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One morning in the 3rd Division, about a year after the graduation of a set of prodigies. A different set of Academy Graduates stood in the courtyard of this Division. It contained a Vice-Captain with light blue hair and golden eyes, dressed in a standard Shinigami Shihakusho aside from the addition of a set of leg warmers in the same shade of blue as her hair. At her side her Zanpakuto as she kept her hands clasped together in front of her. She stood waiting, wondering if her Captain would busy himself with this as she looked over the group or if she would deal with it. Neither option seemed to matter very much to her, but she allowed her gaze to hover over this group a bit intensely wondering what kind of people her Captain may have chosen. She knew of his previous lack of luck in recruitment and wondered if he'd fared any better this year. 'Ah, well. At least there are some new faces around here...' she thought absently a devious smirk coming to her face.
In the crowd aside from the Vice-Captain, as a young woman with orange hair. She was about 5'6" with a lean athletic build. She was wearing the standard Shihakusho with no alterations just yet, with a zanpakuto at her side which had a purple wrap and a square guard with waves at her side. She had ocean blue eyes which were wide open and full of friendliness. She'd chosen to try to enlist in this division due in large part to the assumed shared nature of the people within. She could only hope she didn't make a bad decision.
Another member of the crowd consisting of new recruits to the 3rd Division was a male with wavy brown hair falling just shy of his shoulders. He stood at a height of about 6'0" even. On the right side of his head, he wore a diadem with two golden tassels, marking his status as heir to the Great Noble Family, Kisaragi. A grin most casual was upon his face as he stood amongst the group, having graduated after two years spent in the Shino Academy. Eyes of gold with a blue outer glow scanned the area to identify any peers he had among these recruits. In this group, he saw only one face he recognized. Of course, this happened to be a face more preferred for his viewing pleasure than others he would have noted, but speaking terms were a different matter entirely.
Soon enough, the hooded Captain of the Division - with his lanky form and serpentine eyes - stepped out of his office to greet the individuals in the courtyard at present. "Ohai, minnasan~! Welcome, welcome! Who's got questions? Comments? Absolute admiration for your favorite Captain to work for?" he asked of the group, all while wearing a sly - and somewhat unsettling - grin upon his visage.
The young woman with the orange hair also scanned the crowd and found a familiar face. A boy she recognized from her classes as one of the new age prodigies, though it'd taken him a couple of years to get through his courses, he'd still managed to do so in record time. She knew his name and his face from frequency of seeing it, but had never really gotten the chance to speak with him. Considering they'd ended up in the same division she figured she'd get ample opportunity now. But before any of that, this group was soon greeted by their captain. This man in all his lanky glory seemed a bit sinister to say the least. The young woman who stood with her hands clasped behind her back wondered if it was at all normal to feel intimidated by her Captain as such. But the man's own words soon set her at ease for a very strange reason. His opening statement seemed a bit like a joke and brought something of a giggle from her. She didn't think she presently had absolute admiration or anything of the sort, but it was kind of funny considering the context that they were recruits and thus this man would be the only Captain they worked for so favoritism seemed a bit misplaced. "I have a question," managed this girl after a few moments of giggling. "Are we going to be ranked soon?" she asked only to clarify. "I'm not really in a rush or anything like that, I am just a bit curious..." she said afterwards still maintaining the same posture she had before.
Following the Captain's query to the audience, one lone individual had a question to return his way. This girl with her orange hair had not been one of the most outstanding prospects on paper, having sat through a full term at the academy, but Terumi knew she was certainly one of - if not the - graduate with the highest potential and ability this year. She came wondering about the rankings they would be receiving, or rather, she wished to know when they would be receiving them. Terumi's grin grew wider, and those green eyes of his began to glow from beneath the shadow of his hood. "Hoh... Sanbantai Yonseki, Miyamoto Tirena," he said, imagining this would answer her question just fine. "And everybody else... unseated! Oh, except for you," the Captain went on. With the break in his sentence, he shifted his only visible eye - his right eye - toward the brunette with the diadem in his hair. "Sanseki Kisaragi Shusuke."
