Chapitre 16: 16 - New Mission
After Kido class was lunch and after lunch, it was time for their first actual class about Zanjutsu. The intructor showed them a few basic moves for Zanjutsu and then paired them up to spar for firsthand experience.
Rumi was paired with Momo and Renji was paired with Kira Izuru.
Since Rumi and Momo was to spar before Renji and Kira, Rumi stretched, then study Momo a little.
As far as she could see, Momo looked like a kind, easy-going girl with probably a lot of motivation and strong moral compass. As for her skills, Rumi knew Momo's skills in Kido spells and theory stuff were quite good, however, she wasn't sure how Momo was with a sword. But, one thing Rumi knew for sure was that Momo wasn't that close with her Asauchi yet. It was to be expected since they got their Asauchis yesterday.
"Fujiwara, Hinamori, it's your turn." The instructor said.
With a nod, Rumi and Momo made their way to the sparring space.
Much to Rumi's disappointment, they weren't even allowed to use Asauchis to spar, and they were just told to use wooden swords.
Momo, on the other hand, still looked motivated and she started swinging her wooden sword. Rumi dodged them lazily and made minimum movements. Since there was no exciting factor or outcome, Rumi wasn't sure if she wanted to put that much effort.
So, the spar lasted a few minutes and despite Rumi not being serious, she found that Momo couldn't touch her with her wooden sword at all. Maybe sparring with Renji for a month had done much more than she thought, with Mind's Momentum or not.
"Thanks for going easy on me, Fujiwara san." Momo said after their spar.
Rumi waved her hands, "No worries, no worries." If Momo had misunderstood and took her laziness as magnanimity, it was her problem, not Rumi's. Rumi had no intention of clearing things up.
After their turn, it was Renji and Kira's turn to spar. Knowing Renji, Rumi knew it would turn quite feral so she silently prayed for this Kira guy.
Once the spar started, Renji started going all out and put way too much strength and force in his attacks just as Rumi had predicted. As a result, poor guy Kira had to keep defending himself non-stop and with every move, he was starting to fail. It was only when Kira was on the floor, did Renji stop.
"Kira, are you okay?"
'Damn, poor Renji, even the instructor was on Kira's side.' Rumi thought.
"Abarai kun, that was too much. Isn't it just a spar? Why would you even go that far?" Momo said, as she helped Kira up.
A few other students started agreeing with Renji and some even started comparing Renji to Rumi basically saying Rumi was way better than Renji because she saved Momo some face.
Rumi sighed at that, then decided to say something at least, "Do you guys think not taking seriously is a good trait? Let me ask you something, would you prefer to get injured in real battle than learn in a spar?"
"We..."
"The goal of doing spars is for us to learn from each other in the safety of our classrooms. It is good that it's less dangerous but if we make it even less dangerous by not taking seriously, how would we even learn anything?" Rumi asked, making the class fall silent.
The instructor clapped his hands, "Now, this is the level of enthusiasm I'd like to see, Fujiwara. I hope you remember your own words."
Rumi chuckled awkwardly and replied, "Sensei, you have to know those are for the other students."
"I'm sure you would benefit from showing more enthusiasm and be more serious in your classes too." The instructor said.
"I will pass," Rumi replied, "I believe in work smarter, not harder so..if I can be less enthusiatic about lessons, I'd rather not."
Soon after saying those words, Rumi saw the instructor had a strange look on his face, he wasn't pleased, that was for sure, but Rumi was almost surprised that she didn't even get into detention.
'Well, that was strange, but who am I to complain?' Rumi thought, holding back a smile. Seriously, she wasn't a masochist who craved punishments.
After classes, Renji and Rumi had a spar with their Asauchis and some snitches reported it to the instructors.
Apparently, they weren't supposed to use Asauchis to fight each other within the first month because basically, the academy didn't trust them with their Zanjutsu yet.
As a result, Rumi landed herself in her first detention with Renji for breaking the "rules" and having too many strikes in two days, or whatever that was. She didn't even know the existence of such "rules", although she would've broken them anyways even if she knew. So, it barely made a difference but she took a mental note to read the "rules" carefully so that she could bend them and save herself from unnecessary troubles.
