"Okay kiddos, look alive!" Matsumoto's shrill voice cut through the morning fog to a group of bleary-eyed students. "I know it's early in the morning and you're all studying for your exams, but you signed up for this, so at least pretend to look interested during the tour, 'kay?"
Aigis struggled to hold back a yawn. Her sleep last night was restless, and despite being able to get eight hours of it, she felt like she barely slept at all. The cold morning did not help matters – she desperately wanted to bury herself in her futon, but her sense of duty eventually won out. Makoto, on the other hand, seemed grim. Or rather, she was trying to look grim to hold off her sleepiness, most likely.
Aigis was quite sure neither of them were mentally prepared for today's activities after what happened last night, but they still must power through nonetheless.
At the very least, she did not forget what she promised to Ebina – learn more about the Tenth and Thirteenth Divisions, both of which she would be visiting today. It would be in poor form for her to forget about the request considering how much gossip he told her.
"Aigis-san!"
The group turned back to a small figure waving and running at them from within the Academy.
"Hinamori-sensei?" Aigis cocked her head, though she stepped out of the group. "Do you need something from me?"
"Sorry Rangiku-san, I'll be quick!" Hinamori grabbed Aigis's wrist and pulled her around the corner, out of everyone's sight, then pulled out a sealed letter from her sleeve. "I forgot about this yesterday, but I have an invitation for you."
"For me?"
"Yup. To join the Fifth Division."
Aigis blinked. "Why me?"
"Seems like you made a good impression on Captain Hirako," Hinamori continued. "He likes to handpick his people where possible, and he's an excellent judge of character, so I'm sure you'll flourish there if you want to. Of course, don't feel pressured by it. If you like another division better, feel free to join them instead."
Aigis gingerly took the letter from Hinamori's hand. A plain envelope, sealed with glue on the back. There was no indication that it was written by the captain.
She wondered what Hirako thought when they talked yesterday.
"I can consider it, but I make no promises." She tucked the letter into her own sleeve. "However, please let him know that I am thankful for the invitation."
"That's all I'm asking for." Hinamori winked. "Come on, let's get you back to your tour group. I've taken up enough of your time."
Matsumoto had the same cheerful expression on her face when the duo returned. "Sorry for the delay, but it's all good now!" Hinamori matched Matsumoto's cheer as she gently pushed Aigis back to the group. "Say hi to Shiro-chan for me!"
"Will do!" Matsumoto nodded.
"'Shiro-chan'?" Makoto asked curiously.
"Captain of the Tenth," Matsumoto answered with a wink. "Hinamori-chan is his older sister, actually."
"Wait," Makoto blinked at the revelation, "huh?!" The students also gasped out in varying degrees of surprise, with a few laughs mixed into it.
"Family of choice." Matsumoto chuckled at Makoto's baffled expression. "Don't call him that though, I'm pretty sure Hinamori-chan is the only one with permission to do so."
Not that Aigis would ever dream of addressing a superior that casually. While she did not mind the language of choice of her own colleagues – they were free to call Aigis with any kind of nickname as long as it was not disrespectful, she personally could not abandon her habit of speaking formally, even to close friends like Yukari.
Matsumoto clapped her hands as she took off from the academy gates, attracting everyone's attention. "The Tenth has a reputation of only accepting geniuses considering their captain and lieutenant, but I call bullshit on that," she said casually. "It's more about compatibility, you know. If you get along with them, you'd love the division. And the Captain's not picky about his people either. Hell, you can slack off if you want and he'd still do the work for you if he likes you enough!"
The more Aigis listened to the introduction, the more she wondered how much of that description was through some…very tinted glasses, as they say. Matsumoto was once the lieutenant of the Tenth Division after all.
"Hmm?"
The group slid to a halt before the Tenth Division barracks, as the wide roads started to ice over in the winter weather. Matsumoto squinted at the barrack gates – a large whitewashed building with slanted roofs, supported by red beams.
Strangely, nobody was at the gate.
"Captaaaainnn?" Matsumoto called into the gate. "Anyone theeere?"
There was no response.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"Is this normal?"
Murmurs broke out amongst the students, and Aigis observed her surroundings worryingly. At first glance, nothing seemed to be amiss.
"Do you think something happened to the captain?" Makoto whispered.
"But it is supposed to be peaceful now, correct?" Aigis whispered back.
A loud creak caught everyone's attention, as Matsumoto pushed the wooden gate of the barracks open. "Oh well, I'm sure I can find him during the tour at some point. I can lead the tour myself here, anyway!"
