Chapter 38: Shunpo
"Ow..."
"So tired."
The morning hakuda class ended with Yuuki Shinosuke's crisp dismissal.
Students grimaced one after another, dragging legs that felt filled with lead. Sighing and groaning, they moved their exhausted bodies toward the dining hall's direction, looking exactly like a horde of zombies.
"Suoh, what do you think Yuuki-sensei was teaching?"
"I feel like I didn't learn anything at all."
Hitsugaya Toshiro walked beside Suoh, rarely showing a confused expression.
Physical fatigue made his spirit somewhat dispirited. Even that trademark silver hair seemed to have lost its usual sharpness, hanging listlessly without vitality.
"Who knows? Every teacher has their own teaching method. Just learn according to his way."
Suoh replied with a relaxed expression, breathing steady, forming a stark contrast with everyone else around him.
A morning of basic training wasn't nearly enough to reach his limits.
He also finally understood why no upperclassmen appeared in the first hakuda class.
Hakuda classes didn't divide into advanced and basic groups.
Under Yuuki Shinosuke, all students received the same treatment—regardless of aptitude, starting point, or performance.
Punch until you couldn't throw a standard straight punch anymore.
Even Suoh, whose performance far exceeded his classmates, was similarly required to repeat this simple, brutal process.
However, by class dismissal, while other students' legs trembled, his condition remained excellent.
This performance somewhat touched Yuuki Shinosuke's emotions.
Because Suoh clearly noticed when the dismissal bell rang, his eyebrow had twitched and the corner of his mouth had twisted.
However, the other party had specially pointed out the school's essential principles, so he figured nothing major would happen. He didn't particularly care.
"Let's go eat."
"Rest well at lunch. We still have shunpo class this afternoon."
Patting Hitsugaya's shoulder, the two led the slow-moving "corpse tide" of people toward the dining hall.
...
The afternoon shunpo class training ground was set in an open-air plaza.
Students stood in silent formation at the field's edge.
A figure instantly appeared before the students, demonstrating her strength as shunpo instructor.
A head of sharp brown cropped hair, beautiful features, a pair of long, straight legs full of explosive power lightly treading on the grass.
Her sleeveless black teaching robe clung to wheat-colored skin, outlining a body with flowing lines full of power. From appearance, she was a rare mature beauty.
However, the all-male Class One, Year One had no reaction to this, because most people were already exhausted, lacking even the strength to raise their heads in appreciation.
"Mm..."
Long legs, flat chest, bare shoulders—she could definitely run fast.
Suoh only glanced briefly before withdrawing his gaze.
This teacher's appearance perfectly matched Suoh's imagined profile of a shunpo master. Just too flat.
"I am Kan..."
Her voice was crisp and decisive. Before finishing her introduction, her words cut off halfway.
Noticing the abnormal state of the students before her, she smacked her face with a palm and raged:
"Damn that Shinosuke, that guy's pulling this again."
"Why the hell does shunpo class have to be scheduled after hakuda? How am I supposed to teach anything? So annoying!"
She happily gave the middle finger toward the hakuda training ground's direction.
"You must be Suoh. It's you then."
"Everyone else sit down and rest. Listen and watch."
Having vented her emotions, her gaze fell on Suoh again.
"Thank Suoh! Good thing we have you!"
Hearing this, everyone immediately cast grateful gazes toward their class's pride and sat down to rest on the spot.
"Sensei, what do you need me to do?"
Though Suoh hadn't heard her full name, calling her "sensei" was definitely right. He walked confidently to her side.
"That guy Yuuichi's eye really is sharp enough."
"After Shinosuke's drilling, you can still maintain this condition. Your foundation really is good."
The female teacher looked him up and down, her eyes holding several degrees more recognition.
She then pointed toward the finish line marker at the field's far end.
"Use your fastest speed. Use shunpo to rush from the starting point to the finish line. Let me see your performance."
"Understood."
Suoh nodded and came to the starting point, simply stretching and relaxing his limbs.
While at it, he recalled and reviewed the key points from "Advanced Shunpo Techniques."
"Store power, lift foot, shunpo."
Using shunpo basically divided into these three stages. Though there were stages, it was still a matter of an instant's flash.
The basic principle was the simultaneous explosion of spiritual pressure and physical function, plus grasping the timing of lifting the foot.
Higher-level application was synchronously forming a spiritual power foothold at the landing point—this was also the foundation for aerial movement.
"Hss—"
Preparation complete, taking a deep breath, Suoh's gaze instantly became focused.
The leg muscles beneath his clothes and pants instantly tensed to store power. His knees sank slightly, ankles stable, arch of foot poised. His entire person was ready to explode.
Whoosh—
Without any astonishing momentum, only the sound of wind breaking as his clothing whipped about.
Suoh's figure vanished from the spot in an instant.
The next second, his figure appeared halfway before immediately disappearing again. Before those at the field's edge could react, his figure had steadily stopped at the finish line.
"Eh? Where'd sensei go?"
Quite a few students suddenly realized the female teacher beside them had also suddenly disappeared.
Their gazes turned toward Suoh's direction to discover an extra figure at the finish line's position.
"Interesting..."
"You already know the advanced techniques. Not bad at all, kid."
"From now on, in shunpo class, I'll personally guide you."
"Wait for me...!"
The female teacher stopped directly in front of Suoh, looking straight into his eyes, her gaze full of the delight of finding prey.
Her tone was no longer as casual as before. Her face also held several degrees more of a teacher's seriousness.
Shunpo was easy to learn but hard to perfect. For ordinary Shinigami to achieve simultaneous explosion of body and spiritual pressure was already especially difficult—often the two couldn't achieve complete synchronization.
Not to mention adding formation of a spiritual power foothold at the landing point on top of that foundation. Dividing attention three ways wasn't simply difficulty of 1+1+1.
Just Suoh's two steps earlier had already surpassed the vast majority of ordinary Shinigami in the Seireitei. It genuinely made her hunting instincts stir.
Her words barely fell before her figure immediately vanished from everyone's sight again.
"Really comes and goes like the wind..."
"Eh? Why did sensei suddenly leave?"
"Wasn't she going to lecture? I haven't heard anything yet."
Without any instructions, she left behind a somewhat bewildered Suoh and the students at the field's edge.
He could only return to the crowd and wait together with his classmates.
"Suoh-kun, what did sensei say to you? Why'd she suddenly leave?"
"Suoh-kun, how did you train your shunpo? It feels even faster than my father's!"
Just returning to the crowd, someone immediately asked. Bold people also asked Suoh about his shunpo experience.
"She didn't say much. Just said to wait for her."
"As for shunpo, it's still the most basic—body, spiritual pressure, posture, footwork."
The training ground temporarily fell into a peculiar atmosphere.
The teacher was nowhere to be found. Students had no one leading them. They surrounded Suoh listening to him explain insights.
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