Ah, New York City. The largest city in the country that humans nowadays called the United States, and among the largest in the world. More than eighteen million human souls lived here, all of them seemingly constantly busy, always rushing about from one place to another and never taking the time to just stop, look around, and enjoy life. Of course, in a city where people were packed together like sardines, most of them paying outrageous amounts of money to live in one-room or even studio apartments in high-rise buildings, or barely scraping by in the city's poorer neighborhoods, there simply was not much to enjoy. Maybe it was for this reason that the people who lived here were constantly in a hurry from one place to the next, their minds fixed on surviving, living day by day, and caring mainly about themselves rather than others. For the few spiritually aware humans living here, things were likely far worse. In a city with so many people, death was quite common, with death tolls in the hundreds each day simply from natural causes. As a result, it was difficult for Shinigami to come give Konso to all of the recently dead who were unable to pass on by themselves, meaning that there was a significant resident Hollow population in the city.

Such was the location the exiled Vizard Shuuhei Yamada found himself in one evening. The sun had just set in the west, and in any other part of the world, the first stars would just now be flickering to life in the night sky. Here, however, the humans had created a problem they referred to as light pollution. All of their electronic lights, from those of their homes and businesses to car lights, traffic lights, and of course, streetlights, had actually drowned out the faint, distant glow of most of the stars visible from Earth. When Shuuhei looked up at the night sky, he would note that it was a strange, orange-brown color. Tonight, only the full moon and the bright planet Venus were visible. It was around seven o'clock in the evening by now, meaning that most of the humans in the city were finally finishing long days at work and making their way to their homes. The sound of car horns and curse words filled the air, as well as the sound of millions of people moving about on the sidewalks and on bicycles. A constant smell of car exhaust fumes and garbage seemed to have become a part of the city air no matter where one went in the vast metropolitan area. Though the sun had set, the typical East Coast heat and humidity lingered.

Shuuhei had come to New York out of a sense of adventure. He had only recently come out of his isolation in a large sea cave on the West Coast of the United States, which he did largely due to the fact that his race, the Vizards, were no longer being actively hunted down and treated the same as pure Hollows or Arrancar by the Gotei. Now that it was safe, Shuuhei wanted to see the world. Already, he had been to the city of Alexandria in Egypt, the site of one of the oldest civilizations in the world, as well as one of the human world's oldest continuously inhabited places. He had also been to Bogotá in Colombia, and was in fact at least temporarily relocating to a jungle hideout just outside that city with a small group of fellow Vizards. Now, finally, he had come to the famous city of New York.

The Vizard was now walking down the sidewalk along what appeared to be one of this city's busy main streets. He had noticed the humidity almost immediately upon arrival, and though he had been here for less than half an hour, sweat was already beginning to dampen the black fabric of his stained, tattered Shihakusho. "Not as bad as Bogotá, though," he thought with a mild sense of relief. Worse than the weather was the massive amount of people milling about. Besides being noisy and quite rude, especially by Shuuhei's traditional Japanese standards, the vast number of souls here was obscuring his sense of Reiatsu. As he did in every new city, Shuuhei was attempting to search for another spiritual being with whom he could interact. Besides being something to occupy his mind and alleviate the boredom of being all alone, it could potentially help him find new friends and allies, which were especially important to an exile like him with no organization to turn to for help when things took a turn for the worse. He decided to turn off onto the nearest side street and make his way away from all of these people.

As it would happen, had he been a human or even visible to spiritually unaware humans, this may have been a mistake. Shuuhei had turned onto a street that led into one of New York's poorer areas, as demonstrated by the presence of run down buildings and graffiti covering entire sections of walls, public buildings, and houses. On the corner just ahead, Shuuhei noticed a group of men in baggy, mostly red clothing gathered in a circle. There was quite a lot of human paper money on the ground in the circle's center, and they seemed to be playing some sort of dice game. Shuuhei noticed an oddly shaped black object protruding from the waistband of one of the men's oversized shorts. It looked somewhat similar to the flintlock pistols he had used centuries ago, though somehow "better." It was almost certainly a weapon. "Are they a militia group, or just an armed gang?" a genuinely curious Shuuhei wondered as he passed unseen directly through the middle of the circle of men.