And she did indeed lead the tour for all of two minutes, where she sped through the compound and introduced everything in a strangely cheerful tone before she strode straight to a set of double doors within the office building, and before anyone could react, threw them wide open with a bang.
"And just what were you thinking here?!"
"You were too preoccupied with training the newbies so I did the job for you!"
"It clearly says 'for captains only'!"
"You would've made the same decisions anyway!"
Aigis did faintly hear muffled sounds before Matsumoto opened the door, but now the screaming match between two young adults – one male, one female, was on full display for everyone present, including a few shinigami working in adjacent offices whose curiosity won out, and were now watching the argument with some measure of…was that interest, or amusement?
The pair of shinigami seemed to finally realise they had an audience, as their argument abruptly paused and they both slowly turned their heads to the group of students occupying the doorway. Matsumoto was at the front, with twinkling eyes and one hand on her lips, clearly entertained by the show.
"Sorry, did we interrupt your lover's spat?" Matsumoto winked.
The two arguing shinigami finally rounded on her.
"Get out!"
Twenty seconds of awkward standing in the corridor later, the door opened again.
"Sorry, I lost track of time." The female shinigami stepped out of the room, scratching the back of her neck as she cracked some joints around her body. Her lieutenant badge was sloppily fixed onto her arm and her long black ponytail was messy, but she seemed composed otherwise. "Forgot I was supposed to lead the tour today."
"I wouldn't have minded watching you and the Captain argue more though." Matsumoto kept up her playful tone as she gave the young lady a light pat on the head. "You two make such a cute couple!"
"Yeah yeah, and you've been joking about that for three hundred years already, Rangiku-san." The lieutenant scowled at Matsumoto and half-heartedly waved off the hand still on her head. "Anyway, it's good to see you all. I'm Kurosaki Karin, lieutenant of the Tenth. The guy I was arguing with is Hitsugaya Toshiro, captain of the Tenth. Just a disclaimer – no, despite what Rangiku-san may imply, I do not argue with him all the time. We've just known each other for too long."
"Are you–"
"If that question is 'are you related to Kurosaki Ichigo', then yes, I'm his younger sister." Kurosaki clearly had fielded that question enough times to answer it on reflex, and it seemed that she was correct, as the student who started the question abruptly closed his mouth with a click.
Now that Aigis took a good look at Kurosaki's features, there were some distinct resemblances between the two – they had similar eye shapes, and almost comically identical scowls.
The double doors creaked again, and Hitsugaya stepped out. "Damn that Kyoraku and his whimsies…" he muttered under his breath, before he straightened himself. Side by side, Hitsugaya and Kurosaki were complete opposites in terms of appearance. His white hair was gelled halfway so half of it stuck up while the other half flopped in front of his face, and his haori furthered his overall white palette in contrast to Kurosaki's almost all black ensemble. Compared to Matsumoto, the pair looked unusually young for their position, though not to the extent of Lieutenant Kurosaki from the Fifth Division. "Why are you all still here?"
Hitsugaya's scowl, amusingly enough, slightly resembled Kurosaki's own scowl.
"Because we haven't had time to move yet?" Kurosaki replied flatly. "You should come along, Toshiro – you've been stuck in the office for three days in a row and you need fresh air." Her tone did not give Hitsugaya any room for argument.
"Besides, Hinamori-chan's been complaining that you don't visit her often enough." Matsumoto added with glee.
"I told you it's 'Captain Hitsugaya' when we're at work." There was no heat or anger in the words that Hitsugaya grumbled out. "And Momo should know that I'm too busy with my job here to see her often."
Kurosaki apparently took it as consent to drag him out of the office building. "Doesn't mean you can't make time for her, you know. Just leave some of the work to us and go enjoy your break every now and then."
Matsumoto sighed as she watched Kurosaki lead the group. "They really should start dating, you know. Captain's usually too stuffy to really express himself and Karin-chan is one of the few people who can get him to loosen up."
The students stared back at her with a mix of amusement, resignation and horror.
"You sound like a mother fretting over her children." Aigis said. Several students nodded alongside the statement.
"I mean, I did kind of watch them grow up, you know!" Matsumoto tried to defend herself. "They were so cute when they were younger…"
"I am going to kick you out of the barracks if you don't shut up, Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya yelled from the front.
"Okay, Captain!" Her cheerful tone informed everyone present that she was absolutely not letting it go.
The tour continued at a more sedate pace, as Kurosaki and Hitsugaya took turns introducing the various facilities. They apparently shared their office space – a carryover from Matsumoto's time that they did not feel the need to change. The training facilities were well-worn, though Aigis did spot weird areas of…was that water damage?
