Replacement, pt. II

There was an air of familiarity to the crack of dawn. A freshness that came with the morning fog kissing the blades of finely cut grass that grew along the Third’s expansive estate. The cool breeze filled Walkren’s lungs with a nostalgia as he walked along the esplanade. The sun slowly crawled over the horizon and, for just a moment, light cast itself across an empty Seireitei. The usual bustling commons that was the heart of the Third’s complex had only a pair of Shinigami recruits jogging across the luscious grass. Each hard footstep kicked up recently settled dew that twinkled in the sparse rays of the yawning sun.

Walkren yawned with it as he crossed the commons, eyeing the pair of recruits as they past. They looked back with a bit of confusion at the lone Shinigami wandering across the grass at an unspeakably early hour, but he only smiled back. This time of day was one of his favorites and he was in a good mood. Almost every night was spent down in the dark recesses of the Forbidden Library now, toiling away at impossible tasks and hopeless goals. The reasons had changed over the years, but sleep had never suited him. Dark bags sagged under his hazel eyes as a testament to that fact. Every night he would hole up in the labyrinth of ceiling high shelves and, after every night, he would come up from his dimly lit cavern and take in a breath of the morning air that filled him with a new life. A new life that was desperately needed as he stumbled through the surprisingly large amount of work that was piled onto the plate of the Head Archivist.

He could easily delegate, and sometimes he did. For the most part, though, Walkren didn’t trust anyone else to do the job right. It had nothing to do with the personnel he worked with, they were probably plenty competent at their job. Walkren just didn’t trust any of them. The job had literally become his life for the past six months. All of his other lofty goals quickly dashed aside for this more seemingly menial task. As menial as it might look, Walkren took it seriously. The Third’s library had never functioned as smoothly as it currently was and, as a result, he actually had more time to dive into the Forbidden Library itself and attempt to organize that monstrous mess.

That thought brought him back to the present as he pushed open the ancient oaken door that barred the way into the Third’s main building. His soft steps pattered off the cool marble and echoed down the empty hallways. He had come to meet the new captain, summoned by her actually. Hazuki has finally symbolically finished off the stagnant Miyuki. Walkren’s disdain for the previous captain’s rise had quickly evened out as she continued to frivolously waste resources and drive the reputation of the Third into the ground, but he couldn’t be that mad after she gave him access to the Forbidden Library. Not that he needed her permission.

Walkren actually suspected the Forbidden Library was the topic that the new Captain Hazuki was calling him to meet about. He had been playing with borrowed time ever since she sailed into office, and, he suspected, he would soon have to fight for his right to keep visiting the place he lived at more than his own home. He respected Hazuki, as much as he could from the little information Walkren had about her. It would take a more intimate meeting, such as this one, for him to truly measure up the foreign Shinigami.

He turned a corner and walked into the vestibule of the captain’s offices where a small elderly woman greeted him with a soft smile and a warm voice, “You must be Walkren Dekharr. A bit early, aren’t we, my dear? Please, have a seat. We are just waiting for one other.”

That surprised Walkren. He hesitated for a moment and then found a seat in a deep leather chair that conformed to his body as he dipped into it. The chair sighed as Walkren fell back into a cloud of comfort. There seemed to be more going on than a chat about the Forbidden Library. Something just as interesting or maybe even more so. Either way, the secretary was right, he was a half-hour early, might as well try to rest a bit.

And he closed his eyes.

Just for a moment.

[752] [752]

Ashen grey walls lit up under the first few rays of the sun; the room, now illuminated by the light of dawn, warmed. Cheap parquet flooring creaked under her every step, the tedious sounds always followed no matter where she went, they were as persistent as ever. A wooden chair stood close by a round table on which a mirror in a worn-out metallic frame was carefully positioned, right next to a hair comb and a black ribbon. She seated herself by said table, fixated the mirror to reflect her own image and began brushing the strands of white hair that ran most of the way down her back.

‘I know you’ll do your best, and you’ll do what is right in your heart.’

While she did all of that Seryu Akamine thought of an old friend and how the early hours she now spent all by herself were faintly reminiscent of something she’d done before together with Tokiyo. This was not her room, nor was it anyone else's, but the Shinigami always found herself returning to it before ‘important’ events were scheduled. Today’s was quite different, the person who’d summoned her was not her dear friend and, admittedly, it put her at unease.