Finally, Shuuhei sensed it: Reiatsu that distinguished itself from the average humans and basic Hollows that roamed the massive city. He could detect one Reiatsu signature almost straight ahead, though there was another, smaller one in his path. From its consistency and size, it was that of a base-level Hollow. "Whatever," he thought, resting his hand lightly on the hilts of the two swords making up his dual Zanpakuto. As he did so, he heard a strange skittering sound coming out of a narrow. alleyway behind him. Turning, he saw the source of the smaller of the two Reiatsu signatures: a giant, purple and black, millipede-like Hollow. The creature charged at him on its thousands of spindly legs, but to Shuuhei, it was as if the thing was hardly moving at all. Almost effortlessly, he drew the wakiazashi, the shorter of his two swords, and buried its blade in the Hollow's mask, right between its eyes. The beast had almost completely disintegrated, its soul purified, by the time the weapon was returned to its sheath and Shuuhei had continued on his way.

Just ahead, Shuuhei emerged into a somewhat busy intersection of several streets that seemed to form a large square. The Reiatsu signature he had sensed earlier, now clearly that of a very advanced spiritually aware human, was somewhere in this crowded open square. At the very least, this made things easier, as the being he was seeking out would, of course, be the only one able to see him. "Alright... where are you?" wondered Shuuhei as he made his way out into the open towards this new Reiatsu.

After a long day of tinkering with schematics and research, Doctor Johnathan Jobs decided it was time to go out. The sun had already began to set so he needed to get going. He checked his watch for the time. "Yeah I'll come back in a couple hours, ha!" He spoke as he grabbed a jacket and walked out the door.

It must have been a slow day, for the Spirit Watch had not shown any unusual spirit activity. Stopping for a drink of coffee he began tinkering with his invention. Suddenly their were two energy signals on the watch. One was that of an average hollow, but the other was something he had never felt before. It was both hollow and a shinigami.

After a ten minute run down a few blocks he found the source of the strange energy. He was in a crowded square when he finally saw him. Just seeing him had his Spirit Watch sent him tons of signals. "Woah man, just what the hell are you?" He said as he pointed very dramatically toward the Vizard.

"Where is this guy?" wondered Shuuhei as he proceeded in the general direction of the Reiatsu signature, glancing about all the while for anyone who appeared to be the source of said energy. It should have been easy. All he needed to do was find the being that noticed him. Right? After all, it was quite obvious that most if not all of the humans in this rather crowded square were spiritually unaware. Their Reiatsu, if it could even be called that, was just barely there, flickering desperately like a tiny candle flame caught in a gust of wind just trying to stay alight. Indeed, the presence of a powerful enough Reiatsu, like that of the Captain Commander of the Gotei, or maybe the Cero King, down to even one of the three most powerful Espada, would be enough to snuff out the pitifully weak spiritual energy possessed by these normal humans. It was partially for this reason, of course, that captain-class Shinigami had their Reiatsu limited when coming to the human world. Luckily, neither Shuuhei's Reiatsu nor the signature he detected in this general area was anywhere near the level to cause even the weakest of humans or Hollows to start fading out of existence just due to their presence. Though he was the same level as an above-average Lieutenant, Shuuhei was no threat to the balance of souls, and neither was this nearby spiritually aware human. The Vizard pressed on, just over halfway across the square by now.

Though he knew that there were no threats in the immediate area, nor was there any reason to be worried about being hunted down by the Gotei as there would have been in the past, Shuuhei was mildly suppressing his Reiatsu in an attempt to keep a somewhat low profile. As his earlier encounter with the Hollow had made quite obvious, there were quite a few of these creatures present in the city, ever searching for another human soul to consume in hopes of quenching the fire of their eternal hunger. It would not do to attract more of these to his location with his Reiatsu and thereby endanger the hundreds of unsuspecting humans just going about their day here. As such, he was only suppressing his Reiatsu to such a level as to make it undetectable to the average Hollow. Spiritually aware humans, or any other being with more power than a recently-formed Hollow, would be able to sense his presence without much difficulty, though they would likely perceive him as weaker than he truly was. Of course, if a particular being happened to be equipped with any sort of Reiatsu-sensing device, they would be able to determine his presence, location, and level of power quite accurately. Such devices were rare, though, and Shuuhei was not considering this possibility.

