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The Great Kukaku Martial Arts Hall.
Bang!
Shiba Ganju clutched his head, his eyes teary as he looked at his elder sister.
"Listen to me carefully!"
Shiba Kūkaku's roar was deafening, causing Ishikawa Katori, who was sitting nearby, to straighten his back involuntarily.
Kukaku-nee was good in every way, except for her temper… To call it gunpowder would be an underestimation; she was completely dynamite, not just igniting at a touch, but exploding at a touch.
"Kido is one thing, but you're even worse than Ishikawa Katori when it comes to Development Spiritual Mark, and you dare to sleep while I'm explaining? From now on, don't ever say you're from our Shiba family when you go out."
Ishikawa Katori rolled his eyes. Ever since he met Ganju, the number of times Kukaku-nee had expelled him from the family was at least eighty, if not a hundred…
Although many times, Ganju had deliberately provoked Kukaku-nee just to be expelled.
Before, when he was expelled, he didn't even have a place to eat, so he could only go to the homes of his younger brothers who didn't need to eat, and drink water with them to survive.
But ever since he had this younger brother, he not only had a place to eat and sleep but also a place to earn money. Although at first, when he snatched his own commissions, he often suffered vicious verbal abuse from Uzuki.
But over time…
Ishikawa Katori found that this guy seemed to slowly start enjoying it.
Thinking of this, Ishikawa Katori couldn't help but shiver.
It's better to be careful in the future. Never provoke Kukaku-nee, lest you end up like Ganju… being beaten into a masochist.
However, it's no wonder Ganju wanted to run away…
Although the Shiba family was no longer among the Five Great Noble Families, and Kukaku-nee and the others showed no aristocratic airs to outsiders, internally, the family remained disciplined.
First, he had to return home before nine every day. Then, in addition to being forced to train by Kukaku-nee, he also had to learn family etiquette. These weren't the noble etiquettes that displayed Noble, but just some basic manners.
But for Ganju, who was bold, rough, free-spirited, and loyal, this was already a torture. So, compared to staying at home, he preferred to hang out with the hooligans of Rukongai, almost an anomaly in the Shiba family.
Of course…
The main reason he didn't like staying at home was Kukaku-nee's explosive temper.
Bang—!
Wood splinters flew, and as the table shattered, Ishikawa Katori fell to the ground in response.
It didn't hurt, but if he didn't react… then the next thing thrown at him might be Kido.
Why did you hit me?
Ishikawa Katori lay on the ground, hesitated for a moment, then didn't ask the question. It was useless to ask anyway; according to Kukaku-nee, this was her home, and what she said went!
"Are you wondering why I hit you?"
"No…"
"No reason. I just felt like you were thinking something very rude."
"…"
Ishikawa Katori's mouth twitched slightly. Could the Shiba family's Kido also sense what others were thinking?
Amidst a pile of wood splinters, Ishikawa Katori and Shiba Ganju looked at each other, their gazes somewhat empty and void.
Destroy it, I'm tired!
However, the next second, Ganju's face showed a mocking expression: "Serves you right! You're just a cheapskate!!" With that, his gaze at Ishikawa Katori was already burning with anger: "If it weren't for you, you bastard, I'd still be in the pub chatting about life with Uzuki."
"What's it to me?"
"What's it to you? If you hadn't suddenly gone crazy and asked my elder sister to teach you how to train, my elder sister wouldn't have dragged me back to train with you!!"
"…"
Ishikawa Katori's breathing hitched. There was some truth to that, but he hadn't expected Kukaku-nee to specifically find him a companion.
"Alright, my bad. But staying in the pub and suffering verbal abuse, versus staying here and suffering physical abuse, aren't both a kind of enjoyment for you, Ganju-nii?"
"…Hearing that '-nii' makes me want to hit someone so badly."
"Hehe~ You two are having a fun chat."
Shiba Kūkaku's voice came from above their heads. Ishikawa Katori subconsciously gathered his Reiatsu to his head, and then half of his head sank into the arena.
Across from him, Ganju suffered the same fate, with only half an eye exposed, that eye staring at Ishikawa Katori as if unwilling to rest in peace.
The arena fell silent until Kukaku-nee went to prepare new tables and chairs. Only then did Ishikawa Katori sigh and say:
"…Let's make a deal, Ganju-nii. When you're listening to Kukaku-nee's explanation, can you please not fall asleep? Every time I get beaten, it's because of you, even though I've always been studying very seriously."
"What can I do? I'm not interested in Kido or anything like that. I just fall asleep listening to it. It's not something I can control."
"Sigh— It seems my 28-year-old hurdle might just fall upon you."
"What hurdle?"
"A Shinigami elementary school student named Conan… He told me something through his long elementary school life: most murderers and victims in murder cases are 28 years old; in other words, at 28, you either kill someone or get killed, and the chances of a male company president becoming a victim are extremely high!!"
"I'm already considering whether to overthrow you, Ganju-nii, before I get overthrown."
Ganju: "…"
…
Half an hour later.
Ishikawa Katori looked at the huge log in front of him, his mouth twitching slightly.
"What are you looking at? Hurry up and make it."
Shiba Kūkaku, puffing on her pipe, said, "Ever since you came, my family's tables and chairs have been used up."
Hmm, not bad!
At least the weapon that would kill him would be made by himself.
Although he really wanted to suggest to Kukaku-nee to just replace all the tables and chairs with iron ones, after carefully considering the consequences of doing so, Ishikawa Katori obediently rolled up his sleeves and began making new wooden tables and chairs.
"Oh, by the way, Ishikawa Katori."
Shiba Kūkaku seemed to remember something and asked Ishikawa Katori, "Have you met Yoruichi?"
Met Yoruichi?
Ishikawa Katori was stunned. When had he ever met Yoruichi? Not to mention Yoruichi, he hadn't even seen a pure Kuroneko.
"Yoruichi is that friend you mentioned to me, Kukaku-nee, right?" Ishikawa Katori shook his head: "I haven't met her."
"Then why did she tell me when she came here a while ago that my new disciple has a good physique?"
Good physique?
Ishikawa Katori thought carefully about these four words but couldn't figure out what they meant.
However…
Yoruichi had been to Soul Society?
Ishikawa Katori frowned slightly: "Kukaku-nee, when did she come?"
"Hmm, about a month ago."
"…." Ishikawa Katori.
He had been at the Shiba family for nearly half a month, plus the half a month for rebuilding the Eleventh Division barracks… So, the time she came to Soul Society should have been when he and the others were fighting the black-cloaked figures.
Coincidence?
Or…
Ishikawa Katori subconsciously looked around, his face subtly darkening.
No way… No, given the personalities of those crazy scientists, it's highly possible!
But he had only been to the Human World once, so it shouldn't have attracted the attention of that shop owner.
"Then perhaps she saw you somewhere."
Kukaku said, then casually tossed a scroll to Ishikawa Katori, saying, "After she asked me about you, she said to give you this as a welcoming gift."
Welcoming gift?
Ishikawa Katori's eyes lit up, and his previous unhappiness was immediately replaced by anticipation. He eagerly opened the scroll.
But then his brows furrowed…
The scroll didn't contain the Shunko he had imagined, but rather knowledge related to Shunpo, written in messy… well, cat-like handwriting.
This inevitably made Ishikawa Katori a little disappointed. If it had been Shunko, he could have used it to compare with his own Shunko and see if he could improve his Shunko further.
However, this disappointment only lasted for an instant.
As Ishikawa Katori continued to read, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"She said her experience with Shunko wasn't suitable for you, but seeing that you didn't seem very skilled in Shunpo, she wrote down her experience in Shunpo."
This was more than just experience!
Ishikawa Katori looked at the contents recorded on the scroll, and his heart couldn't help but fill with wild joy.
Because this scroll not only contained Yoruichi's own understanding of Shunpo but also some Shunpo techniques exclusive to the Onmitsukidō.
Even…
It also recorded a special technique exclusive to the Shihōin Family.
—Secret Step 'Four Maple' Part Three – Utsusemi!
This scroll was far more valuable to Ishikawa Katori than Shunko. After all, he had already mastered Shunko, and even with the insights of Yoruichi, its creator, it might not necessarily improve his Shunko further.
But the contents recorded on this scroll were enough to make Ishikawa Katori's weakest Shunpo advance by leaps and bounds.
Originally, his two weakest areas were physique and Zanjutsu, but after the battle with Kenpachi, his physique reached advanced level. Then, after the battle with the black-cloaked figures, he directly invested all his experience points into physique.
As for Zanjutsu, it gained over ten thousand proficiency points during his battle with Kenpachi.
This led to his Shunpo, which was originally second only to Reiatsu and Hakuda, becoming his weakest technique.
…
Physique: Advanced (5172 / 100000)
Reiatsu: Advanced (38960 / 100000)
Hakuda: Advanced (2360 / 100000)
Shunpo: Advanced (1008 / 100000)
Zanjutsu: Advanced (14900 / 100000)
…
After the battle with Zaraki Kenpachi, his Reiatsu did not increase at all for the first half-month due to damage.
