The entrance ceremony ended amid sparse applause from the audience. It seemed hardly anyone was interested in listening to Yamamoto.
There was civil war outside Seireitei, and the Central 46 were suppressing people within its walls. Few students truly looked forward to joining the Court Guard Squad.
Lin Nan felt something hard to put into words. The entrance ceremony had instead seemed like a public humiliation of Yamamoto, the founder of Shino Academy.
"Who would've thought? A prestigious opening ceremony, and they put so little effort into it." Kyoraku rubbed his nose. "I'm not that close to Old Man Yama, but I'm still pretty angry."
Ukitake nodded. "I don't know what it's supposed to be like, but everyone could be a bit more enthusiastic."
"You're really tactful, Ukitake. Just look at the teachers in the stands. They're obviously doing this to..." Kyoraku trailed off, then turned to Lin Nan. "Hey, you've got a way with words. How would you describe what's going on?"
"Slapping him in the face." Lin Nan turned back to look at the two men beside him. "Someone's going out of their way to slap Old Man Yamamoto in the face. I don't have any particular feelings for him, but this really pisses me off."
Kyoraku took a step forward and asked in an offhand manner, "So what do we do?"
Lin Nan slowly stood up. "Get stronger, then grab every teacher or student who gets on our nerves and slap them one by one!"
Kyoraku Shunsui stood up too, grinning. "I was worried you wouldn't care about Old Man Yama and would just let it go!"
"But what Tsunayashiro Tokinada said was already infuriating. And we are his disciples, after all. You can't keep a secret forever. Someone's bound to use this as an excuse to come after us."
Lin Nan's gaze swept over Kyoraku and Ukitake's faces. "Rather than sit back and wait, we should strike first!"
Ukitake stood as well and nodded solemnly in agreement.
"Good! Then it's settled! Starting today, the three of us geniuses are going to turn this place upside down!—Oh, right, Ukitake. The old man took you on as a disciple when you're so young, too. You must be a genius as well, right?" Kyoraku suddenly turned to look at Ukitake.
Ukitake stared at him awkwardly, unsure whether he should nod or shake his head.
Seeing this, Lin Nan hurried to smooth things over. "Of course he is! You're not the only genius in Soul Society!"
Ever since the additional "Reiryoku Affinity" stat appeared, Lin Nan had become much more sensitive to spiritual pressure. From their brief interaction, he had a vague sense that Ukitake's spiritual pressure was already stronger than Kyoraku's.
Is it because he has the Right Hand of the Soul King inside him? Lin Nan wondered.
After hearing Lin Nan's words, Kyoraku Shunsui stood up with a confident look. "I say we come up with a name for our group. That way, people will remember us!"
Before Lin Nan and Ukitake could respond, he continued on his own. "The three of us are all Gen Style disciples... To make ourselves more memorable, how about we call ourselves the Sanyuan Society?"
Lin Nan's eye twitched. The Sanyuan Society? I might as well call us the Two-Yuan Store!
"No need. We're fine without a name. Gen Style's name carries more weight than anything else."
That afternoon, the students were assigned dorm rooms. Lin Nan and Ukitake ran into a problem because they were commoners from Rukongai: there were no dorms suited to their status.
Ordinary minor nobles and wealthy merchants' children stayed in four-person dorms;
children of high-ranking nobles like Kyoraku stayed in upscale two-person dorms;
and students from the Four Great Noble Houses all stayed in luxurious single rooms.
Thanks to his status as a high-ranking noble, and a little intimidation with his fists, Shunsui had managed to coax and scare his original roommate into finding somewhere else to stay, freeing up a bed.
But that still left one of them without a bed.
Lin Nan volunteered to let Ukitake room with Kyoraku while he figured something out for himself.
As the two men were trying to yield the spot to each other, a servant from the Tsunayashiro Clan came to visit on Tokinada's behalf and delivered the key to the Tsunayashiro dorm room.
Tsunayashiro Tokinada was the only student at the school who insisted on commuting, so his dorm room had been left empty. He had anticipated that Lin Nan and the others would run into this predicament, so he had specifically sent a servant to bring them the key.
"As one of the Four Great Noble Houses, they're really thoughtful. Who would've thought they'd consider something like this?" Kyoraku marveled, gazing at the exquisite key to the single room.
Lin Nan and Ukitake started arguing again over who should get to stay in the luxurious single room.
Kyoraku leaned back against the head of his bed, hands behind his head, and watched the two of them bicker. "I think Lin Nan should be the one to stay in the single room."
Lin Nan and Ukitake stopped arguing and turned to look at Kyoraku.
Kyoraku gave them a serious analysis. "There are only a few luxurious single rooms in the whole school, and they're usually kept sealed and unused.
"This is the only one that's been opened for use, so it's bound to draw everyone's attention. If Ukitake moved in, people would get jealous and think it was unfair. They might even try to sabotage him behind his back. So, to protect our junior, we can't let Ukitake stay there."
Lin Nan and Ukitake looked at each other and said in unison, "Then why don't you stay there?"
Kyoraku shook his head. "I'm an approachable genius. Now that I've finally got roommates, I'd hate to live alone."
Lin Nan's face stiffened. "So you're saying all this just to make me a target for the whole school's jealousy and scheming?"
Kyoraku gave him a slightly mischievous smile, his eyes curving like crescent moons. "Of course not! But you're definitely stronger than Ukitake right now, so if anything happens, you can fight and run.
"I'm just worried someone might bully Ukitake, given his build! As Old Man Yama's second disciple, shouldn't I respect my elders and care for the young?"
"By that logic, shouldn't I be the second disciple?" Lin Nan protested.
"You said it yourself before, and Old Man Yama didn't disagree, did he? Anyway, from now on, I'll treat you as my senior brother. If anyone picks a fight with us, you go first; if a girl student tries to bully junior brother Ukitake, I'll go first!"
After bickering with Kyoraku for a while, Lin Nan eventually accepted the Tsunayashiro single room. For one thing, he needed somewhere to sleep; for another, having a room to himself would make it easier to enter the Playback Room space.
With a cheat like this, he had to keep it under wraps. He couldn't let anyone see it.
That night, Lin Nan got himself ready and entered the Playback Room space.
He quietly checked his proficiency: Shunpo growth, 2 points; all other growth values, 1 point.
It didn't look like much on the panel. But over the seven or eight days since he'd enrolled, his body had been slowly developing. He had grown taller and sturdier, and become much stronger, too.
After repeatedly studying the logs in the Playback Room space, Lin Nan finally confirmed that this was directly related to Kirinji's hot springs!
It seemed the excess Reishi had awakened the potential in his body. The Reishi had not only helped his body develop at an astonishing rate; his spiritual pressure had also built up considerably.
Most importantly, with the rapid replenishment of Reishi, his Rei-Pressure Shell had finally been fully repaired. And now that the shell was working again, he could use Rei-Pressure Concealment once more.
The next day, the first class for this year's new students at Shino Academy began. Before the lesson, all the students were already buzzing with excitement. The gloomy atmosphere from the previous day's opening ceremony was nowhere to be seen.
Some rubbed their hands together in glee; others chatted animatedly about the Zanpakuto rumors they'd heard;
a few more demure female students gathered in a group, whispering excitedly, their faces flushed. One girl's ears had even turned red, making Kyoraku Shunsui stare at her for quite some time.
Because the first lesson of the day was the distribution of Zanpakuto.
Before you continue