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Next day, Rumi was walking to her favorite nap spot in the academy when she saw that there was a commotion students rushing over and lining up.
That piqued her interest so Rumi decided to briefly check it out before her nap. As she got closer, she saw Momo being pushed to the front by other students and as she was about to say something, she was also pushed to the front.
Rumi prepared to turn around and see who pushed her but two figures walking through the gates caught her attention.
"It's Captain Aizen from Squad Number Five. And his lieutenant, Ichimaru Gin." Students started to mutter among themselves.
'So, that's a captain. Interesting.' Rumi thought. Yesterday, she had learned from the class instructor that there were Gotei 13, made up of 13 squads as the primary military branch of Soul Society, Kido Corps and the Secret Division. Surely, she hadn't given it much thought to what she would do after graduation so she didn't have many feelings about seeing this so called captain.
Still, she decided to take a good look at them with Mind's Momentum activated. She found that with her putting focus on reiatsu of others, Mind's Momentum could also help her notice the details she would normally have missed. Even though it wasn't enhancing her reiatsu sensitivity, it helped her maximize her ability to notice the small details she otherwise would've missed.
The captain had brown hair and wearing glasses, which made him look like a kind person. His reiatsu was strong but it wasn't too overwhelming, he eluded a warm smile and softness, even though he was a captain. It was weird. Rumi figured he was holding back like a lot and there could be a lot of hidden strength hidden behind that persona.
Meanwhile, his lieutenant had all the wrong vibes to him with a creepy smile and all. And his reiatsu was strong and a bit on the violent side. Rumi felt her stomach turn the more she noticed his reiatsu. It was unpleasant.
As Rumi took a good look at the captain, it seemed that the captain noticed her, and he sent her a glance.
When their eyes met for a brief second, Rumi almost had a bad feeling. She couldn't quite put a finger on it, but felt that there was something off about the captain and his lieutenant.
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Two months passed by quickly after that and during those two months, Rumi had learned Hado spells 1 to 40 and Bakudo spells 1 to 30. As it turned out her talent in Kido was terrifying to the point of being able to cast any mid-level spell in her first few tries and most of them without even needing incantations.
Rumi was pretty sure Sloth's efficiency also played a huge role in that as casting Kido spells and sparring here and there with her Asauchi were the only things she put effort in and Sloth's passive would make anything she put a bit of effort in on rare occasions become much more efficient. As a result of her Kido learning speed, she was basically famous within the academy and maybe even Seireitei, as a rare talent, not that Rumi paid much attention to it.
Her reiatsu had also improved a lot but as her reiatsu developed, Rumi started to notice that the wind element of her reiatsu was getting harder to control. It wasn't anything too big of an issue yet but definitely was something to find a solution for.
On the other hand, she had also been having these dreams in these two months. It started off with once a week, twice in a row, then, every five days, every three days and for the past two weeks, Rumi had been having these dreams everyday.
The dreams were nothing scary, most of the time, they were mostly light-hearted as if someone was playing around. But sometimes, the gentle breezes in the dreams would turn into huge tornadoes and destroy everything in the path. They were just dreams, yet it was so weird that Rumi could remember every single sensation she felt in those dreams and how they all felt so real.
The little girl's voice in her dreams was also getting clearer each day and sometimes, Rumi felt as if she could hear it from her Asauchi.
So, Rumi headed to the library to read a few books about Asauchi and how they develop into Zanpakuto.
After reading enough books, Rumi came to a conclusion that her Zanpakuto spirit had already manifested and now, it was trying to communicate with her.
So, Rumi decided to confront the spirit in her next dream.
The dream this time was also in a flower field just like the first dream she had after receiving her Asauchi. The weather was also sunny and the breeze came by playfully every now and then.
"I know you're my Zanpakuto spirit. I know you're trying to communicate with me." Rumi said.
At that, the wind got a little stronger and a series of giggles could be heard all over.
"Took you long enough, Rumi." The little girl's voice said finally. "I'm upset that it took you that long to find me #%^*+%^^"
Again, there were still a few words Rumi couldn't hear no matter how hard she tried.
