>>5261031Your shock turned into excitement as you realised what this was. This was a chance! A chance for you to be recognised by the leaders of the Seireitei! But that also meant you had to be careful. It wouldn’t do to have them dislike you, to give them a bad first impression. And so, despite your want to try to charm them, you stayed quiet, acting bored and almost feigning sleep, keeping yourself unnoticeable.
You watched the Captains for now, the Lieutenants and your father being more of a secondary concern. Kyoraku, Ukitake and Hikifune all seemed rather friendly, jovial even, but Tsukabishi looked rather stern and serious. You’d likely have a hard time trying to charm him. And then Captain Hirako… he looked almost bored, like he didn’t even want to be here.
Captain Ukitake stepped forward, clapping his hands to set everyone at ease. “Food morning to all of you. It might be a little bit frightening, being suddenly sat in front of five Captains, but-“
“Oh! It’s you!” Hikifune suddenly shouted, simply <span class="mu-i">appearing</span> on your row of seats, all of her focus on Shin. “How are you doing? Did you like my food? It gave you a boost you weren’t expecting, right!?”
Caught off-guard and flustered, Shin could only barely respond, stumbling around his words. “Um, I- It was-“
“Well, clearly it did you good if you’re sat here!” She responded basically to herself, laughing as she did, before she herself was interrupted by a cough from Ukitake, who was still stood at the front. She smiled sheepishly, reappearing at the front in another flawless shunpo, back to business.
“As I was saying… it might be a little scary having this happen, but don’t worry, this is entirely normal. We just happen to like seeing who our future allies will be every now and then.”
<span class="mu-i">That’s an outright lie.</span> You thought to yourself, even as he gave a warm, almost fatherly smile to the class. <span class="mu-i">Captains do normally come through the Academy to see the prospects and poach students they want in their divisions, but almost never first years, and certainly never five of them at once. There’s something else here.</span>
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