Hitsugaya's POV

The next day after I made my silent vow, I went to confront the person staying at Unohana's place, whether it was the real Miyako or not.

I checked in with the receptionist.

"Good morning, Hitsugaya-taicho. Did you want to see Unohana-taicho?" asked the girl at the desk. I declined.

"I'm actually here to see my Third seat, Ohara Miyako. Is she in?"

"Let me check our sign in records. One moment, please." I took the opportunity to glance around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Plain walls, flowers on every stable surface, soul reapers rushing around, trying to get this medication or that water for some patient.

The receptionist glanced up from the large book she was scanning. "I'm sorry, she was signed out almost an hour ago by the early morning receptionist. She won't be back until at least late afternoon.

"Thank you," I told her, and walked out.

Next, I tried looking around the other divisions, only to find that nobody had seen her. It was on my way back to my own division, frustrated and kind of tired, that I ran into her.

"Oh, hi Taicho!" this fake chirped, perfectly mimicking Miyako's annoying, sunny disposition.

"Listen," I said to her, my voice soft so that anyone who happen to pass through wouldn't hear us, "I know you're not her."

She didn't even blink. "What do you mean, Taicho?"

"Come with me," I ordered, and led her back to my office.

"So, did you need something?" she asked me. I stared hard at her, but she wouldn't budge. How had she improved her façade in such a short time?

"Yes, in fact. I need you to give Ohara-san back."

"Well," she said, gesturing to herself, "here you go."

"No. I mean the real Ohara Miyako."

"I don't understand what you're trying to tell me."

"I know that you somehow snuck into Soul Society and put Miyako somewhere else, and now you're pretending to be her. I don't know your motive, but I want you out." After saying all of this out loud, I realized how ridiculous it all sounded and my face became warm.

"Taicho, are you all right?" She faked concern, placing her hand on my forehead. "Should you come back with me to Unohaha-taicho's place?"

"When's Ohara-san's birthday?" I asked out of the blue. She tilted her head to the side a smidge, just like Miyako always does.

"Um, my birthday is on March 25th. Taicho, you need to calm down."

This is impossible, I thought. She won't budge. What could I do to get her to crack?…Just the tiniest bit of evidence that she's not really who she says she is…

"Taicho?" she asked me.

"Yes?" Might as well play along and see if it gets me anywhere.

"You're stepping on my foot." Oh. I hadn't even realized I'd gotten so close, and backed away quickly.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'd better get going. I have to check in with the Fourth division soon or Unohana-taicho will freak out. Bye!"

I watched her retreating back, then stepped out of the office myself and went to find Kenji and Matsumoto.

It was time to come up with a new approach.

Kenji's POV

Taicho called us to a meeting in his office, using dinner as a public story. I knew he wanted to talk about Miyako. I don't know how she did it, but that other Miyako suddenly became very good at acting the part.

As I filled my plate, I glanced at the garden through the new sliding glass doors that we had very recently installed. I thought I was much nicer than when we couldn't see it, and it eased some of the claustrophobia that only hit me when I was in the office. Possibly this was so because it was Taicho's office.

We sat down around Matsumoto's flimsy table in silence, eating slowly and peering up only when necessary. This dinner was the quietest one we'd ever had. It was probably because of the worry we each had for Miyako's whereabouts, but I thought it was really because she just wasn't here at all.

I couldn't take the awkward silence anymore and spoke up. "I think this Miyako-san won't give up anything so easily. It's like somehow she just got a whole lot better at being herself."

"I agree completely," Taicho said. Wow. He'd never really said anything this nice to me since…ever. He must really be caught up in the moment.

"Me too." Matsumoto agreed readily.

"I think we need a new tactic. Maybe we could trick the answer out of her," I suggested. I felt like I was taking Taicho's job and decided not to say anything for a while. I glanced over at him but he seemed to approve.

"Yes, I was just thinking that today when I ran into her. But how should we go about doing this?" he asked.

Nobody answered. I looked at Matsumoto but she was staring at the ceiling.

Maybe someone could do something so odd, we could make her pause. Just for an instant, and it would affirm my ideas about her being an imposter. Truthfully, after today, I was feeling a little doubtful myself.

It would have to be Taicho doing the tricking, no doubt about it. He was the most conservative of all of us, and it would really throw Miyako off if he did something outrageous. But what?

It had to be something that she would really have to think over, something that would really make her question her knowledge of Miyako.

Improbable, but not entirely impossible. There had to be one thing he could do…

An then the idea hit me. Like a frisbee. He was going to hate me for this, but it would be perfect, and hey, who wouldn't want to see Taicho humiliate himself? I turned to the man in question.