The one called Shusuke had not intended to ask any questions of the Captain before him, but when Tirena asked about rankings, he had to admit to being curious as well. He'd seen a sudden ability to perform the way he was truly capable of since actually entering the academy, and if not for his initial placement in a lower class, he likely would have graduated the previous year. From what he remembered of the girl asking questions, she was the only one in class who could have properly given him a run for his money. In fact, he would call her astounding as a natural talent who'd gone without the type of training he and his childhood friend had. The announcement of her rank was surprising, albeit not by much. It seemed for a moment that she would be the only one receiving a rank from the beginning, until Terumi called Shusuke's name with the announcement of the only other rank being given. A smirk appeared on his face with this information in his mind. "Heh! Sugoi."
'Yare yare, this is going to be a strange one, huh?' thought the Vice-Captain of this division, though she said nothing. She'd heard the question of one of their best prospects and knew most would be anxious to know where they placed among their peers, if they didn't already know. A bit of a smile came to her face as she watched recognition shift over Tirena's face. The orange haired girl, to her credit seemed a bit stunned to have been ranked so highly out the gate. If she had any particular issue, it was the idea that only she would be ranked, but before she could open her mouth to speak on that, the Captain sneakily mentioned the fact that one Kisaragi Shusuke would also be ranked a bit higher than her, but she figured this should have been the case regardless. A smile spread across her face as she bowed to her Captain. "Hai!" she said to her Captain seeming to find it to be a perfecting fitting, and way more than she expected of her own rankings. It would be now that the Vice-Captain spoke up for the first time. "Congratulations, Kisaragi-san, and Miyamoto-san. I look forward to working with you both. I'm not to sure about the rest of you..." she mentioned cheekily to the unranked ones. "But try your best!" she finished up seemingly in jest. Moving right along it seemed this early introduction of the new 3rd Division members would soon be coming to an end, unless there was more from their Captain for the moment. Tirena took the opportunity to look towards Shusuke and offer a congratulatory statement as well. "Nice work, Kisaragi-kun. I didn't figure we'd end up in the same division, but I look forward to working with you," she mentioned with a smile on her face.
This entire interaction had something of an uninvited guest watching the proceedings. A young looking girl with hair of crimson in a messy ponytail atop her head sat on a roof nearby smiling at the news. She'd been aware of the graduation ceremony from the Shino Academy but hadn't bothered attending it. This moment was much more pressing for her to witness with her own eyes. Surprisingly enough, this wasn't the first time she'd watched someone gain a seat like this, she'd actually witnessed something very similar at least twice before, but she hadn't viewed those moments with as much attachment as she did this one. A smirk came to her face as she balanced her chin on her knee and chuckled. 'Hmm, finally caught up, Shu-kun~' she thought with much amusement in her soul. Though there seemed to be a lot of that in this young woman in particular lately.
It seemed congratulations were in order, at least in the mind of the Vice-Captain and the newly-ranked 4th Seat of the 3rd Division. This pair of high-seated officers had likely never shared more than a few passing words with one another, if that, but now they were standing together before a crowd of recruits that had fallen back into obscurity without having seats of their own. Shusuke bowed to his superiors simultaneously, then averted his gaze to set it upon his only memorable peer from this graduating class. Her smile was met by one of his own, followed by an extended right hand. "Hai. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu, Miyamoto-san."
Terumi watched this interaction with the same quality of grin he always wore. There was one final word to be said to the other members in the group. "The rest of ya', don't die~♥ We have ta' keep our numbers up, since we missed out on some extra quality from last year. Wouldn't you agree... Toko-chan?" he questioned, simultaneously shifting a piercing gaze toward a curtain of crimson locks upon a roof across the courtyard.
Tirena soon saw the outstretched hand of Shusuke accompanied by a large smile on his face as well. She hadn't had much contact with him, but figured he'd be nice enough and he was most capable among her peers as a fighter so she could at least trust in his abilities. She extended her own hand to meet his in the tradition known as a handshake. A light nod of her head would accompany this action. "Hai, onegaishimasu!" she managed seemingly happy with this situation. A few more words from Yuuki Terumi were to follow their congratulatory statements and it would be about the rest of the recruits staying alive to keep numbers up. It was even more so mentioned that this division in particular had missed out on some other quality members the year before. Tirena's left brow rose as she questioned this particular statement not really seeing where it was directed, until of course she followed the gaze of Yuuki Terumi towards the crimson locked lass who sat atop the roof of the barracks.