"Captain's so powerful he sometimes freezes the areas around him if he's not careful." Matsumoto explained. "And he trains frequently enough that we've had to repair the facilities often."
That was oddly reassuring to hear. A captain with the humility to know that they can always improve would be a good role model for Ebina. He was still struggling with streaks of arrogance of his skills, but he was now at least aware whenever it happened.
The officers of the division greeted Hitsugaya cheerfully along the tour, and Aigis noticed his own greetings, composed and cold to her, though nobody seemed to mind. Kurosaki, meanwhile, was personable and rowdy, loudly asking after some officers about what they were doing and…something about a football team?
"She's not the one to introduce it to Soul Society, but she did introduce it to Abarai, who introduced it to the rest of Seireitei." Hitsugaya said. "His division has a football team, and we meet them every now and then for matches. We added our own rules to match the abilities of shinigami, so it's considered part of training."
Aigis nodded along. "I used to play in a similar capacity back when I lived in Rukongai," she said. "Though the game of choice was tag. My admission exam to the Academy was also tag."
She wondered how the orphanage was doing in her absence.
Hitsugaya gave her a side eye through his scowl. "So I've heard from Onabara. Still…you trained soldiers?"
"No, just children. To keep them safe from Hollows." Aigis demurred.
His face softened just a little. "They are lucky to have you, then."
His expression was far away even as he watched Kurosaki playfully banter with another officer in the training grounds. Aigis decided not to push the conversation further.
"The Eleventh are a bunch of meatheads, yes, but they do deserve their reputation as the strongest division in Seireitei." Matsumoto said on the path to said division's barracks. "They'll accept you as long as you're strong, but they have an unspoken rule that nobody with a kido-type zanpakutou could join." She sighed at that. "It also means that the main method of becoming the captain of the Eleventh is through trial by combat — you kill the current captain, you become the captain."
Aigis frowned at the barbaric method, but it was not her place to comment on them.
"Does that mean captaincy changes frequently in the division?" Makoto asked.
"Really depends on the shinigami who show up." Matsumoto answered. "The current captain has been around for over three hundred years, cause he's just that strong. He doesn't really do any work though."
Both Aigis and Makoto blinked at that statement.
"You sure you should be saying that about the captain?" A lazy voice drifted over the chill to them as the group collectively turned to its source.
A stocky man leaned against the gate to the Eleventh's barracks, his zanpakutou rested on one shoulder instead of looped through his belt. He had sharp dark eyes, accentuated by red makeup on its corners and contrasted with a perfectly bald scalp that seemed to reflect the meager sunlight, so much so that Aigis almost missed the lieutenant badge on his arm.
"You know he wouldn't care about that." Matsumoto put her hands on her hips, a grin on her face. "When has he ever cared about anyone's opinion on anything apart from battle?"
The man matched her grin as his posture relaxed, though his seemed a touch more bloodthirsty. "Well, you're right about that, at least," he acknowledged, then directed his gaze to the students. "Madarame Ikkaku. I'm lieutenant of the Eleventh. Come on in, I'll show you around."
The first word that came to Aigis' mind when she saw the state of Eleventh's barracks was "messy".
The floor was clearly worn down by a variety of tools, not all of them what she would expect on a floorboard in the first place. Walls were pockmarked with the remains of past battles in the form of slashes and dents, and its bottom was caked with a thin layer of dirt. The officers of this division looked almost uniformly rugged, with a large number of them sporting some scarring over their face.
"You gotta be ready to get into a fight at any time if you're in this division." Madarame said. "Fighting is in our blood here, and we don't really care if you're a man or a woman here. Hell, our old lieutenant was a little girl, but she could scare all of us straight with a look."
Despite that statement, Aigis barely spotted any females within the division. She was about to ask what happened to the old lieutenant when she caught the oddly somber expression on the lieutenant's face, and decided to drop the subject.
She could hazard a guess, and in retrospect, it was not surprising considering what the division specialised in.
They walked past the training ground, which was clearly the most used facility in the division. The dirt was tightly packed beneath the sandals that constantly stomped on them, while men swung their wooden swords with much more ferocity than what Aigis saw from other divisions so far. There were a few spars going on, though it could almost be mistaken for a real fight. At the far end of the training ground, a large building had its lights on.
"That's our dojo." Madarame introduced. "It's where most of us are during the day, if we aren't at the Fourth nursing wounds there."
"What about the paperwork then?" One student asked.
