'My name is… Soutarou… Takashina…?'
'Japanese…?'
'Shinigami…? The Soul Society…?'
'Nobleborn… of a falling noble house…?'
'Shinigami… Soul Reapers… the Gotei 13…?!?'
'... How did I end up here of all places?!? This damn terrifying ass world…'
…
'Yep you got it thats what my thoughts were about five days ago when I was still in the state of denial… yet here I am… the only relieving portion of my existence is the fact that I've arrived far before canon… based on only one name… Sosuke Aizen… as much as arriving before canon helped calm me down… hearing that name… I was stuck between deciding whether I should go hide in the human world or if I should just stay isolated in the Takashina house… then I realized… lesser nobles like myself… the ones who fell out of the Seireitei are usually the ones who end up targeted by that bastard Aizen for their souls! Not only that just because I'm a noble now there's an innate target on my back… why couldn't I have been born in a good household? What happened to good resources… good talent… I can tell I got stuck with the bottom of the barrel character…'
…
'Despair isn't fear of what is to come, it's fearing what's already come and can't be overcome… being dealt a bad hand like this… nothing no cards to play… you'd think after five days of sitting in this near dilapidated old mansion alone in East Rukongai, District Seven I'd have been granted the reincarnator's gifts… or you know as the chinese would say, a 'golden finger!' But no reality… reality is horrifying. At this point if Aizen doesn't kill me Mayuri probably will for the sake of the balance of three realms or some nonsense like that… Seriously not even a soul king fragment? Damn you Reio! Wait until Ichigo Kurosaki, Aizen, and Ryuken thrash your son into the grave!'
Grumbling in anger and lethargy Soutarou, sat in the same posture he'd been in for days lamenting about his shitty circumstances and poor spiritual talent that barely qualified for anything other than not being labeled as a "plus1."
'I suppose the only good thing about having spiritual talent this low is that I don't have to eat that often… or really I don't require much sustenance at all… but that's also horrifying because that means I'm so close to a plus that I don't even need that much sustenance!'
Spewing cursed and kicking his feet, Soutarou fell flat on his back staring at the ceiling. Knowing death is coming to you whether you try or not, it really broke Soutarou. Being in a world where the culture is completely different, where his personality carried over, and certain memories too, but at the same time his previous personal identity seemed to have been stripped away completely, it was really terrifying. Especially for Soutarou who believed he was once a college student in a much more modern era than the one he was currently in.
'No memories other than bleach really… Everything is so fuzzy… I barely even remember the… the…? Wow… I don't even remember what to call them… there were two other shows that were popular… maybe the great three? Whatever… for everything to be deleted and my past details to be so obscured… I might not have been reincarnated with good intentions… or maybe I wasn't reincarnated at all… truly horrifying… The worst part is even a minor character like me, if I choose to sit inside and not interact with people might cause other people to act slightly differently too… basically the butterfly effect… except it's real and really, really terrifying… just knowing about the future and acting differently is going to change everything about the future… the only truly reliable thing will really be the character motives and secret abilities or traits… no, maybe future talents are a pretty good avenue to look at too…'
'Why even bother to think about this though? Do I have any talent? Nope… then its not worth thinking about… if Yhwach is coming to destroy the world anyways might as well enjoy my last few years of life… though… from my memories of this guy before me… it seems I can't even do that… fallen or rather falling noble house… still nobles in name… though almost everyone knows that we aren't anymore… it seems I was the eldest son of the Takashina house and everyone else over the last few years ended up dead… and we've been in rukongai for about 60 years after our house stopped being able to maintain our seireitei estate… oh looks like the last notable person from our household was an unknown 5th seat who died in the hollowification indicent… wait a moment… the hollowification incident was 60 years ago…? Then it's about 50 years before Aizen's defection? So I'm Rukia and Renji's age? Hmm… if I want to live well… maybe I should ride their coattails? Sponsor them? No, if I do anything like that it'll break canon too much… Not to mention that after Rukia entered the academy about two or three years in, a little after Hisana's death Rukia got roped into the Kuchiki family… I'd doubt they'd take it well that another noble house had their eyes on one of theirs even if our Takashina house seems to have been a former Kuchiki ally. Really though, thinking about this is worthless since…'
Sighing again Soutarou lamented and finally got up, thinking to himself, 'I've granted myself enough pity days and sorrow days. It's better to just live out my life at this point. Why worry about things above my paygrade… I really did hope that acting desperate like that and ranting in my head would trigger some unknown reward or something really… but oh well-'
'You've got to be shitting me.'
Gritting his teeth in anger Soutarou and clenching his fists, he stared at a pale blue screen that floated in his vision.
'...So I had to give up to get what I wanted? Funny. Very funny. Deep breath Soutarou…I have to say though I already hate this system.'
With his spirit slightly rekindled, but also wary of getting something that would unnecessarily get his hopes up, Soutarou focused on the system and read…
<#@)*#)*%#%
Welcome Notice:
Welcome to the World of Bleach. A novel world written and created by Tite Kubo. Warning: the Bleach World may not be the same as the novel, manga, or anime. Certain traits may be different. Reality is not fiction, despite how magical this world may seem it is doubly terrifying, please take this as a warning.
