"Kiyone, have you seen Amamiya?" Rukia called out as she entered the Thirteenth Division barracks. She had planned to train with Amamiya Miyako, but her fellow vice-captain was nowhere to be seen.
"Vice-Captain Amamiya? Hmm…" Kiyone Kotetsu paused, adjusting the mountain of paperwork in her arms. "I think he left the division really early this morning."
Rukia glanced at the towering stack of documents, almost taller than Kiyone herself. "Kiyone-san… how come it feels like you and Sentarō are still handling all the division duties? What about Amamiya?"
"Vice-Captain Amamiya?" Kiyone huffed, almost proudly. "We already decided this, remember? Amamiya-kun handles external affairs, while Sentarō and I take care of the internal division work."
Rukia frowned. "Oi… you and Sentarō haven't been tricked by him, have you? Maybe he's just avoiding the boring paperwork?"
Kiyone's eyes widened. "No way! You don't know? That incident before—when the Eleventh Division tried to provoke us—it was Vice-Captain Amamiya who walked right into their barracks alone and defeated them! Since then, no one from Eleventh has dared to mock the Thirteenth Division again!"
Rukia sighed. "I did hear about that…"
"Vice-Captain Amamiya was amazing!" Kiyone said with a spark in her eyes. "Besides, little things like paperwork are nothing for Sentarō and me to handle. And you might not know this, Rukia-chan, but Amamiya-kun actually arranged a lot of that whole incident in advance. Even Captain Ukitake was impressed by how carefully he executed everything!"
"Is… is that so?" Rukia muttered, taking the stack of papers with a reluctant expression. She realized there was no convincing Kiyone otherwise. What kind of spell did Amamiya cast on them, anyway?
....
Far from Seireitei, in the quiet edges of Rukongai, Amamiya Miyako stood before the familiar lake where he often trained.
No one would guess that beneath the still waters, a young man was hidden, bow in hand, drawing the string yet not releasing. The reishi cross in his grip remained still, no arrow taking shape.
Tch… controlling reishi under water is way harder than I thought, Amamiya frowned beneath the surface. It's like something is blocking the flow completely…
He recalled the properties of the Sanrei Glove. Once a Quincy put it on, its overwhelming diffusion made forming a bow nearly impossible. But if one could endure, maintain a reishi bow for seven days and seven nights, they would step closer to the highest state of Quincy power.
"Yare yare…" Amamiya muttered as he rose from the water, droplets rolling off his face. "Trying to pull this off underwater might be too much right now."
He decided to break down the process: first, condense a bow on the shore; then attempt Reishi Manipulation beneath the surface. If that succeeded, he could try dispersing and reforming the bow underwater.
A Quincy's ability to draw in spirit particles was instinctive. Forming arrows came first, then forming the bow. It was supposed to be simple… but reality wasn't so forgiving.
"Maybe if I make the bow smaller…" he thought aloud. On the shore, he focused his energy and condensed a smaller, weaker reishi bow. Then he submerged again.
Ryūken Ishida's words echoed in his memory: A smaller bow sharpens control, though it weakens the arrows. But power wasn't his aim right now—refining control was.
As the minutes stretched on, Amamiya felt a flicker of progress. The flow of reishi around his hand… it was faint, but there. A pale blue glow shimmered underwater, but he couldn't tell if it came from the water itself or not.
Breaking to the surface, he tried once more at the shore, attempting to draw reishi from water directly. The lake rippled, but nothing changed. The energy still came from the air.
"Damn it… still not working," Amamiya Miyako muttered, his brow furrowing as he hovered in the water. So where did that reishi I condensed just now actually come from?
Shaking his head, he decided to switch tactics. Forget it. I'll try with my Zanpakutō…
His Zanpakutō had the ability to amplify his Reishi manipulation—the fine control of spirit particles he was developing. If anything could help him perform the technique underwater, it would be that.
"Separate—Shinya Zetsun!" Miyako's twin blades shifted, their form twisting into a sleek bow and arrow. Without hesitation, he plunged beneath the surface again.
As he pulled back the bowstring, focusing his will, Miyako tried once more to gather reishi. This time, the particles began to condense, forming around the arrow—not by transforming water itself into reishi, but by drawing directly from the atmosphere above.
"Tch… so it's still only from the air…" Miyako muttered to himself, the glow of reishi shimmering faintly on the bowstring. Does that mean my diving depth isn't enough?
Or perhaps… Is high-concentration reishi diffusion possible only with something like the Sanrei Glove…?
He clenched his teeth. "No… if the Wandenreich could achieve Vollständig, then there must be an environment that can support that level of training."
For now, though, he could only keep pushing. Forget it, it's only the first day. I'll give it more time…
Resolving himself, Amamiya Miyako repeated the training over and over, testing his control, adjusting his rhythm, and planning to check the proficiency of his Reishi manipulation after a few days.
It wasn't until dusk that he finally left the site and made his way back to Seireitei.
"Oi!" a sharp voice called the moment he appeared. Rukia Kuchiki stood there, arms crossed, irritation written all over her face. "You! You vanished since morning! What shady thing were you up to?!"
Miyako scratched his cheek awkwardly. "Shady? C'mon, don't make it sound so bad. I was just outside Seireitei… training." His voice trailed a little. Technically, it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't something he could casually explain either.
"Baka!" Rukia stomped toward him, glaring. "Why didn't you take me along?! Were all those big words you told me just for show?!"
Miyako winced. "Ah… about that, I haven't forgotten, really. It's just… so much has been happening lately." He gave an apologetic smile. He had once given her advice about refining her Shikai, but before they could work on it, Rukia had been dispatched to the Human World. After that, chaos had piled up one after another.
"Then don't give excuses!" she snapped, cheeks reddening slightly. "If you're going to act like some mentor, then take responsibility! I—I don't want to just stand there helpless again… not while everyone else is fighting and getting hurt!"
Her voice cracked softly, dropping to a whisper as the image of Aizen's cruel smile and her own powerless self resurfaced. She remembered standing frozen, watching her brother, her comrades, her friends, all falling one after another without her being able to do a thing.
Miyako's expression softened. He stepped forward, closing the distance, and gently took her hand.
"…I understand." His tone was quiet, but firm. "I promise you, Rukia. Tomorrow, we'll train together. Not at Mt. Koifushi… I've found another place, even better for you." He smiled gently, squeezing her hand with reassuring warmth.
For a moment, Rukia blinked, surprised. Then her lips curved into the faintest smile as she nodded, her usual sternness softening.