"Being late is one thing, but you were actually strolling along the whole way here. Are you idiots?" After the first class ended, Yoruichi leaned against the hallway wall and mocked the two who were still being punished by standing.
"It's all Urahara's fault. What kind of stupid idea was that? If you hadn't suggested it, we wouldn't have run into the teacher halfway here. Maybe things would've turned out better."
"Huh? I remember you were the one who stopped first. Shouldn't you be the one to blame? If you hadn't stopped, would I have?"
"Then who should we blame?"
"..." x 2
"The teacher!"
After a brief silence, the two instantly reached an agreement!
"Exactly, blame the teacher! If he'd just taught class properly instead of wandering around the school, he wouldn't have seen us strolling along!"
"Right! If he hadn't called the roll, he wouldn't have noticed we were late!"
Yoruichi's mouth twitched as she listened.
"You two really are... idiots~"
Yoruichi shook her head, turned, and walked away, no longer paying any attention to the two idiots.
The two stood there all morning. Their punishment didn't end until the afternoon, and that was only because they had Hakuda class then. Otherwise, they would've had to keep standing.
It was worth noting that although Zanpakuto, Hakuda, Shunpo, and Kido were the core powers of Soul Reapers and the standards they were assessed by, these subjects actually made up a relatively small portion of the curriculum. Most of it was devoted to killing Hollows and performing Konso.
Those two subjects made up the largest portion. Ichiro had expected the lessons on killing Hollows—after all, Hollows were no weaklings—but Konso had surprised him. It seemed simple, but it involved a ridiculous number of details.
Most of that knowledge wasn't something they would ever use, but if they overlooked even one thing, a Plus could become a Hollow...
This class had changed Ichiro's opinion of Seireitei. There were plenty of dirty dealings within it, but there was no denying that it maintained order in the world!
After the morning's lesson, Ichiro took some time at noon to make a pocket watch with Alchemy. Its inaccuracy was considerable due to its lack of precision, but fortunately he didn't need it to be very accurate right now. As long as it worked, that was enough.
Thanks to that, Ichiro, who was used to the freedom of Rukongai, didn't arrive late to his afternoon Hakuda class.
Inside a dojo classroom, the teacher, dressed in a Shihakusho, glanced over the students. His gaze lingered on Ichiro and Urahara, and he frowned slightly.
Because of what had happened that morning, the two had made a very poor impression on the teachers. One was undisciplined and had led the class's noble prodigy astray; the other was a lackadaisical commoner with no ambition. Neither was the sort of student any teacher liked.
Still, no matter how much he disliked them, he was their teacher, and he had a class to teach. The man cleared his throat twice and said, "My name is Yamada Nakamura. I'll be your Hakuda teacher for the next year. Before we begin, I have a question. Raise your hand if you've studied another style of Hakuda. That includes styles not registered with Seireitei."
This was to account for nobles who had learned their families' Hakuda techniques in advance, so they wouldn't need to attend basic classes. The second part was for students from Rukongai. The World of the Living had many powerful martial arts with long histories, and anyone who had learned one didn't need to attend the basic classes either. Such students were rare, though.
To everyone's surprise, Ichiro raised his hand too. Urahara was even more direct, saying without hesitation, "Ichiro, something you invented yourself doesn't count."
"I know. Don't worry, I didn't invent it myself." It was only natural for a State Alchemist to know some military combat techniques, right?
Yamada frowned, but in the end, he let Ichiro join the other noble students who left the line. According to the records, Ichiro had lived for decades and hadn't been born in the Soul Society. If he couldn't even judge whether he had the most basic ability, then perhaps becoming a Soul Reaper wasn't for him.
After splitting up the students, Yamada began assigning their lessons. The five who had already mastered Hakuda—in other words, close-quarters combat—were to practice fighting one another, while Yamada taught the remaining twenty-five the basics.
But once Yamada had assigned everyone, Ichiro was at a loss. Urahara was paired with Yoruichi, without a doubt, and the other two were nobles who were unlikely to pair up with Ichiro. In other words, the sort of thing that often happened when an odd number of students were free to choose their partners had happened to him: he was left out...
With a sigh, Ichiro didn't bother interrupting the young couple, Urahara and Yoruichi. He watched Yamada's basic lesson for a moment, shook his head, picked up a twig, and quietly went to a corner to work through some calculations.
At the moment, Ichiro had two main areas of research in Alchemy. One was developing Spirit Food that could increase spiritual pressure; the other was restoring the combat ability he'd had in his previous life.
As a State Alchemist in his previous life, Ichiro had been no weakling. In fact, he'd been on the strong side. His Alchemy skills weren't especially impressive, but his combat ability had been among the best in the country!
Though he might not have measured up to even the higher-ranking Seated Officers in the Soul Reaper world, he was at least stronger than he was now and had some ability to protect himself. Unfortunately, the differences between the two worlds meant there were too many things to adjust. And because he lacked knowledge of this world, he hadn't made much progress in that area despite the decades that had passed.
Seeing this, Urahara, who had been about to invite Ichiro to join their practice, felt relieved. He smiled and turned to begin Hakuda training with Yoruichi.
And so the dojo classroom was divided into three groups: students learning the basics of Hakuda, students sparring with each other, and Ichiro, crouching quietly in a corner with a twig as he worked through his calculations.
Yamada caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye and frowned, but said nothing. He simply continued teaching the other students the basics of Hakuda.
"Dong~ Dong~ Dong~"
Time soon flew by, and the bell rang to signal the end of class. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked toward Yamada.
Yamada didn't waste time. He nodded and said, "Class is over. Tenshin Ichiro, stay behind. Everyone else, you're dismissed."
Everyone in Class Three froze for a moment. Apart from Yoruichi and Urahara, the others looked at Ichiro with glee, as if they were waiting for a good show.
Yamada glanced at them without a word, then walked to the middle of the dojo classroom and looked at Ichiro. "Come on. I'll be your opponent. You were slacking off during class, weren't you?"
"Um... Teacher, there's a reason for that. It's because..."
"That has nothing to do with me. Extra practice!"
"Fine..." Ichiro walked over reluctantly. Being kept after class was a nightmare!
"Let me make this clear first. If you made that up just to slack off, I'll make sure your future classes teach you what despair means!" Yamada said sternly, looking at Ichiro.
"Don't worry, Teacher Yamada." As he spoke, Ichiro lowered his stance slightly, drew his right fist back to his abdomen, and held his left hand out in front of him like a knife.
It was the stance he'd always used in his previous life. Ichiro's proper form made Yamada's eyes light up. It seemed he hadn't been lying.
Without saying anything else, Yamada lightly waved his hand, signaling Ichiro to attack first.
You think you can look down on me, you lousy Yamada?
Before you continue