Yoshio not only gained Tanimoto's favorability, but also Satoru Fujita's and Kohei Tanaka's—though not up to 80, they were over 70.
This was indeed the best time to earn others' goodwill.
Before long, Ichimaru Gin returned, still with that slitted smile. "Unfortunately, I checked the surroundings, but found no trace of a Hollow."
Fujita spoke in disappointment. "If even Lieutenant Ichimaru couldn't find it, do we have to rely on Yoshio to passively defend?"
"Not good!"
A Shinigami blurted out, "Kawai's corpse suddenly disappeared!"
"What?!" Kohei Tanaka exclaimed. "The corpse vanished? Weren't you guarding it?!"
Yoshio looked over and found Kawai's body was indeed gone, leaving only an empty shihakushō.
Seeing this, everyone was reminded of why they came here.
"The souls are disappearing?!"
"Could that Hollow be the culprit behind the vanishings?!"
Tanaka quickly looked to Ichimaru. "Lieutenant Ichimaru! Do we keep advancing, or report back to the Captain?"
Ichimaru's tone never seemed to change. He turned forward. "Fujita, take a squad back to the Seireitei to report what happened."
"As for us, we need to push forward and notify the 9th Division."
"Yes!" Fujita nodded and immediately led his team back toward the Seireitei.
Yoshio watched them go and took a deep breath.
Would that team even survive?
"Cancel the rest. We move immediately to the 9th Division's current position."
Ichimaru issued orders. Their squad mobilized at once. Yoshio, Tanimoto, and Tanaka exchanged looks, seeing the worry in each other's eyes.
In this situation…
Even if they rendezvous with the 9th Division, can they trust each other?
Yes, Yoshio could identify the parasitic Hollow—but what if something goes wrong?
What if the other side refuses to admit it?
Will the 9th Division believe the 5th's word?
This…
Seems like a test of trust.
Yoshio felt a storm buffet his heart. He faintly guessed the nature of Aizen's little game.
Since he liked playing the good guy and making friends in the Seireitei, then Aizen would run a game to isolate him from everyone.
If Metastacia could keep parasitizing, sooner or later, more people would be killed by Yoshio's accusations.
Those people had friends. How would they see Yoshio?
Moreover, people are emotional creatures. Would they really execute someone just on Yoshio's word?
Perhaps under Game Master's influence, Yoshio noticed something he'd previously overlooked.
Why did Metastacia split so ostentatiously in front of everyone?
Was that an inevitable result of its power?
Probably not. In the original, its fusion truly merged with the host—death meant real death; it didn't crawl out. Otherwise Rukia wouldn't have carried that trauma for so many years.
So if later Yoshio identified another Shinigami parasitized by Metastacia, and after execution nothing crawled out…
How would people treat Yoshio then?
Tch, so that's how you want to play it?
Yoshio glanced at Ichimaru Gin, whose slit-eyes seemed eternally unchanged.
He said nothing and kept to the formation.
The Shinigami sped along. After another three hours, Tanimoto halted.
"The 9th Division is five kilometre ahead."
Tanimoto was the best at reiraku tracking in their team—in other words, he had the strongest sensing ability.
His Zanpakutō's power was similar to Ichimaru Gin's, capable of long-range lethality, so sensing was crucial.
Hence his soul ability was the ultra-strong pinpoint shot, [Special Beam Cannon].
Five kilometre is like spanning several Karakura Town blocks—no great distance to them.
But the continuous march left the Shinigami panting—though Yoshio was fine.
[Game Master] was doing work.
The others were exhausted by now.
"It's fine. Everyone can rest."
Ichimaru spoke from the front. "I'll notify the 9th Division."
He raised his hand and began chanting.
"Silken net of black and white! Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowning sash; footprints, distant thunder, pointed peaks, revolving grounds, nightly prostrations, sea of clouds, the pale ranks of troops, complete the grand circle and surpass the heavens! Bakudō 77: Tenteikūra!"
Ichimaru cast Bakudō 77, a kidō used for long-distance communication.
They weren't using denreishinki because it hadn't been invented yet in this era.
Typically, Shinigami communicated via kidō or Jigokuchō. They hadn't brought any butterflies, and denreishinki didn't exist yet, so Tenteikūra it was.
Given it was the 9th Division, Yoshio also wanted to see if Hisagi was among them.
The result came quickly. The 9th received Ichimaru's Tenteikūra and soon arrived; among them was Hisagi Shūhei.
Yoshio swept his eyes over the 9th and kept silent.
Two Shinigami in the 9th were already parasitized by Metastacia. Even before they reached him, he could see the red glow around them.
When they drew near, he could see the soul abilities on them.
Both were ["Parasitize,"] proving they were Metastacia.
But Yoshio didn't expose them—this was the keen instinct granted by [Game Master].
As he'd just reasoned, if he exposed them and killed them and nothing abnormal emerged from their bodies, he'd be the one put on the spot.
So he'd keep them under constant watch and strike only when they made a move.
He felt that with his current strength, dealing with them would be easy.
He glanced at Ichimaru Gin and found Gin watching him too, so he gave him a smile.
Ichimaru returned the smile, as if both had guessed what the other was thinking.