The Third had gone through some bizarre changes in the time of her absence and Captain Fujikagi’s departure from their division was something Seryu had lamented over for a few days.

She began braiding her hair into a thick, side-ponytail and sealed the tips with the ribbon. She pulled the sash keeping her shihakusho together tighter, fixed her collar and pulled up the sleeves.

Much to her dismay, Kionchi Tsukiyo (a person with no backbone whatsoever) and Miyuki Wakahisa (some midget with way too much passion for the Rukongai citizens) had somehow taken over the quarters and led them into what they were now: a huge mess. Seryu had no doubt that some ‘hair in pigtails’ wearing girl did not possess the skill or experience to lead the Third, and an entirely different person confirmed her assumptions by taking over the squad in - and here is what the rumors said: a matter of seconds.

Seryu welcomed the idea of a new, younger leader, someone capable and intelligent and she did not expect less from the person they chose to be their second in command. That shift of spotlight, away from her and into the faces of other people, was something Seryu was incredibly grateful for. With her current condition and the inner hollow still lurking inside of her, untamed and unpredictable, the last thing she needed was immense responsibility, such were the duties of a Lieutenant.

The Akamine would slowly and methodically work her way into a safe zone, she was comfortable in a hierarchy and eager to please and serve under the right leader as long as her own, selfish goals were still within reach. For now, she considered it a success that her squad was cancer-free again, picked up her zanpakutō and went on to meet Captain Hazuki - but not without flashing her own reflection one last, loving gaze.

She registered with the secretary and nodded politely towards the other person, a man, probably in his mid-twenties, who had been waiting as well. “My name is Seryu Akamine and it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said to him when sitting down two chairs away from him, all for the sake of personal space of course. Seryu’s eyes locked with the clock on the wall and she began smiling to herself, 4 minutes and 36 seconds to go. This better be good.

[600]

It wasn’t long after the both of them had arrived when the secretary finally finished whatever it was she was writing, rose from her seat noiselessly and poked her head inside Hazuki’s office. A moment later, she turned to the guests with a smile.

‘The captain will see you now,’ she announced and motioned for them to go on inside.

Hazuki was still in the corner with her plants when the two of them entered, and she gave her subordinates a brief look over her shoulder. Her dull grey eyes were tired, but no more so than usual—she felt fine but there hadn’t been an opportunity to retreat into her dreams for a while and it was starting to show. Hers was a strange curse, not entirely unlike Dorian Gray’s: superficially, her body seemed to suffer all the ill effects of sleep deprivation, but her mind remained sharp no matter how long she went without sleep. She had wondered, from time to time, if it would ever catch up with her, but she was beginning to doubt it.

‘Be seated,’ she told them, and turned back to her snipping as they got themselves settled. She didn’t expect this would take very long, and she was eager to be done with it so she could go for her usual morning swim. A few finishing touches to her handiwork later—the resulting piece a smattering of tiny red flowers arranged spraylike in front of a long, almost swordlike leaf—and Hazuki finally turned to her visitors, wiping her hands clean on a lightly chlorophyll-stained rag. She wasn’t wearing her haori today, either; when Kamizawa had come to see her it had been hanging on a peg behind the door and it hung there still. People recognized her just fine without it, and Hazuki wasn’t particularly fond of wearing white (it reminded her too much of funerals) and so on its peg it remained, a neglected symbol of Hazuki’s feckless predecessor. Indeed, the only splash of color on her today would have been the hilts of her swords, had they not been lying—as they so often did—on her otherwise bare desk, as if to remind everyone that it was through them and them alone she derived her power and her authority.

She put the rag down gently next to her creation, then pushed a stray strand of her long, black hair past her ear and sat down across from the other two Shinigami. She didn’t bother introducing herself—they knew well enough who she was—and instead got right to it. Who was Hazuki if not one to cut directly to the heart of the matter?

‘As you’ll no doubt have noticed by now, the Third Division is undergoing some changes. I’ve seen fit to reactivate the Kidō Corps and it’s my intention to streamline the rest of our activities here. The Third was becoming unwieldy and spreading itself thin. That era has now come to an end.’

