26 - Deal with Toshiro

If she chose the first path, she would have to go all out and ask Toshiro about his reason in detail. Then, based on that, Rumi would have to try and convince Toshiro to go to the academy and become a Shinigami. 

While it wasn't entirely impossible, Rumi felt that it was too much work and commitment. The wording sounded like the condition to complete the path was for Toshiro to become a Shinigami so it would at least take until he graduated from the academy and recognized as an official Shinigami. While Rumi was still intrigued about the kid, she wasn't feeling like doing that much work or get that involved in the kid's life decisions for such a long time. 

Besides, when she looked at the rewards, she wasn't that interested in Mentor's insight as much as the other two. 

Rumi didn't see herself mentoring random kids so she felt like she didn't really need that reward.

That left her with two other paths. 

Rewards wise, Rumi loved the idea of both Cold Resistance and Reiatsu optimization. Resistance skills were always good to have and could potentially save her life one day and reiatsu optimization would help her become even more efficient with her reiatsu use. 

Then again, Rumi already had Sloth's efficiency to boost the efficiency of her reiatsu use and skills so she felt that Cold Resistance would be a better reward. 

So when Rumi looked at the path, she found that it was quite acceptable. She just had to teach Toshiro one or two things about reiatsu and help him control his reiatsu more. After that, she didn't even need to convince him anything. She just had to let him decide for himself. 

As for the third path, it said Rumi didn't need to do anything, which was more in line with what she initially wanted to do, but she wasn't entirely sure about the not interfering part. To what extent that meant, Rumi wasn't sure. 

Was she only not supposed to teach Toshiro about reiatsu control? Or would she need to stay away even if the kid started to lose control of his reiatsu and affect the surroundings? 

First case scenario was fine but the second was a bit tricky. 

Although Rumi wasn't a hero at heart, she didn't want to abandon the kid like that. So while she didn't want to get as involved as path one, she still saw no problem in helping him control his reiatsu.

'Cold resistance is the reward I want anyways.' Rumi thought, 'System, I'll choose path two.'

[Understood. Once you've completed the condition, you will receive Cold Resistance.] 

'Sweet,' Rumi thought. Now, it was time to think of a lesson plan for little Shiro chan. 

--------------

Rumi spent the next three days sleeping at Momo's house. By sleeping, she meant she slept for seventy two hours without waking up. Although Toshiro and Momo tried their best to wake her up, Rumi selected to ignore their nagging, reiatsu and voices unless they turned hostile and seeked to harm her directly. With that adapted Guardian's Vigil, it wasn't much problem for her to sleep that long.

As a result, Rumi found that she accumulated a lot more reiryoku and her progress was already 7,205/10,000 when she woke up. 

After quick snack of Toshiro's watermelons and stealing Momo's lunch, Rumi decided to get to the point.

"Shiro chan, I have something important to show you," Rumi said, her voice turning a little serious as she finished eating and got up with a stretch. 

"Huh, what is it?" Toshiro crossed his arms and asked. 

"Follow me," Rumi said before taking off to a more secluded part of the district one. 

Toshiro was puzzled but eventually, his curiosity got the better of him and followed Rumi who was running normally without Shunpo or reiatsu boost. After all, she asked Toshiro to follow her, and it wouldn't be good if Toshiro couldn't follow her speed.

Toshiro was still out of breath when they got to the destination. It was a hill with plenty of trees around them and there was barely anyone nearby. 

Breathing heavily, Toshiro asked, "What-what is that important thing? Why are we here?"

Rumi smiled, "I told you I'll show you something."

"Huh, what-"

Toshiro couldn't finish his sentence as he was suddenly hit by a wave of spiritual pressure. It was far more powerful than anything he had encountered and Toshiro felt that his own reiatsu was draining in the presence of it.

Standing with some difficulty, Toshiro saw that all that reiatsu came from Rumi. Her reiatsu was too powerful and Toshiro even saw that there was a gush of wind surrounding her.

"Ah, sorry, I guess that was too much for you," Rumi said with a sheepish smile, "I was gonna give a little demonstration on my wind reiatsu and got a little carried away." 

