The next day, Second Division barracks.
"So, you got into a fight with a bald guy from the 11th Division yesterday?" Omaeda asked.
"Yeah."
Duan Mu exhaled softly. He turned his palm into a blade, and the wood in front of him was instantly cut into perfectly even strips. As he fitted them together, he turned back and asked, "Come to think of it, the assignment didn't say anything about 'reporting my personal life,' did it?"
"It didn't, no."
Omaeda pulled over the chair Duan Mu had just made and sat down, pressing down on it several times. "Huh, it's sturdy. You're pretty good at this... We've been monitoring the spiritual-particle fluctuations around you. When two lieutenant-level spiritual pressures clash, we naturally have to make a routine inquiry."
"...You can be this blatant about surveillance now?"
"You'll get used to it."
Duan Mu: "..."
What the hell do you mean, I'll get used to it? I've been this honest, and the Onmitsukidō still hasn't given up monitoring me. Just what kind of dangerous person do they think I am?
Duan Mu sighed. "Then should I report the reason for the fight to you?"
"No need for that. It was the 11th Division, after all. The reason isn't hard to guess..."
Omaeda shook his head, tore open a bag of snacks, and handed it to Duan Mu. Then he opened another bag and said while eating, "You'd better be careful from now on, since they've got their eyes on you. The people in the 11th Division, from top to bottom, are all lunatics who go looking for trouble." By the end, the corner of Omaeda's mouth was twitching.
The Onmitsukidō Third Detachment he led, the Patrol Team, was mainly responsible for patrolling Seireitei and monitoring the movements of the Soul Reapers.