Tinkerer's Dreams [Solo Training]

[Luna Melrose]

Tinkerer's Dreams; Carving a Path Into the Future

A collection of short stories involving Luna Melrose during her Academy years, featuring the many prototypes she built along the way.

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“Miss Melrose, were you even listening?” “Eep~!” That question came as a shock and jolted the girl back to her senses; in fact, the shock was also very literal, as the circuit board laying in Luna’s hands had a burst of electric tension escape due to her sudden inattentiveness. Looking up, her history teacher Ms. Kaeda, along with the rest of the class, had eyes only for her; she had evidently been caught fiddling with the device and not paying attention to the lesson ahead, which had brought the educator’s ire upon herself. Whispers and chuckles slowly began filling up the room, her situation the lone form of entertainment her class had felt since sunrise; she paid no heed to their apparent amusement at the circumstances and instead rose from her seat. Regaining her composure, Luna put on her best smile and addressed the question aimed at her. “Yes~! My apologies, I was momentarily engrossed~ by one of my many projects, but I assure you I've focused on my studies as well, all along”.

“Oh, really now?”, her mentor quickly retorted, “Then you won’t mind a quick pop quiz, will you?”. Giving a quick glance to the blackboard and the time periods mentioned, Luna confirmed she’d have no issue with the task; feigning excitement at this request, with a light hop and sparkly wide eyes, she answered frankly: “Oh it would be an honor! Nothing would make me happier, at this very moment”. On the surface, this seemed like a perfectly normal discussion between history teacher and honorary student, but looks can often be deceiving; underneath, their exchange was hiding a power play, an attempt to turn the table on one another. After several of her classes, Luna was aware of how Ms. Kaeda operated, giving lots of her attention to those who had more difficulty while mostly ignoring the best performers, in an attempt to maximize the number of students who would understand the subject at hand.

The reverse had also been true, Luna wasn’t exactly subtle about trying to seem like one of the best in class but it made no difference, since she also knew Kaeda’s hands were tied; sneaking around, the girl had discovered her teacher was the recipient of many complaints from those of latter years, apparently formerly passing students who lacked the prerequisite understanding of the subject and who now failed their more difficult classes. Her job was on the line, which meant she couldn’t afford to spend time and effort on the geniuses in class; Luna would leverage that to her advantage and effectively turn her history lessons into time she could use to further her own projects instead. With that in mind, she smiled in a charming way, yet also likely perceived as provocation by her mentor, and moved to the front of class with confidence, her posture held high.

“Ask me anything~!”, she let out. Giving the girl a stern glance, Ms. Kaeda replied; “If you’re so confident, Miss Melrose, surely this question will be of no trouble at all for you; which Squad would you claim holds the records of our most recent history?”. As predicted... Luna knew her behavior had been irritating and could easily tell her teacher would attempt a trick question here, as a way to pull in the reins on her; however, she was also aware their lessons had begun from the farthest point of history and worked its way forward, and when glancing at the board earlier, Luna confirmed the same held true for today as well. If Kaeda wished to truly trick her student, she’d need to rely on a question involving the slight differences between their studied time periods and the more recent history... Unfortunately, Luna was a much older soul than she let on, and had lived through the more recent elements of history; nobody, even inattentive and disconnected as she might’ve once been, would remain oblivious to the major events of their own lifetime, no matter how long ago it had been.

Leaning her frame slightly on the nearby board, Luna pretended to be deep in thought for a moment. “Let’s see~...”; of course, she had reached an answer right away, but what was most critical for her would be how to turn it into an embarrassing mess for her foolish instructor, who had just now picked a fight with the classroom’s snake. “Well”, she began, “According to the lessons you’ve given us, the answer would be Squad 6, for its role as Internal Affairs”; she could immediately spot the faint glint of victory in Kaeda’s gaze, ohh would she be a fun one to break! “However... I also know these duties were recently altered~ toward Restoration and Repair by their most recent Captain, which would make this a trick question”. Wide-eyed, Ms. Kaeda couldn’t help but notice the low chitchat of class intensify at that moment; not only had this lone student recognized the catch in her request, a fact they hadn’t covered in class yet, but she also openly exposed it and, in doing so, put her on the spot.

“To answer your initial query”, Luna continued, “I believe rather than a Squad~, the ones most likely to hold such records would be the Kuchiki Noble House due to their implicit responsibility toward that task, as Squad 6’s most direct contributors since its founding, and depending on the involved records, they might also end up in Central 46’s possession if they are judged sensitive enough~”. Now pulling away from the wall she had been leaning on all this time, the girl made a quick twirl, full of energy, and positioned herself in front of Kaeda, her back against the class; all her motions were measured to give the impression of a studious and, most importantly, innocent honor student. None of it would trick their teacher, though; no, since Luna’s smile, seen only by her, was more akin to a wide grin and her aura, focused fully on the poor instructor, was dark and filled with malice, as if a warning. “Would that be correct~!?!”, the pupil happily questioned.

“Err, y- yes, of c- course! Hm... That was precisely the answer I was hoping for, Miss Melrose. Well done. I have obviously made a horrible mistake; please, return to your seat. J- just, make sure you prioritize your studies from now on, please...”. Mellowing her demeanor back to her former impersonation, the woman walked to her seat before facing Ms. Kaeda once more, giving a slight yet formal bow of her upper frame before sitting down again; “Thank you~! I will do my very best”. With the lesson now seemingly back in order, their teacher turned around and began awkwardly recounting tales of Old again, ignoring as best as she could the events that had just unfolded; for her class however, this wasn’t quite so simple, the quiet harmony proof of where their minds still currently stood. Luna turned a blind eye to it, knowing full well that every minute their attention kept focus on her and away from their lesson would force Ms. Kaeda to concentrate on them even further and, thus, would allow her to ignore this class without repercussions even more frequently.

Rather, what caught her full attention was the electronic instrument she had managed to haphazardly put together the night before; made up of a gray box with a hole in which countless tiny metallic rods seemed to cohabit, connected to a terminal with a small modern-looking display and several buttons arranged similarly to a keyboard, the device had been left waiting for the earlier altercation to finish. Shown on the screen were words flashing constantly, seemingly awaiting its user’s input; ERROR: NERVE CONTACT MISSING. Sighing briefly, Luna placed her left hand’s index finger into the box before pressing a button with her right hand that confirmed a redo of the earlier set of operations. Slight pain spread within her finger’s tip as the rods began pushing on it from every direction, a small amount of heat felt directly on its skin’s surface, after which new textual feedback was relayed on the display; CONNECTION: STABLE.

Now capable of restarting her work, she continued with the prior experiments she had been conducting thus far; as a direct interface with the brain, her nervous system could prove a valuable way to control the operations of other tools she might build in the future, if only she could properly decode its signals and form a proper channel of communication between it and her own electronic components. Her current objective was to establish that connection; while her left finger remained inside the device, she kept consciously bending it in various ways while her right hand would simultaneously press a button, saving the electric signals being detected in response and displaying their many properties as multiple graphs on the instrument’s screen. Then, using her understanding of basics in engineering, Luna analyzed the wave frequencies of received signals to determine which elements were useful information and which were merely noise, estimating the formula of a filter signal she then provided as further input in the device’s calculations to cancel out this noise and amplify the relevant outputs.

Iterating over and over, Luna quickly refined the signals into a usable format and began tackling the task of fine-tuning the algorithm to avoid any false-positive sneaking through. Amidst the silence surrounding her, though, she eventually realized a crucial detail; not only did she not hear any sound from her fellow classmates, which she could argue might be due to them concentrating on class, but the voice of her teacher and their lesson itself, too, also seemed to be missing. Lifting her eyes up, the woman was met with a ghastly sight, and her heart even skipped a beat; an empty classroom, devoid of anyone else besides her and, of course, Ms. Kaeda. “I’ll be waiting for you in my office, Miss Melrose. Whenever you decide to interrupt... whatever it is you’re doing”. She couldn’t help but let out a sigh and, with it, her concentration was broken once more...

*Bzzt!*

[Luna Melrose]

Luna was visibly shaking, today; not because of her Kendo class itself, although it most certainly had never been her strong suit so far, but rather because the class had an odd number of students and, therefore, one would get paired with their teacher every day. Today, it was her turn... and oh girl did she not look forward to that. The man, who took a liking to being called Swordsman Kogane, was a crude behemoth who only had Kendo in mind and wouldn’t hold back even against those far weaker when compared with himself. The best in class could hold their own against him, albeit with difficulty, but the class had already witnessed several of his more average pupils go flying across the room, a single strike from him enough to break their stance completely; Luna Melrose certainly wished she wouldn’t be added to the list of poor souls who got brutalized in a match with him, this afternoon.

Just like many other things in life, however, there is often a silver lining to any situation; in this case, it would be an opportunity to test a gadget she’d been dying to put under trial in real conditions for a while now. While her earlier experiments involving her own nerves had reached great results, without a tool to make use of this breakthrough, it ultimately meant nothing; she needed something to control using the mechanism she had built, and one of her first line of thoughts was a system she could use to give herself a burst of motion away from whichever peril threatens her safety. This, she hoped, would prove extremely useful to dodge strikes she didn’t otherwise have the means to avoid, but there was a slight problem; to concretize her idea, Luna would need to evaluate just how much force was needed, and how much was too much. Doing so required facing a real fight; what better chance to perform this analysis than her upcoming annihilation at the hands of Swordsman Kogane?

Feeling all her muscles instinctively tense up, the woman approached this hulking mass of a man; “Sir, I’ll be your opponent for today~”. Towering over the Shinai stand and about to pick which sword would have the displeasure of taking the brunt of his force today, Kogane turned around after barely noticing he had been addressed just now; “Hm? Ahh~, sure kid. Take a stance on the leftmost mat~; I’ll be comin’ over”. Fidgeting and playing around aimlessly with strands of her own hair, Luna tried to pitch the idea on her mind, pleading as best she could by feigning her most pitiful, poignant puppy eyes; “A- Actually, I’d like to try~ using a tool I’ve made earlier during our fight, if you don’t m-mind~...”. She wasn’t sure how important the regulations of Kendo and the proper procedures of combat would be for the teacher ahead of her, but she intended to at least try convincing him of the merits this might have, if he felt like refusing.

Thankfully, there would be no need for that; “Oi~, kid. Come’at me wit’ all the tricks ya want~, consider this’a real fight; so long’s’as it’s still a blast~ I don’t care how you go ‘bout it”. Her eyes lit up immediately, and her stance relaxed immensely upon hearing that; ohh, a blast it would certainly still be... Quite literally, one might say. After pulling out what looked like a small rubber ball, one she had filled with air at immense pressure and near the calculated breaking point of its membrane, she went to the nearby rack of Shinai and took one for herself; then, once she had switched into her protective gear, Luna took her stance at the nearby bamboo mat and awaited her dreaded opponent, Swordsman Kogane. She could hear the ruckus of the other Kendo fights all around and, soon, it was time for them to join the fray; “Oi, ya ready~?” “Y- Yes~!”.

