Not a message in a bottle (INV)

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Chin up! The sun was shining over the Seireitei on a particularly bright, cheery morning. The pleasant sounds of birds chirping and water flowing permeated the air with a pleasant aura as a single lily pad floated gently across the pond that the Taichou had had set up on the Fifth Division’s grounds. Next to it, some loungers had been set up. One squad member was set about watering plants around the pond in the “Tranquility Garden”, as the Taichou had come to name it, a simple place for the Fifth Division to come to relax and unwind from time to time. Though the Gobantai was known for all-around excellence, its current leader didn’t exactly believe in “giving 100% effort 100% of the time”, and thus was working to include areas like these in the Gobantai compound where his subordinates could relax and intermingle, making his division more than just a collection of brainwashed, collectively-trained living drone warriors. He rather enjoyed the idea.

“Ah, wouldn’tcha agree that it’s pretty good day?” Shinji said, laying on one of the loungers, black shades covering his eyes as he stared up into the sky, a bright blue with a few wisps of white scattered here and there. Legs crossed, hands crossed behind his head as he laid there relaxing, he sighed a breath of relief. He’d stayed up all night working on the paperwork in his office with Momo, and had hardly even made a dent in the piles. He couldn’t wait to get some lower seated officers to push the paperwork to. He would’ve just kept prior seated positions, but given who the previous Captain was, he wanted to start with a blank slate and figure out who he could rely on for himself. But that was a matter for another time.

A frown crossed the blonde Taichou’s face; he leaned up and eyed the Shinigami watering the plants.

“Ay, I was talkin’ to ya. Ya deaf or something?” The Shinigami merely looked at him with a nervous smile and nodded agreement. Shinji just grunted and settled back into the lounger. “I swear, some of ya are just so borin. Live a little!” The Shinigami went back about his business and then disappeared, probably back to the barracks now that his more mundane chores of the day were done. And thus, the Captain was alone. He breathed in deeply, and let it out slow. Such a nice day, it was.

Footsteps came, scuffing the grass and ground as they came closer, and he knew his day was probably about to be ruined.

Two Shinigami were approaching him, he saw as he turned his head and looked on. He lifted his sunglasses; one of them he recognized, a grunt in the squad that wasn’t particularly noteworthy in any way, sadly, that often got stuck with the duty of watching the entrance of the compound and patrolling to make sure nothing was wrong. He seemed nervous. Behind him, seemingly following him, was a young girl in Shinigami robes, who seemed incredibly obviously out of place. And something felt off about her, but the Taichou couldn’t quite place it. Removing his sunglasses, Shinji sat up, the Gobantai symbol on the back of his Haori becoming clearly visible.

“Captain,” the grunt said, “I found this girl wandering the compound. She says she has a message from the Thirteenth Division.” Shinji could almost smell the sweat dripping down the poor grunt’s face; he wondered if the guy would ever lighten up. But this guy didn’t have even an ounce of Shinji’s interest right now; his eyes passed him entirely, and looked at the strange girl.

“Well then,” Shinji said, lifting his arm and holding out his open hand to receive the message in what he could only assume would be in the form of a letter, if he hadn’t received the message via Hell Butterfly, “let’s have it then.”