Chương 18: 18 - Consequences?
Next day, when Rumi woke up from her usual ten hours of sleep, she decided to head to the training spot that she sometimes goes to, so that she could work on her Shunpo and wind reiatsu a little before meeting Ounabara sensei.
After training for two hours, Rumi finally decided to go to Ounabara sensei's office.
"So, Fujiwara, you've decided to show up." Ounabara said. "Sit."
Rumi nodded and sat in the chair across from Ounabara. "I've heard from Hinamori that you were looking for me to meet in your office."
"That's right, I'm sure Hinamori also told you about your constant absences in classes." Ounabara stated to which Rumi nodded in reply.
"Good then." Ounabara continued, "I wouldn't say anything about your grades since your progress so far isn't a problem. But, I have to say your lack of commitment to the academy's classes are posing a problem to the learning atmosphere and attitudes of other students."
Rumi frowned, "Do you mean just because I achieve good results with less effort, it's sending other students the wrong message?"
Ounabara was a bit taken aback by Rumi's question. If he said yes to it, he would be the one being unreasonable, wouldn't he? "I am saying your lack of commitment and enthusiasm is distracting your peers and it is disrepectful."
"How so? If other students copy me and fail, it's their problem, no?" Rumi asked, "Although I see where you come from, why is it my responsibility to motivate other students or promote working that hard?"
"Because you are a student of this academy and you are responsible to follow the rules." Ounabara replied.
"Well, I've read in the rules book before and there is no such official rule regarding strict attendance policy. It just stated that we were expected to follow the class material and train in our free time to improve our four combat techniques. It didn't say we must not miss any classes or take all classes. As long as we fulfill our year end requirements each year and fulfill all requirements for graduation by the end of sixth year, it's okay." Rumi recalled the rule book and said.
That shocked Ounabara, he clearly didn't expect Rumi to know about the rule book in that detail or that she was making use of the loopholes in the rule books to act the way she wanted.
Since students with ordinary talent normally would have a hard time catching up with the lessons or students with more talent would work on impressing the instructors and Soul Reapers to get a position in Gotei 13, even if the rule book stated no strict attendance, everyone would show up to classes regularly and do their best to achieve their goals.
But, Rumi, on the other hand, despite her exceptional talent in Kido and good talent in other techniques, didn't seem to care much about impressing Gotei 13 that much. That was why she wasn't a top 1 student everytime in their formal exams but still, she was in one to fifth place everytime.
There were multiple times Ounabara wanted to drag Rumi and lecture her about the importance of following the instructions and attend the classes regularly like other students. But, because her performance was the best he had seen in years for a first year, he gave her a bit more room, hoping she would change on her own.
However, now that he had a feeling that she probably would never change, he had to come up with a new approach.
"I see what you're doing," Ounabara said, "So, I'll give you an opportunity to graduate early."
"Graduate early?" Rumi wasn't expecting to hear this of all things. Even though she knew there were a few exceptional students that graduated early from the academy, Rumi wasn't expecting she'd be offered one today, not when she thought she was getting into trouble for skipping too many classes.
"Yes, you're to join a more advanced, accelerated program that would teach you all the things you have to know by the end of the year or a bit earlier based on your performance and participation." Ounabara said.
With her talent, Ounabara had no problem making an accelerated program, she wasn't or wouldn't be the first one to graduate early anyways. What's more important is with the acceleration program, she would have to participate more actively than she was right now, which he hoped was enough to keep her grounded. Of course, if she graduated early and end up joining Kido Corps or maybe even Gotei 13, the academy and him as her instructor would get a reputation boost.
Another reason was because he knew giving her punishment would get him nowhere, that was if he could even find one reason in the first place. Rumi was unexpectedly good at knowing exactly how much she could get away with and if he forced a disciplinary action outside of the rule book, it wouldn't be good for him either. Even if he could justify himself, he knew a talented student like Rumi wouldn't be back on the path by such actions. That was why he came up with a new accelerated program even more accelerated than the one he made for Class One right now. With that, she could potentially graduate in a year, depending on her performance in other areas.
