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Out on the deck of the upper squad barracks belonging to the First Division, Shunsui stared out onto the skies where the afternoon sun had settled onto the horizon. In his hand, he carried a sake cup filled to the brim; not an uncommon sight, it was almost unusual to see the Captain-Commander without some sort of drink in hand or near him. Though, even so, it seemed to have been filled for quite some time. He hadn't been drinking at all. Quite odd, give his predilections, but something had been bothering him for a while now. That was even stranger. Shunsui was known for his carefree attitude toward life. Even the invasion of the Quincy over a decade ago, save for the death of his mentor, did little to shake the man's nerves. But here he was, lost in his own thoughts as he tried to make sense of the current situation.
Though it was rare, when times like this came up, Shunsui found some modicum of comfort in thinking back to his days at the academy. When Yamamoto was his mentor, passing on the ways of the Shinigami to a younger him, was still alive. When Ukitake, his best friend who often joined him on his drunken escapades as the singular voice of reason, was still alive. When peace and stability had reigned supreme in the true golden age of the Gotei 13. But that era had long since past. Aizen was the trigger that set these motions into events, which first began to shake the foundation of the Soul Society's stability, and the Quincy led by Yhwach that followed them overturned the world entirely. Yet they were still here. Through it all, the Shinigami were still here.
Even so, something had occupied the Captain-Commander's thoughts. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but perhaps it was similar similar to that sort of... sixth sense that animals get when a storm is coming.
Something was coming.
Something to fear.
It was in that moment that a bright light shot into the skies above Seireitei. The light which announced the arrival of the task force sent to the human world through the Senkaimon. The Lieutenants sent to the human world had finally returned.
"Man, that was intense!", exclaimed Yuji Akui, the Third Division Lieutenant, clearly excited. "I mean, I beat up a freaking Yōkai! I still don't understand what the heck happened there, though. Just don't make me explain things to the top brass, okay?"
He moved out quickly from the dimensional gate. He then looked around, slightly uneasy, and decided to wait for the rest to follow. He enjoyed fighting, albeit he would rather leave the talking to the rest, especially when complex intrigues were involved. He could not really pay attention to those where there was an enemy to battle.
"Intense is a word for it... That bitch of a witch hurt..." Chitose Wasuchiru said as he rubbed his slowly bruising ribs. He had helped saved a couple of those humans from the mage who was clearly attempting to turn them into some kind of electrocuted human paste. Luckily he was a bit more durable than that. He would have attempted to stab her repeatedly in the kidneys afterwards, but her and her two companion mages had skedaddled while he was still recovering from the beating he had taken while tanking her spell. "I just want to know what they were after, left pretty quickly after we showed up, and I highly doubt they felt threatened by us. The witch was probably at least captain level judging by her Reiatsu..."
He continued on through the portal, not waiting for his erstwhile companions. "Now whose ready for probably at least six debriefings, maybe seven?"
Shiemi let out a strained sound when she heard Wasuchiru's question and rubbed her forehead. Her mind was still trying to understand what the hell had happened. The woman who had attacked those humans, as well as Wasuchiru and herself, had used Kido, but it had been executed in a manner she had never seen more. Even with the poor 6th seat helping her power down the lightning, something she deeply appreciated, it had taken a disturbing amount of concentration to not let the shielding Danku fall and be overwhelmed by the energy thrown at them all.
"Don't remind me of the meetings, Wasuchiru-san," Shiemi grumbled as she fiddled with one of the numerous sequins sewn onto her sleeves, "I can already feel the headaches a mile away."
Yoshitsune took heed at Chitose's choice of words. With his hands folded and eyes closed, he couldn't help but thing of what had happened before. "Was I a fool?" He thought to himself remembering he hadn't lent a single hand during the encounter. He could hear all of the other lieutenant's words flowing throughout the atmosphere, but couldn't make out his own. Squeezing his triceps, Yoshitsune let out a light grunt. "I must report this to Captain Yamakage at once."
