POLTERGEIST.

     THERE IS AN OLD saying— wherever Momo is, Sayuri isn’t far behind. Whenever one of them has an idea, rest assured the other is the first to know, even if it means talking at ungodly hours in the morning. The words have barely left Akane’s mouth before Sayuri begins to giggle, no elaboration from her friend required. 

          “Oh, I know exactly what you’re talking about. See— the Lieutenant and I spent last night speculating that there might be something going on between our captains. Something… special, if you know what I mean.”

     is it everyday? it... really is everyday. feels as though she’s opened pandora’s box with this and the same as that tale, it’s too late to turn back. her head tilts down as she dog ears her current page and sets her book down, she may as well take a peek inside aforementioned box.

𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓   ♡   𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

     sometimes, alike anyone else existing, akane feels bad. what makes her feel bad, or even who in some cases, is always different. seeing children alone makes her feel bad. walking into a disorganized office makes her feel bad. the smell of oranges, sitting in the infirmary, losing her place in her book - all of it makes her feel extremely shitty. now, there’s one person that really has this untapped power to bring this whole ‘feeling shitty’ thing out of her better than anyone else she’s met outside of her brother, and that’s sayuri.

     it’s not on purpose, never on purpose. based on that fact alone, it’s not even a real reason to bust up the party or end the friendship. in fact, akane thinks it’s fairly important for the sake of introspection of her own character. for someone who rarely slows down when it comes to the category of training and rarely does so with others, she sometimes doesn’t take anything but her own pace into consideration. not everyone is from the battle hardened, trained to go eleventh division and it’s hard to remember such a thing after only having that as a sole environment for a century at the very least. sometimes she needs these moments of clarity driven from both her empathy and worry for those close to her, in this case the person in question is sayuri.

     and so, she offers only a stare to the third seat, observing her lingering around the bookshelf. polishing the nearly jimenmaru mirrored halberd commissioned for the sake of their training will have to take a pause as she takes time to mull over a response. this is… hm. hard. who knew teaching something she’s never shared before would be so difficult and have so many twists and turns. another second and passing thought makes her think it would maybe be easier if they weren’t friends, just true student and teacher. one more second makes her think that there’s an importance in them being friends and going through this together.

     constructive criticisms are intimate. well, that’s what she likes to believe most times. on top of that, if sayuri didn’t care, she wouldn’t have asked, right? it’s not like either of them would lie about any of it and the transparency to even ask how well she’s doing in her opinion is appreciated from her friend, it’s just hard sometimes like she mentally established. akane just doesn’t want her friend to feel shitty, that’s a special feeling reserved for her. in case of suspected self-absorbed behavior, break glass.

𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓   ♡   𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

     a tilt of the head in response, loaded question? no, nah. that’s jokes, it’s really not. he looks pretty good, she’s digging the shirt under the uniform. ‘ fine. ‘ it looks like a pretty nice material, very delicate and the exact same with the colors. now as long as akane has known riki, he’s never been a fashion killer or anything of the sort but there’s an inkling of an idea where he’s suddenly picked it up from. 

     the first meeting they had was vague. a few days after the war and swimming through the chaos that was the remnants of the fourth division and other infirmaries floating around. she wanted to check on sayuri and make sure she was doing alright or at least as alright as she could be at the time. akane never got a name up until a few years ago and didn’t match that and the face together back up until after she ran an errand for lisa. there’s clear recollection of her being very warm and upbeat, talkative too naturally more so after recovery efforts. she remembers thinking the name aika was quite nice and she was rightfully fashionable, now she can see how simply they could be drawn to each other.

𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓   ♡   𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

     akane.exe has stopped responding. like, he means her? no one else? there’s a temptation born from disbelief that makes her want to look around the library for someone, anyone else that he could possibly be talking to and hope that this is a simple misunderstanding. no luck in this area, it’s bare as bones at each chair, couch, and table, and down every shelf. alas, it is only the two of them in their own corner of the building.

     she turns away towards the bookshelf in hopes of not appearing too flustered before she can even formulate any type of coherent response. the palm of her hand rests on top of the binding of a book and a half, the gears in her head turning as the lowering sun outside glistens off her rounded nails coated with raspberry rose. how thoughtful. that’s the first thing that comes to mind and what anyone else would think, isn’t it? he would have had to ask around for her whereabouts to catch up with her here. ‘ that’s incredibly kind of you to say, lieutenant. ‘ in this case she really is just anyone else, just another person with a softening heart that’s being tapped into one day at a time.

So much has changed. Still changing. Seeing Lisa back among the Gotei–as her Captain. It sent a jolt of excitement. But also worry. Miyako always had trouble adjusting to change–and after the War, well. What else could you expect. Someone needed to take the Lieutenants place–She heard it wasn’t even someone from within their division. So a face she’s never seen. It made her gut tighten with worry. Someone she’d be working closely beside as the Divisions third seat.

The voice halts her thoughts for a moment, and Miyako has to look up.

    “That’s me.”

     well she looks... nervous. rightfully so, it’s always a bit awkward meeting a new coworker for the first time especially holding such important ranks. akane can’t exactly say she feels the same in the moment but it’s certainly been something she’s tackled before.

     ‘ has lieutenant hinamori spoken to you recently? ‘ an extremely vague question as she doesn’t bother looking up from her book. why, of course miss akane, they’ve spoken to each other, they do so everyday because the relationship between lieutenant and third seat is quite special, but what about?

It’s good to see you. He almost doesn’t hear Akane, when did that ringing in his ears start? Riki has to blink, slowly. A squint at the burning of ceiling lights. Who does he have to pester to get those dimmed. A hand raises, patting around his thighs, his pockets. Fuck, they took his cigarettes. What the hell is he supposed to do now? Riki just tilts his head, staring at Akane through the corner of his eye. He probably looks like shit. Definitely feels like it. “Glad yer alive.” This is about as far as he goes when it comes to sentimentality. 

      it feels like she’s inhaled millions of shards of glass with the deep breathe she takes in the first half of her response, ‘ yeah. ‘ being alive is a reach from what everything has felt like, more like a haze. a bloody, confusing, survivor’s guilt-ridden haze.

      it’s been a helluva long time since she’s had to have a first new day at work. even through all the greetings, exploring the new barracks, speaking with her captain, the butterflies are still popping off. they’ve let up throughout the day as she’s gotten accustomed but are still lingering since there’s one person her captain said she’d run into eventually. given the description, the girl she’s run into on the way to her officer fits the bill, a very adorable bill. 

      ‘ it’s good to see you. ‘

     oo-woo, what’s this? that’s a hell of a paper stack she’s holding up to her face mostly to help hide that she’s stifling the beginning of a proud smile. if akane was the type of person to attribute inanimate objects to being her children, she would most certainly say ' prince of my admiration: invitation only ’ is her baby. 

     there’s a few confidential pieces she’s left out that are crucial to the next issue of the comic that she’s agreed to only share between ayumu and rukia, content creators eyes only. it’s certainly not to say that she left out all the interesting stuff out in what she’s choosing to showcase, there’s concept sketches of backgrounds and princess as well as her own plot ideas and detailed notes that she sets on the table in between them. welcome to the world of romance harem comics, izuru.

𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓   ♡   𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

      ‘ we are being careful. ‘ a quick pause because obviously she has to clarify, ‘ i’m being careful. ‘

       can’t you see her putting her hair up in a bun, miyako? that’s a safety precaution. what’s the worst that could happen practicing new kido formations with spells neither of them have ever done before anyway? they’re two responsible, professional young ladies just trying to better themselves and their abilities in an empty training field save for a couple of training dummies. nothing out of the ordinary for two people who didn’t prepare a list of combinations beforehand to practice yet think zangerin is an exceptionally interesting spell.