Kido: Entry Level

"This place is no longer fit for living. Later, I'll take you to stay at my home."

Kyoraku sent the steward off to the street to buy new clothes, then turned back to invite Lin Nan, "I won't be staying at home, so you can just sleep in my room when the time comes."

Lin Nan was a bit puzzled: "You aren't going back? Then where do you plan to stay?"

"I don't like going home. I'll just find some corner here to make do for the night." Mentioning this, Kyoraku found a patch of empty ground nearby and sat down, his expression looking somewhat lonely.

Seeing this, Lin Nan felt a spark of curiosity and walked over to sit beside him: "If you aren't going back, it wouldn't be convenient for me to stay at your house alone. In that case, I won't go either."

Kyoraku shook his head hurriedly, thinking Lin Nan had misunderstood his intentions: "No, no, please feel free to stay there. My house is very spacious and there are plenty of servants; it won't be any trouble at all."

Lin Nan smiled and shook his head: "No, I'm a bit shy when it comes to new environments; I won't be able to sleep in a new place. Although this place is a bit run-down, I've already stayed here for a night, so at least it's familiar.

However, I am curious. I heard your family background is excellent, so why don't you want to go home? Can we talk about it?"

Kyoraku scratched his head gently, his eyes hesitant, and only after a while did he mutter: "Actually, it's nothing major..."

Lin Nan saw his internal conflict and, after a moment of thought, said with a smile: "It's fine if you don't want to say it. I don't like prying into other people's secrets. But if you are willing to share, I will exchange one of my secrets with you."

Kyoraku looked at him, surprised: "Really?"

"Really."

Kyoraku rubbed his nose: "But only friends can exchange secrets."

"Can't we become friends now?"

"It's not that. 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 around, and I was surrounded by servants; I never had the chance to go out and play. As I grew older, my parents, who were high-ranking nobles, died at the hands of rebels. After the rebels were driven off, my older brother had to stay behind for work in the Court Guard Squad, and finally, there was no one left at home to manage me.

But the children I met were all from ordinary families; they didn't like my background and wouldn't play with me. Later, my brother sent me here, and as you can see, other than the steward, there isn't a single person at Gen Private School.

So, I've usually played alone since I was a child. I don't have any friends."

Kyoraku spoke quietly, his eyes showing not a ripple of emotion as he looked at Lin Nan, as calm as if he were recounting someone else's story.

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

Kyoraku stared at him blankly for a long time, then revealed a joyful smile and said: "Okay!"

Lin Nan also laughed happily, adjusted his posture, and waited quietly for Kyoraku to reveal his secret.

Kyoraku took a deep breath and then said solemnly to Lin Nan: "I don't want to go home for two reasons. One of them is that I feel like my house... is haunted."

"What??" Lin Nan widened his eyes in surprise, "That's absurd. Don't lie to me, kid, or I'll have to call the police."

Strictly speaking, all living beings in the Soul Society were ghosts. How could a ghost's house be haunted?

Kyoraku was slightly stunned: "Call the police? What does that mean? I'm telling the truth; I'm not lying to you."

Seeing that the other party's expression didn't look like he was spouting nonsense, Lin Nan simply crossed his legs on the ground, leaned forward, and said seriously: "Then tell me in detail. I'm listening—what's going on?"

Kyoraku lowered his eyes, seemingly still feeling a lingering fear at the memory.

Starting about half a year ago, every night before falling asleep, a faint, indistinct voice would always appear in the pitch-black room, calling out the name Shunsui.

At first, Shunsui thought he was dreaming. But for several days in a row, the voice kept appearing.

"The voice sounded a bit sharp and blurry, as if it were coming through many layers of walls. It seemed to be giggling, yet also sobbing... In short, the more I listened, the more terrifying it became." As Kyoraku said this, his whole body tensed up involuntarily.

Lin Nan looked up and pointed at the sky: "It's broad daylight, what are you afraid of? It's fine, keep going."

Kyoraku continued with a serious face: "I thought something was broken near the room, making noise as it was blown by the night wind..."

So, he mobilized all the servants in the house to turn everything near the room upside down, but they couldn't find anything that could make such a noise. However, the voice persisted, and that was when he started to panic.

Consequently, Kyoraku began changing rooms every night to sleep. Unfortunately, it was useless; the voice was still there. He had servants sleep with him, but none of them could hear the eerie sound; only he could hear it.

"I was almost scared into a sickness. It just so happened that a month later, my older brother got married and had time to come home. I took the opportunity to pester him relentlessly, begging him to let me move somewhere else.

