Dawn of Hardship: Unfolding Road

Part 1
, Barracks. Afternoon.

It had been a week since the 13th Division’s encounter with the abnormally tough hollow, and despite the increased amount of paperwork on the Division’s hands, everything was back to normal for the most part. Having finished what little work he had left from the previous night, Kei headed outside of his quarters, making his way towards one of the many exits of the barracks. While he was walking, Kei’s mind began to fill with questions, the young couldn’t get the events of last week out of his head.

“How could we have lost? Was it our lack of ability? Was it the abnormal strength? What are the higher ups gonna do about it?”, his head was spinning, a rare thing for Kei to experience, his loss in the had seemed to have had run him for a loop.

As the 6th Seat let the questions in his head swirl, he accidentally walked into someone, knocking into their arm and unwittingly throwing both himself and the other person off balance.

“Guh, what the-“, Kei paused as he snapped his head up to see who he walked into, only to find a familiar red of hair on the floor, looking angrily up at him.

“Is that what I get for saying hi?!”, Chiyoko growled at her partner, in Kei’s stupor, he didn’t notice his comrade waving at him, carrying a small pile of files, all of which were now strewn across the pavement.

“Uh, didn’t see you...”, Kei murmured, his half-arsed response caused the 5th seated officer to give out an annoyed sigh as she turned to pick up her papers.

“Well you can help me pick up all of this, seeing as you knocked them all over the floor.”, Chiyoko replied, Kei, complying, bent down and started picking up the errant files on the floor, avoiding his partner’s gaze somewhat sheepishly. As they finished gathering Chiyoko’s files, the two Shinigami faced each other.

“So, where were you going in such a rush?” Chiyoko asked, taking the papers that Kei gathered while the 6th Seat scratched his head before replying.

“I was going to head over to the dojo, I’ve finished the work I had yesterday and I want to train.”, Kei said in a somewhat bashful manner, Chiyoko, though curious, decided to hold her tongue on what she wanted to say.

“Well, just don’t knock anyone else over on your way there, okay?”, she said, giving Kei a small punch with her free arm, to which Kei shrugged off indifferently. “Mmhm, I’ll see you later Chiyoko.”, Kei said in a droll voice, walking off towards the dojo.

“See you later.”, Chiyoko replied, waving at the Shinigami’s back, before lowering her hand, she wanted to know what was on Kei’s mind, despite acting like his usual, dismissive self, something seemed off, as if he was in deep thought about something. Chiyoko, despite her concerns, decided to move back to her quarters to finish off her work, giving one more look towards the direction Kei had left in.