Siry Nicholas!

"Hello, little one. What are you doing here?"

The girl with glasses brushed back her hair, crouched in front of the boy, and asked gently.

The boy only looked up at her timidly before lowering his head again and burying it between his knees.

The girl with glasses glanced back at her teammates, a little awkwardly. After receiving their signal, she forced a slightly embarrassed smile and said, "Well... big sister has other things to do. Goodbye."

After that, she returned to their base as instructed, and they discussed their plan of action again.

"What should we do? That kid doesn't look very approachable, and we don't have much time."

"Let me think..." The noble wearing a Kenseikan stroked his chin thoughtfully, then raised a question. "How did the seniors communicate with him before? They managed to strike up a conversation right away. Even with plenty of experience, they couldn't have done that so easily, could they?"

"Could they have used Kido?"

"But they always ask permission before using Kido, so probably not." A boy immediately dismissed the idea, but the noble wearing the Kenseikan's eyes lit up at his words.

"No! They definitely used Kido! Think about it carefully. Don't the Kido they apply to use all share one characteristic? They alter or completely confuse another person's will. Not all Kido can do that, but some Bakudo have a mild effect that can confuse people. They should be able to use it to make him like them more."

The more the boy spoke, the more excited he became. He felt he'd found the heart of the problem!

Unfortunately, Ten-shin Kazuo poured cold water on his enthusiasm. "Then, does anyone here know a Kido like that?"

"..."

"..."

After a long silence, as expected, no one did.

If any of them knew one, they would have brought it up for discussion from the start. The group exchanged quiet glances, then turned as one toward Ichiro and the others—or, more precisely, toward Yoruichi.

As the next head of the Shihoin Clan, Yoruichi's talent was famous among the nobility. A minor Kido like this would hardly be a challenge for her.

"Um... Lady Yoruichi, do you know Bakudo No. 16: Hoshin? We need your help."

"Bakudo No. 16?" Yoruichi handed the piece of iron she'd just picked up to Ichiro, then turned with him and Urahara to look curiously at the group.

"Ichiro, you do it!"

"???" Ichiro looked at Yoruichi in confusion. They'd called for her, Yoruichi. What did it have to do with him, Tenshin Ichiro?

"I don't know how to use Incantation Abandonment for that. You do it."

"???" Ichiro looked even more confused. "It's only Bakudo No. 16, and you're telling me you can't use Incantation Abandonment?"

Yoruichi's mouth twitched. She gritted her teeth and said, "Incantation Abandonment isn't that simple. Not everyone is like you! Generally speaking, most Soul Reapers can only use Incantation Abandonment for Kido they've mastered through practice, or for Kido far below their own level. They can't use it for every Kido they've learned!"

"..." This time, Ichiro's mouth twitched. He'd never understood how Yoruichi and the others thought. Was Kido really that difficult?

Of course, he knew well enough how talented he was at Kido, so he stopped showing off. Instead, he held out his right hand toward the girl with glasses in the distance, bringing his index and middle fingers together, extending his thumb, curling his ring and little fingers, and aiming his palm at her. He casually recited, "Bakudo No. 16: Hoshin!"

"Whoosh!"

He lowered his right hand, shook the dust from the bag at his waist, and continued filling it with stones and pieces of iron. Without looking back, he said, "It'll last an hour. Go ahead. Even without the incantation, it should be enough to deal with that little kid."

The three of them continued scavenging, but the others weren't nearly as calm...

A No. 16 Kido... without an incantation...

What kind of monsters were they?!

They'd only been studying for a year!

Now they understood why Ichiro could hang out with Yoruichi and Urahara every day. It wasn't because he was trying to cozy up to the powerful; it was because geniuses naturally gravitated toward one another...

The noble wearing the Kenseikan clenched his fist, took a deep breath, and suppressed his resentment before turning to the others. "All right, let's try again. Everyone, think of a way to guide him."

"Yeah!" x n

As the girl with glasses and the others began a new round of "operations," the small bag at Ichiro's waist had turned gray-black and filled up. After signaling to their teacher, Ichiro, Urahara, and Yoruichi left the rest of the class and stopped some distance away.

The three crouched in a circle as Yoruichi and Urahara quietly watched Ichiro sort through the materials in the bag and lay them out on the ground.

"Iron... all kinds of stones... wood... What are you making?" After a year together, Urahara had a general idea of the principle behind Ichiro's Alchemy: equivalent exchange.

Anything he made had to consist of these materials. Other substances couldn't appear out of nowhere, so he was looking forward to seeing what Ichiro would create.

"You'll see in a moment. It'll definitely blow you away!" As he spoke, Ichiro took out a glove marked with a Transmutation Circle and put it on.

A Transmutation Circle was one of the basic requirements for using Alchemy. Except for the few alchemists who had paid a price to gain the ability to transmute without a circle, anyone who wanted to use Alchemy had to draw one first.

For convenience, alchemists usually drew their most familiar Transmutation Circles in advance and carried them around. A seasoned alchemist typically had two or three on hand, and some even carried seven or eight.

A Transmutation Circle could be drawn on any surface: clothing, a pocket watch, or even part of the body.

Once, in his previous life, Ichiro had nearly failed a mission when he ran into a freak who'd drawn a Transmutation Circle on his tongue. In the end, Ichiro had to abandon his plan to capture him alive and kill him instead. He survived, but the mission was still a failure.

Ichiro's habit was to draw Transmutation Circles on his gloves, then add miniature ones to places like his collar and cuffs as a precaution.

However, he hadn't started preparing in this world yet, because he still hadn't figured out Transmutation Circles suited to the Soul Society. His Kido was stronger in a fight, so there was no need to prepare any.

Ichiro held his gloved right hand above the materials, closed his eyes, and focused all his attention on them...

"Crackle..."

As Ichiro's technique activated, flashes of light surged from the faintly glowing Transmutation Circle and enveloped the materials below!

Metal shaping... transmutation!

Wood detailing... transmutation!

Gunpowder refinement... transmutation!

Final assembly... transmutation!

Gun Alchemy—Revolver... complete!

The white light faded, revealing a revolver with a slightly long barrel beneath his right hand!

The type of Alchemy Ichiro had been best at in his previous life—Gun Alchemy—had made its debut in another world!

Sir, please eat shit! —by the Gun Alchemist, Siry Nicholas!