Additional Information:
The Being Soutarou Takashina was unexpectedly ejected from his origin world by unknown causes. As a result of reincarnation, Soutarou Takashina has forcefully been stripped of certain memories to protect said beings' origin world as beings of the current world possess powers strong enough to affect outside realms that may unintentionally or intentionally cause harm to Earth #143…091. As compensation for lost memories the user Soutarou Takashina has been granted three rolls. Please note before User's reincarnation, the user's spiritual talent was used up to grant and roll for these three compensation items so as not to disturb the natural order of the world. Granted: Hidden Ability: ??? (User possess insufficient authority to comprehend), System: The Shinigami Progression System, and an innate Trait: Maximum Charisma (Looks, Voice, 'Features', and Vibe)
All rewards and pertinent information has been distributed. The #@)*#)*%#% bids you a farewell and best wishes in your new world. Good luck Soutarou Takashina.>
[The Shinigami Progression System is now online. Welcome User. Please call out 'Status' to see your current status.]
Soutarou's face that had turned dark from whatever being had "compensated" him lit up and he giddily called out, "Status!"
[The user may call out status mentally. The system's AI is now shutting down. Only progression status will be available to users. Good luck and may we meet again soon.]
[Status Panel
Name: Soutarou Takashina (高階 宗太郎- Soutarou of the Takashina House — the eldest son of the ancestral noble line)
Overall Strength Rank: Tier 20, Weakest Being With Spiritual Potential
Reiatsu: Tier 20 (0/10)
Reiryoku: Tier 20 (0/10)
Zanpakuto: N/A
Race: Shinigami
Race Techniques:
Seizen*('pure' meditation): Unranked (0/1); to progress cultivate internal reiryoku
Jinzen* (blade meditation): Unranked (0/1); to progress interact with an asauchi
Zanjutsu (art of the sword): Unranked (0/1); to progress wield a sword
Hoho (art of the movement): Unranked (0/1); to progress learn a movement technique
Kido (demon arts): Unranked (0/1); to progress learn a kido spell
Hakuda(hand to hand combat)): Unranked (0/1); to progress learn to fist-fight
*Rankings outside of the traditional shinigami systems that the system has designated for user understanding.*
Special Abilities: Maximum Charisma (Looks, Voice, 'Features', and Vibe), ???]
Soutarou's once bright face darkened as black lines seemed to cover his face, his eyebrow twitched, and the rest of his face scrunched up.
'Really? Weakest being with spiritual potential?... Ok fine fine I admit I am… but still can't you word it nicely? You know, like a resume…'
[... Overall Strength Rank: Tier 20, Number One Ranked Being With No Spiritual Potential…]
'... -_-... I hate this system…'
[... Overall Strength Rank: Tier 20, Weakest Being With Spiritual Potential…]
'Y-you! Whatever…. Though… does the counter mean if I swing a sword once it'll reach tier twenty? If that matches the Shino Academy and Gotei Thirteen Standards isn't that the level of an entering first year student?... Seems a bit ridiculous… perhaps it gets significantly harder to progress at higher levels? Yeah that would make a lot more sense… lets test this out… I should have a wooden sword somewhere in the storage closet… hell we might even still have some Hoho, Kido, and Hakuda books too…'
Stretching his creaking joints and body, Soutarou stood up and slid the old paper door, walking down a once polished wooden floored hallway. Soon he threw open another door leading out to a large courtyard that now looked slightly overgrown and in some parts just looked like an emerging forest. In the midst of the tall swaying yellow-green grass, was a small house that now just looked like a shed. The shed's state was beyond questionable, making Soutarou frown and shake his head.
'Perhaps I'll use whatever sword's in there and slash away at the grass as practice…'
Trudging over the ever increasing in length grass, Soutarou made his way over to the 'shed' gently opening its door, as if fearing the building might collapse in on itself. Once inside, Soutarou found himself face to face with several shelves and dust smothered boxes, that surprisingly all looked as if they'd perfectly safeguarded what they were housing. Most surprisingly rather than a wooden sword Soutarou found a metal practice sword that's edge had been purposely dulled, yet carried the same weight as a real sword might. Deciding that this building wasn't safe to store these items that could possibly have precious value or a path for his growth, he begrudgingly picked up the nearest boxes and headed back towards the main estate. Repeating this several times, he cleared out the entire storage room before finding a small token engraved with an emblem.
'Hmm… isn't this a Kuchiki emblem? Why is this here… oh well…'
Grabbing and dusting off the token, he gently placed it into his kimono's chest area, planning to take a closer look at it later before properly storing it. Sweeping around the room and checking for hidden compartments. Soutarou reluctantly left, feeling something amiss, before deciding that if he couldn't find it now perhaps in the future he might be able to.
'Now then… shall we take a look at our goodies? And let's see just how strong this system really is… if it's just a matter of progression… then seeing a small visible increase will make it so much easier on the motivation side…. Let's find out shall we? Just how strong I can become…'
***Author's Note: Chapters will be about 2000 words give or take 400 more words… though it shouldn't be less unless I specify at the top of a chapter that it'll be intentionally shorter.
Additional Information: 'Thoughts', "Speaking", [MC System], {Mental Transmission + Mental Message},
Definitions/Clarifications
1.) Plus, not to be confused with the term Plus Souls, is a slightly derogatory term that's used to refer to those without spiritual talent. This term was originally coined by the Old Noble Houses in the era before the Gotei Thirteen and unfortunately stuck around even after their reformation; later becoming a colloquial term to describe those lacking spiritual talent. These souls do not need additional sustenance in the Soul Society and live off of the ambient reishi. Notably, almost all of these are souls from the realm of the living, that through Konso have been sent to the Soul Society, more often than not these souls cannot reproduce and have short life spans in the Soul Society.
(Note: a Plus Soul is a normal human ghost that's linked to a place of importance from their lifetime by a chain of fate. When this chain breaks the soul is consumed by regret and transforms into a hollow.)
Concluding Note: The first few chapters MC's literally going to fly in terms of progress… after that point… not so much…***