Crack!
Renji hurled his wooden sword to the ground, snapping it in two.
The moment Ounahara finished announcing the list, he’d walked straight off the training grounds, leaving the whole class standing there exchanging bewildered looks.
A moment later, the rest of the students filed off toward the classrooms as well, leaving only Moriyasu’s group still standing on the training grounds.
Renji shouted furiously, “Something’s definitely wrong here!” His eyes darted sideways and found Rukia standing frozen, hands clenched tight around the fabric of her uniform, her small face drained of color.
He gritted his teeth and shouted again.
“If the teacher doesn’t give us an explanation, I’m not going to this stupid Advanced Class either!” “Idiot!” Rukia snapped her head up and yelled at him.
“The resources in the Advanced Class are nothing the Regular Class can even come close to.
You saw it yourself in the dining hall, didn’t you?
Their dining area, the Reishi concentration in that food, it’s completely out of reach for students like us in the Regular Class.
How could you throw away an opportunity like that?” Renji stepped up in front of her, his expression serious.
“But this isn’t fair.
Not even close.
You’re better than me in every single way, Rukia.
I’ve never once beaten you in a sparring match, and don’t even get me started on spiritual power rank.
Why do the rest of us get into the Advanced Class and not you?
It’s not fair!” Rukia’s dark eyes fixed steadily on Renji, and she answered calmly.
“What are you even talking about, Renji?
We should’ve both known from the start.
This world was never fair to begin with.
Wasn’t it?” Back when the two of them had scraped by for years in the Rukongai together, they’d had other friends too, once.
But as time went on, the ones whose Reishi concentration wasn’t strong enough had died off, one after another, dissolving back into Reishi and returning to the earth.
That was exactly when she and Renji had decided to come to Shin’ō Academy and learn how to become Shinigami.
She’d understood a long time ago that fairness had never existed in Soul Society to begin with.
Renji looked like he wanted to say more, but seeing Rukia shake her head slightly, he swallowed whatever it was and fell silent, head down.
Kira Izuru hurried over to Moriyasu, who was in the middle of a yawn.
“Moriyasu, don’t you think something’s off about this?” Moriyasu waved a hand.
“Didn’t Ounahara make it pretty clear?
The decision’s theirs to make.
If we want to fight it, let’s talk again once one of us is a Gotei 13 captain.” He turned to look at Momo as he said it.
“So, this celebration at the bar we talked about, are we still going?” “Yes, of course we’re going.” Momo hurried to wave the others along.
“Come on, let’s go have a proper meal at the bar today.” Momo led the way, with Kira and Renji following behind her.
Rukia hung back at the rear, walking beside Moriyasu.
On the way to the bar in Junrinan, Rukia finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and asked quietly.
“Moriyasu, do I really not have any talent?” “If you mean talent on the level of Gin Ichimaru, you’ve probably still got a ways to go.
But your talent itself isn’t lacking at all.
Whatever you end up achieving, it won’t be small.” Moriyasu tucked his hands into his sleeves and strolled along, unhurried.
His voice, soft and gentle, brought Rukia a real sense of comfort.
She lifted her head, looked over at Moriyasu beside her, and asked again.
“Then why wasn’t I picked for the Advanced Class?
Just because I didn’t reach rank ten?” Moriyasu shrugged.
“Who knows?” It was a lie.
He’d actually already worked out who was behind this, the same person who’d been sneaking around to watch Rukia this whole time.
That person probably wanted to separate Rukia from her friends, to isolate her, so that whatever they were planning would have a better chance of succeeding.
Honestly, it was a pretty ugly way to go about it.
And the fact that they hadn’t sent him into the Advanced Class himself, leaving the two of them together instead, that part was what made it curious.
For now, with both of them still in the Regular Class, they could still look out for each other, which meant Rukia wouldn’t have to feel any of that isolation or pain.
Before long, the group arrived at the bar in Junrinan.
The moment they pushed the door open, a familiar golden figure came into view.
“You students actually come drinking at bars too?” Rangiku, a jug of sake in hand, greeted the group cheerfully as they walked in.
Momo bowed at once.
“Lieutenant Matsumoto, we just finished our exam today.
We came to celebrate.” “Already that time, huh?
Time really does fly.
Though with your scores, you should’ve breezed right through into the Advanced Class.” Rangiku narrowed her eyes slightly, taking in the spiritual power rank of each of them at a glance.
This year’s crop was genuinely impressive, Rukia especially, even sharper than Rangiku herself had been as a student.
The weakest of the group was Moriyasu, though his exceptional Reishi control and mastery across Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Kidō, and Shunpo should have more than made up for any shortfall in raw talent.
“Come on, come on, drink up, let’s celebrate together.” Rangiku waved them over to sit down, then turned and called out loudly, “Boss, a few more jugs over here!” When she turned back to look at the juniors settling into their seats, she noticed everyone but Moriyasu had a strange look on their face, and asked, puzzled: “Weren’t we celebrating?
What’s with the long faces?” Renji growled under his breath.
“No idea what happened, but Moriyasu and Rukia didn’t get picked for the Advanced Class.” “Hm?” Rangiku’s brow furrowed.
“If it’s Moriyasu getting cut, fine, I get that, his spiritual power rank genuinely isn’t there yet.
But Rukia?
That shouldn’t have happened at all.” “What’d the old man at the school say?” “Ounahara said Rukia’s potential wasn’t there, that a whole month in, her spiritual power rank hadn’t gone up at all.” Renji repeated the teacher’s explanation.
“Huh?” Rangiku’s frown deepened further.
As a lieutenant, she understood far better than any academy teacher what it actually meant to be above rank eleven.
Rukia’s talent, on the verge of breaking through to rank ten at any moment the way she was, would have been considered solid even within the Gotei 13 itself.
Someone with that kind of potential could very realistically climb all the way to lieutenant, or even higher.
How could anyone possibly call talent like that “lacking potential”?
The old teachers at that school weren’t blind enough to miss something like that.
Something had to be going on underneath all this.
As she was mulling it over, a bang sounded from the entrance, the bar’s door thrown open hard.
“Rangiku, you’re slacking off on the job again, aren’t you?”