Never an Easy Task

Somewhere in the Corps' Dining Hall was Tomitsuka Shizuku. The entirety of the Corps had time off, so she wasn't too sure what to do. Blankly, she lifted a white bun to her lips and took a bite, chewing on the vegetable mass embedded within it.

Usually, just being outside would warrant stares from the people around her. Especially because of the fish tail dangling in place of her legs. It was out of place, and it gave her the ability to defy gravity, constantly making her seem taller than she really was. But today, Shizuku would barely get any stares, for the dining hall was mostly devoid of people at this hour.

Taking another bite of the bun, Shizuku was caught off-guard when a Butterfly approached her from behind, delivering the message. Her good friend Tsukinode Kazuo had some trouble...

...And Shizuku wasn't the type to just turn him down. In fact, she honestly had nothing better to do.

So, Shizuku lifted up from her seat, entering her bizarre anti-gravitational state once more and set off, stuffing the rest of the bun in her mouth to chew on the way there.

---

Getting around the woods was a harder task for someone with a fish tail as large as hers. Especially when passing between two trees that are a little too close together. Thankfully, this forest was not too dense, and it wouldn't be long before Shizuku showed up.

"Kazuo-san! I'm here!" She called out in the general direction of his spiritual pressure to get his attention. The difference between Shizuku's and Kazuo's spiritual energy capacities was incredibly large, so it was quite noticable... assuming he isn't trying to hide his spiritual pressure. Thankfully, this was not one of those cases.

Still, all she carried with her was her zanpakuto, hidden in the robes of her uniform. There was no real way to get the actual paper material for the "assignment" on such a whim, as it would be hogged by those who are yet to complete it.

But, luckily for Kazuo, Shizuku had a good substitute for the papers, and she would most definitely use it.

Finding the familiar visage that was her friend Tsukinode Kazuo, Shizuku approached him, floating over to his location. Immediately he would bombard her with the question.

And, without missing a beat, she returned an answer just as fast as it came.

"Well, considering this is a variant of a much higher level barrier... To be specific, Bakudō number 81: Dankū. I'm not quite able to handle that spell either, so... let's try this."

Raising her hand, Shizuku manifested the spell quickly, without so much as an incantation.

"白断結壁!" (Hakūdan Keppeki/White Severing Boundary Wall)

Immediately the wall was manifested to their side. It wasn't as large as what other practitioners of the technique could display, but it was definitely large enough in this state for her friend to examine.

"Feel the energies emanating from this barrier. This is what they mean about the Quincy part. I think the barrier part would be the hardest for you, honestly." Shizuku explained.

Pulling out a small sheathed knife from her robes, Kazuo could tell what she had in her hand. Casually, she lightly tapped the sheathed zanpakutō against the barrier as she continued to talk.

"The best way to find out how the barrier part is accomplished is to try it yourself. I'll even help you using my zanpakutō this time."

Shizuku watched as Kazuo manifested a barrier before them, trying to resemble hers as closely as possible. Of course, it didn't work out for him too well.

Shizuku's barrier faded away as she inspected Kazuo's as he tried to console himself with a comment. "Well, yes. It didn't explode like mine did the first time." Shizuku made her answer vague and left it there. It was truth, but Shizuku was actually referring to a different barrier altogether. Without even having to use her Zanpakutō, she already had comments to make.

"You need more 'punch' in your barrier, Kazuo-san. Think of it like this: What happens if you fire the first Hadō and it collides onto a large, flat surface?" Shizuku made an analogy in attempts to explain what she wanted Kazuo to do.

"Here, it's not exactly flat, but it works as an example." Shizuku said, pointing her finger at a nearby tree.

「破道の一：衝」
Hadō no Ichi: Shō
^{Way of Destruction #1: Thrust}

A loud thump followed by the shaking of the tree was a sign of the shockwave that had resulted in the collision.

"It's got to be that fast. You understand how a catapult works, right? You load what you want to fling, determine where you want to fling it, then you fling it." Shizuku made a second analogy.

"It's the same with barriers. You have to know what you want, how big you want it, where you want it, then prepare to create it. The actual execution must be as fast as Shō hitting that tree." Shizuku explained. Hopefully Kazuo would understand, but, even if he didn't, there was only one thing to do...

"So try it again." She finally instructed, watching to see if she could detect any other flaws in his technique.

With Kazuo finally understanding how barriers work, Shizuku's job was finished. Now was the time for small talk.

Well, big talk, considering the topic was the recent Kidōshū restructure. And Shizuku decided to just be frank.