She reached down and opened one of her desk drawers in preparation, then settled back into her chair, reminded of just how much she disliked meeting people in offices—the stuffy atmosphere grated on her nerves, and there was always that overbearing feeling of time slipping through her fingers. Every moment she spent in here, regardless of who it was with, felt like time that could have been put to far better use. In silence and solitude, an office wasn’t so bad, but with company it was little more than a cage, an awkward and forced intimacy no matter the topic at hand.

‘You may also have noticed,’ she continued, ‘that there are two very prominent positions within the division that currently stand open, one of which is the lieutenancy. That is why I have summoned you here today.’ From the open drawer she produced the Third Division’s lieutenant’s badge from the open drawer and leaned forward to place it very deliberately between her two guests, keeping her fingers on it as she looked them both in the eyes, one after another.

‘I want the two of you to fight one another to the death, and the winner gets to be my lieutenant.’

The room fell silent, and Hazuki’s gaze continued to bore into her subordinates, her face a stony mask as her fingers remained firmly on the badge.

After a few moments, her expression loosened, but not by much; it simply went from harsh to indifferent as she slid the badge over towards her male subordinate. ‘Just kidding,’ she said, though there was very little indication that was the case. There were many things about Hazuki that could be described as being on the cutting edge, but her sense of humor was most certainly not one of them. ‘Your previous duties, Mr. Dekharr, are being subsumed into those of the Library staff, and as such you find yourself out of a job. I’m offering you a new one: the lieutenancy, which under my command will also entail taking charge of the Kidō Corps. You are the most suitable candidate, and I expect you’ll do well if you choose to accept the responsibility.’

She shifted her gaze from Dekharr to the woman, face still betraying nothing.

‘Which brings me to you, Miss Akamine. I have a job offer for you as well, but before we get into that I’d like to address the matter of the Forbidden Library. For some reason, both of you find yourselves cleared—in varying degrees, granted—for access. What my predecessors have decided is irrelevant; you, Dekharr, will retain your clearance, but I expect to see a great deal less of you down there from now on. And you, Akamine, will have your access revoked. Quite frankly speaking, there is nothing down there for either of you, but for my lieutenant I am prepared to extend at least some freedoms in order to offset the duties of the office.’

The whole point of having a Forbidden Library was to keep people out, not to install revolving doors. Hazuki, at least, would keep things the way they were supposed to be, even if nobody else would.

‘What I have in mind for you, Akamine, is slightly different, albeit no less prestigious. The Medical Corps needs someone in charge, and you have a fair amount of experience. The job’s yours, provided you can explain to me why you’ve been AWOL for the better part of a year.’


°1,078

Seryu playfully fiddled around with the tips of her hair, now that she’d regrown her left arm this was easier again, while neither of them spoke a word. She eventually found herself repeatedly looking over to the man who sat to her left, thoroughly, and not exactly with the most diffident manner, sapphire orbs scanned his appearance, almost absorbing it, never not looking for another clue. Dirty blonde hair, hazel irises, uniform neatly put together, he was strangely familiar. She always, at all times, tried her hardest not to make anyone uncomfortable, but hungry eyes and curiosity were traits of hers she found very difficult to abandon. The Shinigami wasn’t going to make any assumptions, not yet. The Captain and her secretary took their sweet time before both were called in and Seryu was immediately overwhelmed with the foreign familiarity of the Captain’s office.

A different scent shrouded her, a mixture of subtle (women’s) perfume, plants and perhaps even a touch of chlorine. The girl who’d summoned them was surprisingly underwhelming as far as charisma and appearance go. Seryu’s spirits grimaced at the sight of yet another raven-haired girl--they brought her misfortune--but lips curled at her dainty, almost fragile looking build. Her eyes betrayed the youthful features of her face and skin, they looked tired, as if she’d been looking through them for many centuries - but Seryu highly doubted that. She either had massive reiatsu ever since her birth or she was simply young.

She was also short compared to many other Shinigami and Seryu eventually noticed that neither of them was particularly tall - a fairly random discovery, but that made it not less enjoyable. Surely there was much, much more to her than it seemed. “Captain Hazuki,” Seryu greeted softly, a friendly bow followed her words as she sat herself yet again to the left side and eyed her with the ‘utmost’ respect. Somehow there was no mentioning of a family name.

