A Mere Ama Da

"Forget being late, you two were actually strolling along the road? Are you idiots?" After the first period ended, Yoruichi leaned against the corridor wall, looking at the two still standing in punishment as she mocked them.

"It's all Urahara's fault for coming up with such a lousy idea. If not for your suggestion, we wouldn't have run into the teacher halfway, and the outcome might have been better."

"Huh? I recall you were the one who stopped first, right? Shouldn't you be the one to blame? Would I have stopped if you hadn't?"

"Then who should we blame?"

"..." x 2

"Blame the teacher!"

After a brief silence, the two reached a consensus instantly!

"Exactly, blame the teacher! If he had been teaching properly instead of wandering around the school, he wouldn't have seen us walking so slowly!"

"Right! If he hadn't called roll, he wouldn't have even noticed we were late!"

Yoruichi's mouth twitched as she listened from the side.

"You two are truly... baka da~"

Yoruichi shook her head, turned, and walked away, ignoring the two idiots.

The two stood there for the entire morning until the afternoon, when the punishment finally ended. This was only because the afternoon session was hakuda class; otherwise, they would have had to keep standing.

It is worth mentioning that while zanjutsu, hakuda, hoho, and kido are the core strengths and assessment standards for Soul Reapers, these subjects actually make up a small portion of the curriculum. The majority is focused on Hollow hunting and Soul Burials.

This portion holds the largest share. Hollow hunting was within Tenshin Ichiro's expectations, as Hollows are not weak, but Soul Burials were a bit of a surprise; they seem simple, but the details are incredibly tedious.

Although most of the knowledge is rarely used, if there is even the slightest oversight, the soul will turn into a Hollow...

This course changed Ichiro's view of the Seireitei. While there is plenty of filth within, there is no doubt that it maintains the order of the world!

After the morning's lesson, Ichiro took some time at noon to use alchemy to craft a pocket watch. Although the lack of precision led to a significant margin of error, he didn't need it to be exact for now; as long as it worked, it was fine.

Because of this, Ichiro, who had grown accustomed to the freedom of the Rukongai, was not late for the afternoon hakuda class.

In a dojo classroom, the teacher wearing the standard Shinigami uniform scanned the group, his gaze lingering on Ichiro and Urahara with a slight frown.

Due to the morning's events, the two had left a rather poor impression on the teachers: one was free-spirited and a bad influence on the noble genius in the class, while the other was a slacker commoner with no ambition. Neither was the type of student any teacher liked.

But no matter how much he disliked them, he was still their teacher, and the class had to go on. The teacher gave two dry coughs and said, "My name is Yamada Nakamura, and I will be your hakuda instructor for the next year. Before we begin, I have a question: raise your hand if you have studied other styles of hakuda. This includes those not registered with the Seireitei."

This was to account for nobles who might have learned family-taught hakuda techniques in advance, making basic courses unnecessary. The latter part was to account for those from the Rukongai, as there are many powerful, long-standing martial arts traditions in the living world. Such individuals also wouldn't need to participate in basic courses, though such people were rare.

Then, to the surprise of everyone, Ichiro raised his hand as well. Urahara even spoke up bluntly, "Ichiro, self-taught ones don't count."

"I know, don't worry, it's not self-taught." A State Alchemist knowing a bit of military combat, that's perfectly normal, right?

Yamada frowned but ultimately allowed Ichiro to follow the other noble students out of the formation. According to his records, Ichiro had been alive for decades and wasn't born in the Soul Society, so if he didn't even have the judgment to know his own basics, it would be better if he didn't become a Soul Reaper anyway.

After dividing the groups, Yamada began assigning tasks. The five who had already mastered hakuda—close-quarters combat—practiced against each other, while Yamada went to teach the remaining 25 the basics.

But with this arrangement, Ichiro was in a bind. Urahara was undoubtedly sparring with Yoruichi, and the other two were nobles who were unlikely to seek out Ichiro. In other words, the common issue of being the odd one out in an odd-numbered group fell squarely on Ichiro...

Sighing, Ichiro didn't bother the lovebirds. After watching Yamada's basic instruction for a moment, he shook his head, found a tree branch, and walked silently to a corner to calculate some data.

Currently, Ichiro's alchemical research focused on two things: developing spiritual food to enhance reiryoku, and restoring the combat prowess he had in his previous life.

As a State Alchemist in his past life, Ichiro's combat ability was naturally not weak—one could even say it was on the stronger side. His alchemical attainments weren't high, but his combat power was among the best in the country!

Although it might not even compare to high-ranking seated officers in the Soul Reaper world, it was at least stronger than his current self, providing some measure of self-preservation. Unfortunately, due to the differences between the two worlds, there were too many adjustments to make, and because he lacked knowledge of this world, progress had been slow over the past few decades.

Seeing this, Urahara, who had originally intended to invite Ichiro to join their sparring, felt relieved. He smiled and turned to begin his hakuda training with Yoruichi.

Just like that, the dojo was divided into three parts: students learning the basics, students sparring, and Ichiro, who was squatting in a corner with a tree branch, silently calculating.

Yamada caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of his eye and frowned, but he said nothing, continuing to teach the others the basics of hakuda.

"Dong~ Dong~ Dong~"

Time flew by quickly. The bell for the end of class rang, and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Yamada.

Yamada didn't waste words; he nodded and said directly, "Class dismissed. Tenshin Ichiro, stay behind. Everyone else, you are dismissed."

The entire Class 3 paused for a moment. Aside from Yoruichi and Urahara, the others looked at Ichiro with schadenfreude, wearing expressions of anticipation for a good show.

Yamada scanned them without a word, then walked to the center of the dojo and looked at Ichiro: "Come here. I will be your opponent. You were slacking off during the lesson just now, weren't you?"

"Uh... Teacher, there's a reason for that. It's because..."

"That has nothing to do with me. Extra training!"

"Fine..." Ichiro walked over reluctantly. Having a teacher hold class overtime was a nightmare!

"Let me state this first: if you are lying just to slack off, I will make sure you learn the meaning of despair in the coming lessons!" Yamada said in a deep voice while looking at Ichiro.

"Don't worry, Teacher Yamada." As he spoke, Ichiro crouched slightly, pulling his right fist to his abdomen while holding his left hand in a knife-hand position in front.

This was his habitual starting stance from his past life. Ichiro's standard posture made Yamada's eyes light up; it seemed he hadn't been lying after all.

Without further words, Yamada waved his palm slightly, signaling Ichiro to attack first.

A mere Yamada, daring to look down on me?