A chuckle escaped Benihime as she was addressed as such and she managed to shrug as she stood allowing her left elbow to rest upon the hilt of her zanpakuto. "Iie, Yuuki-tai~ I don't think you missed out on us," the young woman chimed most innocently. "I think the Kidoushuu messed that up for you. I'd tell you to take it up with their former leader, but I don't think that'd go too well~" she mentioned as she giggled making her way to the edge of the roof where she'd step off. As this young woman descended one would see her wearing just bandages across her more than ample bosom and a pair of the Shinigami standard hakama as well, but with no shoes or socks and instead bandages wrapped around her feet as well, along with the same wrapped around her wrists. "Plus you got him, and her... I think that's pretty much a win for you~" she chimed, before redirecting her attention. Under the curtain of bangs across the left side of her face a thin scar could be seen as her hair shifted. "Shu-kun, you finally caught up. I should be cross with you for abandoning me to annoyance for a year... but, I'm feeling generous today!~" she said with a huge grin shifting across her face. "Congratulations!~" she said extending her fist to the young man before her, as she usually would. It'd been two years since she'd last spoken to him directly, with their conflicting schedules. Given this a bit more cordial of a greeting was in order.
"Then I guess I should be having words with the current Soushi. I hear he's got a lot on his plate now, so a seat from the Division and Kidoushuu each shouldn't hurt much," Terumi replied to the girl after her descent. It was then that his attention shifted to the handshake occurring between his newest seated officers, and he offered them a few parting words for the time being. "Gambatte! Now remember not to make too many kissy faces in the barracks," he said before leaning forward, holding a flat hand beside his lips in a gesture pretending to deliver a secret with his following words. "The others might get jealous of ya', yeah? Ja ne!" With that said, the perpetually grinning Captain of the 3rd Division began walking back toward his office.
Hearing these words from his Captain, Shusuke stared with his eyes wide, and his mouth agape. "T-... Taichou!?" was all he could manage as a reply. He jerked his hand away, using it to block a cough he unleashed to diffuse his own previous outburst. "Ahem." In a matter of moments, his quickly averted gaze was being directed at Benihime, who'd also offered congratulations along with an old mark of their bond from shared training days. To Benihime's extended fist, Shusuke offered his own pair of knuckles with a tap. "You, generous? Lies. What're you planning?" he asked, only to immediately address her previous statement. "Meh, the academy was a cakewalk. I stopped being tired all the time once classes started, so I was able to just breeze through it. If Saya-oba's training wasn't so boring to me, I would have swept you under a bridge a long time ago."
A small smile came to Benihime's face as it was mentioned that the current Head of the Kidoushuu had a lot on his plate and likely wouldn't miss a seated officer and a single member. A shake of her head came from left to right as she considered this. "I wouldn't waste my breath on that one, Yuuki-tai~" she chimed as the man left. It seemed he was also the full on joking type more so than even she remembered as he gave a bit of advice to his newest 3rd and 4th seat, said advice caused a face and outburst from Shusuke the likes of which Benihime hadn't seen in quite a while. It made her laugh outright. While the orange haired girl had her face flush and also replied in kind. "Taichou?!" seeming to find it absurd for him to say such a thing after only knowing them a few seconds. Benihime on the other hand could see where such a thing was coming from, and given this she stood back with relaxed posture after her fist was met and grinned from ear to ear. "Me? Planning something? Never~" said the redhead with a roll of her eyes.
Benihime's eyes widened just slightly as the young man stated that he'd been able to breeze through the Academy once he stopped being tired all the time. He blamed Saya's training for his constant tiredness and claimed he'd have been able to mop the floor with her at anytime. A chuckle escaped the redhead as she fought the desire to draw her sword and test that theory, but in the moment she decided a bit of teasing would be more in order. Especially with the young woman in their audience. "Oh? Finally found a reason to wake up in the morning, and stop being such a lazy ass all the time? Sou ka..." she said her gaze ever so innocently shifting to the young orange haired woman who managed to look a bit surprised. "Gomen gomen, I've been a bit rude. Niwatoko Benihime, Juubantai Sanseki~" she said giving a bow. "Oh, Miyamoto Tirena, nice to meet you..." said the girl with the same amount of general politeness that she'd had before. She was a bit astounded that this girl knew Shusuke, she'd been one of the ones who'd come in last year and graduated early. But she wouldn't say anything about that now as it would probably seem a bit strange.
"Hai, nice to meet you too," said Benihime having a look over the girl as she did and deciding she was likely Shusuke's type given what she knew of the lad. "Also, I'm telling Saya-fuku, that you called her training boring, Shu-kun~" she jabbed one last time. "I had to find a new training partner while you were gone, so I feel like it's fair. In exchange, I'll tell you how fun it can be around here," she said of the Seireitei in general. "For instance, there is a festival today hosted by the Shinigami Women's Association, celebrating Tanabata!~" she said to the group at large causing the widening eyes Tirena in a way which likely couldn't be ignored. It seemed like she'd enjoy going to the festival which is what Benihime thought when mentioning it. "Hm, I suppose we can save our proper greeting until later. So you can settle into division life, and make a couple of wishes. Kukuku," said Benihime a brief chuckle escaping her, as she began to saunter off. But not before flashing a grin towards Shusuke and making gentle eye motions at the lad towards this girl, so he'd get the hint. "Come find me when you're ready to try and make good on that threat, Shu-kun, ja ne..." she finished as she headed across the barracks and got ready to leave, almost as soon as she had come here.
"I'm not even gonna entertain that," he said regarding the topic of the redhead's planning, or lack thereof, in whichever case. As for the matter of his apparent work ethic, he huffed. Whatever Benihime meant to imply had gone right over his head. "More like a lack of boredom. I couldn't stop sleeping back at the dojo, but as soon as we left, everything was alright. And if you want, you can go ahead and tell her the training was boring. I tell her every time we meet; it's like my hello for her." As Shusuke spoke, he held his left hand on its respective hip, and waved his right hand about in the air simply to maintain a certain amount of body language to carry his point. When Benihime went on to mention the fun to be had in the Seireitei. He was sure there were many things to be considered noteworthy, but what she chose to mention was a festival. She was certainly aware of the disinterest he showed in such things as this, but the cutting of the redhead's eyes toward Tirena could not go unnoticed, even if the latter's reaction had escaped him. Benihime's departure was accompanied by a sigh from the brunette male; she hadn't exactly left him in a simple predicament. "Yare yare. She's always like that; don't pay her any mind."
Benihime's interaction with Shusuke had gone about as well as she'd expected. The constant mention of this lad's sleepiness back in the Dojo was something she pushed aside and that she related directly to his lazy nature. She thought to see how good he'd become in her absence but now wouldn't be the time for that as she obviously had other plans. At the redhead's leave, Tirena said good bye as well, before she disappeared from sight, by method of Shunpo. "Ja ne, Niwatoko-san. Thanks for telling me about the festival!~" she said, making her obvious excitement about this known. Though Tirena wouldn't know this, the redhead mostly mentioned the festival so that Shusuke would know that Tirena wanted to go, but given the lad's lack of interest in the festival itself, she doubted he'd noticed the girl's excited reaction. Tirena's own words would be a more direct link, boosting the girl's unknown status as an epic wing-person.
Regardless of this, Tirena shrugged off any mention of the girl's strangeness, which according to Shusuke she was always like. "Iie, seems like she has a pretty good handle of what's going on. I always wondered what those top two from the last class were like, and she seems nice. There was a lot said about the last couple of years, I've seen some scary strong young people just ease right past me in skill and out of the Academy. It's nice that they aren't scary outside of massive intellect and skills," mentioned Tirena who was about average as far as her actual learning and skills were concerned, not that she was lacking by any means. She'd give this a few seconds to settle before she said anything else. In the meantime the Vice-Captain had ushered off the rest of the new recruits to doing other things, like settling in. "Oi, I meant to say, we don't have any duties sorted out for you just yet, take some time get settled in and look around the Seireitei before patrols and regular duties start up," she mentioned, letting this group of youngsters know that they weren't going to have any 'real work' for the day. This also made Tirena's eyes widen just a tad, because it made the idea of attending the festival even more real to her.
Tirena's response to the redhead warranted a raised brow from Shusuke. 'People actually like those things?' he wondered. As far as he was concerned, something like a festival was widely considered meaningless... at least, that was his assumption. Whatever the case, he cleared his mind of the thought. He was an officer within one of the 13 Divisions now, and such a thing surely meant his first day would be one filled with wonder and various tasks of different quality. "That's the point; it seems like it. She'll get in your head if you keep listening to her. It was an epidemic in Rukongai once." With that said, Shusuke looked toward the Vice-Captain of this Division, expecting a few tasks to be dished out right away. This would easily give him an out to this whole festival ordeal Benihime was trying to push him into. Sadly, the blue-haired woman's speech did not at all give him any sort of loophole. "Really, nothing? Mendokuse! I need something to do here!" he exclaimed, hoping something would come up for his daily activities.
While Shusuke was surprised at the idea that someone might actually like a festival, Tirena was worried she might not have time to attend given the new duties they were bound to have. 'Oh no! What if I have too much to do?!' she mentally questioned. But aloud there was the issue which Shusuke brought up, which was the fact that his friend only seemed nice. She was warned that the young redhead could apparently get into her mind if she kept listening to her, and that somehow this had been an epidemic at some point within the Rukongai. "An epidemic?! Really? That is a strange thing to say about your friend, but I'm sure there's a good reason for it..." there was a pause in Tirena's speech as she tried to consider how one would come to such a conclusion and perhaps she was even mildly interested in probing Shusuke's brain for the extra information. Except that in this moment, the unspoken question in their minds was being answered, unassumingly by their Vice-Captain which caused the girl to silently pump her arm in excitement at her current amount of free time.
Her happiness in this moment seemed to directly contrast with Shusuke's apparent want for something to do. Surely he could likely pester someone into giving him a task, but in this moment Tirena had a bit of an idea. "Ano, if you need something to do..." she started. "You could come with me to the festival, I mean... it'd give us a chance to talk before we get thrown straight into the work of our ranks..." she said sheepishly. She didn't know whether this young man was interested in the festival or not, but she knew she could at least ask him, since he seemed to distraught by his lack of work.
"I can think of about eighty reasons right away," Shusuke said as his final piece regarding the redhead. Moving right along from that, an interjection came from Tirena about Shusuke needing something to do. The shock of the moment immediately swept over him, as if it were an all-consuming entity aiming to devour his being where he stood. 'Don't invite me to the festival, don't invite me to the festival, don't...' His silent prayer went unheard by whatever god could have answered, as the next words from Tirena's mouth were an invite. "Sh-" he started, nearly swearing aloud without thinking first. All things considered, he had an eye for the lass he was presently in the company of, but... he really disliked festivals. "Sure... I'll go to the... festival. With you."
Tirena chuckled. She had a few friends who would have likely had similar things to say about her, especially during her time in the Academy. She couldn't really figure out if the boy thought something was supremely wrong with his friend or not, but it didn't really matter. As their conversation progressed, Tirena eventually ended up inviting the boy along on her journey knowing she would end up going to the festival regardless of her other activities. A second of hesitation came but, the orange haired girl was slightly oblivious to the reason for the initial stutter. She didn't assume his dislike of the festival and instead simply made the assumption that he wasn't expecting to be asked out in such a straight forward manner. Eventually he recovered a small giggle escaped the young woman, those ocean blue eyes of hers shown with extreme excitement as she nodded. "Awesome! I'll meet you back here in about half an hour? I want to get changed first!" she mentioned seemingly excited about her outing with her new cute friend/ former classmate, as she bounded off to change clothing to something more fitting for the occasion.
"H-... hai. See you soon," he replied. He was content then to be on his way, presumably to change his own attire. There was only one place he could go for this purpose, and while he was at it, there was another thing he could do in the vicinity. First and foremost though, since he only had half an hour at his disposal, he had to seek out a particular relative of his to acquire a few articles of clothing. If he was going to be attending a festival after all, he supposed it wouldn't be acceptable to do so wearing a Shihakushou. 'Chikushou! A five second reunion, and she throws me into some shit again,' he thought while making his way toward other areas of the Seireitei.