After earning Soken Ishida's recognition, he invited Gaoyu to stay at the Ishida Family home.
Gaoyu naturally accepted. For the next three days, he stayed with the Ishida Family.
During those three days, Gaoyu often discussed the Quincy with Soken Ishida, covering both their past and their future.
Gaoyu knew quite a bit about the Quincy, after all, he had read the entire Bleach manga. As long as the topic didn't get too specific, he could answer Soken's questions.
Even when they discussed Quincy Saint Cantus and Saint Training, Gaoyu had some knowledge to draw on and answered smoothly. That finally convinced Soken Ishida.
However, Gaoyu couldn't stay with the Ishida Family forever.
He was still a Soul Reaper, after all. If he stayed with the Ishida Family, then if Soul Society discovered him, not only would he be in trouble, but so would the Ishida Family.
So, after three days, Gaoyu said goodbye to Soken Ishida.
"It's a shame you can't stay," Soken Ishida said regretfully. "It's not often you meet someone who shares your interests."
"I feel the same."
Gaoyu smiled, but still headed for the door.
"It's just that I've never been one to sit still. I finally escaped that gloomy world of the Empire, so naturally I want to see more of the Human World."
"Once I've seen enough, I'll probably come back. I hope..."
Gaoyu reached the door. Without turning around, he raised his right hand and waved.
After a pause, he continued, "By then, we'll still be young, won't we?"
With that, he walked out.
"Mm..."
Watching "Kurosaki Kouun" disappear into the distance, Soken Ishida murmured, "I hope we won't have grown old by then."
Gaoyu left slowly, feeling a little regretful. In the end, he hadn't managed to raise Soken Ishida's affection to 80.
Over three days, he'd raised Soken Ishida's affection to 77. It might have seemed like he was only three points short of 80, but the higher the affection got, the harder it was to increase.
Going from 77 to 80 might take several months.
Where was he supposed to find that kind of time?
Besides, the more you said, the more likely you were to slip up. Three days had been fine, but if he stayed longer, Soken Ishida might ask about some Quincy matter that hadn't appeared in the original story. How would he answer then?
So...
He shouldn't get too greedy.
When it was time to stop, he needed to stop.
At least he'd already gained the temporary ability of a "Quincy Inheritor." Once he returned to Soul Society, he could use it to train alongside the Kirin Child talent.
The Quincy Inheritor ability and the Kirin Child talent both took effect for three days after activation. With the talent the Kirin Child granted him, combined with Soul Society's dense spirit-particle environment, Gaoyu was confident he'd make some progress in Quincy training.
He didn't need much...
Just enough to form a Spirit Bow.
Once he could form a Spirit Bow, his identity as a Quincy would be beyond doubt.
Thinking of that, Gaoyu glanced at the black cat darting past him, then smiled and stepped off the street.
Looking at the busy street, Gaoyu felt as if he'd returned to his previous life.
Sigh, time was about up. It was time to get to work.
Gaoyu began searching across Tokyo and then all of Japan. First, he found the Agata Family. As expected, even at such a young age, Tenji Agata already possessed the ability of a Fullbringer.
There were also several other Fullbringers who hadn't appeared in the story.
Finding these people wasn't difficult. Urban legends were very popular in Japan, and many of them were caused by "psychics."
These so-called "psychics" were really just Hollows, Soul Reapers, Quincy, or Fullbringers.
By sorting out which urban legends involved Fullbringers and investigating where the incidents took place, he could find them easily.
He also discovered something else: although these Fullbringers were weak, they all had Soul Abilities.
And their Soul Abilities were remarkably similar.
"Soul King Fragment: Once affection reaches eighty, you can obtain a Soul King Fragment and cause the other person's ability to disappear."
Gaoyu was very interested in obtaining this ability, but he still couldn't raise their affection to eighty in a short time.
These people all wanted to lose their abilities, but he couldn't exactly tell them, "If you treat me like a friend you'd trust with your life, I can take your abilities away, right?"
Who would believe that?
Besides, they couldn't sincerely give him affection under those circumstances.
So Gaoyu didn't interfere much in their lives.
If he really wanted to get those Soul King Fragments, couldn't he just forcibly remove them from their souls?
Of course, without the kind of expertise Aizen or Kisuke Urahara had, extracting a Soul King Fragment from someone's soul would cost them their life.
The Tsunayashiro Family's method of collecting Soul King Fragments was simple and brutal.
Kill!
Kill the person and forcibly extract it!
Gaoyu wasn't about to go that far. In the end, he wasn't that desperate yet.
Even if he obtained a Soul King Fragment, he wouldn't know how to use it.
You couldn't gain the power of a Soul King Fragment by eating it like food or simply containing it in your soul.
So, about a month after arriving in the Human World, Gaoyu returned to Seireitei.
As he stepped back through the Senkaimon, Gaoyu thought back over his experiences in the Human World and couldn't help smiling.
He'd gained quite a lot this time.
After returning, he didn't go home or head to the Fifth Division. Instead, he went to the Sixth District.
The Sixth District was the noble district, the Sixth Division's territory, and a gathering place for nobles.
Now that Gaoyu was back, he needed to deliver the information he'd collected to the Tsunayashiro Family.
So he had to pay them a visit.
The Gaoyu Family had once lived in the Sixth District too, but after falling into decline, they'd sold their house there and bought another near the Fifth Division.
Gaoyu remembered living in the Sixth District as a child, so its streets were familiar to him.
The nobles' homes were mostly clustered in two areas.
One was, naturally, the Kuchiki Family, the lords of the Sixth District.
The Kuchiki Family not only held the captaincy of the Sixth Division, but was also one of the great noble families. Naturally, countless nobles gathered around them.
The other area belonged to the Tsunayashiro Family.
Completely disregarding the Kuchiki Family's authority as the local power, the Tsunayashiro Family had built their estate higher, bigger, and wider, as if declaring that they were the foremost of the Five Noble Clans.
On his way to the Tsunayashiro Family estate, Gaoyu saw Kuchiki Rukia in the Sixth District—and also saw her Soul Ability.
"Star"
Before you continue