Gaoyu had not only gained Toru Tanimoto's favor, but Satoru Fujita's and Kohei Tanaka's as well. Their favorability had not reached eighty, but it was already above seventy.
Under these circumstances, it really was easiest to earn favor from the others.
Before long, Gin Ichimaru returned. His eyes were still narrowed in that familiar smile as he said, "Unfortunately, I looked around the area, but found no trace of a Hollow."
Satoru Fujita said disappointedly, "Even Vice-Captain Gin Ichimaru couldn't find anything. Does that mean we can only rely on Gaoyu to defend ourselves?"
"Something's wrong!"
A Shinigami nearby suddenly spoke up. "Kawai's body has disappeared!"
"What?!" Kohei Tanaka exclaimed. "The body's gone? Weren't you keeping watch over it?!"
Gaoyu looked over too and saw that Kawamura's body was indeed gone. Only an empty Shinigami Uniform remained.
Seeing this, everyone was reminded of why they had come here.
"The soul disappeared?!"
"Could that Hollow be responsible for the disappearances?!"
Tanaka hurriedly looked at Gin Ichimaru. "Vice-Captain Gin Ichimaru! Should we keep going, or go back and report this to the Captain?"
Gin Ichimaru's tone seemed incapable of changing. He turned to face the way ahead and said, "Fujita, take a team back to the Seireitei and report what happened here."
"As for us, we need to keep going and inform the Shinigami of the Ninth Division."
"Yes!" Satoru Fujita nodded, then immediately led his team toward the Seireitei.
Gaoyu watched them leave, then took a deep breath.
I wonder if they'll make it back alive.
"Break's over. We need to hurry to where the Ninth Division is stationed."
Gin Ichimaru made another arrangement, and their squad immediately got moving again. Gaoyu, Tanimoto, and Tanaka exchanged glances, each seeing the worry in the others' eyes.
In this situation...
Even if they joined up with the Ninth Division, could they still trust one another?
Gaoyu could identify the Hollow, but what if something went wrong?
What if the person he accused denied it to the end?
Would the Ninth Division believe the Fifth Division?
This...
It seemed like a test of trust.
Gaoyu felt the storm battering his heart even more strongly. He had a vague idea of the little game Aizen had set up.
Don't I like playing the good guy and making friends in the Seireitei? Then let's play a game that leaves everyone isolating me.
If Metastacia could keep possessing people, then sooner or later, more and more people would be killed because of Gaoyu's accusations.
Those people had friends of their own. How would they see Gaoyu?
Besides, people were emotional creatures. Would they really believe Gaoyu and kill their friends?
Perhaps thanks to the Game Master ability, Gaoyu thought of something else he had overlooked earlier.
Why had Metastacia split off in front of so many people?
Was it an unavoidable consequence of his ability?
That couldn't be right. Gaoyu remembered that in the original story, his Spirit Fusion truly merged him with the other person. If he died, he was really dead; nothing came crawling out. Otherwise, Rukia wouldn't have been left with years of trauma.
So what would happen later, when Gaoyu found another Shinigami possessed by Metastacia, identified him, and caused him to die—only for no part of Metastacia to emerge from the body?
How would Gaoyu be treated then?
Tch. So that's how you want to play it?
Gaoyu glanced at Gin Ichimaru. His eyes were still narrowed, seemingly unchanged.
He said nothing and continued following the group.
The Shinigami hurried onward, and after another three hours, Tanimoto stopped.
"The Ninth Division is ten li ahead."
Tanimoto was the best in the squad at using spirit threads—in other words, he had the strongest perception.
His Zanpakuto's ability was similar to Gin Ichimaru's, allowing him to shoot enemies from a distance, so he needed excellent perception.
That was why his Soul Ability was the powerful long-range attack, Destruction Death Ray.
Ten li was equivalent to crossing the distance of several Karakura Towns. For them, it wasn't particularly far.
But after traveling nonstop, the Shinigami were all panting with exhaustion. Gaoyu, however, was fine.
After all, the Game Master ability was quite useful.
The others were already exhausted.
"It's all right. Everyone can rest," Gin Ichimaru said from the front. "I'll contact the Ninth Division."
He raised his hand and began chanting.
"Black and white net! Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns and sashes, footsteps, distant thunder, spearhead, turning earth, night ambush, sea of clouds, azure sequence, fill the great circle, rush straight to the heavens! Bakudo #77, Tenteikūra!"
Gin Ichimaru cast Bakudo #77, a Kido spell that could be used for long-distance communication.
It wasn't that they didn't want to use a Denreishinki. In this era, the device hadn't been invented yet.
Shinigami usually communicated using Kido or Hell Butterflies. They hadn't brought any Hell Butterflies with them, and Denreishinki didn't exist yet, so Tenteikūra was their only option.
Since it was the Ninth Division, Gaoyu wanted to see if Shūhei was among them.
He soon got his answer. The Ninth Division received Gin Ichimaru's Tenteikūra and hurried over. Among the crowd was Hizaki Shūhei.
Gaoyu glanced over the Ninth Division, then fell silent.
Two of the Ninth Division's Shinigami had already been possessed by Metastacia. Before they even reached him, he saw red light emanating from them.
Once they came close, he saw the Soul Abilities of the two men.
Both were "Parasite." That proved they were both Metastacia.
But Gaoyu didn't expose them. This was the powerful intuition the Game Master had given him.
Just as he had thought earlier, if he exposed them and then killed them, and they showed no signs of anything unusual, he would be the one left in an awkward position.
In that case, he would keep an eye on them and only act if they made a move.
Gaoyu believed that, with his current strength, dealing with them would be fairly easy.
He glanced at Gin Ichimaru and saw that Gin was looking at him too, so he smiled.
Gin Ichimaru smiled back. It seemed they had both guessed what the other was thinking.
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