Hinamori Momo's home was located in Junrin'an, District 1 of West Rukongai—a rare privilege compared to many other students at the Shin'ō Academy. The environment here was second only to Seireitei itself, safe and with no shortage of food or stability.
Taking advantage of a school holiday, Momo had returned home, stopping by to visit her young neighbor.
"Anyway, the Academy is an amazing place! Our student council president already interacts regularly with vice-captains and even captains! And he's such a good person—no arrogance at all when dealing with us underclassmen. If only I'd been chosen as his assistant... Ugh! Are you even listening, Shiro?"
On the wooden corridor, a silver-haired boy munched on a large slice of watermelon. Hearing that nickname again, he rudely spat a watermelon seed onto her clothes.
"I told you—stop calling me 'Shiro.' Why do you always come back during breaks? Is being a Shinigami student really that leisurely?"
"I rarely get the chance to see you, you know! I'm always busy with student council work!" Momo pouted, clearly unhappy with his attitude.
Hitsugaya Tōshirō tossed aside the empty rind and grabbed another slice.
"You've already bragged about your president, like, a hundred times."
"Because he really is that great!"
Hitsugaya wore a grumpy expression, utterly uninterested in what Momo had to say.
She sighed wistfully. "Too bad I wasn't there when the captain of the 5th Division came to inspect us. I heard he's super kind too. Shiro, Shinigami aren't like what we used to imagine. There are so many good people."
Then she added brightly, "You should try joining the Academy too, Shiro. I know you'd pass the entrance exam. You'd make lots of new friends."
Hitsugaya kept eating in silence.
Momo kept talking. "And if you get into the student council, we'd be together all the time again."
"What's so good about being around you all the time?" he muttered.
"Shiro, that's mean!"
"Stop calling me Shiro, bedwetting Momo."
Hitsugaya's main reason for not going to the Academy was his grandmother. Her health had always been fragile, and he refused to leave her alone. Staying by her side was the only option in his mind.
The summer heat pressed down on them, cicadas screaming in the trees.
Momo slowly nibbled at her watermelon, her legs swinging beneath the veranda. Gazing at the clear blue sky, she murmured, "I'm going to work really hard... I want to be a great Shinigami."
Tachikawa Shin had been skipping class a bit too often lately, and as expected, he got called in by Namita Hidesawa.
"You little punk—did you forget what you promised me? Just because you're in the student council doesn't give you a free pass! Especially as the president, you're supposed to set an example!"
"But there really is a lot of student council work!" Shin protested, hands up in mock innocence. "Namita-sensei, even if I've missed a few classes, I still make time to train on my own. My grades haven't dropped!"
"Save it!" Namita snapped. He knew exactly what kind of student Shin was—his tricks didn't work here.
"Being top of the class doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want. You realize these absences are going on your record, right? When you graduate, what do you think your assigned division will think reading that?"
Shin chuckled. "They'll probably think I'm an unmatched prodigy and rush to promote me."
Namita glared. "Get serious! Starting today, you're attending every single class like a proper student. If you skip again, I'll report you to the headmaster myself. And if that means you lose your role as student council president—so be it!"
Shin sighed. "But what if there's an actual emergency with the council?"
"Request leave from me. If it's justified, I'll approve it."
"…"
That afternoon, Shin actually showed up to class for once, which drew surprised looks from his classmates. How long had it been since the president graced them with his presence?
"Got scolded by Namita-sensei?" Hisagi Shūhei asked with a knowing grin.
Shin slumped in his seat and groaned.
It wasn't that he was lazy—just that the curriculum for Fifth-Year students had nothing new to offer him. He'd long outgrown the material. To him, it was more beneficial to spend time in the library studying advanced kidō techniques than sit through lectures.
Fifth-Year classes leaned more into practical exercises now. Funeral rites in the living world had become more frequent than in previous years, sometimes involving junior students.
Shin had gone before. He remembered how excited he was on his first trip to the World of the Living. But this era was still decades before Kurosaki Ichigo's time. Technology wasn't developed yet. There was nothing interesting to see. After two trips, the novelty wore off.
This afternoon's class was Kaidō—the healing arts.
Since joining the student council, both Shūhei and Kenzaki had stepped down from their class leader positions. The new class rep, a vaguely familiar face, stood at the front and announced:
"Professor Ōizumi won't be teaching today. Instead, our substitute is none other than the Vice-Captain of Squad Four—Kotetsu Isane."
Squad Four?
Shin blinked. A vice-captain from the Gotei 13 stepping in for a lecture was pretty rare.
"Isn't that the squad you're supposedly going to end up in?" Shūhei teased.
Shin just shrugged but sat up straighter.
When the bell rang, the classroom quieted down. A towering figure stepped in from the front door of the lecture hall.
"She's… so tall!"
Whispers spread among the students like wildfire.
Kotetsu Isane's towering frame—nearly 190cm—immediately stunned the room. Among all the students and instructors at the Academy, there wasn't a second woman as tall as her.
Wearing the standard black shihakushō with the vice-captain's badge on her arm, she was nonetheless strikingly beautiful.
She could hear the murmurs below and guessed what they were whispering about. Her height had always made her self-conscious, and being the center of attention like this only made it worse. But she kept walking and stepped up to the podium.
"I am Kotetsu Isane, Vice-Captain of Squad Four. I will be your instructor today. Nice to meet you all."
As she spoke, her eyes scanned across the room—and stopped precisely on Tachikawa Shin.
At the same moment, Shin happened to be looking back at her.
[Kotetsu Isane]
[Affinity: 9]