Chapter 4: Which High School Boy Can Refuse a Big Toy?
Three days later, the Spirit Arts Academy auditorium held its entrance ceremony as scheduled.
Shimiya Takeru, of course, had passed. Ichigo, "as expected," had also cleared the exam and even placed right behind him on the rankings.
From the moment the list went up, the two of them became the most talked about prodigies of the year.
Rumors even started drifting through the Gotei Thirteen.
The Headmaster, feeling more than a little proud, spoke with great enthusiasm from the podium.
He never noticed that his two most esteemed freshmen were not exactly hanging on his every word. One was staring off into space as if lost in thought, and the other was desperately keeping a straight face, terrified he might yawn.
Shimiya Takeru, however, was not actually zoning out.
He was exploring his golden finger.
[System: As great as you are, you have not only harmed the son of destiny, but also broken the Soul Society Spirit Arts Academy admission record with the best score in history. Reward: Compound Potion.]
[Item: Compound Potion. Upon use, restores a small amount of spiritual pressure and stamina. Uses remaining: 2. Uses refresh the next day.]
Putting aside the slander about murdering the son of destiny, Takeru had already figured out the rough principle of his golden finger over the past few days.
In short, it functioned like an achievement log.
Whenever he completed a particular feat or triggered a specific event, a line of ink wash narration text would appear before his eyes, like a bard reciting an epic poem.
Then, whether it was spoils of war, a reward from fate, or a tribute to a growing legend, something would be handed to him.
What people called it did not matter.
The important part was that he got benefits.
So Takeru had decided to call this golden finger the machine soul. The name felt very appropriate for the Soul Society.
As for this second gift from the machine soul, the admission reward, he was quite satisfied.
After all, how much of an advantage he could gain from the miracle of transmigration, and what his ultimate talent ceiling was, remained unknown.
Even though, for the moment, he had scored higher than the number monster beside him and taken first place, he knew he would have to put in two hundred times the effort if he did not want to be left in the dust later.
A potion that could help accelerate his training was priceless.
"Man, I can breathe again."
When the ceremony finally ended and they were heading back to the dorms, Ichigo walked while stretching his neck and shoulders.
"That was only an hour," Takeru said calmly.
"If I could drift off and daydream like you, I would feel like time flew by too," Kurosaki Ichigo muttered, rolling his eyes.
The two of them chatted idly as they followed the tree lined stone path toward the dormitory.
The Spirit Arts Academy admitted at most about a hundred students per year.
Even if every single one of them chose to live on campus, it was not much of a burden.
The dormitory building itself leaned toward a Taisho era style, the kind of wooden schoolhouse you often saw in Japanese anime.
It had three floors.
The first floor housed shared facilities such as a courtyard, a large dining hall, and separate public bathhouses for men and women. The second and third floors were for male and female student rooms respectively.
The interior felt very much like a hot spring inn.
It was clearly a public facility, yet it also had a homelike atmosphere, like stepping back into your own living room or hallway.
Each student at the Spirit Arts Academy was assigned a single room.
The classic four and a half tatami mat layout.
"By the way, isn't the guy in that room part of our living group too?"
Ichigo suddenly remembered something, pointed at the door next to his, and brought it up.
"That is right."
Takeru glanced at the room number and the name written outside in ink.
"Rindo Yu. I remember him. He was sitting right behind you at the ceremony. I heard he is deaf and mute."
"What?"
Ichigo's face immediately darkened.
"You could have at least warned me. I do not want people thinking I am the kind of guy who ignores his own roommate. I may not care about my reputation in general, but I would rather die than have that one stuck on me."
The Spirit Arts Academy grouped students into living groups of three, essentially roommates.
They lived side by side, and chores like cleaning or other small duties were often assigned to one or more living groups as units.
It was convenient, and it encouraged students to help and grow with one another. Because of that, isolation was rare.
"Who said I did not greet him? Turn your head and look."
Takeru tilted his chin slightly.
Ichigo reflexively turned and looked back.
A delicate, quiet looking boy was standing there.
"W when did you get here? I did not hear anything at all..."
The boy raised a hand and traced his fingertip through the air. Spiritual particles gathered where he moved and formed a line of text.
Nice to meet you. I am Rindo Yu.
