Snippet #2411250

Joel woke up early on the first morning as his official start to his duties as a member of the thirteenth division. He wanted to make sure he received full physical awareness before his initiation. He started with a set of pushups with both arms and then with individual ones for a warmup. Then he put on a weighted vest and proceeded to repeat. Afterwords he practiced his drawing speed and control of the specialized sheath he was given, drawing his blade and sheathing it with wrist weights attached to his person. Last with a set of wrist weights, a weighted vest, a weighted belt, and ankle weights, he went for a sprint around the area and returned to his quarters. Their were two things on his mind. One of course being the initiation, but the thing he was mainly excited for was the celebration meeting he was supposed to have with his friends. After his morning activities he walked to the headquarters of the thirteenth division.

Upon arriving he noticed one thing.

There are sure allot more female members than male members here. On top of that most of the members look young.

He questioned if he was in the right place. That is, until a small female walked up to him. "J-Joel Hiataka. A-Are you him?" The girl spoke nervously.
Joel bowed down as a sign of respect. "Yes I am m'lady. Joel Hiataka. Thirteenth division. Unseated." He gave his proper title to the woman. Looking up he recognized her as the person standing next to Captain Hanakonawa. "I am sorry for my lateness Lieutenant."
The girl stepped back as if she wasn't used to being talked to as high authority. "Yes. P-Pleased to meet you." She bowed in return. "I was sent by Captain Hanakonawa to be your escort into the building. P-Please, come this way."

Following her into the building there seemed to be a less serious mood than what he had expected. Being left on the center floor as Lieutenant Watanabe went to her position next to the Captain. Joel knelt down on his knees and bowed his head respectably. Their were snickers to be heard around him.

"Looks like we have a go getter in our ranks now." One shinigami said.
"Yeah. It's okay kid. You don't have to be so uptight here." Another one chuckled.

Captain Hanakonawa smiled and stood up. "Calm down everyone. You should all learn from his politeness. Please rise Joel."
"Yes mam." He said as he rose his head.
"I would like to formerly introduce you to the thirteenth division. We signify hope and treat our members with warmth and kindness. I hope you too can abide by our codes and feel like you are part of our family."
"I will try my best mam." He said once again bowing his head.

After the formalities were over he was shown around the barracks more thoroughly. He was also tasked with feeding the Koi in the pond around Ugendō Quarters. Truly this was the peaceful environment that he hoped it would be. Sadly, he would have to miss his friends gathering because of his own divisions party for him. It wasn't quite the party that his friends were having, but still, he preferred tea to alcohol any day, not being much of a drinker. He told himself that he would personally apologize to them for not showing up once he had free time the next day. To his surprise, "I am giving you the day off." Came his Captains words that very day.
"I'm sorry. I don't quite understand."
"I have just became aware that a group of new recruits went on a little excursion last night. Instead of going with them, you instead decided to stay here and honor us with your presence."
"The honor was all mine, Lady Hanakonawa."
"Still. It stands that you may not have time in the future to spend quality time with your loved ones. I want you to enjoy the time you have together."
"As you wish, Lady Hanakonawa."

With this string of good news he was more than excited to meet up with his friends. That is, until he heard the news of Shihiro. Of course with one of his friends missing he jumped at the chance to help. Even with Aki's last words of warning, he was not going to back down.
Placing a hand on his shoulder he said, "Well, when the sun sets upon our triumph we'll feel all the more better at the fact that we overcame this." He looked back at the rest of his friends and smiled. "Together."