It's Over, The Real Master Has Come Knocking

In the Ninth Division barracks, Siwei Yan was preparing to lie down comfortably and enjoy an afternoon of leisure.

Suddenly, without any warning, he shivered violently.

"What's going on?" Siwei Yan maintained a comical pose with one foot on the ground and the other poised to step onto the bed. He turned his neck stiffly from side to side, his eyes scanning the empty room.

The window was shut tight, and the door was locked.

Within his spiritual pressure sensing range, there was nothing unusual, aside from the occasional passing squad member in the courtyard.

But he felt a prickling unease, like a kitten's paw gently scratching at him.

"It can't be..." He withdrew his foot and sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, beginning to count on his fingers.

Siwei Yan's door was violently pushed open from the inside!

He practically leaped out, clutching the still-wet paper in his hand, his chest rising and falling slightly, a brilliant smile plastered on his face.

"Captain! Lieutenant! Good afternoon! What a coincidence, I just finished writing!" He held up the paper.

In the courtyard, Kyunnan Shiro maintained a one-fisted pose, a faint white spiritual pressure glowing around her fist.

She had genuinely been powering up to break down the door!

Seeing Yan Si emerge, she let out a hmph, and the white light around her fist slowly dissipated.

She strode a few steps to Yan Si and, without question, extended her hand: "Give it to me!"

Yan Si quickly handed over the manuscript.

Kyunnan Shiro took it and glanced down, only reading the first two or three lines. Her small mouth immediately turned down in dissatisfaction:

"Little Wei Lai, why are you so short!"

The smile on Siwei Yan's face froze instantly, and then his entire face turned red at a visible speed.

He widened his eyes, his voice cracking with urgency:

"What do you mean 'Little Wei Lai is so short'! Little Wei Lai isn't... Pfft!

I mean this manuscript! This is the summary poem for Hell Girl!

It's a proper, profound conclusion! It's the essence! Condensed essence, understand!"

He explained incoherently, almost getting himself tangled up.

"Is that so?" Kyunnan Shiro finally brought the manuscript closer to her eyes and began to read seriously.

The paper read:

The Other Shore

Chapter One: Contract

In my pupils

Sleeps a river

Of endless resentment

Whenever you cast down a straw doll

A flower blooms on the river's surface

That will never bear fruit

There were a few more paragraphs, the handwriting hurried but possessing a sense of lonely determination.

Kyunnan Shiro read quietly, and for a moment, the only sound in the courtyard was the rustling of leaves in the wind.

Suddenly, large tears rolled down her eyes without warning, splashing down her cheeks.

She looked up, her eyes and the tip of her nose red, and shouted at Siwei Yan with a tearful voice: "Little Wei Lai, you big idiot!"

After shouting, she clutched the manuscript and turned to run, bursting into her room and slamming the door shut with a "bang."

Siwei Yan and Kensei Muguruma were left standing in the courtyard, looking at each other.

Kensei Muguruma wore a completely bewildered expression.

He scratched his short silver hair and muttered softly, "What's there to cry about?"

In his opinion, the poem was quite... well, quite artistic?

But it was just a few sentences put together, where did it hit the tear-jerking spot?

He really didn't understand the Lieutenant's thought process anymore.

Siwei Yan looked at Kyunnan Shiro's closed door and secretly breathed a sigh of relief, relieved to have gotten away with it.

He turned back, a slightly elegant and melancholic smile returning to his face, and said to Kensei Muguruma:

"Captain, Lieutenant Kyunnan Shiro is a very sensitive person with rich emotions. Won't you go in and comfort her?"

His tone was sincere, his eyes "concerned."

Hearing this, Kensei Muguruma immediately put on a stern face, resuming his serious and upright Captain demeanor. He cleared his throat:

"Hmph, how much time that should have been spent on training has she wasted chasing after your manuscript during this period. Now that it's resolved, it's time to focus on training."

He turned to Yan Si and began to lecture him earnestly:

"Yan Si, writing books may be your forte and a way to contribute to the division, but as a Shinigami, especially an officer of the Ninth Division, your own training must absolutely not be neglected! Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes, yes, Captain, you're absolutely right. I'll definitely pay attention and strengthen my training."

Siwei Yan nodded vigorously, his smile flawless.

Tch, he only knows how to put on a show when outsiders are around, Yan Si grumbled inwardly.

Who knows who it was that got dragged away by the Lieutenant for a 'picnic' and left important matters like recruitment to me, a fifth seat...

While Siwei Yan was lost in thought, outwardly showing respectful obedience.

"Hahaha! If you want to train, you're always welcome to spar with us in the Eleventh Division!"

A loud, cheerful, and robust laugh suddenly came from the direction of the squad barracks entrance.

Siwei Yan subconsciously turned his head, following the sound.

He saw that three people were now standing at the entrance to the courtyard.

The first person was tall, wearing a white Captain's haori with a prominent "Eleven" on the back. He was grinning sunnily; it was the Eleventh Division Captain, Kurayashiki Kenpachi.

Beside him stood the silent and stern Lieutenant Ashido.

And standing half a step behind Kurayashiki Kenpachi, wearing a pristine white Captain's haori, was a woman with black hair tied into a braid and a gentle smile on her face.

The moment Siwei Yan's gaze met those eyes, which were slightly curved and looking at him with a smile.

His mind went "boom."

It's over, I'm going to die.

I haven't even started spending the money I worked so hard to earn for alcohol!