Bleach: I Love Making Friends

As Haruki placed his hand on his face, he felt a surge of power emerging from the depths of his soul.

That power was breaking down his soul, causing a force of an entirely different nature to rise within him.

A white hue began to spread across his face, quickly forming into a mask.

In an instant, a dark red spiritual pressure, brimming with malevolence, erupted from Haruki's body!

Boom!

Haruki felt his spiritual power multiply several times over, but this surge didn't overwhelm his senses. He felt no different from before.

For others, Hollowfication was a life-and-death struggle against the Hollow's power to maintain their sense of self. But Haruki was different. He was using a soul ability. Unless the ability's description mentioned side effects, it wouldn't harm him.

The duration of Hollowfication depended on the strength of his soul. The stronger his soul, the longer he could maintain it.

With his current soul strength, he could sustain it for about five to six minutes. While this paled in comparison to the top members of the Visored, it was still far better than Ichigo Kurosaki's initial attempts.

Once Hollowfication ended, the mask on Haruki's face disappeared.

However, the boundary between his Shinigami and Hollow souls had been permanently broken.

Over time, Haruki would eventually be able to Hollowfy at will.

But this kind of Hollowfication wouldn't be the same as the soul ability he currently possessed. It would be more like the Visored's version, with the risk of losing control.

Unless he could raise White's favorability to 80, in which case he could use risk-free Hollowfication.

"Not bad," Haruki smiled to himself.

It had only been a year since he transmigrated into this world, and he already had the means to protect himself.

Even if the Quincy invasion happened, he was confident he wouldn't just be cannon fodder.

Come on, if he couldn't take on the Sternritter, could he at least handle the Quincy foot soldiers?

Was he, a vice-captain, supposed to fight the Sternritter?

Or maybe the Schutzstaffel?

Wait, no...

Was he seriously thinking about fighting Yhwach?

Haruki chuckled at the thought and then fell asleep.

The next day, on his way to the division, Haruki ran into a familiar face and greeted them.

"Good morning, Ms. Nanao. You're here at the 5th Division so early. Is there something going on?"

Haruki raised his hand in greeting.

That's right, he had spotted Nanao Ise, the vice-captain of the 8th Division.

Nanao seemed a bit surprised. "Vice-Captain Haruki, have you checked the time? You're late for duty."

"Eh?" Haruki scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, Captain Aizen doesn't really care about these small things."

"So, you're here for something, right?"

"I have some information to deliver to Captain Aizen, and I also need to borrow some books from the 5th Division's library."

"The 5th Division's library, huh?" Haruki rubbed his chin, impressed. "As expected of Vice-Captain Ise. You can actually read those dense, academic books in there."

Each division in the Gotei 13 had a medium-sized library in its district.

These libraries were managed directly by the divisions, so they usually contained books that aligned with the division's interests.

For example, the 4th Division's library had many medical books, while the 6th Division's library had books on noble etiquette and clan rituals. As for the 5th Division's library, most of the books were collected by Aizen.

Aizen had somehow acquired a bunch of serious academic books, making the 5th Division's library a place few visited. After all, who could understand that stuff?

"I'm an honorary member of the Shin'ō Library. Don't underestimate me."

The title of Shin'ō Library member was awarded to Shinigami who borrowed over a thousand books in a year. So, Nanao Ise was indeed a bookworm.

Since Haruki occasionally drank with Kyōraku Shunsui, he was somewhat familiar with Nanao, though she didn't have the best impression of him.

Nanao disliked Kyōraku's drinking habits, and Haruki, who often accompanied him, had inadvertently stepped on a landmine.

Haruki understood this, but he had no choice. He needed to boost Kyōraku's favorability.

However, he also wanted to raise Nanao's favorability. Her soul ability, "Mirror Reflection," was something he had been eyeing for a long time.

After a moment of thought, he asked, "What kind of books are you looking for, Vice-Captain Ise?"

"Huh?" Nanao was taken aback, not expecting Haruki to ask such a question. But she replied, "I'm looking for books on Kidō techniques. The 8th Division's library doesn't have what I need, so I thought Captain Aizen, being so knowledgeable, might have something here."

"I see. In that case, I recommend The Blank Soul, The Birth of Kidō, and On Incantationless Casting. They're all in Section B on the second floor of the 5th Division's library. You should be able to find them easily," Haruki said with a calm smile.

"!"

Nanao was stunned. She hadn't expected Haruki to say something like that.

In her mind, Haruki was just a lucky guy who had killed a strange Menos and become a vice-captain.

Moreover, this lucky guy often drank with Captain Kyōraku and was rumored to be lazy and irresponsible in his duties.

As someone who took her work seriously, Nanao didn't have a favorable impression of him.

But now, Haruki had shown her a side of himself that completely contradicted the rumors.

"Th... thank you."

After a moment of silence, Nanao quickly expressed her gratitude. "I'll take a look at those books."

"I'm glad I could help, Vice-Captain Ise. Well, I should head to the division now. If I'm any later, Captain Aizen might have something to say."

Haruki waved with a smile and hurried off to the division.

He was a top student, after all!

Did they think just because he had transmigrated, he could stop studying? No way! Didn't they know that science and technology were the primary productive forces?

Didn't they know that scientists had privileges in this world?

Just look at Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Because they were scientists, they always had endless tricks up their sleeves during fights.

Haruki was envious.

Studying could change one's destiny!

The books Aizen had collected in the 5th Division's library were incomprehensible to most, including Haruki at first.

But that didn't matter. If you didn't understand, you just kept reading!

The more you read, the more you'd understand!

Did they really think he was slacking off all day in the division?

Wrong!

I'm secretly outworking all of you!

I'm the king of grinding!

...

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