Born in Seireitei

"Honestly, I didn't expect such a nice dormitory," Fumio admitted lightly, squinting his already barely visible eyes with satisfaction. "Everything looks brand new."

"Yeah, me neither," I agreed with a nod.

When you hear about a dormitory in an Academy over a thousand years old, you expect… well, you know what.

But no — at least for us, it turned out to be a clean, spacious, and well-furnished place. I realized a bit later that even the furniture in my room had the faint smell of fresh lacquer, revealing its newness.

Kasumi remained silent, but her face showed that she was just as pleased. The three of us were now walking down the familiar path through the small forest toward the main building, having already explored the entire house provided for our class. It turned out that no one besides us, the first-year Zero Class students, would be living in the building.

The baths were down the corridor to the right, at the end. Large sunken tubs lined with stone, separated for men and women. Hot water was available 24/7, with no set schedule — come whenever you want and use it freely.

Next to the baths, we found a laundry room for washing clothes, which had an exit to the backyard.

A section of the yard was reserved for drying racks for laundry. There was also a sand courtyard with a "Zen Rock Garden," complete with broad benches for anyone who wanted to sit cross-legged for some contemplative meditation.

I was a bit stunned when I saw the "Rock Garden," with its perfectly raked lines surrounding the rough stone boulders embedded in the sand. You don't expect to see something like that in the backyard of a student dormitory.

The second floor, which we checked out afterward, was open, bright, and spacious, with three dojo-style halls and a wide variety of training weapons on racks along the walls. I also sensed faint barriers in the walls, floor, and ceiling.

At the same time, I realized the noise I'd heard earlier wasn't a neighbor above me but another student wandering around and checking everything out. Maybe he even tried some training, I guessed, noting the thickness of the tatami mats and how they must dampen sound.

There wasn't a study hall or a small library like I expected, which meant studying theory would likely be done individually in our rooms.

After exploring everything, we headed back to the main building. The sun was still blazing outside, but this time, no one had an umbrella. The wide shadows from the trees along the road provided some relief.

"You know, I was sure I'd see you in the elite class, Okikiba," Fumio confessed.

"We're not at a reception," I said, tired of hearing my family name. "Just Sujin."

"Then I'm just Rao," he nodded. "Anyway, I was sure you'd end up here."

"And why's that?"

"My uncle and aunt stay at the family estate, constantly chatting about work and other things. And I love gossip," he smirked slyly. "And the rumors say your grandfather took charge of your training."

We both caught the curious look from Kasumi.

"You know my last name but haven't heard who my grandfather is?" I asked in surprise. "Hah, looks like my father won this round. He'll have something to rub in the old man's face."

At that comment, poor Fumio could only smile stiffly, unwilling to join in joking about a Senior Advisor and Officer of the Gotei 13.

"My grandfather is the Third Officer of the First Division," I explained quickly. "He's the founder of the Noble Okikiba Family."

"Oh, I see," Kasumi said simply.

"So, what about you, Rao?" I steered the conversation back on track. "Sixth place in the entry rankings, huh? You didn't seem that impressive before. Didn't expect that."

It wasn't hard to guess his ranking, considering his room was next to mine. And Kasumi's was across… There were ten rooms on each side, so she was fourteenth? Not bad.

He puffed up his chest a little, but we both saw Kasumi's puzzled expression. She tried to hide it, though very clumsily. Fumio snorted and explained:

"The placement in the entry list is based on the entrance exam ranking. Each year, the rankings change depending on exam results. It's how the Divisions decide which students to recruit and who to leave to chance."

"Oh…" Kasumi said, a spark of understanding lighting up her green eyes. "So I'm fourteenth out of twenty-seven?"

"That's a good position," Fumio nodded. "But to get into the top ten from there, you'll need to impress the examiners."

It was clear she was curious about how we both managed to impress them… But she was too shy to ask. Her eyes would flick toward us, her lips would twitch, but then she'd think better of it and focus on the road, only to repeat the process a few steps later.

I was just quietly admiring this walking bundle of simple, curious charm, while Fumio was practically bursting with the urge to brag. He couldn't hold back and spilled everything.

"My uncle and aunt work in the Fourth Division as medics. They taught me a lot before the entrance exams, so I scored Top Marks in Spiritual Anatomy and even demonstrated some skill in Return Path Kido."

Even I nodded respectfully at that. Top Marks and Kido before even enrolling — that's impressive. Now it made perfect sense why he ranked so high.

The Academy's grading system isn't complicated; it's a straightforward system with five grades. The top three are passing.

Did Not Pass — straightforward, you're out.

Weak — you barely know the subject; come back and try again.

