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[9th Week 29: Local Lore

PeaCe

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Year#3 in Rukongai


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One

“Yes!” Sho cried out in excitement as a small bell chimed out on the counter out front of his residence. “You’re up Andrago-san,” he shouted enthusiastically, scaring a few passers by.

Sending the back of his palm flying at the sleeping middle-aged man, the latter awoke with an expression of primal rage on his face. “What the hell did you do that for?” Grabbing at a nearby stick – one he kept beside him all times – he swung it at Sho, but the nimble teenager swiftly dodged it and leapt over the counter; he was now safely out of range from the enraged man.

“You’re up,” The Old man yawned, walking out from within the house behind the store and yawning quietly. Andrago realised now why he had been awoken but was none too happy for it. Indeed, most days went by like this and Andrago always seemed to forget why he was so rudely awaken all the time.

“How’re you, Kaver-sama?” The teenager asked, laughing happily while Andrago took a seat behind the counter of their bookstore – Sho had been in luck, the people he’d been taken in by happened to be avid readers who owned a massive bookstore. Indeed, this was mid-way through his third year in Rukongai and there were only six months left until he could claim he’d been working at the store for three years and claim what he had always wanted, the storehouse key.

The key would allow him to access the large building behind their home where the family’s private collection of books were kept – he had never been inside, told he would need to wait until he had worked an entire three years before he could access the treasures that lay within.

While there were a large collection of books outside in the shop that were all for sale, the ones in the storehouse were many times more numerous and all a private collection, not for other’s eyes.

“I’m doing good Sho,” Kaver replied, coughing. He was Old but Sho didn’t doubt he still had many years left in him. “You ready for the workshop shift?” Andrago let out a grunt. The typical day went as follows: A shift working in the bookstore followed by a shift working in the workshop and then finally several hours’ worth of free time.

Kaver did not work, so Andrago and Sho were the two who shared the responsibility. Sho ran the bookstore in the morning while Andrago had his free time and following this, Andrago worked in the bookstore while Sho began his shift in the workshop. In the final leg of the day, Andrago used the workshop, while Sho was given his free time, followed by a few short hours of free time for all after the bookstore had closed.

While the bookstore was where they made their living, inside the large and private workshop (neighbouring beside the storehouse filled with books) Andrago and Sho would work on creating things. While most of this was just to have fun, they were considered the District’s go-to people when it came to repairs – especially regarding mechanical devices and they also frequently cooked up many exciting devices which they put on sale in the bookstore – both practical and impractical. One of their more famous ‘impractical’ devices was their fireworks which seemed to grow bigger and better every year.

New year might be many months away, the trio had begun the early stages of development of the new fireworks and Sho was in high spirits, very eager to get to work and to continue the development and design of the new models – or at least this was what Kaver thought, as was usually the case.

Sho thought differently however, he had secretly been designing a high-powered drill small enough to be operated by one person and was ready to take this out on a test run today – another facet of the workshop shift should a device be completed.

The young spirit was always given a copy of the books being sold out front in the store (although he had never been given a book from the storehouse) and had just finished reading one on the local lore behind the district itself. The book was a reprinted version of a book with an approximate age of four hundred years. The changes in the reprinted version outlined all the changes to the present day, however the entire book was kept in its entirety – this included a special note.

According to this note, there is a buried treasure lying in a cave behind a nearby waterfall – however, this cave had been sealed and made to look like nothing had ever been there to stop people from taking this treasure. To get his hands on this treasure, Sho tingled with excitement. He wondered why nobody had tried to get this treasure but Kaver had explained that the book was admittedly not something many people read and those that did read the book dismissed it as merely part of the lore and mythology section which was indeed the final part of the book itself.

“I’m ready,” Sho said finally, after a massive delay, making the two other men stare at each other blankly and laugh. Sho was well known for being like this. He ran off, darting behind the building and made a break for the workshop.

Flinging open the door, the treasure-hunter grabbed the heavy drill and ran – as fast as the weight permitted him – out of the door, stopping only to lock up the workshop and headed behind the storehouse. What made the book’s story even better was the fact that the waterfall was not far from where Sho lived.

He approached the edge of a cliff the size of about four adults. There was a forest below and following a path Sho had created, reaching the waterfall – clearly audible and visible from the current position – it would take Sho only a few minutes to arrive at the waterfall.

He threw the drill as far as he could, aiming for the track – it had been built to survive harsh falls like this without any damage. It landed a small distance down the track and Sho leapt off the cliff to follow it. He landed in some large bushes below him, this was all planned of course. He suffered no injuries.