"He should be right... here," Shuuhei realized as he stopped, now nearly at the opposite end of the square. It was then that he encountered a man, very clearly human, who most definitely did notice him. This man was pointing quite dramatically in the Vizard's direction, all the while looking at a strange metal device strapped around his arm. "...just what the hell are you?" Shuuhei heard the man ask, very clearly puzzled and intrigued at the same time. The profanity and crude way in which this man addressed him assaulted Shuuhei's ears, violating almost every key tenet of the traditional Japanese morals and values he had been raised with. Still, he knew he had to remain calm, as this man was a human, meaning he had likely lived somewhere in the range of twenty times shorter than Shuuhei, not to mention the fact that he had been raised in an entirely different culture. Besides... something had quite clearly surprised him, and nobody is on their best behavior when in a state of surprise, least of all humans.

"Um... well," began Shuuhei, quite clearly rather startled by the sudden and, for lack of a better description, foreign way in which this man had addressed him. "You can see me, which means you're obviously spiritually aware... which happens to be rare for living humans. I don't know how much you know about spiritual beings but I am what is usually referred to as a Vizard," Shuuhei explained, now returning to his usual calm, formal manner of speaking. "I know you probably thought I was a Shinigami because of my Shihakusho but you clearly noticed a difference in something about me that set me apart from them," he continued. "But anyways, I don't much enjoy this crowded public space, if it's no inconvenience to you, could we maybe go somewhere more... quiet?" Shuuhei asked the man. Still... he was now very curious as to how the human had managed to sense something "off" about him. His eyes settled on the strange object fastened to the human's arm. Could that be it? Was this man somehow in possession of an advanced Reiatsu-sensing device? He was merely a human, so it was doubtful. "By the way, just out of my own curiosity, what is the object upon your wrist, if you don't mind me asking?" Shuuhei inquired.

"More importantly, I don't believe we were properly introduced. My name is Yamada. Yamada Shuuhei," said the Vizard, giving his name in the standard Japanese style with his last name first as he always did. "What might yours be?" Shuuhei asked the human.

The man in front of him seemed to be stung by the way he was addressed. Jojo did seemed to have that effect on people he met for the first time. He did find it odd that the man called himself a Vizard instead of a shinigami. The man clearly appeared as though he were a shinigami, but his Spirit Watch also showed an energy signature for that of a hollow. This information perplexed Jojo and he needed to learn more about it.

"Let's have a chat." He said as he walked by Shuuhei attempting to put his arm over. Its the kind of greeting that JoJo had for everyone. "The name's Dr. Johnathan Jobs, JoJo for short." He smiled, sometimes hearing his own name, introducing himself, and meeting others brought a lot of joy to him. This would also give JoJo a new test subject, assuming he would agree of course.

The Vizard asked about what the thing was on his wrist. How had the man not seen a watch before? "Come on my boy, you have to have seen a watch before. This one here..." He paused and lifted his left arm up so Shuuhei could see it. The jet black square screen twinkled in the moonlight. "This is my pride and joy, my patented Spirit Watch. In case you didn't know a watch tells time, but now a days they do so much more. Most modern "tech watches" can do your calls, send texts, check your heart rate a lot of stuff." He was attempting to lead the Vizard to a nearby coffee shop for a more quiet place to talk.

Rather than immediately introducing himself as traditional Japanese etiquette and therefore Shuuhei would have expected, the male spiritually aware human before him walked forward, putting his arm around Shuuhei while saying "Let's have a chat." Normally, the Vizard would have pulled away in shock, but by now he had calmed down and realized that the actions of a human living in the twenty-first century United States were naturally going to be very different from those of someone accustomed to fifteenth and sixteenth-century Japan. Thus, he took it all in stride and made no noticeable demonstration of discomfort, annoyance, or anything similar as he began to walk with the human. "He's quite tall," Shuuhei noted as the man came close for the first time. Nobody in medieval Japan ever reached the height that this man stood at, due to an unfortunate mixture of genetics and malnutrition. He was quite surprised to see a human being grow to this height, but of course, he kept that to himself out of politeness as he listened to this man speak.

