25 - Ice Reiatsu?
Momo gently patted Toshiro's head, her eyes soft with affection. "Don't be too scared, Shiro chan." she said.
Toshiro huffed, trying to swat her hand away. What was Momo and her friend's obsession with patting his head?!
"Fujiwara san's not a bad person." Momo continued, "Sometimes, she's strange, doesn't take other people's feelings into consideration and only focus on having fun. But.." Momo smiled and her voice was tinged with envy, "She's really amazing. By the time of her entrance to the academy, she is said to have the most impressive reiatsu of the first years in many years. I heard her casual reiatsu emission was already comparable to non-seated officers. And the instructors were even guessing that her maximum should be at least comparable to a third seat or maybe even a lieutenant."
Toshiro raised an eyebrow, "Lieutenant?"
"Yes, a lieutenant! Isn't it crazy?" Momo said, "And on top of that, she's a Kido prodigy, I heard she learned seventy spells in two months! While normally, it takes us a lot longer to even learn to successfully cast a spell everytime with enough power. She just does it all effortlessly."
Toshiro's eyes flickered with interest but he quickly masked it with indifference, "Heh, she's that amazing?"
"I'm telling you Shiro chan, I think Fujiwara san's really gonna make it to at least a Lieutenant seat in the future." Momo said, "Sometimes, I wish I could be like her. So that I could join Captain Aizen's Squad Five. Fujiwara san has already got an invitation to join Squad Five from Captain Aizen himself.."
"Captain Aizen?"
"Oh, right, I haven't told you about Captain Aizen!" Momo said, her smile getting bigger, "Captain Aizen's really amazing. His reiatsu is totally different from ours ! Not only he's powerful but also has a warm heart. I'm telling you I really want to join Captain Aizen's squad after I graduate!"
"Is that so?" Toshiro said, trying to sound disinterested, "By the way, that friend of yours..." Toshiro continued after pausing for a while and finding the words, "Why is she so fast?"
"Oh, Fujiwara san can use Shunpo, a footwork technique that boosts speed." Momo replied, "She's the only first year who can. But, she says she mainly uses her reiatsu more than Shunpo."
"Can reiatsu really boost your speed?" Toshiro asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Well, Fujiwara san's reiatsu is a bit unique. I heard it has wind nature to it." Momo said, "She says she can use it to boost her own speed."
"Reiatsu has elemental nature?"
"It's uncommon, but yeah," Momo said, "My point is...try to get along with Fujiwara san, okay? You don't really meet many new people and Fujiwara san is definitely fond of you so.."
"Stop lecturing me on making friends, bedwetter Momo." Toshiro scoffed, "I don't need your friend to be my friend."
"Come on, Shiro chan. Just give it a chance?"Momo pleaded.
"Stop calling me Shiro chan." Toshiro said, crossing his arms.
"I told you when you get into the academy and become a Shinigami, I'll call you by your last name." Momo said, trying to coax Toshiro.
"And I said I'm not interested in that Shinigami school." Toshiro replied, his tone final.
Toshiro didn't understand why Momo would want to leave him and grandma to become a Shinigami, but he for sure didn't want to leave his grandma just to become a so-called Shinigami. And he couldn't understand why Momo kept pushing him to become one.
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To add to Toshiro's annoyance, Rumi appeared in front of him again shortly after putting away her stuff. Momo had left to pick up a few things she needed in the neighborhood store so Toshiro was alone by the time Rumi came. She waved her hands energetically, trying to catch Toshiro's attention. When Toshiro turned to look at her, she hopped over to where he was.
"Hi again, Shiro chan." She said with a giggle. "What're you doing here?"
"Stop calling me Shiro chan!" Toshiro scoffed.
"You didn't answer my question." Rumi said with a frown before suddenly appearing behind him with a rush of wind. Toshiro felt her hands patting his head, messing up his hair.
"You...stop messing my hair", Toshiro said, trying to maintain his composure.
"Answer my question first." Rumi said playfully, "Kiddo."
"I'm not a little kid!" Toshiro shouted, as his emotions got more intense, he could feel something leaking out of him and the air around him was becoming cooler.
Rumi frowned, because of the sudden drop in temperature, it wasn't that drastic but Rumi noticed it because she was standing so close to Toshiro and the air surrounding him was cooling down.
'Is that his reiatsu?' Rumi thought. The sudden drop of temperature around him was becoming more and more apparent as time went by and Rumi could feel that the cold was even affecting her.
'Could it be that he also has an elemental reiatau like me? But instead of wind, he has ice reiatsu?' Rumi pondered.
After being in the academy for a while, Rumi had learned how rare elemental reiatsu was and that it was even rarer than elemental Zanpakutos. So, it felt surreal to see someone else with elemental reiatsu.