‘Hazuki’ cut right to the chase of the matter, which was, as Seryu previously assumed, the discussion of the currently vacant seats in their new, restructured Third Division. The suggested way, which was later revealed to be a mere ‘joke’, struck Seryu as a rather primitive way of handling such important matters, and when Hazuki dismissed it as quickly as she’d brought it up Seryu could only arch a brow.

The Kidō Corps were reintroduced under the leadership of a new Lieutenant, an idea Seryu welcomed? Very much so. She smiled her usual, charming smile and patiently nodded in agreement at everything the Captain said until she finished. “Congratulations, Walkren,” with that omniscient look in her eyes Seryu purposefully addressed him by his first name, when it had never been mentioned before and this was their ‘first time’ meeting each other.”It will be my pleasure to work under the two of you,” Seryu’s gaze lingered for a moment before turning towards Hazuki - he’d spent some time in the libraries before, that made her curious. She’d keep that information, store it away for later.

Hazuki’s decisions didn’t come to her as a surprise, in fact they were quite reasonable. Seryu had never spent much time in the Forbidden Library since she’d gained access anyways - too much had happened, there was hardly any time for books - which left her with still nothing above ‘advanced’ kidō knowledge. She deeply regretted that. “Unfortunately, Captain,” Seryu clicked her tongue to express a tad bit of guilt, “the details regarding the little mission I went on are classified. Please, feel free to verify that information with your Captain-Commander, as there is nothing else I am allowed to tell you.”

[610]

Hazuki’s arms crossed slowly as Akamine exchanged the usual pleasantries with her soon-to-be—or so the new captain of the Third hoped—superior, and she settled into the usual procedure:

Observe everything. Admire nothing.

There was something that struck Hazuki as superficial about the woman before her, there was something in the way she—what, exactly? It was difficult to put exactly into words what it was that gave Hazuki the impression, but it was an oddly tangible feeling; in the same way she could sense how her sword would feel to grip, she could sense that there was a carefully maintained facade to this blonde and underneath it...

Nothing. Empty space, a void where personality might otherwise exist. Even Hazuki, underneath her glacial exterior, had some semblance of a being within her core, a little girl who was forced to grow up altogether too fast, clutching bitterly to the memories of— Well, needless to say, Hazuki knew she was who she was, just as she had the distinct feeling that this woman was nobody. Just something nice to look at, that was all. A pressed flower; pretty but ultimately flat and lifeless.

Perhaps it was the same instinct that made her feel that way that tipped her off: from the very first syllable Akamine uttered Hazuki almost knew that what would follow would not please her.

Classified, was the word she had used. That was her first mistake. Her second mistake was to invoke Commander Fujikagi’s authority.

Hazuki did the math, it wasn’t too hard: Seiryūko Akamine had been absent from Seireitei for a considerable amount of time. Her first recorded failure to attend to her duties had been as far back as when Kiriko was still Captain-Commander, which put Tokiyo Fujikagi right here, in this very room, sitting precisely where Hazuki was sitting, wearing the haori that she had chosen to hang on the wall. Captain of the Third Division. No more.

Of course, Hazuki didn’t say any of that. Of course, she made no mention of the fact that anything Fujikagi would have classified back then would have been, by definition, issued by the office Hazuki now held. Of course, she made no mention of the fact that the only division that ever classified the activity of their members was the Second. No mention of the fact that, as a captain, there was nothing but personal secrets that she wasn’t entitled to knowing. She simply sat, arms still crossed, flat grey eyes locked to the almost sparkling blue.

It wasn’t so much the secrecy that did it. Everyone had a right to their secrets—it wasn’t as though Hazuki didn’t have more than a few secrets of her own—but when a captain asked a subordinate a direct question, the only acceptable response was a direct answer. Hazuki wasn’t the one asking. The captain was. By extension, the division itself was asking.

Loyalty was a topic she was fully intent on bringing up with her prospective lieutenant, but for now—

‘You’re dismissed, Akamine,’ she said, her expression an impregnable wall.

Please feel free to lea—

‘That means leave.’