My brother had just gotten married; he had no heart to deal with me. Plus, I had always been very mischievous at home, bullying the servants, so he just sent me here to the old man's place." Kyoraku finished his recollection and let out a soft sigh of relief.

Lin Nan asked: "Then, since you arrived here, have you heard that voice again?"

Kyoraku shook his head: "It's strange, but since coming here, I really haven't heard it again."

Lin Nan touched his chin, thoughtful: "I see... then what about the second reason?"

Kyoraku was taken aback: "What second reason?"

"You just said there were two reasons yourself! What about the second one?" Lin Nan asked curiously, "If you're going to tell me, finish it all at once. You can't just leave me hanging like this!"

A flash of panic suddenly appeared on Kyoraku's face, and he hurriedly stood up and brushed off his backside to walk away: "There isn't one, how could there be a second reason... you heard wrong..."

"Hey, are you trying to pull up your pants and deny the debt?" Seeing this, Lin Nan also hurriedly stood up and chased after him: "You clearly said it just a moment ago with your own mouth!"

Kyoraku's eyes darted around, stalling: "You must have heard wrong... Right, didn't you say one secret for one secret just now? You haven't told your secret yet!"

Lin Nan looked at him and almost laughed in frustration.

Although the residents of the Soul Society lived longer than humans, their maturity was truly not on the same level. In terms of age, Kyoraku was already quite elderly by human standards, but his current behavior was no different from that of a teenager.

"Fine, then I'll tell you my secret. Listen up..." Lin Nan composed his expression, leaned in close to Kyoraku's ear, and whispered:

"I was originally planning to use the excuse of not staying at your house to make do here until midnight, and then jump the wall and run away..."

Kyoraku listened, his eyes widening in shock as he stared at him, momentarily rendered speechless.

You're telling me this too? You're a real friend.

"Then are you really leaving tonight?"

"Since we're friends now, I'll hang out with you for a few days. Besides, Old Man Yama won't be back for another three days..."

"Haha! That's great!"

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

"The workers sent by the family have already arrived to repair the courtyard. It'll probably be even messier here tomorrow, so I'll take you out to have some fun and wander around the Danzhao District..." Before falling asleep, Kyoraku excitedly planned out the next day's itinerary.

Suddenly, a question occurred to him, and he asked Lin Nan: "Right, I don't even know which of us is older. I'm 73, but I feel like you're a bit older than me. How old are you this year?"

Lin Nan nearly choked on his own saliva. Even with mental preparation, seeing a teenager claim to be over seventy was still incredibly jarring.

"I... I'm 84 this year." Lin Nan made up a number at random, regretting it the moment the words left his mouth.

No matter how you looked at it, that number felt ominous.

Kyoraku didn't suspect a thing; he nodded and joked: "Alright, in that case, you don't have to call me senior anymore."

Lin Nan also laughed: "Fine. I'll look after the young, and I won't beat you until you have a black eye again."

Bright moonlight shone onto the dim corridor. Lin Nan returned to the Playback Room once more.

I wonder if there will be a playback of the fight with Kyoraku? Filled with curiosity, he activated the instrument.

He saw a new line of small text appear on the left side of the screen:

Combat Playback: Duel against Kyoraku Shunsui.

"It really is there!" Lin Nan was overjoyed. It seemed this instrument didn't rely on the type of reiatsu to determine whether to record a battle.

Without time to overthink it, Lin Nan impatiently clicked on the footage of last night's duel with Kyoraku.

Unlike the playback of the match with Unohana, this battle lasted for an entire night, so it seemed the growth points he could obtain would be much higher.

Because the battle took place at night, the image was somewhat dim. Lin Nan had to squint to carefully observe every detail of the movements, but whenever Kyoraku used Kido, he couldn't help but be blinded by the glare.

On the screen, every Kido Kyoraku used was marked with a translucent frame, with dense dot matrices and arrows indicating the concentration of reishi and the direction of its flow.

Every Kido Kyoraku used was displayed before him in high definition.

"This is so detailed!" Lin Nan felt a surge of excitement as he watched the intricate footage. "I'm definitely going to get a lot of growth points from this!"

By the time he had tirelessly watched the entire battle process, he had no idea how much time had passed.

Lin Nan looked at the screen expectantly, waiting for the notification of his growth point increase. But after a long while, only one line of small text popped up.

Kido: Novice; Kido growth points: +1; Total Kido points: 1.

At the same time, above the screen, next to his name, three square tags glowing with a faint light had lit up: Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Kido.

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

Just this???