"I know the loneliness of being a prisoner. I know the joy you feel when your friends come to rescue you and the fear of them being injured and defeated." — Rukia Kuchiki.
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Renji sat in his seat with his legs nervously tapping against the ground as he waited in his classroom for his first class to begin.
It has been a week since the exam and today would be the first day of the new session and as much as he was happy and impatient to start whatever it took to be a Shinigami, he was also confused, and a little frightful.
It has been a full week and he hasn't seen her. He had tried looking for her, even going as far as asking about her from some female students, both old and new, but none had heard of her or knew of her. Seven days and not a hint of her presence could be found.
Did she fail the exams? No. There was no way. The Rukia he knew was not a slacker. She would have trained just as much as he had, no, even more than he had, in order to become a Shinigami. There was no way she would have failed that weird test.
So why hadn't he seen her in the past week?
The questions and answers that plagued his head were so numerous that it almost drove him crazy.
What if she didn't take the exams? She was part of some Noble Clan, right? All the students he saw taking the exam didn't look like they came from a posh family or anything like that.
Maybe he was overthinking it and she would start attending classes this week. Maybe.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself enough so that he could look around the classroom that was now full to the brim. He instantly noticed something after he finished looking around.
The classroom, or rather the students within, could be divided into two groups of majority and minority.
The majority, and that was like 90% of the class, were like him — new, uncertain and just waiting for their first teacher to come and get them started. The minority however were already busy with something. Either it was books, weird finger movements, or they were meditating.
It was such a stark difference that everyone else noticed the difference in the class but said nothing and kept to themselves as they were all new students.
The guy in front of Renji was one of such minority and he was fervently engrossed in the book that he was reading.
'Should I, or should I not?' he thought to himself. Being someone who didn't enjoy being out of the loop he shrugged and tapped the guy on the shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Hey man, what's up with the books? This is the first day, right?" He asked. At the very least he wasn't as socially awkward as Rukia.
The boy looked at him, almost as if he understood why that question was asked but then shook his head. "Nothing really."
Renji looked at the boy, then at the few students that were doing anything other than being clueless first year students. "Right. Sure."
He folded back into his chair. He obviously didn't believe the boy but he wasn't going to make a scene out of it. Another thing he noticed was the difference in their uniform. They wore the same uniform but Renji was from the Rukongai so he knew the difference between new clothes and clean clothes. His uniform? That was the newest new clothes he's ever worn in his life. The boy's uniform however was just clean and well maintained.
It didn't have that 'new clothes feel' – something he was understanding for the first time – his own did.
Why was he noticing this? Maybe because this was the newest and cleanest thing he's ever worn in his life?
"You're not a new student are you?" It was only after asking the question that he heard what it sounded like. He really did imply that the boy flunked, didn't he?
The boy snorted, not at all crossed. "How do you figure? Because I'm reading a book?"
'No, because your clothes aren't as new as mine' was what Renji wanted to say but quickly held his tongue. "No, just a guess. I'm Renji by the way."
"Kotu," the boy acknowledged with a nod.
"Nice, Kotu." Renji shifted in his seat and leaned forward while Kotu leaned to the side to pay him more attention. "So what's really the deal, Kotu?"
Kotu shrugged and glanced around the class, eyeing some of the other students who were probably repeat students like him.
"It's nothing really. I mean, I got held over in my first year which is not really a great start for a Shinigami so what else can I do?"
That made sense, Renji thought, though he would probably be a lot more bitter than Kotu if he failed his first year… and some new kid was asking him why he failed his first year on the first day.
"That's rough, buddy." Saying sorry would only make it worse and he didn't want his first impression to be that of an insensitive jerk. Granted he could be an insensitive jerk most of the time.
Kotu chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll understand."
With how Kotu said it, he really wasn't sure if he wanted to understand.
Kotu closed his book much to Renji's surprise and folded them into his bag. "It's almost time for our introductory class. I think it should be our history instructor."
No sooner had he said it that the door to the classroom opened and a man walked in. The whole class fell silent as their first teacher stepped up to the podium, except when Renji looked at Kotu, he saw that the boy almost looked fed up. Not only him, but also the (probably) repeating students.
The guy was a Shinigami, no doubt about that, but other than that he was also a Captain. He looked stern but that was the only tell his face showed. In Renji's own biased opinion, Byakuya Kuchiki was more impressive as a Captain than whoever this guy was.
"Well shit. It's Ethics and Morals instead," but apparently Kotu didn't seem to share his opinion.
"Who's that?" he asked.
"That, Renji, is who the older students will call either your best instructor or your worst nightmare. He's a pretty nice guy all things considered, but…"
"But?"
"No talking now. He hates it." With that said, Kotu brought out another book, an action in which Renji copied, and started taking small notes as the man started their introductory class.
He first welcomed the new students and then went on a very brief history of the Seireitei and the Shinigami and topped it off with bare information of what they would be learning in every year.
Turns out he wasn't supposed to be here in the first place but for some reason the History instructor wasn't around and since their next class was Ethics he decided to do the welcoming speech.
All in all Renji would call the guy pretty forgettable and not at all notable, but that was probably his very strained bias talking.
Thankfully for Renji who had never been in a school before, or any learning environment for that matter, their instructor didn't just jump in to teaching them something but instead kept talking in that soft tone of his about what would be expected of them in their six-year course and what would be expected of them after their graduation, as well as what they should expect from their instructors.
In Renji's own opinion the guy was yapping, but seeing as how the repeat students were paying rapt attention to his words, Renji decided to do the same. He wanted to be a Shinigami so if this was necessary for a Shinigami to learn then he'd learn it… even if it felt like his brain was hanging off a vein. He wasn't here to complain or say what he thought, what he was here to do was be a Shinigami, like Byakuya Kuchiki.
And so he listened. And maybe, just maybe, the guy wasn't straight yapping. As far as bare bones could be given, he gave them the barest bone but that was already enough to stoke their curiosity.
He told them the different kinds of Shinigami there were and what most Divisions fell under but didn't tell them which Division did what.
He told them that there were different branches of combat a Shinigami could master and base their reputation on but didn't tell them what they were.
He told them they'd be fighting Hollows before their graduation but didn't tell them what year or the types of Hollows out there after alluding to them.
The bit that got Renji the most excited was when he said that they would be receiving their Asauchi soon, the bone of which would become their Zanpakutō or however he put it. Renji almost jumped up his seat but held himself as it would do him no good to get on his instructor's bad side on the first day. Annoyingly, the guy still didn't say when, only that it would be soon. How soon? No.
"In your free time I would ask that you go around and ask your seniors of the different facilities on the Academy grounds and familiarize yourself with them. Also–"
The man paused and looked towards the door. Renji couldn't tell if he frowned or not but he was sure as hell that something just got on the stern instructor's bad side.
"Come in."
The door opened slowly and a timid bunch of black hair on a small frame tittered into the class awkwardly.
Renji's Jaws dropped.
"Ru–"
"You're late." Their instructor said and Rukia shrunk into herself.
Rukia opened her mouth to say something but the instructor cut her off ruthlessly.
"I know who you are," her countenance fell even more, "but that does not excuse you being late. I do not approve of tardiness or any kind. Take a seat."
Seeing her nod like a chicken almost caused Renji to laugh at her. She saw him the moment she raised her head towards the classroom and he couldn't help the smug smirk that crossed his face.
'Ah! Eat that, Rukia.'
She took a seat at the front row and paid rapt attention to the continued droning of their Ethics instructor.
All in all, today was a great day and Renji just couldn't keep the smile off his face at the end of it all.
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