high level. Yet every time he took an assessment, the results he displayed were always below average.

Whenever Yumichika and Ikkaku asked him why, Yoru Machi always said things they could not understand at all, things that sounded utterly nonsensical.

For example, "If you're not the protagonist, don't draw attention to yourself," or, "If you're too outstanding, some research fanatic might take an interest in you"—things along those lines.

At first, Yumichika thought Yoru Machi had some enemy in the Seireitei. But after many years at Shino Academy passed in complete peace, with no one ever coming to trouble Yoru Machi, Yumichika began to think that Yoru Machi simply suffered from persecution delusions.

Still, that was hardly strange. Of the people who had lived in Rukongai, how many had entirely normal personalities?

Yoru Machi was strong, and his looks were the only ones Yumichika Ayasegawa had ever seen that could rival his own. It was only normal for him to have some other flaw.