Captain Genda of the 12th squad was a short, aging man with greying hair and thick glasses. His face was heavily creased from late nights writing by the light of a candle, a habit he had not lost even as he grew older. During the many years he had commanded as the 12th squad captain, and for many of the years before that, he had never been surprised or confused by anything that happened in front of him or anyone said.

This was far from the case when his fukutaicho, Hikifune Kirio, came knocking at his door in the middle of the night with a report from her latest mission. He had meant to scold her upon her return as he had sent her out in an investigatory capacity intending her to only be gone a matter of days. However, several weeks had passed before she returned and when she did, it was in a crazed state, with twigs in her hair, dirt on her face and the strangest tale he had ever heard. Genda thought she must have gone quite mad.

He was on his third cup of tea and still could not make sense of her story. He had offered her several too in the hopes she would calm down and recount a logical sequence of events but she declined each one.

Genda would never admit it to her face, but he was really rather fond of Hikifune, who despite her youth was one of the most rational people on his squad. She saw things as they were and not as she wanted them to be, which was a gift even among her superiors. That was why it was so odd that she seemed so taken with the music she thought she had heard - it was quite unlike her.

"Please describe the music to me," he said, giving into his curiosities.

"It was…" Hikifune searched for words to describe it. "It was sad."

"Sad? In what way?" Genda pressed. He would have to present these findings to the Commander General if they proved suspicious and he needed something coherent to prevent embarrassment in front of the other captains.

"I don't know how to explain it," Hikifune admitted, an apologetic expression across her face. "It just made me feel sad somehow and the Hollow didn't move."

"Could you narrow it down to a particular instrument…A flute or a Shamisen?"

"I've never heard anything like it before."

Genda rested his face on his hands. Sometimes being a captain was far more hassle than it was worth. On the one hand he had a bunch of events that made no sense at all and on the other he had his fukutaicho who didn't have the imaginative scope to make them up.

"And you are certain that it wasn't the wind in the trees or some kind of bird?"

Hikifune bit her bottom lip. She had picked up on his doubts.

"I'm positive. I spent weeks in those woods but I didn't hear music until then."

Genda leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples with the air of an exhaustion. Hikifune clamped her hands together and pressed them against her chest.

"Please tell me you've heard of something like this before." she pleaded. "I'm not making it up, Genda-taicho!"

Genda took a sip of tea and smiled.

"Now, Hikifune, did I ever say you were making it up?"

Hikifune blushed in silent gratitude, while Genda pulled a plain piece of paper from his desk drawer and a calligraphy brush from another.

"So…we are all ready miles behind our original deadline to pass on our findings to Central, which means if we want to request more time for a more in depth analysis our argument needs to be pretty damn persuasive…" he said, dipping his brush into a nearby pot of ink. "What are we certain of?"

Generally speaking, the application process between captain and Central was supposed to be confidential. Captains were not supposed to share the details with other, lesser ranking individuals, who could easily pass on confidential information without understanding the consequences. However, Genda rarely saw this actually done as it was far more appealing to pass on the tedious amounts of paperwork to subordinates or, as in this case, to view the situation with fresh eyes.

Hikifune thought carefully before answering.

"The poor villages were not attacked at random and we can now confirm that the eyewitness accounts were correct and the attacks can be linked by several common factors - the music, the time and the place. Each attack took place at sundown in one of the poorest areas of Rukongai and the music has some sort of strange power over the Hollows," she said. "The one I encountered acted very unusually. I did not recognise a possible source for the music."

Genda made notes and nodded every so often to show he was still listening. When he had finished, he lifted his brush to signal for Hikifune to carry on.

"While we do not understand the source of this music, we cannot ignore the fact that it poses a threat to the peace of the Soul Society and therefore…" she said, trailing off to think, finally giving up and smiling broadly. "We require more time to fully investigate!"

Genda chuckled at the brisk conclusion and set his brush down.

"Very good - you might make Captain yet," he said. "Now, Hikifune, how fast can you run?"

This question caught her quite off guard and she crumpled up her face in confusion.

"Quite fast…?"

Genda climbed to his feet and picked up the paper from his desk.

"Good. The Central 46 are meeting at midnight and we might just be able to catch them," he said, walking towards his office door. He spotted Hikifune's expression and pointed at his chest. "Don't ask me why they're meeting at such a ridiculous time - it was all Old Man Naraku's idea. You know how vain the nobles are-probably just wants to show them the designs for his new mansion."