Good — just an average knowledge of the subject; you pass.

High Mark — excellent understanding, you nailed the main test and even answered all the bonus questions. In practical tests, you performed flawlessly.

Top Mark — you impressed the examiners with exceptional knowledge of the subject. This grade isn't given lightly; it's reserved for true talents.

Simply put, getting Top Marks on the entrance exam is like passing third- or fourth-year material. Maybe even higher — who knows? And that's before spending a single day at the Academy. It's impressive, really impressive.

"That's amazing," Kasumi praised Fumio, who was now preening like a peacock. "I'm not like that, though… Well… To be honest, I'm not very smart. I passed all the theory with just Good. But what I'm strong at is Hakuda. I got Top Marks in that!"

"It shows," Fumio shrugged, not surprised. "You're obviously strong in Hakuda."

Kasumi hid her hands behind her back, aware of what he meant. She was clearly self-conscious about her nearly raw knuckles, the calluses on her hardened fingers, and her short, decidedly unladylike nails — not to mention her well-defined forearms. There was no comparison to the delicate, well-groomed hands typical of noblewomen.

"Don't hide them," I said seriously, my gaze steady. "They're proof of your hard work and skill. To me, that's a symbol of pride — and to anyone here, except fools."

"You're at the Shinigami Academy," Fumio Rao chimed in, walking with his hands behind his head. "No one here cares about dainty girls. If that's what you want, well, there are brothels for that. You're elite now — better get used to it. At least until the year-end exam, heh-heh."

Blushing like a poppy from the unexpected compliments, Kasumi murmured, "Thank you."

She pulled her hands from behind her back and stared at them as if seeing them for the first time. Nodding to herself, she clenched her fists with determination and continued walking freely, no longer trying to hide her hands behind her back or in her sleeves.

Fumio and I exchanged a glance and nodded approvingly. We both figured that we'd be interacting more in the future — maybe even becoming friends. An insecure girl as a companion, whether in battle or otherwise, wouldn't cut it for us. Now it was clear as day that a determined, skilled fighter lay beneath her uncertainty.

To put it bluntly, Oda Kasumi was worth investing our effort, time, and friendship in. That sounds utilitarian, but it's just the way things are.

Such is the burden of noble families — not wasting time on useless people who drag you down, but choosing a circle of peers who'll be valuable in the future.

You can chat with anyone, but forming friendships? That's a whole different matter. This year, dozens of heirs from Noble Families and Clans enrolled. Rumors circulated about their potential and achievements, and small factions and alliances started forming. But smart people didn't rely on those too much. I'd stopped socializing with my peers early on and dedicated myself to improving.

Because the Academy Entrance Exams sorted everyone out — who's a genius and who's just dog crap stuck to your boot. It immediately became clear who was worth getting to know. But even then, you can't just approach anyone on the first day.

With Kasumi, it just happened naturally, by chance. It helped that Fumio and I already knew each other slightly. It was a relief to start a conversation easily and let things progress smoothly from acquaintances to friends and beyond.

I also noticed how tightly Rao latched onto me when he saw me. He was afraid of ending up as an outcast or a loner too. With my family name, that wasn't much of a threat, but Fumio's family wasn't as prominent. He could find sycophants in the lower classes easily, but friends of equal rank and ability were much harder to come by.

"And what about you, Sujin?" Kasumi asked, hesitating slightly on my name. "How did you land in seventh place?"

"I didn't get any Top Marks," I answered easily. "I didn't impress the examiners with anything extraordinary. I just scored High Marks in every subject. So, all together… I ended up seventh."

"All of them?" Fumio stopped mid-step but quickly caught up to us. "Seriously, all of them?!"

"Yes. All twelve."

"Damn," he shook his head. "I'm a pretty bad sensor, but I can already tell your reiatsu is about a third stronger than mine. And double Kasumi's. I figured that's how you ranked so high."

He really was a bad sensor… Or just too proud. I was about half stronger than him. He was right about Kasumi, though. But at our level, such differences didn't mean much. We were still small fry — I was just a slightly fatter one.

"Other than Top Marks in Hakuda, I didn't get a single High Mark," Kasumi admitted, glancing at me in disbelief.

Looking at the sunlight filtering through the trees, I replied calmly:

"I like reading and getting stronger. And my grandfather isn't someone you can slack off with during training."

The "my grandpa's a badass Third Officer" card explained everything easily.

"And isn't everyone in the Elite like that?" I pointed out the obvious. "Some are devilishly talented in one area, others were trained by shinigami relatives. It's nothing surprising."

