Recap: Head Captain Yamamoto had just notified Toshiro of his graduation, due to him being a prodigy. Toshiro slightly freaked out, which caused Yamamoto to allow Toshiro finish up his year. The meeting was dismissed and Toshiro flash-stepped back to the Soul Reaper Academy.

Toshiro, grumpier and irritated more than he had ever been, was back at the academy and headed to lunch. The meeting had taken up most of Toshiro's time, which in turn caused him to miss most of his classes. On his way, Toshiro bumped into someone sending Toshiro to the floor. The other remained standing, obviously because he was way taller than Toshiro.

"Sorry, Toshiro. Didn't mean to knock you down like that." As he was apologizing, he offered Toshiro a hand. Toshiro, being cold as he is, takes the hand with an attitude and not a word of gratefulness left his lips. "Anyways, where have you been? You missed more than half of the day."

"The Head Captain told me that I was graduating this year at the Captain's Meeting. Total waste of time..." Toshiro sighed at the thought of him being a prodigy. He didn't mention that to Kusaka because he called Toshiro that anyways, including "child genius".

"What? Well, that's great news! This way we'll be graduating together." Kusaka was very pleased at the thought that him and his best friend will be graduating together.

'Oh, that's right. Kusaka's a sixth year student, so he can graduate this year as well. Great... Now, he's going to pester me until we graduate...' Toshiro mentally sighed and suddenly remembered the promise he made to Kusaka before school started. "Kusaka, didn't you want me to train with you, so you can get a better hold of Hyorinmaru's power?"

"Shh... We have to be quiet about this, Toshiro. No one knows that we have the same Zanpakuto, otherwise it could be trouble." Kusaka whispered to Toshiro, reminding him of the extreme precautions they had to take ever since they discovered this amazing fact about each other. "By the way, the answer to that question is yes. As soon as class ends, meet me in the same cave we always train in. See ya!" With that, Kusaka walked off to whatever class he had next.

"Wait! KUSAKA, YOU MADE ME MISS LUNCH!" Toshiro yells at Kusaka with at least two anime veins popping.

"Sorry, Toshiro. Time flies!" Kusaka turned around and shouted back to Toshiro. This time he ran off knowing full well that if he stayed then he was going to get seriously intense cold glares from his friend.

Later that day...

Toshiro's day at the Soul Reaper Academy was finally over and now he was headed to the cave so he could train with Kusaka. 'That stupid Kusaka... First, he asks a favor and then he makes me miss lunch. What kind of person is that? I shouldn't even train with him today until he treats me to something.' While Toshiro was having an inner argument with himself, Toshiro's stomach makes growling noises. Toshiro moaned, "Boy, am I starving..." Within minutes, Toshiro was standing outside the cave.

"Hey, Toshiro! What took you so long? You're late." Kusaka says to Toshiro with a smirk on his face.

"What the hell do you mean by 'what took you do long'? Isn't it obvious? I was late because-" Toshiro closes his eyes due to the immense irritation he has toward his friend at the moment.

'And so it begins...' Kusaka thinks to himself after being pleased that his little plan is working and he's not paying much attention to what Toshiro has to say.

"-and then I could hardly concentrate in class. Do you have any idea how many times the teacher scolded me?" Toshiro with his eyes still closed realizes that Kusaka hasn't said a single word. "Hey! Are you even listening to what-" Toshiro opened his eyes and sees Kusaka sitting and... Wait, is that food? Toshiro exploded with anger with a huge anime vein popping. "KUSAKA! What the hell?"

Kusaka chuckles and sticks his food in Toshiro's face. "Here, this is for you and as an apology for missing lunch."

Toshiro instantly calmed down. "Wait, you don't have to. I was just-" Toshiro's stomach grumbled very loudly and Toshiro had a slight pinkish shade on his cheeks.

"Really, Toshiro? Your stomach sure is saying something else." Kusaka said while laughing uncontrollably. "Take it. I really mean it." Toshiro reluctantly agreed and began eating it. "Toshiro, do you really think we'll be friends forever?"

Upon hearing that question, Toshiro put on his rare smile. "Yeah, sure. I don't see why not."

'Even though, Toshiro always has an attitude and seems cold. His smile is very warming, even though he only shows it around me. I'm glad to have a friend like that.' Kusaka looked up towards the sky and smiled.

Toshiro also noticed this and looked up. It was a beautiful sunset. 'This is the best sunset yet and a memory I'll always remember.' Toshiro got up and lent his hand to Kusaka. "Come on. You need to train, don't you?"

Both Toshiro and Kusaka trained hard that day. Toshiro had mastered Bankai, which left Kusaka behind. Neither of them cared about this because they were going to be friends for life. Or so they thought, until the day of the graduation ceremony...