The lieutenant scrunched his face. "The lazy bums can't be bothered with it, so I end up stuck with most of that bullshit. I'd whip their asses and they'd work on it for half an hour, then they'd slack off again." He growled in frustration. "I wanna train too, goddammit!"
And with that statement, the door of the dojo suddenly blew open, along with a body that flew out of the opening. It landed in a heap in front of the group, stopping them dead in their tracks.
Makoto ran forward, kaido ready at her fingertips, though she was stopped by an outstretched arm from Matsumoto. "He'll be okay," she said in a low voice. "Their duels may be violent, but they do stop short of killing each other." Makoto narrowed her eyes at the statement, but then turned to the body. He seemed to be breathing, so she stepped back.
"For the love of…" Madarame muttered, then brought one hand to cup his mouth. "Hey Captain, watch where you're sending these guys!"
"Huuuh?" The ground seemed to rumble as a mountain of a man emerged from the doorway. He was barechested and covered in scars, with his incredibly chipped sword held in a similar way as Madarame. His shaggy black hair hung down his back, and an eyepatch covered one eye. Everything about him exuded presence, as if he could use his figure and barely restrained power to dominate wherever he was at. "Oh, it's that time again?" His eyes wandered across the group until it landed on Matsumoto, at which he broke into a small grin. "Been a while since I saw you. Here to drink with the boys?"
"Sorry, but I'm on the job right now." Matsumoto replied coyly. "Maybe tonight I can come around though."
I highly doubt that has stopped her from drinking, Aigis thought.
Matsumoto turned to the group. "That's Kenpachi Zaraki, captain of the Eleventh. Every captain of this division is given the title of 'Kenpachi', which denotes them as the strongest person in Seireitei."
Kenpachi turned that grin to the students. "So," he began, "which one of you is the strongest?"
One dumbfounded moment later, everyone glanced at Aigis and Makoto. His grin widened marginally. "Oh?"
Aigis was sure she was supposed to feel fear, with such a large man directing his bloodlust at her, but all she could feel was resignation — her experience has made her numb to most base expressions of that. She directed the flattest face she could manage at him.
"Hey look, I'll agree with everyone that these two are the strongest of the cohort this year." Matsumoto stepped in front of them, blocking him from their view. "But cut that out. I don't want them caught up in your fights before their exams."
"They don't need your protection, Matsumoto," a new voice joined the conversation as someone leaned out of the ruined door frame. "But Captain, you should really cut out your habit of challenging everyone you see."
If it was not for the smooth tenor, the man who joined in could almost be mistaken for a woman. His dark hair was cut in a bob, while his eyes were adorned with what Aigis assumed were colourful feathers. It was a rather unusual decoration decision, from what she could see. "Hello there," he waved cheerfully from behind his captain. "I'm Ayasegawa Yumichika, third seat of the division."
"I thought you were working on paperwork!" Madarame yelled. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Captain wanted a few more bodies for training, so how could I say no?" Ayasegawa flipped a few strands of hair behind his head. "Also, I finished it all. It's on your desk, so get to it, slowpoke."
"Alright, that's it!" Madarame reached for his sword's sheath. "You and I are having a throwdown right here, right now!"
"No you aren't!" Matsumoto grabbed Madarame's ear, earning a surprised yelp of pain from him. "You're finishing this tour first!" She dragged him off towards another part of the barracks.
With no other ideas, the students shuffled after the duo, carefully stepping over the dazed shinigami still on the floor.
"I know it might seem otherwise, but Ikkaku and Yumichika are actually best friends." Matsumoto said after they left the division. "They entered Seireitei together, you know, and are utterly devoted to Kenpachi."
The group left Madarame at the barrack gates, still nursing his pulled ear.
"And Aigis-chan, Makoto-chan, good job not losing your nerve there." The teacher patted both of them on their heads. "Most students would. It's a bad habit of Kenpachi's, I suppose. He likes to fight strong opponents, so he's always on the lookout for new meat, so to speak."
Makoto shook her head. "I don't have any intention of fighting him," she grumbled. "Seems like a waste of time."
"You're correct," Matsumoto agreed, "but he'd chase after you for that duel anyway. My advice would be to just avoid him as much as possible — he can't bother you if he can't find you, after all. That goes for you too, Aigis-chan!"
"Yes, sensei," they chorused.
"Anyway, on to more relevant topics!" Matsumoto hopped back to the front of the group. "The Twelfth Division also houses the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. It was established four hundred years ago by its then captain, Urahara Kisuke, and is the division focused on researching and developing new technology. They also monitor all three worlds and oversee communications, so they're also usually the first to notice if there are any anomalies that happen anywhere. They don't really have a fighting force so to speak — they generally rely on other divisions for protection whenever they go out into the field, with the exception of the captain. Because of that, they're usually more interested in recruiting the smarter kids and combat ability is generally not a factor for consideration. In other words, if you're curious about the world, this division will be perfect for you!"
Aigis was fully ready to tune out everything regarding this division with what Ebina had told her about it, but the prospect of hearing something about the inner workings of the afterlife prompted her to at least pay attention to the members within the division.
"And here we are!" Matsumoto gestured to the gate of the Twelfth Division barracks. It was immediately apparent that it was different from the other divisions — the gate was made of solid metal, with no obvious mechanism to open it manually. At best, Aigis guessed that there was an electronic mechanism somewhere to open it. In front of the gate was a middle-aged man wearing a white haori, modified so that it had a collar that folded down. Oddly enough, he had two pairs of horns growing on his face.
"Ahh, so this is the group graduating this year?" He greeted the students genially. "I'm Akon, captain of the Twelfth. Truth to be told, I'm still relatively new to this position, so I'm more used to doing the tours myself than leaving it to my lieutenant. Come in, everyone."
While the surface of the barracks looked superficially similar to the other barracks, Aigis noticed the tall tower in the distance of the compound, along with the mass of wires that snaked around various buildings.
"Most of the facilities are underground, to protect them from any invasions." Akon explained. "We're one of the few divisions here to use electrical technology extensively, apart from maybe the Seventh, because we need it to power our experiments, you see."
"Where does all this energy come from?" Aigis asked, as they descended a flight of stairs in a nondescript building.
"Ambient reishi, actually." Akon replied. "Every shinigami will release some simply by existing, so we convert the excess reishi in the air into energy that we can use. This process doesn't harm anyone here in the slightest."
The group stopped at the base of the staircase, in front of a set of double doors lit by fluorescent lights. "What I am about to show you is simply a small part of what we do," the captain announced. "You may be a little alarmed at its contents, but please understand that this is for the balance of the three worlds, and we would never peek at your private affairs." With that ominous disclaimer, he pushed open the doors.
What immediately stood out to Aigis the most was the soft blue light emitted by the mass of screens covering every wall in the large room. They all seemed to depict video surveillance of various areas within Seireitei, though a fair number of them also displayed strings of numbers that held no significance to her. Keyboards and dials were spread along the desks that ringed the room, pushed against the walls to ensure maximum space in the middle of the room and to give space for the various office chairs that were scattered throughout. A shinigami in a white lab coat snored softly on a chair off to one side, with their arms folded to hide their face.
Akon sighed. "This is the surveillance room for Seireitei," he said, choosing to ignore the sleeping shinigami for the time being. "We monitor all public areas for unusual spikes in reiatsu, which also serves as an early warning system for any anomalies that may arise. It was refined following the Quincy War three hundred years ago, to ensure that the incident never repeats. Now, if you will excuse me…"
He walked over to the sleeping shinigami and shook their shoulder. "Isshiki! Did you spend the night working on your experiments again?"
The shinigami stirred, groaning as she lifted her head up from the table. "Huh? Sorry Captain, what happened?"
"You fell asleep on the job, that's what happened!" Akon grouched. "And in front of the Academy students too!"
Now that her face was not covered anymore, Aigis could see that the sleeping shinigami was a woman who looked slightly younger than Akon. Her hair was cut into a black bob that was currently tousled from her nap, and she wore a pair of black rimmed glasses. Next to her, Makoto sucked in a breath, soft enough that Aigis was sure she was the only one who heard it.
"Ahh, that was careless of me, sorry." Isshiki smiled at the students as she lazily waved a hand. "I'm Isshiki Wakaba, third seat of the Twelfth."
A/N: Wakaba had always been planned for this story over Futaba (I can't see Futaba joining Seireitei), so here she is! She will join in on future arcs later in the storyline, so don't worry, this isn't the only scene you'll be seeing her in. Considering how little characterisation she received in the original game though, I'm going to do my best to make her a compelling character.
I recently received a flood of commission requests, so unfortunately I had to focus on that first over writing, which means the next chapter is currently less than 1k words into the chapter. Most likely, I will delay publishing the next chapter till around Christmas so I don't get overwhelmed. I think it's a bad habit of mine now that every time I introduce an important character, the next chapter gets delayed...
Anyway, thank you all for reading, and please leave a review!