And after that—
Once his emotions gradually settled, Bai Chen blended into the crowd and joined the line for the entrance exam.
Fortunately,
he didn't have to wait too long.
In less than an hour, under the guidance of academy staff, Bai Chen and the applicants around him were led into the examination hall.
But…
The moment Bai Chen stepped inside,
he spotted several familiar faces among the waiting candidates—
and his mood lifted instantly.
"This is…"
"Kira Izuru!"
"Abarai Renji!"
And… "Kuchiki Rukia!"
At that moment,
roughly ten or so meters ahead of Bai Chen—
stood three people who, in the original story, would all grow into lieutenant-level figures, and later play major roles.
Fueled by the lively atmosphere around them, they were talking excitedly.
"The three of us… we should all pass, right?"
Under his slanted blond bangs,
Kira Izuru looked resolute, confidence plain in his eyes.
He was clearly determined to get in.
"As if there's any doubt."
The moment Kira finished, the boy beside him—
sporting a spiky, flame-red hairstyle—
Abarai Renji grinned with easy confidence.
"Kira… don't forget the goal we set back when we ran into each other."
"This time, it's not just about passing."
"We have to rank near the top. We're going to be the standout honors students of this class!"
Renji straightened his back, self-assured to the core.
He came from South Rukongai—
the infamous Inuzuri District, the Seventy-Eighth District, nearly at the very bottom.
Terrible public safety.
Crushing poverty.
That environment forged Renji's grit and toughness—and it also brought out his natural talent early.
A while back—
In pursuit of a better life, and to become Soul Reapers,
Renji and Kuchiki Rukia, childhood friends, made the decision to leave Inuzuri behind.
On their way to Seireitei, they met Kira—someone close to them in age.
And that was how this scene came to be.
"You two should keep it down."
"Don't get careless and end up tripping over yourselves."
Rukia was just as confident, but compared to her two companions, she was far more restrained.
After speaking, she rose onto her toes—
her slender frame stretching as she tried to peer over the packed crowd and scan the room.
A few seconds later,
her eyes swept left to right—
and she quickly noticed Bai Chen.
"Hm?"
"Renji, Kira… look over there!"
"I think I just found an unexpected dark horse."
From across the crowd,
after quietly observing for a moment,
Rukia realized something that surprised her—
Bai Chen wasn't doing anything at all.
And yet simply standing there, he felt distinct, his presence strangely prominent.
More importantly—
his expression was calm to the point of indifference.
No nerves.
No excitement.
As if this much-hyped autumn enrollment—
something everyone else treated like destiny—
meant absolutely nothing to him.
Or to put it another way…
as if it was so easy it wasn't worth thinking about.
"What? A dark horse?"
Renji frowned, instinctively skeptical.
It wasn't arrogance—he'd been watching people from the moment they started lining up at Hakudō Gate.
He'd quietly sized up nearly every applicant they'd encountered along the way.
And the conclusion was obvious—
In that huge stream of people, he hadn't seen a single person with an aura that screamed "genius."
"Yeah… Renji's right."
"Expressions can be faked, but reiatsu can't."
"Rukia… this 'dark horse' you're talking about—"
Before Kira could even finish—
his expression abruptly changed.
His eyes widened as doubt and unease flashed across his face.
"Wait… something's off."
"Why can't I sense even a trace of reiatsu from that guy?"
"That shouldn't be possible."
Following Rukia's gaze,
Kira focused on Bai Chen and deliberately tried to probe him.
And what he found made his blood run cold—
he couldn't sense anything.
It was so strange it felt unreal.
Because even if someone tried to hide themselves,
their reiatsu fluctuations couldn't just vanish completely.
And besides—
none of the applicants here were Soul Reapers yet.
With their current level of control, it was impossible for them to fully mask their presence.
That was something only captain-level Soul Reapers could do.
"No reiatsu? That can't be right."
Renji tried sensing as well.
He got the same result—nothing.
And that only made his brow knit tighter.
It didn't add up.
In the autumn enrollment exam, the most important part was the reiatsu test.
If Bai Chen truly had no reiatsu—
then when that section came, wouldn't he just be throwing himself away?
But after thinking it through,
Renji relaxed surprisingly quickly.
He pulled his attention back, stopped paying Bai Chen any mind, and came up with an explanation he found reasonable.
"Isn't it possible we're overestimating him?"
"Maybe it's not that he has no reiatsu…"
"Maybe it's just so weak it's basically negligible."
In Renji's view,
no one would be stupid enough to apply—
knowing full well the key hurdle was the reiatsu test—
if they truly had no reiatsu at all.
So clearly,
Bai Chen must be weak.
He was probably just here to try his luck.
And the reason he looked so calm—so detached—
was because he already knew his odds were slim, so he didn't bother hoping.
At least, that's what Renji believed.
"If you put it that way… it does sound plausible."
"But either way, let's focus."
"The written portion is about to begin."
Kira nodded, withdrawing his gaze as well, no longer paying Bai Chen attention.
Only Rukia remained—
even after hearing Renji's explanation,
she still couldn't shake the feeling that she hadn't been wrong.
"reiatsu so weak it doesn't register…?"
"Is that really it?"
A woman's intuition—
that quiet sixth sense—
told Rukia strongly that when the reiatsu test began,
Bai Chen would deliver something unforgettable.