The Dangai.
Sōya Azashiro and Kaname Tōsen followed behind a group of active-duty Shinigami, moving quickly through the Precipice World.
They had received their early graduation assessment mission.
"Tōsen, after this mission, we'll be Shinigami!"
Sōya was very excited. He was finally going to become a Shinigami.
"The Professor said not to talk about things that haven't happened yet."
Tōsen was not as excited about graduation.
The thought of Sōya going to the Kidō Corps after graduation made him feel that Kakyō was drifting further and further away from him.
However, unlike Sōya, Tōsen had not indicated an intention to join the Kidō Corps.
He chose to go to a squad that did not yet have a captain.
"If I can become a captain, Kakyō will see me in a different light, won't she?"
Tōsen thought to himself.
As a blind person, he felt a bit inadequate in front of Kakyō and believed her rejection was because he wasn't good enough yet.
"I'm not taking this mission lightly!"
Sōya patted his reishi pocket, indicating that he was fully prepared.
Shinigami often had to go to the human world for duty. They were now following a patrol squad to patrol the World of the Living.
Two Kidō Corps members were also with them. They were going to perform a routine inspection of the protective measures at a Shinigami station in the human world.
Since Sōya had expressed his intention to join the Kidō Corps, these two would also serve as his examiners for his Kidō proficiency.
"The human world is just ahead. Don't fall behind. You're not official Shinigami, so you don't have a Hell Butterfly to guide you, and you can't open a Senkaimon. If you get lost, you won't be able to get back to the Soul Society!"
The 8th Seat of the 10th Division, Isshin Shiba, slowed down to remind Sōya and Tōsen to keep up.
Although Isshin had only graduated a few years ago, his outstanding performance in the Shinken Taiketsu had led to a smooth career in the 10th Division, and he had quickly secured the 8th Seat position.
He was the leader of this patrol mission.
The Gotei 13 values individual ability and does not have a rule against promoting one's own.
Therefore, Isshin Shiba was also the chief examiner for Sōya's and Tōsen's graduation assessment.
"Yes, sir!"
Sōya and Tōsen responded.
Isshin opened the Senkaimon, and the Shinigami passed through to the human world.
"So this is the human world. It's not that great... what a barren place!"
Sōya frowned.
The barrenness he was referring to was the low concentration of spiritual particles, which was far from that of the Seireitei.
"The reishi concentration here isn't that low," Tōsen said calmly. "Compared to a place like the Kusajishi District in the Rukongai, this could be considered a high-reishi area."
"Is that so..." Sōya scratched his face in embarrassment. "Kakyō wouldn't take me to places like the Kusajishi District. The furthest I've been is the Suzuka District, and the reishi concentration there is about the same as here."
"Heh, did you sleep through your general knowledge class?" Tōsen said coldly. "Although the Suzuka District is a relatively poor area in the Soul Society, in terms of reishi concentration, it's still considered a high-reishi area!"
The Suzuka District was Tōsen's and Kakyō's hometown, so he was very familiar with it.
"Tōsen is right,"
Isshin said with a smile. "The human world isn't like the Soul Society. High-reishi areas are relatively rare. A place like 'Naruki' is already quite good."
Their destination was a high-reishi area in the human world called 'Naruki City'.
It was a densely populated city.
With a large population and high reishi concentration, the probability of Hollows appearing here was high.
The Shinigami had established a station here for long-term deployment.
Led by Isshin, the group soon arrived at the Shinigami station.
The Naruki area was divided into three zones: the inner city, the outer city, and the suburbs.
The Shinigami station was located on a mountain in the suburbs.
"Why is there an abandoned shrine below our station?"
Sōya curiously looked at the shrine in the middle of the mountain. "This shrine is abandoned because a Kidō formula to repel humans was set up, right?"
The shrine was quite large, yet there was no one there, and it looked deserted.
"Correct... you can even tell that a Kidō formula was set up here."
The Kidō Corps member nodded. "Inspecting and reinforcing the Kidō formulas here is one of our tasks this time."
"Such a large shrine, just abandoned like that," Tōsen frowned. "A bit of a waste."
