People Can't Be Unlucky Forever, Right?

My scalp tingled!

A faint illusion of an explosion seemed to detonate between my temples.

The name Aizen Sosuke undoubtedly dealt Kisaragi Akira a massive shock.

For a moment, his expression fell into a trance.

He never expected that he had arrived at a completely unknown point in time within the Bleach world.

Just like that, his so-called foresight was immediately rendered mostly useless.

He had originally planned to avoid Aizen and lay low to develop his strength, but he never imagined that the moment he left the beginner's village, he would run head-on into the final boss...

"Student Kisaragi, you seem a bit..."

"No, I'm fine!"

Kisaragi Akira snapped back to reality, shook his head violently, and returned to his normal state.

He looked at Aizen before him, meeting the man's gaze, which carried a hint of concern at just the right moment.

The eerie thing was that his danger instinct didn't allow Kisaragi Akira to perceive even a shred of danger coming from Aizen.

In fact.

That gentle and humble smile gave off a sense of approachability, making one involuntarily develop a small amount of goodwill toward the youth before him.

Perhaps this was what they called personal charisma?

"Glad to hear it."

Aizen smiled, "The reporting time is almost up, let's hurry."

Kisaragi Akira nodded, suppressing the intelligence he held regarding Aizen, and entered the interior of the Spiritual Arts Academy together with him.

Class 1-1.

Having finished the relevant procedures, the two sat in the tidy classroom, casting curious gazes at the surrounding students who were equally curious.

The students capable of sitting in this classroom all belonged to the geniuses of the entrance examination.

Kisaragi Akira considered himself to have only entered Class 1 through good luck, so naturally, he had no arrogance.

What's more, sitting next to him was a genius in the truest sense of the word—

Aizen Sosuke.

"Akira, you've stared at me thirty-seven times now," Aizen said without turning his head.

After a brief exchange, the two had gradually become familiar with each other, and their forms of address had undergone slight changes.

Of course.

This was largely due to Aizen's highly infectious personal charisma.

It was precisely because of this that Kisaragi Akira was very curious about one thing.

Was Aizen's current personality a disguise, or was he truly like this?

"I'm struggling with a question."

"Between you and me, who is actually more handsome?"

Aizen's gaze faltered.

Before he could answer, Kisaragi Akira's eyes shifted, landing on the figure steadily walking onto the podium.

"Hmm, is this our future teacher?"

His easygoing nature allowed him to quickly accept the fact that he was a classmate of Aizen.

There was no escaping it, so he could only accept reality with composure.

"I am your homeroom teacher."

"Kaede Junya."

The stern, middle-aged man began the pre-semester speech according to routine; endless chatter seemed to be the innate instinct of every teacher.

"I hope that in the future, everyone will not only be able to join a division but also, through cultivation, constantly advance toward the center of power..."

On stage, he droned on; off stage, the students whispered.

"Sosuke, is your goal also to become a member of the Gotei 13?"

Kisaragi Akira asked curiously, "Or do you have more ambitious ideals?"

The youth before him was vastly different from the Aizen in his memory.

Aizen turned his head slightly, appearing to be in thought. After a moment of contemplation, he answered in a low voice:

"I think every student who joins the Spiritual Arts Academy likely has similar ideals, don't they?"

"After all, the purpose of the Spiritual Arts Academy is to cultivate fresh blood for the Kido Corps, the Stealth Force, and the Gotei 13."

Hearing this, Kisaragi Akira relaxed his posture, resting his hands behind his head, and chuckled:

"I'm different."

"People are better off being content. My greatest ambition is simply to graduate smoothly."

Aizen Sosuke nodded slightly, his expression indifferent.

To each their own.

An ideal is nothing more than what one wants to achieve at a given stage, and people always change to varying degrees as time passes.

Perhaps, in the near future...

Just as he was pondering this, he noticed Kisaragi Akira's expression suddenly turn serious.

"Killing intent!"

No sooner had the words left his lips than a sharp whistling sound cut through the air from the podium.

Snap!

A crisp collision echoed through the room.

Kisaragi Akira tilted his head slightly, letting a piece of chalk graze his cheek and strike the forehead of a student behind him.

The exaggerated force left a white mark right between the victim's brows.

"Heh, there are always unruly subjects trying to harm this lonely one."

Kisaragi Akira snorted in disdain, feeling extremely satisfied with the "Instinct for Danger" trait.

Even while conversing with Aizen Sosuke, he had clearly sensed the impending danger.

That instinctive tilt of his head had allowed him to evade the crisis directly.

Aizen Sosuke shook his head with a faint laugh, gaining a deeper understanding of his new acquaintance.

Though he appeared weak, there were always some strange and peculiar qualities about him.

He had also sensed Kaede Junya's movement just now, but he hadn't expected Kisaragi Akira to dodge it so easily.

This inevitably piqued his curiosity about this friend he had only recently made.

"Kisaragi Akira, Aizen Sosuke."

Kaede Junya was somewhat surprised that a newly enrolled student could dodge his sneak attack, but he didn't dwell on it, maintaining classroom discipline as usual.

"Please keep quiet."

"Let us continue with our previous topic."

Kaede Junya did not hold Kisaragi Akira's breach of conduct against him; in his view, a teacher should have a certain degree of magnanimity, otherwise, he would sooner or later be driven to high blood pressure by some rebellious students.

However, he still underestimated someone's bottom line.

It wouldn't be long before Kaede Junya realized just how outrageously wrong he was.

The first day of school didn't cover any substantial academic content; it mainly focused on academy rules, the general direction of instruction, and motivational speeches about working hard on one's cultivation.

As a slacker of the new era, Kisaragi Akira saw these words as nothing more than toxic chicken soup.

Of course, he wouldn't openly refute them.

In Kisaragi Akira's view, the most important thing right now was to continuously explore his golden finger, strive to master more powerful abilities as soon as possible, and realize the great ideal he had just set.

Having met the check-in conditions at the Shin'o Academy and received a reward, many ideas had sprouted in Kisaragi Akira's mind.

Beyond the day-to-day time-based check-ins, location-based check-ins might be more effective for getting stronger in a short period.

However, it seemed that ordinary locations were not enough to trigger the check-in conditions.

This led Kisaragi Akira to rack his brain over what special locations existed within the Soul Society.

"Sosuke, how much do you know about the Soul Society?"

"Generally."

An extremely humble answer, fitting for Aizen Sosuke's current persona.

"Are there any important buildings in the Soul Society similar to the Shin'o Academy?"

Kisaragi Akira, unable to come up with anything, decisively threw the question to Aizen Sosuke.

As a future mastermind and a true all-around genius, such a minor question shouldn't stump him.

"Many. Such as the Gotei 13 headquarters, the Kido Corps headquarters, the Central Underground Assembly Hall, the Central Great Prison, the Shrine of Penitence, the Central Execution Grounds, noble estates, and so on."

Aizen Sosuke replied, "Their importance even exceeds that of the Shin'o Academy."

"I see."

Kisaragi Akira was deeply disappointed. Right now, he was just a student and couldn't possibly get near those places. Check-ins there were out of the question; he would just have to grind out his daily check-ins slowly.

Hopefully, his luck would improve a little bit later on.

A person can't be unlucky forever, right?