Gaoyu realized that word of him taking down the parasitic Captain of the Third Division seemed to have spread throughout the Seireitei.
He didn't need to think twice to know that Aizen had definitely done it.
Of course, Gaoyu didn't mind.
He was more than happy to let everyone hear about his shining achievement!
Gaoyu had arranged to meet Rangiku for drinks that evening. She headed to the Fourth Division, while he went home.
He activated his Kirin Child skill, ready to begin training.
He planned to make the most of his month-long break and grow stronger.
At the very least, he had to become worthy of the Vice-Captain position, right?
Of Zanpaku-tō, Kidō, Hakuda, and Shunpo, he was mainly training in Flash Step.
He didn't really need to work on swordsmanship.
Hand-to-hand Combat was even less useful to him.
And for Kidō, he had better options in the form of his various abilities.
So all he needed to do was work hard at Flash Step. The rest of the time, he could improve his Spiritual Pressure.
He trained from morning until the afternoon. Around six o'clock, Renji and the others came by again.
They'd heard about the Soul Disappearance Incident at school and knew Gaoyu had been involved, so they came to check on him.
"I heard Senior Gaoyu took down a Menos Grande! You might become a Vice-Captain next!" Momo Hinamori said, gazing at him admiringly.
"It must be wonderful to work under Captain Aizen, right?"
Wonderful?
Gaoyu's mouth twitched, but all he could do was nod and say,
"Yeah."
"But I'm a pretty laid-back person. I just hope Captain Aizen won't work me too hard."
"So is that why you stayed an ordinary squad member until now, Gaoyu?" Tōshirō remarked calmly from the side.
"You should call me Senior Gaoyu." Gaoyu glanced at him, then added, "And I wasn't an ordinary squad member. I was the Ninth Seat. I'm a seated officer of the Fifth Division."
Gaoyu rubbed his stomach and said to the four of them, "Anyway, I've barely eaten today. Want to go out and grab something? I've already made plans to have dinner with Miss Rangiku."
"I have class tonight," Renji said regretfully. "What about you, Tōshirō?"
"Me too," Toshiro Hitsugaya said calmly. "And I want to graduate early, so I probably won't have much free time from now on."
"Graduate early?" Hinamori looked at Tōshirō curiously and asked, "Shiro-chan, why do you want to graduate early?"
"The material taught at school isn't difficult."
"Graduating early is a good idea, actually," Gaoyu said. "With Tōshirō's talent, he'll master everything they teach at school in no time."
"Speaking of which, you three will be graduating soon too, right?"
"...Yeah." Kira nodded. "We're already in our sixth year. We'll graduate in less than half a year, and we've agreed to join the Fifth Division together."
"Sounds good. Keep it up," Gaoyu encouraged them.
After seeing the four of them off, Gaoyu spent the evening drinking with Rangiku until late into the night.
The next month went much the same way.
He trained during the day and went out to have fun at night.
Apart from Rangiku, he sometimes went drinking with Shunsui Kyoraku. Later on, Tetsuzamon Iba from the Eleventh Division joined them too.
At the time, Tetsuzamon Iba was still in the Eleventh Division. He hadn't transferred to the Seventh Division to become its Vice-Captain yet.
His Soul Ability was "All-rounder."
"All-rounder: All of your abilities become balanced."
The ability brought all his abilities to the same level.
In other words, once he used it, even someone who only knew how to use Flash Step would gain a boost from it when using other abilities. At the same time, though, those other abilities would also drag down his Flash Step a little.
For example, suppose Gaoyu's Flash Step was at 100, his Kidō at 60, his swordsmanship at 40, and his Hand-to-hand Combat at 20. If he used this ability, all four values would become (100+60+40+20)/4=55.
How was he supposed to describe this ability...
Sometimes it could come in handy, and sometimes it was next to useless.
Gaoyu felt that rather than be an all-round fighter, it was better to focus on one thing and push it to the extreme.
Unless you could reach the limits in every area like Aizen and become a top-tier all-rounder.
Otherwise... being balanced just meant being mediocre.
About half a month later, Shūhei was finally discharged from the hospital.
During those two weeks, Gaoyu had often visited the Fourth Division at night, in addition to going out for drinks.
He hadn't just been checking on Shūhei. More often, he was trying to get on good terms with the Fourth Division's seated officers.
Unfortunately, despite all those visits, he never once saw Unohana Retsu.
He did, however, meet Yūne Kotetsu.
Yūne Kotetsu's Soul Ability was "No More Growing."
"No More Growing: You can prevent your own body and other people's bodies from changing in size."
The ability seemed useless, but it made Gaoyu's eyes light up.
After all, plenty of people had abilities that made them grow larger. For example, M. Gerard Valkyrie of the Wandenreich's Holy Son Guard grew gigantic after being injured.
And Nnoitra Gilga, the Zero Espada, grew larger the angrier he got.
If he could use Yūne Kotetsu's ability on them, perhaps he could restrict their powers.
But Yūne Kotetsu was a Vice-Captain, and Gaoyu had few chances to spend time with her.
Still, he'd managed to raise the favorability of the other members of the Fourth Division almost to the max.
He'd raised it to sixty for most of them.
Suddenly, he had a lot more offensive abilities at his disposal, which gave him a tremendous sense of security.
Over the course of that month, Gin Ichimaru was officially confirmed as Captain of the Third Division, while Byakuya Kuchiki became Captain of the Sixth Division.
Gaoyu was appointed Vice-Captain of the Fifth Division, and on his very first day, he had to attend the Captain's Meeting with Aizen.
Gaoyu was a little excited. He might not get to see all the Captains at the meeting, but at least he'd be able to see every division's Vice-Captain.
Early in the morning, Gaoyu followed Aizen toward the First Division.
"I'm still kind of sleepy."
Gaoyu yawned and couldn't help saying, "Captain Aizen, you really shouldn't have made me Vice-Captain. I feel like I'm embarrassing myself."
"You'll get used to it." Aizen smiled faintly. "Becoming a Vice-Captain in less than six years after graduating—Gaoyu, your rise through the ranks is enough to go down in history."
"...It sounds like a lot of trouble."
Gaoyu sighed.
He followed Aizen to the First Division, where they happened to see Rangiku. A middle-aged man stood beside her, wearing a Captain's haori with the number "10" on the back. It was obvious that he was Isshin Shiba, Captain of the Tenth Division.
Isshin Shiba's Soul Ability was...
"Final Zanpakuto Fusion: After using this ability, you can fuse with your Zanpakuto and achieve the state of Person-Blade Fusion."
"Note: This skill is extremely dangerous. If you use it without permanently obtaining this ability, you will lose all your Spiritual Power once its effects end."
Before you continue