Immediately after putting his arm around Shuuhei, the human finally gave his name. It appeared that this man was called "Doctor Jonathan Jobs." "Doctor? Isn't that a human title that they earn by spending a lot of time in advanced schools?" Shuuhei wondered, attempting to recall his somewhat limited knowledge of the human world and how their societies worked. If that guess was correct, this man would be quite intelligent for his short time of existence, (well, relative to Shuuhei's at least) and therefore interesting to talk to. Though he did not spend much time around humans, Shuuhei often found the ones he did attempt to converse with to be dull, unaware, simple beings who could not hold truly sophisticated conversations and often seemed confused by him. He had long thought this was a natural consequence of their short lives and lack of experience in the world, but it seemed this was not the case for every human. It was certainly possible for anyone to be smart beyond their years, after all. Why he called himself "JoJo" for short, the Vizard would probably never understand, as the nickname seemed quite silly to him. Despite this one quirk, Shuuhei was happy that the human he had encountered just so happened to be an educated one.

Even educated humans, however, seemed to be able to make annoying comments every now and then. In response to Shuuhei's inquiry about the strange metallic device on the human's wrist, the man said "Come now my boy, you have to have seen a watch before..." Shuuhei could not help but let a small smile cross his face at that remark. "Boy? Boy? I've lived at least fifteen if not twenty times as long as this human!" he thought, mildly amused. Still, he kept quiet and allowed the human to continue explaining this "watch" of his. As it would turn out, the watch had a special name: the "Spirit Watch." While most devices like this one were used to tell the time, according to the human, many of them had numerous other useful functions. Technology sure had advanced quite a lot in the past few centuries. In fact, it seemed that the humans had nearly caught up with Soul Society's technology levels during Shuuhei's time there around three hundred years ago.

Now, it seemed that the human's explanation was finished. He noted now that the two seemed to be headed toward a building maybe twenty meters distant, but before he inquired about the nature of this building, Shuuhei had something to clear up. This was, of course, his age and how he had been addressed as "boy," seeing as respect for one's elders was a key tenet of proper etiquette in Shuuhei's tradition. "Doctor... Jobs," began Shuuhei, choosing to address the human in the Western style he was likely most comfortable with, using his hard-earned academic title for politeness. "There's no harm in the mistake I'm about to point out but... I noticed that you addressed me as 'boy,' but I have in fact now lived for over five centuries, probably fifteen to twenty times as long as you," said the Vizard. "That being said, I can entirely understand your confusion, seeing as spiritual beings such as myself do not age normally, and I appear to be somewhere in my early twenties. And as I said there is no harm done and I completely understand the mistake," Shuuhei continued, giving a quick, friendly smile to show that though the exchange had gone against his social norms, he was not offended or upset at all.

"Oh, and one more thing," Shuuhei began again, remembering something important he had planned to tell the man. "I would highly recommend removing your arm from around me. It's no problem to me but... these humans can't see me. They may think you have something wrong with your head," said the Vizard, anxiously looking around. Sure enough, his new human friend had drawn a few skeptical glances from the spiritually unaware humans all around. By now, the duo had arrived at the entrance of the building. Its doors and side walls seemed to be constructed of glass, allowing a view inside. Humans sat at small tables within, most holding white cups of varying sizes and engaging in friendly conversation. Looking up, Shuuhei noted the presence of a large sign in English lettering, each block letter somehow glowing from within. "C-O-F-F-E-E... Coffee? What is that?" Shuuhei wondered, slowly reading the simple and to him, ugly English letters. They certainly had not had anything of the sort in medieval Japan or Soul Society. Turning to the human who called himself "Doctor Jobs," Shuuhei asked "What is this place?"