Positioning herself with her sword kept straight ahead and its tip pointing forward, the traditional Kendo stance she had been taught time and time again yet couldn’t still quite grasp in finer details, the girl stood still and awaited the assault which was surely on its way. Honing her instincts and focus to their limits, she took every precaution she could to ensure that, at the very least, she would get a chance to react once her teacher would begin his offense; Luna even kept her rubber prototype within reach of her right hand, to be sure she’d be able to make use of it when the time came. There was a strong disparity between her attitude and Kogane’s, whose stance was completely open and whose Shinai was being held only with his right hand, perhaps as a handicap; the bulky man gave very little of his attention span to their ongoing conflict and, for him, their current predicament was just as natural as simply breathing... He certainly lived up to the reputation of his former Squad, the battle-hardened Squad 11.

Letting out a deep sigh before finally acknowledging her existence, he let out a groan and issued a warning; “keep focus’at all costs~, f’ ya don’t wanna end like da’ last”. Suddenly, he lowered his center of mass and, just like that, vanished in a blur of motion, faster than her eyes could properly track; although it had every appearance of a Shunpo, Luna knew very well that, in this case, the technique hadn’t been used and there really was just that big of a difference in speed between them. Even though she couldn’t track the strike, the girl still knew, from watching his earlier fights, where this blow would come from; Kogane had no love for fancy theatrics or bladework and, rather than attempt to win through technique, just fought by overpowering his foes into submission. Holding her grip firmly, she brought her Shinai upward and flipped it horizontally, in anticipation of the telegraphed vertical strike that would soon connect with it; she braced herself for impact, aware of the gargantuan task that would soon lie ahead.

In one firm gesture, both Shinai struck each other with a force well beyond what they were designed to endure, a loud crack resonating within the hall; “Ohh?~”. His strength was inhuman! The poor woman had already been on the receiving end of several blows that far outmatched anything she could dish out herself and, in many ways, that could be seen as the norm in this Kendo class, but this one strike surpassed any of those by a huge margin; there was no chance in Hell she could actually push back against this! Sensing her knees start buckling almost instantly, the girl made a quick decision to move her center of mass by side-stepping away and letting the blow hit against the floor mat, deflecting the force and preventing her from directly making contact with it; the motion wasn’t a clean deflect, mind you, since so much force was put behind this one attack, but at least she wouldn’t get sent flying either.

Unfortunately, Swordsman Kogane wasn’t holding his punches and the next strike came quickly afterward, far too quickly in fact for Luna to even have an opportunity to react. This next blow struck directly at her Shinai and, with the girl’s poor posture and her recovery from the earlier maneuver, it was propelled away throughout the room; not like it would’ve mattered anyway, since this second offensive led the sword to also snap due to the violence of this recurring onslaught. Left with no weapon at her disposal, Luna had no choice but to resort to her earlier trump card, the one tool she still had that could even hope to change anything in this hopeless situation. Reaching down for the rubber ball with her right hand while protecting her body from another blow with her left arm, she managed to set her grasp on it and the rest was merely a matter of course; quickly forcing her palm closed with as much force as she could muster, Luna felt a strong burst of air escape through the gaps between her fingers, and...

*Bang!*

Suddenly, all that would fill her vision was an image of the ceiling, far from being immobile; she could tell instinctively what had just happened, she had been sent flying after all. Curling up her upper body and tensing her muscles as a reflex against the imminent danger of an impact, her journey didn’t last long before it came to an abrupt end; feeling a sharp pain on the lower end of her left shoulder, she still came out of this ordeal relatively unharmed and slowly regained her awareness of reality, looking around to see most other students had stopped their ongoing matches, rather surrounding the two who had just been involved in what seemed to them like the usual result of Kogane’s matches. “Are you okay?!”; “Y- Yeah~, I’m fine...”. Lifting from the ground with the help of her fellow students, Luna slowly headed back toward their brazen instructor, unsure of what to expect from him in such a scenario.

Arriving at his side, she could instantly tell there was a weird glint in his eyes, something that hadn’t been there beforehand; “Oi~, kid. Fuckn’ hell, what’was THAT?!”. Inspecting the surroundings, she understood; Luna wasn’t sure at first if his blow or her device had been responsible for her unwelcome trip amongst the stars, but given the obvious marks of a human grip on the mattress and the bloodstain on Kogane’s right hand, she had obviously overestimated the pressure within her prototype. However, what was even more concerning, at this very moment, was the wide grin adorning their teacher’s face and this strong stare he gave the girl, two things no one in class had ever seen him exhibit before; this didn’t bode well for the poor woman... “R’Ahahahahah~, dunno wat’chu did wit’ that black thing’or watever, but t’was a great trick! Tell’ya what~, think you’ll be my’s sparrin’ partner tomorrow’ too; make’it entertainin’ again, kid~!”.

Oh, Heavens no...

[Luna Melrose]

It would be an ideal opportunity... There was an excursion scheduled for the summer period of their grade each year, and that would prove perfect to perform her next set of tests. Centered on Kido practice, their cohort would be camping in the woods and attempting to make use of the skills they’d developed for a survival exercise, rather than their usual training related to accuracy and technical application; it seemed like the Academy wished for their group to develop creative thinking skills regarding its practice, something Luna was admittedly already quite ahead at doing. Sadly, her proficiency with Kido itself was what she lacked, and this handicap would prevent her from truly fostering any form of prowess in this scenario; instead, she would try to exploit this opportunity for her own personal gains, studying the scientific implications of the various Kido spells she might witness over this activity to further her own understanding and attempt to replicate them using her own skillset.

Thankfully, the girl was cunning and had more than a few tricks up her sleeve; while she couldn’t claim to truly have a grasp on the specifics of spiritual manipulation, she had regardless managed to achieve similar results through applying physical principles on highly condensed spiritual matter. For instance, while a Shakkaho was well beyond her reach, she could get a similar outcome by simply igniting pressurized cubes of spiritual matter at a high enough temperature; right now, Luna carried a tiny pouch filled with such cubes, small and inconspicuous enough to not attract the attention of their caretakers. Her objective was simply to better identify the exact correlation between physical and spiritual interdependencies, in hopes that she could eventually design devices utilizing these discoveries directly. Short-term though, she would need to rely on her classmates for both their exercise and her research, which meant she needed to pair up with someone she knew could handle it all on their own; in truth, this devious trickster had set her sight on such a person already.

Known as Takaoka Masao, this man had been on her radar for quite a while now; as one of her fellow students following the same curriculum she was, he had proven himself to be an academic thoroughbred and one of the few who could compete with her in written topics and theory, two domains in which she generally felt unmatched. Unlike her, however, practical use of Kido could be considered his greatest forte and a skill he had honed into a sharp blade, discerning all there is to understand about it; if someone had to serve as her tour guide in this discipline, it just had to be him and, as luck would have it, making it a reality would be child’s play. Perhaps a symptom of their rivalry, he had evidently developed a crush on Luna over the year and she had caught him lurking around or staring at her on several occasions; as such, she knew he would quickly fall into the palm of her hand if she just gave him the slightest hint of interest.

Making her approach, she went straight to the young man and addressed him while feigning a sense of shyness and embarrassment at her upcoming request; “Umm... M-, Masao-san?”. While the man had been occupied handling inventory at that moment, upon realizing who had tried to get his attention just now he immediately dropped what was being done and focused entirely on her; “Ah! Yes, Luna-chan?”. Playing with the seam of her garments while avoiding eye contact, she continued; “Would you accompany me to the clearing~? I’d like to show you something...”. She could basically see stars fill up this poor man’s eyes; unfortunately, the romantic one-on-one he was certainly hoping for would never quite come, or at the very least not in a way that would match his desires. Locking their gaze together merely a split second, she could tell this man wouldn’t resist such a proposal, falling head-first into the incoming shenanigans.

“O- Of course! Wherever you’d like, I’ll follow!”; grabbing his hand in another deceitful attempt to distract his common sense away, Luna led him off the campground’s premises and into a nearby clearing the class had previously considered as a plan B for setting up camp. Dimly lit in the distance was a bluish flame of energy, barely visible in the darkness of nightfall; it was a reiatsu fire set ablaze by using her condensed spiritual cubes, applying friction on the particles to generate the necessary heat. While the wildfire itself was very prominent, remnants of the tool she had used to produce it were far more difficult to perceive and even moreso in the obscurity surrounding them; Luna first wanted to know if, in conditions where he didn’t know this spiritual flame was artificial, any signs would give it away to him. Were there fundamental differences between spiritual applications involving the natural handling of such energy, in comparison with her own approach and its synthetic results?

Nervously, her unfortunate prey spoke up whilst being pulled toward this blazing fire, seemingly unaware of its presence yet; “S- S- S- So, w- what'd you want m- m- me to see?”. Not responding yet, she instead brought him to the fiery azure flames and pointed toward them, keeping herself within his personal space and at a distance far too close for comfort. “Wellll~...”, she began, “I thought maybe you could tell me more about a Kido I tried earlier~ and what went wrong with it? It burst out here and since then, the flame hasn't dissipated”. Hearing that, Luna could tell his hope had been crushed, her impression quickly confirmed as he let out a faint: “Oh...”. However, she immediately closed the gap between them even further while looking at him straight on and slightly blushing, a series of actions that visibly caught him off-guard; the girl made sure it seemed like this question was merely a pretext and she had ulterior motives to be with him here.

His resolve restored, Masao took a moment to relax his rapid heartbeart; “Of course! Let’s see...”. After taking a closer look at the flames ahead, first scrutinizing their appearance before attempting to interact with them using his own spiritual abilities, he initially seemed perplexed; Luna even thought for a moment that her trick involving a physical element had been discovered, re-evaluating how her plans might shift now that she’d need to discard their use. However... “You tried to condense your spiritual energy, correct? That won’t do, Luna-chan; it’s a rookie mistake... Adding more pressure won’t increase its force, you’ll only make the spell unstable; instead, try to refine its shape into a crystalline structure”. With this single affirmation, she understood a lot better the earlier look of confusion, and why her process had been fundamentally flawed so far; since it was a form of energy, she had assumed it would behave similarly to a gaseous substance, but perhaps the spiritual connection was rather subject to a comparison with solids.

With this now out of the way, Luna could transition to the real crux of her scheme involving him; her face lit up instantly from the answer and she immediately took the expression of someone astonished by this revelation, seemingly realizing the faults in her earlier approach; “Woaah, thank you~! I would’ve kept using my spiritual power incorrectly if you hadn’t said so!”. Now face-to-face with each other, the devious girl began playing with his heart once more; lowering her chin to the lower left while keeping firm eye contact, holding her arms together to shorten the distance between both shoulders and therefore appear even more vulnerable, blushing ever so slightly to imply what was on her mind, her entire body language began telling the same story. Her lower lip slightly quivering, she uttered in a faint whisper: “Is there~ anything I can do to repay the favor?”; the emotions she put on display were obvious and straightforward, it certainly wouldn’t take a genius to figure them out.

Completely taken aback by this, Luna took the lead and didn’t give Masao a chance to respond, shushing him instead while bringing her classmate even further into the woods, this time to a secluded area where no one would be a witness. Under the cover of darkness, with her back turned to him, she covertly took out of her pocket what might look like medicine at first glance and placed it under her tongue, cautious not to be seen nor swallow it; following this, she turned to face him again and, with eyes full of conviction, took down the hood over her head, revealing the facial silhouette of a slightly pouting, yet heavily blushing young woman. The palm of her hand positioned at the back of this man’s neck to give herself the needed leverage, she pulled herself forward and, in one gradual motion, met his lips with hers. A happy ending, right? Oh, perish that thought; holding him firmly by the neck, she then pushed the aforementioned pill down Masao’s throat, a highly addictive drug with life-threatening withdrawal symptoms.

This, was the beginning of Hell on Earth for him.

Suddenly aware of the threat he had been facing all along, it was nonetheless far too late; nothing Masao tried could prevent him from swallowing the drugs masquerading as medicine and, realizing what Luna’s intentions truly were, the man fell to his knees, completely stunned. “What d- did you...?”, he asked; “Oh, nothing~ much!”. A wide grin now adorned the girl’s uncovered face as she lowered herself to his ear and whispered; “I have a lot more questions to ask you, Masao-san~... I trust this’ll be enough of an incentive”. Her spirit momentarily flared, giving away Luna’s true, malevolent feelings; to say this man was terrified would be an understatement, his whole body shaking from fear due to the monster he’d just unearthed. The student was justifiably dejected and sensing this, she let out a few additional words, innocently smiling as if nothing unusual was going on between them; “The carrot or the stick~, you may choose which you prefer. If you'd rather suffer a cardiac arrest than yield, the many positives from our little arrangement may convince you otherwise~, if only you were to play along...”.

In one fell swoop, Luna had stolen this man’s heart... Quite literally.

[Luna Melrose]

Theft! Theft, she says; it was theft! Arriving early to school today, the girl had inadvertently left her bag unattended while discussing with one of her many teachers, negotiating for a better grade; his unsightly tantrum about her ‘blackmail’ and how she had ‘ruined his life’, illogical as all that may be, had won the culprit precious minutes to scavenge through her belongings... The sheer audacity of them all! Luna was now fuming with anger, and rightly so; of all the things they could’ve stolen, her cute pencase, her set of scalpels or even the few hair strands with her DNA lying around, they chose the one thing she needed most... The experimental snare mechanisms she had built the night before! With this gadget gone, her agenda was heavily impacted, especially since she couldn’t afford to restart her work nor let this prototype just roam free in the wild, she needed to see it in action herself; no, the robbing hooligan would get what’s coming for them, she’d make sure of that!

Thankfully, this woman wasn’t the kind to not take precautions; her devices, two in total, had a tracker built-in and could relay their position and status back to her, if she so desired. These prototypes weren’t designed to last very long, after all, and you’d be surprised how often such objects would get destroyed or lost around the girl; therefore, she gave them the essential scrutiny to ensure this wouldn’t happen before they truly fulfilled their purpose. “You don’t steal a woman’s favorite toys...”, she silently muttered; remotely activating the tracking feature, Luna learned a lot more about the thief’s whereabouts, and could now attempt to reacquire her own stolen property; it seems they were currently located near a clearing on the outskirts of Academy grounds... Why, she wondered? Instantly, the realization hit her; that was the area where another class presently engaged in a Flash Step exercise. The bandit planned to crash this drill, and would likely pin the blame on her!

Approaching the signal’s origin as covertly as she could, this bitter student daydreamed about what she’d do to the poor soul who had fueled such ire within herself; would she bully them incessantly, or perhaps isolate them completely? No, of course not, she had a much better idea in mind... If they were devising a way to get the girl in trouble, then it’d only be fair for their plan to backfire on them; she’d manipulate the outcome to make sure this occurred, keeping herself free of guilt in the process. Besides... An innocent ruffian had oh-so-graciously applied for the role of guinea pig in one of her experiments this afternoon, how could she not retaliate in kind? If she could field-test her gadgets out of all this, then all the better; these thoughts at the forefront of her mind, she went on the hunt for the mean scoundrel responsible of fostering her fury, arriving at the alleged scene where their encounter would occur.

Sneaking up on them, the one she saw was unfortunately a face the girl recognized... It was a well-known troublemaker among the school, an upperclassman going by the name of Genkei. Well, that complicated things; if he was the man behind this, then the craftswoman could already tell he wouldn’t give in without a fight of some sort. Why would he, after all, when the teachers had failed to enforce discipline during all his other outbursts? Luna would need a plan, some way to neutralize that possibility, before confronting him directly... At least now that she knew the identity of her thief, it was probably not truly a framing attempt, or not intentionally; the shrewd girl had quite a reputation already as a science geek, just like Genkei was known to cause trouble, and so she was probably targeted simply because the man knew her bag would contain interesting devices to provoke conflicts. Major mistake, though, if he believed that wouldn’t put the guy on her radar instantly.

For the time being, she settled on observation, stalking him and trying to decipher his intentions; if the girl could determine who or what his target may be, then perhaps an intervention before it led to a fight was possible or, at the very least, she could force someone else into it. Hidden in a bush near the clearing, her eyes focused on Genkei, watching as the man pulled out a metallic object from his pocket; there were no doubts about it anymore, this was one of her stolen prototypes. Quelling the bloodlust rapidly rising within herself, Luna’s eyes then narrowed; the rascal focused her gadget’s targeting mechanism on the tracks nearby, a path those partaking in the Flash Step exercise were likely to be using. Shortly thereafter, students moving at flash speed began passing by, mostly ignored by the agitator; no, it rather seemed like the guy had a specific target in mind... And as this one woman went by, it suddenly all made sense.

*Swoosh!*

*Crash!*

The trigger having been pulled, a large net sprung forth from the device and entangled itself around its unfortunate victim, a person Luna recognized instantly; it was Sadako, a member of the school Disciplinary Committee. She knew that, because... She miiiiight’ve gotten in trouble with them already, once or twice; regardless, right now the woman had been effectively plucked out of the sky by their common enemy, mister gloomy gadget robber. “Tch. What the hell just happened?!”; trying to undo her bindings, the man maliciously approached his catch, attempting to provoke a reaction. “Ha! What’yu gonna do about this, ma’am the Tyrant? V’e got loads more where that came from!”; groaning slightly, it seems Genkei was trying to turn this into a spectacle in protest, but his approach was grossly inefficient and was undoubtedly doomed from the start, causing a light facepalm from Luna. That’s why... “Stop it right there, thief!”; she revealed herself, startling the young man.

Astounded, the troublemaker first took a step back but promptly had a very different response, ready to instead engage in a fight; “Howv’u make it here already??”, he questioned. That was short-lived though, as others from the Flash Step exercise began to stop in their track and reach the scene, curious about the ongoing commotion. Given the circumstances, the aggressor made himself scarce, taking off into nearby woodlands; this gave Luna the opportunity to instead focus her attention on the woman caught in a snare, coming to the rescue and freeing her. “Are you okay?! I’m sorry~, that’s one of my inventions he just stole from me”; “Tch. It’s fine... Ow! Don’t pinch me!” “Sorry! I’m sorry~!”. Regaining her footing, gently stroking her arm due to mild pain caused by a blunder Luna made while liberating her, the model student let out a grunt and looked away; “Thanks”, she said, “Go on ahead, I’ll catch up soon; just, gotta catch my breath first...”.

Nodding, the tinkerer left these grounds and departed toward the forested area, tracking their assailant; following his trail, she quickly found herself in a small glade, a region with a large tree acting as a landmark, markings from training still obvious on its bark. Inspecting it, a familiar buzzing sound resonated and soon, the poor girl was snatched away by another web of her own creation; “Ya’shuldve waited for the other gal; she’ll need a few minutes, I’ll be looong gone by then”. The device was impressive, no doubts about that, it was definitely Luna-certified craftsmanship and she could experience first-hand how effective the mechanism could be; unfortunately, Genkei’s luck had run out, the cunning woman thinking several moves ahead of him already. “I’m well aware you’ll flee this quickly, that’s why...”; struggling a bit, the net holding her in place fell apart, her body and limbs free once more. “...I’m here to impede your escape”; holding up a small monitor, one she had previously been using for the tracking signal, the woman pressed a button...

*Bang!*

...And her prototypes suddenly exploded; “Wadda’fak !?!?!?”. Smiling profusely, Luna didn’t see fit to provide an answer, rather silently fixating on the man ahead; this was karmic retribution for stealing from her many tools, she thought. If only he’d just asked... She might’ve been willing to give them away for this silly goal of his, but that didn’t matter anymore; his surprise dying down, Genkei approached the girl in front of him and was clearly about to try and throw hands for it, that ruffian! Luna Melrose wasn’t moving an inch though, still grinning openly, and that was because... “Yo. You forgot about me?”; a single punch sent the guy flying, crashing into the large tree’s trunk located directly next to her. That was due to Sadako, back in top shape, having met up with them already, something which was no coincidence; after all, while the troublemaker’s earlier estimate should’ve normally been accurate, this trickster had pricked the man’s victim with a medical revitalizer prior to coming here, the pain she felt had been no accident at all.

Pulling on one of her nails slightly, a small rim covered with needles detached, this trick responsible for the current situation; it was another of her prototypes, a way to covertly inject all sorts of medicinal agents to an unsuspecting target. Hiding it among the rest of her belongings, Luna moved closer to Sadako, eager to discuss with her further; “Thank you for your intervention~”. “Tch. That guy doesn’t know when to give up”; going toward Genkei, the two of them soon realized the blow had taken him out cold, this man fully unconscious from the force of the impact. Grabbing him and lifting the thief on her shoulders, a surprising feat of strength, Sadako left toward the Academy’s entryway, baggage in hand; “Welp. I’ll place him in custody and make sure he gets proper punishment; let’s meet again after, you seem like lots of fun to hang around with... Daaamn, I’m full of energy now!”. A devilish grimace adorning Luna’s face, she gave her a response; it seems today’s efforts would be rewarded...

“Yes~; let’s hang out later!”.

[Luna Melrose]

This was a day Luna would not soon forget; this, was a day common to the path of any medical practitioner in the making... This, was frog dissection day; and oh lord was she hyped for it! I mean, it’s not like you get to mess around with an amphibian’s innards everyday, and especially not in this world of spirits; most of the bodies the poor girl had managed to experiment with were for the most part at least vaguely human in proportions or physiology, and lacked the more interesting tidbits other lifeforms may carry within. Thinking back on it, maybe she missed out because of how her bodies were being collected... No matter, there was no point dwelling on the past! Cheerfully frolicking her way through the large Academy corridor on her way to their class, this girl had effectively only one thing on her mind right now and it was to slam its door wide open; oh, would she welcome today with a grin and a bang!

Getting inside in quite this spectacular fashion, few had actually already arrived; besides her teacher Itsuo, an old man with a knack for lectures and a tendency to get far too engrossed in them, the only other one currently present was a young girl lazily sleeping on her desk... Or, she was, until a sudden noise from the door hurriedly caused her to wake up; “W- What was t-thaaaat?!?!”. Smiling and waving while remaining completely still, Luna identified herself as the cause to this student; “Just me~!”. That woman, believe it or not, was the trickster’s lab partner, and a good friend named Mayu she’d surprisingly been able to make throughout these facultative medical lessons. Walking up to her, she sat on the neighboring seat and began preparing her equipment; the girl had brought a few extra gadgets as well, of course... They’d now get to partake in their mutual hobby together, the duo a fearsome pair that any poor lab specimen would rather not find on their path.

The classroom slowly filling up with other students, their time to get into action soon arrived and, with it, one of Itsuo’s long lectures about lab security; booooooooooring!! Dead frogs contained in jars near the front desk, Luna quietly got up and, without interrupting their teacher in his most passionate discourse, took one for herself; it seems many also felt the same about their impromptu lesson, a third or so of the class following suit behind her. Now returning to her seat, her friend yawned before addressing the girl; “Sooo~, you’d like to cut him uuuup, I assume?”. Ecstatic about the prospects of doing so, she excitedly confirmed her desire; “Yup-yup~!”. “Okaaaay, just wake me up when heee’s~ open”; laying back down, it was remarkable how Mayu could sleep near their dead compatriot, and that she didn’t seem bothered by scalpels being used so close to her face. Either way, Luna wouldn’t miss this great occasion, letting nothing at all distract her from the task ahead.

First positioning the small frog in their tray, the girl pinned its limbs firmly and secured their most prized possession so it wouldn’t be damaged throughout the ordeal; now holding her scalpel in hand, she began with an incision made vertically to the abdominal area while being extra careful not to puncture or damage any of the internal organs, their prize and joy. Then, her next cuts were made horizontally, at the height of both its arms and powerful legs; peeling the severed skin to expose their buddy’s internal structure, what a surprise it was to find eggs laying around in here! It seems the two of them shared a mutual gender and, for Luna, this was like hitting the jackpot; gleefully taking a small vial from her medical supplies and filling it up with a mix of water and formaldehyde carefully measured at a ratio of about one third, she delicately extracted this treasure from the lifeless creature and stored them all, planning to use them for further research on her own time.

Focusing once more on the dissection itself, the student fiddled around with the organs she could see; that’s the stomach, this part’s the heart, here’s the oviducts... Paper to the side, she drew and classified where everything stood, slowly digging further down while moving bits that were already identified away. Soon, she had a proper diagram representing the whole structure of these organs acting as the instrument that’d allow this lifeform to take life, an excessively detailed outline when looked upon by someone with standards that weren’t her own; truth be told, although this class was meant to be a medical one, the girl had taken an approach far more akin to a field researcher who now tried to uncover every mystery about the creature’s organism in itself, rather than simply thinking of how to preserve life. Such was the core of Luna’s nature, as one who pursued the unknown incessantly; for her, even a mere frog could prove to be an unending treasure trove of secrets, their importance and overall value completely irrelevant in this process.

Alas, she wouldn’t keep all the fun to herself, as tempting as that could be; lightly nudging the woman at rest beside her, she woke her up so they’d both get a good look at it together. “Mhmmm, morniiiiing~~”; quietly straightening up her stance, Mayu leaned in toward the open specimen and took a good look at it for herself. “Oooh~, a mommy! Did you get the eeeggs?”; “Mhmm-hmm! I’ve kept them safe in a formalin solution”. Having a casual back-and-forth, both girls bonding over their morbid curiosity of dead innards, the two discussed her findings and the diagram previously made, comparing it with the theory they knew; that is, until Luna pulled out a flask of deep red liquid and a small pump, objects her companion didn’t recognize. “What’s thaaaat?”, she curiously asked; “It’s blood and a tiny pump, we can circulate some of it inside and watch how it’ll spread!”. Of course, that was far beyond the scope of this exercise, but... “Ooh~, I’m iiiiin!”, Mayu merrily responded.

Both of them just as wacky, the two girls immediately created a small opening in one of the heart’s arteries and started pushing literal blood through it using the pump, at a rhythm similar to the beats of a heart; its blood vessels promptly colored red again, allowing several of the poor animal’s inner organs to regain a more natural coloration. Unfortunately, as should be expected when trying to reinstate blood within the veins of a frog you’ve already opened up, the vessels weren’t exactly intact; soon, the liquid began pouring out from several locations, splattering the women a fair bit. “Ahhh~!”; being the closest and seated right in front of their horrific display, Luna was by far the most impacted, with her clothes and face looking like she’d just committed murder. Their little accident wasn’t silent, either, causing many classmates to turn around alongside their instructor and have a good look at them; the elderly man sighed then approached, seemingly both exasperated and perplexed by the display before him.

“What happened, here??”, he frantically questioned; Luna gestured, wanting to explain the situation, but soon chose to refrain from doing so, realizing there was no way out of this one. “Please go wash it off at the eyewash station, before the bacteria cause an infection”; nodding, the two girls reluctantly agreed... “Yes, sir”. What had even happened?! Before leaving, the student took a quick glance at her pump, and it all made sense; the device had mistakenly been set to automatically regulate its pressure according to the one exerted at its tip, which meant that once the veins were full, the differential led the machine to push its hardest yet... Whoops, she thought. Regardless, she needed to deal with the risk of infection, and thus did as requested; soon returning from her trip to the station, the girl peeked around and noticed Mayu was still absent, most likely sleepily washing her own eyes... Luna had another experiment she wanted to try today, and there would be no better chance for it than while nobody paid attention to her actions.

Covertly revealing a small vial with a bubbly, dark green concoction within, the sneaky girl poured some into the pump before adjusting its settings and momentarily activating the device again; this led a small amount of the viscous liquid to propagate within the remaining blood. This fluid was in fact one of Luna’s current experiments, a highly acidic mixture made of blood and capable of transmuting more of it into its own form while in contact; she wanted to observe just what level of damage it could cause to a living body and, therefore, had just injected it inside their lab specimen... The results, however, were catastrophic. Scrutinizing its impact, the compound could seemingly interact not only with blood, but also with flesh; this meant, essentially, that nothing would remain of their frog. “Uhhh~, sir?”, she hurriedly called out; Itsuo turned around rapidly from the clear signs of worry in her voice, and soon saw noxious fumes rising to the ceiling... “Everyone, get out!!”.

A frenzied rush to the door later, many from class peeked through and witnessed not only a dark cloud hovering above the desk, but also a large hole piercing through it and leading, they assumed, to the floor; apparently, the corrosive element was sliiiiightly overkill. It was obvious from their teacher’s reddish facial complexion that he was furious, and Luna would soon receive his ire; unfortunately, Itsuo wouldn’t get that chance, since another event required his urgent attention. “Mayu?!”; before them, the young woman had returned from washing her eyes and now sat right in front of the toxic waste, seemingly confused why everyone had left. That was unorthodox, and what caught their eyes next even moreso; grabbing the remnants of their frog and ignoring the clear health hazard, Luna’s lab partner brought it to her mouth and sucked the spiritual energy surrounding it... Quickly, all signs of toxicity from the specimen, including the ominous fog of death, had vanished from their sight; “Oooh~!”, Mayu soon exclaimed, noticing her many classmates near the door, “I thought you’d alllllll~ left!”.

Class was, understandably, canceled that afternoon...

[Luna Melrose]

Pieces were now coming together, but the young scientist still lacked a clear, concise destination; many of her experiments were merely done on a whim, the results only being promising on a very small scale so far... She now needed to think big, think smart, think of a proper invention utilizing these outcomes for real combat, for whichever scenarios she might come across during her upcoming duties as a Shinigami; of course, this was no easy task, a desire that meant searching for a way to compete with both Zanpakuto and Kido on their home turf. Fortunately, there were only two real requirements needed to find a solution, following a proper reflection; the first was one this girl already had at her disposal, the constraint of time, an abundant resource while she had to play pretend this role of an angelic student. The second, her need for concentration, could thankfully also be earned at the cost of complete silence and stillness; that’s why, on the dawn of daylight, after getting startled awake by a loud noise originating from the room adjacent to her own...

*Bang!*

...She left the confines of her dorm with Asauchi in hand and a specific destination in mind. See, there’s a practice often performed in this Academy by many of its students, due to the very nature of their power and how it manifests itself in the future; the art of meditation, self-recognition, and other such attempts to peer into the deepest corners of one’s very own soul, in pursuit of their inner world and the spiritual entity inhabiting it. Bollocks, if you were to ask Luna, but so was the tradition on these grounds; since the discipline was even part of their curriculum during the latter half of their studies and meant so much to the pupils who were eager to prove their worth, training rooms had been designed precisely with this goal in mind, a fact that would currently suit the young woman just fine. These chambers were freely accessible to anyone who wished to either maintain or strengthen that bond; she planned to hijack one and envision a device worthy of her ambitions during the otherworldly session.

Walking at a fast pace through the hallway while following the directions she’d written down the day prior after asking an upperclassman for the location of such a room, the student reached the upper floors and arrived to the designated area; opening one of the many doors lying ahead, what greeted her sight was a dark, damp space, dimly lit from candles on both sides of a bizarre mattress occupying the center of this room. Having already learned more about the proper procedure to follow through yesterday’s discussion, Luna silently took the incense left near the entrance, igniting it using one of the aforementioned candles before putting it into the specified incense holder; next, she approached the odd cushion and got herself into position, sitting cross-legged on top of its surface with her eyes firmly shut. Momentarily taking a second to confirm her posture, the girl briefly felt a pit through her stomach; regardless of her personal beliefs on the matter, Zanpakuto Spirits were an observable phenomenon, and she would surely have one as well... Could she meet it already, the student wondered?

Getting rid of these superfluous thoughts would be a necessary step before partaking in such an exercise; therefore, the girl brought a hand to her face and verified her sight remained completely obscured before honing her focus toward the contractions of her own diaphragm, attempting to slow them down following each inhale, an act that gradually reduced the speed of her metabolism. Luna was now concentrating fully, a lone woman in this dark environment devoid of any sound, as if completely separated from their busy school life occurring merely a doorway away; she was absent from the concerns of this world, and had entered a different one altogether... Her breathing now calm and steady, she felt a substantial awareness toward every sensation in her body, a sign that her stillness and serenity had reached their intended result. Focusing on the black void permeating her sight, her thoughts soon went entirely blank; she just needed to realign them with her ambitions and, surely, the student would quickly find herself with an environment fit for the whims of her rumination.

Her thinking nullified in a vacuum, leaving nothing behind but the mere traces of Luna’s cognitive mindset, she willingly fell victim to the inclinations of an introspective, barren space; here, sheltered deep into her own reasoning, nobody would manage to disturb the girl’s rationale nor influence its conclusion. Recalling the payoffs of every experiment she’d run so far, every prototype she’d conceived, the woman ultimately pondered what was missing, why was it that she felt they wouldn’t measure up on the battlefield? Their potential to inflict serious injuries was undeniable, the incendiary and toxic aftermaths even proving too much at times for her teachers to control... Wait; that’s it! Her uneasy feelings weren’t a result of doubts toward the output of her inventions, nor whether they could properly slay her foes; they were caused by her instincts, warning the student about impending danger! She lacked the means to orient this onslaught toward her enemies, which meant her next creation would need to tie up this loose end.

Thankfully, the scientist already had a great foundation in mind for this task, a former experiment capable of providing the fundamental building block on which she’d frame her research moving forward; she had previously analyzed the signal outputs emanating from her own nervous system, a perfect platform with which to command this hypothetical gadget of hers. Luna sought to assemble a delivery mechanism, safe and secure for herself, which could transmit her various hazards in a controlled manner to the surrounding area; her ambition couldn’t be met simply through affixing the gadgetry to herself though, no, she would need to modify the very core of her anatomy. Sheer madness, some might say... However, to reach heights yet unattained, the madwoman deemed such a sacrifice as necessary. Relying on her expertise as a medic, she tried to predict the <time> by which this <coarse> <world> would <dry> the <bloodshed> of her own <past>; admittedly, <death> would prove a <tainted> <visitor>, a <challenger> for the <sand>...

What, was going on...?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Her thinking invaded against her will, its sanctity violated by alien beliefs she didn’t recognize, the woman outright halted her reflection dead in its track, chills now running down her spine; she had no recollection of her own thoughts, the girl’s mind now a blank slate, white static replacing everything in this intimate, most personal of locations. Attempting to open her eyes, even that much proved a hurdle, Luna’s sight stubbornly remaining out of her reach; no need to mention the sheer panic, the gut-wrenching fright that came when one’s body began acting outside their own command. Attempting to forcibly open her eyes, she did eventually succeed, although what met her gaze wasn’t the familiar sight of a room she’d entered moments before; rather, the student was gradually met with the sensation of a strong, grainy wind, gusts of sand blocking her vision beyond a few meters. The only object she could correctly perceive in this hellish landscape was an hourglass, immobile on its pedestal ahead, within reach of her arms...

Confused, terrified even, the woman tried to stretch forward and grab this unknown entity, striving to try and figure out her current circumstances, but she was suddenly overflowed with feelings of glee and joy, a fact that temporarily cleansed her of worries; unfortunately, this moment of respite didn’t last very long, her revulsion skyrocketing once she understood the sensation was, much like her previous ones, entirely artificial. Whatever it was that stood before her, the abomination could dominate this poor girl’s emotions and restrict her freedom; however, she now felt inquisitive toward it, as if the creature tried to convey it wasn’t a threat, as if it tried to establish a common understanding between them. “W... What, are you...?”; she had a suspicion already, and the feeling of self-awareness flooding her confirmed the theory... Luna was currently facing her Zanpakuto Spirit, the very reflection of her weapon as a Shinigami, hidden within her soul; she soon calmed down, yet remained uneasy at the occurrence given its abrupt and especially forceful emergence, an intruder in the inner peace she’d fostered.

“You’re my Zanpakuto, then; would you perhaps have a name~?”, the devious woman asked her visitor; unfortunately, a deafening silence was all she got in return, the information not quite that easily accessible it seemed. Glancing at her surroundings, trying to understand more from what little she could see, the student inferred her inner world was some sort of desert landscape, the sandstorm raging around herself a dead giveaway; however, the icy atmosphere ran contradictory to that assessment, and the strong winds felt unnatural as well... Was there perhaps something wrong? Hoping this realm wouldn’t prove so chaotic and turbulent on every visit, Luna sighed and reluctantly questioned the blade further, her initial musings now back to the forefront of her mind; "So~, do you have an opinion on the matter? You're a weapon too, after all", she queried. A distinct void her only sensation, she lamented the lack of any response, feeling dejected at the way today had turned out; “I’d have spent my time differently, if only I’d known...”, a silly statement said without paying it any mind. Shockingly, though, this thoughtless comment was met with an acknowledgement, and soon...

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

*Bang!*

Startled awake by a loud noise originating from the room adjacent to her own, the girl widely opened her eyes, giving a quick look at her current environment; she was seemingly still in bed, wrapped in her own blankets, her sight acclimating to the sudden glow of sunlight. Slowly getting up on her feet, Luna had to admit she felt there was something strange about that, but... For some reason, she couldn’t quite put her finger on why? Why would waking up, after a long night’s sleep, prove unusual? It felt as if, she’d forgotten something... Important. Trying as best she could to try and think it through, attempting to make any sense out of her hunch, the woman just had to eventually give up; no matter, she thought, instead preparing for her day ahead, comb in hand while standing in front of a large mirror. Soon ready, she left the confines of her room, without any real destination in mind; it was a morning much like any other, aside from a detail she herself had not yet realized.

The student had left her Asauchi behind, this morning.

[Luna Melrose]

Ghosts, hauntings and the abnormal are evidently frequent myths among students, especially ones who attend an Academy destined for souls in the afterlife; it should come as no surprise that such stories travel excessively fast when sufficient evidence begins surfacing about them, the superstition growing with each subsequent sighting. In truth, there exists such a tale within the Shino Academy, one beginning with Luna’s cohort... Should one face danger inescapable, many believe that the lone silhouette of a silvered woman may descend upon the unfortunate and lend a helping hand, neutralizing the threat and vanishing just as swiftly as she came; there are many reports of this phenomenon in action, eyewitnesses claiming various catastrophes were averted by the unknown benefactor. Objects suspiciously disappearing also became a common occurrence, typically small, mundane everyday items, which doesn’t help shrug off such legends; hints of a puzzling anomaly are scattered about, proving difficult to ignore for a young lady with a knack for mysteries and secrets.

Of course, even she wouldn’t bite down on every little gossip coming around, a day’s span insufficient for such fruitless scrutiny; no, the reason she gave heed to this story, specifically, is because the student has it on good authority there is some modicum of truth behind it... See, Luna Melrose has actually been victim of such a theft, one of her early prototypes for a bioengineered casing suddenly vanishing right out of her grasp despite having her attention entirely focused on it; the girl was shocked but, fortunately, her devices are never created without a vast array of tracking mechanisms during this development process, meaning she could track the perpetrator and regain her lost possession. Following the signal allowed her to learn the culprit had left the object somewhere around the first floor’s women bathroom, for some truly bizarre reason, but she couldn’t ascertain its location further during midday; “That’s why, I’ll sneak in after school hours...”, she murmured while approaching the Academy, the dark glow of dusk slowly settling in.

Covertly approaching the grounds of this studying institution, the girl sneakily reached a window from the lowest floor and pulled lightly onto it, the frame coming apart without any need for further force; this was a point of entry she’d prepared precisely for this occasion, the fenestration sabotaged while she was inside and transformed into a personal secret passage, accessible while the building would be on lockdown. Her footsteps steady, she walked through the vacant hallways of the Academy, giving very little consideration to how conspicuous she might sound since no one else should be on campus at this hour, the faculty hers to explore freely; soon reaching the bathroom currently hosting her gadgetry’s most recent signal, Luna began poking around this utility room, trying to figure out why exactly it would lead her here... What was it about this room, the detail she was currently missing? Inspecting it further and probing what she could, the large mirror adorning this bathroom’s wall was first to provide a hint at the answer; an apparition revealed itself within the reflection, a short girl who now stood still merely a foot behind the student.

Rather than shock or fear, the woman’s very first gut reaction was one of morbid curiosity; “Ohhh...~?”, she let out from under her breath, unsure what exactly this entity was but determined to find out by any means necessary. Scrutinizing the ghost ahead, her outward appearance was quite the odd one; impaled by various cybernetics, she seemed closer to a piece of machinery than an actual spirit. Obviously, when looking behind herself, Luna could neither see nor touch this phantom, its presence seemingly limited to the image this mirror reflected; yet, the subject of her attention remained completely motionless, without showing any signs of hostility or even awareness at this sudden observer, its posture just like a still statue... Was she waiting to see her act, perhaps? Advancing with her hand extended toward the large, reflective surface, the nosy girl tried to reach for it but, upon contact with the glass, her arm inexplicably slipped through, finding its way in an unknown area; her interest piqued by the abrupt revelation, Luna walked in without much of a second thought, a secret surely about to be uncovered!

“Kyaa~!!”

*Splat!*

Falling head-first onto the hard, cold floor beneath her, this eager girl was surprised to find that, contrary to popular belief, a pass-through mirror doesn’t imply the section of wall underneath it follows the same rationale; her upper body could pass through without issue but, since she hadn’t climbed through the mirror’s frame, the woman’s waist hit a hurdle on its path. Trying to walk in as if no obstacle were present, her midriff was stopped midway through this motion and instead acted as a pivot for a spectacular flip; lifting herself back up while slightly embarrassed, she took a second to readjust her clothes before giving her surroundings a good look, enthusiastic about what she’d just stumbled upon. Her eyes darting about, she noticed the silhouette of her otherworldly visitor couldn’t be perceived anymore, most likely because she’d actually crossed the mirror’s boundaries; more importantly though, the room she found herself in was truly surreal, its bland-looking walls adorned with sophisticated machinery and gadgets covering their whole surface.

Investigating this discovery, it didn’t take long for the young woman to understand what every device was meant to do since she already had her fair share of experience with most of them; although they proved far more advanced and elaborate than what she was used to work with, all this equipment was medical by nature and served one common objective... Stabilizing one’s vital functions. Scanning the surroundings using her eyes, there was one remarkable exception, a large pile of small objects confined into the corner of this room; upon closer inspection, Luna realized these were the missing items and soon recovered her misplaced prototype, yet also came to understand the motive of their kleptomaniac ghost... Her device’s circuitry had leaked electricity, turning into a serious life-hazard, and the other objects also seemed highly dangerous, like knives or gadgets with exposed wiring; were these being confiscated, because of this risk that they may lead to injuries? Looking at the evidence, it at least seemed likely this threat played a role in the mystery, an important piece of the puzzle ahead.

Acting on a hunch, the student pulled out a beautifully decorated mirror she kept on herself at all times, which she normally used when feeling paranoid about being stalked; Luna Melrose knew the strange girl had shown herself through such a reflection once and hoped this phenomenon wouldn’t be unique to the women’s bathroom, an incident she could instead replicate here. Turns out, she was correct; a lone figure stood completely immobile behind her, trailing the girl regardless of whether she moved or turned, this woman the same one she’d seen earlier. “Can you please show yourself~?”, the student asked, annoyance starting to become apparent; replying not with words but, rather, a buzzing sound, reality seemed to warp as her form was finally made visible. “...”, silence resounded, her facial features remaining expressionless; the ghostly girl’s condition close to that of a cyborg, the young medic pondered just what this being might be, or why a Shinigami learning institution would be their residence...? As if reacting to her thoughts, the robotic lady grasped the student’s hand, guiding her to several documents littering a nearby desk.

Curiously looking through the sheets, what caught her eye immediately were schematics for a peculiar set of inventions; the Neuro-Diꓯersion, a collection of devices codenamed Project Nꓯ, were an early attempt to study human consciousness and reproduce what made them unable to perceive Shinigami on a larger scale. With this, it seemed, there was hope to hunt Hollows against their knowledge, gaining an edge in this perpetual war involving them; a note attached to the document revealed however just how difficult the task truly was, mentioning several dozen prototypes and iterations without much in terms of success... The cybernetic girl brought her attention elsewhere, though, lightly tapping a different record Luna hadn’t yet examined; inside were contained details of a surgery, a report of an incident with obvious connections to these former inventions. Skimming through the technicalities, the student understood, to her utter dismay, why this so-called ghost wanted her to peruse those events; attached within was some basic information on the two involved individuals, the first matching this unknown girl’s description perfectly, minus the machinery, whereas the second, well... Only one word had been listed, ‘Melrose’.

Bewildered, it was inconceivable for her name to appear here; she was still happily enjoying her life in the Rukongai during that period! Scrutinizing the rest of this document, Luna learned the fate of the woman standing beside her; she had suffered from a unique type of wound, one afflicting her very existence itself, which left her with very few ways to survive. Desperately seeking a way to save this Shinigami, prototype 43 of Project Nꓯ was embedded within her frame, but that had unexpected results; her identity became a singularity, erased from memory alongside all traces of the project itself. Apparently, a person using the moniker ‘Melrose’ then took her under their wing, built this secret room and left her within the Academy with a new calling, Nꓯ-43, and two distinct directives; learn and protect. Processing this information, Luna Melrose was convinced this was no mere coincidence; although she wouldn’t be able to delve further into it just yet, this report hid a disturbing mystery and implied someone, somehow, knew she’d make her way here... But, how?

Setting that aside, she questioned the only person who could possibly hold any sort of answer; “So~, we’ve got history, huh?”, the student urged from the one who’d led her here in the first place. In the absence of a reaction, she sighed, unable to make any sense out of her current predicament; she gave the documents a second read but nothing seemed to contradict the tale written within, and, on the contrary, it reinforced her impression that this was an authentic, factual account of event. Another glance given to the stoic lady of steel ahead, the young medic looked up and addressed her again, her usual confidence back to normal this time around; “I’ll be leaving it at that then, for now~; you’ll need a better name though, the current one is far too mechanical... How abouuut~, Ena instead?”. “...”; albeit met with her typical deadpan stare, Luna could spot nonetheless the slightest twinge of emotion on the robotic woman’s face... Her eyes now wandering over the report she’d just read, a thought crossed her mind regarding Nꓯ-43, one she wished to put to the test; “Can I leave you an additional~ directive? If so...”.

“Please, follow your very own~ whims”.

“... -- Acknowledged".

[Luna Melrose]

At long last...!

After waiting for what felt like an eternity, evaluating every potential approach and the limits or defects of each, Luna had finally settled on a functional methodology to attain her goals regarding the transfer of her manmade hazards to another; she had, despite the many hurdles along her way, managed to create an entirely unique paradigm for weapon-making, using her very body as the catalyst for it. Undoubtedly, this achievement wasn’t reached without its fair share of challenges impeding her progress, the first few prototypes even responsible for new scorch marks on her work desk, but regardless... These early results were monumental. Although the young pioneer was still only at the very beginning of her discoveries in this field, she was now capable of modifying her fingers into terrifying armaments, controlled using nerve signals and fueled by her vitals; the girl’s combat prowess would certainly evolve into a style fully her own, unorthodox as it may be, but she first needed to master her new kind of weaponry before this could come to fruition.

You can’t learn without practice after all, and that’s why she had planned today’s schedule around testing these new toys of hers; with the years flying by and her time in the Academy nearly over, only leaving the final exam looming over her head, this devious student had to make sure she’d be prepared without taking anything for granted and, for now at least, that meant field-testing her newest inventions. To that end, the young lady had already scouted a perfect location to safely try her most recent prototypes and took the necessary steps to ensure she wouldn’t be disturbed during this ordeal; Luna would perform a vast array of verifications there, employing the devices in a somewhat realistic scenario meant to replicate an authentic battle experience. Truthfully, she didn’t expect anything revolutionary out of these results and just needed her tools to compete on equal footing with the usual Shinigami arsenal; any more than that could be achieved in front of a hypothetical drawing board, but if they fundamentally didn’t hold up to their counterparts, nothing she might try would salvage that.

Giving that risk due consideration, the girl walked alongside a trail leading to the outskirts of the Academy, intending to soon reach her training destination; she had to make one more stop along the way however, a short detour meant to collect additional manpower for this exercise. “Yo. You ready?”, said a distinctly feminine voice, audible from further away, the outline of a woman also waving in her general direction; that was Sadako, who’d just finished with Dojo practice and, punctual as ever, reached their designated meeting place a few minutes ahead of her. “Yup-yup~! Just waiting for the latecomer now!”, she replied; a good ten minutes went by, sitting idly among the trees and leisurely discussing between two friends, before a third emerged from the wilderness surrounding them. “Soorryyyy~~!”, Mayu said while joining the duo. “I missed the end of classsss~”; “Sleeping, right~? We figured”, Luna claimed, lightly chuckling at the poor girl’s sudden distraught expression.

“So. What’s this about anyway?”, their headstrong friend interrupted; “You didn’t tell us much, just asked that we meet here”. “Welllll~...”; keeping silent for a bit longer, she soon uncovered a small container the student had kept on herself until now and, after opening it, revealed its content. Inside, a dozen or so tiny, beautifully colored living frogs were enclosed, their tincture clearly artificial in nature, the specimens quite lively and vigorously moving about in there; of course, it didn’t take any more than that to convince Mayu into participation, her eyes sparkling just from looking at the little critters. “Awwww~!!”, she gushed out, recognizing them instantly; they were the eggs both medics had previously collected, which had then been seemingly hatched through various simulated means of incubation. “Can I haaaaave~ ooone?!”, her friend requested, a desire Luna was happy to indulge; “Sure~!”, she merrily exclaimed. Carefully extracting one of the creatures from this jar, she gave it to her lab classmate, who cherished it dearly and caressed the animal throughout the rest of their exchange.

“Ahem”, the devious woman let out, resuming her explanation from where she’d left off; “I actually need~ your help; I’ve been designing a few weapons I plan on using against Hollows~, and I finally have functional prototypes... That said, they need to be tested before I know how I’ll truly fare~ against them”. Attentive, the two nodded at her request; “Fair enough”, Sadako replied, “And how do you plan to evaluate that?”, she then asked in return. Grinning intensely, the girl lifted the vessel full of frogs she had carried alongside her on the way here, these poor souls apparently the answer to that query; “You don’t mean...?” “Yup~!”. The ink Luna had injected inside these amphibians was not only fancy coloring, but also came with a mixture of her own reiatsu; once she’d flex her spiritual energy, they would inevitably be compelled to rush toward her. “I need Mayu here in case there’s an emergency, and I want you to watch the path and stop anyone coming by; can you do that for me~?”; “Tch... Fine; I’ll keep an eye out”.

Walking away, Sadako’s figure quickly vanished through the woods around them, abandoning the duo of friends to their own devices; soon, Luna also began her preparations, releasing the flashy vertebrates in this wilderness and providing them a chance to roam freely in the large landscape. As time passed and she became confident they’d traveled a fair distance away from the pair of students, the medic placed a knee to the ground, about to begin this assessment of her arsenal’s capabilities; “Please hold your buddy tightly~!”, she warned Mayu. “Mhmm~!”, a distinct sound of confirmation emitted in response, her hands firmly grasping the critter; now focused entirely on her surroundings, Luna flared her reiatsu and sensed an immediate reaction from the frog held by her friend, now actively attempting to escape, until... Silence. Her arms extended forward and stance low, she pressed her full weight on her backfoot, balancing herself in a posture not unlike that of woodland hunters; every sense on high alert, the girl paid extreme scrutiny to any change in her environment, when abruptly... On her left, a frog leaped from the foliage.

*Splash!*

Lifting her arm in response, Luna pointed the fingertip of her left hand’s index at this sudden yet harmless assailant, the outermost joint unfolding on itself to reveal a small hole, a firearm with quite the deceiving appearance; concentrating on her projectile’s accuracy, she fired a blob of undiscernible, grayish liquid toward the unfortunate beast currently in midair, immediately divulging its nature on contact. Melting away and reduced to a mass of dissolved innards, the frog quickly became no more, a mere shadow of its former self; “Ooooooh~~!”, Mayu exclaimed upon witnessing this result, hastily obstructing her new pet’s vision, “Noo~~ loookiiie~!”. The woman’s swift defensive maneuver was not yet over, however, as another of her previous little companions suddenly emerged from behind her; there was only a short window for a reaction, but she took it nonetheless and revealed another opening through the adjacent finger, this one letting out a burst of flames in a curved motion of her hand, leaving a wall of fire between herself and her amphibian foe... There would be nothing left of it, much like its brethren.

At least, that was the plan... Surging through this smoldering blaze mostly unscathed, the small creature gave her quite the shock and leapt with all its strength toward the now vulnerable girl; “Eep~!”, she soon shrieked. Using her reflexes to dodge the incoming onslaught, Luna then made a last-ditch effort to evade by employing another one of her creations, a utility tool firing a thin wire from her fingertip which bound itself to the above tree branches; although this string was in actuality one of her nerves, she would not get a chance to demonstrate why that was an important distinction in this situation. Now better suited to analyze the earlier blunder, the forthcoming scientist realized her flames weren’t burning nearly as hot as she had anticipated... The young girl mentally took note of that fact, a detail she wished to fix during her next iteration; regardless, for now she disposed of her pursuer through another burst of fire, a stream she kept steady this time, to build up the heat.

Still in the air, her parade would soon be rained upon once more as the branches she had attached herself onto were unable to support the woman’s weight, a grim reminder that the laws of physics still applied even during such circumstances; falling rear-first on the tough ground beneath, her behind not shown any mercy through this ordeal, she was given very little time to spare as another frog, the last she’d released, made its presence known. “Wh-“, a half-word immediately uttered, its closure lost to the wind; urgently, Luna shifted her posture and turned sideways to get on all fours before pushing forward with her legs and all the strength she could muster, resulting in a messy and unsightly roll barely in time to avoid this tiny aggressor. In retaliation, the girl fired another acidic projectile toward her former location but, lacking an opportunity to precisely aim at the target, instead relied on a different trick of hers; trailing behind the initial shot, she rapidly released a short blast of flames which, upon contact, caused the unstable material to detonate, a small inferno engulfing the approximate area.

Remaining on her guard and swiftly evaluating the situation, the student was glad to see that her ploy had worked, the burnt remains of a critter clearly visible among the debris of her sudden explosion; gradually, she loosened her attitude, keenly made aware through the ambient silence that her little drill was now over. “So that’s that~ I guess!”, she soon chirped; “Mayu~, can I ask you to deal with the residual effects?”, the medic asked of her friend. “Suuuure~!”; with the harmful elements in their surroundings steadily being neutralized using Mayu’s unconventional abilities, Luna meanwhile pondered just how effective her tools had proven to be... Although there had certainly been some major miscalculations along the way, fighting with these was an experience unlike any she’d felt so far; both swordplay and Kido required an approach dedicated toward practice, a length of time she couldn’t afford to just lose to its mastery, but the woman now finally had a pathway she felt could allow her to compete, a way to close the gap, mixing her battle prowess with the process of experimentation.

“Yo. You’ve got visitors”.

Approaching the duo of friends from the trail, their third accomplice slowly walked toward them with two others in tow; the girl could quickly recognize them both merely at a glance, they were Swordsman Kogane and Itsuo, her teachers in Kendo and Medical classes respectively. “They came here to talk to you, Luna”, Sadako explained; “We aren’t in trouble agaaaaain~, are weeee...?”, poor Mayu worriedly asked, agitated by the abrupt presence of teachers among their midst. However, Itsuo calmly raised a hand as if to appeal to her, firmly denying that notion; “We actually came here at your friend’s request”, he stated. Turning to her, Luna wasn’t surprised in the slightest, rather adorning an exaggerated smile indicating that she knew of this ahead of time, a confession soon unearthed; “Yep~! I wanted a chance to duel Swordsman Kogane today~, I want to try fighting a real opponent! That's why I also requested Itsuo be present in case anything happens, this way we don’t have to hold back~”.

“Oi~, kid. Enough'o this. Let's get'it started alr'dy”; raising his arm in which a practice Shinai was grasped tightly, the experienced warrior was seemingly not willing to wait any further and had already taken his stance ahead of herself, thrilled that the young lady would issue him a challenge. Lowering her posture in response, this overeager student focused her attention fully on the Kendo instructor and observed him, looking for any signs of vulnerability or openings while answering his earnest intent affirmatively; “Yes... Let’s~”. Immediately, she brought her left hand forward and shot her signature corrosive mixture toward the man, who deflected the noxious substance away with a single, yet extremely powerful blow from the training sword; she had only just begun, though, and replied with a barrage of projectiles meant to hinder his advance. His monstrous strength was evidently too much even for a trickster, the behemoth rushing through this threat without fear of harm and dispersing such a fluid using inhumanly fast strikes, the mere droplets remaining behind being all that would truly reach him... Truthfully, all according to plan.

Soon, his counterattack came in a form she had already predicted; vanishing from her sight, the fighter made use of his immense speed advantage to disorient her offensive and open her up for one of his own. Having honed her reflexes through the years she’d spent among Shinigami, however, Luna wasn’t entirely outmatched, like she used to be during her early years, and could follow the movement albeit barely; noticing his sudden reappearance to her side, the girl reacted by revealing another of her tools, one she hadn’t tried yet... A pneumatic mechanism in the joint of her fingertip, capable of releasing a blast of air much like the one this man had already suffered through previously. Sending a shockwave in his direction, the woman was sent flying once more, or so she had thought; “Hah! I’won't fall for'tha same trick', kid~”, a voice claimed from ahead of herself. Instead of feeling the air’s resistance as she had anticipated, Luna rather felt the distinctive pressure of a palm holding her by the throat, the student’s breathing obstructed by this sudden predicament; that didn’t bode well...

Flailing her feet around, it was no use, she couldn’t find the ground beneath her; “Gotta hand it t'ya; y'bag o' tricks has som' real'nice surprises. Too bad tho', 'cuz it's already the end'o th' road”. Unable to free her neck from the adversary’s grasp, she lacked the means to escape; there was no other road to resolution, but to concede victory to her foe... Or, was there? Desperately gasping for oxygen, the woman’s lips soon curled into a faint smirk, a clue the warrior didn’t miss mere moments before the coming catastrophe... Her arms on either side of Swordsman Kogane, she discharged hellfire on him, the intense blazing heat a hazard he couldn’t ignore; however, while he could let go of the student and evade these flames without issue, the salvo of small detonations from droplets of acid he’d recklessly gotten into contact with would be much harder to avoid. That had been Luna’s scheme all along; expose him to unseen peril, and unfold this trap once the jaws of defeat made themselves known.

Sensing her freedom regained yet a sharp pain along her own abdominal region as well, she assessed their present circumstances; glancing around, the girl could spot her swordsmanship instructor hunched over, using his sword as support to remain standing while flesh and attire were both torn up from this loud bang he had himself provoked. As for herself, unfortunately, the wounds were also severe, internal blood loss obvious and the rest of her condition no better as clearly evidenced by the fact Itsuo felt compelled to put an end to their fight; “That’ll be enough for now, let me patch you up before going further”, he said while putting on a sterile glove, his reiatsu and medical technique apparent and displayed through a bright green reiatsu. “R’Ahah, Y' never cease to amaze, do'ya?”, Kogane replied, words aimed at his sparring partner who had pushed him to such an extent; “Tch”, Sadako let out in response, visibly roused by the display... “Got another Shinai? I want in, while she heals”.

Practice continued, until none of the students could stand no more...

[Luna Melrose]

Finally, the time had arrived; their days of training had been numbered from the very beginning, and now they were about to run out... The final exam was just around the corner, and with it came their graduation. That lone obstacle would be the last remaining hurdle in Luna’s path to a full-fledged Shinigami, a fact she already acknowledged and took very seriously; that’s why the girl made thorough preparations to ensure she would be ready for what lied ahead, building tools meant to overcome anything they might choose to throw at her. She performed her due diligence, too, training extremely hard and surpassing her limits, all in hopes her physiology would adapt to the recent extensions and make handling them second nature for the young scientist; truthfully, she would need every edge she could get, given that she lacked most typical techniques Shinigami were known to employ... Science had some heavy-lifting to do today, if she wanted to come out on top!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The day before, they were all gathered to the Academy’s outer courtyard, where the specifics of this test became public knowledge; “Welcome, students!”, an unknown old man proclaimed, “You have conquered many hardships on your way here, and now stand at the finish line... I commend your efforts! As students, you have proven yourselves; however, it is now time to prove what you’ve learned, as Shinigami of the Gotei 13”. Coughing momentarily, the faint and distinctive sound of whispers reached its peak among the students, speculating once more on the nature of this assessment; there had already been many who had tried to learn more ahead of schedule by asking upperclassmen during the previous years, Luna included, but all of them had come back empty-handed... Apparently, the evaluation itself had been different every term; “This appraisal of your abilities will be simple... Tomorrow, you will be guided to an entrance leading into the underground network beneath the Academy, where an officer of the Gotei 13 will await you; if you can reach the designated exit, only then may you join the ranks of Shinigami”.

“...As the headmaster behind your journey, I have faith you shall triumph”, their senior crisply added.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thus, why she currently made her way behind the school’s premises, sneaking about like a thief; although that wouldn’t be incorrect in a different context, perhaps, it wasn’t why she was doing so today... Rather, the girl plainly approached the location where she had been directed for their exam, which coincidentally had been set outside the Academy entirely; since every student seemingly had to enter from a different entrance, some of them were bound to be unlucky with their placement. Not that it truly bothered her, Luna happily exploring this area she had never set foot into previously; as she drew near, a lady Shinigami with documents in hand was already waiting, giving the woman a stern look. “Luna Melrose?”; “Yeuup~!”, she responded... Clearly unamused, there was quite the contrast between these two; “Let’s go”, she firmly demanded of the pupil. Making their way down into the depths of a pit the officer revealed by pulling up a manhole, the young medic pondered; just what kind of challenge should she expect, in here...?

Descending into what seemed like a maze of tunnels, she tried to focus on her surroundings, despite the rampant obscurity; aside from a few glimpses of sporadic ambient light, all the girl could infer from their current environment was a damp, cold and deeply uncomfortable sensation. “Here”, her gloomy escort said while handing over a simple torch and some paperwork, reminiscent of a map, for the student to use during this evaluation; inspecting her new possessions, she wasn’t quite satisfied with them and especially the map, which lacked all sorts of information and really only indicated her destination properly... Covertly reaching into her attire, the conniving woman pulled out another document without being seen, another map with far greater details than the one she’d just been granted; truth be told, she had blackmailed her former teacher Ms. Kaeda and obtained this the day prior, maliciously threatening to expose the instructor and her foul practices if the student wasn’t given such knowledge on the coming exam... “Thanks~!”, Luna cheerily responded to her aide, feigning gratitude for the incomplete assistance.

