"Do you still remember Miss Kōgyoku?"
Kisuke Urahara continued in a low voice. "Back then, the Tsunayashiro Clan even went so far as to have one of its members marry Miss Kōgyoku just to get close to her. For the self-important Tsunayashiro Clan, that was practically an insult."
"That's true." Yoruichi thought of the Tsunayashiro Clan's ways and couldn't help sneering. "Those people think anyone who isn't a noble is trash. Forget ordinary Soul Reapers—even lower-ranking nobles are trash to them."
"To be considered human in their eyes, you'd have to be an upper-ranking noble at the very least."
"Exactly." Kisuke Urahara agreed. "Don't you think this time is similar?"
"How is it similar?" Yoruichi retorted. "The Gaoyu Family is already a vassal family of the Tsunayashiro Clan. Isn't it perfectly normal for the main family to give them orders?"
"So, based on this alone, I was only thirty percent certain." Kisuke Urahara said, "But when I also consider his own experiences and... his conversation with Aizen, I can be fairly certain..."
"Even if Gaoyu doesn't have a Soul King Fragment in his soul, at the very least, both the Tsunayashiro Clan and Aizen believe he does."
"And I'm afraid it's more than just an ordinary fragment."
Kisuke Urahara's gaze grew distant.
If it were just an ordinary fragment, it might be enough to spur the Tsunayashiro Clan into action, but Aizen probably wouldn't have taken such an "interest" in it.
"I don't understand you people." After listening to Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi couldn't help sighing.
"Forget it. Do as you like. What do you want to do about Gaoyu Kouun?"
"Keep him under surveillance for now." Kisuke Urahara smiled wryly. "I'm afraid Aizen's attitude toward Gaoyu is also to 'observe' him. If we try to make a move against him, Aizen won't stand by and let us."
"Then should I go? Though he might see through my identity."
At that, Yoruichi grew even more puzzled.
"How did he find me?"
Yoruichi's transformation into a black cat was a secret technique of the Shihōin Clan. Under normal circumstances, no one should be able to detect her.
Yet she had barely appeared beside Gaoyu when that boy picked her up.
"I'm not an all-knowing, all-powerful god." Kisuke Urahara smiled wryly. "How would I know?"
In fact, he'd been discovered too.
If Gaoyu had detected Yoruichi by monitoring her spiritual pressure, then what about him?
He'd worn a cloak that concealed his spiritual pressure and had also applied several invisibility Kidō spells to it.
Once he put it on, it was as if he'd turned invisible. No one should have been able to detect him.
But when he walked over, Gaoyu had spotted him with just one glance.
Kisuke Urahara naturally had confidence in his invention.
In fact, Gaoyu's behavior was precisely what made Kisuke Urahara believe his earlier words even more.
It also strengthened his suspicion that Gaoyu's soul contained some part of the Soul King.
After all, the Soul King's most remarkable power was said to be a pair of eyes capable of seeing through everything.
He didn't know what Gaoyu was after, nor what Aizen wanted to use him for. But he knew Gaoyu would be a very important person from here on, and they had to keep him under surveillance.
At the very least, they had to watch him in the Human World.
"Don't worry. Even if Mr. Gaoyu notices you from now on, he probably won't say anything."
Kisuke Urahara said.
Just as Kisuke Urahara had predicted, Yoruichi kept Gaoyu under surveillance for the next three days, and he didn't expose her again during that time.
Gaoyu's actions over those three days also left Yoruichi baffled.
After leaving, Gaoyu didn't do anything in particular. He put on a gigai and wandered around Karakura Town, not looking at all like he was on a secret mission.
On this day, Gaoyu came to the Ishida Family's home once again.
He slipped inside with ease.
At the Fifth Training Ground, Gaoyu sat in a tree and watched Soken Ishida diligently training below.
He didn't know how old Soken Ishida was, but he felt the boy probably hadn't come of age yet.
Compared with him, a man of several decades, Soken Ishida was nothing short of a "child."
The greatest advantage of being a Soul Reaper was...
A long lifespan.
For someone as afraid of death as Gaoyu, that was truly wonderful.
The immortality that people in other stories struggled for ages to find was practically within his grasp.
Take Xu Fu, for instance. He went to all the trouble of killing a phoenix and then a dragon in pursuit of immortality, only to end up losing both his eternal life and his life altogether.
All Gaoyu had to do was strengthen his soul, and his lifespan would increase.
Like Yamamoto, he could live for three or four thousand years without a problem.
Even Orochimaru next door would be green with envy!
In a few decades, Soken Ishida would be an old man, while he would look much the same as he did now.
Gaoyu shook his head. Speaking of which, the Quincies in the Wandenreich were different. They were all old monsters who'd lived for hundreds, even thousands of years, but since they remained in a spiritual-particle state in the Soul Society, they showed no signs of aging.
Anyone with a flesh-and-blood body was bound to be troubled by aging.
Tsk, Gaoyu felt like a poet now, growing more sentimental by the minute.
He shook his head, then jumped straight down from the tree.
He landed right in front of Soken Ishida, who was practicing Saint Cantus, startling him badly.
Soken Ishida fell onto the ground and stared up at Gaoyu, who had suddenly dropped down, saying in surprise, "Y-you... who are you?"
Gaoyu scratched his head and said with feigned confusion, "That's strange. Where am I?"
Then he looked at Soken Ishida. "You... are you a Quincy too?"
"Hm?" Soken Ishida asked in surprise. "Of course I'm a Quincy. My name is Soken Ishida. Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Kurosaki Kouun. I'm a Quincy too, from the Kurosaki Family. I've heard of your Ishida Family. You're a rare pure-blood family." Gaoyu clicked his tongue.
That's right. He'd never planned to use his Soul Reaper identity to befriend a Quincy.
If he wanted to befriend a Quincy, naturally, he had to be a Quincy himself.
However, he could only use this approach with Soken Ishida.
First, Soken Ishida was still young. He couldn't tell whether Gaoyu was really a Quincy.
Second, Soken Ishida's Soul Ability was Quincy Inheritor. As long as Gaoyu gained his favor—even if it only reached sixty—he could use a Quincy ability in front of the Ishida Family once.
That way, his identity would basically be confirmed.
So when Soken Ishida summoned his bow and asked Gaoyu to summon his own, Gaoyu could only sigh.
"Sorry. I used a Quincy's Final Form, and I've completely lost my Quincy powers."
"I... am no longer a Quincy."
Before you continue