"Oh, you guys know each other?" Matsumoto asked coyly.
Her eager expression reminded Aigis uncomfortably of gossipy high school girls.
"We used to work together every now and then." Niijima answered. "I didn't expect to see Aigis-san here though."
"Gotcha." Matsumoto nodded. "Well, I'll let you guys catch up then, while I go and make sure the class doesn't injure themselves. Ah, I still want that bout though!"
Niijima sighed.
Matsumoto cheerfully turned her attention to the class in the midst of stumbling over themselves. "Hey! What in the world are you doing like that? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Her shouts faded into the background of squeaky feet and smacks.
Aigis took a better look at Niijima. She appeared to be barely in her twenties, a marked contrast from when Aigis last saw her when she was in her seventies. "You look well." Aigis commented.
"Yes well, I didn't expect to arrive in Soul Society looking like this either." Niijima replied, fidgeting with her hakama. "It took some time to adjust."
"I can imagine." Aigis agreed.
The loud grunts filled the hall with ambient noise, affording them some privacy to talk.
"I'm curious though, how did you end up here?" Niijima asked.
"I died."
Niijima opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to form a coherent reply to the blunt response. "I-I thought that it's not really possible for um…"
"A robot to end up in the afterlife?" Aigis finished for her. "I'm trying to figure it out too."
"…yes." Niijima looked sheepish.
Aigis rubbed her arms. It had been a long time since she thought about her unique situation, of a robot turning into a rather human girl in composition. At some point, she had simply become accustomed to the change and stopped thinking about it.
"My best guess is that I was considered human enough to end up here." Aigis said after a while. "I think…it's a second chance at life."
The more she thought about it, the more Aigis realised that it was true. Many of the hardships that existed in the Living World were here in Soul Society too, with the rampant poverty, inequality, and safety concerns. Yet, the people were still largely kind and willing to help their fellows, forming tight-knit communities like the town she lived in. It was a chance for people who had regrets to start over, without their background affecting their opportunities. For some, it is enough.
Niijima smiled warmly as she pulled a stray strand of hair behind her ears. "In any case, I'm glad to see you again, Aigis-san," she said.
"Me too." Aigis agreed.
They looked over at the hakuda class still in session, where Matsumoto seemed to be correcting the posture for one of the students. When she caught the pair's gaze on her, she gave a wink in response, and mimed a few punches in the air.
"Matsumoto-sensei is…quite the character, isn't she?" Aigis commented with a wan smile.
"She's a little too easygoing for my comfort." Niijima sighed again as she moved to stand opposite Aigis. "But she's good at what she teaches, and I heard she used to be a lieutenant. I wonder how her captain kept her in line."
"They must be very strict then, I think." Aigis replied. She moved into her usual stance, as Niijima dropped low for her own preparation.
She used a modified aikido stance, with her legs far apart, and her centre low to the ground for balance. One of her fists was cocked back close to her body, while the other hung in front, protecting her vitals. It was incredibly difficult to knock her off balance because of that, and in the numerous practice spars they had while they were alive, Aigis learned to never attempt tripping Niijima.
They nodded at each other, and began their spar.
Niijima went for a punch straight to Aigis's gut, which she sidestepped, and countered with a chop to the side. It was blocked by a forearm, along with a sweeping kick that had just enough clearance to reach Aigis's chin. She leaned back just enough to miss the foot by millimetres, then had to quickly disengage to avoid the leg continuing towards her arm.
She was just as good as Aigis remembered her as. Niijima's skill as an aikido practitioner had served her well throughout her career in the police force, but it shone when she battled Shadows, where she did not have to hold back. There was a deceptive amount of power behind the seemingly slow strikes. It had seemed like annoyances back when Aigis was a robot.
She suspected they would be much more painful now.
Niijima wound up her next attack, another straight punch to Aigis's chest. With too little time to avoid the attack, she instead opted to block it with both hands, catching the fist with her palm, then bit back a wince from the sting. Niijima brought her other hand forward for another punch, and for a minute, Aigis parried or sidestepped the flurry of punches that came her way, before she noticed Niijima's legs tensing up, and her arm cocked back.
She dashed. Aigis jumped.