"Considering what went down... I wouldn't be surprised if a Captain's Meeting has already been called." Chitose responded to Yoshi's comment. He might be the lowest rank of all the officers sent to the real world, but he was one of the oldest of them. He also cared the least about rank out of all of them, feeling no need to actually address people by rank, outside of the captains themselves. "A large chunk of the city was just flat out gone... Not something we can really ignore." He paused for a second before continuing, "Boy are things gonna get interesting real soon. Maybe I will get a chance to stab that witch as a thanks for almost killing us with that spell before this is all over... Plus, since that mage isn't dead Akui-san, we'll probably have plenty of more yokai to kill."
"Yeah, maybe", nodded Yuji, then he patted the hilt of his sheathed Zanpakutō. "I mean, I realise that's some serious stuff happening there. All that paperwork and sparring sessions are annoying, though. It's nice to fight a real enemy once in a while."
The duties of a Division's second-in-command were rather tedious, especially from the perspective of a young, virtually teenage Soul like Yuji. On the one hand, he was aware of the gravity of the recent incident. On the other, he could not help but become thrilled at an opportunity to engage in battle. All that hard work with his elder brother had clearly paid off, and he was eager to meet another challenge.
"But I wouldn't like to deal with those wizards", he added after a short pause. "Those guys were scary. Good job blocking that spell, Makinami-san, I doubt I could pull that off", he addressed the female Lieutenant.
Shiemi flushed prettily at the praise as a hesitant smile appeared on her lips, "T-thank you for the praise, but I couldn't have blocked it without Wasuchiru-san's help."
A resounding clack shot through the area, intent on pulling the attention of the ensemble of seated officers that had been chatting amongst themselves. "You lot, stop dallyin' around, you got a report to make!"
It was the Captain of the Thirteenth Division, speaking with a rather commanding tone that seemed unfitting for her. Her position, a strict, almost military stance with her sword held firmly against the ground and her palms resting on its pommel, seemed all the more out of touch. Particularly with the waft of stale booze hanging in the air. She seemed fairly composed despite it all, so it was at least clear she hadn't gotten too deep into her cups yet. A pity that their destination was the office of a fellow heavy drinker...
"Now this is exceptional, real exceptional," a distinctive, Kansai-laden (or perhaps simply alcohol-laden) voice interrupted Seia's introduction. Speaking of heavy drinkers, the captain of the seventh division, Hein Ueda, appeared behind Seia, framed in the doorway of the conference room.
Or rather, he framed the doorway, as he was heavily propped against it, a conspicuous bottle of sake tucked under his crossed arms. He swaggered in heavily, and the clacking of his wooden geta against the floor was perhaps more noticeable than Seia's saya had been, if only because it was significantly—and intentionally—more annoying. While Hein was not given to long binges spent at the bar as Seia perhaps was, her habit had begun to rub off on him since he had joined the Gotei 13. Compared to running one of the most notorious gangs in the Rukongai, after all, he had more than ample free time on his hands, and found that it had at least served to keep the boredom at bay. "Since when has yer indecent ass started carin' about real work, or such-and-such?" he continued, accusing the captain of the thirteenth. Hein paused for a moment, shoulders straight as he kept his head turned in Seia's general direction as though he were about to continue a previous argument. But then he shrugged. "Don't matter none, leastways. Meetings are terrible dull, ain't it so?" Hein nodded towards Shunsui, "No offense, otchan, just smells stupid, is all."
He seemed to notice Shiemi for the first time and grinned, although it was not a pleasant grin. While his Reiatsu was always probing at the world around him in order to compensate for his lack of sight, there was a sudden, uncomfortable sensation that Hein was perceiving something more than just her shihakushō. "Makinami-han," he somehow managed to address his former third seat mockingly, despite the honorific, "I'm surprised to see ya made it back in one piece, figured yer goose'd be cooked early," he chuckled.