Under the Kaido teacher's horrified gaze,
the little white mouse hopped off the table and scampered away from the crime scene, full of energy.
He watched the mouse flee, then turned with a stiff expression toward Kisaragi Akira, who looked utterly innocent.
"Dead?"
Kisaragi Akira nodded.
"Alive again?"
Kisaragi Akira nodded again.
The Kaido teacher stood frozen, unable for a moment to accept this reality-defying fact.
The other students stared blankly at the two having this bizarre conversation.
They had been focused on practicing Kaido, so they had no idea what had happened.
Beside Kisaragi Akira, Aizen lowered his gaze, an inscrutable glimmer rising in his eyes.
He wasn't particularly interested in Kaido.
But with his exceptional talent, even the most halfhearted attitude toward learning let him easily outclass the other students, and even their teacher.
Death, then new life?
Kaido's essence was to stimulate cells in order to heal them.
The more powerful the individual, the harder they were to treat.
By the same logic, for a test subject as weak as a little white mouse, a Shinigami with powerful Reiatsu and profound skill in Kaido really could bring it back to life at the moment of death.
After all, the creature was weak to an extreme degree.
But Kisaragi Akira didn't fit either of the two crucial conditions.
Could it be...
A Kaido genius seen once in a century?
At the thought, Aizen's lips curved slightly.
The more he interacted with this guy, the more he felt that Kisaragi Akira was hiding countless secrets.
It was as if he were shrouded in a dense fog so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
You could never know what would appear beyond the fog the next moment.
You certainly make a person curious, Akira!
"Damn it! How can something this absurd be possible?"
The Kaido teacher's eyes were bloodshot. He snatched Aizen's white mouse and slapped it down in front of Kisaragi Akira.
"Kisaragi Akira, please demonstrate it again!"
Kisaragi Akira blinked, flexed his fingers, and casually snapped the white mouse's neck.
Immediately afterward, Kaido light shimmered over his right hand, enveloping the limp body.
Since his Reiatsu had already reached the level of a Seated Officer, even using Kaido repeatedly placed no strain on Kisaragi Akira.
The Kaido teacher held his breath and stared wide-eyed, unwilling to miss a single detail.
The flow of Reiatsu—wrong, misaligned, full of errors!
The technique—incorrect form, three fingers became two, and the distance was too great!
Kisaragi Akira had somehow turned a perfectly good basic Kaido technique into something that wasn't right in the slightest.
And yet,
the white mouse, its neck snapped and all signs of life gone, came back to life three seconds later.
Could Kisaragi Akira's Kaido actually be the correct standard?
"Impossible!"
Unable to believe what he was seeing, the Kaido teacher turned and gathered up all the white mice belonging to the students. His roar rang through the classroom:
"Again!"
Crack, crack, crack...
The unending snaps seemed to form a symphony. The students were left numb, and the Kaido teacher was forced to accept reality.
It was undeniable.
The kid simply hadn't remembered the key details of basic Kaido. Every step was wrong, and no two mistakes were alike.
Whenever you thought you'd seen the limits of Kisaragi Akira's ability, he came up with some new trick.
Dozens of little white mice teetered back and forth on the brink of death.
He went from clumsy at first, to practiced, and finally to effortless ease.
Watching Kisaragi Akira perform Kaido gave you the uncanny impression that I could do that too.
Just as the Kaido teacher decided to test that impression, the little white mouse stopped breathing for good, never to show the slightest sign of life again.
"I, uh, just remembered I have something to do..."
The Kaido teacher seemed to sink into darkness. Cradling the dead mouse, he staggered out of the classroom.
"That's all for today's Kaido lesson..."
As they watched his retreating figure disappear down the corridor, the students turned around and looked at Kisaragi Akira in unison.
For a moment, they revered him as a god!
That night, in the temporary dormitory,
the two boys huddled together, secretly investigating Kisaragi Akira's unusual performance with Kaido.
Kisaragi Akira knew perfectly well that it was the effect of his Exclusive Entry, [Miraculous Hands].
But he couldn't help wondering how it worked.
Even after the two of them made cuts on themselves and experienced the wonders of Kaido firsthand, they still couldn't discover the real reason.
In the end, Aizen could only chalk it up to differences in individual talent.
Strange geniuses were bound to appear in this world—like him, like Kisaragi Akira, like Unohana Retsu of the Fourth Division...
The Fourth Division Barracks.
The captain's office.
"Captain, that's what happened."
Kawai, the officer in charge of teaching Kaido, stood there with a grimace, reporting everything he had seen that day to his superior.
"Bringing the dead back to life shouldn't be possible, no matter how you look at it."
"But that kid actually did it, and with a basic Kaido technique that was completely wrong."
After hearing Kawai's account and complaints, a keen interest showed in Unohana Retsu's eyes.
Her impression of Kisaragi Akira was still that he was determined and lecherous.
Oh, and one more thing: he was terribly poor.
He still hadn't paid off the treatment bill from last time.
She hadn't expected a kid like him to have such talent for Kaido.
"How about this, 10th Seat Kawai."
Unohana Retsu spoke softly. "I'll teach the next Kaido class myself."
Kawai's face immediately fell. "Well, but..."
Before he could finish, an utterly cold, bone-deep killing intent abruptly enveloped him. The room seemed to plummet below freezing.
Kawai shivered, his teeth chattering as he stared in fear at the captain, who wore a gentle smile.
"Any objections?"
Unohana Retsu smiled at Kawai and asked softly.
Kawai's head shook like a rattle drum. He didn't dare voice another objection.
In that moment, he truly understood how terrifying the captain was.
No wonder hardly anyone dared cause trouble in the Fourth Division.
If he had to guess,
anyone who caused trouble had probably been cut down by the captain.
The next morning, in the temporary dormitory,
"I came by specifically to thank you."
At the sight of the black-haired youth who had suddenly appeared before him, looking as gentle as could be, Kisaragi Akira rolled out of bed and frowned as he looked him up and down.
"That doesn't make sense."
"How come there isn't a single trace?"
Kisaragi Akira wasn't surprised that Kuchiki Sojun had come to visit.
What puzzled him was Kuchiki Sojun himself.
In Kisaragi Akira's experience, anyone who used a genuine Amulet from the Nikkotsu Shrine would retain at least some Reiatsu traces from the One-Eyed Great Deity.
But Kuchiki Sojun had not a single trace.
He was still the same as ever.
In fact, he was even weaker than an ordinary Shinigami.
With Kisaragi Akira's stare making him feel like his whole body was crawling, Kuchiki Sojun hurriedly gave an awkward laugh to interrupt him, then stated the second reason for his visit:
"Actually, I wanted to ask if you have any more Amulets like the one you gave me last time."
At that,
Kisaragi Akira's eyes lit up. He grinned.
"Making that kind of Amulet takes a great deal of my time and effort!"
Kuchiki Sojun froze. Before he could react, Kisaragi Akira's firm, decisive voice rang out:
"You'll have to pay extra!"
Before you continue