She flipped over the strike, then had to immediately parry a flying leg to her general position.
They fell into a routine, a spar that was somewhat serious, but never dangerous. Through the series of strikes, blocks and parries, they found time to chat.
"I'm guessing you're a first year, if Rangiku-sensei found you just today." Niijima commented.
A strike to her left, which she blocked with a raised arm.
"Yes." Aigis confirmed. "What about you?"
A high kick, easily avoided.
"Just entered third." Niijima replied. "I'll graduate after my fourth year."
"Matsumoto-sensei did say that you're on track to graduate early." Aigis said, as she avoided another strike. "Did she drag you out of class to spar with me?"
A fist blocked with one hand, and another out for a counter strike.
"No, I was studying in the library." Niijima answered. "I sometimes help out with the hakuda class, but I've been given permission to skip it."
Aigis nodded, neatly dodging an overhead strike. "Is that why you're graduating early?"
"Mostly yes." Niijima said, going for a low sweeping kick. "The only area I'm lacking in is zanjutsu, but Onabara-sensei states that it's still good enough to graduate."
Aigis lightly hopped over the leg. "Ah, so that's what he teaches," she commented.
"That, and writing." Niijima added. "It's basically how to fill in forms for reports. Quite similar to the Living World, actually."
Of course she would know, considering that she was the police commissioner for a long time. Aigis was no slouch either, as she had her share of forms to fill after the Shadow Operatives officially became a branch of the government. Internally, they kept no records. She and Labrys were enough to serve as records, though now that it's only Labrys left, the Operatives might start keeping records just in case something happened to her.
"Can you recommend any calligraphy classes then?" It was Aigis's turn to look sheepish, as she sent a spinning kick towards Niijima. "I don't know how to write with a brush."
"I don't think the Academy has any, apart from the occasional times captains will come and host a class." Niijima frowned. She caught the leg in her palm. "I'm sorry, my handwriting isn't great either."
Aigis sighed as she twisted her leg free and landed lightly on the mat. "I suppose I will have to practice on my own, then," she said glumly as she parried a fist. "Why did you decide to enter the Academy? I think it suits you, but I wanted to ask anyway."
"I thought I had enough of a break." Niijima replied, as she struck at various parts of Aigis's body, trying to find a weak spot. "A hundred years doesn't feel like much when you spend them here without physically changing, but I couldn't sit still."
Aigis's defence faltered, earning her a painful punch in the arm. "I thought it's been over two hundred years since you died."
"Wha- I thought it's been a hundred?" Niijima's assault slowed.
"No, I can confirm it's over two hundred." Aigis stated definitively.
Then she realised the hall was too quiet. She blinked, finally noticing the awed stares from her classmates and her teacher's appreciative gaze.
Apparently, she and Niijima accidentally enraptured the entire class with their spar.
"Let's continue this conversation later." Niijima muttered, hopefully too low for anyone else to hear. "Six at the cafeteria?"
Aigis gave a minute nod. "Sorry Matsumoto-sensei, I think we both had enough," she called out.
Matsumoto shrugged. "Well, that was enough for the class anyway." She turned towards the class. "Use this demonstration as your goal! Aim high so you can at least reach even half of this potential!"
"Yes sensei!" The chorus rang out.
"Class dismissed!" Matsumoto barked. The students scrambled out of the training hall, with Aigis in the centre of it all, clapped constantly on the back for her performance, though she also spotted a few jealous looks. Not that it bothered her much — they were nothing compared to the contempt she had to endure back when she was the director of the Shadow Operatives, and she had learned to simply ignore them.
Next class turned out to be writing, taught by Onabara. Apparently, it was also mixed with many other topics, such as shinigami history (fascinating, though she also idly wondered about the formation of Soul Society in general), the basic anatomy of a Hollow (apparently split into four types depending on power, and as Akechi had said, their masks were their weak point). He lectured on the foundations of how Seireitei was founded, the structure of the Gotei Thirteen, and the characteristics of most typical Hollows. It went by uneventfully, except when Aigis handed up her mock sheet and Onabara had to squint to make out the characters she was writing.
She was not sure why a writing instrument of all things would be the bane of her existence in Shin'ou.
"Do you know how to write with a brush?" He asked bluntly.
