Blade and Me

"No wonder Seireitei is so lavish."

Uchiha Yato held the sheet of paper in his hand and clicked his tongue in amazement.

"Just an admission notice from Shin'ō Academy, yet it seems to have Kidō power attached to it. It's hard to damage."

The admission notice, about the size of two palms put together, bore patterns embroidered with silver thread. The flowers of the Gotei 13 twined around one another, exquisitely beautiful.

Shin'ō Academy's motto was engraved at the very top.

[Do not pursue the aesthetics of clashing blades]

[Do not pursue the virtue of dying without return]

[Do not consider only your own life]

[If you wish to protect one king and five nobles, then slaughter every enemy beneath the leaves' shade]

At the center of the admission notice was the young man's information.

[Uchiha Yato, place of origin: East Rukongai, District 62]

[Following evaluation, Uchiha Yato possesses excellent spiritual pressure, a sturdy soul, and satisfactory moral character]

[Specially admitted as a new student of Shin'ō Academy]

[Registration location: White Way Gate, Junrinan, West Rukongai District 1]

[Registration deadline: within half a month of this notice being issued]

There was also a portrait of Uchiha Yato in the upper-right corner of the admission notice.

He looked to be fourteen or fifteen, with black hair, black eyes, a slightly slender build, and a smile at the corner of his lips. He was quite handsome.

"I finally got in... Honestly, for someone from Rukongai, the academic subjects in the entrance exam were really hard."

Yato sighed, tossed the admission notice aside, and lay down with his arm beneath his head.

In the somewhat shabby little house, the young man enjoyed a brief moment of ease.

After transmigrating into the world of Bleach, he had truly worked himself to the bone to get into Shin'ō Academy, never relaxing for even a moment.

Training his body, saving money to buy books, working to support himself—he had lived a more exhausting life than during his senior year of high school in his previous life.

Fortunately, East Rukongai District 62, Flower Withers, barely had any public security. It was livable enough, unlike Zaraki or Inuzuri, where lawlessness reigned and vicious people ran rampant.

Fortunately, too, he had been a battle-hardened survivor of exam-oriented education in his previous life. Yato could handle this level of intensity.

As for why he had transmigrated into the world of Bleach, Uchiha Yato had long since stopped bothering to think too deeply about it.

As for why his surname was "Uchiha"...

"Huh? Why did you throw away your admission notice? You worked so hard to get in~"

A sweet, lively voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. Yato did not turn around or even open his eyes.

"Was I supposed to frame it?"

"Hehe, you could tattoo it on yourself."

"Who would tattoo something like that? If I got a tattoo, it'd be 'Everything for Seireitei.' Maybe the moment old man Yamamoto saw it, he'd train me to become the Gotei 13's successor."

"Good idea. I'll tattoo it on you today while you're asleep."

The girl who had suddenly appeared teased him in a familiar tone.

She, too, had black hair and black eyes. Her long hair fell straight to her hips, and her face was beautiful. Yet unlike her refined, ladylike appearance, the girl was dressed with striking ferocity—

She wore a black skintight combat suit beneath crimson, layered Sengoku-style armor, with a strange giant war fan strapped to her back.

Even in Soul Society, that style of dress could be considered an antique.

As she admired the portrait on the admission notice, she reached out to toy with Yato's face. From time to time, she even pried open his lips to inspect his teeth, as though appraising a horse.

"Tut, tut. Sure enough, a truly handsome guy looks better in person than in pictures."

"So I count as handsome?"

"Obviously." The girl knocked Yato on the head in dissatisfaction.

"Since when has the Uchiha Clan ever had an ugly one?"

"Thanks."

"So when are you getting married? So many little girls' eyes light up when they see you. What was that saying again? Oh, 'It is our bounden duty to restore the glory of the Uchiha Clan!'"

"Stop messing around..." Familiar with the girl's often erratic way of speaking, Yato sighed.

"Still, the academic subjects really were difficult. If only my Spiritual Might rank were higher. I heard you can enroll without taking the exam then."

The girl shrugged, making the red armor on her body rustle pleasantly.

"Spiritual Might, Rank Twelve. That's already very good, little genius."

"You really do have a talent for humoring children." Only then did Yato open his eyes. A faint glimmer seemed to pass through his pitch-black pupils.

"When I went to collect the admission notice, I ran into a 12th Division ceremonial procession and heard a name... Kirio Hikifune."

He paused before continuing.

"So the timeline needs adjusting again. This should be the era before Kirio Hikifune was promoted to Squad Zero. Still, it probably won't be many years before she heads to the Soul King Palace."

A transmigrator's greatest advantage was foreknowledge of major events.

But Shinigami lived for hundreds of years at a time, and the original story was vague about exact dates. On top of that, Uchiha Yato had been born in Rukongai, making intelligence difficult to gather.

Knowledge was held by a select few. In this world, Shinigami and nobles were undoubtedly the upper class, while Rukongai residents found it difficult to penetrate their circles.

That was why Uchiha Yato had repeatedly lamented that "the academic subjects are too hard." In the higher-numbered districts of Rukongai, it was difficult even to find a bookstore. Learning knowledge and seeking information were both incredibly difficult.

The walls built from Sekkiseki were far more than a physical barrier.

Fortunately, determining the approximate time period was not difficult.

—At present, it was roughly one hundred and twenty years before the story began.

The girl's eyes lit up. Just as she was about to say something, her lovely brows suddenly drew together.

"Someone's coming."

Her hand touched the flame war fan on her back as she gave a half-smile.

"And they're carrying quite a lot of things... Hmph."

Uchiha Yato stood up and patted the girl on the shoulder, signaling that she need not worry.

A knock sounded at the door, and the visitor entered carrying several large and small packages.

"Yato, that's incredible." The middle-aged man spoke cheerfully as he sat before the young man.

"Our Flower Withers District hasn't produced a new Shin'ō Academy student in ages! Lord Horiuchi has been happy about it for days."

"It was just luck. I only barely passed." Uchiha Yato humbly replied, accepting the gifts from the visitor and chatting with him casually.

The middle-aged man was glib and articulate, and the atmosphere of their conversation was fairly harmonious.

Yet strangely enough, throughout it all, the visitor looked only at Uchiha Yato.

As for the girl, she was like a lifeform from another dimension, absent from his eyes entirely.

In fact, throughout the vast Soul Society, only Yato could see and sense the girl.

After merely glancing at the visitor, the girl in crimson armor sat on the tatami, curled herself up, and hugged her legs.

She simply watched Yato in silence, unable to stop the corners of her mouth from lifting slightly.

For an intelligent being, no one being able to see, touch, or hear you was no different from living forever in a world of solitude. It was undoubtedly the most terrifying punishment.

But fortunately, there was one person with whom she could depend on each other through life and death, sharing the same fate.

One person was her entire world.