Laying back in bed, Zhou looked towards on the many walls within the 3rd Division's barracks. His unique orbs gazed towards what seemed to be a small stain – an imperfection. He thought about the different ways to fix it before he suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia. His time in the second division barracks were filled with mixed memories, but the upkeep of the place was definitely something he took part in when he wasn’t busy with some sort of errand or mission outside of the second division. He turned onto his other side, forcing himself around in order to ignore the disdain of an error, but it was as if the piece literally spoke out to him. Whatever it was, it needed to be fixed and it needed to be fixed now. He picked himself up as only one of his feet pressed against the floorboards. With silence, he moved about the room before leaving the place in order to get the materials he needed to correct the mistake. It didn’t take long, especially with the being with blinding speeds to return into the barracks with a soaked rag with disinfectants already applied to it. When he was close enough to the stain, he began wiping down the area until it was visibly eradicated. He let out a sigh of relief, disbanding the plate and swiftly landing against the ground. This… This was his life now.
Zhou remembered he had a few papers left to grade. He decided to go outside, get some fresh air, witness some of the blue skies that other spirits went on and on about – again, something he really didn’t care for. With something to do, he pressed his back against a tree that was located on the outside of the barracks. He began scanning over the papers and adequately marking what was wrong, him then instructing the students to write out why their answers were wrong. It wasn’t until he came across one person that was absolutely horrid in his class. Despite how hard this person tried, paperwork just did not come naturally to them. Not only that, they absolutely failed at anything physically based when they were out in the field to practice. It was rather disheartening as, in truth, Zhou began to wonder whether or not //he// was the reason for the person to be failing so badly. Was his regiment too hard? Of course he had updated the regiment a bit so that the Shinigami of tomorrow could be prepared to face more difficult challenges that were forced to arrive. It was just how these worlds worked. Nothing was stagnant, evolution was bound to happen, and so did the Academy students. He knew for a fact if this particular student were to face even a portion of what he did, they’d be one of the fallen comrades he lamented over in the past.
“Why not live peacefully? There's no point in wasting the remainder of your days wasting away doing something you'll never be able to do...”
He thought. The Academy student was that bad at physical activity. They didn’t need to become a Shinigami. Did they think this lifestyle was a joke, a game, or a pastime? Souls had died consistently. The threat of other beings known and unknown existed, and there were even some other Shinigami that threatened the livelihood of other Shinigami. Nothing was new: Enemies existed on every front and a Shinigami was not only supposed to be prepared in one aspect of the field, but in all aspects. One mistake from them could lead to the death of others, and this was something Zhou had seen first-hand. There were a number of other Shinigami that took up the mantle to become a pillar of power. Their reasoning? That was something he didn’t know, but it made one thing clear, the strong bore the weight of the world so that others didn’t have to. That’s when he remembered one of the conversations he had overheard.
“
Yeah, this guy is absolute trash! He’s just another weakling from the world of the living! He didn’t do anything special when he was here! Matter of fact, he literally just has enough spiritual power to have made it into the academy. He can’t do anything right. Rumor has it that Zhou’s physical training is one of the most rigorous within the Academy; There’s no way he’s going to pass! I’d just hate working with a non-soul born, Rukongai rookies! They can’t do anything special. He just wants to leech off of us that have to do hard work…”
This brutal whisper was something that had been proven time and time again, but the truth to the matter was that one’s merit was created from birth and no one had control over that. The amount of Spiritual power they had, the amount their body could physically take, the amount they were able to endure, all were decided the moment they were discovered to be alive – how unfortunate. Regardless, Zhou continued to grade the paper, failing the student that sought for a better life through willpower alone. One’s will power alone wasn’t going to save someone from the duties and responsibilities they’d be faced with as a Shinigami. The harsh reality of it all was that if he had passed someone that was doomed for failure, Zhou himself would be to blame for that life and other lives lost. He had responsibility that extended beyond everything else. To make matters worse, Zhou had agreed that this person did not deserve to pass a single thing. Refusing to pay attention to the fact that this person wanted a better life, the fact remained was that he was simply not good enough to make the cut. They were a danger to himself and those around him and Zhou was not empathetic to his situation, they were a failure.
Once the failure of a paper had been graded, Zhou continued on as he sat underneath the tree. To contrast the previous failure he had graded, there was someone else that was a lot more talented. Each one of their answers were nothing but excellent. Each answer had profound insight which showed their overall comprehensive knowledge about Hakuda. This soul, too, was from the Rukongai. Regardless of how competent this soul was, the other soul born had an opinion about this one as well – all of their opinions being negative. He knew of the stigma placed on those that weren’t soul-born, but Zhou was from a place where that didn’t matter. What mattered was how a mission was going to be completed regardless of who one was actually with. There was no time for debate on one’s background. Everyone was the same; everyone was everything and nothing simultaneously. This sort of ignorance was something he experienced almost daily. The inescapable truth that one would consistently find some way to make the divide between someone else in order to make themselves feel competent, better, or superior to another was something that began to annoy Zhou as he slowly began to discover more and more about his likes, dislikes, interests, and overall self that had been taken away years, and years ago.
Once he had passed the one student with flying colors, he went on to the next soul who was one of the soul-born. Another mediocre soul that had done just enough to pass – and there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. Mediocrity was something that led to stability. Without it, there was no way to gauge what was good and what was bad. They were the place-holders the soul society needed in order to determine what needed to be done to improve. A genius’ or a failure’s success or failures could be determined a lot easier than someone that was mediocre. Mediocrity was a need, because in mediocrity came stability. It was easier to understand, raise the bar, and was relatable. They were invaluable placeholders. Those were the ones that made everything much more interesting – the cards that could waver in any direction.
With him proceeding on to the next page, his back pressed against the tree, against where his zanpakutō was normally and where it resided today. He seemed busy, fixated on the task ahead of him without a complaint bearing an apathetic look on his face; the true definition of stoicism.