"No, sensei." Aigis replied honestly. "I am literate, though I have never written with a brush before I entered the Academy."
He made a thoughtful hum. "I can see that," he stated, stroking his chin. "Your report is immaculate, but your handwriting is frankly atrocious. Until it is legible, in addition to homework, I'd like you to submit a sheet of calligraphy of hiragana every lesson."
That was reasonable. "Yes, sensei." Aigis bowed.
Onabara dismissed her.
"Extra homework, huh?" Niijima commented between bites of salad. "Is it really that bad? I didn't have to do that."
As arranged, they had both shown up at the cafeteria at six, after classes were finished for the day. It was noisy enough that it would be difficult to overhear their conversation, but Aigis had already spotted students pointing and whispering towards their direction.
Not for the first time, she internally lamented the speed of rumour mills in schools.
Aigis fiddled with her tonkatsu bowl. "I think it is pretty terrible," she said. "And it's not an unreasonable amount of extra homework, so I'm fine with it."
Granted, she never went to school again after she graduated Gekkoukan High, but having extra homework was not on her list of incidents she expected when she joined Shin'ou Academy.
"Well, if you say so." Niijima replied. She continued in a lower voice. "Any idea why there seems to be a hundred years' worth of difference in time we experienced?"
Aigis shook her head glumly. "I only know that my timeline should at least be close to correct, as far as I'm aware."
"Why?" Niijima asked.
"Because Akechi-san's experiences line up with mine, unless we are both missing a similar number of years."
"You met Akechi-kun?!" Niijima had enough awareness to not yell in the cafeteria unlike her teammate Ryuji, but her voice came out in a strained hiss that bordered a screech. "How?"
"He came to my town to arrest some Nyx cultists that I beat. He wrote my recommendation letter." Aigis added. She finally took a bite of her meal, then winced. "Sorry, I should have told you that earlier."
"Nyx? That goddess sealed on the moon?"
Aigis nodded.
Niijima abandoned pretending to eat her meal.
"How did you even run into them?" There was a hint of awe and pity in her voice.
For the next five minutes, Aigis recounted the incident that spurred her into joining the Gotei, starting with when the cultists first arrived in town. She did not omit anything. When the story was finished, Niijima did not look satisfied.
"Was it wise for him to know about…you know?" she pressed.
Aigis being a Persona user, she meant.
"Yes." Aigis nodded. "I didn't see an issue with letting him know, and I think he wanted some closure with what happened too."
Niijima deflated. "I still remember," she reminiscenced. "We didn't know if he was alive or not for the longest time, and after years of not hearing a peep about him, we had to believe he was dead. Seems like he did die back then, in the engine room."
Aigis took another bite of her food. It tasted a little better, being with a friend and catching up with each other, as if a burden was taken off her shoulders.
"Back to topic," Niijima continued, seemingly energised. "The hundred year gap?"
"Any idea what year it is now?" Aigis asked back.
"No." Niijima replied glumly. "People don't really keep track of years here, at least in Rukongai."
"We could ask one of the instructors," Aigis suggested.
"I'll do that." Niijima volunteered. "I have writing class tomorrow and I think Onabara-sensei is most likely to know."
Aigis nodded, and finished up the last bite of her meal. "Do you want to meet here again tomorrow, same time?"
"Yes, let's do that." Niijima agreed. She packed up her half eaten bento, and they both left the cafeteria.
The diminutive shinigami who gave Aigis her uniform turned out to be her kido instructor. Hinamori Momo was seemingly dwarfed by Aigis's class as she gave her lecture at the practice grounds, which looked rather like an archery range — high brick walls surrounded the green, and seven target boards were placed at the far end of the courtyard. A veranda shielded the class from the bright sun.
Hinamori was calmer than Matsumoto, but she was no less commanding of attention. She seemed rather friendly too, constantly smiling as she cheerfully answered various questions from the students.
"Okay everyone, I will be splitting you into groups of seven to use the target boards. Observe and learn from your classmates!" Hinamori called out.
Aigis was assigned into the second group, and she watched her classmates attentively.
