For several days in a row, Arata diligently taught classes in the Kendo Club, starting from the basics of kendo to some simpler sword techniques.
That's right, Arata was even teaching them swordsmanship, most of which he had learned from Unohana Retsu.
Unohana Retsu, known as the "Eight Thousand Styles," although she hadn't truly mastered eight thousand sword styles, could easily master one or two hundred of them.
A large part of her sword techniques came from enemies she challenged in Rukongai.
For example, Itō Senken-ryū, Edo Shinkage-ryū, and so on.
Some schools sounded very cool and powerful, but in reality, many of them were merely decorative and exaggerated, without much truly practical content. Even today, they were not much stronger than the kendo taught at the Spiritual Arts Academy.
What Arata did was to condense useful knowledge and techniques and present them to everyone from a different perspective and in a different way.
This method of teaching was much more engaging than the dry memorization used by teachers at the Spiritual Arts Academy, which led to more and more people joining the Kendo Club. The number of members grew from a little over 30 to more than 50.
This brought in over 100 destiny points for Arata once again.
Unfortunately, Arata hadn't seen Renji in the past few days.
Could it be that it was discovered that he had skipped the Kidō class earlier?
He didn't even know how Renji was doing with the task he had entrusted to him, to bring in more people.
Arata had high expectations for Renji. After all, he was a very important…
No, he was a talented young man with enormous potential and a strong capacity for growth.
Arata hadn't seen Renji, but when he stepped out of the Kendo Club, he unexpectedly saw Matsumoto Rangiku in her Gotei 13 uniform.
Next to her was the vice-captain of the Fourth Division, Kotetsu Isane. Two tall and beautiful women standing together made for a lovely sight. All the students passing through the hallway slowed their steps, hoping to admire them a little longer.
"Good day, Vice-Captain Kotetsu, Miss Rangiku." Although slightly confused, Arata still politely greeted both of them.
"May I ask what brings you here?"
"Good morning, Arata-kun." Kotetsu Isane returned the greeting with a smile.
"It's been a while, Arata-san." Rangiku smiled and looked at Arata with a hint of admiration in her eyes, mixed with a trace of curiosity. "We came back to the Spiritual Arts Academy to visit the younger generation. We happened to hear that your Kendo Club opened, so we decided to stop by and take a look."
In fact, she and Isane had arrived at Shin'ō Spiritual Arts Academy over an hour ago to discuss the details of the teacher training seminar with Vice Director Shibato Mitsunobu, so that the project could be implemented later.
At the end of their business discussion, Shibato Mitsunobu, whether intentionally or not, suddenly mentioned the Kendo Club that had recently become very popular among the students of the Spiritual Arts Academy.
As the person responsible for procuring supplies for the Kendo Club, Rangiku naturally already knew about it.
However, Kotetsu Isane was confused about the matter. After asking a few questions, she learned that the founder of the Kendo Club was Saito Nozomi, the same Arata who had come to Captain Unohana with the token.
Out of curiosity about the Kendo Club and Arata, the two of them came to the Kendo Club classroom. At the time, Arata was in the middle of teaching a kendo class, so they had spent the whole morning listening from outside.
After this eavesdropping, both became even more curious about Arata.
The kendo content he talked about wasn't particularly deep. Even Kotetsu Isane, who had joined the Fourth Division, known for "not being good at combat", was familiar with that level of knowledge.
But what was surprising was that Arata's method of presentation was completely different from their previous experience in the classrooms of the Spiritual Arts Academy. He wasn't reading directly from textbooks but guiding everyone to learn kendo from an immersive, practical perspective.
Rangiku thought to herself that if her kendo teacher at the Spiritual Arts Academy had been replaced by Arata, maybe her graduation results would have been much better, and perhaps she would have become a vice-captain much earlier.
This was a surprising conclusion!
How could a student who hadn't even graduated from the Spiritual Arts Academy master teaching skills that far surpassed his peers and even seniors?
Moreover, there's one prerequisite for being able to teach others: you must fully master all the knowledge and successfully integrate it; otherwise, you can't clearly convey it.
Just like Rangiku herself, even though she had now reached the position of vice-captain.
If she were sent to teach at the Spiritual Arts Academy, she might not be able to hold a class better than the ordinary soldiers who retired long ago.
Her strength hadn't increased much since reaching the rank of vice-captain.
If she could once again master the knowledge of "Zan-Ken-Soku-Ki" from a new perspective, it might help her further solidify her foundation and take another big step forward on the path of a vice-captain.
That was also the reason why Rangiku decided to apply for the teacher training seminar.
As for Kotetsu Isane, her reason was similar to Rangiku's, with the added instruction from Captain Unohana.
"Isane, your Kaidō skills aren't bad, but you still need to refine them for a while longer."
She reached her current position as vice-captain thanks to three things.
Integrity, patience, and a willingness to accept guidance.
After hearing Rangiku's explanation, Arata understood everything, but judging by the expressions on their faces, it was obvious they had been listening outside for quite some time.
"I understand. The Kendo Club session just finished. If it suits you, please come in and have a seat."
"Hey, do you have any sake here?"
"Rangiku-san, what are you saying? You should mind your image in front of the younger generation!"
"It's no big deal, Arata-kun surely doesn't mind, right?"
"Hahaha, Miss Rangiku is truly witty. Unfortunately, we don't have any alcohol in the Kendo Club, only tea."
---
In the exclusive Kendo Club lounge, the two ladies were drinking tea personally prepared by Arata and exclaimed in admiration at the same time.
"Though I feel a bit embarrassed to say this, the tea brewed by Arata-san is even better than the captain's." Kotetsu Isane's beautiful face flushed slightly, genuinely impressed by the flavor.
Captain Unohana, please forgive me.
"Mr. Arata, I didn't expect that aside from kendo, you also know the tea ceremony. You truly are versatile and talented." Rangiku downed the tea in her cup in one gulp. The sweet aftertaste made her crave another cup.
She was used to alcohol, but this was the first time she had tasted such delicious tea.
"If I could drink tea this good every day, I'd be willing to quit drinking entirely starting today!"
Arata refilled Rangiku's cup and handed her the steaming tea: "If Miss Rangiku likes it, you're welcome to come to the Kendo Club for tea every day."
"Really?"
"A gentleman's word is worth gold." Arata gently blew on his tea and took a sip. This batch of tea really was excellent. It was worth the large amount of family money he spent every year to buy it on Noble Street.
"It's settled then! Isane, once the teacher training seminar starts, let's come here for tea every day!" Rangiku had no idea at the time what kind of impact this casually made decision would have on her future life.
"Eh? I… don't mind." Isane looked a little hesitant. It seemed a bit rude to keep coming over to eat and drink for free.
But after thinking about it again, the tea brewed by Arata-san really was excellent.
And since Arata himself didn't mind, there was no need to feel any psychological burden.
Arata, of course, didn't mind in fact, he was very pleased, because he had just triggered two more fate judgments.
[Kotetsu Isane's fate has changed due to your actions, you gain 45 fate points.]
[Matsumoto Rangiku's fate has significantly changed due to your actions, you gain 108 fate points.]