JoJo laughed when the Vizard told him that he was several times his age. This was something he obviously knew already, but his wording earlier was something he might have to explain. Another chuckled sounded when the Vizard asked him to remove his arm. Sometimes he did forget that most normal people could not see spirits as he had gained the ability at such a young age. He lifted his arm from Shuuhei and reached for something in his pocket.

After a moment of searching he found a small boxed and opened it. Inside the box contained two small ear buds. JoJo quickly placed them in his ears. Smiling he spoke in response to the Vizard's commentary. "Ahh yes, this will at least make it so it appears that I'm on the phone with someone. He pointed to the things placed in his ear before continuing. "Yeah I realize you are probably several times my age, that's just an expression to show we are friends. Anyway let me get some coffee and I'll be right back. JoJo said as he figured it would be better to explain what it was once he returned.

After about five minutes JoJo returned and sat at a table just outside the coffee shop. "Alright so this stuff is basically liquid energy. It's filled to the bring with caffeine which helps a lot of us stay away and energized. I can go on about its less than helpful side effects but that's not important right now. First off, please just call me JoJo. Next on the list, this is a coffee shop, they sell the aforementioned coffee, some small snacks, and water. Now tell me, what exactly are you? You said a Vizard, but what exactly is that? A shinigami that also is a hollow?" Cutting straight to the important questions, that is JoJo's style.

Shuuhei listened in mild amusement as the spiritually aware human he had just met laughed upon hearing his age. Could it be a laugh of surprise? It was true that even spiritually aware humans often had no idea just how old spiritual beings were, or really much of anything about them for that matter. After all, it was one thing to see a bunch of people in black kimonos with Japanese swords running around using magic spells and fighting off masked monsters with weird holes in their chests. It was entirely another thing to actually understand why all of this was happening. Thinking this caused Shuuhei's mind to wander back to the strange time immediately after his death and his first few months in Rukongai all those centuries ago. He wondered whether that was what it was like for spiritually aware humans, seeing so much but having no idea what any of it meant. Or... could the human's laugh be a knowing kind of laugh? It was entirely possible that he was one of the very few spiritually aware humans who had actually come in contact with Hollows, Shinigami, and the like, and thus had some true knowledge of the world of spirits.

Then, the human laughed again as Shuuhei explained that it would be advisable for him to remove his arm from around the Vizard, as the relatively large number of non-spiritually aware humans in the area were unaware of his presence, and it was likely that they would see this and believe that this human was insane and walking and talking with an imaginary friend or something of that sort. This time, however, the man took what appeared to be precautionary action. Shuuhei watched as the human removed his arm from around him and retrieved something from his pocket. The item was a small, cubical, plain white box without a latch, hinges, or any of the fittings one would expect a box to have and made of some material Shuuhei could not immediately identify. The man opened the strange box and removed two oddly shaped items, also white, and placed them in his ears. "What even--" Shuuhei began to wonder, but then, the human, Doctor Jobs, began to explain. "...this will at least make it so it appears I'm on the phone with someone," he said.

"Phone? Based on the context, I'll have to assume it's some sort of device humans use to communicate with each other when they aren't physically together... but it's worth asking," thought Shuuhei. He made a mental note of this and decided to ask the human doctor about it later. His speculation was seemingly confirmed by the human immediately pointing at the small objects in now sitting in his ears as he mentioned this thing called a "phone."

Then, this "Doctor Jobs" went on to confirm that his earlier laugh had been one of knowing rather than a laugh of disbelief, surprise, or any other emotion. "...I realize you probably are several times my age," the man said, before going on to state that his earlier use of the term "my boy" had actually been one of friendship, and not one used to indicate that Shuuhei was inferior in age or any other way. "Like '-kun' in my beloved Japanese," Shuuhei noted. By this point, they had arrived in front of the building with mostly glass walls and the glowing sign bearing the English word "coffee." The human explained that he would be heading into the building to get some of this thing called "coffee," and that he would soon return. Shuuhei watched in interest as the human entered the building and took up a place at the very back of a relatively long queue of people waiting in front of a counter. Behind the counter, there was a human female in a green apron and matching item of headwear that the Vizard could not quite identify. It seemed that she was taking the drink orders from the other humans in the line. A few meters to her right, there was another counter, and it seemed that here, humans could pick up the drinks they had ordered.