°521

Harsh words clashed with a rather unforgiving, indifferent persona - Seryu, who’d have been easily irritated a few months back, did not mind her sudden lack of status and rank. Given by someone she hardly knew it meant even less, so the Akamine smiled. “Thank you very much for your time, Captain,” she purred, slowly got up from her seat and turned towards her new Lieutenant. Walkren Dekharr, a familiar face that’d surely become even more familiar with time.

Her hand found its way onto his shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze before departing. “Good luck,” he’d probably need it, “If there’s anything I can ever assist you with please feel free to visit me at my place. I’m sure there is plenty we could talk about,” her smile turned, twisted, hinted at something else, but he’d know even if she hadn’t said a thing.

She left the room quietly, slid the door close with an intend not to make even the slightest sound and took a deep breath after succeeding. Honestly? Compared to Shun Minamoto your Kaidō’s still pretty bad, Sahel’s snide remark was absolutely unnecessary. She rolled up her sleeves and walked down the hallways of the Third Division, suppressing the urge to grimace at the sudden presence of her inner hollow.

That is not why she refused me, you moron, Seryu wondered if it would have been better to tell her that she’d been working on her Bankai which had, unfortunately, failed as well and also would be a complete lie. But you suck at that too! He whined, she rolled her eyes and opened the doors to one of the hospital’s preparation rooms. What do you not suck at?! She disregarded him, opened one of the small closets and pulled out a white doctor’s coat.

“This.”
..You sure about that?
Shut the fuck up and go back to sleep.

[313, Total Words: 1,523, Total GP: 30]
> Exit

A lovely tension hung in the air as Walkren sat back and watched the exchange between the two women. It was a short, disappointing dance that he had hoped to see flourish into something more tangible. Instead, only a pair of lines were exchanged each. Walkren rarely saw the game play out between two others and there had been a moment of futile hope that this would be his chance. Alas, Hazuki was all business, as Walkren had expected her to be and cut the dance off before it even started. Not even her idle joke about the two subordinates fighting to the death made her smile dent upwards. Walkren had at least offered her up a thin conciliatory smile, holding back the fact that the prospect of fighting to the death actually appealed to him.

The statement that came after had intrigued him, excited him, and maybe scared him a little. The wooden badge of his potential office had stared him down as the other two Shinigami exchanged their curt words. It had been offered to him, supposedly he could refuse if he really wanted to, but this kind of offer was one you didn’t refuse. He immediately thought of his library, his castle, and immediately the captain dashed away those thoughts. It was true, all of his duties could be done by the staff there. If anything he had been wasting resources by doing everything himself. The library would be able to sustain itself with the way he restructured it, but...but, but what?

He just couldn’t get over the idea of leaving the library. He had been able to eek out some semblance of happiness with the work he did. Not to mention the Forbidden Library was a galaxy of knowledge compared to the library’s meager stock. That was unfair. The Third’s library was the greatest in the world. It just so happened to have the next greatest one living right below it. And it wasn’t as if he was barred from visiting the Forbidden Library. If he did accept the job, it would come with more benefits than disadvantages.

The back and forth in his mind was interrupted by an invasive, albeit gentle, squeeze on his shoulder and a reminder that the former lieutenant would be a problem he would have to take care of eventually. Even if the two women had played a little game together, Walkren doubted it would be extravagant. Seiryuko Akamine had the subtly of a Hado. He had recognized her immediately, of course. Playing off his own introduction as if he was just as naive, even bored with the exchange. Yet the woman was unmistakable. It almost made sense that she stumbled through her little exit quip.

Walkren locked eyes with her and gave her his best smile in return. Wrinkles tickled the sides of his eyes and he nodded, a little confusion playing off his face. As if he quite didn’t get if she was implying something. He mouthed ‘thank you’ and his own hand touched hers in acknowledgement and dismissal. A problem for another time, though. The door closed and Walkren’s eyes met Hazuki’s. A pair filled with amber life and light and another lifeless and desolate.

Both sunken from a lack of sleep.

“Well, Captain,” Walkren said as silence tried to suffocate the two of them. “I assume there’s more to this than you just handing me a badge and shooing me off to run the division.”

An eyebrow raised.

