Time passed, and once again I found myself sparring with my master in something resembling a real fight.
Not that he wasn’t still going easy on me, mind you.
“—!”
My master’s Zanpakutō came crashing down.
It was a simple overhead swing, nothing more.
But with his enormous frame and tremendous strength behind it, the blow was enough to take my breath away.
I’ve grown since then, though.
I read the attack, let it come as close as I dared, and slipped out of the way at the very last moment.
He brought the blade down several more times, and I dodged each swing in much the same way, closing the distance between us as I went.
“Hadō Number Two: Hotarubi!”
“Hmm!”
I fired off a Kidō spell the instant he raised his sword.
It was one he’d taught me some time ago: a fireball launched from the fingertips.
I aimed for his torso, but my master caught it effortlessly in his palm.
It didn’t seem to hurt him at all.
His skin was only faintly red.
“Now!”
But that was all I needed.
In the instant his movement stopped, I used Shunpo to close the gap and swung my blade—or rather, my wooden sword—at his thigh.
“Too slow!”
My master moved to stop me, putting distance between us again.
My strike cut through empty air.
“In that case…
Bakudō Number One: Sai!”
“What?!”
I followed up with a binding spell.
This was another technique he’d taught me during our lessons, one that restrained the target’s limbs.
But it was the lowest-level spell of its kind.
And with the difference in strength between us, there was no chance it could completely immobilise my master.
Just as I’d expected…
he didn’t stop moving.
Only one arm was held in place.
“Excuse me!”
I leapt onto the immobilised arm, used it as a foothold, and sprang even higher.
By binding that enormous arm with Bakudō, I’d fixed it in place long enough to turn it into a platform.
“Hyaaaaah!”
“I see!
So that’s your plan!”
I swung my sword again, this time straight at my master’s face.
He smiled, almost as if he were pleased with what I’d done, and brought his Zanpakutō around with his free arm.
Our blades collided, and I was sent flying backwards.
But I landed without losing my balance and immediately settled into a stance ready for his next attack.
“That’s enough!”
My master’s voice rang out, bringing the spar to an end.
I lowered my sword.
“Hmm.
I don’t see any problem now.
You’ve passed.”
“Eh…?!
R-really?!”
After closing his eyes for a moment, he’d said it so simply that I couldn’t quite believe him.
I had to ask again.
“What would I gain by lying?
With the skills you have now, you should have no trouble passing the entrance examination for the Spiritual Arts Academy.”
“Th-thank goodness…
Finally.
Finally…”
I could finally graduate from his training.
My eyes grew hot, just as they had when he’d first allowed me to begin proper training all those years ago.
I couldn’t hold back the emotion welling up inside me.
Because…
because…
“It’s been a long road…
Fifty years…”
“Yes, it really has…
So I can finally take the Academy entrance exam now, right?!”
…That’s just too long, isn’t it?
How little talent do I have, exactly…?
But that’s beside the point.
I’ve finally reached the second step on my thousand-mile journey!
After all those long, long years of training, I’ve finally become reasonably competent in the four foundations of Soul Reaper combat: Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō and Kidō.
As for swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat, I can manage about as well as I did in that spar just now.
The Airi-chan who used to get dragged around by her own sword and fall flat on her face is gone!
I’ve even learnt Shunpo, although I can only cover short distances with it.
I can move in an instant now.
The principle behind it is simple enough, so I feel like there must be all sorts of ways to adapt it.
And as you just saw, my master has taught me the single-digit Kidō spells.
I can use eighteen techniques now, counting Hadō and Bakudō together.
…Though what on earth is a “Black Dog of Rondanini”?
It comes up quite often in Bakudō incantations, but I’ve never heard of it.
Now, the Hound of the Baskervilles and the Hounds of Tindalos?
Those I know…
“About that, though…
There’s something I must apologise to you for.”
“Sniff…
Huh…?
Wh-what is it?”
“If passing the Academy entrance examination were the only concern, you had more or less reached the necessary standard ten years ago.”
“…What?”
Wait.