"A..a little?" Toshiro muttered in disbelief. Even though he had reiatsu, and quite powerful one according to Momo, he was almost unable to stand when faced with Rumi's more potent reiatsu. 

"The thing with elemental reiatsu is..." Rumi started, her voice a bit more serious than the start. At the same time, the wind around her had become stronger and it directly became a small whirlwind. Then, the whirlwind hit the nearby trees and all of them fell as if they encountered a mini storm. 

"It can be real destructive." Rumi said, pointing to the state of the trees. 

"It-it can't be...with reiatsu alone..all those trees are.." Toshiro muttered in disbelief. Could simply releasing reiatsu alone cause that much damage? It was simply outrageous, but was that a common pattern for elemental reiatsu? If so then, he also had elemental reiatsu..

As if reading his thoughts, Rumi continued, "Of course, all reiatsu could cause destruction but elemental reiatsu are easier to do so because of their attributes. Just like my wind reiatsu is easy to blow away everything once it goes out of control, your ice reiatsu can potentially freeze things around you or maybe even people." 

"....you mean.."

"If you keep going like this, one day, your reiatsu could end up freezing things you don't want to or even harm people, including your grandma." Rumi said. 

"It can't be...I..I won't..." Toshiro tried to deny it, but he also had this fear of hurting people around him, especially his grandma. His grandma and Momo were the only people who were willing to stay close to him when everyone else in the neighborhood was scared of him. He didn't want to potentially hurt them. It would've been fine, no, better to not have this reiatsu from the start, Toshiro thought. It wasn't like he wanted to become a Shinigami, he was just fine staying at home with grandma and Momo. So why was he given this reiatsu that could harm the ones he held close to? 

Toshiro felt that his cheeks were wet and realized he had been crying at the implication, when he felt a hand on his head. 

"It's okay, Shiro chan. There's no need to cry," Rumi said gently. "It's not a guarantee that you would hurt them with your reiatsu." 

"I wouldn't hurt them?" Toshiro found himself asking.

"Un! If losing control is an issue, we just have to learn how to control it." Rumi replied with a smile.

"Learn how to control it?" Toshiro repeated. 

"That's right, Shiro chan!" Rumi said, patting his head, "You can learn how to control your reiatsu."

"But I don't want to go to Shinigami school...do I really have to?" Toshiro asked, he was clenching his fists without himself even knowing.

"Eventually yes," Rumi answered. It was simply the truth. For someone like Toshiro, he didn't belong in Rukongai in the first place. His talent would catch the eye of a powerful Shinigami sooner or later and he would still become a Shinigami. 

"But, it doesn't have to be now, if you don't want to." Rumi said, "I can teach you how to control your reiatsu in one condition." 

"You...you will teach me and I don't have to go to Shinigami school?" Toshiro asked, his eyes glistening with hope.

"For now, yes. But, one day, it might be required." Rumi replied, "You should prepare yourself for the inevitable day in the mean time." 

"I got it," Toshiro said, a bit dejected but still, he was happy that he didn't have to go for now. "What's the condition?" He asked.

Rumi flashed a playful smile, "It's not much. It's just a promise."

"Promise?"

"Yep, promise me you'll let me call you Shiro chan from now on. It doesn't matter if you become a Shinigami, a seated officer, Lieutenant or even captain. You can't correct me about your name at all!" Rumi said.

"..I'm not letting you call me Shiro chan for the rest of my life." Toshiro said with a scoff. 

"Why not?!"

"Because I don't want you to treat me like a little kid!"

"But you're a little kid!" Rumi said, exasperated. "Come on, just say yes to my offer."

"No way!" Toshiro crossed his arms, like a little kid throwing a tantrum. Rumi pinched his cheeks to try and get him to agree but Toshiro kept swatting her hands away. 

Rumi obviously didn't give up or take no for an answer so after an hour of struggling, Toshiro agreed but under the condition of Rumi not calling him by that name in formal places. 

Rumi agreed because she thought calling the kid Shiro chan all his life was already a torture, she ought to give him a bit of a leeway. 