"Honestly, it's supposed to affect us all big time, but it really only matters when you talk about the higher-ups. I mean, I don't even get to open the Senkaimon, and you know how many shifts we used to have for that." Shizuku said.

But she wouldn't stop her babbling there. "I mean, all I really do is clean and get paid for it. Someone suggested for me to do kitchen duty, but the chefs are more afraid that they mistake me for actual seafood, so that was a no-go."

"So then, Kazuo-san, now that your homework is almost done, have you decided which department you want to go into? I don't think Senkaimon duty is going to lessen exposure to your wife. I mean, considering everyone knows where the Senkaimon is... -seriously, you can't freaking miss it-, it may or may not be hard for her to follow you there."

Shizuku got straight down into business. She knew about Kazuo's problem with his wife. In fact, she had helped him to think for methods of avoiding her on several occaisions, and Shizuku wasn't planning to stop caring about it anytime soon. Of course, Shizuku herself had never met Kazuo's wife, so she refrained from speaking too much ill of her.

"So that leaves you with the Archives and the Research. Research can be done just about anywhere if you bring the materials out of the library, so that is right out. That only leaves you with the Archives."

"Still, though, it all depends on you. What do you think, Kazuo-san?" Shizuku ended her analysis with a question. What she thought didn't matter much if Kazuo didn't agree, anyway.

"Or we can accuse her of forcefully attempting to take and perhaps learn the forbidden Kidō. Hell, she might actually try it and think there's a love spell somewhere in there." Shizuku joked. But, using Kidō as an intervention made her ponder.

"You know what? We could actually develop a cloning Kidō. If we use Kyokkō as the base, then maybe give it some solid material, like a barrier or something. It just might work." Shizuku mused, somewhat serious. It was stupid enough to work.

...Which brought back memories from the past. "Stupid enough to work" was a phrase Shizuku and Kazuo used often, when they were devising experiments that would keep Kazuo away from home and "busy" in the labs. Many of these experiments could have Shizuku giggling just bringing them to mind.

But, ultimately, she kept her face blank and waited for Kazuo's reaction.

Shizuku giggled, then rubbed her palm on her forehead, thinking.

"I have an idea of how to do it, but the control of spiritual pressure required to execute something like a -moving- clone Kidō would be on the scale of ridiculous. Beyond my own ability, at the very least. I could, however, make some base blueprints you could read over. This is going to be your Kidō, not mine, after all." Shizuku mused. A stationary, solid illusion was actually not that difficult of a feat. In fact, Shizuku herself could do it. But when motion and interaction was brought into the picture, it was like researching Dangai Dimensional Theory.

"You could really say... It's stupid enough to work." Shizuku delivered their catch phrase in response to his.

"For now, though, you should work on getting that barrier right. It is why we're here, after all." Shizuku reminded Kazuo again of his task, wondering how confident he was of passing the new entrance exam.

Thankfully, her friend was not too confident, and soon enough he got back on track. Again and again he repeated the technique, and the faster he got at reproducing the correct form. Shizuku herself did not pay attention to the majority of the casts, but she did notice a general improvement in his execution of the technique. When asked to examine it, she looked at it silently, then gave her reply:

"Hmmm... Nope, I can't find anything wrong with it. So let's try this:

Pulling out her small zanpakutō from her robes she uttered the release incantation, followed by it's name; The Grammar Book. Her sheathed blade responded to her words by transforming into a thick, azure-covered book. Opening it up, it revealed a myriad of blank pages.

Taking a hold of one, she detached it from the book. As she did so, the page glowed as Shizuku mentally inscribed several symbols on it. It meant something to her, but it wouldn't really be readable to Kazuo.

With the writing done, she slapped the paper onto the middle of Kazuo's barrier, somehow managing to stick it on despite it showing no adhesive qualities earlier. Concentrating, she released the spell inscribed upon the sheet of paper.

「白断結壁!」
^{Hakūdan Keppeki!
White Severing Boundary Wall!}

Instantly the barrier manifested right in front of his, their transparency allowing for an easy comparison. Viewing it from a few different angles, they seemed almost identical except for one aspect:

Her barrier was bigger. It wasn't any real problem, since all it meant was "use more spiritual energy". Which was exactly what Shizuku told him:

"They look the same, Kazuo-san. You just need to put more spiritual energy into it now to make a bigger one. No, the test doesn't require something room-sized, but it should at least look large enough to cover two or three people."

Now their homework was really nearing completion.