Both of my new friends pondered that and agreed. Rao, however, decided to ask Kasumi about the one thing that puzzled me too.

"Hey, Kasumi… I know Okikiba, and I'm from the Noble Fumio Family. But I've never heard of the Oda family. Who taught you Hakuda? Sorry, but would you mind sharing?"

I recognized the flicker of anxiety in Kasumi's eyes.

"If you're even from the outer Rukongai, it doesn't matter to me," I reassured her easily.

"Yeah, me neither," Rao added quickly.

"No, no," she smiled, waving her hands. "I'm not from such a deep… hole, yeah. I'm from the First Eastern District. My family occasionally produces shinigami. Very rarely, and not strong ones… or famous ones. We never achieved Noble Status. Our only claim to fame is that long ago, one of my ancestors did a favor for the Shiba Clan and was rewarded with a scroll of Hakuda techniques. Over generations, we mastered it completely, improved it, and created our own Oda Family Style. I'm supposedly the best in ten generations… or so they say. But it's not that great! I just… trained for it my whole life."

She blushed again, struggling to praise herself and her achievements.

"That's awesome," I said with a warm smile. "My family has unique techniques too. But I'm not ready for them yet. Probably won't be for a long time — not even during the Academy."

"Sword Style," Fumio added gloomily, waving his hand. "Nothing special, not better than what they teach here. And as simple as a rock."

"Strike straight?" I teased.

"Strike straight and strike proudly," Rao corrected with humor. "I've got the 'proudly' part down better than the 'straight,' but I try."

We both smirked, while Kasumi smiled politely, not daring to mock a noble's words, though her eyes sparkled with amusement.

Damn, I was starting to like him! It's incredibly rare to find an aristocrat among my peers with even a hint of self-irony. Or any kind of irony. Most walk around stiffly, like they have a stick up their ass… Although, to be fair, I hadn't interacted much with anyone outside formal events.

But I was already sure Fumio was different from the rest of our generation. He didn't torture everyone's ears with pompous speech, didn't seem like a jerk or a snob, and stood tall in conversation, not bowing to my family name.

Most importantly, as far as I remembered, our families had no conflicts, so he wouldn't be an enemy because of that. My father had stepped on a lot of toes, so I knew to be careful. The Trifolium Trading Empire paved its path to wealth with a bloody trail. And the Council's intrigues, both generally and those involving my father, destroyed hundreds, even thousands of lives for political necessity or advantages only they understood.

Many people will fear me because of my father, but just as many will be ready to trip me up if given the chance. My grandfather gave me a special warning about this before I enrolled.

The Spiritual Arts Academy isn't a safe haven; for any noble, it's already a serious stage where the game of power and clashing interests begins. Anyone who thinks the Academy is just a simple place of learning is a fool. Often, a dead fool.

Until I get to know Fumio Rao better, I won't consider him a friend, but I already like him as a person. He even reminds me a bit of the young, still-smiling Izuru Kira from the Academy episodes.

Talented, charming, polite, a guy with a sense of humor and a drive to improve. Everyone likes people like that.

Fumio's face is just a bit too sly. But their whole family is like that — fox-faced. I've seen his father, his younger brother, and his uncle, who's a shinigami. They all squint, their lips stretching into smiles. Not on the level of Gin Ichimaru — when he squints and smiles, it sends chills down everyone's spine — but close. These guys just seem cunning. Thank the Soul King that creepy bastard Gin hasn't been born yet. Probably.

I wouldn't want to run into him even by chance while we're on the same power level. Just like that, you could end up on his bad side and bump into him one night in a dark alley.

Gin Ichimaru is ready to kill as naturally as he breathes, whether it's enemies or allies, as he's demonstrated many times. No one wants to meet people like that. Especially when those future monsters are still just fledgling fighters. That's when they're the scariest.

But to hell with Gin. Fumio and his family just reminded me of him a bit. Speaking of family traits… I'm still praying I don't go gray at a young age.

My grandfather had rapidly graying hair in his youth, and in old age, one streak stubbornly stayed black. My father already has gray streaks at the crown. I'm still normal for now.

You can't escape your genes, even in the afterlife. Inheritance is everywhere.

I should just be glad I'm not an Omaeda. They go bald fast, get fat, and even their height and physical strength don't make up for it. So yeah, I'm glad I'm an Okikiba.

While these quick thoughts flashed through my mind, I smoothly and politely wrapped up our conversation. We were almost at the square where the admissions list had been posted.

"So," I summarized, "out of the three of us, you, Kasumi, are the most unique for now. By the way, we're almost there. Who should we ask for directions?"

