It's the first day of class! Hajime was so full of nerves, she barely slept last night. Quickly getting herself dressed in the standard Academy uniform, she made her way to the classroom and was one of the first people to arrive.

Slowly, more students began to fill in the seats in the classroom. Surprised to see them, Sakura (who never returned last night) and Kisume were also students of the special accelerated class. Kisume, spotting the empty seat next to Hajime, quickly made his way to sit beside her. Sakura, on the other hand, sat with her group of friends in the middle of the classroom.

As the bell rang for the start of homeroom, a tall, lean, bald man walked in with a stern expression, "Okay students, take a seat. My name is Gengoro Onabara and I am the overseeing professor of the special accelerated class. It is my pleasure to inform you all that of the entire incoming freshman group, your scores were amongst the highest. Congratulations on making it into the accelerated class!" Cheers erupted from the crowd of students, "Now now, settle down. Of course, this means that our expectations of you are extremely high and so, you must work hard and strive for excellence. Now, to get this class started, why don't you all introduce yourselves and tell us whether you plan to join the Gotei 13, the Kido Corps, Schedulers, or the Onmitsukido upon graduation? You there," Gengoro pointed to a startled Hajime, "You go first."

"Right!" Hajime spoke loudly as she quickly stood from her seat, "My name is Kisumoto Hajime, and I plan to join the Gotei 13."

. . .

As the introductions of the students finally finished, Gengoro passed around the class syllabus highlighting important rules and regulations, payments and payment plans, the class schedule, and classroom resources. He also provided the students with the necessary textbooks that focused on the four Shinigami fighting styles: Zanjutsu, Kido, Hakudo, and Hoho (Movement).

"While we may have taken it easy today, we will be jumping straight into our Kido lessons tomorrow. I strongly advise you to study the spells in the book and make sure you remember those incantations. Class dismissed."

"Ne, Hajime, want to study together?" Kisume asked.

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea!"

. . .

After studying for a few hours, Kisume returned to his dorm to have lunch with his roommate. Hajime decided to pay a visit to Squad Six's Barracks to get study help from Renji as Sakura was hosting a "study" party in their dorm room.

Upon entering the Barracks, she stumbled into Byakuya. The last time the two have seen each other was in the Rukongai when Hajime backtalked Akane.

"You're Renji's friend, correct?" Byakuya asked as he examined Hajime.

"Y-Yes." She gave a bow, "It's a pleasure to meet you again, Kuchiki-Sama. We haven't been formally introduced; I am Kisumoto Hajime. Rukia and Renji are dear friends of mine."

"I see. What brings you here, Kisumoto-San?"

"R-right! I was hoping to get some Kido advice from Renji, I remember he said he was a student in the accelerated class during his Shinigami Academy days.

"Kido?" Byakuya gave a small chuckle, "If you are hoping to receive training lessons on Kido, it would be wise to stay away from Renji. In fact-"

"Oi, Hajime!" Renji called out from behind as he spotted Hajime talking to Byakuya, "I see you two are getting acquainted, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you. Tomorrow, we begin our lessons on Kido and I was hoping you can help me if you have some free time?"

"Ah, Kido?" Renji asked while giving a slightly embarrassed chuckle. While Renji was in the accelerated class at the Shinigami Academy, his kido skills, even now, were subpar.

"You helped her get into the Academy, isn't that right Renji? Do not falter on your duties to train her appropriately."

"Right," Renji agreed through gritted teeth, "I won't let you down, Captain!"

"You are welcome to use our training grounds so long as you clean up after yourselves."

Renji and Hajime made their way to Squad Six's training grounds and set up practice dummies for Hajime to practice her kido on. Surprisingly, Byakuya also decided to watch the training sessions before heading back to his office for the night.

"Uh Captain, you don't really have to waste your time watching us," Renji explained.

"I just want to see how your teaching skills are before I complete some paperwork. Carry on."

"All right, Hajime," Renji began, "as you should know, there are many different kido types, what are they?"

"Bakudo (Way Of Binding), Kekkai (Barriers), Fu (Seals), Hado (Way Of Destruction), Gisei Hado (Sacrificial Way Of Destruction), And Healing Kido."

"Perfect. So, what have you been studying so far?"

"Kisume and I have practiced Hadou 1: Sho and Hadou 4: Byakurai along with Bakudou 1: Sai and Bakudo 4: Hainawa."

"Those are all low-leveled basic spells. You're capable of much more than that! Let's try Hadou 31: Shakkaho."

Hajime simply looked at him with a blank expression.

"What?"

"I can't just jump from Hadou 1 and 4 to 31 all of a sudden!"

"What do you mean?! You're in the accelerated class, you should have most of the basic kido spells down already! Right, Captain?"

"There is no place for doubt or hesitation among the Gotei 13." Byakuya explained bluntly.

"And there you have it," Renji said with a smile.

"Well, I'm sorry, I only just learned about all this Shinigami stuff not too long ago!"

