"Do you want to go first, or should I?"
"You go ahead. I'll wait a little longer..." Yoruichi answered Urahara with puffed-out cheeks, looking thoroughly displeased.
"Could you quit dragging this out? We're not sleeping tonight, are we?" Hiroe shouted, slapping his thigh. He sounded completely unconcerned, but in truth, he was clearly enjoying the show.
"Zanpakuto name: Kurenai!" Urahara didn't keep Hiroe waiting. He slowly drew the Zanpakuto at his waist and continued, "She's an interesting girl."
Urahara's words made Hiroe feel a little embarrassed. Look at the way he introduced his Zanpakuto! It sounded a bit perverted, but he really did treat her like a partner! Thinking about himself, Hiroe felt downright ashamed!
It was a strange thought to have at a time like this, but as someone who had traveled from the future, Hiroe knew Kurenai better than Urahara himself did. That was no exaggeration.
Kurenai, a Kido-attack-type Zanpakuto. Her Shikai release command was "Wake up, Kurenai." After release, the blade could convert spiritual power into red light to attack.
Unlike ordinary Zanpakuto, though, Kurenai's Shikai could also change her attack style through four different release commands. She had something in common with Hiroe's Jiagui.
"Cry out, Kurenai!"
As soon as Urahara finished speaking, a red light shield appeared at the end of Kurenai and formed in front of him. It looked like a defensive form.
"This form is mainly for ranged attacks and defense, though defense is its primary purpose. I call this defensive technique Blood Mist Shield. I'm demonstrating it because it's related to the next form." Urahara didn't waste time. He immediately gave the next release command. "Burst apart, Kurenai."
Dense clusters of tiny spikes appeared across the red light shield. They didn't stay there long. The spikes detached from the shield, turning into countless red arrows that shot toward a boulder in the distance and instantly reduced it to dust.
It was obvious that this couldn't be considered one of Kurenai's main forms. It was more of a counterattack used after activating Blood Mist Shield.
"Bind, Kurenai." Urahara didn't explain anything to the two of them. He simply swung his long blade and activated the third form.
Countless fine red threads streamed from the blade and crisscrossed in the air, forming a net. The rocks shattered by the red arrows hadn't even hit the ground before the crimson web pinned them in midair.
Urahara vanished from where he stood with a Flash Step. In less than a second, he appeared among the floating rubble, plunged his sword into the ground, and leaned both hands on its hilt, like a magician performing a levitation trick.
"The last one: Play with fire, Kurenai!"
One red fireball after another bubbled up from the ground, like foam, then lined up and charged toward the rubble hanging motionless in midair.
The rocks touched by the red fireballs burned like cotton. Before long, they disappeared without a trace.
"Clap, clap, clap!" Hiroe sat on the ground and applauded like a seal gone wild, like a child who'd never seen anything before.
He wasn't putting on an act. First, seeing it in person was completely different from watching a broadcast on TV. Even though he'd seen it before, he was still stunned.
Second, Urahara hadn't held anything back. He'd shown them his Shikai in full. A generous display like that certainly deserved some applause.
Like his Jiagui, Kurenai was a Zanpakuto capable of both offense and defense.
Although her release speed was a limitation, unlike Jiagui, Kurenai's wielder should attack from medium to long range. She also had the Burst Apart form to drive enemies away if they got too close, so release speed wasn't that important.
She had offense, defense, counterattacks to give her room for error, and even crowd control and area attacks! In some ways, Kurenai was an even more perfect Zanpakuto than Jiagui.
"What a great sword, Urahara!" Hiroe praised him, then turned to Yoruichi beside him. "Don't just stand there. Hurry up, it's your turn!"
Yoruichi shot him a glare. A chill instantly settled over Hiroe. If he hadn't been so curious, he might have chickened out and told her she didn't need to demonstrate her Shikai after all.
At last, the main event of the evening had arrived. He was intensely curious about Yoruichi's Zanpakuto. In his previous life, she'd rather become a captain without a sword than carry a Zanpakuto. Just how terrible did her sword have to be for her to go that far?
"Yoruichi! Yoruichi! Yoruichi, boom boom boom!..."
"Shut up!" Yoruichi stopped Hiroe's idiotic antics and, gritting her teeth, walked over to Urahara. Urahara gave her an encouraging look, then came over and sat beside Hiroe. The two of them became spectators together.
"Zanpakuto name: Flame Heart!" Yoruichi drew her Zanpakuto and leaped high into the air, gripping it with both hands and raising it over her head. "Crush, Flame Heart!"
The Zanpakuto in her hand was clearly a short blade, but as her Shikai was released, it burst into flame. In Yoruichi's hands, it looked like an enormous, long-handled hammer engulfed in fire.
Then the flames gathered upward from the end of the hammer's handle, finally disappearing entirely into its head. What remained was a huge, long-handled hammer, jet-black and covered in flame patterns. It was hard to believe it had originally been an unremarkable short sword.
"Kido-attack-type Zanpakuto. Ability: Explosion!" As she spoke, Yoruichi brought the enormous hammer down hard in front of the two spectators.
She'd judged the distance perfectly. Even the cloud of sand she kicked up stopped just as it reached them. Hiroe silently gave Yoruichi his approval, but something still felt off.
"Did she just say... explosion?"
"So shouldn't we, uh... run?"
Whether to run was certainly a question, but Hiroe didn't have time to decide. With a deafening boom, everything before them turned scarlet, and the ground trembled slightly. It really had exploded!
"Bakudō #81, Dankū!"
