Using Bringer Light, Sawada Tsunayoshi rapidly leapt through the air and landed beside Masaki.
"Aunt Masaki, are you alright?"
"We're fine. Thank you, Tsunayoshi," Masaki replied, already returning to her usual cheerful demeanor now that the danger had passed. "Ichigo just fainted from the shock."
Tsunayoshi crouched down and poked Ichigo's soft, bouncy cheek.
Normally, although Ichigo was kind-hearted, if someone dared to do something like that, he would immediately retaliate with a flying kick and the two would end up wrestling on the ground.
Masaki looked at the huge bow in Tsunayoshi's hands, hesitating as if she wanted to ask something.
Now that she could observe it up close, she finally saw its details clearly. The guard on the bow had a red ornament with a peculiar emblem—inside it was a large Roman numeral "I."
It was obviously a bow.
But no matter how she looked at it, it didn't resemble the bows used by Quincy.
Quincy spirit bows were always composed of blue Reishi constructs, yet this longbow burned with red flames.
"Tsunayoshi… are you a Quincy?" Masaki finally asked.
"Oh? You mean this?" Tsunayoshi stopped teasing Ichigo and pulled the bow back against his chest. "This is my Fullbring ability."
What Masaki couldn't see was the red gem on the Sky Ring beneath his clothes flickering briefly.
"Fullbring?"
Masaki had no idea what that ability was.
But something else suddenly clicked.
"So the Reiatsu that's been active around Karakura Town recently… that was you?"
She relaxed completely and sat down on the ground.
For nearly a year, she and Isshin had sensed a mysterious Reiatsu appearing in Karakura Town.
But since that Reiatsu had never done anything malicious—and had even been destroying Hollows and protecting the town—they assumed it belonged to a newly stationed Shinigami.
They never expected the source to be Tsunayoshi.
That was a relief.
After all, Tsunayoshi often visited the Kurosaki residence.
Masaki trusted him.
As for Tsunayoshi's Fullbring, the bow was only one of his abilities.
Its name was G's Bow, the weapon of the Vongola First Generation Storm Guardian.
Tsunayoshi's Fullbring allowed him to replicate the weapons of the Vongola Primo and his Guardians.
Thanks to the six differently colored gems embedded in the unlocked Sky Ring, Tsunayoshi could obtain the weapon of the corresponding Guardian simply by calling its name.
Meanwhile, the Vongola crest in the center of the ring could transform into the equipment of the First Vongola Boss.
Fortunately, Tsunayoshi's Fullbring also granted him basic proficiency with each weapon.
Otherwise, no matter how talented he was, mastering the weapons of seven different people within just over a year would have been impossible.
Especially the bizarre ones.
Yes—
He was definitely talking about Alaude's handcuffs.
"Aunt Masaki, let me take you and Ichigo home first," Tsunayoshi said as he lifted Ichigo onto his back. "The rain is getting heavier."
"Alright. Let's go home."
Masaki struggled to stand and tried to take Ichigo from him.
But her arms refused to cooperate.
Instead, she nearly dropped him.
"I'll carry him, Aunt Masaki. It's no big deal."
With his current physical condition, carrying someone wasn't difficult at all.
"Thank you, Tsunayoshi."
A strange emptiness continued spreading through Masaki's body.
Not only could she no longer control Reishi, she was starting to lose even her physical strength.
With Tsunayoshi's help, they slowly made their way back toward the Kurosaki residence.
Click.
The Kurosaki front door opened.
Isshin, who had been anxiously waiting at home, rushed to the entrance.
What he saw was the three of them completely soaked by rain.
Ichigo was unconscious on Tsunayoshi's back, and Masaki was leaning heavily against him.
"Masaki?!"
Isshin hurried over, helping Tsunayoshi support them and guiding everyone into the living room.
He immediately began rushing around in a panic.
First, he dried Ichigo off and changed his clothes.
Then he helped Masaki as well.
While doing so, Isshin quickly noticed that Masaki's condition seemed unusually weak.
Fortunately, their younger daughters had already fallen asleep.
Ichigo was unconscious.
So Isshin managed to settle everything without too much trouble.
As for Tsunayoshi—
Thanks to the raincoat Nana prepared for him, he simply removed it and was perfectly fine.
At the moment, he was casually drinking milk he had taken from the Kurosaki refrigerator.
"Thank you so much, Tsunayoshi," Isshin said seriously, grabbing his hand.
Masaki had already explained everything.
Just thinking about it made Isshin shudder.
He had almost lost his wife.
Since he had lost his Shinigami powers, even though he sensed both the Hollow's Reiatsu and Masaki's Reiatsu earlier, he couldn't do anything.
All he could do was trust that Masaki would handle it.
"We're friends, aren't we?" Tsunayoshi said with a bright smile.
"That's right. Tsunayoshi will always be one of the Kurosaki family's best friends," Isshin replied, rubbing his head.
