“These are the reports of departures and new arrivals for the neighboring three towns, make sure the numbers are fairly close and tell me if there is a large discrepancy between any of them. Here are the ones for missing persons and the details for each, get me a map based on where each one occurred and when. And these are requests for the Shinigami to investigate odd issues, filter out anything that might point us towards our illegal lab.”

I looked blearily at the piles of paper Natsumi had dumped in front of me. It was far too early to be awake.

“Would you like me to make you coffee as well?” I asked sarcastically.

“No, but tea will do. Green with a bit of honey if we still have it.” Natsumi replied evenly.

I rolled my eyes and started shifting through the papers.

Yesterday Natsumi had met with her squadmates and the local Soul Reapers to gather any leads for where the other side to the portal was. We figured that it was unlikely that anyone operating an illegal portal to the Land of the Living would be easy to find, so we focused on what they were using the portal for. Waste disposal.

It was callous, but there was no other reason we could think of that bodies would be dumped into a Hollow nest a whole plane of existence away if it wasn’t to cover up something that would immediately bring the Gotei 13 on their head if it was discovered. Soul modification experiments definitely fit the bill there, but that meant we needed to figure out where the person behind those experiments was getting their test subjects.

Natsumi had taken most of the initial steps gathering the reports and materials she had given me to sort through and smokescreening our efforts a little by saying she was on a mission to investigate disappearing souls in the area when it was reported back to the Seireitei.

It had the benefit of being slightly true. Souls vanished all the time in the outer districts of the Rukongai, so there was always an outstanding request for Soul Reapers to investigate and make sure that no foul play was involved. Unfortunately it was often assigned to lower rank newbies as a punishment, so most of the time the investigation was half-assed at best. If there wasn’t something obvious like a Hollow in the area, then the deployed Soul Reaper would wander around aimlessly and just be uncomfortable with the poor living conditions.

From what Natsumi learned in her initial data gathering, this would be the first time someone took a serious look at disappearances in a couple centuries. Which was a little depressing but not all that surprising.

Naturally with her taking up a cover as a Soul Reaper sent on a punishment detail, I was given my own cover story. I was now posing as a graduating academy student out on an individual mission as Natsumi’s assistant. It was apparently tradition for the graduating class to shadow an active Soul Reaper to learn more about what squad they would be joining, and it was just my ‘bad luck’ the Reaper I was assigned was being punished at the same time. Normally I’d be fine with that kinda thing, but Natsumi was having fun treating me like her actual assistant in public where I couldn’t tell her to fuck off since it would blow our cover.

I think she was getting me back for messing with her so much. Either way, I would be planning my revenge.

I kinda lost track of time digging through the stuff in front of me, but eventually we narrowed down three good leads. The first was a forest between here and another town where travellers seemed to be vanishing occasionally.

Another was rumors of a slavery ring being run out of a few towns that was said to be around here. We had a few reports where people would be seen entering certain buildings and never leaving.

And finally there was a merchant who offered to escort people to different towns throughout the Rukongai. But despite being a fairly well used service, many of the people who moved to other towns were never heard from after a little while.

“So what do you think?” I asked Natsumi while she looked over the summaries for each lead. “Any ideas how we should look into these?”

She was quiet for a while as she flipped through everything we gathered.

“I...think we are going to need to split these between us.” she said eventually.

I arched an eyebrow but waited for her to explain.

“We will need to leave the merchant investigation to the field agents in Squad Two. They travel too far for us to investigate thoroughly in a short amount of time.” She says, seemingly more to herself than me. But I agree with the logic. If we tried hunting down each person we had a file on it would take months with just the two of us.

Natsumi set aside the papers in her hand and grabbed the next set. “Having you along while we investigate in town would also likely be counter productive, you stand out too much to be good at gathering information.”

“I managed to slip through the Seireitei pretty undetected.” I pointed out, feeling a little insulted.

She shook her head, “Your stealth abilities aren’t in question here. You need to blend into crowds and eavesdrop on conversations to pinpoint where gathering places are located. Even disguised you are too noticeable to gather the information we need.”

“So I leave that part to you and just follow the people you point out.” I argued.

“You probably could.” Natsumi agreed. “But if news of our investigation tips off whoever owns the portal, they might go into hiding and we will lose the trail. So we split up to give them as little warning as possible.”

I thought over her plan and didn’t really have any complaints about it. Splitting up would definitely be faster and the only real risk would be if something happened to one of us while we were separated, but we could plan around that somewhat.

“Fine, just let me grab some things and I’ll head out.” I said, getting ready to leave.