However, the arduous training in the latter half-month, combined with Blade Meditation and Development Spiritual Mark, allowed his Reiatsu to increase by over eleven hundred proficiency points in half a month.
If the advanced 'Development Spiritual Mark' was operated daily, it could bring Ishikawa Katori's Reiatsu an increase of about 10-15 proficiency points per day. If combined with Blade Meditation, this number could increase by 1-5 points, or it might not increase at all.
These few points might seem small, but accumulated over time, they were not a small number.
Even without counting Blade Meditation, based on the lowest speed of 10 proficiency points per day from 'Development Spiritual Mark' alone, Ishikawa Katori would only need 16 years for his Reiatsu to break through to Captain-level.
For many Shinigami who had not seen much improvement for decades, this was already an incredible growth rate.
Moreover, further improvement of 'Development Spiritual Mark,' or its combination with Blade Meditation and continuous training, would only make this speed even faster!
However, the progress in other areas besides Reiatsu was not significant, and Shunpo did not increase at all.
But precisely because of this, the scroll Yoruichi gave him was enough to make Ishikawa Katori's Shunpo advance by leaps and bounds!
"Kukaku-nee, I will definitely take care of you in your old age!"
Ishikawa Katori cheered, completely unaware that his words made Shiba Kūkaku's face subtly darken.
He wouldn't think that Yoruichi gave him this scroll because of himself, because if that were the case, 'Yoruichi' should appear on his favorability interface.
This already indicated that Yoruichi gave him the scroll not because of him, but out of respect for Kukaku-nee.
Of course, if his previous guess was correct, this scroll might also contain compensation for a certain psychopath peeking into his privacy.
Fortunately, Ishikawa Katori, for the sake of caution, never talked to himself even when alone, and everything about the system was only considered in his mind, so he wasn't afraid of being discovered.
He did this not to prevent that psychopath in the Human World, but to prevent two psychopaths in Seireitei, and a certain psychopath who would discover whatever he did as long as he was in Seireitei…
Precisely because of this…
Ishikawa Katori didn't like staying in Seireitei, but now it seemed that staying in Rukongai wasn't that safe either.
But where else can I go?
It's not like he could go live in that hellish place just to avoid being observed, right?
That wretched place had no alcohol, no food, and even survival was difficult; besides, with the abilities of those few, if they were truly interested in him, even if he hid in Hell, they would still observe him.
Putting away the scroll, Ishikawa Katori skillfully cut the huge log into sets of tables and chairs.
The finished tables and chairs were then carried upstairs by Kin'en and Gin'en. It seemed… Kukaku-nee wasn't lying; the tables and chairs were indeed consumed by Ishikawa Katori and Ganju's dog heads.
With the tables and chairs replenished, Ishikawa Katori and Ganju fell back into their routine.
Although a slight misstep would result in a brutal beating, Kukaku-nee's guidance was extremely detailed, allowing Ishikawa Katori to further his understanding of Kido.
The only pity was…
His favorability didn't increase at all.
Ever since the Daimaru incident, no matter how hard Ishikawa Katori tried, Kukaku-nee's favorability remained at 30 points and hadn't moved.
But…
It was like 30 points, yet also not like 30 points.
It was similar to Uzuki. Although Uzuki, like Himura, had a favorability of 60 points towards Ishikawa Katori, Uzuki actually didn't treat Ishikawa Katori as a friend, but as a family member.
If the system could check family affection values, Uzuki's family affection value towards him would probably be maxed out.
Kukaku-nee's situation was similar. She didn't treat Ishikawa Katori as a friend but as a younger brother, like Ganju.
This resulted in his favorability not increasing, but Ishikawa Katori increasingly resembled an adopted member of the Shiba family. Now even Kin'en and Gin'en had started calling him Young Master Ishikawa Katori.
If no unexpected events occurred, it would be difficult to change Kukaku-nee's impression of him.
Actually, being treated as a younger brother was perfectly fine. Ishikawa Katori was very grateful to Kukaku-nee, respected her greatly, and also regarded this elder sister who had always helped him as family.
But at least…
Raise the favorability first.
Shaking his head, Ishikawa Katori didn't dwell on it and instead listened carefully to Kukaku-nee's analysis of Dankū's incantation.
As for Ganju…
His head was nodding, as if he could fall asleep at any moment.
Seeing this, Ishikawa Katori quickly pinched his waist from the side.
Ganju getting beaten was one thing, but always dragging him into it was something Ishikawa Katori couldn't stand anymore.
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for dozens of advance chapters for over a dozen fics | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter