*Clang!*
"Okay, that's it for today," Unohana smiled at Leo, who was lying on the ground trying to control his breathing.
She had been training Leo for dozens of days now, and as payment, she was using his mansion for the duration of her stay.
Of course, that wasn't all; she also asked for a favor to be called in at a later date.
"And that's with almost 70% of your power energy sealed?" Leo murmured, a comment that immediately captured her interest, as the matter of the seal was hardly known to outsiders.
"How do you know that?" she asked, intrigued.
"That's a seal, not a tattoo, right?" Leo pointed at the flower symbol of the 4th Division on the back of her hand.
"I see. So, you can sense Reiryouku to that level? I guess we'll need to increase your Reiryoku training," she said, nodding in acknowledgment.
What he didn't know was that she was actually under a 90% restriction, as the first Kenpachi.
Leo smiled wryly, knowing anything he said would be meaningless. All he could do was curse his own mouth.
"Now, I'll be going. I'll see you later tonight." Leaving the underground room, she placed her Gikai in her room and slipped out through the window.
This had become her habit for a couple of days now.
After their initial small chat, Leo came to know that his parents were actually her students, so he asked her to use an empty compartment as she saw fit.
The next day, she used her bloodlust to wake Leo, then dragged him to the underground training room she had found the night before.
She started by teaching him the art of healing, followed by a real fight until he was completely exhausted. Then, she would heal him, and the process would repeat a couple of times. After some rest, Unohana would teach him about Reiryoku and its manipulation, then return to fighting again. This time, Leo was allowed to use his Shikai.
Then, she would start a one-sided beating again. This had become Leo's morning routine for almost a week now.
Back to Leo, he headed to take a shower after his wounds and bruises had healed.
'Never seen a hot lady like that before,' Yaga's voice echoed as Leo got under the water.
"Yeah? Want to switch places in training?" Leo answered with visible sarcasm.
'No, thank you. It's much cooler watching from the side,' Yaga answered, not even hiding his joking tone. 'And I really want to see what will happen after a couple of months.'
'But seriously, she knows how to train someone,' Amaterasu's voice this time came from his side, totally freaking him out.
"Holy! Are you serious now?" Leo screamed, slipping a towel around himself. "You can materialize now!? But was it really needed here?"
"Well, how else am I going to see you freak out?" Amaterasu gave a last look before nodding in approval.
"What's that nod for?" Leo asked in confusion, feeling that something wasn't right.
"Nothing. Just Mommy likes what she sees." Still staring at his waist, she licked her lips, sending a shiver down Leo's back.
"OK! That's enough! Get out of here!" he said, massaging his eyebrow.
"Boo..." leaving this disappointed scream, she vanished.
"She got you there," Yaga commented, making fun of him. "As expected of a virgin."
"Shut it, Yaga," Leo said, drying himself.
After a quick breakfast, Leo drove off, picking up Rose, and heading to the high school.
"How's your training going?" Rose asked while they were on the road.
"If you can call it that?" Leo smiled wryly. "It's good so far, and I'm starting to sense a good advance in my skill."
"Is it tough or something?" Rose asked. Having met Unohana personally, she found it surprising that her training could be anything difficult, given her character.
"Oh, dear, you have no idea," Leo said. "She may look all shine and glow, but she is actually one of the strongest people in the world."
Shocked by the revelation, she nodded. "But what kind of training do you do? If I remember correctly, she is a healer, right?"
"She is a Shinigami. Both before and after," Leo answered, which only confused Rose.
"Shinigami translates literally to Death God or Angel," Leo looked at her with a smirk. "And that's their job, literally."
"Hold it. So, you're saying she belongs to the Death Gods? How is that even possible?" Rose asked, surprised.
"Well, yeah. She's normally in a Gikai, a substitute body to interact with normal people," Leo verified.
"Does that mean someone will die close by?" Rose asked confusedly, under the idea that they only appear when they need to lead someone to the afterlife.
"Haha, no, it doesn't work like that," Leo patted her head to calm her. "What they do is lead the souls that refuse to go, either by choice or because they have some attachment here. Death is a natural form; no one controls it."
"I see," Rose let out a sigh of relief. "But why do you want to train under her?"
This left a wary smile on his face, as he had forgotten he never spoke about his family. "Well, I am half one, so..."
"Ehh?" Rose's eyes widened in shock. "So I'm dating a Death Angel?"
"Well, the correct naming is Soul Race, and Shinigami is a job," Leo clarified for her. "My mother was one of that race, so I inherited the Reiryoku of her clan, and I need to train on how to use it."
"Reiryoku?" Rose asked.
"Oh, right," Leo forgot she didn't know much about the supernatural. "It's soul energy, and the critical thing they use to become Shinigami."
Stopping the car at the side of the school. "Now, time to head out."
"We're already here?" Rose was surprised they were already in front of the school and reluctant to leave, as all the talk had left her excited for more.
"We can talk later at the house, and you can read the data in the main computer there, too." Kissing her forehead to ease her frown, understanding her mind.
"Well, you're right, I guess." Rose smiled, kissed him back, and left the car. "See you in class, Teach."
Killing the engine and about to leave too, a ring sounded in the car.
[Sir, an alarming call from the company CEO. He reported a break-in accident in our data servers.] Alfred's voice came after the ring.
"Eh? Someone figured out how to break into our servers?" Leo asked, surprised. As the creator of the security measures, he knew for a fact that anything that could break it would only appear 10 or 15 years later.
[No, Sir, I'm afraid he's talking about the physical hardware.] With this, the written report appeared on the screen of the car. After reading it, Leo got quite interested.
Not only was there no evidence of entering and exiting, the only lead on the break-in was the unconscious operator and the maintenance crew found in the server hall.
And for any lead about the identity of the breaker, there was nothing. No camera caught them, no left prints. Only a three-second heat-vision camera capture of a shadow slipping in and out, with a lapse of half an hour in between.
"See if you can figure out if anything in our server or anything got out onto the dark web. Although this main server didn't have that much sensible info, it had quite the invention blueprints of our people," Leo asked Alfred. "Also, craft a couple of snitch observation systems for each main server hall."
[Wouldn't it be better using the atelier we own around their vicinity?] Alfred offered an opinion.
"No. The snitch has some supernatural aspect in it. I don't want the design to fall into others' hands, including my people in the company," Leo denied, not only for the stated reason but also due to any chance of having a rat inside.
[Affirmative. Anything else?] Alfred confirmed.
"Yeah, there is actually. Redo a background check on all our personnel. Don't miss anyone or anything. You can use my personal server and the mansion's computation power." About to leave the car, Leo decided to assign this task to Alfred.
[In process. Would you like me to define their race?] Alfred proposed, surprising Leo, as he hadn't developed anything like that.
"How so? I don't remember designing anything for that?" Leo asked.
[No, Sir, but while scavenging the dark web, I found a couple of organizations that do hunting as their main work. Some are really old, but thankfully, most of them have backup information on the dark web for all their personnel to use,] Alfred said, and it sounded like bragging to Leo, bringing a smile to his face.
"And?" playing along, he asked.
[In there, the most common pieces of information are three: how to determine a supernatural being, what their main killing method is, and finally, their danger level,] Alfred said. [So, based on the indexing they have and cross-reference with the book we got from the island, I have developed a subsystem for the snitch to recognize the type with 80% certainty.]
Leo looked at the core code of the system Alfred designed before whistling.
"Damn, you even got calibration in real time without the need for someone in person? Brilliant work, Alfred," Leo complimented the AI with a gust of approval, but made sure to look at its core code.
Despite creating Alfred to evolve and gain self-thinking properties, this speed was something else.
"Okay, remember to do that, and also have the speed paradigms to start the construction of what I said before. It's time to make it legal. And maybe we'll catch the one behind the break-in," Leo said, leaving the car.