"How do you plan to handle this bell?" After mildly intimidating Akira, Aizen took out the bell that had been handed to him earlier.
The bell no longer retained its original brass color. Ink-black patterns, like tree branches, wrapped around the bell's body, culminating in a single black eye at its center.
Seeing him return to his usual serious demeanor, Akira cleared his throat and continued, "Of course, we'll return it to Captain Azashiro. What else would we do, keep it? Revival is definitely hopeless — they've been dead for decades or even centuries. Even if it's the Soul King... Hmm, He should be able to do it."
He suddenly remembered that the deity enshrined at Sakahone Shrine shared origins with the Soul King.
"When his subordinate arrives, we'll have them pass it along." He said dismissively with a wave of his hand.
Aizen nodded, having no particular thoughts on the matter.
The power maintaining the deceased's current state within the bell came from the local Sakahone Shrine. With his current knowledge and abilities, he couldn't yet analyze the true nature of this power.
However, based on the circumstances, he could guess it had a significant connection to the Soul King's ability to create the three worlds.
The Soul King — such a distant name.
Textbooks had repeatedly mentioned the Soul King's powers: how, with the assistance of the Five Noble Families' ancestors, he single-handedly created the Soul Society, the World of the Living, and Hueco Mundo.
According to records, after completing all this, the Soul King retreated to his palace, silently watching over the development of the three worlds.
And yet, after meeting his troublesome friend Akira, Aizen gradually began to doubt this narrative.
According to him, the one-eyed great deity enshrined at Sakahone Shrine was a tribute to the Soul King's right arm, also known as Mimihagi. How could the supposedly lofty Soul King be connected to a local shrine in the Rukongai? Could there be some unknown secret here?
The Soul King — was He truly as lofty as they said?
Aizen gazed at the sky, where a cool breeze brought refreshing relief, and a crescent moon hung high among the hazy clouds, appearing and disappearing...
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Over the next few days, Akira's life returned to normal.
He was like an unbridled horse, frantically running around the Shin'ō Academy.
While normal students followed a simple triangle pattern — dormitory, cafeteria, classroom — Akira wove a web of countless points. His shadow could be found wherever people gathered, and where they couldn't, he'd create conditions to make it possible.
The abandoned Central Execution Ground hadn't triggered a Location Check-in, and this bothered him immensely. The more he dwelled on it, the more he felt at a loss, as if he'd missed out on billions. Even with the Azashiro family's assets as compensation, the missed opportunity gnawed at him.
So he began searching for possible Location Check-ins around the Shin'ō Academy. Though the chances were slim, he figured it was better than nothing.
Unfortunately, all he got were Daily Check-ins.
Konpeitō candy, tea eggs, Genryūsai Yamamoto's personal beard comb, calligraphy works... The first two items were barely acceptable — at least they were edible. But what use was a beard comb to a youth?
Even more frustrating was discovering that the calligraphy works were in Aizen's handwriting, which Akira recognized after comparing it with his homework notebook.
He was furious — what good were Aizen's calligraphy works when he could already get that guy to do his homework with just a few tofu dishes? In this aspect, he thought smugly, even capitalists could learn from him!
On the third day after completing the execution ground ritual, the person Sōya mentioned arrived at the Shin'ō Academy.
It was a familiar face: the Kuchiki family's butler, Gin Ginjirō!
"Why is it you again?" Akira exclaimed in surprise, "Is this what they call getting lucky twice with the same fortune cookie?"
Before he could finish speaking, Gin felt his blood pressure rising, threatening to exceed his Reiatsu.
This kid's tongue grew sharper with each meeting. During their last encounter, he'd at least tried to hide his mockery — now he didn't even bother with pretense.
He really had no respect!
"Captain Azashiro entrusted me with this task." Gin said, barely suppressing his anger while maintaining the highest professional standards before the youth, "Regarding the transfer of the Azashiro family assets, you just need to sign your name on this paper. I'll handle the rest."
Akira signed his name without hesitation, quite casually.
Truth be told, through osmosis, his calligraphy skills had begun trending toward Aizen's level — at least his writing no longer looked like talismans.
Looking at the barely legible signature, Gin's mouth twitched. He considered asking the kid to write it again but quickly abandoned the idea, fearing what other mind-bending comments might follow.
"Now that the transfer is complete, I'll take my leave." He said, standing up abruptly, "As for the Azashiro family mansion, since it's been abandoned for years, you'll need to have someone clean it first if you plan to live there. It's located at North Rukongai, 6th District, 6072."
Akira nodded.
The mansion's abandonment made sense; Sōya didn't want to face past memories, and the nobles were too terrified of him to covet his family's property.
Now it all benefited him — good things really do happen to good people.
After handing over the bell to Gin, the man hurried away. Akira couldn't help feeling disappointed — what a dedicated professional, not even staying for a cup of tea.
What a waste of the only low-quality tea he'd gotten from Check-ins.
"Time for class." Aizen said, suddenly putting away his textbook from where he'd been studying intensely at his desk, "It's Kidō class again, with Professor Tsukabishi. He's the teacher who gets sick the least."
Akira nodded in strong agreement. Tessai Tsukabishi was built like an ox; he could kill a Gillian with one punch, making Kidō somewhat superfluous for him.
Worth mentioning was that his status panel had reached quite an unbalanced state.
〈 Name: Akira Kisaragi 〉
〈 Identity: Sakahone Shrine Head Priest, Rukongai Commoner, Shin'ō Academy First-Year Student 〉
〈 Reiatsu: Level 52 | Rank 11 Spirit Class 〉
〈 Zanjutsu: Level 64 "
〈 Hakuda: Level 22 〉
〈 Hohō: Level 21 〉
〈 Kidō: Level 24 〉
〈 Exclusive Trait: Reishi Affinity | Danger Instinct | Heart of a God | Miraculous Healing | Light as a Feather | Merciful Death Blade | Kidō Mastery 〉
His Reiatsu had soared to Rank 11, and his Zanjutsu had reached Level 64.
With the boost from Death Sword's Mercy, in terms of pure sword techniques, Akira could even dare to exchange a blow or two with some Seated Officers — though only those below 6th Seat.
In contrast, his Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō were rather pathetic. Although he was already a genius among his classmates, it was unfortunate that he had an even more brilliant monster by his side.
Even though his abilities were quite impressive, he still didn't dare relax too much, fearing being left so far behind by a certain someone that he couldn't even see their dust.
Fortunately, Sōsuke wasn't the stingy type. Just recently, he had kindly prepared a method for rapid strengthening.
It seemed to have some connection to this Kidō class.
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