The Senkaimon opened and closed again with the same resounding snap as one might expect from the closing of a particularly ponderous tome. A flash of bright ather-white and the rhythmic air-light thwap thwap thwap of a handful of hell butterflies accompanied Masao as he stepped from behind sliding paper doors, but besides the initial wet sucking rush of air being drawn insistently backwards into the Dangai, there was little else to disturb the cool, cloudless afternoon.

He landed lightly upon a roof of latticed thatch, as silent as the oppressive void the Dangai seemingly always left behind as it vanished out of existence. It wasn't his intention, by any stretch of the imagination, but there was something dubious blanketing the area that stank of nefarious interference which seemed to sap at the very life of the quaint village he had been assigned to investigate.

Masao Takasugi took a moment to drink the feeling in. The stillness of the air, emphasized and brought to the forefront of his immediate attention by the stark contrast of his Senkaimon shutting behind him like a vacuum. The metallic taste in the back of his nose and throat, so similar to the shock of ozone, but impossible on such a clear day. The foreign energy pulling at him, drawing him to turn and gaze to the north with all the instance of a hook behind the tailbone.

"Ah...", he murmured to himself with a frown. His orders had been quite clear, and even if they hadn't have outlined the presence of an unknown yet seemingly unusual hollow entity, he would have deduced as such from the way the hairs on his forearms stood on end. "And... a... Quincy?"

For the provisioning of combat against such an enemy, he had not received instructions. It was no real stretch of the imagination to know that his presence had just as easily been detected upon his arrival - perhaps it was a mistake after all to make his entrance as plain as he had? Well, he thought, closing his eyes to shield his vision from the red of his goggles. Too late for that now. And with a simple shake of the head, he jumped from one building to the next, following his nose for trouble. Aye, but carefully... 

"Cheeky," Gau muttered.

The Hollow glid through the air a lot quicker now, hurrying away from him.

"Oi! Don't run from me!"

Obviously, the Hollow didn't listen and tried to make off with Gau following in hot pursuit.

"Stop!" he spoke, now standing in front of the Hollow, arms crossed after a speedy Götterschritt had gotten him there. His face lit up blue. "Eh?" he let out and then the Soukatsui shot by the Hollow hit him in the face. The smoke plume briefly hid him before swirling up in the early evening breeze. His skin glittered with the vein pattern of his Blut Vene. "I don't even want to know where you got that from."

Takasugi came to a skidding halt atop the larger of three houses in time to witness the Quincy take what could only have been a Soukatsui to the face. It did no damage whatsoever, but the comical scene caught him unprepared. Heels skidding against wet straw thatch, the Shinigami's ankles nearly gave out as he span towards the edge, his sandals providing little to no resistance against his foothold. It didn't occur to him to simply gather spirit particles beneath his floundering feet - in the end, he teetered on the edge, arms flailing wildly in the breeze as he heard the unmistakable sound of... was the Quincy actually scolding the hollow?

Falling back flat on his rear, Takasugi scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as he watched the exchange. He didn't think he'd ever seen a member of the Wandenreich so... exacerbated? And with a standard hollow no less?

The creeping, uncomfortable chill of moisture hit the bare skin of his thighs and he cringed. Great. Wet roof. Wet ass. It had soaked through his uniform as he gawped like an idiot. It served him right, he supposed. Standing, if a little bow legged, his hand plunged into the open neckline of his Shihakusho to grasp at the handle of his tanto. and, with his hand and zanpakutou still hidden from view, he called out, "What? And do the Wandenreich use Kidou now?"

It was plain to see he had just witnessed the small explosion and had assumed it came from man, and not the monster. Ah well, it wouldn't be the first time he had been wrong.

"Oh, hello there. Have we met?" Gau asked. He gestured for the Hollow, now slowly drifting backwards. "Meet Thomas."

The Hollow observed the aloof Quincy, seemingly equally uninterested in any actual fight. 

"Thomas here used to be a train—," Gau started but stopped and flicked his fingers thrice in search of the word. "Operator!" 

The Hollow let out a small puff of smoke, maybe it was an octopus?

Gau shook his head slowly in disagreement.