"You didn't hear the last part, did you?" The voice stated.
Rumi shook her head, "Nope."
"That means you aren't ready yet," The voice said.
"Damn, I thought I'd be the fastest one to get a Zanpakuto." Rumi muttered.
The voice laughed at her words, "You know what, I'll give you a little challenge."
Although Rumi couldn't see what the spirit looked like, she had a feeling that the spirit had a mischievous smile on her face.
"What challenge?" She asked.
"Let's play hide and seek. If you can come and find me in two weeks, I'll let you hang out with me." The voice said.
"Two weeks?"
"Mmm hmm, and if you fail, I'll never tell you my name." The voice said.
Rumi raised her eyebrows, "I feel like I'm at the losing end here."
"Oops, sorry, but you don't get a choice, Rumi. Consider this payback for %%^##"
"Damn it, why can't I hear the juicy parts? I have a feeling that'd be drama!" Rumi whined.
"Heh, that's your problem for not being able to hear me."
"I guess," Rumi sighed, "So, two weeks?"
"Sure, good luck, Rumi. We're gonna have so much fun."
"God, I hate the sound of that." Rumi sighed. She realized after a moment that she even called out for god and she wasn't even religious. In fact, she was an atheist.
Rumi soon woke up in her bed and now, she knew it wasn't exactly a dream. Maybe it was one of those innerworld thingies she had read in a book at the library. So, she was guessing in order to find the spirit, she had to learn how to go into the innerworld herself.
"That sounds simple enough, I can do it." Rumi gave herself a pep talk, then decided to do her daily stats check.
But before she could do so, System had a notification.
[Mission : Find your Zanpakuto spirit and talk to it within two weeks.]
[Please make a choice.
Choice 1 - Finish the mission within two weeks. No rewards.
Choice 2 - Finish the mission within ten days. Rewards : Random Skill.
Choice 3 - Finish the mission within seven days.
Rewards : 1 Random Skill, 1 Random Item.
(Please note that you can only choose one option and no matter what option you chose, your deadline to the mission would be adjusted to the timeframe you chose.)]
"Wait, does that mean if I chose one week one and fail to complete it in one week, I will be unable to continue trying for two weeks one?"
[That is the case. If you fail to complete it by your chosen deadline, your connection to Zanpakuto spirit will be temporarily cut off until the actual deadline.]
Hearing System's explanation, Rumi sighed.
That was just black-hearted.
Although she could also understand the logic behind it.
Without a restriction, she could've chosen the one with better rewards without taking her own capabilities into consideration. If she could choose one week and then let her actually take two weeks if she wanted, the point of the whole making choices thing would be lost.
And while it may look like this System was forcing her by the threats of cutting the connection with her Zanpakuto spirit temporarily, she still had an option to just go with the original deadline her Zanpukto spirit had set so Rumi couldn't even complain about it.
But, of course, Rumi wasn't quite happy that there wasn't a loophole she could take advantage of.
After thinking for a while, Rumi thought about choosing the ten days choice. Because it wasn't that much different from two weeks and it offered some extra reward, Rumi was compelled to choose that.
But as she was about to choose, she felt that it wasn't right.
Her Zanpakuto spirit had issued a challenge for her and this system mission was based on what her Zanpakuto spirit had told her, then making it more challenging by offering her additional rewards.
Her Zanpakuto spirit wanted to have fun, playing around while challenging her strength in a way, since she had to be able to go into her innerworld and find the spirit in "hiding".
On the other hand, System wanted to make her stronger by offering choices as a bait. So, Rumi could guess what System would love if it had sentiment was her choosing either choice 2 or choice 3.
At the same time, her Zanpakuto spirit seemed to be fun loving little girl even if she had never seen her before, this was just a speculation based on the voice she had heard before and the manner of the spirit. She wasn't 100% sure but she also considered the possibility of the dreams in amusement park also being the work of the spirit.
Of course, that'd mean her Zanpakuto spirit had been present even before the Asauchi, which would be more unconventional. But, Rumi couldn't think of any other possible explanation.
