Bleach: Stirring Up a Storm

*Bang!* Ichigo swung the baseball bat in his hands, landing a solid hit on the baseball flying in from the right. A beautiful home run.

”Cough, cough!” The pungent smell of pepper powder once again made him cough uncontrollably. These hollowed-out baseballs filled with pepper exploded upon impact. Although Rukia claimed this was part of his special training to become a Shinigami, he didn’t feel like he was getting any stronger at all.

Seeing Rukia show up at school yesterday and become his desk mate had given Ichigo quite a scare. However, she explained the reason after class: Rukia had lost her Shinigami powers, and for a long time to come, he would have to take over her Shinigami duties.

Furthermore, since he was the cause of this accident, it was only right for him to take responsibility. Ichigo ultimately agreed. If one ignored the rather convoluted series of events leading up to it, it could be considered a very pleasant negotiation.

Taking the initiative to fight monsters like Hollows—most humans wouldn’t have any interest in that, right? Thinking back to the nonsense he spouted yesterday about not fighting monsters for the sake of strangers, Ichigo couldn’t help but blush.

”One hundred!” He smashed the final baseball. Fortunately, he had managed to salvage his dignity in the end and hadn’t acted like a shameful coward.

And now, since he was going to play the hero for a while, it was only logical to undergo a hero training course. He had no desire to perish alongside his enemies.

”What do I do next?” Ichigo turned his head and shouted in Rukia’s direction, but she didn’t respond. He had no idea what the hell she was doing.

”No! You can’t open that box, Francois!!”

The man’s shouts seemed to have no effect. The girl named Francois still placed her hands on the ominous box. Disaster was about to strike.

Rukia wore a solemn expression, her heart pounding wildly. ’She’s going to die, right? Francois...’ It was right on the next page. What exactly was inside the box? She was so nervous!

”Hey! What are you doing!”

”Waah!!!” The sudden voice from behind startled Rukia so badly she nearly tore the comic book in her hands in half. Turning around, she saw an annoyed Ichigo. Rukia frantically explained, ”I-I-I’m learning how to speak!”

Did she need to learn how to speak? Did Shinigami not speak human languages? Seeing Rukia like this, Ichigo immediately understood. This girl was just slacking off.

”You set me up with special training, and yet here you are, happily reading a horror manga?”

”T-This is...”

”And you actually used a moronic excuse like ’learning how to speak’.” Before Rukia could explain further, Ichigo cut off her train of thought. However, the comic book in her hands looked somewhat familiar. Ichigo asked in confusion, ”Where did you find that book?”

”This?” Rukia hurriedly hid the book behind her back, as if terrified Ichigo would snatch it away. She needed to change the subject quickly. ”Right, aren’t you doing your special training? Are you finished already?”

This was the equivalent of a coach saying, ”Shouldn’t you be warming up?” when an entire practice match had already ended. Following a coach like this offered absolutely zero sense of security.

”I finished ages ago!” Ichigo complained in dissatisfaction. ”Smashing a hundred balls filled with pepper powder—what kind of special training is this?”

”A hundred?” Rukia realized something was wrong. ”Only some of them were filled with pepper.”

”Some?”

”Yeah! Don’t tell me you hit all of them?”

”Yeah, wasn’t I supposed to?” Ichigo vaguely sensed that something was off. How should he describe this feeling? It was like intending to practice basketball, but somehow ending up following a tennis training regimen. That couldn’t be it, right?

”Idiot!” Rukia’s roar shattered Ichigo’s last shred of hope. ”I told you to only hit the ones with the head drawn on them! Otherwise, what kind of special training is just swinging wildly at everything!”

Since this was a crash course, it obviously couldn’t be conducted in the usual manner. Rukia’s logic was very clear: she had to make Ichigo familiarize himself with the methods of dealing with Hollows as quickly as possible. And dealing with Hollows didn’t necessarily correlate directly with increasing one’s raw strength.

Those one hundred baseballs were actually divided into limbs and heads, roughly representing twenty Hollows. The ones containing pepper powder were the baseballs representing the Hollows’ limbs.

Rukia’s original idea was for Ichigo to avoid the attacking limbs of the Hollows and focus on slashing their heads, dealing with the Hollows in the most energy-efficient way possible.

As a result, this idiot had smashed every single baseball. Right now, they were just baseballs, but if he were truly facing twenty Hollows, would he have enough strength to chop them all into mincemeat?! Did he think he was a Captain?! He had completely let her words go in one ear and out the other!!

In truth, Ichigo hadn’t forgotten Rukia’s instructions. He knew there were drawings on these baseballs, and he knew he was supposed to hit the ones with the head drawn on them. But the problem was...

”Who the hell knows what you’re trying to train!” Ichigo picked up a spare baseball and loudly vented his frustration at Rukia. ”Besides, with these god-awful drawings, who can even tell which one is the head!”

Holding two baseballs in his hands, aside from the words ’Head’ and ’Right Hand’ written on them, there was absolutely no difference between the two!

Of course, that was slightly subjective. One could barely make out facial features within the outline of the head. But these baseballs were flying through the air. Even though Ichigo had decent tracking ability, he could only see a rough outline during the training. Therefore, to him, all of these things looked like heads that needed to be hit!

”Anyone other than you could tell the difference! Look for the problem within yourself!”

”Then you find me a head that looks exactly like a hand and recognize it!” Facing Rukia’s accusations, Ichigo refused to yield an inch. ”You should look for the problem within yourself too! If you can’t, then take out that comic book from earlier and study it properly!”

”Then didn’t you realize that some of the baseballs didn’t have pepper in them? You couldn’t even notice such an obvious punishment mechanism? Use your brain a little more! Isn’t avoiding danger a basic human instinct?! Don’t tell me you ate all that pepper powder?”

Ichigo didn’t retort anymore. Rukia was right. Even if these incredibly idiotic drawings were problematic, he had been half-choked to death by the pepper powder from smashing the baseballs. If he had been paying attention, he should have discovered the issue much earlier.

”So, why arrange this kind of special training?” Ichigo asked humbly. ”I understand avoiding the Hollow’s limbs and focusing on the head, but why? Can’t a Hollow’s limbs be cut?”

”Listen, the head is a Hollow’s weak point. As long as you strike it, you can destroy them. The purpose of the special training is for you to accurately hit its head under any circumstances, preferably in a single strike!”

Seeing that Ichigo was starting to take it seriously, Rukia stopped scolding him and continued calmly, ”With your previous method of swinging wildly, it’s sheer luck that you didn’t get hurt. For the current you, approaching from behind and winning with a single strike is the most effective golden rule.”

No combat tactic was absolutely strong or weak; the only difference lay in whether it suited the user. As long as it suited oneself, it was the absolute rule for victory.

These were the words Big Bro Chōzuka had once taught her. A good teacher wouldn’t teach their students a fixed pattern; they would guide their students to gradually find the path that suited them best.

Rukia admitted that she wasn’t a good teacher. She couldn’t, nor did she have the time to, help Ichigo figure things out. Sneak attacks were the combat tactic that best guaranteed safety, making it highly suitable for a human like Ichigo.

Of course, this was only one of the reasons. However, as for the other reason, Rukia hoped Ichigo would never find out. Never...