After some time, the human Shuuhei had met had come to the front of the queue. He spoke briefly with the woman behind the counter, handed some sort of plastic strip to her only to receive it back moments later, and was then given a slip of paper. Next, he headed off to the side near the second, smaller counter. A few minutes later, the man picked up a white cup with a brown sleeve-esque item around its midsection and came back toward Shuuhei. Seconds later, he exited the building and made his way toward one of the many black metal tables, each with two chairs, situated directly outside the building. Shuuhei followed, sitting in the metal chair opposite the one now occupied by the human. Luckily, the chair's previous occupant had neglected to push it in, meaning that Shuuhei did not have to pull the chair back out and risk any spiritually unaware human thinking that the chair was sliding backwards on its own.

Now, the human began to explain the beverage he had just purchased. As Shuuhei had suspected, this was the thing called "coffee." According to the human sitting before him, it was considered by humans to be "liquid energy." This was because it contained caffeine, which was apparently a chemical compound that caused humans to humans have extra energy, as well as have an easy time staying awake and focusing. It also had "less than helpful side effects," however. "So... you could say it's almost like a drug then," said Shuuhei out loud. "In Japan... I believe it was what you would know as the early 1500's, we didn't have anything like that. All we had was alcohol, which of course has the opposite effect... and then there were some people who smoked opium for the same reason, but that destroyed their bodies... Coffee, it seems, isn't all that dangerous then, since it seems like a lot of you use it," said Shuuhei.

Now, the man turned to a separate topic. "First off, please just call me JoJo," he said. Shuuhei, true to his heavily ingrained cultural values, was hesitant to call anyone by even their first name, so calling Doctor Jobs by this nickname was definitely going to be a strange experience for the Vizard. There was no time to overthink that, however, as the human was now explaining the purpose of the building he had just spent around five minutes inside. Apparently, it was called a "coffee shop." In it, humans could buy the beverage called coffee, as well as light snacks and water. "They have to PAY for water??" thought Shuuhei incredulously. But there was no time to dwell on that, as it was now the human's turn to ask a question. As it would happen, the man had never met a Vizard before and was curious to know about them. ...what exactly is that? A Shinigami that is also a Hollow?" he would ask. "To be able to guess that much... his Reiatsu sensing abilities must be quite advanced for a human... or maybe it was that... that 'spirit watch,'" thought Shuuhei.

"Well... JoJo-san... you're very close to being correct," began Shuuhei. "Us Vizards are not 'Shinigami who are also Hollows.' Rather, we are Shinigami who possess the powers of a Hollow. I don't know how much you know about Shinigami but... within the soul of every Shinigami, there is an inner world. And in that world, there is a spirit, though sometimes there can be two. This spirit is what gives us our power, and they manifest physically as our Zanpakuto. As you can see, I was one of the few who ended up with two," said the Vizard, briefly patting the hilts of the two swords at his side. "However, sometimes, there can be something else in that inner world. A Hollow. That Hollow allows us to utilize the powers of a Hollow in combat when we so desire, in a way similar to that in which a Zanpakuto spirit grants a Shinigami its power," explained Shuuhei. "Did that all make sense?" he asked.

As Shuuhei began to talk, JoJo grabbed a pen and a small notepad from his pockets. JoJo was extremely tech-savy with most of his day to day life, except when it came to taking notes. Throughout his schooling he found that pen and paper were the best means to take notes. Where his colleague would type away their notes on their various devices, be it laptop, tablets, etc, JoJo found he retained information better through writing them. He understood the type of learner he was, and took advantage of this knowledge.

The man furiously wrote notes as the Vizard spoke. In addition to a bullet pointed list, Dr. Jobs continued on his notes by drawing crude diagrams of a shinigami and hollow. On the shinigami he drew a small box indicating their spiritual world. On the next page he fleshed out the explanation of a Vizard from what Shuuhei had given.