Does that mean I’d already been good enough to pass ages ago?
“Th-then why…?!”
“Judging by how much potential you have to improve, I feared that if you entered with the skills you had then, you would fall behind and be forced to drop out.
Rather than let that happen…
I chose to keep you training until today.
Forgive me.”
“I see…”
Well, it did take me fifty years to get this far.
I suppose doing extra training beforehand would make things easier later on.
An ordinary person could probably have become a fully fledged Soul Reaper in fifty years…
Come to think of it, I’d met some Soul Reapers during those fifty years, too.
They’d come to investigate reports of Hollows appearing in the Rukon District.
I bet those Soul Reapers hadn’t needed anything like this much time to qualify…
Ahaha…
Why is that?
I’m crying again.
“Besides, more importantly, you…”
“Um…
Is there something else?”
“…No.
I shall leave that unsaid.”
…Eh?!
As if I weren’t already crying on the inside, my master had to say something like that!
Wh-what was he about to tell me?!
Had I done something wrong?
Apart from being hopelessly incompetent, I thought I’d been more or less fine…
“More importantly, we should discuss what comes next.”
“Yes, let’s!”
“Indeed.
First, we must—”
First, I needed to focus on passing the entrance exam…
“—First, we must obtain permission for you to enter the Seireitei.”
“…Eh?”
Permission to enter…?
What’s that supposed to mean??
“What’s with that look?
Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”
With a sigh, my master explained.
Apparently, anyone travelling from the Rukon District into the Seireitei had to show a pass to the guard at one of the Seireimon gates.
And getting that pass involved a mountain of complicated procedures—the sort of bureaucratic nightmare you’d expect from a government office.
It apparently took several weeks to get through the whole process.
That’s probably several weeks at the absolute fastest, too.
I can easily imagine it taking much longer because someone filled in a form incorrectly…
Alongside the application for a pass, I would also have to apply to sit the Shin’ō Spiritual Arts Academy entrance examination.
They would check whether I possessed spiritual power, and if I did, I could proceed to the exam.
Except registration for the exam apparently didn’t open until around autumn.
…And spring has only just ended.
The enrolment procedures themselves didn’t cost any money, but they sounded troublesome too.
You could only take the entrance exam once a year.
And if you passed, there was another round of paperwork to complete before you could actually enrol at the Academy.
On top of that, the pass had a set period of validity—something along the lines of “you may enter between this date and that date”.
If you didn’t finish your business inside the Seireitei before it expired, you could be punished for staying there illegally.
“Ughhh…”
I couldn’t keep the grimace off my face.
Just listening to all that was exhausting.
“So…
first I need to ask you to arrange for a pass to be issued, right?”
“That’s right.”
“And at the same time, I need to apply to take the Shin’ō Spiritual Arts Academy entrance exam?”
“…That’s right.”
“But because it isn’t the right time of year yet, I have to wait, or the pass will just go to waste?”
“…That’s right.”
…Um…
“Could I ask you to keep training me for just a little longer?”
“…I don’t mind.”
So this is what it feels like to have cold water poured on your happiness.
Author’s Note
● Hadō Number Two: Hotarubi (Firefly)
An original spell that doesn’t appear in the source manga.
I made it up on the spot as a low-level fire-type Kidō, something along the lines of Shakkahō.
(Please forgive my complete lack of naming sense.
It’s hardly what you’d call *osare*.)
● Entry passes and Academy applications
The entry-pass idea comes from the novel *BLEACH: WE DO knot ALWAYS LOVE YOU*.
I suppose you could think of it as getting a modern-day passport, only several dozen times more troublesome?
As for the Academy application process, I couldn’t find any particular description of it, so I made up something that seemed plausible.
In this story’s setup, you can take the entrance exam at any time during the second half of the year, provided you’ve booked it.
Anyone can apply to sit the exam, but in principle you can only take it once per year.
Those who pass all begin as first-year students the following spring.
There’s barely any information about how the Spiritual Arts Academy works in the original manga, so it can’t really be helped.
(I made up the entrance-exam arrangements too.)