It has been 400 years since I took in my second disciple.
A full 400 years. My dojo has finally, successfully evolved into a venerable institution with a respectable 400-year tradition.
Of course, while it technically evolved, the lack of any new recruits means the dojo is essentially a delisted stock—worthless and abandoned.
I mean, seriously… does it make any sense to have only two disciples in the 413 years since opening the damn place?
To make matters worse, those disciples are Unohana—former disciple, current wife—and Saito Furufushi. They are technically my disciples, but they don't exactly give off that 'student' vibe.
It's like this: I opened a math academy to teach calculus and functions to high schoolers, but suddenly, out of nowhere, a grad student shows up asking me to explain vector and tensor calculus.
I don't even know that shit, for fuck's sake.
But when I teach them the little I do know, they go off, research it themselves, earn their doctorates, and then insist on calling me 'Master.'
It feels like someone else put together 999 pieces of a 1,000-piece puzzle, and I just happened to snap the very last piece into place.
No matter how positively I try to frame it, I can't shake the feeling that I'm just taking credit for a meal I didn't cook.
Of course, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Unohana or Saito. It's just my own lack of satisfaction.
In that sense, I need a new disciple.
I mean it. Seriously.
I want to bring in a total newbie who knows absolutely nothing and raise them up with some actual teaching.
And so, here I am again today, looking at my dojo of only three people and feeling my spirit break.
"Sigh."
If I think about it, the reason my dojo isn't popular is entirely my disciples' fault.
For the record, I'm not joking or slandering them. I'm being dead serious.
Just think about it. One disciple is Unohana, the mass murderer who's spent centuries killing people outside. The other is Saito, a woman labeled the 'Eternal Mad Dog' because she picks fights with everyone and refuses to die.
Sure, they've tempered those traits a bit now, but 400 years is way too short for the notoriety they've built in the Soul Society to just vanish.
The Soul Society is a place where it's not unusual to live for a thousand years if you've got a decent position. 400 years is barely a drop in the bucket.
Consequently, in the eyes of outsiders, this dojo has become a den of monsters.
The rumor is that any man who has a mass murderer and a mad dog serving as his disciples must be an absolute psycho. Who in their right mind would walk in and ask to become a student?
Well… as I said, it's not that I have a problem with those two. It's just a bit disappointing.
What's the point of going through the trouble of opening a dojo if there are no students?
"Sigh..."
"Why do you keep sighing like that?"
"It's the disciples. We have no disciples."
Unohana, who was scooping rice beside me, tilted her head with a look that said, 'I don't see the problem.'
I can't read minds, but I can tell just by looking at her face.
She clearly wanted to ask what the issue was since she was right there as my disciple.
And Saito, who was just sitting there wordlessly inhaling her food, didn't seem to care one way or the other if we got new students.
"Not you two. I mean a new disciple. Does it make sense that in 400 years since I opened this place, you two are the only students?"
"Just think of it as a small, elite group. Why stress about it?" Saito muttered.
"I agree with Furufushi's sentiment, but Master, I don't think it's that strange that no new students have arrived."
"And why is that?"
"Well, the location is terrible. Don't you know that better than anyone, Master?"
I let out a heavy sigh at the logic I couldn't even begin to argue with.
Setting up shop right next to Genji Academy with the intent of only taking those who sought me out was indeed a mistake.
"Didn't you say you built it in a place like this because you were afraid of social interaction?"
"There was a time like that, yes."
As I nodded in affirmation to Unohana's words, Saito, who had been drinking her soup, suddenly spat it out and burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Ah, right. Only Unohana knew about that. I suppose by the time I took Saito as a disciple, I had already overcome my social anxiety to an extent, so she wouldn't have known.
"Pfft—hahaha! No way! You haven't taken a single disciple other than me and Cow-tits for almost five hundred years, so I thought you just had insane standards! You're telling me you weren't avoiding students because you're a snob, but because you were scared of people?!"
"Didn't you hear what I just told Unohana? I said there was a time like that. I'm not like that now."
"Even if that's true, the fact that you built a dojo in the middle of nowhere for that reason is hilarious! Gya-hahaha! For someone who acts all detached and enlightened, that's fucking adorable, Master!!"