"This...does this involve more boring lectures?" Rumi asked, which made Ounabara's eyebrows twitch.
He replied with difficulty, "There will be lectures but it is more focused on intense training in four combat techniques and practical exercises. Like the virtual hollow cleansing exercise you'll have in the Living world this week."
Rumi exclaimed in reply, "Wait, we have to go to the world of living this week?!"
"Yes.." Ounabara said with a sigh, "Perhaps you would've known if you pay attention to your classes."
"Eh, probably." Rumi shrugged, "So, when do we go there?"
"Four days from now." Ounabara replied, "Ask your classmates for detail."
"Oh, okay." Rumi said, "So, when do I reply to you about that accelerated program?"
"You are not thinking this over. I am moving you to the accelerated program after this meeting." Ounabara replied, "The program should start after your practical this week and one week holiday."
"But, why don't I get a choice?" Rumi asked with a frown.
"Ask that to yourself, Fujiwara." Ounabara said.
Rumi paused, then chuckled, "Fair enough."
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Just like that, Rumi officially ended up in the acceleration program having to made any decisions. She didn't leave the office upset, though. After all, who got put into elite acceleration program, one that would normally be a dream for ordinary students, as the consequences of skipping classes? The whole deal was pretty amusing and it wasn't without benefits for her, so Rumi was okay with it.
Now that the hard part of the day was over, Rumi decided to go find Renji to beat him up using her newly refined Shunpo. She was really itching to try it out and see if her two hours worth of hard work was good enough.
Rumi didn't have to spend much time finding Renji, she found him sparring with Kira and Momo soon.
"You guys're sparring? Looks fun." Rumi said, hopping over to the scene.
Renji had a reluctant expression on his face as she came over. He was just starting to feel good about his skills as he sparred with Momo and Kira, he really wasn't feeling like getting beaten up at this moment.
"Rumi, don't spoil my fun." He said.
"Really? I was thinking about letting you go all out and attack me while I only use Shunpo and a bit of reiatsu." Rumi replied as if she was disappointed to not being able to give Renji a chance for revenge. She knew that by saying that, Renji would take the bait and spar with her.
"You aren't going to use kido?" Renji asked, "Or your Asauchi?"
"Not at all, just Shunpo, a little Hakuda maybe and a bit of reiatsu." Rumi replied with a smile.
"I guess I'm beating you up today then." Renji said with a grin. In his opinion, Rumi was best at Kido and maybe Zanjutsu. But he knew for a fact that Rumi wasn't that good at Hakuda, or she didn't pay much focus to improve in that regard. Meanwhile, he had been training everyday in Hakuda so he was somewhat confident that he wouldn't lose in terms of Hakuda, or maybe even win this time.
While Rumi being good at reiatsu and her reiatsu having wind element would make things difficult, Renji wasn't about to let a chance to possibly beat Rumi up go. So, he agreed.
"Alright, let's start." Rumi said and took her position.
"Don't cry later, Rumi!" Renji huffed as he pulled out his Asauchi from its hilt.
Momo and Kira looked a bit concerned but they knew by this point that the two fighting each other was almost a daily occurrence so they just stepped aside to watch. After all, both Kira and Momo were a bit behind Renji when it came to Zanjutsu and Hakuda. Only Rumi who didn't have much fierceness in her attacks, for some reason, hit Renji's weaknesses too perfectly with just enough force to win or torture Renji depending on her mood.
Nevertheless, the two liked to watch Renji and Rumi spar with each other and hoped to learn a thing or two from those sections. As such, they watched the spar carefully.
Renji, as always, started off with fierce attacks that aim straight at Rumi. Since Rumi's goal today was to test out her Shunpo, she activated her Shunpo to get away from her previous spot. She would get to a few meters away from the place Renji was targetting and when Renji aimed for that new spot, she would use Shunpo to get away again.
After repeating it for a few times, Renji was starting to get frustrated that Rumi kept using Shunpo. He sure would've used his own Shunpo to chase her but unfortunately, he couldn't use Shunpo yet. It wasn't that he was lacking in talent, it was just that Rumi was a monster for learning it in two months.