He felt the Shinigami could have established their station elsewhere.
"I know a little about this..." Isshin said with a grin. "Speaking of which, it's related to your sister, Sōya."
This wasn't his first mission here, so he was quite familiar with the situation.
"Related to my sister?" Sōya was full of doubt.
"There are some humans in the human world who have spiritual potential. They can see spiritual bodies, but most of them can only see them and pose no threat to Shinigami or Hollows."
Isshin recalled and said slowly, "However...
The fact that Shinigami purify Hollows and guide souls will eventually become known to some humans.
Some people will see us as gods who slay evil spirits.
Therefore, the belief in and worship of Shinigami inevitably appeared in the human world."
"Don't we have a tool to erase human memories? Why would they still find out?"
Sōya was confused. "And... what does this have to do with my sister?"
"When a Shinigami is discovered by a human, we do erase their memories, but..."
Isshin said helplessly, "There are always accidents.
Originally, there was only a small temple here, worshiping a deity called 'O-Inari'...
When senior sister Kana was passing by, she went in and ate the offerings...
That wouldn't have been a big deal, but she was seen by a young shrine maiden...
At first, the maiden thought it was a ghost stealing food and didn't dare to say anything.
So, senior sister Kana assumed the child was just a human without spiritual potential and didn't erase her memory.
Who knew that later, when she was purifying a Hollow in the city, the child saw her again.
After that... a rumor spread that this place was where the great god 'O-Inari' had descended.
Human officials and nobles built a grander shrine here, and more and more people started coming..."
The Shinigami didn't want humans to discover their station, so they used a Kidō formula to drive them away.
And so, the shrine was abandoned.
"My sister..." Sōya sighed. "Why did she have to taste even the offerings..."
The group walked up the mountain path.
There were many red torii gates along the path.
These were shrine structures left behind by the humans who had built it.
On these torii gates were many Kidō formulas that could only be seen by those with spiritual potential.
When ordinary humans approached this mountain, they would unconsciously move away.
The Shinigami walked slowly because the Kidō Corps members needed to inspect the formulas on the gates.
"Azashiro-kun, briefly explain the key points to pay attention to when inspecting these formulas..."
While inspecting the formulas, the Kidō Corps member also tested Sōya.
"The main function of the human-repelling formula is... we must first check the core of the formula..."
Sōya's Kidō skill was not low, and he answered the examiner's questions fluently.
A moment later, the Kidō Corps member nodded in satisfaction.
"There's no problem with the formulas here. Let's go directly to the station."
Just as the group was about to head up, they suddenly heard a call:
"So many honorable gods!"
Sōya looked up the steps and saw a girl in a shrine maiden's outfit.
"Isshin..." Sōya scratched his face. "Could it be... this is the little shrine maiden you were talking about?"
"That's right..." Isshin said helplessly. "Our Kidō formulas only work on humans without spiritual potential. This little maiden still lives at the shrine. Since she can see souls, she often comes here looking for passing Shinigami to ask for help..."
The area near the station was protected by a reishi barrier. Even a maiden with spiritual potential couldn't enter. She could only wait on the mountain path for a Shinigami to pass by.
"Why not erase her memory?"
Tōsen asked.
"We did it once, but she often comes into contact with souls, and her memory returned. Since she's so active in helping us find souls that need to be guided, we just let her be," Isshin said.
The current method of memory erasure was to seal the memory. The little maiden had spiritual potential and frequently interacted with souls, which had loosened the seal.
The shrine maiden hurried over and said, "Honorable gods!
I found a soul in the outer city whose chain on its chest is almost worn away! Please guide him to the world of the dead!"
Ever since she had run into Kana Azashiro, the little maiden had felt an inexplicable sense of mission. She used her ability to see souls to help the 'honorable gods' find souls that needed to be guided.
"The chain on its chest is almost gone... it's about to turn into a Hollow. We need to hurry," Isshin looked at his two junior classmates. "You two haven't seen a Konsō in person, have you? I'll take you to see one!"
"I haven't, actually," Sōya said.
"This is something you need to learn," Tōsen also nodded.