Urahara was just about to cast Blood Mist Shield, but Hiroe acted first, raising an invisible wall in front of them. It blocked the incoming Flame Tide completely.
"Impressive. You can cast Kido above level eighty without incantation. No wonder you're our Kido master."
"That scared the hell out of me!" Hiroe wasn't in the mood to respond to Urahara's praise. Yoruichi had nerves of steel, didn't she? The blast wouldn't have seriously injured him and Urahara, but if not for him, they'd definitely have gotten hurt.
"Hey, you two are fine after all!" Yoruichi said lazily to the unharmed pair. Hiroe finally understood. It wasn't that she had nerves of steel. She'd deliberately tried to blow them up!
"That was too much! Were you trying to silence us?"
"Yeah! You should've just aimed it right at your face!"
Even Hiroe, slow on the uptake as he was, could tell that something was wrong with Yoruichi. He just couldn't figure out what, so he could only turn to Urahara for help.
Urahara didn't say anything. He simply pointed to the Zanpakuto hanging at Yoruichi's waist. So that was the problem.
Hiroe guessed that Yoruichi was angry because she thought her Zanpakuto was too weak and embarrassing, so he tried to reassure her. "Your sword may not be as good as Urahara's, but it's still strong! It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Don't be mad!"
"What do you mean, strong? What do you mean, nothing to be embarrassed about?" Yoruichi instantly turned into a powder keg, pounding Hiroe's shoulder over and over.
"Yoruichi is from the Shihōin Clan. This Zanpakuto really isn't very suitable for her..." Urahara explained, pulling the two grappling figures apart as he spoke.
"So what if she's from the Shihōin Clan? Are you saying everyone in the Shihōin Clan has to have the strongest Zanpakuto?"
"The Onmitsukido..." Urahara reminded him.
Right, Hiroe had forgotten about that for a moment. The Shihōin Clan led the Onmitsukido. On the surface, the Onmitsukido was a force that carried out punishments, but in reality, it was an assassin corps.
And Yoruichi, the future head of the Shihōin Clan, would certainly become its commander. For the leader of an assassination unit to have such a flashy Zanpakuto really wasn't appropriate.
"Uh, don't be mad. Your sword's just a little artistic..."
"A little artistic? I think this sword is a complete joke!" Yoruichi couldn't help bursting into tears. "The future leader of the Onmitsukido is a fireworks maker? Isn't that ridiculous?"
"You don't necessarily have to become the leader of the Onmitsukido. You could be a frontline attacker instead. That'd be good too!" Hiroe continued trying to comfort Yoruichi, but it didn't help much. She just kept crying.
Hiroe was at his wit's end. He'd lived nearly fifty years across both lives, but he still had no idea what to do when a girl cried. Who could have guessed that Yoruichi hadn't used her Zanpakuto in his previous life because it was too flashy?
Right, Yoruichi hadn't used her Zanpakuto in his previous life. Remembering that, Hiroe hurriedly said, "Then let's just forget about this sword. We'll act like it never existed!"
"You think I'm not embarrassed enough already?" Yoruichi's anger, which had finally died down, flared up again. She rushed over, grabbed Hiroe by the neck, and said, "What kind of Soul Reaper doesn't carry a Zanpakuto?"
"How about... the Kido Corps... They don't, do they?"
Yoruichi calmed down a little at that. She knew Hiroe wasn't making fun of her, and loosened her grip slightly. Having his life returned to him, Hiroe took a couple of deep breaths and continued, "Your Hakuda is excellent, and with the Shihōin Clan's secret Flash Step, you can become a Captain-level Soul Reaper even without a Zanpakuto!"
Yoruichi let go completely and thought it over. Hiroe had a point. The two members of the Kido Corps didn't have Zanpakuto, yet they really did have Captain-level strength. That proved there was no direct connection between having a Zanpakuto and becoming a captain.
But unlike Kido, Hakuda had its limits. In the nearly thousand years since the Onmitsukido was founded, no one had ever become its commander without relying on a Zanpakuto. So Yoruichi wasn't sure she could believe Hiroe.
"Could... that really happen?"
"Why couldn't it?" Hiroe replied, then continued, "Those two became captains through Kido alone. It's one of the four major forms of combat. Why shouldn't Hakuda be able to do the same?"
"You can still see the limits of Hakuda. Kido has limits too, but those two have already developed even more advanced Kido..." Yoruichi still wasn't convinced.
"Then just raise Hakuda's limits yourself!"
"It's not the same." Yoruichi's head drooped lower as she spoke, and her confidence faded. "Coming up with new techniques isn't hard for me, but that doesn't improve Hakuda in any fundamental way."
"Then improve it in a fundamental way!" Hiroe rested his hands on Yoruichi's shoulders and said earnestly, "I believe you can do it!"
"You believe in me that much?"
"Of course. I came back from the future!"
"You're really bad at lying. You came back from the future..." Yoruichi looked into Hiroe's earnest eyes and smiled through her tears. Wiping her eyes, she said, "I'll have to help you keep that lie going. In the future, I'll definitely break through Hakuda's limits!"
Yoruichi didn't know that Hiroe really had traveled back from the future, but that didn't matter. He'd genuinely encouraged her, and she'd decided to take a difficult path no one before her had taken.
Perhaps Hiroe thought he'd only told her something he already knew. In truth, though, because of him, the future he'd once seen was quietly changing.
Hiroe Diezuka, the butterfly who'd come from the future, had finally flapped his wings for the first time.
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