Beginner's Kido

"There's no way we can stay here. I'll take you to my house later."

Kyoraku sent the steward out to buy some new clothes, then turned back and invited Lin Nan, "I don't live at home. You can sleep in my room."

Lin Nan looked puzzled. "You don't go home? Where are you planning to stay?"

"I don't like going home. I'll just find some corner here and make do for the night." At the mention of it, Kyoraku sat down on a patch of clear ground nearby, looking rather dejected.

Seeing this, Lin Nan grew curious and sat beside him. "If you're not going home, it wouldn't be convenient for me to stay at your place by myself. So I won't go either."

Kyoraku hurriedly shook his head, thinking Lin Nan had misunderstood him. "No, no. Go ahead and stay there. My house is huge, and there are plenty of servants. It won't be any trouble."

Lin Nan smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm a bit uncomfortable in unfamiliar surroundings, and I can't sleep somewhere new. This place may be a bit run-down, but at least I've already spent a night here, so it feels more familiar.

"But I'm curious. I heard your family is well off. Why don't you want to go home? Can you tell me about it?"

Kyoraku scratched his head lightly, his eyes hesitant. After a while, he muttered, "It's really nothing serious..."

Lin Nan could see that he was conflicted. After thinking for a moment, he smiled and said, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I don't like prying into other people's secrets. But if you're willing to share, I'll trade you one of my secrets."

Kyoraku looked at him in surprise. "Really?"

"Really."

Kyoraku rubbed his nose. "But secrets are something you can only share with friends."

"Can't we be friends now?"

"No, I mean... I don't have any friends. So I'm not sure if I should tell you.

"When I was little, my parents were still alive, and I was surrounded by servants. I never had the chance to go out and play. When I got a little older, my parents, who were high-ranking nobles, were killed by the rebels. After the rebels were driven off, my brother had to stay and work for the Court Guard Squad. At last, there was no one at home to keep an eye on me.

"But all the kids I met were from ordinary families. They didn't like my background and wouldn't play with me. Later, my brother sent me here. You've seen it for yourself: apart from the steward, there isn't even anyone at Gen Private School anymore.

"So I usually played alone growing up. I didn't have any friends."

Kyoraku spoke quietly, looking at Lin Nan without a hint of emotion, as calmly as if he were telling someone else's story.

Lin Nan felt a stir in his heart and reached out to pat Kyoraku on the shoulder. "If you'd like, I can be your friend."

Kyoraku stared at him blankly for a long moment, then broke into a delighted smile. "Sure!"

Lin Nan smiled happily too. He shifted into a more comfortable position and waited quietly for Kyoraku to share his secret.

Kyoraku took a deep breath, then said solemnly, "There are two reasons I don't want to go home. One is that I think my house is haunted..."

"What?" Lin Nan's eyes widened. "That's ridiculous. Don't try to fool me, kid, or I'll call the cops."

Strictly speaking, every living being in Soul Society was a ghost. How could a ghost's house be haunted?

Kyoraku blinked. "Call the cops? What does that mean? I'm telling the truth. I'm not fooling you."

Lin Nan saw that Kyoraku didn't look like he was making things up, so he sat cross-legged on the ground, leaned forward, and said seriously, "All right, tell me exactly what happened."

Kyoraku lowered his eyes, seeming still shaken whenever he thought about it.

Starting about half a year ago, every night before he fell asleep, a faint voice would appear in the dark room, calling Shunsui's name.

At first, Shunsui thought he was dreaming. But after several nights, the voice kept coming back.

"The voice sounded a little shrill and unclear, as if it were coming through layer after layer of walls. It seemed to be laughing, but also sounded like sobbing... Anyway, the more I listened, the scarier it got." As Kyoraku spoke, he tensed up despite himself.

Lin Nan looked up and pointed at the sky. "It's broad daylight. What are you scared of? It's fine. Go on."

Kyoraku continued with a serious expression. "I thought something near my room had broken, and the night wind was making it rattle..."

So he got all the servants in the house to turn everything near his room upside down, but they couldn't find anything that might make the noise. The sound kept coming, and he started to panic.

After that, Kyoraku began sleeping in a different room every night. It didn't help; the sound was still there. He even had a servant sleep with him, but none of them could hear the eerie voice. Only he could.

"I was almost scared sick. Then, about a month later, my brother happened to come home for his wedding. I took the opportunity to pester him until he agreed to find me somewhere else to live.

