Small Chances, Pure Brilliance [Mizu/Byakuya]

Byakuya stayed back behind Mizu as she gave her demonstration. As she cast, he kept note of the change in her reiryoku as she fired off a Byakurai made of ice. He raised an eyebrow, and as it hit the target, his eyes widened. He followed the trail of ice along the ground back to Mizu. In the many years that he practiced kido, Byakuya had not thought to push the boundaries to this degree. Impressive.

“What process did you discover that allowed you to alter the element of your kido?” Byakuya asked. He had a few questions he wanted to ask her about the method and how far she had gone with this technique. He was intrigued, and wanted to try it himself. “With your Byakurai, could you apply fire to it?” He was asking for another demonstration, wondering if she could handle the opposite of ice as well. "I am curious whether the nature of one's reiryoku would hinder or enhance your technique. Could one attuned to ice just as easily implement fire with this?"

What gave Mizu the most trouble with altering her spells wasn't even the altering part, it was creating a new spell in the first place. Many Kidō practitioners could alter their magic in one way or another, but to create something from scratch was altogether a different animal. "To be honest, it's probably a little rudimentary compared to what others have done. All I've done with Genso Kakusan is layered one spell on top of another. I have made limited progress in altering a spell like this directly. My inspiration was when I sent Tsuzuri Raiden through a Kidō net and realized I could try sending other elements through other Kidō as well."

As for whether Mizu could apply fire to her spell, she excitedly nodded her head and gave her reply "Of course! I would be happy to demonstrate, Captain Kuchiki-sama!" Just as before, the flaxen Shinigami stepped up to the proverbial plate and aimed her outstretched fingers at the same target dummy then commanded "Hadō #4: Byakurai - Apply Fire!". Unlike before, the spell that shot out wasn't one of ice, it was instead a beam of fire that exploded into a small flame upon striking the dummy. In its wake all the ice on the dummy and the frozen trail between it and them had melted, darkening the dampened ground.

Turning on her heel, Mizu finished up her demonstration by answering Byakuya's most recent question "I'm confident any Shinigami, with a little bit of practice, could use any of the six "elements" I've developed Genso Kakusan to apply without issue."

What Mizu explained was a simple process, but brilliant. Byakuya had every capability of layering kido, but had never thought to intentionally make a specific kido for the sake of layering it. Mizu expressed excitement when he asked her to repeat the demonstration with a different element. He watched carefully, noting any changes in reiryoku, the accuracy of the spell, the intensity after it was altered, and even the fact that Mizu did not speak another spell, but only “apply fire” after Byakurai was called out. Interesting, impressive. Well done for someone so young.

Inspired by her creativity and efficiency with this kido, there was a small pull at the sides of his mouth and the softest of smiles appeared. “Thank you for your demonstration, Miss Morikawa. Your peers are correct about your ingenuity. I may have to attempt this kido myself.” He would do it now, but he noted the time and realized he had a few things he planned to do before it got too late. “I must take my leave. It was nice meeting you, and continue developing this kido of yours.”

Giving little time to stop his exit, Byakuya gave the woman a quick bow. The man turned to leave, now contemplating his own advancement with kido. As one of his main techniques in battle, he should enhance his own abilities. It seemed Mizu Morikawa had inspired him to take action and create something new himself.