Natsumi stops me before I can walk out, “Be sure to take one of the local Shinigami as a guide.”

“Why?” I asked, it wasn’t like I would get lost just scouting and the locals were far too weak to be backup.

“Your cover.” she sighs, pinching in between her eyes. “I told you if you were going to wear anything like an academy uniform you would likely need an escort to avoid anyone questioning you going off on your own.”

She did? Uh, I probably should have listened to that introduction, huh?

“Oh come on. If I move fast enough no one would even know I went by myself.” I try to wiggle out of needing a babysitter, but it doesn’t seem to work.

“The second we arrived our movements were likely being reported to the mayor of this town. I can set up an alibi for myself while you go off to the woods, but not for both of us disappearing at the same time. If the mayor knows, then every criminal element probably knows a little bit as well.”

“So fake going with me and just sneak back. You said you would be using a disguise.”

“And how will you re enter the town without me?”

“Sneak back in, grab you, then pretend we just got back.”

“What if I’m not easily found, or elsewhere, or you need to enter sooner? Stop whining and trying to get out of this, it's far simpler for you to just accept the backup and deal with investigating quickly.” Natsumi huffs.

“But they’re just going to be dead weight!” I most certainly do not whine.

-o-

“And here we are! Red Leaves Forest! Beautiful little spot away from the mess of town living, and full of lovely little secluded areas where you can get a little more ‘in touch’ with nature if ya know what I mean.” the Soul Reaper throws an arm over my shoulder while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “What do you say newblood? If you impress me I can put in a good word for you with some people I know in the Squads.”

Slightly disgusted, I brush his hand away before he can ‘accidentally’ grope my chest and keep walking towards the forest.

“Awww, don’t be like that sweetheart.” the creep laughs as he jogs to catch up. “If you want to get promoted you need to learn how to play the game. See, it's all ‘bout doin some small favors for the guys above ya.”

Aoyama Kimura is the Soul Reaper who Natsumi assigned as my escort. One of the few guys in town that was taller than me at around 6’2” he had short, messy black hair and the same pretty boy looks you expected to see in a host club. He also had the personality of a sewer rat.

Unfortunately, he was also the leader of the local Reapers stationed here so when he volunteered it was practically guaranteed I’d be stuck with him.

“I think I’ll be fine without your ‘small’ favors.” I said, emphasizing the word.

He chuckled darkly, “Sweetheart trust me, my ‘favors’ are anything but small. But you’ll learn. Only way up the ladder for girls like you is to catch the eye of someone higher up the chain. You think doing your job is gonna do that? If ya was a guy then yeah, guy’s in charge don’t wanna get showed up by underlings. But chicks? It’s all “oh she’s a valuable team member, the place would fall apart if she got promoted!” This could be good practice for you later on.”

I wonder if Natsumi would be angry if this guy had an...unfortunate...accident while we're out here. Probably wouldn’t be too mad. Afterall nothing of value would be lost.

“Pretty sure the female captains and lieutenants would disagree with you.” I replied, hand tightening around the sheath of the katana I’m using as a fake Zanpakuto. It’s really hard trying to keep myself from beating the dumbass into the ground.

“Oh, the innocence of the poor naive newbloods.” Kimura sighs. “Sweetheart, they might be a bit stronger than the average chick, but the same rules apply. Fuck, they only got the position over a guy ‘cause guys don’t get stronger with ‘spiritual liquid injections’ if ya know what I mean.”

The sheath in my hand starts making a groaning sound and I need to release my grip or risk breaking it.

“Of course, if they made it to the top then they spent a lot of time guzzling it down.” He continues, and motions back to town. “See, the girlie you followed here probably turned down a ‘favor’ she couldn’t afford not to. That's why she got sent to this backwater and you had to tag along. You academy brats don’t know how the game works, it’s not how strong you are that gets you promoted, it’s who’s got their eye on ya.” He leers up and down my body. “Don’t worry though, I’m sure lot’s of people got their eye on ya if you know how to ask the right way.”

“I’ll pass.” I said shortly. “Now let’s just get this over with so I can get back to town and away from you.”

Kimura shrugs, “If that's what ya want. I’ll show ya around the forest. But…” he smiles obscenely at me. “...if ya want me to ‘show’ ya something else ya just have to ask.”

… I’m going to kill him.

No, even better, I’m going to get this over with then force Natsumi into a little alone time with him. That way she can kill him and I won’t get in trouble. I’d even consider it my revenge for her treating me like an assistant. Of course this means I need to put up with him for the rest of the trip here…

Dammit.