'Even without Shunpo,Renji's speed is not that slow, but still it's much slower than mine especially when I use Shunpo." Rumi thought to herself, 'Now that I improved my Shunpo a bit, it feels like he's much slower, even more than before..'
Rumi liked that, because it meant her own Shunpo had improved after yesterday and today's hard work.
Still, that wasn't her limit yet.
So, she decided to boost her speed further with the help of her wind reiatsu.
Renji and the two watching them realized the sudden change in Rumi's reiatsu and noticed that she was significantly faster. As she moved from place to place, her wind reiatsu would also leave behind wind traces which made Renji more difficult to chase her especially without Shunpo. The wind traces would also push him behind and they slowed Renji down. Even its effect wouldn't last long, it was more than enough to keep Renji away.
"You...how've you become this fast in a few days?" Renji asked in disbelief.
"I trained for a few hours so I was feeling pretty great about it." Rumi made sure to add a bit more smug as she was talking to Renji.
"Only a few hours and you've improved that much? Please, you're joking." Renji scoffed.
"Just because you can't do something, it doesn't mean I can't either." Rumi replied with a smirk, just to piss off Renji more.
"Who said I can't?! Just you wait, I'll learn Shunpo in just a bit!" As she expected, Renji didn't like that. It was pretty amusing her, though.
"If you have time to shout and curse, you have time to chase me." Rumi said with a playful tone. and a grin, "Come on, Renji. Don't give up."
"Damn it, Rumi. I'll make sure to wipe that grin off of your face." Renji swore as he chased her again.
That repeated for an hour until Renji was on the ground out of breath and Rumi found that she could still go on for maybe another hour like this.
It seemed that being chased around the innerworld by a tornado helped her more than she thought.
Rumi didn't want to say it out loud, though. What if the Zanpakuto spirit comes up with more sadistic methods to chase her away?
Stopping her thoughts quickly, Rumi sat down and leaned her back on the tree behind her.
"So, I've just heard from Ounabara sensei that we're going to the living world for a practical lesson." Rumi started, deciding to talk a bit about the practical and hear the details so that she'd know whether to look forward to it or not.
Momo nodded, "Ah, yes. We're told that. I'm sorry for not mentioning it to you."
Rumi waved her hands, "It's fine. It's fine. I didn't ask either."
"Only you'd be that chill about potentially missing a practical?" Renji scoffed as he got up from his laying spot. "Can you imagine the consequences?"
"Hmmm.." Rumi pretended to think for a moment, then said, "No."
"Seriously?" Renji huffed, "I can't believe you're not in trouble yet."
"I have a talent." Rumi said with a playful smile.
"What talent? In getting away with breaking the rules?" Renji rolled his eyes, unimpressed.
"Of course." Rumi said proudly.
"Fujiwara san, that's..." Kira was also at a loss for words, it was kinda cute that he was always trying to be so polite even when Rumi was acting insufferable. Renji would lash out and fight with her, Momo would try to talk sense into her like a mom sometimes, but, Kira, on the other hand, tried to hold back his comments if he had nothing nice to say. Rumi thought it was strange at first since Kira seemed to have a lot of confidence, then she realized he was born in a noble family (lesser nobility, but still it was a noble family) so she guessed his polite habits might also come from it.
After a sigh, Renji explained about the practical, "We're supposed to be performing konso and cleansing dummy hollows that day."
"Oh...just that?" Rumi asked.
"It's not just that?! Shinigami's basic responsibility is to send off pluses to Soul Society and cleanse hollows so that they could enter Soul Society." Renji said.
"Yeah, I know that but I thought it'd be more interesting than dummy hollows." Rumi replied, "Well, whatever. It's much better than those boring theoretical lectures."
"Then, don't be late that day." Renji said, "Or you might be left here."
"You just take care of yourself and not fall asleep on a random tree." Rumi said with a mocking tone, "I heard from Kira and Rukia about how you fell out of a tree on our first day morning."
Kira sneaked a laugh, remembering the day's events. He was pretty shocked that day, though.
Renji was, of course, not amused with Rumi's comeback but with Kira laughing not so sneakily and Momo smiling in amusement, he couldn't defend himself much.
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