— Half a day later, morning | Karakura Town
Don is standing in front of the Kurosaki's home. Don was planning to look for the masked woman with his number-#1-pupil, Ichigo KUROSAKI. However, Yuzu tells him that her big brother is currently at his part-time job. Don doesn't know that Ichigo has lost his powers. He can't sense him anymore, true, but he assumes that Ichigo learned to mask his presence. He asks if Yuzu's father, Isshin, is home. He wants to ask Isshin's opinion about his new outfit. But, alas, Isshin is also gone — he's at a paediatrics conference. Yuzu assures Don he looks great, though.
— 10 minutes later | In front of URAHARA Shop
Don has a secret identity. He's Karakura Gold, the leader of the Karakura Defence Force — an organisation which fights hollows. He had planned to take two of its members, Ururu TSUMUGIYA and Jinta HANAKARI, with him in his quest to find the masked woman. However, the duo must watch the shop, because its owner is out. Jinta tells Don to hand the position of Gold to him. Don ignores him, dubs himself "Gold the Eternal" and agrees they should continue to watch the shop. Jinta gets angry at how Don slipped in the "the eternal" part, but Tessai catches him in a headlock before he can do anything else. Meanwhile, Don is impressed with Tessai's "fantastic hairstyle".
— Several minutes later | On the road
Don is driving in his car, Jeanne d'Arc. Yuzu gave him the phone number of Ichigo's part-time job, Unagiya. Don decides to order a meal. That way he can see Ichigo without actually bothering him at work. He calls the number and orders eel, but gets yelled at, "We're Unagiya, not unagiya!" Don is understandably confused. Don isn't good at fighting. He's powerless compared to a captain-class soul reaper. He can't use kidô, and he doesn't have various skills like a quincy. But he does excel at one thing. When ISHIDA first challenged Ichigo and caused a large increase in the number of hollows, Don was 30 kilometres away, shooting a program. Even so, even at that distance, he had been able to sense the increase in hollows. Before meeting Ichigo, Don didn't know that his methods to help spirits accelerated hollow- fication.
Nowadays he tried to free spirits of any lingering regrets through conversation. Viewers had been surprised by the change, but the program could continue to run because its core — the ability to sense spirits — had stayed the same.
— Karakura Town, Mashiba Area, Sunflower Sewing Shop
The quincy Uryû ISHIDA is on the phone with Inoue, using the pay phone outside of
Sunflower Sewing. Both had sensed the Picarro last night. They decide not to inform Ichigo, it would just upset him. And they haven't seen Chan around — he's frequently out of town lately. ISHIDA reassures Inoue that she should go and cheer on Tatsuki at her championships (they're being held in another town). He'll handle things here. ISHIDA had also sensed the masked woman time and time again for over a year, but she'd always be gone before he could get to her. Ichigo must've heard rumours about the masked woman, but he never asked, and ISHIDA, Inoue and Chan never brought it up. He felt frustrated at how Ichigo pretended not to care. ISHIDA knew what it's like to lose your powers. It had happened to him. His father had helped him get his powers back, but it seemed that that method didn't work on soul reaper. Heading towards the shop, ISHIDA passes a poster promoting Don KANONJI's show. As far as ISHIDA had seen during the public recordings, Don could indeed see spirits, but his exorcism methods have been all wrong. He takes one last glance at the poster and mutters, — "His fashion sense is pretty good, but… his colours lack uniformity. He should focus on cold colours."
— Several hours later
Don has driven all over Karakura Town in search of the masked woman. He "feels" something. It feels like a thread of spiderweb touching his skin. These threads are laid out all over the city. The sensation grows stronger as he drives in direction of Tsubakidai. That must be where the web's centre lies. He doesn't know whether these threads are harmful or not. And, as a hero, it's his duty to find out. The hero steps out of his car, having reached his destination: Matsukura Hospital. It's abandoned and no longer in use. This is where he first met Ichigo and learnt just how mistaken his exorcism methods had been. It was an important place to Don. He could sense that this abandoned building was the web's centre. From here, threads stretched out into town. With his beloved stick in hand, Don approaches the building. He briefly remembers the mysterious man who had attacked Ichigo's friends a year ago (AIZEN). He didn't feel such a life-threatening sense of danger as he had back then, but he did sense something mysterious on the hospital's roof. And although he was nervous, he would never flee.
He looked up to the roof. He didn't see a monster or gigantic spider as he had feared, no, he saw a young lady with a skull covering half her face and a lonely look in her eyes. She was looking out over the town. She surprised him. She indeed had the air of a hollow, yet she could also be seen by normal humans. She seemed to own a nature of both Spiritual-matter and World of the Living matter. Nevertheless, Don struck his signature pose and shouted, "Spirits are always with you!" The lady — she looked somewhere between late teens and twenty years old — looked at him in surprise. Don approached her and said, — "Beautiful lady, rest assure, I am your ally. Please tell me, Don KANONJI, the reason behind your sad eyes." And so, the hero stepped into the girl's life, and — unbeknownst to himself — threw himself into danger.