Renji gave a chuckle, "Listen, Hajime. Kido is all about feeling. It's about making the switch between defense and offense to engage and protect yourself in battle. The more you use it, the easier it will come to you! It shouldn't be a challenge for you to remember an incantation, I know you better than that. Now, I want to see you fire a Shakkaho at the practice dummy. With the incantation of course."

"If you say so." As Hajime faced the dummy, she took a deep breath. Reading the incantation from her text, she spoke, "O Lord, mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter wings, you who bears the name of man, inferno, and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadou #31, Shakkaho!" A large ball of red energy made its way toward its target and practically blew it up into pieces.

"See, now that's what I'm talking about!" The two high-fived each other and moved on to the next practice dummy. "Now, let's jump to Hadou 33: Sokatsui."

Her spiritual energy is quite impressive, Byakuya thought to himself, while she still needs to learn how to control her reiatsu, she's a fast learner.

Focusing on her next target, Hajime looked to her textbook and found the incantation, "O Lord, mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man, truth, and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hadou #33: Sokatsui!" A wave of blue flames flew from her palm and missed the target slightly, aiming for the ground.

"I would say that was a hit! All right let's try one more and we'll call it a night. Hadou 63: Raikouhou."

"You're crazy. There's no way I'm going to be able to perform a level 60 Hadou spell with my current skill level!"

"Let's just give it a try, you were able to do the level 30s without thinking you were capable so let's just measure where you're at."

Hajime let out a small sigh and faced the dummy. Flipping through the text, she found the incantation and read it aloud, "Scattered beast bones! Spire, Crimson Crystal, Steel Wheels! The wind if it moves, the sky if it stops, the tone of the spear striking fills the lone castle! Hadou #63, Raikouhou!" As Hajime fired the lighting at her fingertips, the spell backfired on her and exploded.

Byakuya quickly shunpo-ed to take her out of the dust and smoke.

"Thank you," Hajime managed to squeeze out as she was coughing from the debris.

"Ah, Captain-!"

"Renji," Byakuya began in a stern voice, "Not only was it your duty to train her appropriately but to also inform her of the dangers of a Kido spell backfiring. The amount of power released in that backfired spell could have done some serious damage."

"Right, that was my bad."

"It's all right," Hajime spoke as Byakuya helped her to her feet, "I was aware of the dangers of a spell backfiring. But," She looked at Byakuya and gave him a gentle smile hoping he wouldn't be too hard on Renji, "at least I know what not to try tomorrow," she explained with a giggle.

. . .

"Hey, Hajime!" Sakura called out to awaken Hajime, "We have Kido training today, if you don't get up soon, you'll be late!"

Hajime looked at the time and it was already 7:45! She quickly got out of bed and made it just in time for class to begin.

"Yo Hajime, Sakura!" Kisume called out as the two girls entered class together. Sakura went to go sit with her usual clique and Hajime made her way to her seat next to Kisume.

"You're pretty late today," Kisume spoke, "Were you dreaming about me?" He winked in a playful tone.

Hajime gave a smile. He may fool around a lot but he's very confident. I wish I could be more like him.

"Oh?" Kisume spoke, "Are you seeing something you like, Hajime? Or someone?"

She giggled, "Shut up."

The bell rang and Gengoro entered the room. He quickly told his students to head to the outside training field where they will be placed into groups of six. Each group will vote on a Hadou or Bakudou spell they feel confident enough to perform. If anyone in that group fails to adequately perform the kido spell, they will have to perform the spell again for Gengoro after school until they master it. Obviously, the higher-level kido spells are off-limits as the students only just began their studies.

Hajime was placed in group six with Kisume, Sakura, and three other students. As they were discussing which Kido spell they should perform, they noticed all the other groups picked low-level spells. Sakura, wanting to one-up everyone, suggested performing Hadou #33: Sokatsui. It seems that everyone was confident in their skills as no one objected to the idea.

Thank you, Renji. Hajime thought to herself as she didn't want to fall behind the others.

"Group six, which spell will you be performing for us?" Gengoro asked.

"We will be showcasing Hadou #33: Sokatsui," Sakura spoke for the group.

"I see, a level 30s Hadou spell, quite impressive. Remember, if you fail to adequately cast the spell, you are subject to after-school training sessions with me. The purpose of this test is to hone your ability to control your reiatsu. Now, ready your positions!"

The six students faced their practice targets and chanted the incantation in unison, "O Lord, mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man, truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hadou #33: Sokatsui!" Six waves of blue flames whipped through the air and damaged the targets creating a cloud of smoke. As the smoke cleared, it was revealed that one of the puppets lost its arms, one lost its head, two were damaged severely at the chest, and another two were destroyed.

Tracing the destroyed puppet back to Sakura, she received looks of praise and a round of applause. She gave a sly grin in return.

I see why the Toujiro girl received such strong recommendations. She's impulsive and ambitious but her control of power is clearly there. She's quite impressive, but… so is the Kisumoto girl. Gengoro thought to himself as he traced the other destroyed puppet back to Hajime. He wrote down his observations and waited on the next group to perform their Kido spell.