-Back in the town of Koifushi, South Rukongai District 49. Two days after Alexandria departed-

A shadowed figure silently slipped into an empty office.

Night had fallen over the Soul Society and perhaps fitting for a town in the mid-Rukongai the local guard was not particularly vigilant for people sneaking into governmental buildings.

The figure quickly moved from the door and made its way to the records cabinet and expertly started shifting through them. A small handheld device occasionally flashing as the intruder copied each page before it was returned to its original place.

Barely ten minutes later, all the files had been copied and the figure snuck back out the door.

-o-

The next day, Natsumi was looking over the analysis of all the records she had copied and sent back to the support members in Squads Two and Twelve to look over while she slowly finished off a cup of tea.

While she hadn’t needed to do these types of missions for close to 30 years, most of her job after promotion to third seat consisted of managing the Squad and the occasional hunt of especially crafty Hollows, it was nice to know that her skills were still sharp.

It was also rather relaxing to not be the one responsible for paperwork for a change.

‘If the squad wouldn’t fall apart with Omaeda in charge I would think about making this a regular thing.’ Natsumi mused. It was rather fun blending into the crowds here. While the standards of living were far from what she was used to, there were enough goods moving through the area that the bars were well stocked and by extension enough drunks in position that Natsumi was learning all kinds of things even without getting involved in the flow of conversation. Not that she said nothing, a well timed comment could easily guide the people around her into talking more about any topic they knew about.

For instance, the town had recently replaced its mayor for the third time in as many years because the two major criminal groups in the area had clashed before being subsumed by a third group.

It was a little tidbit Natsumi had relayed back to one of the Onmitsukidō to investigate. If the group was tolerable enough perhaps a deal could be struck for how they handled the area. If not they could always infiltrate and direct the group or eliminate them if they were too disruptive.

She also learned the general opinion on the local Shinigami garrison and their members. Like most places the local garrison kept the ‘peace’ in town. Meaning they would step in for obvious criminal activity or threats, but would remain largely uninvolved with anything underground or outside of town.

According to many of the bar patrons, many more people had been vanishing around the Red Leaves Forest than had been reported. It was simply that most people didn’t care to file a report if nothing would come of it.

Natsumi was glad that Alexandria was off in that area. If the issue was local, she could handle it. If it wasn’t and they were lucky, it might give them a lead to where the Senkaimon and lab were located.

She was distracted from her thoughts when she heard a door slide open and another Shinigami walk in.

“Oh, hello Hanakage-san. I didn’t realise you were up already.” the newcomer said.

Natsumi looked up to see the second-in-command of the local garrison walk into the rest area she was in. She had briefly talked to him during the process of sorting out her and Alexandria’s sleeping arrangements, but she hadn’t run into him in the days following. Not surprising, considering Natsumi was enjoying ordering Alexandria around as revenge for the overly familiar mannerisms the blonde tended to subject her too. The former-Ryoka could be alarmingly similar to Lieutenant Matsumoto at times, and Natsumi was rather glad the similarities ended with just the overly friendly personality and not the laziness and drinking habits of the Squad Ten Lieutenant.

“I wouldn’t call 10 o’clock early Kiba-san.” Natsumi replied.

Yuuto Kiba did not look like what you would expect of a Shinigami this far out in the Rukongai. Most local Shinigami tended to look taller and more muscular than the souls surrounding them. Something about Reiryoku helping push a Shinigami’s body toward its peak. It was why being an overweight Shinigami was only possible in the center districts, where resources were plentiful and threats were rare.

But Yuuto Kiba? He looked like he would fit in as a member of one of the minor noble families in the Seireitei. His soft slightly androgynus features looked slightly out of place compared to the harder features of everyone else, making him look even less like someone in command. Between the blond hair, grey-blue eyes, and gentle smile Natsumi had heard several women in town mention they wished to catch the eye of the Shinigami.

“W-well most of the garrison tends to stay out at night, so they usually aren’t up until noon.” Kiba laughed nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

Natsumi simply hummed and turned back to her reports. She had enough to do in Squad Two and she would not ruin this little break from those duties sorting out discipline issues for an outpost unit.

“So what do you have there? It looks like you are really interested in it.” Kiba asked, joining Natsumi at the table she was using with his own cup of tea.

“Just some poetry a friend in my squad gave me.” Natsumi lied easily. The Onmitsukidō had used poetry to code messages for years. It helped that the Gotei 13 encouraged an interest in poetry during the years spent at the Academy, so it wasn’t unusual for Shinigami to be seen reading it in their time off.