JoJo continued to scribble information and his own personal inferences for two minutes after the Vizard finished his brief explanation. "So if your blade is the manifestation of your Shinigami side of your spirit, then where or what is the manifestation of your hollow spirit? I ask because from what my Spirit Watch is telling me, you have both, but right now you mainly have your Shinigami side active." He held his pen to his notepad, ready for anything and everything the Vizard might give him in terms of an explanation.

Shuuhei watched in interest as the man sitting in front of him removed what appeared to be a stack of blank paper somehow held together, along with what could reasonably be seen as a writing implement, from his pocket while he listened. Moments later, Shuuhei's inference that the items being used by this man were tools of writing was confirmed, as Doctor Jobs began writing down everything the Vizard was saying in his explanation. It was now becoming clear that this particular human was some sort of scientist or researcher. Or, at the very least, that would explain the strange device he possessed, the one called the "spirit watch," as well as his interest in Shuuhei and the idea of Vizards in general. It would also provide a reasonable explanation as to why he was now almost obsessively writing down Shuuhei's every word. Even more interestingly, though the Vizard had finished speaking a couple of seconds ago, it was clear that the human was far from finished writing. Without so much as a word of response, he continued writing, his pen moving across the paper at a furious pace.

"He almost reminds me of those people in Third Division back in Seireitei... always studying something new, taking down information on something, or doing strange experiments," thought Shuuhei. He had never particularly trusted or like the members of that particular Division, and since becoming a Vizard, this had only become even more true. Though he was never entirely sure exactly what caused his sudden Hollowfication, and thereby the resulting loss of control over the new Inner Hollow and subsequent defection from the Gotei, he had long suspected that a Third Division experiment gone awry may have been involved. For that reason, this strange similarity between those Shinigami and this human made him mildly uncomfortable and was well on the way to making him somewhat suspicious of the man before him now.

"He's not a Shinigami, you know... you should give him the benefit of the doubt. He's probably just genuinely curious," said a calm, steady voice within Shuuhei's mind. This, of course, was Shiryu, one of the two spirits that made up his Zanpakuto, and by far the most logical and reasonable one of these two. "Or he really does want to take you back to his laboratory, maybe hook you up to some machines and do some experiments on you," another voice chimed in before Shuuhei could so much as reply. That was Jinryu, the more aggressive of Shuuhei's two Zanpakuto spirits. "I think I'm with Shiryu on this decision, he's only a human after all, and he clearly has no association with Seireitei," replied Shuuhei mentally. By now, it seemed, Doctor Jobs had finished writing notes. He looked back up at Shuuhei and continued the conversation.

As it would happen, the question the human had next was a very intelligent one. It seemed that the concept of a Zanpakuto and the way in which Shinigami powers worked was well understood by him. At least, the way in which he formulated his question made it seem this way. He grasped the concept that the two swords, the katana and wakizashi at Shuuhei's side, were the physical manifestation of his Shinigami power in the material world. He now wished to know what the equivalent item was for Shuuhei's Hollow powers. However, the human was not quite finished speaking. What he said next mildly surprised Shuuhei, as he could not have expected anyone to gather this much without having known previously or being told. "...from what my Spirit Watch is telling me, you have both, but right now you mainly have your Shinigami side active," said Doctor Jobs to Shuuhei. "He sure figures things out quickly," Shuuhei noted.

"Well--" began the Vizard, but something made him pause. He felt a short pulse of Reiatsu, followed less than a second later than the all too familiar sound of a Hollow's roar. Quickly honing in on this Reiatsu signature, Shuuhei was able to determine that it was only maybe 50 meters away, likely concealed from view behind a building. "How can there be so many of these in any one place that isn't Hueco Mundo," wondered Shuuhei. A quick look around told him that while there were a significant number of humans still milling about in the area, there were not so many as to create a risk of collateral damage should the Hollow attack. Still... the safety of these humans was the most important thing at the moment. That was when the Hollow emerged from a nearby alleyway, now standing in the center of the busy main street. This particular one was very large, at around 25 feet in height, and also more powerful than the one Shuuhei had dispatched earlier that evening. It was likely searching for a target... and it would probably end up selecting Doctor Jobs. After all, spiritually aware humans were more... "nutritious" to Hollows than regular human souls.