***

Having grabbed the drill and having made his way down the path, Sho observed the base of the waterfall and the lake complete with a river off shooting from it and down to a larger body of water to prevent flooding.

Being the adventurous youth that he was, Sho rushed along the side of the lake and stepped onto a metal bridge he had created that ran behind the rushing water that was falling into the lake. It was attached to the wall where the cave system was rumoured to be and ran the full length of the lake.

Sho grabbed at his drill and thrust it into the wall, breaking away a small piece of the rock in the process. He stabbed at the small crack he had created several times so that the drill comfortably sat in place. Sho held it steadily and flicked a switch on the side of the Drill, powering it on.

The drill roared into life and steadily began pounding away at the hard rock. It didn’t take very long before the process seemed to get easier and easier and within a few minutes, the drill burst through in the absence of any further rock.

Sho repeated this process for the next twenty minutes, clearing away a space large enough for him to fit through. Finally happy he could enter the cave; he powered down the drill and tossed it aside thoughtlessly, it had served its purpose and was tough enough to take any careless beating he gave it.

The adventurer noticed that the cave was rather small and that the only thing inside it was an ancient chest. Wasting no time, Sho rushed over and attempted to open the chest, but the lid had rusted shut. Cursing under his breath, Sho ran outside of the cave and grabbed the drill, it would prove useful still.

He applied the drill to the lock – although the force would shatter the chest itself – and began drilling. At first the chest proved surprisingly resistant, but Sho was a handy craftsman and his work was phenomenal. The chest cracked open under the severe pressure the drill exerted and the old wood literally fell apart in all directions, folding out into a net of the shape and revealing the treasure inside.

It was another book. Sho knew instantly it was a rare treasure. He flicked through the book – one on the tale of a Shinigami who had been a member of Sho’s district and who had left for Soul Society many years ago – indeed; if he still was alive he’d have aged another four-hundred or so years judging my the condition of the book – or better yet, journal. It was handwritten and highly narrated, but the information given was set out in a recount format, merely writing down the details of this Shinigami’s life.

Sho arrived at the end of the book, one of which he would fully read when he arrived home. It mentioned that the young Shinigami was now an old man. He had chosen to live out the rest of his life in the district. He was fond of games and loved to partake in them, with the last page detailing a piece of information most interesting to Sho; it was a note in the exact same fashion as the one that had led him to

The district I grew to treasure. That was my first book, my first tale. This book, on my life in Rukongai and as a Shinigami, this is my second book. My third book will be on my memories of my mortal life, something I have been assured is rare. I treasure this rarity and intend to make full use of it; to publish a diary of the memories I still have on my mortal life. Below lies a clue to the where the this third book will be hidden – and I assure you, at the end once you have read my tales and I finally attain my wish of being remembered, you will be rewarded with a treasure, the very same thing I had promised in the beginning.

Search for the book, “Night of Indignation.” It is a book that I treasure and the location of the final battle featured therein mirrors a real life location in my very own district. It is in this location I will hide my third book.


Sho raised a fist in triumph, “Yes!” he cried, “For a second there I thought this was a pointless waste of time, but now… it is something so much better…”
 
Ikimi Kengeki

1, 193

“Wait, what?” Dai asked, unsure of whether or not he had just heard Sho say what he thought he had heard Sho say. “You say that… you’re hearing voices in your head? I’m not sure that’s a good thing Sho, you might want to have that looked at.”

The scientist shrugged, “It’s not like that, idiot,” while this was intended as an idle comment, Dai could only shrug off so much and seemed generally offended at this point by being referred to as being so stupid; although this was offset to a large degree by the fact Sho was a genius and Dai didn’t consider being an idiot in comparison to a genius that bad.

“It’s quite simple,” Mieko interjected, sitting across from the two of them inside of Sho’s room which had by this point become the designated meeting point for the trio, much to the owner’s dismay. “What Sho is hearing is the spirit of his Zanpakutou. To release your Zanpakutou, you need to know its name.”

Dai stopped to a ponder for a quick moment and a slight worried expression painted itself onto his face, “Knowing your Zanpakutou’s name… like you said, that would mean he had achieved his released form. That release form—“

“—Shikai,” Sho interrupted, “The voice is very faint and only comes around periodically. I can’t focus on it, I’m not entirely sure how much more training I’m going to need to do before I can learn the name of my Zanpakutou.”

