The Ceremony

After speaking with Yamamoto and several teachers organizing the entrance ceremony, Yamamoto headed alone to the office prepared for him at the Spirit Arts Academy.

At today's ceremony, he would attend in formal dress as the founder of Shino Academy. Along the way, many young teachers stepped aside when they saw him and bowed respectfully.

Yamamoto, too, set aside his usual stern demeanor and returned their greetings with a kind nod.

In over a thousand years, if he had left anything behind, then apart from Gen Private School, it could only be Shino Academy.

Here, Yamamoto Shigekuni could finally set aside the bloody killing that had continued for centuries and take up once more the honor of being a teacher.

As he walked, he thought of what had just happened at the entrance to the Spirit Arts Academy, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"That kid Lin Nan dared to stand up to the rich and powerful for a classmate he'd just met... No wonder. He'd gone alone and unarmed into a rebel stronghold to rescue someone. How could a mere noble's son intimidate him?

"...Still, that Kyoraku fellow may be unruly, but he does have a strong sense of justice. He actually spoke up for a commoner classmate. I never would have guessed that about him..."

In Soul Society, naturally gifted children with an affinity for reiryoku weren't especially rare, but children like Lin Nan, who were righteous and unafraid of the powerful, certainly were.

Ukitake Jushiro? Yamamoto didn't know much about him, but from what he'd seen, he seemed like a kind and clever boy too.

"I hope those brats train hard. The future of the Court Guard Squad can only be entrusted to people with character like theirs..." Yamamoto opened his wardrobe and took out the black uniform he had kept for so long.

Although it was much like the standard uniforms Soul Reapers wore today, this one had accompanied him through centuries of teaching. Only when he wore it could Yamamoto briefly forget the things in Seireitei that infuriated him every day.

"Old friend, we meet again. Today, let's go welcome the new students together!" He took off his clothes, revealing his corded muscles, then put on the black uniform.

On the athletic field, the students had spread out, chatting in small groups.

Seeing that the people across from him reacted differently from the others, Tsunayashiro Tokinada quickly explained, "I really am from the Tsunayashiro Clan. But I'm from a branch family, and I haven't had much contact with the main family.

"So I hope to make more friends at the Spirit Arts Academy. Please don't keep your distance from me!" He bowed sincerely to Lin Nan and the other two.

Lin Nan and the others quickly stepped aside. Out of politeness, Kyoraku still exchanged a few words with Tsunayashiro Tokinada, though he seemed unable to believe what was happening.

From the look of disbelief that kept appearing on Kyoraku's face, Lin Nan could guess why.

Seeing a scion of one of Soul Society's Four Great Noble Houses personally delivering gifts and networking everywhere was like seeing a defense minister directing traffic at an intersection. People and things like that simply didn't belong together—and imagining it was absurd.

Ukitake didn't have as concrete an understanding of the Four Great Noble Houses as Kyoraku did, so he wasn't as surprised by Tsunayashiro Tokinada handing out gifts everywhere. He, too, politely joined the conversation.

Lin Nan didn't join in. He still felt an inexplicable sense of dissonance. According to the original novel, Tsunayashiro Tokinada had been an inconspicuous boy during his student days.

But was it possible for a boy bearing the surname of one of the Four Great Noble Houses to go unnoticed during all those years at school? Wouldn't the sycophantic noble students jump at the chance to befriend someone from one of the Four Great Noble Houses?

Besides, at this moment, who but Lin Nan could imagine that this kind-looking boy would one day become another boss after Yhwach?

The feeling of being able to look down on history and the future thrilled Lin Nan, but also left him slightly dizzy. If a boss's past changed, would he still become a boss in the future?

Lin Nan quietly resolved to keep a closer eye on Tsunayashiro Tokinada in the days to come.

At a clear command, a teacher stepped onto the platform. The students below stopped chatting and quickly formed their lines.

Lin Nan, Kyoraku, and Ukitake naturally stood together, with Lin Nan between Kyoraku and Ukitake. Since Tsunayashiro Tokinada was closest to the three of them, he lined up beside Ukitake as well.

Amamiya Keiji, whose hand Lin Nan had squeezed outside the gate, had somehow found them and circled around to stand nearby. He didn't dare face Lin Nan or Kyoraku directly, so he gave Ukitake an ingratiating smile and a nod, then took his place on Ukitake's other side.

On the platform, Yamamoto Shigekuni had already taken his seat at the head table. The teacher hosting the ceremony read the welcome address, and the annual entrance ceremony for the new students of Shino Academy began.

At first, Lin Nan had eagerly waited to see what would make the opening ceremony of Soul Society's only "Soul Reaper military academy" special. The result was a huge disappointment.

The entire ceremony consisted of different people taking turns giving speeches. Every teacher who took the stage mechanically read from a script.

Lin Nan had excellent eyesight. Even from below, he could clearly see that two teachers had deep creases on the backs of their scripts, and frayed edges. They had apparently used them for years without replacing them.