With that, a deal was made between them. 

Rumi would teach Toshiro how to control his reiatsu and Toshiro wouldn't complain when Rumi called him Shiro chan. 

------------

Meanwhile, Rumi releasing her reiatsu and causing the nearby trees to blow away had caused quite an uproar in the ninth division. Those patrolling Shinigami sensed the reiatsu, which led to reporting the incident to their captain, Tosen Kaname. 

"A student at the academy had caused the destruction with their reiatsu alone? Interesting." Tosen said.

"Captain, she's also the one who unleashed their Zanpakuto and achieve Shikai in two months." The lieutenant said.

"I see," Tosen muttered. Now, he remembered Gin and Captain Aizen talking about a new interesting test subject and that girl also unleashed her Zanpakuto in two months under the pressure of their special hollows. It seemed that captain Aizen was right, that girl had potential and could be a breakthrough to their experiments. 

As a subordinate of Aizen, Tosen knew that Aizen already invited her to his Squad Five, but that was only one invitation out of the total thirteen squads. If they wanted to keep the girl close, they just had to double their chances.

"Send her an invitation to Squad Nine." Tosen said.

-------------

At Squad Eight, Kyoraku Shunsui was chilling on a rooftop, sipping on his sake. As Nanao apprpached him, he turned and asked. 

"Nanao chan, have you sent the invitation to the girl?" 

Nanao replied, "Not yet, the academy students are given a one-week holiday and apparently, Fujiwara Rumi is not at the acdemy now."

"Is that so?" Shunsui took another sip of his sake, "Then, be sure to send the invitation when she gets back, Nanao chan." 

"Why do you want to personally invite her to our squad anyway?" Nanao asked.

"Huh, isn't it obvious? She's a lady and all ladies are welcome in squad 8." Shunsui replied.

"Stop joking around," Nanao said, her eyebrows twitching in annoyance. 

"Well, don't you think she has potential, Nanao chan?" Shunsui replied, his voice a little more serious. "I think it's a good idea to recruit new talents, no?" 

"Yes.."

Shunsui laid down on the rooftop, then looked at the sky, "In any case, I'm curious to see her in person." 

Since he heard the news about a new rare talent in the acdemy, Shunsui had been curious. At first, he was only a bit pleasantly surprised to hear the appearance of a student potentially having spirit class of 6 by the time of the entrance exam. It was impressive but it wasn't unprecedented, as Shunsui had heard of Shiba Kaien, lieutenant of Squad Thirteen, having spirit class 6 by the time of entering the academy. 

Then, Shunsui heard the rumors of her learning 70 kido spells in total in two months. At first, he didn't quite believe it because of how outrageous it sounded. It wasn't a matter of being a genius, it was almost like a monster. And, Shunsui found himself intrigued when he had Nanao check about the rumors and they were confirmed.

Shunsui thought that was all the new genius would achieve and he had decided to accept her into the squad and probably even give her a seated position within ten to fifteen once she joined. But then, he heard the incident about the practical in the world of the living. 

He almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the reports. Unleashing Zanpakuto and achieving Shikai in a little more than two months, it was simply too outrageous of a feat. 

If Shunsui wasn't sure before, at that moment, he was sure that the girl would undoubtedly achieve Bankai in the future. Judging from her spirit class and how fast she achieved Shikai, Shunsui could tell that she had the potential to achieve Bankai. As for how long it would take her, Shunsui wasn't too sure, but someone with such potential had to be invited to his squad, Shunsui decided at that moment. 

"Which seat from five to ten is empty in our squad, Nanao chan?" Shunsui asked.

"Captain, are you saying..."

"Why not?" Shunsui said, "It's worth having a talented lady in Squad Eight."

"Please stop that joke, captain." Nanao sighed.

"Don't be too upright, Nanao chan. You're no fun." Shunsui said. 

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A/N : I wasn't too sure if Tosen was captain of Squad Nine or if Nanao was the lieutenant during that time but yeah, I just decided to roll with it. Since they won't be the storyline much yet, it won't really affect much I think.