A Day Off

Everyone spent the night at Gaoyu's place.

By the time they woke up the next morning, everyone else had already gone.

Aizen had said the night before that he'd give him another day off today. After all, he'd drunk the most last night, so he could spend the day sobering up.

Just look at that, would you? How considerate!

That was the captain of his, Gaoyu Kouun's. Did any of them have a captain like that?

No wonder everyone in the Fifth Division respected Aizen so much. Even after Aizen had openly betrayed them, people still remembered his kindness.

Gaoyu finally understood. If he'd been in the Fifth Division in the original story, he'd have been Aizen's biggest fan too!

Lying in bed, Gaoyu stared at the ceiling and yawned again.

He had to admit, he'd really drunk quite a bit last night. His head still hurt a little.

Gaoyu got out of bed and poured himself a glass of hot water.

After washing up, he took a sip to quench his thirst.

He'd been thinking about going to work today, but now he could happily go back to sleep. What a relief.

But...

Forget it. How could he waste such a lovely day sleeping?

Time to go raise some more favorability.

Gaoyu thought it over. There were already several abilities he had his eye on.

Still, he couldn't rush some people's favorability. If he went out of his way to curry favor with them, he might end up putting them off instead.

After thinking it over, he decided to get Strict Teacher, Talented Student first.

Since he'd finally gotten a day off, he wouldn't go raise the favorability of anyone in the Gotei 13. He was on vacation, while they had to work!

So Gaoyu got ready and headed toward Shino Academy.

"Teacher!"

At Shino Academy, Gaoyu made his way to Dainaihara Gen'ichirō's office with practiced ease and found him reading.

"Gaoyu?!" Dainaihara Gen'ichirō was taken aback, then broke into a delighted smile. He hurried to his feet and said, "You're a big name in Seireitei now. What brings you here?"

Just look at that! Back when he was a low-ranking Shinigami, he'd never gotten this kind of treatment.

His teacher was smiling the moment he saw him now, wasn't he?

Man, people really were so fickle.

Back when he was a low-ranking Shinigami, his teacher could barely be bothered with him. Now that he was a Vice-Captain, he greeted him with a smile.

"Captain Aizen gave me the day off, and I didn't have anything else to do, so I thought I'd come visit you."

As he spoke, Gaoyu placed a bag of fruit on the table.

Dainaihara Gen'ichirō smiled again. "You came all this way. You didn't have to bring anything."

"You helped me so much back then, Teacher. Of course I wouldn't forget what you did for me," Gaoyu said with a smile.

These days, he loved saying nice things. It didn't cost him a thing, and if it made people happy and raised their favorability, why not?

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have become a Vice-Captain."

"With your hard work, becoming a Vice-Captain was only a matter of time," Dainaihara Gen'ichirō said.

Honestly, that wasn't entirely true.

Gaoyu had certainly worked hard back then, but what good was hard work on its own? If hard work were enough to make someone a Vice-Captain, Seireitei would have hundreds of them by now.

It took talent!

Without talent, you could work hard your whole life and still be just a low-ranking Shinigami.

Back then, Dainaihara Gen'ichirō had thought it would be impressive if Gaoyu made it to the seventh or eighth seat.

He'd expected Hizaki Shūhei to become a Vice-Captain instead.

But he'd never imagined that, just a few years after graduating, Gaoyu would already be a Vice-Captain.

It was big news throughout Seireitei, and Gaoyu had certainly made a name for himself.

Dainaihara Gen'ichirō couldn't help reflecting that a person's prospects depended not only on hard work and talent, but also on luck.

Not even half a year ago, Gaoyu had been an ordinary Shinigami. In just six short months, he'd made one leap after another and become a Vice-Captain.

Gaoyu understood that, of course.

He and Dainaihara Gen'ichirō walked outside, and along the way, Gaoyu asked about Toshiro Hitsugaya.

Dainaihara Gen'ichirō said Tōshirō was a rare genius. In just half a year at the academy, he'd nearly finished the entire curriculum.

However, after assessing him, the school had decided that Toshiro Hitsugaya wasn't quite ready to graduate. Even if he wanted to graduate early, they were thinking of having him wait until the year after next.

He was still too young. Joining the Gotei 13 in a hurry wouldn't be a good thing.

At Shino Academy, he could be given time to grow.

What if something went wrong on a mission after he joined the Gotei 13?

He had plenty of room to grow. There was no need for him to rush into the Thirteenth Division like the other students.

Besides, some division would definitely want him.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Gaoyu said, nodding after hearing the school's decision. "Toshiro-kun is still a child, after all. If I were his teacher, I'd want him to finish the full six-year curriculum too. Then he'd be able to protect himself as soon as he joined the Gotei 13."

"Exactly," Dainaihara Gen'ichirō said with a sigh. "I've been thinking the same thing. It would also be a good thing for your Fifth Division."

"How so?" Gaoyu smiled. "What does this have to do with our Fifth Division?"

"Think about it. Almost all the promising students in my class next year are about to be snapped up by your Fifth Division."

"If you take a genius like Toshiro too, the other divisions won't be able to accept it."

It was already December 26. The New Year was only a few days away, and once it passed, it would be a new year.

That meant a new class of students would be graduating. Among them, the Fifth Division had practically already claimed Izuru Kira, Renji Abarai, and Momo Hinamori, three exceptionally talented students.

If they took Toshiro Hitsugaya too, how were the other divisions supposed to take it?

Were they really going to let one division take all the good ones?

"Haha." Gaoyu couldn't help laughing. "There's not much we can do about that. Our Fifth Division is just so appealing. But you're right, Teacher. We shouldn't make ourselves a target."

Gaoyu agreed with Dainaihara Gen'ichirō, raised his favorability by two points, and then said goodbye.

Next, he went to White Road Gate and chatted with Jidanbō nearby.

Jidanbō was a simple, big-hearted fellow. Gaoyu only had to make small talk with him for his favorability to shoot up.

It still hadn't reached sixty, but Gaoyu figured one more visit would do it.

And with that, his day off came to an end.

After that, Gaoyu went back to work as usual, and life seemed to return to the way it had been.

Work, training, drinking—and whenever he had a day off, going around to raise people's favorability.

In the blink of an eye, the next year arrived.