"You think I'm like you?"
Yoshio said rudely, "You pawn off your work on your captain every day and then run off. I'm very responsible, and I've been busy lately."
Rangiku's eyes widened, as if she'd never seen someone so shameless.
"How can you talk to me like that?!"
Rangiku exclaimed, "I heard from Tōshirō that you even assigned tasks to Hinamori, who just joined the squad!"
"Wait, wait!" Yoshio looked puzzled. "First, how does Tōshirō know about this, and why are you hearing it from him?"
"Of course, because I've never given up on kidnapping Tōshirō to the Tenth Division~" Rangiku chuckled.
"Tōshirō," Kyōraku Shunsui said then, "oh, that prodigy boy. You two know him well?"
"Of course. Captain Kyōraku, did you not know Tōshirō was brought into Seireitei by Yoshio?"
"Really? I didn't know that," Kyōraku said in surprise.
Tōshirō Hitsugaya, the hottest prodigy lately—many squads were thinking of recruiting him in the future.
But now it seemed they could stop arguing; he'd surely end up in the Fifth Division.
"Actually, I'm not insisting he must come to the Fifth Division," Yoshio sighed. "Honestly, with Tōshirō's talent, he's destined to be a captain."
"In other words, he's destined to leave the Fifth Division eventually. He might even go to the Tenth Division and become your boss, Rangiku."
"Bah!" Rangiku said indignantly. "Who wants to serve that brat? Besides, my captain only just took office; retirement is a long way off."
"In that case, maybe I should retire," Kyōraku Shunsui said with some emotion. "Among the Gotei 13, I'm probably one of the oldest captains, right?"
"Not at all," Yoshio chuckled. "Captain Kyōraku is Captain-Commander Yamamoto's proudest disciple. If Captain-Commander Yamamoto retires, I think you're the inevitable next Captain-Commander."
"Spare me," Kyōraku said with a wry smile.
He didn't want to be Captain-Commander.
And…
"Old man Yamamoto is far from retirement."
Don't be fooled by Yamamoto's aged exterior; even a thousand years from now, there wouldn't be much change.
Who knew what the Soul Society would be like in a thousand years.
Yoshio and the others didn't continue that topic. After all, they were out drinking and having fun; talking about retirement constantly was a buzzkill.
Drinking is for happy talk and bragging. If you keep talking about depressing things, what's the point?
Around nine in the evening, the three had their fill and were ready to head out.
Since Kyōraku paid, compared to Yoshio and Rangiku, Kyōraku was already the adult—and adults have no reason to let the youngsters pick up the bill.
However, when the three walked out of Damo House, they saw a group approaching.
Yoshio was taken aback because the leader wore an extremely expensive-looking kimono and a "sai-ketsu" hairpiece that only great nobles could wear. With his Souls Ability ["Elegance in Battle,"] Yoshio recognized him at a glance.
Captain of the Sixth Division, Kuchiki Byakuya.
["Elegance in Battle: After activation in combat, allows one to fight with elegance."]
Heh, the skill description was that brief.
It sounded useless—and maybe it really was?
In any case, Yoshio was sure of one thing.
That is, using this skill had to look extremely cool.
He also thought of another thing.
What is elegant battle?
Would getting injured in a fight affect one's poise?
If so, then after using this ability, would you not get injured?
Would being hit affect one's elegance?
If so, then after using this ability, would you not get hit?
It seemed not very impactful, but Yoshio still saw its potential.
Ahem, forget it. I'll try it when I actually get it. What if it's totally useless and just gives me a bit of noble aura?
"So this is near the Kuchiki family shrine. No wonder we ran into Captain Kuchiki," Kyōraku said, stroking his chin. "Is today a Kuchiki family festival day?"
"What a presence," Rangiku said, watching Kuchiki Byakuya pass. "As expected of a great noble."
"Yeah, different from us commoners—stylish," Yoshio added.
"Hey now, that's a bit much," Kyōraku chuckled. "Yoshio, you're no longer a commoner. If you still are, then how many people in Seireitei wouldn't be commoners?"
Yoshio said nothing. In the eyes of some powerful folks, wasn't he still just a commoner?
"Let's go," Yoshio said. "We've got work tomorrow."
The three parted ways. After saying goodbye, Yoshio returned home, his slightly tipsy eyes gradually clear.
He couldn't wait to begin hollow power training.
Strictly speaking, you couldn't even call it "training," because the [Hollowfication] ability he'd obtained only required him to break his soul's boundary and accept Hollow power to hollowfy.
It wasn't like the [Quincy heir]'s systematic training.
After using the [Quincy heir], Yoshio truly acquired the Quincy training system—he not only obtained the ability to condense a reishi bow but also gained some Quincy knowledge.
Predictably, he might eventually grasp the Spirit Song, spiritual disciplines, shadow power, bloodline power, and other subsequent Quincy systems, even the Quincy final form.
But Hollowfication was different.
On the Quincy side, it was like receiving a complete system, with power to be train over time.
[Hollowfication], however, directly granted him Hollow power; how to master it would be up to him.
Still, since this was a Souls Ability, [hollowfication] wouldn't make him lose control like the Visored.
The biggest advantage of the hollowfication ability was that once used, the soul boundary between his Shinigami and Hollow sides would be permanently broken.
Even without permanently owning the Souls Ability, as long as he gradually mastered the power, he could eventually hollowfy independently without relying on the Souls Ability.
Thinking this, he entered his [safehouse].
After adjusting the [safehouse]'s scene to look like he'd come home, washed up, and gone to bed, he stood in the room and placed a hand over his face.
"Hollowfication…"
Yoshio whispered.