There are two types of teachers at Shino Academy.
One is the resident teacher, whose task is to teach students various Shinigami skills. These teachers usually follow a strict curriculum, beginning from Hado No. 1.
The other type is the part-time teacher, like Rukia Kuchiki. She usually has her own duties within the Division and only teaches at the academy when her schedule allows. The content is generally much higher-level when she teaches.
Rukia Kuchiki looked at the students and couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride.
Once upon a time, she had also been one of them-and back then, she'd already shown early talent in Kidō.
Now she could control both the Silent Incantation and Dual Invocation effortlessly and had mastered high-level Kidō above No. 60.
Though she was only an unseated member in the 13th Division, she was fully qualified to teach advanced Kidō classes.
What saddened her slightly was that the distinction between noble and commoner hadn't changed in over a hundred years.
The students all attended the same class, but in truth they were divided into two distinct groups.
On one end sat the nobles together-their posture straight, confident-and on the other side were the commoners from Rukongai, far less composed.
Seeing so many eyes on her brought back an old memory.
She had once lived in Rukongai herself, before being adopted into the Kuchiki family by chance.
With that change came the name "Kuchiki" and overnight, she'd become something different in everyone else's eyes. People who had once treated her warmly grew distant and overly polite-as though afraid to offend her standing.
Even how they addressed her changed. "Miss Kuchiki" had made things clear enough from the start.
The divide was obvious now, and Rukia Kuchiki could feel it again: the loneliness that came with it. Was it truly possible for her to have a genuine friend?
When the commoner students asked questions, they spoke with exaggerated politeness and hesitation, as though one wrong word would lead to punishment.
Rukia responded with calm patience each time, smiling as she clarified their concerns.
Once questions were answered, all students began chanting and practicing ghost techniques aloud at their own pace.
Only the nobility succeeded. Before entering school, they had already received detailed guidance from family mentors-it was standard among noble families to be taught well before stepping into a classroom.
For commoners, hitting Hado No. 31 on their first day was simply too far ahead of them.
As her duties relaxed for a moment, Rukia walked among the students until she found herself standing behind one in particular: Yuta.
Earlier during her demonstration of Kidō, she'd already noticed him. He wore the standard Shino Academy uniform but stood alone at the edge of the room, arms crossed and leaning against the wall behind him. His gaze was lazy-and fixed entirely on her performance.
Rukia cleared her throat and placed a fist delicately in front of her lips before coughing once or twice to get his attention.
"This Student" she began clearly, "aren't you supposed to be participating in class?"
"Even though you arrived late, I assume you saw my demonstration earlier. Time to start practicing."
"If you don't train properly now, you'll regret it when you find yourself facing Hollows after graduation."
When she finished speaking, she realized Yuta hadn't moved-or responded. His eyes were fixed right onto her face, blank and unblinking. It made something in Rukia falter for half a breath.
Why is he staring at me? Is something wrong with my appearance?
And based on his lack of ornamentation or expensive detail in his clothing-it was obvious he was from Rukongai too.
If he'd been noble, he would've worn some kind of token or heirloom crafted discreetly but with value only recognized among the elite. Yuta wore none of that; his clean and plain uniform marked him as unmistakably a commoner.
For centuries-not a single commoner had dared look directly at her like this. It was mildly disrespectful…but strangely heartening too.
Could he be someone she could talk to? Someone who wouldn't see her as "Miss Kuchiki"?
She felt flustered by the thought. Friendship? Real friendship felt so impossibly far away now...
Rukia furrowed her brows and spoke again with seriousness:
"This Student, are you listening to me?"
The problem was her height: standing next to Yuta made any serious tone lose a bit of weight. She barely reached his shoulder-even while scolding him seriously.
Yuta tilted his head slightly toward her and asked casually-
"Are you Rukia Kuchiki?"
Rukia froze for half a second before blinking quickly. "Why? Do you know me?"
"I don't," he replied flatly. "Also-I'm not 'this Student.' Name's Yuta hideki."
She narrowed her eyes at his attitude but chose professionalism over pettiness. "Regardless of what's bothering you right now, you're practicing Kidō today."
"If your grades don't meet standards," she added with a slight scowl, "don't blame me for slapping you down. I'm strict with underachievers."
She tried making her expression fierce-but it had little effect on Yuta's indifference.
He simply shrugged and waved half-heartedly at her. "Hado No. 31's too simple-it's not hard at all. I already figured it out watching you."
[You watched Rukia Kuchiki use Hado #31: Shakkahō - Red Fire Cannon - and successfully understood its structure.]
"Is that supposed to be funny?" Rukia put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
Even with talent in Kidō, understanding No. 31 immediately wasn't something anyone could do-not without some experience or foundational training first.
Today was supposed to be their first session with Kidō and No. 1 was already considered mid-tier for some beginners. No. 31 wasn't something first-years should've been touching for months at least.
The only reason she performed Shakkahō on day one was because it functioned as the year-end evaluation benchmark: seeing whether students could produce it effectively would tell instructors everything they needed about performance and growth over time.
And now this guy says he understood it instantly?
Yuta shrugged again as he turned around lazily. "Believe it or not, I don't care."
Without another word, he walked away toward the exit of the room without permission or explanation.
Rukia stood speechless for several seconds after watching him leave freely-
Did he really ignore me?
Her hunch hadn't been wrong-that guy really was something unusual...
"You all keep practicing!" she called over her shoulder to the rest of the class before dashing out after him. "Sensei's gonna go chase down one disrespectful student!"
Hirano Sora belonged to a lesser noble house, the Hirano family.
They used to be mid-level nobles once, but after generations of declining influence, they had been officially categorized as lower nobility by now.
Even so, they were nobles and that gave Sora access to elite education long before entering Shino Academy. He had practiced several Shinigami arts in advance-and could already replicate mid-level Kidō with stability and control.
Now that he'd grasped Red Fire Cannon properly, there was little left to challenge him directly during class hours.
He occasionally glanced around-but when his eyes passed over impoverished commoners in threadbare uniforms, his gaze narrowed slightly in disdain before flicking away with disgust too subtle for others to notice easily.
When he turned his eyes toward Rukia-the disdain vanished instantly into reverence and respect.
The commoners might not know but Sora did "Kuchiki" wasn't an ordinary name among Shinigami circles.
That family-the Kuchiki Clan-is one of Soul Society's ruling houses. One of Four Great Noble Families.
Its current head? Byakuya Kuchiki-a prodigy among prodigies-and widely regarded as the strongest heir the Kuchiki line had ever produced…
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