"Shiro chan, can you release more of your reiatsu?" Rumi asked, her tone shifting to a more serious one.
Toshiro seemed to notice that his reiatsu was leaking and the air around him felt colder, and his eyes widened a little as if he was scared of it.
"I don't want to..." Toshiro remembered people in the neighborhood being scared of him so he shook his head. This reiatsu thing didn't matter, because he didn't want to become a Shinigami.
Rumi sighed, "Your reiatsu just now...I think it's elemental reiatsu. Ice to be more exact."
"You mean my reiatsu is cooling the air around me?"
"Exactly, when you got angry earlier, more of your reiatsu leaked out, and the temperature dropped," Rumi explained, "That's because your reiatsu have ice nature."
Toshiro's expression turned contemplative, "because of my reiatsu nature?"
"From what I've seen, yes." Rumi said, "I know it because I also have an elemental reiatsu. Sometimes, our reiatsu can affect our surroundings dramatically."
"Momo said you have wind reiatsu or something." Toshiro said, recalling Momo's answer.
Rumi let out an amused chuckle and pinched Toshiro's cheek, "Aww! I didn't know you like me that much to ask Momo about me!"
"...I-I don't like you at all! I just thought you're strange and..scary." Toshiro admitted.
"Ouch, I knew I'd look strange but scary? Not exactly the impression I'm going for, especially not from a cute kid like you!" Rumi said. "Seriously where do I look scary?"
"You appeared in front of me so quickly..that speed had to be inhuman." Toshiro replied, trying to explain his unease.
"I guess," Rumi sighed, "It was just my reiatsu tho."
"Like your reiatsu can cool the air around you, my reiatsu can kinda manipulate wind and also boost my speed." Rumi continued, "I'm saying..You and me, we both have rare elemental reiatsu types."
"Heh, who cares about reiatsu type? It's not like I intend to become a Shinigami." Toshiro said after a while.
"Speaking of that, why don't you want to become a Shinigami?" Rumi asked. Clearly, she could see that Toshiro would be more powerful than Momo in the future just from his reiatsu alone. One had to know Momo was still a remarkable, talented student within the academy and even if she kind of paled in comparison to Rumi or other geniuses in the academy history, Momo was still a talented student of the Elite class. So, Toshiro's potential couldn't be underestimated.
That was exactly why Rumi was puzzled. She could tell that Toshiro knew he could get in to the academy if he tried but he simply lacked interest to do so. But, Rumi couldn't think of any reason why anyone would willingly stay in Rukongai living a normal poor life compared to those in Seireitei.
Toshiro, on the other hand, frowned, "Why would I want to be a Shinigami?"
"Well," Rumi started, "You get to eat more delicious food in Seireitei."
"My favorite food is watermelon and I get to eat plenty here." Toshiro replied, unimpressed.
"Okay, but you also learn more skills and then you can use it to beat your friends up." Rumi added.
Toshiro's frown deepened and he looked even more unimpressed. "Only you would find it fun." He said, rolling his eyes.
"Good point," Rumi nodded, "But it's a pretty fun place."
"I'm not going to Shinigami school just for fun." Toshiro said.
"Why not?!" Rumi asked.
"Because I'm not interested in becoming a Shinigami." Toshiro said.
"Alright, suit yourself." Rumi shrugged. If Toshiro didn't want to answer, she didn't want to push either. Besides, it didn't really matter for her if Toshiro joined the academy or not.
At that moment, Rumi saw a System notification in front of her again.
[Congratulations on unlocking hidden choice paths. Please choose one of the three paths and get the assigned rewards to the paths.]
'choice paths?' Rumi was surprised and preplexed about this new path thing so she quickly excused herself to go and space out somewhere else. Toshiro looked a bit suspicious about her suddenly leaving him alone but he was glad she wasn't pushing him.
Once she was alone, Rumi started reading the details.
[Path 1 : Convince Toshiro to join the academy. Reward : Mentor's insight.
Path 2 : Teach Toshiro how to control his reiatsu and let him decide his path.
Reward : Cold Resistance.
Path 3 : Ignore and do not interfere with Toshiro's life.
Reward : Reiatsu optimization.]
Rumi felt like the difficulty of choices had gone up again.
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A/N: Another chapter, here we go!!!
I've actually finished this Shin'o Academy arc just now so I figured I'd upload one more chapter.
I have to say I ended up changing my initial plans so Rumi would end up in a different squad than I expected, which would also lead to a lot of interesting changes from canon Bleach. But, I think that's what makes fanfiction interesting because we can go down different routes and make different changes.
Anyways, thanks y'all for the interesting ideas and comments ^^
See y'all next chapter !