We really were nearly at the main Academy building. The crowd had long since dispersed, and the admissions list and tables had been taken down. A couple of students in uniform walked by in the distance. The gates to the Academy grounds were closed.

"We'll have to explore ourselves," Rao grinned. "I'm good at that. Follow me!"

Without hesitation, he headed straight for the main entrance, which stood invitingly open.

I sighed but followed. This guy seemed like the type who tries to squeeze himself into everything. I would've just waited for an upperclassman to pass by and asked for directions.

"We have a map," Kasumi reminded us quietly.

"Do you understand it?" I asked rhetorically.

She shook her head.

"Me neither. So, we'll wander around and memorize the way."

---

A couple of hours later, after exploring the entire main building, locating all the classrooms we'd need in the future, and even discovering that different courses have different cafeterias, we returned, exhausted.

"I'm not going anywhere else today," I waved my hand weakly, opening the door to my room. "Have a good day and evening."

The others replied in kind, and we dispersed to our rooms. We'd found everything we needed, and that was good enough.

Too many stairs for one day — that's how I'd sum up today's little adventure in one sentence.

The map, by the way, turned out to be a useless scrap of paper for each of us. For example, we found the Kido training ground, and how was it marked on the map? Not at all.

The main lecture hall where we need to go tomorrow? A blue circle. What does this circle mean? Only the person who drew the map knows. And the red arrow leading from the hall down a corridor to nowhere? What's with the yellow square across from the bathrooms?

By the end of our exploration of the unknown, I was completely sure that the map was either a prank on new students or a test. Because whether sober or drunk, the only thing you can clearly understand on this map is the roads.

Fumio had a pencil with him, so we marked down our own useful and understandable labels on my map. Who knows — maybe all these circles and arrows are just the first draft of some student's map that gets mindlessly copied from generation to generation. This is the Soul Society, that sort of thing is par for the course here.

Japan, which it's so easy to compare this world to at first, has nothing on the conservatism and traditionalism here. In this place, a family of chefs might pass down a knife from father to son for over a thousand years. Most royal dynasties in the World of the Living don't last as long as the method of slicing vegetables gets passed down here.

And that's no joke. I went into our kitchen — we have a couple of chefs… father and son.

So if the situation with the map is as I think, I wouldn't be surprised. Who cares if the newbies don't understand? It worked that way in the past. Extreme, fanatical, and stubborn conservatism in so many things. This world never lets me forget where and when I live. Sometimes those reminders are brief but painful stabs. Like with this damn map.

"Oh, screw it…" I muttered, tossing the rolled-up map onto the table and grabbing the teapot.

I'd rather drink some tea and go to bed early. The cafeterias weren't open yet today, so my tentative plan to get a free meal was destroyed by reality. But now I know that tomorrow, they'll feed us right after the introductory lecture at ten in the morning. And then, the regular free daily lunch for our course and class is at eleven.

I also learned that they only provide one free meal a day, but there's a buffet right in the cafeteria where you can buy food anytime from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. If you want to eat more, be ready to pay. No scholarships here — they don't even know what that word means. Good thing I'm a rich guy.

Souls don't need to eat much to live comfortably; one full meal a day is fine even for an actively training shinigami.

But aristocrats, of course, are used to eating like normal people in the World of the Living — breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus a sweet snack in the evening. Just like the wealthy citizens of the capital.

For kids from Rukongai, though, the Academy's free daily meal is like manna from heaven. There's no joke in that — for them, it's genuine care.

No one knocked on my door offering to chat or hang out, so it was peaceful and quiet. I'd had enough walking for one day, and I had something to read besides the Academy rules. I'd brought along a volume of historical chronicles from the founding of the Gotei 13. Honestly, it would be better if no one saw me with this book… But leaving it unfinished at home was beyond my willpower.

So, before the sun started to set, I had a way to kill time. I drank tea, read, and thought.

When the light on the walls turned orange from the sunset, I closed the book, having read it cover to cover. It was fascinating. Turns out, back then, the Kuchiki and Shiba families had brutal clashes, wiping out each other's branch families. Other families, too, didn't hesitate to spill some blood and eliminate potential competitors "just because."

I was reading the work of a chronicler who described these bloody battles with passion, detailing who, how, and how many. The most interesting part covered a five-year period when the feud between the Kuchiki and Shiba reached its peak.

No wonder Ichigo and Byakuya clash like cats and dogs in the future… Genetics, heh-heh.

Finishing my now-cold tea, I thought, "Tomorrow's worries are for tomorrow's me," and lay down on the still-unfamiliar bed with its stiff mattress. I covered myself with a thin blanket and, surprisingly quickly for a new place, fell asleep.