Recent content by Nao Murakami

Listen While You Read The cool early morning air swept across the Seventh Division, flowing unhindered throughout the deathly still compound toward she who commanded those that called this place home. The Captain of the Seventh allowed the breeze to approach, lucent hairs stiffening alongside...

Whose test was this? Well, Mr. Kusotare’s of course! …Beware…beware…the White Death from the West… Somewhere in the Valley of Screams, a red-haired Captain came to exist, the Geta of her sandals displacing rocks, brought into the visible world from seemingly nothing. The surroundings were...

Listen While You Read It would be an understatement to proclaim that an unbearable excitement grew within Nao, for her actions taken in the tiny window of time since the examination’s commencement spoke volumes. Why was she so elated? Well, it wasn’t every day that one got to witness a storied...

Listen While You Read Fate, indeed, always got her way. Time and again the all-seeing mistress who reigned over outcomes – she who weaved the very crossroads to which paved the lives of the Souls under her rule – ensured Nao walked upon that destined path. In truth, the then Captain-hopeful...

Although Captain Yūgure had made several miscalculations, it seemed that Nao, with her singular mishap, met her proctor with an equal dose of failure. What the Captain of the Ninth entertained in her head regarding the intricate relationship between Reiryoku and Reiatsu was unequivocally...

Listen While You Read Turn Back The Pendulum The ominous roaring of burning buildings permeated the air, accompanied only by labored breathing. In Jigokukairō, the faraway 57th District of the Southern Rukongai, a young brunette Soul stood amongst a sea of dead; the corpses bloodied – eyes...

Listen While You Read The final whimper of the inferno shuddered, giving way to a solitary stillness that befell the Valley of Screams. Left in Umōmaru’s wake was a land forever scarred, brutalized into an undoubtedly familiar existence from the countless clashes before, though one it would...

Listen While You Read Captain Yasu Yūgure. A name and title befitting the woman who held them, for what was on display could be described as nothing less than absolute excellence; from the efficient and frighteningly precise movements, to the intensity of killing intent, and most...

Nao’s eye was set on the blue sky when Captain Yūgure’s arrival was announced by way of the familiar Senkaimon, its brightness gleaming out in the distance. From within the glare a silhouette came to be, traced against the backdrop of white with what she now understood to be her proctor’s...

Listen While You Read Goodness what a long day it had been! As a ranked officer of the Seventh Division, there was never a dull shift, always a fire needing to be put out both literally and figuratively in the far reaches of the beautiful Rukongai. Though she loved what she did, there was no...

“This is a matter too important to leave to anyone else,” Lieutenant Ise had said during their one-on-one discussion, not long after their meeting with both the delegation from the First and the family of that poor nobleman. Nao had been invited to participate in the official brief at the...

“Better a dove in hand than two in the bush.” “The mind is as important as the blade, sharpen both.” “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” “Among the blind the one-eyed man is king.” Tan'itsudankai Nao (単一段階, One-Step Nao) | Mugentō-hō Nao (無限刀法の方, Infinite Sword Method...