As for trying to think of the origin of System, Rumi hadn't even considered that once, she knew she didn't have necessary skills or strength to do so for now. As such, Rumi wasn't even going to try for no reason.
Back to the choices, she felt that the challenge was also a way her Zanpakuto spirit had come up with to be able to connect to her. So, Rumi had a feeling that choosing the one choice her Zanpakuto spirit would've chosen would make her more relatable to her Zanpakuto spirit and possibly more connected to her as a result.
"If my speculations so far are correct, the spirit would choose Choice 3. She seems to love fun and thrills, since in the amusement park dreams, she told me to enjoy the ride and have fun. Maybe it is the key for the challenge." Rumi muttered.
It was a big risk nevertheless and a small part of her still remained in doubt and fear of failure. But, Rumi pushed through, as she now believed the key to succeeding the challenge was to follow the dream.
"System, I'll choose the Choice 3." She made her choice.
[Understood. You have chosen the Choice 3: Finish the mission within seven days. The countdown will start from now. Please note that you will only receive rewards after you completed the mission.]
Rumi nodded with a sigh. She had made her choice, now might as well stop dwelling on it and start what she needed.
Wait, how do people even connect with their Zanpakuto spirits normally?
Meditate and go to innerworld? That sounded so boring and Rumi was guilty of not doing that particular exercise once.
Maybe that was why the spirit was mad, kind of. Although Rumi would think the spirit would hate the whole boring meditating thing.
Surely, there had to a better way, right?
That led to her decision to go and pester her friends and find out what they were doing to connect with their Asauchis.
But, first, Rumi did a daily stats check before leaving the comfort of her bed.
[Name : Fujiwara Rumi.
Age : 134 days. (Soul Society).
Race : Soul.
Relationships : Abarai Renji (Close Friends), Rukia (Close Friends), Hinamori Momo (Friends), Kira Izuru (Friends).
Reiryoku level : Moderately High.
Stored reiryoku : 6225/10,000
Skills : Sloth (Passive), Guradian's Vigil (Passive), Fire Resistance (Passive), Mind's Momentum.
Abilities : Zanjutsu(Advanced Beginner), Kido (Intermediate), Hakuda (Beginner), Hoho (Advanced Beginner).
Tools : Asauchi.]
"I'm already over half-way to raising reiryoku level. Nice." Rumi nodded in satisfaction. Her other abilities were good too. In the four combat techniques they learned in the academy, Rumi had already reached Intermediate level proficiency in Kido, advanced beginner in Zanjutsu and Hoho. Although Hakuda was still beginner level because Rumi didn't even practice outside of class or paid much attention, Rumi was pretty sure if she used Mind's Momentum in addition to Sloth's passive skill, she could still hold her own against even Renji with a talent for fierce fighting.
After all, Renji had never won against her no matter what kind of spar they did. Rumi would beat him up in Zanjutsu, Hoho and obviously Kido, and would come to a draw in Hakuda when she on rare occasions used Hakuda. Renji had told her to improve her Hakuda or he would surpass her one day and beat her up, but that day had yet to come.
"Alright, now that my stats check's over, let's go and find them." Rumi hummed and hopped up from the bed.
Momo wasn't in the room they shared, probably at the library studying or something. Renji would probably be sparring with Kira, or someone else. Rukia, well, Rukia might be with her classmates or maybe Renji. She wasn't sure, as from the start of the term, she couldn't meet up with Rukia much and the different lesson plans made it harder to connect with Rukia. Class One's curriculum was much more accelarated and challenging, according to Renji and Rukia after they compared their lessons.
Anyways, Rumi didn't want to get into the details so she just kind of shrugged it off. Now, going to the library was beneficial but she wasn't in the mood for it, so either Renji or Kira had to do.
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A/N: A time skip here so that I can finish the academy arc in like 15-20 chapters. And because I realized I'll be writing a 500 chapter fanfic otherwise, I love the idea tbh but I'll probably never finish it with my writing speed lol
so yeah, a time skip here and also, I feel like a lot happened for a chapter. But I don't really know how to fix this for now or in a short time and I didn't really want to lose my motivation to write just yet so here we go :)
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone