Followup Research (Hado)

Ryouta was reasonably confident that his predecessor had been competent. That was why he was somewhat less than excited to be entering the Living World to do what was deemed followup research. Apparently, something about the Quincy might have changed in the past 100 years, something that the Gotei might deem important. Ryouta found that highly unlikely, considering that the Gotei itself had barely changed in the past 1000 years. Considering the short lifespans of humans, he doubted they'd really be that concerned with anything resembling significant change, and would resign themselves to lives of fulfilling base desires like eating, sleeping, drinking, and fornicating. Ryouta smiled thinly as he remembered a time when that sort of life would seem idyllic to him- now, it seemed idiotic. Perhaps it was his Hollow self that had changed him so much; no, it was his Hollow self. His Hollow self had shown him how a scientist like Ryouta must act, logically and rationally. Coldly, some people called it...but their opinions didn't matter.

"Not all opinions are equally valid," Ryouta muttered to himself. Anyway, he might as well get this over with. The Senkaimon he had used to get to the Living World opened in the general vicinity of a hospital that was actually a training grounds or something for Quincy. Ryouta briefly wondered how exactly he should go about obtaining subjects, but decided that the direct approach was probably best. Closing his eyes, he probed around, searching for significant spiritual presences. He wasn't particularly concerned about being confronted by enemies of any real caliber, because admittedly, out of the Captains in the Gotei, he had one of the lower spiritual pressures (at least, without the aid of his Hollow mask). It was something he was working on, but right now, it was sort of an asset.

Ryouta's eyes opened again as he sensed a significant presence. He flash stepped from his current position to a rooftop, where he found a man...actually a boy, probably no older than 17 by Ryouta's guess, lounging with his legs dangling over the building's edge. The boy turned at Ryouta's arrival, his eyes growing wide even as he summoned his bow. "I'm not here to fight you," Ryouta told the boy. "Only here to take you in for followup research to see if anything about Quincy have changed in the last 100 years." This was met by a flurry of arrows in Ryouta's direction, which he dodged easily. This Quincy did not seem particularly advanced in power, possibly because of his apparent age. "I doubt you'll have anything of interest or novelty to show me, but maybe Quincy composition has changed in the past 100 years. A vivisection would answer that question. Bakudo#23: Tetsuori." A bar formed in Ryouta's hand, which he threw into the ground. From the ground around the Quincy, 24 identical rods 15 feet long emerged to trap him where he stood.

"Be a good boy and stay there while I collect the rest of my sample group," Ryouta told him. It was possible that Ryouta's physical appearance had triggered the boy's violent reaction, but Ryouta didn't pause to consider it. It didn't matter, really.