"JoJo-san... rather than explaining the answer to your question, I shall use this as an opportunity to demonstrate the function of that Inner Hollow," said Shuuhei, standing up. An orb of black Reiatsu with a faint, dark blue afterglow around its edges was already forming in the palm of his right hand, which he raised to his face. The Reiatsu spread across his entire face, immediately taking shape as a white mask with blue markings in some places, exactly like that of a Hollow. The human would have noted that Shuuhei's eyes transformed as well, with the whites becoming black and the irises changing to a bright, icy blue. He also would have likely noticed the Vizard's Reiatsu changing, becoming much more powerful, heavier, and thicker, as well as changing in consistency. Where before it was mostly identical to that of a Shinigami, now it would have felt closer to the Reiatsu of a Hollow or Arrancar.

With a sound like a sonic boom, Shuuhei leapt from where he stood to the middle of the street, closing the distance in a fraction of a second. Raising his right hand, he pointed the index and middle fingers of his right hand at the Hollow. A quick glance to either side told him that no humans stood between him and the beast. "Perfect shot," the Vizard noted. Simultaneously, an orb of dark blue Reiatsu with specks of black in it formed at the tip of his extended fingers. This, of course, was a Cero. A second later, the orb burst forth as a beam of dark blue destructive energy, traveling straight down the street and vaporizing the Hollow's head and the upper half of its body before dissipating so as not to cause any structural damage or harm any humans. As the rest of the Hollow began to disintegrate, Shuuhei turned away. With another sonic boom-like sound, he was back in his chair in front of Doctor Jobs. Putting his hand to his face, Shuuhei removed the Hollow mask, the white material transforming back into Reiatsu and disappearing. Shuuhei's Reiatsu, of course, returned to its previous state.

Sweat trickled down the Vizard's face, making it obvious that his feat had required some effort. "That mask, JoJo-san... was the manifestation of my Inner Hollow. As you saw, it allows the use of most of the powers a Hollow would have," Shuuhei explained, wiping away sweat with the left sleeve of his Shihakusho. "But... it does require significantly more energy than using one's Zanpakuto," he said. "Did that make sense? I hope the demonstration helped," said Shuuhei to the human.

JoJo felt proud that most of his initial gatherings were correct. Shuuhei seemed to be more than happy to answer most of his questions, this was normally an annoyance for most people. His quest for understanding seemed to be counter to the general populace. "Normal" people did not seem to seek understanding the way JoJo did. Although most of his questions were about the spiritual, it did not bother him much at all. This caused many to view him as selfish and/or crazed about a bunch of "ghosts." Maybe in another world these ghosts wouldn't exist, but here in New York City they were real, just not everyone could see them. Dr. Jobs just happened to be one of those who were spiritually aware. He was also currently in company of a Vizard, a strange type of spiritual being who possessed powers of both hollow and shinigami.

Shuuhei decided a practical demonstration was in order. The moment his new friend got up from his chair, JoJo sent some of his nanobots to create a flying camera. The nanobots, powered by JoJo's own spiritual energy, flew from his watch and followed Shuuhei as he pursued the hollow. The nanobots recorded Shuuhei's actions in dealing with a hollow. Part of his actions the human could already decipher from simply watching. It looked like the Vizard had created some sort of mask resembling that of a hollow. When he did that JoJo's spirit watch showed a huge spike in hollow reiyoku. He then reasoned that this mask must be the physical manifestation of his hollow side.

So it would stand to reason that the beam he then fired must have been similar to that of the hollows. It could have also been a kido or some ability of his blades, but that would not make sense in the context of the situation. When Shuuhei returned JoJo had just finished taking more notes on the small bout.

"Ahh this is great, I have a lot to work on now. Of course I also have many more questions but I won't bother you with them." He responded as the camera he sent to follow Shuuehei returned. As the camera changed back into the multitude of nanobots he continued. "Oh you might have some more questions about modern technology, seeing as you might have been cut of from modern society." He sat back down in his chair. "Go ahead and ask if you wish."