"You're being damn rude. You want to spar until you drop for the first time in a while?"
"Oh? Gladly! I've been bored out of my mind lately, so this is perfect!"
Seeing Saito's hips practically vibrating with the urge to fight, I looked at her with cold eyes and sighed.
"Forget it. I just remembered that for you, this isn't a punishment, it's a reward."
"What? No sparring?"
"Nope. I'm the idiot for suggesting a spar to a battle-maniac like you."
"Tch… total buzzkill."
As I shook my head at Saito, who went back to her food, Unohana thrust her rice bowl in front of my face.
What the? Why is there so much rice?
"This is too much."
"I filled it with as much affection as I feel for you, Master."
"The side dishes will be gone before I even finish the rice. You want me to eat plain rice? Are you being spiteful right now?"
Unohana merely gave me a serene, silent smile.
She's definitely being spiteful. She's been acting like this lately whenever I joke around with Saito.
Sighing inwardly, I accepted the bowl.
"Don't worry. My heart only belongs to one person."
At my confirmation, Unohana flinched visibly. She quietly raised her soup bowl, pretending to drink while hiding half of her face behind it.
Hiding her mouth didn't help; I could see the tips of her ears turning beet red.
"Huh? Whose heart belongs to who?"
"I wasn't talking to you, so just eat your food."
"Fine. Hey, Cow-tits. Give me some more rice."
"Get it yourself."
Unohana flicked the rice paddle toward Saito's forehead. It flew with precision, hitting the center of Saito's forehead with a sharp thwack!
Grinding her teeth, a vein popped on Saito's forehead as she glared at Unohana.
"You wanna go right now, Cow-tits?"
"I have taught you for over 400 years, yet since you still haven't mastered basic table manners, I thought I should demonstrate them physically so even your thick skull could understand. Is there a problem?"
"Ha! So that's how it's gonna be? Come on then, Cow-tits! I'm gonna rip those jugs right off this time!"
"It can't be helped. Even if you're a foul-mouthed, dim-witted junior sister with tiny breasts, I am the senior disciple, so I must take responsibility for your education."
When Unohana gracefully brushed off Saito's wild, beast-like verbal assault, Saito snapped her chopsticks in half and stood up abruptly.
"You've got a big mouth for a bitch! If I win this time, I'm the senior disciple!!"
"I joined first, though?"
"The stronger one gets to be the big sister!! Get your ass out here! I'm gonna fucking kill you!"
Why does her vocabulary never improve, no matter how much she ages?
Seeing as her appearance hasn't changed either, maybe she's just stuck like that forever.
I looked at the broken chopsticks on the floor and let out a lamentation.
"Buy a new pair of chopsticks on your way back!"
I watched their retreating figures as I shoveled the mountain of rice into my mouth.
Yeah, definitely not enough side dishes. I'll just swipe some of Saito's.
"…Hmm."
About 1,600 years left until the start of the original story. The Quincy invasion should happen in 600 years.
I thought it was a long way off… but maybe not.
I set down the empty bowl and closed my eyes, sensing the flow of Spirit Particles.
Spirit Particles flow along the Great Circle, encompassing the Soul Society, the World of the Living, and Hell.
But recently, a strange current has begun to emerge within that flow.
Is this a bad omen? Well… not necessarily.
It feels like a surge of power has been added to the previously static Great Circle.
It's like Bernoulli's principle—the flow speed increases in narrower regions.
I take in Spirit Particles and breathe them back out in equal measure.
Through that intermediary process, I could feel the flow of Spirit Particles gradually accelerating.
If there is an entity capable of distorting the flow of the world to this degree…
There's only one.
"So, Yhwach has already been born."
I tapped my finger on the floor once, twice.
Opening my eyes again, I stood up and cleared the table.
Even though I know Yhwach is born, I have no intention of doing anything about it.
At this stage, Yhwach is literally a newborn.
Worse, he's a living lump of flesh without limbs, eyes, ears, nose, or a mouth.
I don't intend to hunt down a creature like that and tell him to 'die for the sake of the future.'
Besides, Yhwach is essentially the key to reaching the future I desire. Why would I kill him?
"It won't be long now."
600 years.
It's a long time, but for me, it's nothing more than a fleeting moment.
I can afford to wait that long with leisure.
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