Dai tried to hide the look of relief on his face, but Mieko and Sho chuckled. They could tell that he had been worried that Sho had surpassed him in every possible way. Sho had always been a superior tactician and a better Kidou user and both of them had always been fairly average with hand-to-hand fighting. Dai had never expected that Sho would be the one who would achieve Shikai first. For Dai was the one who trained more with his Zanpakutou; the entire notion Sho would achieve Shikai first had never even occurred to him.

Noticing Dai’s disappointment, Mieko smiled to herself. “You know, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve been working here a few months and haven’t heard a whisper either. I’m just no good with my Zanpakutou and despite my knowledge I can’t seem to find out it’s name.”

Dai nodded solemnly, “Still…” he replied in a weaker voice than was his usual, “I just didn’t expect that Sho would be further ahead that mean with achieving Shikai. I’ve actually been working for that goal, that’s just something that he said he hoped he’d get eventually.”

Perhaps in a return to her old penchant for adding insult to injury, Mieko figured that a little salt to the wound would be fun. “Well… when you think about it, it sort of makes sense doesn’t it?” Mieko questioned Dai, “I mean he was the guy who kicked your ass in a fight.”

Being reminded of this annoyed him to know end and he got to his feet and withdrew his Zanpakutou. “Do you care for a rematch Sho? I know it’s only been a few hours but last night I was unprepared. I didn’t expect you to be as good as you were. Now that I know you’ve gotten better all around, I’ll keep my eye out for any tricks you have and make sure I’m not caught in a rough position before you even begin to use Kidou.”

“That’s exactly the point Dai,” Sho stated calmly. No matter what the two of them said, he would not be dragged into yet another fight by the duo, he still needed another hour or two’s worth of rest to fully recover from the previous fight just several hours prior. “I didn’t even use my Kidou until the very end and we were both fighting our hardest prior to that.”

“I can take your Kidou!” Dai protested, standing firmly and pointing his Zanpakutou at Sho, although the distance between the two of them was a safe distance and Sho was unlikely to be stabbed. “Last time your Kidou caught me unaware, but I’ve been thinking ever since then; I didn’t get any sleep and have thought about a way to counter Genshi.”

Mieko shrugged, “It’s no use,” she admitted, “Just because you’ve figured out how you can counter one of his Kidou spells doesn’t mean you will win, he’s still got other Kidou spells he can use. Besides, you just said so yourself that you haven’t had any sleep while Sho has had plenty. You’re only handicapping yourself.”

Sho shook his head in annoyance and fell back onto his bed, hoping for some extra sleep when the two of them left. Perhaps he wouldn’t even show up for work today, nothing too exciting had happened since the ‘airborne virus’. “Dai… going into a battle in a weaker state than you were in the previous battle, coupled with the fact that you haven’t improved on anything will only lead to another defeat. Especially considering in addition to having other Kidou spells I could use against you, I didn’t even show you all of my other trick.”

Mieko looked over at Sho, wondering exactly what he was referring to, “What would this special trick of yours be then?” she asked, “You’re not talking about Kidou and you’ve shown us your other combat abilities…”

“Ikimi Kengeki,” The young Ninth Division member muttered silently under his breath, but Mieko had keen ears.

“…Living weapon?” she asked, “You actually went through with Living weapon?! What were you thinking Sho? What did you do to yourself?” Mieko stood up, taking a quick glance at her watch. As soon as she heard the rest of the details she was out of here, she needed to get to work.

Both Mieko and Dai looked at their friend as he lay on the bed, seemingly uncaring over Mieko’s concerns. “I asked Saika-Taichou to give me an Assault-type Living weapon,” he explained, “My right arm… a spear that can extend up to fifteen feet with the metal being made up of the same strength as a Zanpakutou.”

Mieko showed a little look of concern on her face but she knew that Sho wasn’t an idiot and had done so only because he felt that it was an advantage. She was also running late for work. “See you at work!” she cried, rushing out the door.

Dai seemed lost in deep thought, “If you had have used that against me last night… I may well have taken some pretty serious injuries,” he acknowledged. “Thanks Sho… look, I’ll let you get some rest.” With that Dai sheathed his Zanpakutou, waved to his friend and left the room, closing the door on his way out.

While the reactions were odd and unexpected and seemingly sudden, Sho couldn’t have cared less. He was tired and he was still a little sore from the fight only a few hours ago. Smiling to himself he closed his eyes and hoped for another hour or two’s worth of sleep; he hoped nobody would realise the new guy was missing.
 

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