Yan Si pressed the button on the communicator.
The metal box gave a faint hum. A few seconds later, Jūshirō Ukitake's voice came through, warm with amusement.
"Yan Si, my friend? Did you find that Shinigami?"
"I did," Yan Si said, watching Kūgo Ginjō perform a Soul Burial outside the window.
"He wants to keep guiding departed souls as a Shinigami. What paperwork does he need?"
"And why hasn't the Shinigami assigned to this area been around?"
Ukitake chuckled through the communicator.
"Haha, that's wonderful. I'll have someone bring over a Substitute Shinigami Badge shortly.
"With that, he can operate openly in the Human World as an auxiliary member of the Thirteenth Division."
Ukitake paused, sounding puzzled.
"Wait. You said the Shinigami assigned to that area hasn't been around?"
Yan Si's gaze swept over the streets of Yoshiwara.
Nearly fifty souls drifted through the night.
Some huddled beneath the eaves. Others hovered above the river. Still others stood blankly in the middle of the road, blocking passersby who couldn't see them.
"No. He hasn't."
The communicator fell silent for several seconds.
When Ukitake spoke again, the warmth had vanished from his voice.
"That can't be right. He just reported that he was handling Soul Burials in Yoshiwara—"
Yan Si said nothing.
Ukitake stopped himself.
If Yan Si said the Shinigami wasn't there, then he wasn't there.
Either the squad member had lied, or something was wrong with the report.
The first possibility was unlikely. An ordinary squad member wouldn't dare lie to his captain.
That left the second: something had happened to the man. He might even be—
"Yan Si," Ukitake said, his voice grave. "Be careful. Something may be wrong over there. I'll send Kaien to help."
"All right."
The connection went dead.
Yan Si set down the communicator