After Kōe continued practicing for over an hour, today's Kendō instruction from Yamamoto finally came to a complete end.
"Tomorrow, you will enter the Shin'ō Academy," Yamamoto said, his tone as peaceful as if making casual conversation. "There are no issues with your Reiryoku suppression, I presume?"
"As long as it's the usual routine, there shouldn't be any accidents."
Hearing Kōe's response, Yamamoto nodded in satisfaction.
The Shin'ō Academy was the only Shinigami academy in the Seireitei. If one wanted to become a Shinigami—or rather, a Shinigami of the Gotei 13—they had to enroll and study there.
Although this was the official rule, individuals with special status—such as the next-generation heirs of the Five Noble Families, or the final disciple of Captain-Commander Yamamoto himself—didn't actually need to go out of their way to attend the Academy to join the Gotei 13.
The reason for this seemingly redundant step was partly to avoid demanding special treatment, but more importantly, it served as a form of concealment and protection for Kōe.
Yamamoto had intended to say a few more words, but someone running in from outside the courtyard made him swallow the words that were just on the tip of his tongue.
"Reporting to the Captain-Commander! Princess Yoruichi of the Shihōin clan requests an audience!"
"Oh? Yoruichi? Isn't the little one already here?"
The messenger paused, turning to look beside him. Lying on her stomach along the edge of the outer corridor, dressed in a white floral kimono, was a little girl. Was this not the so-called Princess Yoruichi of the Shihōin clan?
"Princess Yoruichi, didn't I tell you to wait outside? Why did you follow me in on your own again!?" the messenger asked with a bitter expression. Judging by his words, this wasn't the first time this had happened. This little girl was truly a headache!
The little girl looked innocently at the two people in the room, as if completely unaware that she was causing trouble. However, Kōe, who had his back to her, knew that this girl's mind was as clear as a mirror. Her innocent and naive appearance right now was nothing but an act.
"Didn't Kōe promise we would go out and play tonight?" Yoruichi asked timidly, dragging out the end of her sentence to reveal a hint of pitifulness. "I waited for you for so long but you never came out. I thought you had fallen asleep."
Hearing Yoruichi's voice, Kōe couldn't help but shudder, goosebumps erupting all over his skin. *So gross!* This malicious attempt at acting cute genuinely disgusted him. Just imagining Yoruichi's fake, pitiful expression... Never mind, better not to think about it. Why torture himself?
"So you had an appointment, Kōe?"
"Absolutely not, Master! I think it's necessary for us to practice another round!" Kōe hurriedly shook his head. Strictly speaking, he did have plans tonight, but that was a unilateral order from Yoruichi. He had never actually agreed to it.
Before Yamamoto could reply, Yoruichi burst into loud, wailing tears outside the door. Between sobs, she accused Kōe of being heartless, looking for all the world like a tragically abandoned maiden.
Watching the farce outside the door, the normally stern Yamamoto actually smiled. It was the kind of benevolent smile an old father might give when looking at his daughter-in-law.
Kōe instantly felt utterly ashamed. He lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in sheer embarrassment, staring at the wooden floorboards. *'That crack looks pretty wide. If I try hard enough, I could probably squeeze in and hide, right?'*
"We will not practice anymore today. Go out and have fun with Yoruichi."
"No taking it back, Grandpa Yamamoto!" Hearing this, Yoruichi instantly broke into a smile through her tears. However, looking at her perfectly clean little face, her earlier crying had clearly been nothing but noise.
"Just do not forget that tomorrow is the Shin'ō Academy's entrance ceremony. Do not be late," Yamamoto replied with a nod. He stood up and turned toward the inner rooms. "There is no need to see me out, Kōe."
Yamamoto's "no need to see me out" was truly a god-tier assist—unfortunately, he had passed the ball straight to the enemy. Now Kōe had no excuses left. What was he supposed to do?
Kōe thought about it and realized he was completely out of options. With a helpless sigh, he slowly turned around. Even if doomsday was approaching, what had to be faced must be faced.
"Yo, you're here!" Kōe greeted with a smile, attempting to smooth over the awkwardness of his earlier attempt to flee.
But Yoruichi wasn't buying it. With a wicked grin, she planted one hand on her hip, pointed a thumb over her shoulder, and turned to leave without a single word.
The meaning was obvious—*Come outside, let's have a nice, long chat!*
What would happen if he didn't go out? It wasn't that Kōe hadn't considered just going back to his room to rest, but if he actually did that, the outcome would likely be tragic. So, better to drop the wild ideas and obediently follow her.
The moment they stepped out of Yamamoto's estate, Yoruichi, who had been walking ahead, instantly spun around and launched a flying kick straight at Kōe's face.
"Chatting" meant "beating"—this was basic common sense, at least when it came to Yoruichi. Naturally, Kōe was well aware of this.
He raised his right hand, turning it into a palm to block Yoruichi's attack. Grabbing her foot, he said, "You're a girl, how can you be so violent? You should learn from Unohana..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Yoruichi shifted her stance and landed a right roundhouse kick squarely on the side of his face. Accompanied by a cloud of kicked-up dust and a miserable wail, Kōe was sent flying over two meters away.
As the dust settled, a smiling face topped with pale blonde hair appeared in front of Kōe. "Good evening, Kōe."
"Looks like you couldn't escape her demonic clutches either, Urahara!"
Everyone had a few ride-or-die friends in their youth, and Shinigami were no exception. The person before him was Urahara Kisuke. Along with the instigator from just now, Yoruichi—full name Shihōin Yoruichi—they were Kōe's only two best friends from his fifteen years of living in the Seireitei.
Kōe knew that these two would become illustrious figures in the future. But right now, they were all still young. They didn't yet deserve to be called "figures"—they could only be considered geniuses.
"Did you upset our Princess Yoruichi again?" Urahara asked, reaching out a hand to pull Kōe up from the ground.
"Finishing Kendō practice with Old Man Yama is exhausting, okay?! Can't you let me slack off for a bit?"
Hearing this from a short distance away, Yoruichi's barely calmed temper flared up again. She Flash Stepped over and stomped down with her foot, forcing Kōe, who was only halfway up, right back onto the ground.
"You're getting pretty arrogant, dead-fish eyes! How can you sound so self-righteous about slacking off?!"
"Who are you calling dead-fish eyes?! So what if my eyes are a little small? Who are you insulting?!"
"The future head of the Shihōin clan is calling you dead-fish eyes. Do you have a problem with that?"
Seeing that their argument was threatening to derail completely, Urahara Kisuke spoke up to remind them, "We don't have much time. We still have actual business to attend to."
"Exactly!" Kōe immediately turned the tables, slapping the ground and saying self-righteously, "Are we doing this or not? Hurry up and get your foot off me!"
"Calm down, calm down!" Urahara quickly urged, seeing Yoruichi's tightly clenched fists. "If you break him, we're the ones who will suffer for it."
"Hmph. Dead-fish eyes is doing half the work later, got it?" Seeing Kōe nod, Yoruichi finally removed her foot. "Hurry up, our mission tonight is heavy!"
Seeing Yoruichi so full of motivation, Urahara and Kōe exchanged a glance, smiled, and quickly followed after her.
Sōkyoku Hill. The highest point in the Seireitei.
However, this was not the center of power in the Seireitei, but rather an execution ground.
Therefore, no matter how beautiful the scenery was, no one ever wanted to come here to admire the moonlight. Yet, this was the destination for Kōe and the other two tonight.
Of course, they weren't here to enjoy the view either. To be precise, their true destination was deep underground beneath Sōkyoku Hill.
Right before entering the Shin'ō Academy, the three of them had decided to build a secret base in the Seireitei—a secret base that belonged exclusively to them.
This proposal was first brought up by Urahara Kisuke. Though "first" really just meant earlier that morning. It had received unanimous approval from everyone, Kōe included.
Yes, Kōe Shihōin had agreed to it. Without anyone tricking or threatening him, he had agreed immediately—he was even the first to agree. So, thinking back on Yoruichi's behavior just now, she had actually been quite restrained, hadn't she?
At this moment, three hundred meters underground, a massive space nearly fifty meters high and roughly the size of half a football field had already begun to take shape. However, this was still far from what the three of them had envisioned.
"We've only finished a tenth of it! Put your backs into it!" Yoruichi smashed the rock wall in front of her with a single punch, then turned and shouted at Kōe in the distance, "Especially you! Double your speed!"
Although Kōe's face was full of reluctance, the speed at which he swung his pickaxe noticeably increased. "We could easily finish this in no time using Kidō! Do we really have to dig it out by hand?!"
Urahara Kisuke, who was working hard nearby to transport the crushed stone, silently nodded in agreement. However, he didn't voice his thoughts, because Yoruichi definitely had her own set of justifications. No matter how absurd they were, to them, her words were the absolute truth.
"You talk too much nonsense. This is also a form of training. Training, do you understand?"
Sure enough, Yoruichi had her own logic. Kōe stopped resisting. Would resisting even do any good? The fact that she hadn't forced him to dig with his bare hands was already a tremendous act of mercy on Yoruichi's part. He needed to be content with what he had.
And so, after working for most of the night, a secret base roughly the size of five football fields was finally completed through their combined efforts. At this moment, all three of them were lying on the ground, gasping for air, clearly exhausted.
"Rest... let's rest for a bit, then we'll continue laying the stone bricks."
"Let's just leave it like this. Stone bricks and stuff will just get destroyed after a few training sessions anyway," Kōe weakly voiced his opinion, nudging Urahara on his right. "What do you say?"
"Agreed!"
Under normal circumstances, Yoruichi would definitely insist on having her way right now. The fact that she actually had nothing to say this time meant the sun had truly risen in the west.
Kōe looked to his left. Their Princess Yoruichi had fallen asleep at some point without them noticing. Kōe and Urahara smiled and shared a high-five. Regardless of how it happened, the matter of the stone bricks was officially settled.