Kindling the light source using a short burst of flames coming out from her finger, the girl departed on this journey with a clear path in mind among the corridors; walking through them using the shortest route to her destination, she already knew which obstacles would be standing in her way. The problem with that approach, though, was how some hurdles couldn’t be anticipated quite this easily... And such a hindrance found itself blocking the road ahead, already; completely clogging passage was a wall of rubble, the tunnel seemingly having collapsed, which was indicated nowhere on either of her two maps. Internally vowing to vehemently scold Ms. Kaeda, or perhaps even sell her out, Luna was soon taken by surprise as she was forced to react to a shadowy motion at the edge of her vision, barely dodging an incoming strike targeting her head, concurrently revealing the cause behind this destruction; “Ya'coud'aktoaly dodge that?!”, an all too familiar voice responded in disbelief.

“Genkei... What are you doing here~? You were a year ahead, you should’ve graduated by now”; “Heh! Iv ‘ben’eld’bac a year, course! Had’ta’ make a statement last exam, show I culdn’ be taken lightly”. Lowering his stance as if prowling like a feral beast, he went further with the aggressive remarks, disclosing his goal; “This year... Iss’yu i’L’cav-in the pavement!!”, he gnarled. Leaping forward, the ineloquent man broke the ground beneath him from the absurd strength behind this charge, forcing his foe to defend herself with a rapid eruption, an inferno of flames she pretended came from the torch’s origin in order to fool her hardy opponent; momentarily pushing him back, she then addressed the two officers who were following them on this exercise, inquiring about the legitimacy of this conduct. “Can students really get in each other’s way~ like that?”; “Your only objective is to reach the end; there is no other rule or requirement. It is up to each of you whether you cooperate or not”, the Shinigami sternly replied.

“Is that so~...?”, a malicious glint now present in her gaze; “My apologies, Genkei-san~, it seems I’ll have to thwart your plans today”, she said in response, words addressed to the young man. “Wad’yu say?!”, an answer he gave filled with pure animosity, his rancor leading him to take the obvious bait; charging at her once more, the girl didn’t hesitate a single second to employ her gadgetry, releasing a nerve contraption, similar to a spiderweb, from her fingertip, which made short work of the man and restrained him swiftly. “Do you like it~? I used that device specifically for you, it’s the current version of that prototype you had previously stolen... The data you provided me resulted in your own defeat~”, a last sentence full of spite; “Nng, Gh-... DAMM’YOUU!!”. Still without a hint of remorse, the scientific-minded woman demonstrated another of the tool’s features as a light electric current began circulating through the nerves, causing his muscles to spasm and exert force unnecessarily; a strong man had no reason to be feared, if his stamina had been drained from him...

Moving ahead, leaving Genkei constrained behind while he thrashed about and threw insults at the wind, she pursued her destination evermore, always mindful of the path she was taking through the chart she’d received; there were supposedly traps ahead but, for a woman who knew of their presence, observant as she is, they truly proved no threat at all. Having a pleasant stroll through this otherwise disheartening and murky environment, Luna pondered what she’d just indirectly learned from this ambush... Students could cooperate; releasing short bursts of her own spiritual energy as if signaling her position, she changed her route slightly, heading toward a shortcut she wasn’t considering as a viable option until now. There was an obstacle in this direction she didn’t think she could overcome, a spiritual barrier erected to block the way inward, but with his assistance... “Masao-saaan~, I know you’re here; come on ouut~!”, “Y-Yes, Luna~-sama!”; just like that, a silhouette made its presence known from further in the corridor, brought here by the familiar pulses of energy the young lady had been discharging.

Seeing his figure ahead, the medic ran up to him and, from an onlooker’s perspective, did what could only be described as snuggling herself into the man’s arms, something very reminiscent of what couples would do. “Ahh~, here you are!”, she proudly announced, pressing into him; “See~, I found this hard, very robust Kido barrier ahead aaand~, wondered if you could~ help me with iiit?”, her cheeks blushing, looking away. “AH, O-o- course, b,but please, first-t...”, Masao answered, clearly distraught, gesturing to his mouth with his free hand; “Kyaa~! We can’t do that heeere!”, Luna shrieked in response, her face a bright red from embarrassment, “T-That’d be indecent!”. Clearly, from an onlooker’s perspective, this had all the signs of a loving relationship... Or, did it? Embracing the young man even further while meeting his gaze with hers, Luna’s eyes dark and void of emotions, she addressed him in a low voice, almost a murmur; “Perhaaaps~, if you were to assist me today, I’d be more inclined to help with that problem of yours~...”, nonchalantly shaking a small container she’d withdrawn from her attire in his field of view.

“Yes, of c-course, Luna-s’sama...”; “That’s much~ better!”, she cheerfully replied, refusing to leave his side, possibly as a threat. Quickly leading him to the barrier found ahead, the Kido specialist truly made short work of it, the seal breaking in a spectacular fashion; “T- There you g-[ ] kh-!!”. His words were cut short, and it wasn’t hard to figure out why... Luna’s entire body had stiffened, killer instincts flaring with an arm aimed ahead, ever since the spiritual wall had fallen; she wasn’t alone either, the officers accompanying them also on the defensive, indicating that this was likely an abnormal development... Up ahead, a heavy stench of death was emanating, the smell of decomposing flesh filling the air and intruding on everyone’s nostrils; moving further very carefully, the group soon found itself in front of their greatest crisis yet, with Luna’s danger signals loudly blaring from the sight... A few meters forward, a large mound of corpses was located, along with a horde of very tiny, worm-like Hollows feasting upon this large buffet.

These Hollows were the exact same parasites that had previously infected the student girl.

Immediately, one of the two Gotei 13 officers, the one monitoring Masao’s results, unsheathed his sword and moved in front, seemingly a physical fighter; it was the correct decision as, due to the sudden flame of their torches, the swarm began rushing toward them. Swinging and slashing with strong, rapid motions, it soon proved insufficient as the officer was overwhelmed, reddish splatters gushing out from where he once stood; forced to act, Luna begrudgingly pointed a finger at the scene, a long stream of hot fire coming forth from it and temporarily pushing back the creatures, yet also revealing from the sudden light that the whole passage ahead, all of it, was entirely clogged in black, the Hollows seemingly nesting here. “Hado #33: Sōkatsui!”, a voice rose from behind; blue flames also surged forward, originating from the remaining officer’s palm, but they too proved ineffective beyond stalling for time, the strict woman also engulfed in a sea of pitch-black parasites. “yAHHHHkgqj-!!”, a scream emitted by her, yet interrupted by the massacre of its source; the young scientist took a step backward, fearful, evidently in extreme peril.

Hastily coming up with a countermeasure, the girl took note of how the critters near both freshly deceased seemed content and weren’t charging anymore, her foothold only threatened by those surging from other directions; left with very little time to act, she quickly flooded her surroundings with a blaze, limiting the options for approach to only front and back. “Sorry~ Masao... Our partnership~ ends now”, she whispered, her tone serious for once, as she pushed the student forward while dashing the way they’d come from; “W-Wha-khNO’NO AHHH?!!!--”, his cry for help cutting off abruptly. Refraining from giving a glance behind, Luna instead pulled out the hand mirror she always carried on herself and, after performing a Flash Step to open some distance away from the swarm, looked through it to reveal Ena, whom she had asked the day earlier to covertly follow during her evaluation, just in case; “Please show yourself, Ena~; I need you!” “...”.

The area distorting in what seemed like waves of energy, this lone, mechanical woman materialized from nothingness, her presence giving the scientist a deep sigh of relief; knowing about Nꓯ-43’s ability from having witnessed it firsthand, even experimenting with it slightly after their initial meeting, Luna knew it’d be the key to resolve this. “I need us to vanish and cross to the other side; can you do that~?”, she asked; “...”, albeit lacking an oral response, Ena did reply affirmatively by placing her hand on the girl’s shoulder, creating a field of what could only be summarized as unstable particles emerging from within both of their cores. Forced to put her blind trust in this unique talent of hers, Luna began traversing the long hallway alongside Ena, paying little attention to the parasites or the remains of every victim still being devoured, until this pair reached the opposite side, unnoticed; once safely across, she first shot acid along the whole surface of the ceiling and then a subsequent burst of flames, detonating the substance, causing a collapse of the passage and preventing any pursuit beyond this point.

*Bang!*

Hurrying toward the target of her assessment in hopes of reporting their incident, which was supposedly just a bit further ahead, she felt a pit to her stomach when they arrived at the location; indeed, she had made a miscalculation... The horde had even reached this far, numerous Shinigami holding a defensive line against seemingly incessant waves of them. As she saw the bloodbath ongoing before her very eyes, powerless against it, a faint flicker was felt in the back of her mind, one she didn’t recognize; “To all students and officers currently engaged with the Academy final evaluation, abort immediately! I am relaying this message through a high-level Bakudo, Tenteikura; the test’s destination is now overrun with Hollows, please follow your officer’s directives and exit through the closest point of entry”, his voice booming through the fabric of her very thoughts. Luna quickly understood how hopeless her situation had become; she had just cut off her escape route and, if this young girl threw herself into the fray of battle, she’d need to push through the entire swarm to reach those who could offer her shelter... That would prove a colossal task.

She didn’t have to take a decision, since it was soon taken for her; some of the parasites swiftly redirected in the pair’s direction, forcing the student to do all she could to push them back. “No no, noo~!”, howling while she threw everything in her arsenal at the incoming creatures, a fiery maelstrom of explosions quite reminiscent of spectacular fireworks; the staggering number of them, ever-escalating, was overwhelming even for herself though, slowly driving her into a corner. There was no doubt, she would lose this fight; at least, until... “-- I shall, hence, follow my very own~ whims”; stepping forward, Ena lifted an arm in the air, a miracle following suit. The usual distortion accompanying Nꓯ-43’s ability quickly became visible, but was not only centered on her; bestowing a smile, her very first and only one, the robotic lady was erased from sight and so did all the parasites surrounding them, gone into nothing... “ENAAA--!!!”, Luna roared, aware instinctively that her friend was gone; the dust settling, she looked around, panicked at the complete lack of sound and combat, a deafening, alarming stillness encircling herself. A victory, to be sure... but at what cost? Moreover, this latest encounter with them had renewed a query in her mind, one she couldn’t wrap her head around...

Why, why WHY, had these Hollows never killed her, despite having previously intruded on her...?

[Yuki & Yui Tsumugi]

I counted 100 paragraphs even, so that's gonna be 500 TP to spend as you see fit~!