"Oh, right, Uncle Isshin," Tsunayoshi added. "Could you call my mom? I'll head home a bit later."
"Got it."
Isshin didn't question Tsunayoshi too much.
Instead, he called Sawada Nana, assuring her that Tsunayoshi was playing at their house and that he would send him home later.
After everything settled down, the three of them sat in the living room.
Tsunayoshi continued sipping milk.
"Masaki… why did you suddenly lose your power?" Isshin asked with concern.
"I don't know," Masaki replied, shaking her head.
"If I had even a little strength left, that Hollow wouldn't have been able to show off like that."
"That was Auswählen," Tsunayoshi suddenly said, putting down his milk.
"Auswählen—an ability used by the Father of the Quincy."
"He can reclaim the power of every Quincy whose bloodline is considered impure."
"That's impossible," Isshin frowned.
"I've never heard of such a thing," Masaki added. "And I was one of the few pure-blood Quincy."
"Aunt Masaki… you were injured before, weren't you?" Tsunayoshi said.
He was referring to her bait-and-counterattack fighting style.
"The power of a Hollow is poison to Quincy. From the moment you were injured by one, you were no longer a pure-blood Quincy."
"Even if what you say is true," Isshin asked, narrowing his eyes, "how do you know all of this?"
Even Masaki herself didn't know this information.
"We're friends, aren't we?" Tsunayoshi replied casually.
"Besides, because of Ichigo, I've spent plenty of time wandering around in my raincoat."
He pointed at the raincoat hanging by the door.
Isshin gave him a long, thoughtful look.
Someone born with knowledge…
Could such a person really exist?
But Isshin didn't dwell on it.
"Tsunayoshi," he said. "Tell us everything you know."
"According to the stories," Tsunayoshi continued, "all Quincy carry the blood of their ancestor."
"The Quincy progenitor possesses the power to share and reclaim abilities."
"He distributes fragments of power to Quincy… and later retrieves them."
"It's basically like predatory loan. He plants the seed of power inside you, and once it matures, he takes it back."
"The process of reclaiming that power is called Auswählen."
"This time, the Quincy ancestor used it to recover his strength from all mixed-blood Quincy."
"Aunt Masaki was simply caught within that range."
"As for those affected… the results vary."
"Those with strong bodies merely lose their powers—like you."
"But weaker Quincy…"
"They may die immediately."
After finishing, Tsunayoshi let out a long breath and resumed drinking his milk.
The information he revealed was simply too shocking.
The Kurosaki couple took a while to recover.
"Wait—mixed-blood Quincy can die from Auswählen?" Masaki asked urgently, leaning forward over the table.
"Yes," Tsunayoshi replied.
"If nothing unexpected happens, after this Auswählen… only pure-blood Quincy will remain."
Well—
Except for one freakishly talented exception.
"Isshin… I need to go out," Masaki suddenly said.
"With your condition?" Isshin protested.
"Before I met you, I lived with the Ishida family," she said quietly.
"There are many mixed-blood Quincy there."
"I might not be able to help them… but at the very least…"
"I want to see my friends one last time."
She could already imagine the tragedy that awaited the Ishida residence after this Auswählen.
"I'll go with you—"
"No."
Masaki shook her head.
"The children are still young. Ichigo will need you."
Then she knelt in front of Tsunayoshi.
"Tsunayoshi… could I ask one more favor?"
"Use your Fullbring to take me there."
She still remembered how he had leapt through the air with Bringer Light earlier.
He hadn't used it on the way back because carrying two people would have been difficult for someone his size.
"The Ishida family?" Tsunayoshi asked deliberately. "There are a lot of Quincy there?"
"Yes," Masaki nodded. "You can even meet a pure-blood Quincy."
"In that case, can I make one request?" Tsunayoshi said.
"I want to become the disciple of a pure-blood Quincy."
He had thought this through carefully.
Right now, his system interface only had Fullbring unlocked.
To unlock the other power systems, he needed to interact with the relevant characters.
The only person connected to Shinigami around him was Isshin.
But Isshin had completely lost his Shinigami powers.
He could barely even see spirits.
Teaching Tsunayoshi to become a Shinigami was impossible.
On the other hand—
Ishida Ryūken, known as the last pure-blood Quincy, was a perfect candidate.
And since Masaki already knew him, asking for a favor shouldn't be too difficult.
"A Quincy?" Masaki smiled.
"That's not something just anyone can learn."
"But I can talk to Ryūken for you."
"Whether he agrees or not, though—I can't guarantee."
"That's enough," Tsunayoshi said.
"Let's go."
He walked toward the door and grabbed his raincoat.
Seeing this, Isshin hurried to the storage room and brought out a raincoat for Masaki as well.
Moments later—
Tsunayoshi stepped onto Bringer Light, carrying Masaki on his back.
Guided by her directions,
he leapt through the rain toward the Ishida residence.