"My brother had just gotten married. He had no time to deal with me. Besides, I'd always been mischievous when I was home alone and bullied the servants, so he sent me straight to Old Man Yama." Kyoraku finished his story and let out a small sigh of relief.

Lin Nan asked, "Have you heard that voice since you came here?"

Kyoraku shook his head. "It's strange. I really haven't heard it again since I got here."

Lin Nan stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I see... What's the second reason?"

Kyoraku looked surprised. "What second reason?"

"You said yourself there were two reasons! What's the second one?" Lin Nan asked curiously. "If you're going to tell me, tell me the whole thing. You can't just leave me hanging!"

A sudden look of panic crossed Kyoraku's face. He quickly got to his feet, dusted himself off, and walked away. "There isn't one. What second reason? You must've misheard..."

"Hey, you can't take it back now!" Lin Nan hurried after him. "You just said it loud and clear!"

Kyoraku's eyes darted around as he tried to brush him off. "You definitely misheard... Right, didn't you say we'd trade secrets? You haven't told me yours!"

Looking at him, Lin Nan nearly laughed in frustration.

The people of Soul Society lived longer than humans, but their maturity was on a completely different level. By human standards, Kyoraku was already quite old, yet he was acting no differently from a boy in his teens.

"Fine, I'll tell you my secret. Listen..." Lin Nan composed himself, leaned close to Kyoraku's ear, and whispered seriously,

"I was planning to use the excuse of not staying at your place to hang around here until midnight, then sneak out over the wall..."

Kyoraku stared at him in shock, unable to speak for a moment.

You'd tell me that, too? What a good friend.

"So are you really leaving tonight?"

"Now that we're friends, I'll keep you company for a few days. Old Man Yama won't be back for another three days anyway..."

"Haha! That's great!"

The two changed into the new clothes the steward had bought and chatted until dark. After dinner, they found a relatively intact corner of the dojo and lay down on the floor.

"The workers my family sent have already started repairing the courtyard. It'll probably be even messier here tomorrow, so I'll take you out to explore Danzhao District..." Before bed, Kyoraku excitedly planned out the next day's activities.

Then he thought of something and asked Lin Nan, "By the way, I don't know which of us is older. I'm seventy-three, and you seem a little older than me. How old are you this year?"

Lin Nan nearly choked on his own saliva. Even when you were prepared for it, hearing a boy say he was over seventy still felt absurd.

"I'm... eighty-four this year." Lin Nan made up a number, then immediately regretted it.

The number seemed unlucky no matter how he looked at it.

Kyoraku didn't question him. He nodded, then joked, "All right. In that case, you don't have to call me senior anymore."

Lin Nan laughed too. "Sure. I'll be nice to the young ones and stop giving you two black eyes."

Bright moonlight spilled across the dim corridor. Lin Nan returned to the Playback Room.

"I wonder if that fight with Kyoraku will have a playback." Curious, he started the machine.

A new line of small text appeared on the left side of the screen:

Battle Playback: Fight against Kyoraku Shunsui.

"It worked!" Lin Nan was overjoyed. It seemed the machine didn't rely on spiritual pressure type to determine whether to record a fight.

With no time to think about it, Lin Nan eagerly opened the footage of his fight with Kyoraku the previous night.

Unlike the playback of his fight with Unohana, this battle had lasted the entire night. It looked like it would give him even more progress.

Since the fight had taken place at night, the footage was rather dim. Lin Nan had to squint and carefully study every detail of each move, but whenever Kyoraku used Kido, the flashes inevitably dazzled him.

On the screen, every Kido Kyoraku used was marked with a translucent box, while a dense array of dots and arrows showed the concentration and direction of the gathered spirit particles.

Every Kido Kyoraku used was presented to him in crystal-clear detail.

"How detailed!" Lin Nan watched the footage, brimming with excitement. "I'm sure I'll make a lot of progress this time!"

By the time he had diligently watched the entire fight, he had lost track of how much time had passed.

Lin Nan gazed at the screen expectantly, waiting for a notification that his progress had increased. But after a long while, only one line of small text appeared.

Kido: Beginner; Kido Progress: +1; Total Kido Points: 1.

At the same time, three faintly glowing rectangular labels lit up at the top of the screen beside his name: Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Kido.

Lin Nan: "??? That's it???"

That's it???