Ichigo leaves and takes up residence in Soul Society!

The four palaces are serene and composed.

"If I could daydream and drift off like you, I would also feel that time flies by."

Ichigo rolled his eyes.

The two chatted idly as they walked along the tree-lined stone path within the Spirit Arts Academy to their dormitory.

The Academy of Spiritual Arts admits a maximum of about a hundred students per year.

Even if all students lived on campus, it wouldn't be a burden for the Spirit Arts Academy.

The dormitory buildings are in the style of the Taisho period, which is the type of old wooden school buildings commonly seen in Japanese anime.

There are three floors in total.

The first floor contains public facilities such as a courtyard, a large canteen, and large bathhouses for men and women. The second and third floors are the dormitories for male and female students, respectively.

The interior decoration is very similar to that of a hot spring inn.

It makes people clearly aware that this is a public place, while also giving them a homey feeling of returning to their own living room or hallway.

The Academy of Spiritual Arts provides each student with a private room.

Classic tatami mat.

"By the way, are the people in that room also in our living group?"

Ichigo suddenly remembered something and pointed to the door next to his room, mentioning it briefly.

"Yes."

The Four Palaces Lord glanced at the door number and the name written in calligraphy on the outside.

“Lun Tangyu, I remember you. You were sitting behind me in the meeting in the auditorium just now. I heard you are deaf and mute.”

"what?"

Ichigo's face darkened.

"You could at least have reminded me! I don't want to be seen as someone who ostracizes my peers. Although I don't care much about reputation, this kind of reputation is the one I'd rather die than have!"

The Academy of Spiritual Arts arranges three people into a living group, which is equivalent to roommates.

They were all neighbors, and whether it was cleaning or doing other trivial tasks, they would often directly assign one or more living groups.

This is convenient and also helps students to communicate and grow together, so isolation is generally not a problem.

"Who said I didn't say hello? Turn around and take a look."

The four palace masters raised their chins.

Ichigo instinctively turned around and saw a delicate-looking, quiet young man standing there.

"Wh-when... I didn't hear a sound at all..."

The boy raised his hand and traced a line of text with his fingertips through the air.

[Nice to meet you, I am Luntang Yu]

"Uh, my name is Kurosaki Ichigo, and this is Shinomiya-sensei... Oh, sorry, I forgot you seem to be..."

Just as Ichigo was frantically searching for paper and pen, Rindou wrote another line.

I can sense other people's emotions, so I don't have any communication problems. You don't need to take special care of me; I will try my best not to cause you any trouble.

"..."

Ichigo felt like something was stuck in his throat, and he didn't know what to say.

It wasn't the other person's communication skills that shattered his perception of people with disabilities, but rather their calm and comfortable way of living that broke down his preconceived notions about them.

Soon, Ichigo revealed a genuine smile.

"I understand. Please guide me in the future, Luntang."

Please give me your guidance.

"By the way, how did you two greet each other before?"

"Just like I reminded you earlier."

The moment the Four Palace Master spoke, Ichigo instantly understood.

"……I see."

Raising your chin can be a gesture to look in that direction, or it can mean "let's go outside and talk" or "follow me."

It's definitely much more convenient than going up to say hello.

Doing this to strangers makes you seem a bit too familiar.

It can only be said that in terms of interpersonal relationships, Shinomiya-sama also possesses a kind of "normal mind" similar to Rindou-sama, which is particularly valuable.

However, this "calm mindset" vanished when faced with the Asahi Kabuto I had in hand.

Time comes the next day.

The Spirit Arts Academy uniformly distributed light-colored items to all new students, unlike what the Four Palace Master had imagined—leading a group of people into some dark, secluded room to choose one they liked.

To put it bluntly, you don't get this kind of treatment on your first try.

After all, the asagu are only temporarily borrowed. They only truly belong to the individual after graduating and officially joining the team. This shows that the Spirit Arts Academy does not place much importance on the compatibility between its students and asagu.

The Four Palace Master has reason to suspect that the relatively small number of elite Shinigami who have mastered Shikai is also due to this factor.

But in any case, he has no prejudice against his own shallow playing style.

The way he stared at the knife could be described as looking at a dog with deep affection.

The hand that caressed the scabbard was both gentle, like caressing a young girl's skin, and also seemed to be itching to draw the sword and test its strength.

"Shinomiya, the way you are reminds me of those samurai who used to go mad and use people as test subjects for their swords."

Ichigo, sitting next to him, twitched at the corner of his mouth.

Although he was excited, it was entirely out of a desire for the power of death. He didn't have much feeling about the sword itself; on the contrary, he thought it was a bit too ordinary. If you didn't know, you would think it was a traditional handicraft from the modern world.

Are you really a high school student?

The Fourth Prince raised his head, his face filled with deep suspicion.

"What do you mean?"

"Even elementary school students can't help but pick up and wave a straight tree trunk they see on the road."

"You said it yourself, those are elementary school students. High school students wouldn't be that naive."

"Indeed, high school students are more realistic. They simply cannot resist cool battles, cool power that surpasses others, cool passion to protect the world, and the cool image that is praised after showing off."

