Sasakibe was somewhat surprised. "You… are you planning to reopen the Genryū Academy?"
The Head Captain shook his head. "Of course not. At my age, I no longer have the time to teach properly. I'll merely substitute for a few classes as the headmaster of the Shin'ō Academy."
Even though he wasn't reopening the Genryū Academy, the Head Captain's answer still shocked Sasakibe. He hadn't expected the Head Captain to take such an active interest.
By this point, the fight in the field had already ended. Although Kurosaki Rei's overall speed was slower than Yoruichi's, the winner of this Hakuda spar was Kurosaki Rei.
"Interesting. The Shihōin girl didn't lose to that Rei boy in Hakuda technique,"
the Head Captain commented.
"She lost in judgment."
"Judgment?"
Sasakibe hadn't watched the fight carefully and asked in curiosity.
"Combat is essentially like answering multiple-choice questions,"
the Head Captain said.
"How you dismantle the opponent's moves, how you follow up with your own attacks—every exchange is a process of making choices."
"Chōjirō, let me ask you. When you fight, how do you make your decisions?"
Sasakibe pondered for a moment before replying,
"Actual combat situations are extremely complex. If you break the process down, every move is a form of gambling. For me, it's usually a matter of responding to what I see."
"For example, if the opponent launches a frontal slash and I judge that I can't counter in time, I'll retract my blade to defend. If I believe my sword can strike first, I'll choose to attack the opponent's vital point…"
He paused, then continued,
"If combat is a multiple-choice test, there are simply too many options. The opponent also has countless choices. With the change of any single variable, everything shifts, so it's hard to predict. Thinking carefully, most of my judgments are made subconsciously."
"A fine word—subconsciously."
The Head Captain looked at Sasakibe, making him slightly uneasy.
Sasakibe thought for a moment, then added,
"In summary, daily training is crucial. In battle, it's often muscle memory that makes decisions for me. Calling it subconscious isn't inaccurate."
"You're not entirely wrong—but not entirely right either,"
the Head Captain nodded.
"That's why a qualified Shinigami must train every day without slacking off. Combat skills etched into one's bones will save one's life in a desperate fight."
"But…"
Sasakibe immediately knew the Head Captain was about to reveal the crux of the matter and adopted a respectful, attentive posture.
"…Chōjirō, some people don't rely on honed techniques or muscle memory born from daily practice when making decisions in battle,"
the Head Captain said slowly.
"They rely on… instinct."
The old man's eyes narrowed further as he looked at Kurosaki Rei below, who was wiping sweat with a towel.
"He instinctively chooses the optimal solution with every move. That's why, even though the Shihōin girl can suppress him in speed, he still wins."
"Instinct…"
Sasakibe savored the word.
Thinking carefully, he realized that during battle he truly didn't have time to think. Even if there was a strategy, it was long-term—not something applied to a single exchange.
At the moment blades crossed, no one had time for excess thought. What one relied on seemed to be instinct—or perhaps what he had previously called the subconscious.
With a solemn expression, Sasakibe looked toward Kurosaki Rei again. If this young man truly possessed an instinct for choosing the optimal solution in combat, then didn't that mean—
Under equal spiritual pressure, he was virtually unbeatable?
According to the Head Captain's explanation, combat technique and the ability to make decisions should be viewed as separate things.
Put simply: under equal spiritual pressure, if Yoruichi could kill ten Hollows with a single punch and Kurosaki Rei could kill eight, then Yoruichi's Hakuda technique was superior.
But whether to punch or kick in a given moment—that was the level of decision-making. If Yoruichi made a wrong choice and missed, while Kurosaki Rei made the correct one, then even if his attack was weaker, he would still effectively damage the enemy while avoiding harm himself.
Seen this way, the importance of decision-making in battle might even surpass that of combat technique itself.
Instinct…
"Let's go. We'll come back the day after tomorrow,"
the Head Captain said. This class had already ended, and he intended to teach that overconfident brat a lesson during the next Hakuda class.
...
"Why do I suddenly feel a chill? Did I not eat enough at noon—low nutrition or something?"
Kurosaki Rei felt a sudden shiver, as if some terrifying existence had locked onto him. He looked around but didn't see any particularly dangerous figures.
"Rei-kun, let's go. Next class is Zanpakutō Resonance."
Aizen called out to the thoughtful Kurosaki Rei. After two months together, the two had grown much closer.
And Aizen had to admit that, aside from spiritual pressure, Kurosaki Rei's displayed talent in every other area didn't lose to him at all—if anything, it was even stronger.
What made Aizen feel a sense of exasperation was how slowly Kurosaki Rei's spiritual pressure was improving.
In Aizen's eyes, Kurosaki Rei absolutely had talent in spiritual pressure cultivation. Yet over the past two months, he had been extremely lax—no longer staying up late to train together with him.
This was all Captain Unohana's fault…
Aizen couldn't quite understand why Kurosaki Rei was so obsessed with Kaidō. In his view, rather than practicing healing techniques used after getting injured, it would be better to raise one's strength to an overwhelming level and crush opponents outright—so there would be no injuries in the first place.
And Aizen could clearly sense Kurosaki Rei's strong obsession with becoming stronger. That was precisely why he couldn't understand why Kurosaki Rei was slacking off in the most direct path to strength—spiritual pressure cultivation.
Well, "slacking off" might not be the best word. At the very least, Kurosaki Rei attended the three weekly spiritual pressure training classes properly.
The real reason he didn't train at night anymore was that recently, Kurosaki Rei was always… very weak.
Every day, he seemed to be doing something with Captain Unohana. When he returned to the dorm, his steps were unsteady, his face pale. He would lie on the bed chatting with Aizen and then fall asleep mid-conversation—completely skipping spiritual pressure training.
So obsessed with Kaidō… could it be that—
Rei-kun had fallen for Captain Unohana?
Aizen felt like he might have figured out the truth. Otherwise, there was simply no way to explain why this reckless, battle-crazed maniac was practicing Kaidō every day instead of training spiritual pressure.
Thinking of this, Aizen couldn't help but say,
"Rei-kun, I think you might need to restrain yourself a bit."
"Huh? Restrain what?"
Kurosaki Rei looked utterly confused, having no idea what Aizen was talking about.
After carefully choosing his words, Aizen said,
"Although I know Captain Unohana is very charming, and doing… forbidden experiments with a female instructor can be quite thrilling, you've been making yourself so weak every day. At this rate, when will you ever achieve Shikai?"
Kurosaki Rei: ???
Since Captain Unohana had told him that the contents of her after-class guidance were confidential, he hadn't mentioned to Aizen that he was getting cut down every day.
Sōsuke—how do you even know I'm doing forbidden experiments with Captain Unohana every day?!
And aren't you misunderstanding something?
It's not like I have some kind of weird XP system—how could getting cut be exciting?!
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/VoidInk08