Kurosaki Rei had no intention of bickering with a little girl. Standing at the starting line, he flicked his foot and kicked off his wooden sandals, then took a deep breath.
Students nearby could clearly see his chest swell dramatically. That posture was nothing like a normal deep breath—it felt more like gasoline being pumped into an internal combustion engine!
Then, as Kurosaki Rei lowered his stance, the loose Shihakushō visibly bulged.
The students watched him with astonishment. It was hard to imagine just how ferocious and violent the body beneath that robe was at this moment. Kurosaki Rei looked nothing like someone preparing to perform an "elegant Shunpo." He looked more like a ferocious beast about to pounce on its prey!
In the next instant—accompanied by a dull boom and flying dust—Kurosaki Rei's figure vanished.
In Aizen's eyes, Kurosaki Rei was like a savage beast lunging toward its quarry. This was nothing like the Shunpo he was familiar with. Whether it was the way force was applied or how the footholds were used, it all differed from standard Shunpo. Most importantly—
It was way too loud.
The sound of feet grinding against the ground rang out, dust billowing everywhere. Kurosaki Rei came to a stop at the next node beyond the halfway point.
Under the shocked gazes of Yoruichi, the students, and even the instructor, Kurosaki Rei grinned and looked at the big screen.
2.939 s
He rolled his neck a bit, then turned to look at Yoruichi.
"Looks like I won, right?"
Yoruichi's mouth fell slightly open. "Y-you… this isn't Shunpo at all! It's not Shunpo in the slightest!"
"But you only said you'd run the full distance and I'd run half, and whoever was faster would win," Kurosaki Rei said with a grin. "You never said I had to use Shunpo."
"Besides," he added casually, "who says I didn't use Shunpo? I did use Shunpo."
Everyone present—teachers and students alike—was speechless.
What kind of Shunpo made this much noise?!
No matter how you looked at it, you'd just brute-forced your way through, right?!
But after the initial shock, a few people frowned in thought. They realized that although Kurosaki Rei's movement had been extremely noisy, it did apply the core principles of Shunpo.
He had simply discarded "silence" and "elegance."
After class, Yoruichi stood in front of Kurosaki Rei, her emotions complicated.
"A bet is a bet. A loss is a loss. Go on—what do you want to learn?"
By all rights, she should've been angry—especially since Kurosaki Rei hadn't used Shunpo in the traditional sense. But her eyesight was sharp, and her talent in Shunpo was almost unmatched. After thinking it over, she realized that Kurosaki Rei's version of "Shunpo" had real merits.
Kurosaki Rei hadn't learned Shunpo before today. That meant there was only one insane conclusion—
After his first exposure to Shunpo, and after barely twenty-odd attempts, he had created an entirely new footwork technique.
This was just… absurd.
Yoruichi knew very well that Shunpo wasn't the only high-speed movement technique. In fact, what the Shin'ō Academy taught was mass-produced stuff. Put nicely, it was "classic Shunpo." Put bluntly, it was outdated Shunpo.
The Shihōin family specialized in Shunpo and Hakuda, and possessed many secret Hakuda and Shunpo techniques. The so-called advanced Shunpo techniques were in a completely different league from what the Academy taught.
Those advanced techniques were the crystallization of wisdom passed down through generations of Shihōin geniuses.
And yet today, she had witnessed a brand-new "advanced Shunpo," created by a slum-born drifter from Rukongai—in less than an hour.
Yes, in her eyes, Kurosaki Rei's footwork was more advanced than ordinary Shunpo, at least in terms of suitability for him.
She had dared to wager against Kurosaki Rei and even doubled her distance precisely because she possessed advanced Shunpo techniques. She was confident that someone who had just learned basic Shunpo could never beat her.
Forget Kurosaki Rei—even the instructor of this class, a Third Seat of the Onmitsukidō, would still lose to her in a Shunpo contest at equal spiritual pressure and distance.
But even in her wildest dreams, she hadn't expected Kurosaki Rei, this absolute monster, to create a personalized Shunpo in such a short time.
Sure, it was loud—but purely in terms of speed, it was terrifying.
And she understood something else: Kurosaki Rei had only just learned Shunpo today. This new technique was freshly created. With more practice, his speed would only continue to increase. Catching up to her peak level wasn't impossible.
Looking at Yoruichi's constantly shifting expression, Kurosaki Rei had no idea what she was overthinking. He simply stated his demand.
"I've heard of an advanced Shunpo technique called Utsusemi. Do you know it?"
"Utsusemi?"
Yoruichi frowned. "Where did you hear that name?"
Kurosaki Rei shrugged. "Heard someone mention it in the cafeteria. Don't remember who. What—don't tell me you don't know it?"
He wasn't actually sure whether Yoruichi knew Utsusemi. In the original story, it was never explicitly stated whether it was a Shihōin family technique or something Yoruichi created later.
If it was self-created… then maybe she didn't know it yet.
"This is a Shunpo technique of the Shihōin family. Very few people even know its name…"
Yoruichi hesitated, then after a moment of thought said,
"I'll teach you next Shunpo class."
Her hesitation came from the fact that even within the Shihōin family, Utsusemi was considered a high-end Shunpo technique. It wasn't strictly forbidden to pass on, but it certainly wasn't something to teach outsiders casually.
If Kurosaki Rei were from one of the Five Great Noble Houses, that would be one thing. But he was just a lowborn drifter from Rukongai.
She might be the Shihōin heir, but this wasn't something she could decide entirely on her own. Still, backing out of a bet was not something she could do. All she could do was go back and "wage war" with those old geezers later.
With the wager settled, Kurosaki Rei was in a great mood. He headed to the cafeteria with Aizen and entered full-on eating mode.
"Rei-kun, that Shunpo just now… did you come up with it on the spot?"
Aizen asked curiously over the meal. Kurosaki Rei had once again shattered his understanding that day.
He knew Kurosaki Rei was a genius—but he hadn't expected him to create his own exclusive Shunpo the very first time he touched the technique.
"I just made some small adjustments based on my own situation," Kurosaki Rei said with a grin after swallowing a mouthful of rice. "What, Sōsuke? Want to learn it? I can teach you."
Aizen's lips twitched almost imperceptibly.
"I think I'll stick to practicing standard Shunpo."
That thunderous noise whenever it moved—he would rather pass. It didn't suit his low-key style at all.
As Kurosaki Rei ate, he reflected inwardly. He knew his own situation very well. The Shunpo he created wasn't truly an advanced Shunpo.
He had simply abandoned the traditional Shunpo's emphasis on silence and subtlety, focusing purely on speed.
After all, in his view, he wasn't going to be sneaking around assassinating people.
Battle should be direct. Straightforward.
Rush in head-on and smash the enemy to death.
Silence? Noise reduction?
Necessary?
"Oh, right," Aizen said after they finished eating. "I won't be attending the first class this afternoon with you, Rei-kun."
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