"Kido is split into three broad types: bakudo, which are supportive spells and binds, hado, which are destructive spells, and kaido, which are healing spells." Hinamori said as the students moved into their positions. "For your first lesson, I'd like you to try Hado number one: Sho."
She casually pointed a finger at one of the target boards, and a bright light, akin to a bullet, shot out of it, hitting the bullseye and leaving a slight burn mark. A chorus of "ooh"s was heard as the students observed the clean execution of the spell.
"Of course, you will be doing this with the full incantation, unless you want your spell to explode in your face." Hinamori cheerfully continued. "Trust me, it's not worth showing off."
The students laughed, and Aigis gave a giggle as well, because the way Hinamori stated that was as if she had personally witnessed the exact same incident happen before.
She led the class with the chant, going phrase by phrase, until the students could memorise it without issue. The seven students already at the target board pointed their fingers forward, their free arm supporting the other.
With a signal, they all fired their spells. They largely fell short of the board itself, leaving pockmarks in the grass. Some were so off course they were closer to another board than the student's assigned target.
"Normal for a first try." Hinamori commented. "Keep your reiatsu output steady when chanting, and keep your arm steady when you fire the spell. It's normal to feel a little recoil, but by the time you graduate this should not be an issue." She went by each student, correcting their posture until she was satisfied, and instructed them to fire again.
The spells largely still did not reach the board itself, but their trajectory improved.
"That's enough for now. Second group!" Hinamori called.
Aigis moved to the furthest available position, pointing her index finger at the target, her body tilted, much like how she would shoot her finger guns. The other students had all kept their body straight, directly facing the target. She pushed reiatsu into her hand.
"Go!"
A short incantation, and a white ball of light shot out of her fingertip but it fizzled out before it reached the board. She barely felt the recoil.
The other students did not fare much better, with all of their shots going wide in some form.
Aigis frowned.
"I don't think you're putting enough power into the spell, Aigis-san." Hinamori came over to check. "Your aim is excellent though. If that spell lasted long enough, it would've hit the target."
As her instructor went to check on the other students, Aigis recalled the little lesson that Hitomi gave her when she first learned to control her reiatsu.
You imagine a space, then a circle within that space, filled with the darkest colour you can think of, Hitomi had said.
Aigis imagined a blank void, with a black hole.
Hinamori finished her inspections, and geared up for another round of firing.
Then imagine throwing yourself in.
Aigis narrowed her eyes.
"Go!"
A much bigger bullet exploded from her fingertip, streaking towards the target board. The unexpected recoil made Aigis flinch, and it managed to clip one side, burning a fist sized mark into the brick wall.
Oh, so that was why the area was fenced off with brick, instead of a weaker material like wood.
"That's a little too much power." Hinamori gently reprimanded. "But again, your aim is excellent. If the recoil was smaller, I think you would've hit bullseye."
"I'm…usually better at handling recoil than this." Aigis replied awkwardly. "I think I'm out of practice."
No guns existed in Rukongai, after all. Or rather, she never found any hints of weaponry from the twentieth century onwards in Soul Society at all. She used to be perfectly calibrated to handle any kind of recoil from any gun, even her gigantic Heritage Liberator Palladion (though to be fair, that one was formed from her Persona).
It shamed her to realise that she would have to recalibrate herself for recoil.
"That's what this school is for, Aigis-san." Hinamori replied. "You're doing well for your first try."
"Thank you, sensei." Aigis bowed.
She moved into the shade of the veranda as the next group stepped up. Much of the same results, though one student somehow managed to have his spell hit the board then bounce off, earning another round of giggles from the class.
So the three groups rotated throughout the lesson, ending only when all of the students could hit some part of the board with their spell at a reasonable power level. It took many more attempts for Aigis to find the right amount of reiatsu to successfully fire the spell without wrecking something else, but she managed.
A rushed lunch later, she had her first hohou class. It was the first class that she had no idea what it would entail, so it was a mild surprise when they were ushered back into the training hall, except they had the whole place to themselves. Like before, the floor was covered in thick mats for protection.
"Hohou, in essence, is the skill of instant movement," her instructor, Kira Izuru, began. "It is an essential part of shinigami combat, and your greatest tool for avoiding death."