"Oh, I am Kurosaki Ichigo, and this is Shimiya Takeru... ah, sorry, I forgot, you are..."
Before Ichigo could finish fumbling his way into an apology and start digging around for a pen and paper, Rindo wrote another line in the air.
I can sense the emotions of others, so there is no barrier to communication. You do not need to go out of your way for me. I will do my best not to cause you trouble.
"..."
Ichigo felt his throat tighten. He did not know what to say.
It was not the communication ability itself that struck him.
It was how calm and natural Rindo was in the way he lived, simply existing in his own rhythm. That completely shattered Ichigo's image of what a disabled person was supposed to look like.
Very soon, a genuine smile appeared on Ichigo's face.
"I get it. Please take care of me from now on, Rindo."
Please take care of me as well.
"By the way, how did you two greet each other earlier?" Ichigo asked.
"Exactly like how I reminded you just now," Takeru replied.
Ichigo understood instantly.
"I see."
A small tilt of the chin could mean look over there, or it could mean let's talk outside or follow me.
It was much more convenient than walking up and introducing yourself every single time.
Of course, doing that to a stranger made you seem a bit overly familiar.
You could only say that when it came to interacting with people, Takeru had a kind of relaxed equanimity similar to Rindo's.
That equanimity vanished entirely when he received his Asauchi.
The next day arrived.
The Spirit Arts Academy distributed Asauchi to the first year students all at once.
It was nothing like the fantasy Takeru had pictured, where a group of them would be led into some dark secret chamber and allowed to pick whatever they liked.
First years did not get that kind of treatment.
Asauchi were only on loan. They only truly became personal property after a student graduated and was officially placed into a squad. That alone showed that the Spirit Arts Academy did not particularly prioritize compatibility between a student and their Asauchi.
Takeru strongly suspected that this was one of the reasons elite Shinigami capable of achieving Shikai were relatively rare.
Even so, he had no complaints about his own Asauchi.
The way he looked at the sword could only be described as fonder than the way most people looked at their dogs.
His hand stroked the scabbard lightly, like touching a girl's cheek, yet there was also a restless urge to draw the blade and test a few swings.
"Takeru, you look like one of those ancient samurai who went crazy and used passersby to test their swords," Ichigo said, twitching his lips.
He was also excited, but only because he wanted Shinigami powers. The sword itself did not inspire any particular feelings. If no one had told him what it was, he would have assumed it was just a traditional craft sword from the World of the Living.
"Are you really a high school student?" Takeru looked up at him, suspicion written all over his face.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Even grade schoolers cannot resist picking up a straight tree branch they see on the road and swinging it around."
"You said it yourself, that is grade schoolers. High schoolers would not do something that childish."
"True. High schoolers are more realistic. They cannot resist cool fights, cannot resist cool powers that put them above everyone else, cannot resist the cool passion of protecting the world, and cannot resist the cool feeling of being praised after showing off."
"Do you really have to stress the word cool that much..."
"And also."
"And also?!"
Ichigo's eyes widened.
He had no idea that behind him, besides Rindo, there was also a blonde girl peeking curiously at them.
"Yes."
Takeru looked seriously at the big toy in his hands with the same focus he would have used for a scholarly debate.
"Didn't Gengoro Onabara sensei just say it? A Zanpakuto and a Shinigami are one. You engrave the essence of your soul into it so you can resonate with it and grow together. That is why they hand out Asauchi as early as possible, so we can reach results sooner."
"But that is not the main point. The main point is that a Zanpakuto has a soul. For a Shinigami, that is a partner who will fight alongside you and never leave your side."
"If that partner happened to be a beautiful girl, what do you think a high school boy would imagine?"
Cool battles, overwhelming power, and a beautiful girl.
Gulp.
With those three elements laid out in a row, even Ichigo felt himself wavering.
He did not start drooling, but it was a close call.
A second later, Takeru, Ichigo, and Rindo all turned to stare in the same direction.
At the person who had actually gulped out loud.
She was not embarrassed at all.
The blonde girl casually wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and grinned.
"I am Hachihara Kumoru. I heard the two top scoring prodigies this year both just arrived from the World of the Living. Coincidentally, I am really into gyaru culture from the World of the Living. If you do not mind, let us be friends."