The students' attention gradually wandered. Some who were low on energy even started dozing off.

"Are you kidding me? How can a proper entrance ceremony be this half-hearted?" Lin Nan couldn't help muttering to himself.

He wasn't worried that the new students beside him or the teachers on the platform would hear. Almost all the students below were whispering, complaining that the teachers spoke too quietly or mocking their lack of enthusiasm.

"That's because the teachers at the Spirit Arts Academy have given up on their responsibilities," Tsunayashiro Tokinada said slowly in a low voice behind Lin Nan. "Shino Academy was supposed to be a cradle for cultivating talent, but now it's practically become a place for teachers to curry favor with the new nobility and build connections.

"For the past hundred years, the Court Guard Squad has been under constant pressure from Central 46. Not only have they controlled the Spirit Arts Academy's student intake, they've even manipulated where the graduates end up.

"Students from noble families return to their respective clans after graduation. And students without noble blood? Sorry, they're basically not qualified to enroll.

"The nobles can't possibly hold students to the same strict standards as the Court Guard Squad. So a teacher's career isn't affected much by the quality of their teaching.

"Under these circumstances, most teachers have given up on their professional ambitions. Rather than teach seriously, they're better off using their jobs to build relationships with the various noble families and secure a fallback for the future.

"Even if they can't befriend the Four Great Noble Houses, having a high-ranking noble family backing them is still far better than struggling on their own..."

Lin Nan tilted his ear slightly to listen to Tsunayashiro's explanation, his brows drawing together.

His eyes fell on Yamamoto Shigekuni, sitting upright in the middle of the head table.

A few teachers sat scattered around Yamamoto, while some seats remained empty from beginning to end. Someone had evidently chosen to skip the ceremony.

Yamamoto had clearly combed his hair again, and it seemed he had changed clothes as well. Though the edges had conspicuous decorative patterns, the garment looked even older than what he had worn before. It was probably a formal outfit he had kept for a long time.

Yamamoto, dressed for the occasion, was the only one who truly took the ceremony seriously.

"Tokinada's right. If I worked at the Spirit Arts Academy, I'd probably make the same choice as these teachers," Kyoraku said gravely. He had heard Tokinada's words too.

"Most of these teachers were students at the Spirit Arts Academy. Their overall grades were average, but they excelled in individual subjects. Since they couldn't join the Court Guard Squad, they could only stay at the Spirit Arts Academy and teach."

Lin Nan turned his gaze from the platform and looked at Kyoraku. "Did your brother tell you that?"

Kyoraku nodded. "My older brother studied here before. If the Shihoin House hadn't called him away, he probably would've been kept out of the Court Guard Squad by one means or another, like everyone else."

Hearing this, Lin Nan was overcome by deep confusion.

The shadow of civil war hung over Soul Society. When they'd just entered the Spirit Arts Academy, he'd heard Old Man Yamamoto mention that Katori and the other captains had already led their respective squads in different directions across Rukongai to suppress the rebellion.

Seireitei lay at the center of Soul Society, and its location made it dangerously easy for enemies to surround it from all sides.

In such circumstances, was someone really deliberately preventing the Court Guard Squad from receiving reinforcements?

"What are those people in Central 46 thinking? In the real world, this would be practically treason, wouldn't it? No wonder Aizen killed them all. They deserved it!" Lin Nan thought.

Although he knew the original story's timeline well, even as a transmigrator, Lin Nan still had no idea how Seireitei and the Court Guard Squad could break the deadlock of the civil war.

Suddenly, a single, out-of-place clap interrupted Lin Nan's thoughts. Then the entire hall erupted in thunderous applause. Amid the clapping, Yamamoto slowly walked to the center of the platform and began his speech.

He stood tall at the center of the platform like a great tree. Facing the new students' gazes, he spoke without a script, recounting the story from the day the Spirit Arts Academy was founded.

How many talents had emerged from the academy over the past thousand years; how many major events had taken place; how many of the students' upperclassmen had given their lives in the war that had encircled Soul Society two hundred years earlier...

Yamamoto spoke in an even tone. Perhaps out of respect for the Captain-Commander, the students stopped whispering and no one continued to doze off.

But their patience had already been worn away by the tedious speeches from the teachers before him. By now, very few could focus on what he was saying.

At that moment, the founder of Shino Academy, the most renowned butcher in Soul Society, was like a lonely old man facing a field of rice stirred by the wind, quietly recounting the story of his life.

Lin Nan, however, listened with unusual seriousness, even feeling a faint resonance deep in his soul. More than a thousand years had passed. Even if Yamamoto still looked like a middle-aged man, that was old, wasn't it?

After all this time, the students he had taught with his own hands had died in battle, and the school he had founded had become what it was now...

Lin Nan watched the burly figure on the platform in silence and thought,

As its founder and a witness to its history, Yamamoto must have felt a little lonely.