Or is there?

[585] [1337]

Hazuki watched Akamine leave, icy gaze unwavering as her visitors had their little exchange, and only when the door to her office was securely shut once more did she turn to her new lieutenant.

‘How perceptive of you, Dekharr,’ she replied drily. She didn’t want to waste any more time here with him than she had to, but her subordinate was entirely correct in his assumption.

‘But yes, there’s more to it than that. Life as my lieutenant is in all likelihood going to be quite easy for you: you’re obviously no stranger to hard work which means my one biggest concern is laid to rest immediately. I can’t abide laziness, and from what I’ve seen, read and heard about you, you aren’t lazy. I will continue to search for and evaluate suitable candidates for taking charge of the Medical Corps but in the interim I will see to administrating Medical personally, which means you will be free to focus on two things: laying the foundations for the revitalization of the Kidō Corps, and the usual duties of any lieutenant of the Gotei.’

She paused, the slightest hint of a curled upper lip betraying her mild disgust at what had just unfolded. ‘Nor,’ she continued, ‘can I abide disloyalty. I can’t force you, or any other member of this division, to like me, and to be perfectly frank I don’t care if you do or don’t. What I expect, however, is that you are loyal to the division, uphold the values it stands for, and respect the chain of command. The work the Third does is of great importance—now, perhaps, more than ever—and to be part of its leadership means you will be held to the very highest standard. You will conduct yourself accordingly, and together we will undo the damage done by my predecessor.’

Hazuki’s admiration of the Third was rooted in events long since passed; their selfless endeavors to make the Gotei the very best it could be had resonated with her deeply, but she had never really felt that her place had been among its devoted members. Her passion, such as it was, lay elsewhere. Even now, leading the division, she felt out of place, but it was a necessary compromise for the time being. Her vision for the Third, strictly speaking, was not her own, and her captaincy was and would continue to be an act of mimicry, but that alone, she knew, would be enough. They needed solid ground to stand on, and the rest would come on its own. Hazuki could certainly provide that, and she would do her very best to make sure she did.

‘You will, of course, be free to perform your own selection for members of the Kidō Corps, just as you will be more or less free to structure it as you see fit, but I have one or two directives you should keep in mind. There’s a girl, now under your command, you may know her: Hanabi Enyo. Her work is of utmost importance and you will see to it that her every need is catered to. Secondly, while you and your team enjoy unlimited access to the Restricted Wing of the Library, I will take this opportunity to reiterate that you and you alone are permitted access to the Forbidden Library—sparingly.’ Hazuki’s tone indicated that this, far more than the rest, was not a subject up for debate.

‘The information contained within is there for a reason and while I appreciate your obvious desire to plumb the secrets of the universe, you are now far too busy a man to be spending your time in its vaults.’

Leave that dubious honor to me, she thought. Hazuki, at least, knew what she was looking for. Dekharr’s time there, from what Hazuki could tell, simply seemed aimless perusal of dangerous material, which was precisely what the Forbidden Library had been built to curtail.

Her monologue seemingly having come to an end—it had been clear from her tone and her pacing that interruptions would be unwelcome—the air between them seemed to open up again, and finally Hazuki relaxed.

‘With all that said, Lieutenant, I’m certain you have questions.’

When a captain asked a subordinate a direct question, the only acceptable response was a direct answer.

To an extent, that worked both ways.


°727

As the speech concluded, Walkren only needed a few spared moments to collect his own thoughts. Any doubts about leaving the library had been dashed away one by one throughout Hazuki’s monologue. A simple desire to progress had flickered back on inside of him and he recalled his dance with the Arrancar, Verbrennung. He needed this more than anything right now. The smallest shuffle would have sufficed, but this leap in power would do well with his desires. Not to mention gaining command over the Kido Corps. That prospect had ideas bubbling up from his brain already.

He felt the tension that wove thick knots in Hazuki’s reiatsu only slightly loosen as she waited for him to respond. Finally meeting the woman taught him mountains more than the rumors and her reputation provided. He could see her composure and drive and that willingness to alienate yourself to reach your goals radiating off of her like an armor. Deep down, though, he felt loneliness and doubt. Perhaps it just came with the territory of captain or perhaps not.

