7 Preparation and First Figh (1/2)
Preparation and First Fight
Itsuki then interjected and asked,
”You sure?”
”Yes” Gin replied with determination
Before Gin could continue, he was interrupted by Rangiku
”Then I will become one as well”
This time it was Gin's turn to be surprised,
”Me too” Itsuki added on.
A surprised look could be seen on Gin's face hearing his friend's declaration as he let out a defeated sigh.
On the way back home he informed his friends,
”The entrance exam to the Shinigami academy is in a week's time and is held in District 1. We should gather some supplies for the trip and leave by tomorrow.”
The two friends just nodded in response as they reached home and drifted off to sleep.
- The next day -
All three woke up early to start their preparations for their journey. Itsuki went to the nearest town to earn a few more Kan while Rangiku went to gather some food and water for their trip. Gin was tasked in procuring some sort of transport. As the journey was quite a distant one, according to Gin, it would at least take a month if they wanted to walk it there. Looking at their young bodies and short legs, it would probably take longer.
They all met up at noon with Itsuki bagging around 3000 Kan which was around 3000 Japanese yen. Rangiku could be seen holding a rucksack that had stale bread, a couple of rice boxes and three small containers of water. It also contained a change of clothes for each of them and some other necessities. This was all she was able to round up in a short amount of time, but the food and water was enough. Their bodies still young and as they possessed reiatsu, they only ate small portions every so often. What Rangiku packed was enough to last them a few days.
Gin had luckily found a caravan that was heading to the first district. It seemed some merchants saw the entrance exam as an opportunity to profit as they started creating caravans for people who wanted to take part in the exams. There was no age restriction in submitting an application as it was quite open, this meant that virtually anyone could sign up. Due to this, these caravans were mostly full by the time they arrived at the first district.
When they reached the area where the caravans were, what greeted their view was a long line of caravans and 100s of people camping around them. Itsuki could only roughly make out around 500 people but that was not the limit. They were still on the outer reaches of Rukongai, so they expected more to come soon. You could tell who came from what district just by looking at their clothing with the people from the higher-numbered districts wearing completely worn out clothes with patches of cloth here and there to block out the holes.
Now, with this many people there were bound to be many shady characters here. This could be seen with the occasional brawls breaking out here and there for the pettiest of reasons. Another prime example was the three potatoes currently blocking Rangiku and Itsuki's path as Gin had went off to pay the fees for the caravan, leaving the two alone. Three bald heads greeted their view, completely covering them with their shadow as they towered over them. They wore dirtied vest and simple cotton trousers. Itsuki believed them to be brothers as their facial features were alike. Not knowing their names, Itsuki just called them Ichi, Ni and San with Ichi the one that looked the oldest and San looking the youngest.