"...There's no need to emphasize the concept of 'handsome' so much...?"

"besides."

"besides?!"

Ichigo stared wide-eyed, completely unaware that besides Rindo behind him, there was also a curious blonde girl.

"Correct."

Shinomiya-sama looked intently at the large toy in his hand, with the rigor of someone discussing academic matters.

"Didn't you hear what Teacher Daiu Naohara said? Zanpakuto and Shinigami are of one mind and body. You need to engrave the essence of your soul into it in order to resonate with it and grow. That's why I issued Asauchi as soon as possible, in order to achieve something as soon as possible."

"But that's not the point. The point is that Zanpakuto have souls. To a Shinigami, they are partners who fight side by side and never leave each other."

"If your partner were a beautiful girl, what do you think the male high school students would think?"

Handsome, strong, and beautiful girls.

Gudong.

With these three factors combined, even Ichigo was deeply shaken.

But not to the point of drooling.

The next moment, Shinomiya-sensei, Ichigo, Rindo, and Momo looked at the guy who made the noise.

The other person was also very outgoing and didn't seem embarrassed at all. Wiping the drool from the corner of their mouth, they grinned and said:

"I'm Xiong Ru from the Eight Eight Plains. I heard that the two top-performing prodigies this year are both fresh out of the modern world. I happen to be very interested in the hot girl culture of the modern world. If you don't mind, let's be friends!"

Chapter 5: Ichigo's tutor is that man.

The students of the Spirit Arts Academy wear uniform attire, which is a variation of the kimono with a distinctive style. Paired with the wooden school buildings, it gives off an atmosphere reminiscent of an old-fashioned private school.

But some people are destined to find it difficult to fit into the atmosphere and become just an ordinary student.

For example, Shinomiya-no-Mikoto and Ichigo, as well as Hachiyahara Kumaru.

She said she likes real culture, and no one would question it because her appearance is so trendy, with not only light lip gloss and eyeshadow but also eyebrow shaping.

Her beautiful long blonde hair was tied into a side ponytail, and her delicate skin had been tanned, giving it a soft, chocolate-like luster.

She looks like a high school girl who has been deeply influenced by the modern "gyaru" (sexy girl) style.

Ichigo couldn't help but ask, "Did you also just come from the human world?"

"No, I was born in Seireitei. My family owns a clothing store, and because it heavily references contemporary fashion trends, it's extremely popular. So I got curious and started looking into it, and then I just couldn't stop!"

Ba Ba Yuan smiled and waved his hand like a lucky cat, revealing his private information without any concern.

"I see..."

Ichigo's lips twitched slightly, and he forced himself not to comment further on her makeup. Most people with normal aesthetic sense would find the beauty of a gyaru (a type of hot girl) to be like coffee with too much sugar—too sweet and hard to drink.

"The clothing in the modern world is different from that in Rukongai. Seireitei is much more in line with the times than I thought."

The four palaces seemed to be deep in thought.

"Oh dear, this is not a good situation."

【What's wrong? 】

Luntang was writing at his desk.

"It's nothing, I'm just thinking about my future."

"what are you saying?"

Ichigo asked habitually.

"You see, back in the real world, you also take advantage of holidays to go out and work, right?"

"Hmm... I think I understand what you mean. You want to make some money so you can live the life of the rich here, so you came up with a business idea that borrows from modern culture. No matter what you do, as long as one product is successful, you won't have to worry about living expenses."

“That’s right, but what Hachiyahara said reminded me that Soul Society may only appear backward on the surface, but in reality, it may be doing so on purpose. Some of those things already exist, while others have no market demand. Although this point is debatable, in any case, money is not so easy to make.”

The four palaces are a bit of a disappointment.

I originally wanted to set up a Shinomiya Foundation in Soul Society, to show those nobles who are obsessed with their past glory what a new-era capitalist is like.

"Now that you mention it, our living allowance is still provided by the Spirit Arts Academy, which can only guarantee basic food, clothing and other necessities. We can't expect anything else, such as buying a few sets of clothes from the Baba family's shop in the modern world."

Ichigo scratched his head, realizing the seriousness of the problem.

"If you come, I can give you the lowest discount!"

Ba Ba Yuan smiled and made a peace sign in front of me, giving me a cute wink.

"We'll talk about this later."

Upon seeing the teacher arrive, Shinomiya no Mikoto took the initiative to end the conversation.

However, taking this chance to strike up a conversation, the two gradually became acquainted.

The main reason is that Ba Ba Yuan privately enjoys chatting with them about current affairs.

To outsiders, it seemed that after Luntang and Jilun, the "prodigy duo" had recruited the "fourth place" of the same period into their camp, thus forming the most eye-catching small group in the Spiritual Arts Academy.

The other students envied them and wanted to join, but they couldn't help but hesitate when faced with the minimum requirement of being a seventh-rank spiritual master, which was the standard for a senior officer.

Before we knew it, a week of school had passed.

Various disciplines took turns participating.

The Four Palaces Lord, so engrossed in his studies, barely paid any attention to the passage of time.

One afternoon, at the sword-fighting hall.