Secondly, is there anything, anything at all, over in Soul Society that I should at least act like I'm getting involved in? I don't want to feel like I'm twiddling my thumbs and doing nothing but grabbing the Idiot Ball because plot says so.
You could go help Goro, the poor guy is in a bad way right now and could use some help. At the moment.
Warriors & Wuxia: A community world-building project focused on low-magic wuxia/kung-fu action using ToB.
"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."