Both Sōya and Tōsen were souls born in the Soul Society. This was their first time in the human world, and they had never seen a Shinigami use a Konsō to guide a soul.
"You two take our Kidō Corps colleagues up the mountain. The two of them and I will go handle the soul."
Isshin had his subordinates take the Kidō Corps members to the station.
...
A short while later, Isshin, Sōya, and Tōsen followed the little shrine maiden to the outer district of Naruki City.
"The human city is so bustling..."
Sōya felt a bit dazzled.
Although he thought the reishi concentration here was average, the density of the buildings was no less than that of the Seireitei.
"It's a bit noisy."
Tōsen frowned, feeling a little uncomfortable.
He mainly relied on his spiritual sense and hearing to perceive the outside world.
But in a human city, there were too many people, which greatly affected his perception of sound.
As for his spiritual sense, he could only perceive some wandering souls.
"Physical bodies... they actually interfere with my perception of the souls within them."
In his perception, it was like there were many invisible units making noise.
"Honorable gods, the soul I found is over there!"
The little shrine maiden ran into a bustling market street.
The three of them immediately followed.
"It's in the well in this courtyard!"
The little shrine maiden climbed onto a courtyard wall and pointed to a well inside.
"Why... are there so many women here?"
Sōya jumped onto the wall and saw many women in a pavilion through the window.
"Ahem..." Isshin glanced at the colorfully dressed women in the pavilion and coughed lightly. "Sōya, it's still a bit early for you to be in a place like this."
"Why did you come to a place like this?" Isshin looked at the little shrine maiden curiously.
This was a pleasure district, a place quite unfitting for her identity and age.
"Thanks to the honorable gods, I have some fame in Naruki. They invited me here to exorcise demons..."
The little shrine maiden often wandered around the city, so it wasn't hard for people to find her.
Although the Shinigami had sealed the memories of the people in Naruki City regarding the 'descent of the great god O-Inari', her frequent success in "inviting the gods" was seen by them, and over time, her reputation for "slaying demons and exorcising evil" had become more and more authoritative.
"Last month, a maid fell into the well and drowned while sleepwalking," the little shrine maiden explained what she knew to the three Shinigami. "Her soul has remained at the bottom of the well, unwilling to leave. Every night, the sound of her crying comes from the well."
"Is that so..." Isshin looked at the well. He could indeed feel a faint Hollow aura. "It's about to turn. I'll go take a look."
Swoosh—
Isshin instantly appeared in front of the well and looked down.
If it were a normal human, they would only see clear water. The maid's body had been retrieved long ago.
But Isshin saw a dazed soul floating on the water.
"It really is about to turn into a Hollow."
Isshin saw that the hole in the maid's chest had become very large, and only one or two centimeters of her chain remained. This was a sign of transformation.
"Not a big problem. You two handle it. The academy should have taught you what to do in this situation."
Isshin waved at Sōya and Tōsen.
"Understood. I'll go down first!"
Sōya jumped down.
He came before the maid's soul, drew his Zanpakutō, and intended to send her on her way with a Konsō.
As Sōya got closer, the maid's soul sensed the Shinigami's spiritual pressure and was immediately agitated.
Her eyes rolled back, and her body began to tremble.
The black hole in her chest expanded rapidly, and the chain was quickly disappearing.
Her head was soon covered by a white mask.
"Trying to turn into a Hollow in front of me? No way!" Sōya acted quickly. He changed his move from using the hilt for a Konsō to a slash.
Squish—
The half-formed mask on the maid's face was split in two and gradually disappeared.
"If you weren't going to the Kidō Corps... your assessment would have been over right now!" Isshin pressed his forehead and said with a headache. "What did the academy teach you? You didn't even try to communicate with the soul before performing the Konsō. If you can use it, you should, to reduce their suffering."
Sōya was currently being assessed. Only by conforming to the Shinigami's code of conduct could he get a high score.
However, his ambition was the Kidō Corps, and the Konsō was not a major part of their assessment.
"But she was turning into a Hollow..." Sōya sheathed his sword, a bit embarrassed.
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