‘Well, as long as they weren’t in Squad Eleven.’ Natsumi thought.

“You have an interest in poetry?”

“For reading purposes only. I’m not very good at composing unfortunately.”

The two of them sat in silence. Natsumi continued through her reports while they both sipped at their tea.

When Natsumi finished, she began collecting her sheets and prepared to leave.

“Ah, one second Hanakage-san.” Kiba called out. “I was hoping to talk to you more about your time here, since you are on a mission to investigate the disappearances in the area.”

Natsumi raised an eyebrow but settled back into her seat. “Certainly, but what about? I don’t believe I nor my assistant have done anything outside a standard investigation though so I am unsure what you want to discuss.”

“Well there is the fact you are investigating according to standards.” Kiba said with a gentle smile. “Normally a Shinigami from the Gotei just puts in a token effort before going back to the Seireitei. If there is something else going on, I would be happy to offer my and my garrison’s assistance.”

“Well normally those assigned to these kinds of missions are for disciplinary reasons, but both myself and my assistant were assigned as a graduation test of sorts for her. Our squad officers want to see how she conducts herself away from the Seireitei.” Natsumi smiled back, keeping to the fiction of their cover story. “This mission was just the next to be assigned. I don’t expect to find anything more than the ordinary issues that are unfortunately common in the Rukongai.”

“I hope that you don’t take any actions of hers while she is with the squad leader against her then.” Kiba’s smile turned pained.

“Why’s that?”

“Squad Leader Kimura is definitely one of the most powerful Shinigami in the district, but he is also rather… direct about his desires with women that he does not spend much time with. It doesn’t help that his methods are actually successful in some cases.”

“Are you saying he might force himself on my assistant?” Natsumi worried. She was unsure how she would explain the leader of a garrison being slaughtered by an Academy student and it would certainly make completing their real mission harder as well.

Misunderstanding the source of her worry, Kiba shook his head. “No, the squad leader is never physical, but his mannerisms have caused several… incidents… with other female Shinigami. So if she performs unprofessionally, please don’t hold it against her.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.” Natsumi said.

’And pray Alexandria doesn’t do anything rash.’ She thought.

“Is there anything else?”

“Perhaps you could let me know what you are working on in the meantime while your assistant is away? Squad Leader Kimura doesn’t assign us many things outside of keeping public order so I would be happy to assist you while you are here.” The smile was back on Yuuto Kiba’s face.

“Nothing much.” Natsumi replied. “I’ve been going over a lot of reports your subordinates handed over looking for any patterns that stood out. I’m not sure anything will stand out but it doesn’t hurt to try.”

What she didn’t say was that she was augmenting her search by raiding both the local government and criminal headquarters when she managed to locate one. No need to rile up the locals with her investigation since they always had their own skeletons to hide.

Kiba nodded at her words. “Yes, we’ve done that a bit in the past. I can get you some of the previous maps we made with the positions of the disappearances marked.”

“That would be helpful, thank you.”

A short time later the second-in-command returned with an armful of maps with color coded dots with a number that matched to a missing persons report. The majority were a yellow color signifying the case as unresolved, but there were a few greens where a person had been found, red where the report turned out to be fake, and some black where a body had been discovered.

Immediately Natsumi noticed something odd about the maps since one area remained largely the same across all the maps.

“Why is this area always covered in red? It seems unlikely there were that many fake reports consistently.”

Kiba looked at the section Natsumi pointed out and blushed. Not the reaction Natsumi was expecting.

“Ah, that area is the red light area in town. Most of those reports are men and women trying to reconnect with the ‘special friend’ from the night before.”

That...seemed unlikely to Natsumi. She would need to check the situation closer before Alexandria returned.

“I see... Thank you for the maps, but I think I will stop here for today. This is more a task for my assistant afterall.” Natsumi was sure that there was something else going on in the red light area. But she would investigate on her own. Yuuto Kiba was too well known locally to walk through such an area without drawing attention and seemed determined to assist if he knew what she would be doing.

Best he think she would wait for Alexandria before he offered to help again.

-o-

A few days later, practically the minute Alexandria returned to town, Natsumi quickly pulled the blonde aside.

“I hope you’re happy sticking me with that idiot. Cause I am sooo getting you back-” “I think I found where our lab is getting its research subjects.” Natsumi interrupted. “And the number might be far higher than we initially assumed.”

Blue eyes searched Natsumi’s face for any signs she wasn’t serious before Alexandria slumped, the previous annoyance pushed aside for the moment.

“Okay, what did you find?”