Regardless, Walkren admired the woman for what she was trying to do. He thought that if their true ideals were ever exposed they would clash, but each of them could use the other for the time being. Walkren was selfish. All he could see before him was an opportunity to further his own goals and his own desires. Nothing about the betterment of the Gotei through the Third. Then again, his own goals were to better the Gotei, just in a...different way.

His lips pursed slightly in thought as he looked over at the woman, her slight frame not conveying the power that she held inside of her. Without a word, he leaned forward and took the small wooden badge, emblazoned with the Japanese numeral for three, from the edge of the desk, symbolically accepting the position. Not that there was any true doubt that he wouldn't. He only glanced at the intricate design of the badge for a moment before breaking the silence, his voice casual, “To be frank, Captain, I think I’ve sufficiently plumbed all the secrets I desired from that abyss of knowledge.”

“I don’t have any questions pertinent to the position,” Walkren continued. “The job is straightforward, as is what you expect of me. I’m sure I’ll pick up what I need to know as I go.”

“But...”

He didn’t let the offer slip away there. There was a lot about the woman that intrigued him, but there wasn’t a solid place to start. After a shift in his seat, he locked his gaze with Hazuki’s and asked, “...why the Third?”

“The obvious reasons of wanting to bring glory back to a failing division are cute and all, but I think we both know there's more to it than that,” he said, his tired gaze not leaving her own equally exhausted eyes. A bold statement for someone just promoted to the second highest position in the division, but Walkren tended to be bold. A better way to put it was arrogant. He saw something inside of her that lent itself to a higher agenda than restoring a division to its former glory. He saw that little spark and was overtly confident that she had some secret. Maybe he was wrong, but all he needed was for her to answer and he would know.

[565] [1902]

Why the Third?

There were a lot of answers to that question. Hazuki had never been particularly good at lying—she seldom had reason to, truth be told, nor did it suit her otherwise forthright manner—but ever since paying a visit to the former Captain-Commander, she had slipped into the bad (morally, anyway) habit of... tactical omission of key details whenever she had been pressed for information that could be considered sensitive.

For a moment she was silent, weighing her answer with care—not out of worry that her lieutenant would somehow figure her out, but as a go player might weigh a move before making it. She cast a look around the office as she leaned back in her chair, and her gaze eventually fell on her ikebana. Yes, she thought. That was a good play, and as always it was one hundred percent true.

‘This division once belonged to a woman I looked up to a great deal,’ she murmured in a faraway voice. ‘I owe her a lot, and restoring the Third to what it once was is my way of honoring her.’ Her usually harsh features had softened, the unpleasantness from before all but evaporated. It was those sparse moments of tranquility that really revealed the girl underneath the glacier; when she was too preoccupied with whatever childhood memory she was lost in to maintain the forbidding chill she had erected like a wall around herself.

The corners of her mouth twitched quite suddenly, the beginnings of a smile forming as if someone had whispered something amusing in her ear, but it didn’t quite seem to match the rest of her face. There was a sharp, almost malicious edge to it that quickly spread to her eyes, and with a sidelong look she caught Dekharr’s eyes once more.

She had reined herself in at Sakurazuki’s behest when she had come for the haori, but now there was no such need for restraint. ‘Besides,’ she said, her parted lips revealing a predatory grin, ‘we couldn’t have that incompetent, pigtailed whore fuck her way to a captaincy and expect to get away with it, could we?’

Swearing was unladylike, Hazuki knew this. She could recall, with some displeasure, each and every time she had spewed forth uncouth language such as that, and the amount of times she had used either whore or fuck could—combined—be counted on the fingers of one hand, but this time she wasted no effort in attempting to hide her disdain.

‘Far better someone who earned it takes charge, I think.’ The grin faded, the dangerous look in Hazuki’s eyes once again slipping back beneath the frigid grey. ‘I hope that answers your question, lieutenant. You’re dismissed.’

She rose to her feet and reached for her secateurs, busying herself with trimming the leaves off some stalks, but before Walkren had managed to get out the door, she called out to him one last time.

‘Oh, and lieutenant?’ Her back was still turned, her hands still busy, fingers rapidly turning green once more.

‘Good luck.’


°512

this’ll be my last post, fam