"Taicho, I think I have the perfect idea."

Hitsugaya's POV

"I'm not going to do it," I argued as I stared out of the glass into the garden. I really did like these new doors.

"You already agreed to it, so stop your mumbling." Matsumoto fixed a tiny camera into the cork board over my desk. It was full of papers, the perfect hiding spot.

"No, I did not-"

"Shh! She should be down the hall right now! Here are your flowers," she handed a fistful of soft white flowers to me, "and here's your attitude." She hugged me so tightly that I couldn't breathe.

"Matumoto!" I struggled to say.

"Bye!" she whispered, swinging the blinds to the glass closed and then carefully shutting the doors. Right after the panels stopped swinging, I heard a knock.

"Come in," I called, my voice a little strangled form my encounter with Matsumoto.

It seemed an eternity before the flimsy paper and wood door slid open. In that eternity, I reviewed the plan in my head one more time.

Invite her in. Compliment her and give her the flowers. Then ask her the question, and when she denies it, bluff.

Kenji must have chosen this method as a way to get back at me. The flirting thing, the assumed relationship with Miyako…it was diabolical.

Hm. Diabolical. It was a genius plan, though. One that I hate, but I think I was starting to gain respect for him.

I pushed all feelings away and watched the imposter walk through the door.

I could say nothing for her perfect imitation stride, her accurate smile, a slightly nervous tone to her voice that Miyako always had.

The one thing that really confused me was her appearance. This disguise was astounding, to say the least. Her long black hair was an exact match, her eyes the same warm brown.

The only evidence I had right now was her mess up the first day I suspected her, and that she couldn't blame her odd behavior on her fall. Because I saw her after she hit her head, and she was fine.

"Hello Taicho. Kenji said you wanted to see me?"

"Yes. Uh, sit down." I motioned to an empty spot beside me.

"So, what did you want to see me about?" she asked patiently, after I remained silent for too long.

"I wanted to say…I'm sorry for thinking that you were an imposter. It was wrong of me. You were only acting confused because of your fall, weren't you?" Time to find out if she was a liar.

She seemed relieved. "Well, it was partially that, but I think it was mostly because of my fear of my past. But, that's all done now. I accept your apology." It was a perfectly acceptable response. What now?

"These are for you." I stuck my hand out, offering her the flowers with a locked arm. She brightened further.

"For me? Taicho…you really shouldn't have…it wasn't a big deal, really."

"These are not only to express my apologies, but…" Uh oh. I racked my brain for something romantic to say. I wasn't exactly and expert in this department.

"These are also to tell you…!" I watched her carefully for her reaction, my face probably turning red.

"Uh…um…" She glanced around, struggling to say something coherent.

"W-well, I like you too, Taicho, just not in that way…besides I don't think the Soutaicho will like this idea at all…"

Time to start bluffing. "I knew you weren't the real Miyako."

"What do you mean?" I could detect just a tiny hint of nervousness in her response.

"The real Miyako knows we've secretly been dating. How did your sources fail to catch that significant detail?" I stood up, glaring at her.

"No…Taicho, are you drunk or something? We were never dating…" Trying to turn this on me.

"Of course we were. You thought the New Year's thing was just me drunk? You're wrong."

"You…I don't understand…"

"Of course you don't understand. You acquired your information from outside sources. Only a few people knew what Ohara-san and I were really up to."

"Then…why do you still call her Ohara-san? Why not Miyako?"

I rejoiced inside. This was the proof we needed, and it was all on video.

"Cover story. We don't want everyone to know we're seeing each other."

"I bet you're bluffing. This…I was never informed of this!"

"It's true. You were fooled."

She stood up, sputtered, her face turning beet red.

"E-even if you caught me, you're still in hot water. Nobody will believe your crazy story. An imposter? Ha! I'd like to see you try."

"I will. Once we show this video around Soul Society, your cover will be blown."

She threw the flowers into my face. "We'll see about that." She was about to shunpo out, but I caught her.

"Where is Ohara Miyako?" I had both of my hands on her shoulders in case she tried to run. I had to look down a little to meet her eyes; whoever was pretending to be Miyako also had her exact height.

"You'll never find her!" she shrieked. "Even if you search all of Soul Society, all of the world, you'll never find her. She's gone! Gone!"

"Gone?" I repeated softly. Did she kill her?

"If you've killed her, I swear, I'll-" I stopped and looked up. Matsumoto stood in the doorway. "Taicho, we have a problem."

She held in her arms a bleeding and unconscious Wakamoto Kenji.

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