Chapter Three - Rice Porridge
Third Division, Detention Center
Lieutenant of the Third Division Kira Izuru worked alone in the dim detention center.
The very next day after Aizen Sosuke, Ichimaru Gin, and Tousen Kaname left Soul Society, the Captain Commander ordered that all their offices, along with the Central 46 Chamber, be searched. Kira was also implicated in their plot, but he had only been following his captain's orders and had no clue about their true intentions. And since the Third Division might have to cease operations without their lieutenant, he hadn't been punished at all.
Then, why was Kira still sitting in the detention center?
This morning, he'd sat facing Nanao on the other side of the bars as she read aloud from an official document.
"...Taking the above points into consideration, Kira Izuru is found to be innocent. This is the judgment of Captain Commander Yamamoto." She directed the jailer to open up his cell.
Kira lowered his head and walked uncertainly out of the cell.
"Your office, bedroom, as well as the captain's quarters are still being searched. Please find another room to temporarily stay in while the search is in progress. I will have to go back and supervise the search now." Nanao turned and started to walk away.
"...Excuse me!" he called to her in a weak voice.
"...What is it?"
"Could I use this place then?"
Nanao frowned. "Isn't this the detention center?"
"...It is."
"If Lieutenant Kira wishes it, then I won't stop you. But is this what you really want?"
Kira nodded without meeting her eyes.
Even after the search was over, he didn't return to his office. The peaceful environment behind these bars was one reason. Still, the biggest reason was because he didn't have the courage to go near his lost captain's rooms.
(Even so, I still... respect that man.)
His captain... had betrayed him and all of Soul Society. He understood that. But Ichimaru Gin still had an extraordinary sort of influence over him, one that made him willing to raise his blade against those he loved without any hesitation.
"...I am so pitiful." He had lost count of how many times he'd repeated that phrase. But even if he said it, it didn't change anything. That was something else that he understood. "I am really, truly pitiful..." Still, he couldn't help but say it.
"Good grief! That's about all I heard the entire way into here! It pisses me off!"
Kira jumped. The man who'd replied to him quickly approached his cell.
"Yo." It was Abarai Renji.
"Abarai-kun..." Kira immediately looked back at his paperwork.
"What is it? Are you still feeling down?"
He lowered his head and replied, "It's nothing."
"How long are you planning to stay in here? Isn't the search over already?" Renji leaned against the bars as he spoke.
"The search was over a long time ago. They didn't find anything in the captain's quarters except for a few blankets and clothes. Same for the administrative offices... other than some paperwork there was nothing else to find." He put down his brush and moved the form that he'd just finished to the completed paperwork stack.
