"Rukia…"
"I have a deeply painful decision to tell you about. I only hope you won't blame me after hearing it."
Ukitake spoke slowly, drawing a deep breath as though he were about to make the hardest choice of his life.
Not long after finishing his discussion with Ichigo, he'd summoned Rukia to the captain's office.
The moment she stepped inside, she felt the heavy atmosphere. Seeing the grim expression on Ukitake's face filled her with unease.
"Starting today, you will no longer belong to the Thirteenth Division. You are being transferred to the Seventh Division."
Ukitake forced the words out with great difficulty, each one hitting Rukia like a hammer.
"What?!"
"Captain Ukitake, you're joking, right? How could something like that possibly happen?!"
Rukia's eyes widened in disbelief, and her voice shot up several octaves.
It felt as though her whole world had come crashing down.
Kazuma had mentioned transferring her to the Seventh Division before, but she'd taken it as nothing more than a joke.
In her mind, she was one of Ukitake's most valued subordinates.
A transfer like this should have been impossible.
"Captain, someone threatened you, didn't they? You don't really want me to leave the Thirteenth Division or go to the Seventh Division, right?"
Rukia stared into his eyes, desperately searching for some hint that would prove her right.
Ukitake avoided her gaze and gently shook his head.
"Rukia, I'm doing this entirely for your sake."
He let out a long, helpless sigh.
"Look at my health. I'm constantly falling ill, and I simply don't have the time or energy to teach you everything you need."
"The Seventh Division, on the other hand, has a more complete training system and stronger instructors. It's the place that can truly help you grow and bring out your full potential."
Ukitake spoke with such pain and sincerity that he never once mentioned the real reason he'd been forced to sell Rukia off: his own terrible drawing.
Anyone hearing him would have been moved to tears.
His performance was flawless.
Like a true actor!
"Captain! What will happen to you if I leave? I can't stop worrying about your health! Besides, you've already taught me more than enough."
What a touching display of mutual devotion.
One of them had shamelessly invented a noble excuse for giving her away, while the other genuinely didn't want to go to the Seventh Division and offered a half-true excuse of her own.
"You don't need to worry about me. Sentarō is still here to help. He can shoulder the burden."
Sentarō would have liked to ask what nonsense his captain was talking about.
If he could truly carry that burden, would the Thirteenth Division still be in its current state?
"This is your official transfer order. Take it with you."
Ukitake quickly pulled a document from inside his robes.
The ink on it didn't even look completely dry, and the handwriting was so wild and abstract that an ordinary person would have struggled to read it.
Without hesitation, he pushed it into Rukia's hands.
Ukitake was moving so fast because he feared Kazuma might suddenly come back and expose the truth.
If that happened, the noble, righteous image he'd built in Rukia's mind would collapse instantly.
The sooner this transfer was done, the safer he'd feel.
"Captain… I'll come back to visit often."
Rukia reluctantly reached out and accepted the order.
Before leaving, she looked back at the familiar office with deep reluctance, her expression so tragic that anyone watching might have felt their heart ache.
It was only a transfer to another division.
Why were they acting as though she were marching off to war?
She could still come back whenever she wanted.
...
Not long after, Rukia arrived at the Seventh Division with her head hanging low, the heavy transfer order clutched in her hands.
She often visited the Seventh Division, but before today she'd always come as a guest.
This time was completely different.
She'd basically been sold to them like a piece of merchandise!
How could that possibly feel the same?
When Rukia entered the captain's office, Kazuma was nowhere to be seen.
Looking around, she found only Tetsuzaemon hunched over the desk, writing furiously as he worked through the mountain of division paperwork piled in front of him.
"Um… where is sensei?" Rukia asked, confused.
"The captain drank too much last night and still hasn't completely sobered up. He's sleeping soundly in the resting room right now."
Tetsuzaemon stopped writing and looked up.
"Did you come because you needed something urgent from him?"
In truth, the moment Kazuma got back from the Thirteenth Division, he'd specifically instructed Tetsuzaemon that if Rukia came looking for him, he should claim Kazuma was still sleeping off his hangover.
Tetsuzaemon had found the request rather strange, but as a loyal lieutenant, he'd obeyed without question.
"Lieutenant Tetsuzaemon, I'm here to report for duty."
Rukia walked toward him with visible reluctance.
"Starting today, I'm officially a member of the Seventh Division."
She slowly held out the transfer order, which had somehow become badly crumpled.
As for how a freshly written document had ended up in that condition, that was a very long story.
Rukia solemnly swore it had absolutely nothing to do with her repeatedly crushing it into a ball out of anger over the transfer.
"Oh my, you really came?"
Tetsuzaemon stared at her in surprise.
"I thought the captain was only joking when he said he'd transfer you."
So Kazuma had actually pulled it off?
Even Captain Ukitake had agreed to release her?
That was genuinely unexpected.
"Hmph. I may hate this arrangement with every part of my soul, but there's nothing I can do. It's already decided."
Rukia shook her head bitterly.
She'd used every argument she could think of to fight the transfer, yet none of them had changed the outcome.
"Give me the order. For now, stay in the captain's office."
Tetsuzaemon struggled to hide his excitement as he accepted the document.
"I don't know what arrangements the captain intends to make for you, so we'll wait until he wakes up."
Rukia's arrival meant he might finally escape the endless sea of division paperwork.
Just thinking about it was enough to make him grin in his sleep.