"Sorry to interrupt, Head Teacher Ohara, and my fellow colleagues."
Kinpachi Sakamoto bowed slightly. In his arms, he held several rolls of old film reels he had asked someone to procure from the World of the Living, a gentle smile resting on his face.
"I was outside and accidentally overheard some of the discussion regarding Asuka." He walked over to the long table, his gaze landing on Asuka's file. "If everyone doesn't mind, I would like to volunteer to be the temporary homeroom teacher for Class 1-B."
"Furthermore, I want to have a proper talk with this problem student."
"Mr. Kinpachi?" Mugoro Ohara was somewhat surprised. "You just joined the staff, so you might not understand the unique nature of that child."
"He isn't like the human children you've taught before. He is equivalent to..."
"Head Teacher Ohara, it is precisely because he is unique that he requires a unique method of communication, doesn't he?"
The teacher named Kinpachi's eyes grew profound. "You all feel that he is impossible to communicate with because you keep trying to hold him to the standards of a Soul Reaper."
"You are trying to teach him how to become a qualified member of the Gotei 13, trying to make him understand the common sense of the Soul Society."
"But you have forgotten that he is not a pure Soul Reaper, but a [Substitute Soul Reaper]."
"To some extent, he is still human."
Kinpachi gently placed the film reels in his hands onto the desk. "If he can't learn the written language, we can teach him slowly. If he can't master Kido, that's fine too."
"I believe none of that is important. What he needs most isn't to learn how to fight; he is already a perfect warrior."
"What he needs is to find the meaning of protecting this world as a Substitute Soul Reaper."
Mugoro Ohara stared into Kinpachi's calm eyes, seriously contemplating his words.
Kinpachi looked at Mugoro Ohara, his gaze becoming exceptionally resolute. "Leave him to me. I believe it will help."
After a long while, Ohara slowly nodded.
"Since you have this much confidence, then give it a try. After all, it is an order from the Soul King's Palace..."
"However, Mr. Kinpachi, you must pay attention to your safety. He is, after all, a powerful swordsman on par with the thirteen Captains..."
"Rest assured," Kinpachi smiled. "I am a professional teacher, after all."
The next day, early morning.
The melodious toll of the Shin'o Academy's bell echoed above the white complex of buildings.
Inside the Class 1-B classroom, the students were already neatly seated at their respective desks.
Although everyone was at an age of restless youth, it was exceptionally quiet inside this classroom. Only hushed whispers echoed through the room.
The reason was none other than the young man sitting in the last row by the window.
Asuka.
Today, he was still wearing the Shihakusho that had been altered by Shinobu Kocho, giving him an even more upright and tailored appearance.
His originally somewhat messy short hair had grown longer, casually tied behind his head with a strip of cloth.
Resting his chin on his hand, he stared unblinkingly at the thick General History of the Soul Society in front of him.
If an uninformed observer saw this, they would definitely praise him as an extremely hardworking and diligent student.
But only the students sitting near him knew that Asuka had been staring at that exact same page for a full twenty minutes.
His brows furrowed tighter and tighter, a desperate struggle hidden deep within his eyes.
'This is too hard.'
Asuka sighed silently in his heart.
Those densely packed, tiny characters looked like a swarm of twisted black bugs to him.
He knew swords, he knew how to slash, and he knew life and death.
But when these words were combined into the obscure and difficult-to-understand history of the Seireitei, he was completely lost.
Although under Shinobu Kocho's crash course tutoring, he could roughly read some sentences intermittently, it was still very difficult for him to fully comprehend the contents of a single page.
'What... am I even doing here?'
Asuka looked at the falling leaves outside the window, thinking of Hayama and that stubborn old man, Tesshin Arasaki.
'Why didn't Hayama offer academic classes...'
Just as Asuka fell into deep self-doubt, the sliding door of the classroom was pushed open.
The teacher who was supposed to teach the history class did not appear. Instead, a middle-aged man walked into the classroom, carrying a book and several strange, disc-like rolls under his arm.
"Good morning, students."
Mr. Kinpachi stepped up to the podium, set his things down, and picked up a piece of chalk, briskly writing his name on the blackboard.
"I am your new teacher, Kinpachi Sakamoto."
"Starting today, I will be temporarily acting as the homeroom teacher for Class 1-B."
"At the same time, for today's morning class, we won't be discussing the General History of the Soul Society. Let's cover something a bit more relaxing—World of the Living Anthropology."
A minor commotion stirred within the classroom.
The souls in the Soul Society did not necessarily come from the same era.
Some died in ancient times, while others died in the prosperous modern era.
There were also souls born and raised in the Soul Society; to them, the World of the Living was a distant and mysterious place.
"I know that most of you have only heard of the World of the Living in books or from the mouths of others."
Mr. Kinpachi snapped his fingers. Several shikigami at the back of the classroom immediately flew forward and pulled down the blackout curtains over the windows.
The classroom darkened.
Subsequently, Mr. Kinpachi activated the metallic contraption on the podium.
Accompanied by the faint sound of turning gears, a beam of light hit the white screen in front of the blackboard.
"That is the latest Reishi Projector developed by the Urahara Shop. It can play footage of the World of the Living," Mr. Kinpachi explained with a smile, then pressed the play button. "Today, I want to take everyone to see the place where you might go to perform Soul Burial missions in the future."
"To see what it looks like now."
Light and shadows flickered.
Accompanied by a faint rustling sound, an image appeared on the screen.
At first, the footage was in black and white.
It showed an extremely ancient street, featuring wooden single-story houses and muddy paths.
Commoners wearing coarse kimonos walked by carrying shoulder poles, while patrolmen with tachi swords at their waists surveyed the street corners.
The moment he saw this scene, Asuka's eyes flickered slightly.
"This is the World of the Living from a long time ago," Mr. Kinpachi's voice rang out smoothly in the darkness. "The humans of that era lived in a world that appeared peaceful, but was actually surging with hidden undercurrents..."
Along with Mr. Kinpachi's narration, the gears of time spun wildly on the screen.
Trains roared past spewing white smoke, massive factories rose from the ground, and reinforced concrete replaced fragile wooden houses.
War, reconstruction, development.
The moment the footage transitioned from black and white to color, the entire Class 1-B let out gasps of disbelief.
A bird's-eye view of a modern city appeared on the screen.
Skyscrapers hundreds of meters tall pierced the clouds, and on the wide asphalt roads, cars converged into rivers of light.
People wearing novel modern clothing walked in small groups along the brightly lit streets, holding glowing mobile phones in their hands.
Relaxed smiles adorned their faces; children chased each other and played in the plazas, while young lovers embraced by the fountains.
Peaceful, prosperous, and safe.
"This... this is the World of the Living?!" A student of noble birth couldn't help but stand up, his eyes wide. "Those buildings towering into the clouds were built by humans without spiritual power?"
"Nothing is impossible." Mr. Kinpachi looked at the shocked faces of the entire class. "This is a miracle they built bit by bit using their own knowledge."
"If you have the chance, you can ask the senior Soul Reapers you know if the World of the Living they are stationed in is truly this beautiful."
Mr. Kinpachi's voice paused.
His gaze pierced through the darkness, landing on Asuka in the last row.