Aigis recognised the man as the shinigami who first looked at her recommendation letter almost a week ago. He was thin and lithe in a way that reminded her of a cheetah, and spoke with almost a flat, serious monotone that might put anyone else to sleep, but she forced herself to pay attention.
"For most shinigami," he continued, "mastery of hohou manifests in shunpo — high speed movement. It emphasises footwork and a strong foundation in reiatsu control."
He faced away from the class, towards the far end of the hall.
Aigis blinked. Then her eyes turned wide.
In the moment it took her to blink, Kira had moved from near the class all the way to the other end of the hall, easily fifty metres in length. Her classmates were similarly gobsmacked.
Her teacher turned back, and with only a slight forward movement as preparation, he was back at the students' side again. She recognised the ability as what Akechi used to help her escape the Hollow trying to smash them back then.
So it was not unique to Akechi then.
The hall was large enough for all students to stand in a row as directed by Kira, while still giving everyone enough space to not crash into each other.
"Push your reiatsu into your feet," he instructed. "Imagine it as air pushing you along."
It sounded almost similar to how Aigis casted Sukukaja, though it also had the additional effect of increasing reaction speed, but the speed boost paled in comparison to shunpo.
"Solidify the image in your mind first, then move." Kira continued. "Don't rush, and don't let your classmates distract you."
She imagined a jet on her heels. Aigis dimly heard her classmates attempt shunpo, with varying levels of success.
She moved.
The world blurred around her, and she was unable to steady herself before she felt a downward force. By the time she found her bearings, she had face planted into the mats halfway across the breath of the hall.
Aigis scrambled upright, valiantly keeping a disgusting, sour liquid down in her stomach.
(She realised it was nausea, and now she understood why people did not gorge on food before intense physical activities).
Her classmates did not fare much better, either outright failing to activate shunpo, crash somewhere along the way, vomit, or a combination of the three.
It was going to take some work to deal with her own issues with shunpo.
"Motion sickness is normal when you first try shunpo." Kira noted, his hands glowing green as he used kaido on a vomiting student. "However, that reaction should disappear within the day. Once you feel that you're fine, try again."
It seemed a little harsh to Aigis. There were no tricks given to reduce the nausea, just a blunt "get used to it". Nevertheless, she did as she was instructed, sitting down on the mats to get her stomach under control. Some students were already trying again, determination etched on their faces. Aigis instead opted to take it slowly.
Her second try did not go much better.
On her fifth try however, she managed to move four metres from her starting position with only a stumble.
Oddly, Kira was not lying when he said that shunpo did not take much to get used to. By the end of class, Aigis only stumbled through shunpo half of the time, and the other half she landed steadily. The nauseous reaction was still there, but it was as an afterthought, rather than at the forefront. Some students fared better, but at least everyone was able to perform shunpo to some extent.
She considered it a win.
"You were right." Niijima said in lieu of a greeting when they met up in the cafeteria that night, putting down her tray of chiraishi don and tonjiru soup. "It has been two hundred years since I died."
"Did you ask Onabara-sensei about it?" Aigis asked, her chopsticks halfway to her yakiniku.
"He said the library keeps a log of major events that happen in Soul Society, which has the dates on them." Niijima continued. "We can check there."
"Sure." Aigis agreed. "Tomorrow night?" She had homework to complete, after all.
"Let's do that."
A/N: Y'all, I changed my commute just to get extra writing time (I write during my commute since it's one hour each way). Would you believe that I finished this chapter literally the day after I published the last one? Kept it back so that I could build up a backlog for chapters in case something happened though, and also because I wanted to make sure all the info and events lined up.
I think part of the reason why I'm writing faster now, apart from the long commute is that I am actually writing the parts I'm excited about. Before my hiatus, I was trying to do some worldbuilding, but with a limited number of canon characters and my unwillingness to create too many OCs, it was just...really slow. Now that I have more characters to play with though, it's a lot of fun extrapolating the possible lives that each canon character can have.
Also, there's a comment that caught my eye, so I'm answering it here:
WateryPaper: Simply put, context. There was no context for him to be mentioned, so he hasn't been referenced yet. However, that will change very soon.
Next chapter is actually already finished, but again, trying to build up a backlog here. I might publish it in 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter :D